A year later - where are we?
It’s been a year since I started writing this newsletter. So much has happened.
Hello from Green Bay, Wisconsin where Mercury in retrograde continues her reign as COVID has finally gotten to me. I had tested negative before getting on the plane to Madison for an event I was supposed to speak at on Tuesday, but that night I started to not feel great and by morning I was positive. Thankfully the symptoms have been mild and I was able to come home to wait out the quarantine. The power went out last night too - another thing I’m just going to blame on this energy.
This week I also passed my one-year anniversary of writing this newsletter. I’ve gone from a few hundred readers to a little over 2,600. Thank you all. Many of you have told me how you enjoy it and that means the world to me.
This milestone - plus the Twitter whistleblower and tech exec hearings this week - got me thinking about what has changed in the last year. So much of the focus tends to be more lamenting about how these hearings won’t actually cause any legislation to pass in Congress; yet, I think a lot has happened in different ways.
More former employees are speaking out. Whether it’s whistleblowers like Frances Haugen or Peiter Zatko; former colleagues of mine such as Brian Boland, Brandon Silverman, Samidh Chakrabarti; folks from the Integrity Institute; or myself - there are more people who have worked inside the companies who are wanting to speak out. Overall, I think this is a good thing as we need more people who understand these platforms from the inside out that can help explain the nuances and difficult tradeoffs on these issues. Moreover, we all don’t agree so it’s important to get various perspectives.
A great example is this fabulous piece Karan Lala and Josh Krivoshein - Integrity Institute members - published this week in the Information. In it, they explain why assuming that misinformation persists on social media because platforms are unwilling to get rid of it is “a gross and unhelpful oversimplification.” They then go on to walk through a super helpful framework of detection, enforcement and what the platforms can do vs won’t do to think about these problems. I’ve not seen anyone else talk about this in such as clear way.Graph from The Information
The conversation is expanding beyond just content moderation. Don’t get me wrong - content moderation is still a big part of the conversation, but it’s not the only part. The benefit of more former employees - especially product folks - speaking out is that it's educating policymakers and their staff more on the types of questions to ask social media executives on the metrics they use to evaluate their employees' performance, how they make decisions and how they design of their products. In just the last few weeks testimony by Facebook engineers as well as Zatko has brought more to light that Silicon Valley can’t keep track of your data as well as you might think - something the Washington Post wrote more about.
The states are doing something. Congress might be stuck when it comes to passing legislation but the states aren’t. Just last night the Fifth Circuit overturned a lower court ruling on Texas’ social media law passed last September. This sets up a potential showdown at the Supreme Court. In Washington State, a court found that Meta repeatedly violated their political ads law. (Sidenote: This is a whole other newsletter because this judge does not get the difference between buying ads for TV and Facebook. You think politicians don’t get how this stuff works - most judges definitely don’t.) And, in California this week Governor Newsom signed his own controversial social media law. Moreover, watch this space in 2023. Politico reported that 34 states have already introduced or passed laws aimed at tech companies’ moderation of content. I expect this to be a hot topic of conversation when the new state legislatures come into session after the midterms.
Europe is doing something. In June the European Commission announced an agreed-upon updated Code of Practice which holds tech companies to a series of requirements around fighting mis and disinformation on their platforms. In July they held the final vote to pass the Digital Services Act and Digital Marketing Act which will go into effect in 2024 - just in time for the European Union elections. Companies like TikTok are already announcing updated transparency measures to fulfill the requirements of these bills - which might filter across the Atlantic to the U.S. as well.
Congress is getting pinched from all sides. Between the bills in the states, potential Supreme Court fights, and the European legislation Congress is increasingly being pushed into a corner. Just look at how Speaker Pelosi had to comment on the California bill because of disagreements between it and the proposed federal legislation. I don’t think anything happens before the midterms and I’m not even sure if something happens before 2024, but I do think that the thing that might finally get Congress to act is going to be the need to reconcile all of the different state's bills.
It’s hard to see how this all does shake out. One thing I do know is that we are not looking at a one to two-year horizon. I still think we have years to go because just like life doesn’t stop at happily ever after - the problems don’t magically go away once regulation is passed. We now just go into a phase I’m very curious to watch which is - can the regulators actually enforce these laws well? Only time will tell.
PS: If you haven’t listened to the new remix of 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton and Kelly Clarkson I highly recommend you do.
What I’m Reading
New York Times: TikTok’s CEO Navigates the Limits of His Power
Washington Post: The Post announces new audience strategy, teams
AP: Fighting bogus claims a growing priority in election offices
Protocol: Roblox wants to shed its reputation as a kids-only platform
Rest of World: “Our main demand is not to get killed”: Mexican women find safety in location-tracking Facebook groups
NPR: Social media firms are prepping for the midterms. Experts say it may not be enough
NBC News: Disinformation via text message is a problem with few answers
Axios: Scoop: Meta merging content moderation teams for ads and user posts
Washington Post: Russia spent millions in secret global political campaign, U.S. says
The Atlantic: How Memes Led to an Insurrection
Reuters: How China became big business for Twitter, from blocking to blue checks
Kernel: Urgency and Agency in Technology Policy: A Conversation with Ifeoma Ozoma
TechCrunch: Facebook parent Meta launches startup accelerator with India’s IT ministry in metaverse push
Georgetown Hoya: GU Politics Fall Fellows Discuss Importance of Cross-Aisle Discourse Amid Rising Polarization
France24: TikTok search results rife with misinformation: report
The Information: We’ve Got Misinformation All Wrong
The Verge: California governor signs law requiring social networks to post moderation rules
WSJ: Social Network Parler Restructures, Focuses on ‘Uncancellable Economy’
Washington Post: White House announces tech company efforts to combat violent extremism
Think Tanks/Academia/Other
White House: FACT SHEET: White House Releases First-Ever Comprehensive Framework for Responsible Development of Digital Assets
Check My Ads: How Procter & Gamble ended up funding Steve Bannon’s War Room
The Social Media Analysis Toolkit (SMAT)
U.S. Digital Response: U.S. Digital Response Announces Search for Next CEO, New Board Appointment
Global Disinformation Index: Ad Tech Policy and Enforcement Gaps: Challenges and Solutions
Special Competitive Studies Project: Mid-Decade Challenges to National Competitiveness
Freedom House: Authoritarian Expansion and the Power of Democratic Resilience
Color of Change: The Black Tech Agenda
DFR Lab: How Chinese social media reacted to Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan visit
European Fact-Checking Standards Network: European Code of Standards for Independent Fact-Checking Organisations
NewsGuard: Misinformation Monitor: September 2022
UW-Madison: Team Receives $5 Million Award to Continue Research on Misinformation Correction
Data Nation (Podcast): Misinformation…Democracy’s Downfall?
European Union: European Media Freedom Act - Proposal for a Regulation and Recommendation
OONI: Azerbaijan and Armenia block TikTok amid border clashes
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Ruling on Netchoice v Paxton (Texas Social Media Bill)
Companies
Coinbase: Brian Armstrong on Integrating Policy Efforts Into App
Oversight Board: Oversight Board overturns Meta’s original decision in 'Colombian police cartoon' case
Oversight Board: Oversight Board overturns Meta’s original decision in ‘Mention of the Taliban in news
Oversight Board: Oversight Board announces new cases related to Nigeria and India
Job Openings
International Republican Institute - Program Associate - Technology & Democracy
Integrity Institute: Community Organizer, Partnerships and Operations Coordinator and Research Project Manager
Wellspring Philanthropic Fund: Program Director, Civil Society
Oversight Board: Senior Officer, Strategy & Development
Meta Oversight Board: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Freedom House: Policy and Advocacy Officer or Senior Policy and Advocacy Officer, Technology and Democracy
There are **many** open positions at Freedom House. Check them out here: https://freedomhouse.org/about-us/careers
National Endowment for Democracy: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program
Democracy Works: Openings for software engineer and director of HR
Atlantic Council DFR Lab: Variety of positions open. More info at link.
National Democratic Institute (NDI): Variety of positions open. More info at link.
Protect Democracy: Technology Policy Advocate
Calendar
Topics to keep an eye on that have a general timeframe of the first half of the year:
Facebook 2020 election research
Oversight Board opinion on cross-check
Senate & House hearings, markups, and potential votes
September 13 - 27: UN General Assembly
Sept 20 - High level general debate begins
September 14 - Senate Hearing on Social Media’s Impact on Homeland Security
September 15 - International Day of Democracy
September 21-23: Atlantic Festival
September 27 - 28: Trust Con
September 28 - 30: Athens Democracy Forum
September 29 - 30: Trust and Safety Research Conference
October 2 and 30: Brazil
October 15 - 22: SXSW Sydney
October 17: Twitter/Musk Trial Begins
November 8: United States Midterms
March 10 - 19: SXSW
March 20 - 24, 2023: Mozilla Fest