Europe is rapidly rolling out age-verification — in the name of “child safety.” 🚷 But is it actually working? Our first audit found AgeGO’s selfie feature streamed biometric data straight to Amazon. 🪪 Our new report examines AgeVerif: What we found raises serious concerns. 👇

The deployment of age verification methods on the internet is not without risk for users, whether they are adults or minors. These methods require the processing of highly sensitive data such as biometric markers or identity documents, which can then be opaquely exchanged between entities.

🚨 "AI Slop" investigation: Platforms failing to label synthetic content We found: - 1 in 4 TikTok search results contain AI imagery - Specialized "Agentic AI Accounts" mass-produce synthetic content - 80%+ of AI content is photorealistic but unlabeled - Instagram desktop users see zero AI labels

📢 In a joint civil society effort, we filed a formal DSA complaint against 𝕏 (formerly Twitter) for violating Article 26(3) — which bans targeting ads based on sensitive data like sexuality, politics, religion, health. 📄 Read the joint statement: aiforensics.org/uploads/Join...

Behind the scenes of a UN “AI for Good” conference sponsored by @microsoft.com: mentions of the complicity of BigTech in enabling the genocide in Gaza gets censored. Thank you Abeba for your bravery and stature. Definitely the best talk there was to be seen there

En 2024 et 2025, une agence pro-Orbán a mené une campagne numérique occulte en faveur du Rassemblement national. Des dizaines de contenus ont été diffusés sur X sur la base d’un ciblage politique (ce qui est interdit), selon des données de l’ONG @aiforensics.org partagées avec @mediapart.fr. 👇

Wanna check if you've been targeted by ads based on sensitive data? Just drop your X portability archive to find out haveibeentargeted.online

In @aiforensics.org’s last study authored by @paulbouchaud.com we depict how advertisers use political and other sensitive user data to target ads on X aiforensics.org/work/sensiti...

🧵How TikTok failed Polish democracy during the 2025 Presidential Election Our new investigation exposes serious gaps in TikTok's election content moderation that disproportionately harmed the Polish diaspora : aiforensics.org/work/tiktok-...

For Europe to regain sovereignty over its digital infrastructure, we also need sovereign funding for the ecosystem that defends its integrity! The Sunstorm Foundation was just launched to rally a new generation of European, tech-savvy, and entrepreneurially-minded philanthropists to fill this gap

The most entertaining and apropos thing the internet has to offer this week!

We have two big announcements to share with you! free-our-feeds.ghost.io/free-our-fee...

Ok my called shot: we should think about an ATproto App Store. 1. DMA affords alternative App Stores in the EU. 2. ATproto apps can provide other types of guarantees to users. Where can users learn about apps? Nowhere right now.

This is in fact the idea of @knowtheory.net and @bmann.ca ! bsky.app/profile/know...

Yes! that was youchoose.ai an interesting proof of concept at the time

"This is a highly adversarial space, we are investing a lot in our detection systems..." Meanwhile, our latest report at @aiforensics.org found Meta reviewed, approved, and displayed fake medicine advertisements over 292 million times to EU users since the DSA took effect.

📣 Join @marcfaddoul.com discussing the vision behind @freeourfeeds.com! Learn how this movement aims to break free from billionaire-controlled platforms by developing AT infrastructure with a European focus. Hear their vision for promoting open, interoperable social platforms!

Highly recommend this excellent new podcast, where in first episode, we make the case for middlewares and algorithmic interoperability with contributions from @jonathanstray.bsky.social and others hucklemelon.org/episodes/ins...

📊 AI Forensics: A Year of Impact After a pivotal year, we've reached new organizational maturity as leaders in algorithmic auditing & platform accountability. See our annual report to know more: cmsbackend.aiforensics.org/uploads/aif_...

🔥 I just reconnected with 78 #X contacts on BlueSky with OpenPortability.org! Exercise your right to data portability with #OpenPortability 🎯 And 24 followers reconnected

23andMe bankruptcy is a privacy nightmare, although quite forseeable. If you did a test, delete your data ASAP! And thank the EU GDPR for introducing this consumer right, then mimiced by the California CCPA (but unfornately, not yet at a US federal level...) www.latimes.com/business/sto...

Marc Faddoul @marcfaddoul.com came representing Free Our Feeds @freeourfeeds.com, talking about Developing AT Infra, Ecosystem, and Governance He also hosted a discussion group to go into more detail and get feedback from the community. #ATmosphereConf

At the first @atproto.com conference! So inspiring to have a technically-savvy crowd that also shares such deep understanding of socio-technical implications Epic to see what @jay.bsky.team and the BlueSky team are up to, but also so many other AT projects on this growing and vibrant community!

What would you think of a country that had only one newspaper? Or one TV channel? Why am I asking — you're here on Bluesky, of course you care about feed freedom! You're loving algorithmic pluralism already. @sherifea.com and I have a paper for you: drive.proton.me/urls/XZ0NRTY... 🧵

The Economist gets this wrong. China, not Europe, has the world’s most onerous artificial intelligence regulation, and enforces much more robustly. The lesson of DeepSeek is not, as JD Vance claims, that safety standards hinder innovation. www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

This @bsky.app feature that allows you to choose your browser is refreshing and should be mandatory on every app! In-app browser lock-in is noxious and another way many platforms abuse their dominance

Join us this Sunday in Paris to lay a concrete roadmap for a positive future for social media. Followed by a meet-up and drinks! 🍷

"Everything I say leaks," Zuckerberg says in leaked meeting audio. "It sucks" www.404media.co/zuckerberg-s...

Our latest research from @paulbouchaud.com in collab with @checkfirst.network and Reset highlights once again why moderating and regulating Meta and other platforms is necessary

The Free Our Feeds project is building an independent foundation. More info here: freeourfeeds.com

Social media should be publicly-governed infrastructure, optimized for users' best interest, not profit With a dozen of public interest technologists, including the directors of Mozilla and Avaaz, we propose a concrete roadmap to make that happen #FreeOurFeeds from corporate and political capture!

On Meta, you can pay yourself out of moderation. Read our latest research covered today in @washingtonpost.com aiforensics.org/work/meta-po...

It's intriguing to see these #FreeOurFeeds posters showing up all over. A friend saw the same in SF earlier this week.

I just used this super cool migration tool to export your Twitter profile and following base to Bluesky! #algorithmicPluralism is on it's way... congrats @chavalarias.bsky.social and team!

For those who still repeat the corporate propaganda that “regulation is bad for consumers and innovation”… You can thank European regulation for the USB-C port on your Mac and iPhone, worldwide. And just like for the GDPR, DSA, or AI Act, companies lobbied hard against it In force starting today

Tragically, the risk of influencer-driven election manipulation which I was highlighting at the European Parliament earlier this year became a reality during the Romanian election on TikTok. The ballot was canceled as a consequence, deeply fragilizing the democratic process.

@cram.bsky.social participe à la deuxième édition du Sommet Grand Continent, du 4 au 6 décembre en Vallée d’Aoste. Les séances plénières et les entretiens exclusifs conduits dans le cadre du Sommet peuvent être visionnés ci-dessous : legrandcontinent.eu/fr/videotheq...

Lien complet de l'étude. Bravo à l'équipe de @cram.bsky.social pour ce superbe boulot ! aiforensics.org/work/searchi...

Excellente explication des avantages de @bsky.app et du potentiel de son protocole AT pour permettre le pluralisme algorithmique! 👏

Don't miss this brilliant investigation by AI Forensics! Insightful & precise. Very happy to be mentioned twice: for our #FacebookHustles research and our recent study with Mozilla. -- @cram.bsky.social

Today the journey of Tracking Exposed https://tracking.exposed comes to an end, and you can find the story of its 7 years, with successes, challenges, partners and discoveries. -- A new NGO has taken its place, under the name https://aiforensics.org

You got my attention! blueskyweb.xyz/blog/3-30-2023-algorithmic-choice The idea of a marketplace for recommender systems is intriguing. We've dabbled in something similar with YouChoose.ai where we hijacked YouTube's recommendations on users'devices. But this decentralized protocol is impressive