The money that Germany spends for Microsoft licences 😱

This looks like Trump's tactic of "it's not me, it's you" is spreading

My highlight of #Fosdem was our panel ‘The Fediverse and the EU Digital Services Act' Thanks for giving me the possibility to speak about our alliance ‘Open Networks' Thanks @jmason.org for his excellent moderation. Thanks @alexandrageese.bsky.social who took the time for this important debate.

Lobbyismus: Benjamin Brake arbeitete im Ministerium an der Regulierung von Künstlicher Intelligenz. Jetzt setzt er sich für ihre Deregulierung ein. www.abgeordnetenwatch.de/recherchen/l...

‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI. Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companies www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

There have been increasingly shrill accusations against the EU over its digital legislation, based on accusations of "censorship" by defenders of "free speech" -- including, so it appears, the right to peddle an AI app that seemingly produces child sexual abuse material (CSAM). 1/9

So where is the censorship if not in the DSA? It's in the USA. The Trump administration has censored free speech in 236 actions as of today trumpcensorship.com/ Who would have thought. 9/9

Der Digital Fairness Act der EU könnte Europas erstes Gesetz gegen süchtigmachendes & manipulatives Design digitaler Dienste werden. Noch bevor der erste Entwurf überhaupt veröffentlicht ist, laufen die Lobby-Armeen von Big Tech Sturm gegen die mögliche Regulierung. Bericht von @corporateeurope.org:

Trump TikTok impact, privacy. www.mi-3.com.au/27-01-2026/n...

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Good to see the Commission reacting to the latest horrors - but the opened cases are taking far too long, while the damage to people & our democracies is ongoing - on all of the major platforms. Commission investigates #Grok and #X, #DigitalServicesAct: ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Palantir tötet und ist offensichtlich verfassungswiedrig im Einsatz: Ohne Palantir könnte ICE seine Deportationsziele nicht erreichen! USA: Die Architektur der Abschiebung und Palantirs Rolle im neuen ICE-System "Die US-Einwanderungsbehörde ICE digitalisiert..." www.heise.de/hintergrund/...

The latest evidence that broadcasting people’s movements and intimate data in the Real-Time Bidding online advertising system is truly dangerous. www.wired.com/story/ice-as...

Done, looking forward 💪🏽

Heute Abend. Mit Dolmetschung in Deutsch und Englisch. Anmeldung und Details: europe-calling.de/webinar/empi...

Was soll das? Und ganz vorne wieder mit dabei: die völlig entfesselte Skandalhorde „Polizei Berlin“, politisch verantwortlich für sie ist übrigens die SPD Berlin! Die lässt alles laufen. Seit Jahren! Polizei Berlin versucht sich um den Preis „Beamte des Jahres“ verdient zu machen.

The Trump administration’s pressure on European regulators is having an impact, with fewer restrictions on Big Tech and canceled measures. wrd.cm/3XibTVd

"Digitale Auslöschung": Wie US-Sanktionen einen europäischen Richter lahmlegen. Sämtliche Konten des Richters bei US-Unternehmen wurden geschlossen. Dazu zählen Amazon, Airbnb und PayPal. www.derstandard.at/story/300000...

Parliament is also calling for "a ban on sites not complying with EU rules". LOL Same energy

Kinderschutz ja - aber nicht unter dem Vorwand biometrische Überwachungssysteme zu etablieren, bei denen Kinder Gesichtsaufnahmen oder Ausweisdaten an externe Dienstleister zu übermitteln: www.heise.de/news/EU-Parl...

London.

when its definitely not a hostage situation

Wow, how useful this is! We can now use the same AI that drives climate change and contributes to "extreme events"... to model and prepare for disasters! 🤦‍♀️ ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

The biggest source for any DSA investigation into addictive design features might not be platforms' risk assessments, but the more than 6 million documents that are part of the pretrial discovery process in the US www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Grand opening, grand closing. X quietly disabled a new feature that showed which country an account was posting from when it revealed that lots of popular right wing MAGA accounts were being run from foreign countries like India and Nigeria.

Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege www.reuters.com/sustainabili... #DSA

Ok transparency is nice and stuff... but when will mitigation measures and sanctions be imposed on non-compliant platforms? #DSA

Prepare for the EU Parliament plenary session next week: 🛡 EU Democracy Shield 👾 Digital Package #digitalomnibus 👶 Protection of minors online #AgeVerification #AgeBans #EPplenary

#DigitalOmnibus #Simplification www.politico.eu/article/eu-t... 🧐

The @ec.europa.eu and EPP president Von Der Leyen's shameful capitulation on Europe's tech regulation to Trump and his fascist tech bro posse. 2/3 of Europeans described the summer trade deal with the US as "a humilation". How much lower can you go?! We will neither forgive nor forget.

The European Commission seems to believe that rights are an obstacle to competitiveness and innovation, but real innovation means finding ways to make new technologies work for everyone’s benefit, writes Amnesty Tech's Joshua Franco.

So, now that the #digitalomnibus has been proposed to make US big tech and AI companies even more powerful, when does the tariff rollback come?

#DigitalOmnibus: I had truly hoped that the COM would backpedal on the most crazy shit... but they didn't. The US gov be like:

It is confirmed: the Commission proposes to legalise the current practice of harmful exploitation of people's personal data for the purpose of AI system training. #digitalomnibus

JOB OPPORTUNITY- open to candidates remote within the US: @techpolicypress.bsky.social seeks an Assistant Editor to manage audience and contributor engagement! More details here: jobs.gusto.com/postings/tec...

Press conference on the "Digital simplification package" #digitalomnibus about to start. Live here: audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en

If you are waiting for the #digitalomnibus package publication, you will find it here: ec.europa.eu/transparency... (hit refresh!) The press conference is about to start!

Great to see @alexandrageese.bsky.social on fire. Takeaways: 1. EU capital investing in US tech instead of European 2. Public procurement power not deployed to prefer EU tech 3. The unbelievable admiration(!) in EC circles for big tech. But momentum building for building OUR tech #EuroSkyLive

Under pressure. We have fought for our 🇪🇺 digital safety laws. Some want to unravel them. We must not give in. Op-ed @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Caroline Stage Olsen, Minister for Digital Affairs: "I have no holy cows in simplification." #DigitalSovereignty

In our corner of the room, we think: - European preference in procurement is a start (with conditionalities) - DMA cloud investigations a badly needed move (but let's hit the gas, please) - Omnibus: has European tech business asked for this? Or Big Tech? Not the ones I talk to. I'd be wary, here.

There are sooooo many dark and addictive patterns in games today - so this website is helps identify them and gives you a list of "healthy games": www.darkpattern.games #gaming #darkpatterns

In a recent edition of The Torment Nexus, I wrote about Wikipedia, which I argued was one of the best things the internet ever created. There is another thing that ranks right up there with Wikipedia on the list of great things, and that is the Internet Archive mathewingram.com/work/2025/11...

Microsoft, Google say their data centers create thousands of jobs. Their permit filings say otherwise https://restofworld.org/2025/data-centers-jobs-microsoft-google-chile/?utm_campaign=row-social&utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_content=1763146621

The Saudis are buying Electronic Arts in a massive $55 billion deal — but why would they want a games publisher? This week @nathangrayson.bsky.social joins @parismarx.com to discuss how Saudi Arabia uses games to try to improve its image. Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/302_...

Digitaler Omnibus: „Größter Rückschritt für digitale Grundrechte in der Geschichte der EU“ #digitalomnibus #GDPR #AIAct netzpolitik.org/2025/digital...

The International Criminal Court is ditching Microsoft Office, saying it’s too dependent on US tech, in favor of Open Desk, a German open source alternative. The move comes after Microsoft revoked ICC head Karim Khan’s email access when he was sanctioned by the US for the warrant against Netanyahu.

This is way worse for civic rights and German democracy than you might fathom.