The Call for Proposals for the first Open Technology Research (OTR) Symposium 2026 is still open until this Sunday 5 July! -- CFP Deadline: 5 July 2026 -- Symposium Dates: 26–27 October 2026 -- Location: Universitat de Barcelona | Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain symposium.opentechresearch.org

#MozFest 2026 Call for Proposals is open ⚡ We're not looking for talks about the alternative. We're looking for proof of it. Submit your idea to one of our eight, unique community tracks by May 24 🌿 We can’t wait to see your work👀 mzl.la/42Vajv1

What if we stopped building technology on corporate terms? #MozFest 2026 theme: Wilding 🌿 An invitation to return to the edges of what tech can be. Barcelona Oct 28–30 €42 🌿 mzl.la/4smJXg2

Meta is dropping encrypted messages from Instagram DMs from 8 May. This means that your all private conversations will be readable by Meta, shareable with advertisers, and subpoenable by courts. Privacy should be a default. Sign our petition. www.mozillafoundation.org/petitions/ke...

How do we stop LLMs from flattening culture? Join EM Lewis-Jong, CEO of @mozdatacollective.bsky.social, and Slow AI's Dr. Sam Illingworth live at 9am ET TODAY as they discuss why language and culture should exist in multitudes. open.substack.com/live-stream/...

AI made code generation extremely fast. Human reasoning about code is still slow. That gap changes where reliability lives in software systems. Observability, staged rollouts, isolation, and fast rollback become central pieces of engineering practice. Full post:

Commission registers European Citizens' Initiative calling for a European social media platform that “would form an alternative" to the current ones and "work as a service for the society". ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

For the millions who have no other access to mental health support and who may already rely on AI tools for support in times of need, we must urgently confront how such technologies can be most helpful and least harmful, write Claire Leibowicz and Emily Saltz.

🚨 Call now open: Democracy x AI Incubator Mozilla Foundation is funding working AI systems that strengthen information, transparency, and civic space, and have a proven track record of serving people for the better. $50K USD + 12 months of support. Apply by March 16, 2026⏰ mzl.la/4aL3ukp

French Competition Authority study on competition issues related to the energy and environmental impact of AI. www.autoritedelaconcurrence.fr/fr/communiqu... They identify three types of issues 👇

Something that hasn't been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features. We've been calling it the AI kill switch internally. I'm sure it'll ship with a less murderous name, but that's how seriously and absolutely we're taking this. …

Mozilla Fellows change how the world thinks about data, AI, privacy, and power. If someone you know is doing work that lifts us all forward, nominate them for the 2026 cohort. #MozillaFellow https://bit.ly/48vBijf

Why does transparency matter? Just last Friday, X became extremely transparent. Their "about this account" feature reveals that foreign actors and inauthentic activity still dominate the platform, driven by monetary reward. www.bbc.com/news/article...

We have no idea what content is most viral on YouTube, Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or X — because they refuse to share basic data. ✍️Alongside @algorithmwatch.org, we're demanding platform transparency. Join us: www.mozillafoundation.org/en/campaigns...

@netzpolitik.org has the latest #ChatControl draft text and analysis

Our Investigations Team has commenced a formal investigation into the provider of the X online platform (X), under the EU Digital Services Act (DSA). The investigation will assess whether X has contravened Article 20 of the DSA. cnam.ie/coimisiun-na...

Today in Tech Policy Press: @markscott.bsky.social and our coordinator @lkseiling.bsky.social write about the precarious state of data access - and the care required to realise its potential as a foundational democratic function. The full article is freely accessible through the link below ⬇️

Mozilla Festival 2025 is Nov 7-9 in Barcelona w/ 500+ session hosts, 200+ experiences, talks, labs, forums, film screenings, & installations. Keynotes @xychelsea.tv @audreyt.org @ruha9.bsky.social If you haven't gotten your festival badge, use code MOZSEHER 🎟️ @mozilla.org www.mozillafestival.org

If you're short on time, you can find a summary of our investigation into data brokers endangering Europe's security here #databrokerfiles netzpolitik.org/2025/databro...

📣 I am hiring a postdoc! aial.ie/hiring/postd... applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome pls share with your networks

Last month, #NothingPersonal gave #WhatsApp a 6/10 for privacy 📱 Good news: they’re now adding encrypted chat backups using fingerprint or face ID. Progress? Yes. Perfect? Not yet. See what else needs fixing — and how you can protect your data 👇 🔗 mzl.la/43cIoHK

Python Foundation goes ride or DEI, rejects government grant with strings attached

The International Criminal Court is ending its dependency on Big Tech cloud solution by adopting the open-source solution OpenDesk. Univention is part of this process. It is a critical step to insulate international organizations from political pressure. #opensource

"In the leaked document, Amazon executives warned that transparency was “a one-way door” and advised keeping its projections confidential, even as they feared inviting accusations of a cover-up" www.source-material.org/amazon-leak-...

ec.europa.eu/commission/p... EC Preliminary Findings - Meta and TikTok in breach of their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the #DigitalServicesAct

SOV-8 refers to Environmental Sustainability factors It's weighted lowest, but still present.

Global Encryption Day is for celebrating the wild idea that maybe platforms could protect us on purpose🔐 Join in the celebration and sign our petition to help protect encryption worldwide ✍️ mzl.la/48GTOag #encryption

Today's AWS outage, which affected a range of websites and applications—from Signal to Fortnite to key UK government services—reveals the dangers of relying on a handful of Big Tech firms, write Article 19's Corinne Cath and Don Le. These are not glitches; they are democratic failures, they say.

No noise. All signal. Nothing Personal. Meet Nothing Personal — a new counterculture magazine from the Mozilla Foundation. We’re handing the mic to the people rebuilding digital culture from the ground up. mzl.la/3KOMiQF #NothingPersonal #MakeGoodTech

👏 @mallory.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy P.S. get more @index.internet.exchangepoint.tech.ap.brid.gy goodness at #MozFest this November www.mozillafestival.org/en/

Perplexity, despite its modest size, gave $1M to Trump’s inaugural - so this tracks.

From Africa to Asia, a movement is threatening Big Tech's business model of harvesting data abroad while keeping profits at home New from @tarykuh.bsky.social: restofworld.org/2025/big-tec...

BEUC is currently looking for a Digital Policy officer to reinforce its Digital Team. Reporting directly to the Head of Digital Policy, you will be in charge of coordinating BEUC’s advocacy work on simplification of the EU digital rulebook and supporting team members on specific files.

#SHEIN was fined €40 million by French authorities on Thursday after an investigation found the Chinese fast-fashion giant had misled #consumers about its discounts and environmental impact. 🎉 Source […]

📢 Big news for platform researchers across Europe and beyond: Today, the @ec.europa.eu adopted the Delegated Act for Article 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA) – a long-anticipated milestone enabling researchers to request access to non-public platform data under Article 40.4.

"Cloudflare will now block AI crawlers by default—a quiet but radical reversal of the status quo where bots could crawl first and ask questions never" #infrastructure www.linkedin.com/posts/radsch...

Looking forward to the discussion!

Among AliExpress's announced binding commitments: A commitment to enable researchers who meet the criteria set out in Article 40.12 #DSA to independently access and use public data to analyse systemic risks via automated means, such as ‘data scraping’. digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/comm...

🧵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-...

Supported by @mozilla.org, this report argues that in light of the changing AI landscape and recent geopolitical shifts, the UK’s strongest bet for realising its AI ambitions for sovereignty, deployment, and influence is to lean into open-source. 🔓

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch documented how major companies operating in the US are misclassifying gig workers as independent contractors. Hear more from experts on "The Gig Trap" and labor rights ⤵️

Happy #WorldInternetDay from Taiwan's Cyber Ambassador, first Digital Minister, and Mozilla Foundation's newest, Senior Advisor, @audreyt.org 🥳 More to come from Audrey 🔜

This is a big deal. This preliminary finding that TikTok's ad repository is insufficient under the DSA is itself the result of - and will hopefully help contribute to - strong independent platform research.

Gleich geht es los! Gemeinsam mit @democracyreporting.bsky.social haben wir X auf Zugang zu Forschungsdaten verklagt. Ziel war mit den Daten eine mögliche Beeinflussung vor der Bundestagswahl zu erforschen. Heute wird vor dem Berliner Landgericht verhandelt.

Have an idea to help shape the future of tech? We're inviting you to submit a proposal to host a talk, forum, or hands-on lab at #MozillaFestival in Barcelona this fall. Let’s rethink tech together—submit by May 21. mzl.la/cfp

🚀 New Lumigator Updates Are Live! ✅ Provided better translation support with Opus-MT models and G-Eval integration. ✅ Expanded evaluator capabilities by integrating DeepEval's Ollama. ✅ Refreshed the Experiments UI with new features and improvements. 👉 Try it out: github.com/mozilla-ai/l...

📢 We’re launching the 2nd edition of the #4DAwards! ✨ Looking for #DigitalRights fighters with real solutions for a #DemocraticDigitalisation 🏆 2 prizes of €15,000. 📅 Applications open until 18/5 Organised by: @X_net_ @puntCAT 🔗 4d.cat/en/award/

🛡️The new European Democracy Shield (EDS) is being prepared by the European Commission and will cover the EU’s key work in supporting #democracy. 📌 How can it effectively protect and boost democracy? With 49 organisations, EPD has laid out the priorities and recommendations for an effective EDS. 🧵

"Strong encryption isn’t the enemy of security — it is security"

The Irish digital services regulator Coimisiún na Meán is running a public survey about how researcher access to data under the Digital Services Act (#DSA) can meet the needs of researchers. If you do platform research, share your views before March 26. www.cnam.ie/industry-and...