Friday Link Roundup
All the things I’m reading and what I'm dressing up as for my brother's Presidents' Day themed birthday party
I’m starting to feel like Carmen Sandiego when writing these newsletters, as I always seem to be in a new spot! That means travel is picking back up, which I’m both loving and remembering how exhausting it is.
Today I come to you from the Delta lounge at the Minneapolis airport. I missed my connection on my way home to Green Bay for my brother’s birthday. That means six hours to crank out some work.
I don’t usually go home for my brother’s birthday, but his friends this year picked a theme that I just HAD to be a part of. Since Presidents’ Day was Monday and he’s turning 35 - the minimum age one has to be President - they are throwing a presidents’ theme party.
It will not shock those who know me that I have gotten INTO it. I made campaign posters, stickers, and even a commercial. We all must come dressed as our favorite civic-themed character, and I’m going as a demon sheep. (If you are going like this 🧐 right now, you are missing out on this classic web video from 2010. I highly encourage you to watch.)
Feel free to follow me on Instagram to get the full play-by-play of the weekend.
For this week’s newsletter, I will try a format one of you suggested when I asked for feedback at the end of last year. I'm following so many news stories this week that I wanted to do a round-up of them. Rather than just posting the link, I’m also offering a few lines about what they are about. I’m also grouping them together more by topic or region versus the publication type.
Let me know if you like this format! Also, if you haven’t upgraded as a paid subscriber yet, please consider doing so. For $50 a year or $5 a month, you’ll get exclusive content and full access to the archives. Your support allows me to spend more time researching and writing.
🗞️ Press Hits
Left, Right & Center Podcast: Can Biden get Americans to support Ukraine long-term?
Don’t let the title fool you, as that’s one segment of this podcast I was on where I talk in the second block about the Supreme Court arguments on tech this week along with Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur.
🇺🇦 Ukraine Invasion - One Year Later
AP: Word war: In Russia-Ukraine war, information became a weapon and TIME: Inside the Kremlin's Year of Ukraine Propaganda
An overview of the information environment around the war.
Atlantic Council: Narrative Warfare - How the Kremlin and Russian news outlets justified a war of aggression against Ukraine and Undermining Ukraine
The Atlantic Council is one of my favorite think tanks for understanding what is happening with information operations worldwide. This is their comprehensive roundup of how Russia has weaponized information over the past year.
Graphika: How to Lose Influence and Alienate People
This report looks at how reach for Russian state media went down after Meta took action on some accounts across Facebook and Instagram.
Meta: Protecting Public Debate During the War in Ukraine and Protests in Iran
For the one-year anniversary, Meta published “updates on our actions related to the Russia-Ukraine war and the protests in Iran, including the steps we’ve taken in the last year to protect public debate and people’s ability to connect, share information, and make their voices heard in these crises.”
Wired: The Kremlin Has Entered Your Telegram Chat
While platforms like Meta and Google took strong actions against Russian state media, others like Telegram have been a lot more hands-off.
Tech Policy Press: Globally, Russia May Actually Be Winning the Information War
Joshua Tucker says that “when looking beyond the United States and the EU, within Russia and several countries in the Global Majority, the picture is much less clear. Indeed, one year after the invasion, Russia may be winning the information war in much of the world.”
🏛️ The Justices Enter the Chat
SCOTUSblog: “Not, like, the nine greatest experts on the internet”: Justices seem leery of broad ruling on Section 230
No one is quite sure exactly how the Justices will rule after hearing arguments this week about if tech companies should be held liable for the content they recommend - but the consensus seems to be that things are leaning in the companies’ favor to keep Section 230 in place.
Bloomberg: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Backed by The Onion
The court turned away an appeal from a man arrested for making fun of his local police department on Facebook. What made this case extra interesting - and fun - is the brief that the Onion filed as part of it.
🇺🇸 American Politics
Wesleyan Media Project: Digital Advertising in the 2022 Midterms
One of the first studies I’ve seen about where dollars went for digital ads. I’m worried that with the shift to platforms that don’t have transparency efforts we could be in the dark again for 2024. As Erika Franklin Fowler puts it, “The Meta and Google ad libraries are invaluable sources of data … but the declines from 2020, particularly on Meta, suggest candidates are likely pursuing diverse digital investments across platforms, some with no transparency or capacity to track spending and content.”
Wesleyan Media Project: Television Advertising in the 2022 Midterms
TV advertising is still very much valuable to campaigns. This report looks at four themes:
First, there was a record volume of television advertising for a midterm election. Despite frequent claims that traditional ads would begin to decline, the air war featured more spots than in 2014 and 2018.
Second, Democrats continued to dominate ad totals, a trend that persisted from congressional elections in 2020 and 2018.
Third, the agenda shifted to a discussion of abortion and inflation, two issues that were barely mentioned in political ads in prior cycles.
Finally, outside groups remained a dominant force in many campaigns, but while their investments in prior cycles tended to be focused on Senate races, groups were also heavily involved in House races in 2022
Nextgov: House Oversight Subcommittee Ranking Members, Assignments Announced
More announcements about which members will be taking up some key subcommittee assignments about tech!
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans will hold their first presidential primary debate in Milwaukee
Mark your calendars! We’re looking at the first GOP presidential primary debate in Milwaukee in August of 2023. Milwaukee is also where the GOP convention will be in 2024.
Newsweek: Trump's Truth Social Dilemma
Don’t worry if you missed that February 20th was the first anniversary of Truth Social going live in the app store - so did I. Now that Trump can post on Facebook and Twitter again will he abandon the app to get more reach?
AP: Drama of McCarthy's election may open House to more cameras
Political geeks love them some C-SPAN. We really loved C-SPAN during the Speaker vote as there were no rules for the cameras so we got to see a lot more action. That’s led to a push to allow more access and it sounds like McCarthy’s office is considering it.
💃 Smart people - especially women - I listen to
Code for All: Combatting Misinformation: The Role of Local Leaders
This is an interview with Nichole Sessego - one of my former Facebook colleagues and a fellow Integrity Institute member - where she shares which approaches to managing misinformation she’s found particularly effective.
Lisa Kaplan is a badass who has built a start-up helping to fight misinformation.
🌍 Around the World
Integrity Institute: Misinformation Amplification in the Nigerian Election
Saturday, Nigeria goes to the polls, and Integrity Institute co-founder Jeff Allen looks at how much misinformation is being amplified ahead of Election Day.
WSJ: Google Blocks News Results in Some Canadian Searches
From the WSJ, “Google unit is blocking news content on its search function in Canada for some of its users, as it tests ways to respond to proposed legislation that would force online platforms to pay media organizations for links to their stories.”
Institute for Global Change: A New National Purpose: Innovation Can Power the Future of Britain
The Tony Blair Institute is out with a report about what they think the U.K. needs to do to in this new age of “innovation and invention.”
BFMTV (France) - Twitter, Facebook: Why Paid Subscriptions Could Become an Election Headache
In France, it’s against the rules for politicians to run ads six months before Election Day. Rolling out paid verification services that come with a boosting of content could cause some electoral headaches for the platforms and politicians alike.
Future of Privacy Forum: Overview of regulatory strategies of European Data Protection Authorities for 2023 and beyond
A doc for the EU policy geeks out there.
Brazilian Report: Tech roundup: Brazil pivots on social media regulation
There was talk in Brazil of the new President trying to curb the spread of anti-democratic speech on social media through a provisional decree. They’ve scrapped that and are now back looking for legislative solutions.
New York Times: Mexico Hobbles Election Agency That Helped End One-Party Rule
I used to point to the Mexican Electoral Commission (INE) as a gold standard. Seeing it being gutted ahead of their elections next year is disheartening.
Remember, AI isn’t just chatting with you via text and declaring its love for you. It’s also being used to create very real-looking avatars, such as those being used in Venezuela.
💻 From the Tech Companies
Tech Crunch: Elon Musk suggests Twitter could open source its algorithm ‘next week’
I’ll believe it when I see it. In other news, Twitter hasn’t published a transparency report since Musk took over.
TikTok: TikTok Supporting independent research
I’ll leave it to the researchers to determine how helpful TikTok’s efforts are here, but good sign that they’re trying to make it easier for researchers to know what’s happening.
Meta: How We're Improving Facebook’s Penalty System
Meta is trying to be more clear and transparent about the strikes and penalties people may get when they violate the rules. This is in response to recommendations from the Oversight Board.
Bonus Content
Justice Kagan’s quote this week is likely to go down in history with such as greats as “It’s a series of tubes” and “Senator, we run ads.”
I’ve started a paid version of this newsletter! For $50 a year or $5 a month, you’ll get exclusive content and full access to the archives. Please consider upgrading! Your support allows me to spend more time researching and writing.
Calendar
Have an event you want me to include? Reply to this email and send me the details.
🚨NEW 🚨
March 10, 2023: SXSW - Why You Should Care About Integrity Design In Tech
Integrity Institute co-founders Jeff Allen and Sahar Massachi will be in Austin to share their journey from working in big tech to founding a non-profit, as well as stories about what it’s like to work at a platform when your work turns up in the news every day.
Going to SXSW? So am I! Let me know if you want to meet up while there.
March 14, 2023: Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy: Where’s my data? The problematic legacy of data-driven campaigning
What interested me in this event is that this panel is going to explore data-driven campaigning in UK elections, and what we might expect in 2023/24.
Topics to keep an eye on:
YouTube Decision on Trump Reinstatement
Facebook 2020 election research
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
February 17-19, 2023 - Munich Security Conference
February 21, 2023 - SCOTUS hears Gonzalez v Google
February 21, 2023 - Berkman Klein Center, Gonzalez v. Google Live Analysis
February 22, 2023 - SCOTUS hears Twitter v. Taamneh
February 23 - 24: Designing Technology for Social Cohesion
February 25, 2023 - Nigeria Election
February 2023 - Djibouti Election
February 2023 - Monaco Election
March 1, 2023 - All Tech is Human: Tech & Democracy: A Better Tech Future Summit
March 2, 2023 - 2023 V-Dem Democracy Report Launch
March 5, 2023 - Estonia Election
March 6, 2023 - Meta response to cross-check due
March 10 - 19: SXSW (Here’s the panel I’ll be on! And this is one with the Integrity Institute.)
March 23, 2023: TikTok CEO Congressional Hearing
March 23, 2023 - Dead line for companies to have to comply with Jordan subpoena
March 20 - 24, 2023: Mozilla Fest
March 29 - 30, 2023: Summit for Democracy
March 2023 - Antigua and Barbuda Election
March 2023 - Federated States of Micronesia Election
March 2023 - Guinea Bissau Election
March 2023 - Sierra Leone Election
April 30, 2023 - Benin Election
April 30, 2023 - Paraguay Election
April 2023 - Andorra Election
April 2023 - Finland Election
April 2023 - Montenegro Election
May 7, 2023 - Thailand Election
May 15-16: Copenhagen Democracy Summit
June 5-9: RightsCon
June 24 - June 30: Aspen Ideas Festival
June 25, 2023 - Guatemala Election
June 25, 2023 -Turkey Election
TBD June: DFR Lab 360/OS
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
July 2023 - Cambodia Election
July 2023 - Timor-Leste Election
July 2023 - Zimbabwe Election
August 6, 2023 - Greece Election
August 2023 - Eswatini Election
August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 - Mauritania Election
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
October 8 - 12: Internet Governance Forum - Japan
October 10, 2023 - Liberia Election
October 12, 2023 - Pakistan Election
October 14, 2023 - New Zealand Election
October 22, 2023 - Switzerland Election
October 2023 - Argentina Election
October 2023 - Luxembourg Election
October 2023 - Oman Election
November 12, 2023 - Poland Election
November 20, 2023 - Marshall Islands Election
November 29, 2023 - Ukraine Election
November 2023 - Bhutan Election
November 2023 - Gabon Election
November 2023 - Rwanda Election
December 10, 2023 - Spain Election
December 2023 - Bangladesh Election
December 2023 - Democratic Republic of the Congo Election
December 2023 - Togo Election
TBD - Belarus Election
TBD - Cuba Election
TBD - Equatorial Guinea Election
TBD - Guinea Election
TBD - Madagascar Election
TBD - Maldives Election
TBD - Myanmar Election
TBD - Singapore Election
TBD - South Sudan Election - (Unlikely to happen)
TBD - Turkmenistan Election
TBD - Tuvalu
TBD - Haiti
July 15-18, 2024 - Republican National Convention