Europe’s data center push could deepen inequality and strain already fragile energy systems. Tech Policy Press fellow William Burns asks why energy is devoted to data centers when it’s needed so desperately elsewhere.

“Who gets to be seen as fully human in this world? Our job is to expand that and to push and make that as wide as it can possibly be.” Artist Mimi Ọnụọha's work questions the contradictions of technological progress. Anika Collier Navaroli spoke to her for a special podcast series:

Lots of very good ideas in here for @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social about what it might look like to have a tech policy agenda aligned with human rights principles.

The positions on tech issues Mamdani presents here are well informed, nuanced and sophisticated. And the tech bros will absolutely hate them. bsky.app/profile/tech...

New essay from the series, Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data. As platforms restrict data access, a global data drought is deepening, write Rachelle Faust and Daniel Arnaudo. A new framework can reclaim the public square and restore access for frontline researchers.

Many emerging AI safety challenges closely parallel problems the trust and safety community spent two decades learning to address, yet conversations between the communities often happen in parallel rather than in dialogue, writes Antonina Vikhrest.

Online platforms shape what we know, how we connect & who gets heard. In partnership with KGI, we are launching a new series, Seeing the Digital Sphere: The Case for Public Platform Data. The series starts today, with an essay from Leticia Bode & Peter Chapman. www.techpolicy.press/seeing-the-d...

There are many ways individuals and organizations can resist oppression, including technologists and tech policy advocates, who must use their skills to identify and interrupt the use of technology in service of authoritarianism, writes Tech Policy Press fellow Dia Kayyali.

By resisting surveillance and extraction and pursuing goals such as affordability, dignity, and justice, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can show how technology can truly serve people, writes Rebecca Williams. The first step, she says, is to protect immigrants. buff.ly/Mwk8vRu

From identity to payments to data exchange, digital public infrastructure can be developed inclusively and governed transparently, write Emrys Schoemaker and Siddharth Peter de Souza. If diverse stakeholders shape decisions, DPI has the potential to be an instrument of dignity and equity.

Could errors from an AI surveillance tool cause ICE to grab and detain you? The agency’s use of facial recognition — and alarming new details on its reckless procedures for doing so — make that sci-fi-sounding nightmare an all too real risk, argues Jake Laperruque. buff.ly/s0o5o7V

Your boy has plans, I have plans too.

For @techpolicypress.bsky.social I laid out a tech agenda for Mayor-elect zohrankmamdani.bsky.social that resists surveillance and extraction while advancing his goals for affordability, dignity, and justice.

Former FTC chair Lina Khan was just named to NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's transition team—just one sign that his new administration will take tech matters seriously, writes Rebecca Williams. She offers a tech agenda for the new mayor to advance his campaign goals:

The US national strategy to prevent suicide failed to address the risks posed by social media and AI, Erich Mische writes. That's why he's come to regret signing it — and calling for a new plan.

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is one of many experiments designed to replace human-generated writing with LLMs. But Ryan McGrady argues that its defining feature is its use of technological power to re-exert top-down authority over information and knowledge. buff.ly/odvgs4q

A new paper analyzes the “production-consumption gap” on social media, where a small subset of users produce most of the content, and considers its implications for the study of phenomena such as political polarization, and for the design of policy interventions. Prithvi Iyer considers the results:

Erich Mische argues that the US national strategy to prevent suicide failed to address the risks posed by social media and AI. That's why he's come to regret signing it — and calling for a new plan. Read more: buff.ly/V1uub65

Brussels presses China in talks as rare earth and chip controls expose EU’s vulnerability in the global AI race, reports Raluca Besliu. The restrictions come as the EU rolls out its €1 billion Apply AI Strategy across healthcare, robotics, and defense. buff.ly/Vl2NkXK

Meta and Google’s decision to ban political ads in the EU isn’t just a regulatory adjustment, it’s a setback for accountability and election integrity, writes Fabio Votta. Drawing on 5 years of tracking political ads, he explores the ban's impact on transparency. buff.ly/BRbLgUw

The US national strategy to prevent suicide failed to address the risks posed by social media and AI, Erich Mische writes. That's why he's come to regret signing it — and calling for a new plan.

The UN Cybercrime Convention’s flaws are hard to fix, as it lacks a way to suspend states that systematically violate human rights or the rule of law, notes Deborah Brown. Still, rights-respecting states that ratify can take steps to limit its harmful effects.

Brussels presses China in talks as rare earth and chip controls expose EU’s vulnerability in the global AI race, reports Raluca Besliu. The restrictions come as the EU rolls out its €1 billion Apply AI Strategy across healthcare, robotics, and defense.

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is one of many experiments designed to replace human-generated writing with LLMs. But Ryan McGrady argues that its defining feature is its use of technological power to re-exert top-down authority over information and knowledge. buff.ly/odvgs4q

If you're at all interested in the direction technology is taking us legally, politically, economically, or socially, I urge you to listen to this @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast from @justinhendrix.bsky.social talks to @rcalo.bsky.social about his new book: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Researchers see “an emerging societal consensus across labor, professional associations, and consumers that key functions such as education, health care, and government are vital for the public good and must be performed by a human.“ AI automation is not inevitable.

I have a piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social today: With Grokipedia, Top-Down Control of Knowledge Is New Again Trying to consider the nature of the project and its vision of neutrality vs. @wikipedia.org's (without getting into e.g. article comparisons). www.techpolicy.press/with-grokipe...

Digital spaces shape how democracy functions and the need to protect pluralism, free expression, and civic participation has never been greater.

Meta and Google’s decision to ban political ads in the EU isn’t just a regulatory adjustment; it’s a setback for accountability and election integrity, argues Fabio Votta. Drawing on 5 years of tracking political ads, he explores the ban's impact on transparency. buff.ly/BRbLgUw

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia is one of many experiments designed to replace human-generated writing with LLMs. But Ryan McGrady says its defining feature is its use of technological power to re-exert top-down authority over information and knowledge. Who is Grokipedia for, he asks, other than its owner?

The UN Cybercrime Convention’s flaws are hard to fix, as it lacks a way to suspend states that systematically violate human rights or the rule of law, notes Deborah Brown. Still, rights-respecting states that ratify can take steps to limit its harmful effects.

Join us for a webinar on Wednesday, November 5, from 10:00 - 11:00 AM EDT! Nathan Schneider will discuss how attention economics shapes the digital public sphere and what a more democratic approach to digital governance might look like. Register here: buff.ly/Ei6ew5H

As AI models that are increasingly capable of potentially designing deadlier pathogens are released, a critical gap in the European Union's new AI regulations leaves these models completely unregulated, writes Melissa Hopkins, despite possibly greater biosecurity risks than regulated models.

AI in the workplace isn’t just automation. Workers report discrimination, intensified workloads, and even automated firing. New state policies aim to center workers, write Mishal Khan and Annette Bernhardt from the Technology and Work Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

Meta and Google’s decision to ban political ads in the EU isn’t just a regulatory adjustment, it’s a setback for accountability and election integrity, writes Fabio Votta. Drawing on 5 years of tracking political ads, he explores the ban's impact on transparency. buff.ly/BRbLgUw

“Who gets to be seen as fully human in this world? Our job is to expand that and to push and make that as wide as it can possibly be.” Artist Mimi Ọnụọha's work questions the contradictions of technological progress. Anika Collier Navaroli spoke to her for a special podcast series: buff.ly/cQDdrZA

“AI in the public sector must not become a Trojan horse for ideological capture or commercial favoritism,” argues Public Citizen’s J.B. Branch. He calls on OMB to halt the federal rollout of Grok AI, citing risks to fairness and neutrality that violate the Trump administration’s own AI guidance.

The European Commission is set to select experts for the AI Scientific Panel, which will advise on implementing the AI Act. Europe’s new panel must prioritize world-class AI expertise, and younger voices shaping frontier AI over quotas, writes Kai Zenner.

US labor unions so far have adopted a fairly consistent tone on AI: the technology has the potential to improve productivity and benefit society, but workers need to be involved in how it is deployed, Chris Mills Rodrigo reports.

Congress created independent agencies to be shielded from presidential whims. Yet if the Supreme Court upholds the Fed’s independence, but not the FTC’s, “it is making policy judgments dressed up as constitutional law,” argues Public Knowledge’s CEO and President, Christopher Lewis.

OpenAI completed a restructuring this week that will enable it to more easily raise funds, a move that raises questions about the future of its safety efforts and its commitment to developing AI that "benefits all of humanity," Cristiano Lima-Strong writes.

My latest with @techpolicypress.bsky.social piece on a key theme from the @techimpactpolicy.bsky.social's Trust and Research Conference. Includes @dwillner.bsky.social's keynote and presentations from @gligoric.bsky.social, @thejusticecollab.bsky.social's Matthew Katsaros and more.

Our weekly newsletter drops tomorrow, and there is so much we covered this past week! Subscribe to stay updated on all things tech policy!

Creepy crawlers collecting data for generative AI are making the internet work less well for everyone, write Article 19's Tanu I & Corinne Cath. AI crawlers slow sites, strain libraries, and push journalism behind paywalls, they write. buff.ly/0pTtqiT

As India–US relations shift amid geopolitical tensions, calls for “digital sovereignty” are growing louder, argues Tech Policy Press Fellow Prateek Waghre. buff.ly/fwcmmSe

🕷️Creepy AI crawlers are haunting the internet🕷️ This Halloween, Tanu I and @ccs.bsky.social ocial explain how AI crawlers are ruining the internet for all of us. Read this season’s real horror story in @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/creepy-ai-cr...

In the first in a series of posts about data scraping & researcher rights under the EU’s #DigitalServicesAct, Director of Platform Regulation @daphnek.bsky.social outlines who can take advantage of the DSA’s protections, comparing three categories of researchers. Read @techpolicypress.bsky.social ⤵️

Catch up on what happened in US tech policy in October with a roundup from Freedman Consulting’s Rachel Lau and J.J. Tolentino and Tech Policy Press’s Ben Lennett, including widening gov’t use of AI and surveillance tech, California’s enactment of AI and privacy laws, and developments in Congress.

The European Commission is set to select experts for the AI Scientific Panel, which will advise on implementing the AI Act. Europe’s new panel must prioritize world-class AI expertise, and younger voices shaping frontier AI over quotas, writes Kai Zenner.

Platforms are accelerating the transition to AI for content moderation, laying off trust and safety workers and outsourced moderators in favor of automated systems, writes Tim Bernard. buff.ly/EvVEFfO