Want to understand the nuances of the potential remedies in the Google search antitrust case? Check out the latest @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast moderated by KGI‘s @alissacooper.bsky.social with experts @cristinacaffarra.bsky.social @kate-brennan.bsky.social and David Dinielli.

Tim Bernard is reading a selection of the Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) systemic risk assessments released in late November 2024 in compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA). This first installment considers Facebook and Instagram reports:

Earlier this year, the European Union enacted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). Dunstan Allison-Hope & Jason Pielemeier unpack how the CS3D applies to tech companies, including the downstream impacts arising from their operations. www.techpolicy.press/the-most-imp...

The media startup we need is a legal defense fund for independent journalists. New publications and cooperatives are great and critical but unless there is strong legal protection from what is to come, they will not survive.

Access Now executive director Alejandro Mayoral Baños and Article 19 executive director Quinn McKew explain their principled decision not to attend this month's Internet Governance Forum in Riyadh. www.techpolicy.press/who-wins-fro...

The newly minted Canadian AI Safety Institute (CAISI) is an essential building block, writes CIGI’s Matthew da Mota. But questions remain about how it will prioritize safety risks engage in policy and governance work.

OpenAI’s #Sora and #Ai tech like it represent a step change in generative video. For @techpolicypress.bsky.social I highlight key risks and fundamental inequitable gaps in access to detection tools. But ... there is time to address this and other threats www.techpolicy.press/openais-sora...

NTIA is seeking public input on ethical guidelines for researching online data or "pervasive data." @benlennett.bsky.social covers why it matters, what information the agency is seeking, and how to participate.

Content moderation is a power platforms exercise with consequence at moments of collective vulnerability, such as during elections. Assuming that platforms act for the betterment of all is, at this point, one assumption too many, write Sandra González-Bailón and David Lazer.

Article 40 of the Digital Services Act should make it possible for researchers to get access to coveted unaggregated, non-public platform data, writes Luca Belli. How does the draft delegated act suggest it will work? www.techpolicy.press/data-sharing...

The EU's Digital Services Act aims to boost accountability and transparency for some of the world’s largest tech companies. Mark Scott writes that those ambitions are getting their first test with the publication of risk assessments and audits. How can these documents be improved going forward?

So interesting to see folks you know from a professional setting having a whole another life and looking so 90s indie rock cool. Kristin and Jenny also made great music.

In the platform economy, algorithms often obscure how platforms extract value from workers, masking the ways workers' efforts translate into profit, writes Atieh Razavi Yekta. www.techpolicy.press/the-flexibil...

Rather than modernizing interception laws, India’s new rules expand state powers significantly, putting citizens’ privacy and digital rights at risk, write Jyoti Panday and Saumya Jain.

"Agency laundering involves distancing human decision-makers from morally questionable actions by attributing them to automated systems or algorithms." ⬇️

A new lawsuit against Character.AI says an AI companion suggested a child should kill his parents. We are just at the beginning of widespread access to companion AI, but soon, if we fail to take action, such events will not be isolated cases, writes Susie Alegre. www.techpolicy.press/against-the-...

New: Texas AG Ken Paxton has subpoenaed 404 Media for confidential reporting about an internal Google privacy incident database we published in June. If Paxton wants the database, he can get it directly from Google. Our lawyers have formally objected to the subpoena: www.404media.co/404-media-ob...

In case you missed it over the weekend, Sens. Blackburn (R-TN) and Blumenthal (D-CT) released a new version of KOSA negotiated by X. New version: www.blackburn.senate.gov/services/fil.... For comparison this is what passed the Senate in July: www.congress.gov/amendment/11....

@techpolicypress.bsky.social has two op-eds out this morning on Australia's new law setting an age minimum for teen accessing social media. Check them out: 👉 www.techpolicy.press/australias-o... 👉 www.techpolicy.press/australia-sa...

Published a discussion of TikTok's loss in the Court of Appeals for Tech Policy Press. It covers the court’s decision and what’s next.

@ulrikeklinger.bsky.social, @dscheykopp.bsky.social and I wrote a piece on the draft delegated act for non-public data access. We argue that for systemic risk mitigation to work, access must be reliable & accessible. The draft is a good start, but doesn't ensure these foundations of risk governance.

Stephen Wyber sets out 12 questions raised in the written answers and hearings for 9 different members of the European Commission, including those pertinent to tech policy and broader concerns over AI, competition, intellectual property. www.techpolicy.press/learnings-fr...

New research shows that social media users share information they know to be false, motivated to signal political loyalty. What does this mean for the effectiveness of fact-checking initiatives? Prithvi Iyer considers the findings.

This article about How South African (primarily white) men are changing the course of American democracy lives rent free in my mind... So much of politics are local but we can‘t ignore how history & global politics influence our reality. Some tidbits + www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024...

This may be the most important article I've read this year. Too many pithy and insightful descriptions of current generative technology and how we talk about it to list. Just read it yourself.

Elon Musk became the first tech baron to transition to politics because he was the first major platform owner who paid less attention to the difficulties of speech governance than to the opportunities this unique sort of power can bring to those who dare to wield it freely, writes João C. Magalhães.

Violent border policies spawn invasive, high-risk, and violent technological experiments born in an ecosystem that is predicated on seeing migration as a “problem” to be solved, writes Petra Molnar. But there are ways to resist:

Daniel Stone says the tech industry grasps what socially minded policy advocates often miss: the fight over tech policy won’t be won through the best ideas or insider lobbying alone—it’s about mobilizing public opinion.

This has a lot of valid observations. Silicon Valley though has always been anti-regulation and anti-government. See John Perry Barlow's speech in 1996 (www.eff.org/cyberspace-i...).

Another helpful roundup from Megan Kirkwood covering the important developments related to Europe's Digital Markets Act in November.

The convergence of #Trump and #Musk’s political power with ownership of social media platforms raises urgent questions about #democratic accountability and unprecedented authority over communication platforms, writes Philip M. Napoli.

Vermont State Representative @mepriestley.bsky.social championed data privacy legislation in her state and helped develop a playbook for resisting Big Tech lobbying. Now, she’s a recipient of The Council of State Governments' 20 under 40 Leadership Award. www.csg.org/2024/11/20/c...

Writing for @techpolicypress.bsky.social, Priestley explained how she and her colleagues debunked industry-backed narratives to develop legislation that put consumers first. Gov. Phil Scott caved to tech lobbyists and vetoed the bill, but the fight isn’t over. www.techpolicy.press/big-tech-tri...

The images that OpenAI chose (generated) to accompany its "Infrastructure Blueprint for the US" are enough to make Robert Moses blush.

Favoritism, corporate gain, and neglecting environmental and societal concerns, Brandie Nonnecke predicts AI governance under Trump 2.0.

Catch up on what happened in US tech policy in November with a roundup from me and Freedman Consulting’s J.J. Tolentino and Rachel Lau and Tech Policy Press's @prithvi97.bsky.social, including coverage of the presidential transition, the lame-duck Congress, and other important developments.

Taylor Owen, Director of The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, writes that the merger of state and tech power is a fundamental challenge to democratic governance in the digital age.

Miranda Gabbott writes that in a #climate crisis, the water consumption required by data centers must be scrutinized closely. Looking at a development near her home in Barcelona, she asks: By choosing #AI industry-driven growth today, will urban planners in #Spain jeopardize their #water tomorrow?

When it comes to the design and presentation of privacy information, Meta might just win the prize for “worst in show,” writes @jshermcyber.bsky.social. Where are the regulators?

President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Rep. Jim Jordan, and other MAGA Republicans are engaged in an ongoing campaign to target researchers studying disinformation and hate speech. Duke University professor Philip Napoli is documenting their strategy and tactics.

Data & Society policy director Brian Chen writes that President-elect Trump will inherit a techno-security architecture primed to militarize new technologies.

The Department of Justice filed its proposed final judgment the Google Search case yesterday. Proposed final judgment: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Executive summary storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Was thrilled to talk to Last Week Tonight on background for this segment on TikTok and appreciate them featuring a quote I gave NBC last year! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZN...

Great article on the digital ad marketplace and the DOJ case against Google. As a former marketing executive, Lisa Macpherson has insider perspective and provides a helpful discussion of the tech stack for digital ads and why they are problematic for publishers, the public, and advertisers.

Seeing disinformation as a commodity helps better address the underlying motivations of its producers, distributors, and consumers, writes Article 19’s Etienne Koeppel.

Big Tech giants like Meta and Google tried their hardest not to become the story in the 2024 US election. And, to some extent, they succeeded. But that doesn't mean everything went smoothly, writes Issie Lapowsky (@issielapowsky.bsky.social). www.techpolicy.press/how-platform...

Learn about the tech policy decisions that have impacted over 1.4 billion people as Tech Policy Press Fellow @ambersinha07.bsky.social chronicles digital policymaking in India during the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi-led government and looks ahead for what could be next.

Tech Policy Press fellow @dwj88.bsky.social grapples with the apparent failure of an eight-year cycle of effort on tech and media accountability, and what it means for pro-democracy reformers.

Being bold here, but I’ve combined the Critical AI starter packs and some others (ie, contributors to @techpolicypress.bsky.social) to create a Critical AI feed. It’s a bit unfiltered at the moment but I am working on it. Find it & subscribe here: bsky.app/profile/did:...

We're assembling a starter pack of Tech Policy Press contributors on Bluesky! Follow the folks in our community for perspectives on a range of issues at the intersection of technology and democracy!