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Change is the Only Guarantee

Can governments, academia and other institutions move fast enough to keep up with a constantly evolving tech sector?

Katie Harbath
Jul 31
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Change is the Only Guarantee
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My favorite iconic red letter poster at Facebook says, “Every day feels like a week” meaning the company moved at a pace faster than pretty much any other industry. These last two weeks have certainly felt that way in the tech world as story after story unfurled like waves crashing on the beach. It can be impossible to keep up.

The thread amongst all of them is change. Companies, products, and policies are all changing. Some of them are changing within days. Instagram announced changes to its feed and then quickly reversed them when there was a backlash. (Notice no one seems to care about Facebook’s recent change to their feed.) Hulu said it wouldn’t take some issue ads and also quickly reversed when the Democrats loudly complained.

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Meta’s earnings call was full of change. When I was at the company and new employees would ask my advice I’d tell them that the only thing I could guarantee about the company is that it would be constantly changing. Yes, some themes and issues would remain consistent but how that work manifested itself and how the company would need to be structured to handle that would constantly evolve. If they wanted to succeed they would need to learn how to live in that kind of uncertainty, and chaos. The key was knowing where they could make an impact.

This has always been the culture of the company. Mark even addressed it in the earnings Q&A when he said, “But I think at the end of the day, what that really comes down to is just I try to push the company to be one that learns faster and just keeps iterating and moving faster than we did in the past than others in the industry do. And I think if we can do that well, then we’ll continue to succeed. But I think the moment that we stop doing that, then we’ll basically fall behind.”

This rapid iteration and hyper-focus on metrics I think is why people responded poorly to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri’s video about the changes. Listening to him I felt like I was back in a Facebook conference room with a bunch of engineers who just couldn’t understand why people were complaining when the data said something different. Instagram - and Meta as a whole - are operating off of data that says people are changing. The people haven’t recognized yet that they have. They think they want the Instagram of the past, but it’s not how they are using it.

This presents a challenge for all platforms. How much should they rely on what the users want versus coming up with new ideas or identifying what might be best for them? Ross Douthat in the New York Times wants fewer algorithms and more visionaries like the character Miranda Priestly in the Devil Wears Prada.

Moreover, how do we more quickly identify the harms that new technology might pose? Amongst all the news this week Jonathan Haidt wrote a follow-up to his widely read essay from back in April about how social media is undermining democracy. While he makes some good points I continue to worry that the institutions we want to hold tech accountable keep coming up with solutions to fix the way these platforms were in the past - not for where they are going in the future. Haidt is right that tech companies shouldn’t be the only ones to “move fast and test things.” We need governments and academia, in particular, to pick up the pace.

I also agree with Haidt that our future world will be built by, “[C]itizens who understand the forces that brought us to the verge of self-destruction, and who develop the new habits, virtues, technologies, and shared narratives that will allow us to reap the benefits of living and working together in peace.” We’re in the middle of reworking the social norms that we all live by. To do so things are going to be messy, chaotic, and full of change. No one organization, company, or person is going to be able to do everything. It’s too overwhelming. Best instead to embrace the chaos and find the things you can impact - even if they feel small.

What I’m Reading

  • Wall Street Journal: EU to Open San Francisco Office Focused on Tech Regulation 

  • The New Yorker: TikTok and the Fall of the Social-Media Giants

  • CNBC: Facebook's former CTO Mike Schroepfer explains why he's turning his attention to climate change 

  • Reuters: Kenya orders Meta's Facebook to tackle hate speech or face suspension 

  • The Star (Kenya): Matiang'i: We won't interfere with social media

  • Bloomberg: Elon Musk-Twitter Trial Will Start Oct. 17, Delaware Judge Rules

  • Washington Post: The GOP went to war against Google over spam — and may win 

  • Bloomberg: Chinese Government Asked TikTok for Stealth Propaganda Account 

  • Buzzfeed News: TikTok Owner ByteDance Distributed Pro-China Messages To Americans, Former Employees Say 

  • Reuters: Russia Today loses fight against EU ban, Moscow warns of retaliation 

  • Reuters: Tech giants to self-regulate in reducing harmful content in New Zealand 

  • Puck: Aspen’s World War III Rumblings 

  • Axios: Exclusive: Meta to study race in Instagram

  • CNN: GOP and the Press

  • Washington Post: DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw makes sure reporters feel the burn 

  • Land of Giants Podcast: Why Instagram Broke Its Square

Think Tanks/Academia/Government

  • Digital Trust & Safety Partnership: DTSP Safe Assessments Report

  • Mehlman Castagnetti: Backlash - The Counter-Revolutions Driving Politics & Policy

  • Stanford Public Policy Center: Governing artificial intelligence in the public interest 

  • Lawfare: After Dobbs, Democrats and Republicans Switch Places on Speech Policy 

  • NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence: Social Media Monitoring Tools: An In-Depth Look

  • TSE (Brazil), Meta, Womens Democracy Network: With the support of the TSE, Meta launches a guide to combat violence against women in politics

  • Columbia Journalism Review: Q & A: Is TikTok ready for the midterms?

Companies

  • Meta: Music Revenue Sharing: A New Way For Creators to Earn Money Through Facebook Videos

  • Meta: Putting People First: Protecting Privacy and Integrity 

  • Meta: Meta Asks Oversight Board to Advise on COVID-19 Misinformation Policies 

  • Meta: Expanding Our Third-Party Fact Checking Program in India 

  • Instagram: Understanding How Different Communities Experience Instagram 

  • TikTok: Strengthening our commitment to transparency

  • Twitter: Sharing our latest transparency update, marking decade long commitment 

Job Openings

  • Democracy Works: Openings for software engineer and director of HR

  • Atlantic Council DFR Lab: Variety of positions open. More info at link.

  • Atlantic Council: #DigitalSherlocks Scholarships 

  • Meta Oversight Board: Variety of positions open. More info at link.

  • Google: Fall 2022 Google Public Policy Fellowship for U.S. 

  • International Republican Institute (IRI): Director for Technology and Democracy

  • 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

  • August: Angola elections

  • August 2 - Arizona and Missouri Primaries (AZ Kelly defending Senate seat, MO open Senate race)

  • August 9 - Wisconsin Primary (Ron Johnson defending Senate seat)

  • August 9 - Kenya elections

  • September 11 - Sweden elections

  • September 13 - New Hampshire Primary (Hassan defending Senate seat)

  • September 13 - 27: UN General Assembly

    • Sept 20 - High level general debate begins

  • September 27 - 28: Trust Con

  • September 28 - 30: Athens Democracy Forum

  • September 29 - 30: Trust and Safety Research Conference

  • October: Twitter/Musk Trial (Dates not set yet)

  • October 2 and 30 - Brazil

  • October 17 - Twitter/Musk Trial Begins

  • November 8 - United States Midterms

  • Events to keep an eye on but nothing scheduled:

    • TicTech

    • Atlantic Ideas Festival

    • Code 2022 - Vox/Recode Silicon Valley Conference

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