What I’m Reading - 10/1/23

Twitter attacks election integrity workers … again

Hello from the Delta Lounge of the San Francisco airport. Before I jump into a little bit of the Twitter and elections drama this week, I want to wish my mom and dad a happy 46th wedding anniversary. Love you both lots!

So, I’m still worked up over all the drama with Twitter this week.

For those of you who don’t follow along religiously, let me catch you up. On Monday, Casey Newton posted a story from Ireland about one of Twitter’s last election integrity employees getting a court to stop a disciplinary hearing against him that day. Turns out, Twitter had fired four employees in total. The stories say that the employees were told they were redundant, and the one who had gone to court was in trouble for liking tweets that were critical of Musk and the company. Elon Musk himself said, “Oh, you mean the 'Election Integrity' Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they're gone.”

Mike Masnik has a great write-up of the whole thing and more of the hypocrisy from Musk.

Then on top of that, Yoel Roth was interviewed by Kara Swisher at the Code Conference, with Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino being interviewed by CNBC’s Julia Boorstin after him. For as much as Yoel was calm and measured in his remarks, Linda was flustered and all over the place. I highly recommend you listen to both interviews.

I did write a much longer rant on this that I’m going to save for Wednesday’s newsletter - and probably Thursday’s podcast - but let me just say two things:

1. No employer should treat employees this way. Just as we are talking about the chilling effect of harassment on election officials and researchers - we also need to be keeping an eye on what it means for the trust and safety industry. Again, more of that on Wednesday.

2. Let’s not lose perspective and get distracted. Twitter is but one platform in a kaleidoscope of entities that will play a role in all of the 2024 elections. While we should hold them to account, let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture.

Hope you have a good Sunday. A lot happened this week, so let’s get to it.

Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics. 

What I’m Reading

Top News

1. The Hill: Supreme Court to Hear Cases on Florida and Texas Social Media Laws

US Politics

1. Politico: The Biden Campaign Now Wants to Go Viral

2. Politico: Move over Dark Brandon, this group wants to make Joe Cool a new meme

3. The New York Times: Progressive Fundraising Faces a Downturn

4. Politico: GOP Donors Give Up on Finding an Alternative to Trump

5. Knight Columbia: Yoel Roth - Getting the Facts Straight: Some Observations on the Fifth Circuit Ruling in Missouri v. Biden

6. Associated Press: RNC’s livestreaming partner for the GOP debate is a haven for disinformation and extremism

Latest Research

1. Sage Journals: The puzzle of misinformation: Exposure to unreliable content in the United States is higher among the better informed

2. JournalismAI: A global survey of what news organisations are doing with artificial intelligence

Resources

1. CEPA: Transatlantic Tech Policy Tracker

2. DisinfoEU: Platforms' Policies on AI Manipulated and Generated Misinformation

3. Carnegie Endowment: How Hype Over AI Superintelligence Could Lead Policy Astray

4. BSA: 2023 State Legislative Summary on AI

5. World Economic Forum: The global vs. local dilemma: Crafting cross-border solutions for online safety

Information Integrity

1. The Wall Street Journal: China Is Investing Billions in Global Disinformation Campaign, U.S. Says

2. The New York Times: E.U. Law Sets the Stage for a Clash Over Disinformation

3. Associated Press: Musk’s X is the biggest purveyor of disinformation, EU official says

4. Politico: TikTok and Meta warned over Slovakia election lies

5. The Messenger: TikTok To Tailor Content Moderation To Meet African Countries’ Expectations

Product Announcements

1. Democracy Works: Democracy Works Announces Elections API Beta Release

2. Google: Google and YouTube announce product features, partnerships and a US$2.5 million Google.org grant to support elections and equip Indonesians with the knowledge to detect misinformation

3. Reuters: Musk's X Disabled Feature Reporting Electoral Misinformation: Researcher

4. TikTok Newsroom: Investing in Community Resilience Against Harmful Misinformation

Interesting Interviews

1. Financial Times: Why Linda Yaccarino Took on the Wildest Job in Silicon Valley

2. The Verge: Mark Zuckerberg Talks Meta, AI, and More in Interview

3. Lex Fridman Podcast: Mark Zuckerberg: First Interview in the Metaverse

Book Excerpts

1. The Washington Post: Extremely Online: Inside the secret meeting of Vine stars that ushered in the app’s demise

We Don’t Talk Enough About India

1. The Washington Post: Under India’s pressure, Facebook let propaganda and hate speech thrive

2. The Washington Post: Inside the vast digital campaign by Hindu nationalists to inflame India

3. The Washington Post: He live-streamed his attacks on Indian Muslims. YouTube gave him an award.

Event Recaps

1. Tech Policy Press: Concerns Mount Over Social Media and the 2024 Elections

Just for Fun

1. Esquire: The Raw Honesty of Eric Church - As many of you know, I’m a huge Eric Church fan. This is a great interview about where he’s taking his career next.

2. the lovely road: "fomo" and i are breaking up - I’ve long wanted to write up a newsletter about how, earlier this year, I removed all the red dots and notifications on my phone except for messaging apps. It’s helped me a ton to stay focused. This piece is basically what I would have written about my experience.

Please support the curation and analysis I’m doing with this newsletter. As a paid subscriber, you make it possible for me to bring you in-depth analyses of the most pressing issues in tech and politics.