I’m going to keep today’s newsletter short as it’s the Friday of Memorial Weekend here in the United States, which means you shouldn’t be sitting in front of a computer. Me? I have some crab pots to go check and a pool calling my name. I caught my first two crabs of the season, and they were delicious for breakfast, along with some scrambled eggs.
Another heck of a week, though. In a non-shocking twist, Governor DeSantis’ announcement with Elon Musk had a few technical hiccups. Casey Newton has the inside story here of what happened. The TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) is that they simply don’t have many engineers on it and didn’t stress test the system.
I know some people think that doing things on the internet is as simple as flipping a switch, but it takes A LOT of prep work to make something like that go off smoothly.
Musk tweeted afterward that any presidential candidate is welcome on the platform. I wonder how many will take him up on that?
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. If you are looking for some stuff to read, below are some links from the past few days that have caught my eye.
What I’m Reading
Roll Call: AI could sway the 2024 elections, campaign pros say — but not like you think
Politico Pro: Twitter to pull back from Europe’s disinformation crusade
Newsmobile.in: Biden-NAMo Summit on June 22: Here is what is on the White House menu
PCWorld: Microsoft will ID its AI art with a hidden watermark
The Atlantic: Nextdoor's Volunteer Moderation Struggles with Local Election Misinformation
Stanford IO: The Trust & Safety Teaching Consortium
Standford: AI: Reporting on the New Battleground of Disinformation, Election Integrity, and Governance
CDT (Center for Democracy & Technology): Lost in Translation: Large Language Models in Non-English Content Analysis
The Wall Street Journal: Elon Musk Wants to See an AI Rival to Google, Microsoft
The New York Times: Driver’s Licenses, Addresses, Photos: Inside How TikTok Shares User Data
NDI (National Democratic Institute): Statement Congratulating President Derek Mitchell on Five Years of Extraordinary Leadership
Nature: People, not search-engine algorithms, choose unreliable or partisan news
The Washington Post: Tech’s ambassador to Washington gambles his career on AI
Wired: Deepfakes, Cheapfakes, and Twitter Censorship Mar Turkey’s Elections
Calendar
🚨NEW 🚨
June 22 - India state visit to the United States
Topics to keep an eye on:
Facebook 2020 election research
TV shows about Facebook - Doomsday Machine and second season of Super Pumped
May 24-26, 2023 - Nobel Prize Summit: Truth, Trust and Hope
May 28, 2023 - Turkey election runoff
May 30, 2023 - Atlantic Council Report Launch: Telegram, WeChat and WhatsApp useage in the United States
May: EU-India Trade and Technology Council meeting in Brussels
June 4, 2023 – Guinea Bissau election
June 5-9 - RightsCon
June 5 - 9 - WWDC - Apple developer event
June 5, 2023 - The European Commission, European parliament and EU member states are due to agree a final definition for political advertising
June 11, 2023 – Montenegro election
June 19, 2023 - Meta response due on COVID misinfo
June 24 - June 30 - Aspen Ideas Festival
June 24, 2023 – Sierra Leone election
June 25, 2023 – Guatemala election
TBD June: DFR Lab 360/OS
July 11-13, 2023 - TrustCon
July 2023 – Sudan election (likely to have further changes due clashes erupted mid-April, despite temporary humanitarian ceasefire,)
July 23, 2023 – Cambodia election
July or August 2023 – Zimbabwe election
August 10 - 13, 2023 - Defcon
August-2023 – Eswatini election
August 2023 - First GOP Presidential Primary Debate
Mid-September: All Tech Is Human - Responsible Tech Summit NYC
September 27-29, 2023: Athens Democracy Forum
September 28-29, 2023 - Trust & Safety Research Conference
TBD September: Atlantic Festival
TBD September: Unfinished Live
September 2023 – Bhutan election
September 2023 – Tuvalu election
September 9, 2023 – Maldives election
September 28-29, 2023 - The Atlantic Festival
September 30, 2023 – Slovakia election
September 2023 – Rwanda election
October 2023 – Oman election
October 2023 Poland election
October 8, 2023 – Pakistan election
October 10, 2023 – Liberia election
October 14, 2023 – New Zealand election
October 22, 2023 – Switzerland election
October 29, 2023 – Argentina election
October 2023 – Gabon election
October 2023 – Ukraine election
November 15, 2023 - Aspen Cyber Summit
November 20, 2023 – Marshall Islands election
November 29, 2023 – Argentina election
December 1-3, 2023: Build Peace 2023 Conference
December 20, 2023 – Democratic Republic of the Congo election
December 2023 –Togo election
2023 or 2024 – Peru election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Luxembourg election
TBD – Myanmar election
TBD – Spain election
TBD – Gabon election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Haiti election
TBD – Libya election
TBD – Singapore election
2024
January 2024 – Bangladesh election
January 2024 – Finland election
January 13, 2024 – Taiwan election
February 4, 2024 – El Salvador election
February 4, 2024 – Mali election
February 14, 2024 – Indonesia election
February 25, 2024 – Senegal election
February 25, 2024 – Belarus election
March 17, 2024 – Russia election
March 31, 2024 – Ukraine election
April 10, 2024 – South Korea election
April 2024 – Solomon Islands election
April 2024 – Maldives election
May 5, 2024 – Panama election
May 19, 2024 – Dominican Republic election
June 2024 – Mongolia election
June 6-9, 2024 - EU Parliament Elections
July 7, 2024 – Mexico election
July 15 - 18, 2024 - Republican National Convention
August 19 - 22, 2024 - Democratic Convention, Chicago
October 27, 2024 – Uruguay election
October 2024 – Mozambique election
October 2024 – Chad election
November 2024 – Guinea Bissau election
November 2024 – Moldova election
November 2024 – Romania election
November 5, 2024 – United States of America election
November 12, 2024 – Palau election
December 2024 – Croatia election
TBD – Algeria election
TBD – Austria election
TBD – Belgium election
TBD – Botswana election
TBD – Burkina Faso election
TBD – Chad election
TBD – Comoros election
TBD – Croatia election
TBD – Dominica election
TBD – Egypt election
TBD – Ethiopia election
TBD – Georgia election
TBD – Ghana election
TBD – Iceland election
TBD – India election
TBD – Iran election
TBD – Jordan election
TBD – Kiribati election
TBD – Kuwait election
TBD – Lithuania election
TBD – Madagascar election
TBD – Mauritania election
TBD – Mauritius election
TBD – Montenegro election
TBD – North Korea election
TBD – North Macedonia election
TBD – Romania election
TBD – Rwanda election
TBD – San Marino election
TBD – Slovakia election
TBD – South Africa election
TBD – South Sudan election
TBD – Syria election
TBD – Tunisia election
TBD – United States of America election
TBD – Uzbekistan election
TBD – Venezuela election