What I’m Reading - 10/22/23
Free panic responsibly stickers to the first 50 paid subscribers who want them!
I’m writing this again from the Acela, returning from New York City, where I participated in a roundtable at the Knight First Amendment Institute on government jawboning. You can read all of the participant papers’ here. Conversations like this are getting richer as more former platform people can participate in marrying the theoretical discussions with the reality of how things might work inside a company.
Two things before we get to the links.
One. You might remember my newsletter from a few weeks ago, where I implored everyone to “Panic Responsibly.”
Well, I’ve tried that phrase out at more than a few speaking events, and it seems to be resonating with folks. So, I decided to design some stickers.
I have 50 free ones to give to paid subscribers. To get one, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter, where you’ll see the link to the form. If you aren’t a paid subscriber but want one, either sign up for a paid subscription OR keep an eye on this space, as I bought the URL and will create a print-on-demand merch store.
Second, Mike Masnik has created an excellent game called Trust and Safety Tycoon. Unlike Marc Andreessen, who thinks trust and safety teams are the “enemy,” this game walks you through the complex tradeoffs that those managing platforms have to consider. I highly recommend you play it. I beta-tested it last week and lost my first two times for having too slow moderation times, and then figured it out on the third.
What I’m Reading
October 23-24, 2023: Forum on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Latin America and the Caribbean
- : It's easy to screw up on breaking news. But you have to admit when you do.
New Yorker: How Social Media Abdicated Responsibility for the News
The Atlantic: The Internet Could Be So Good. Really.
MIT Tech Review: How to fix the internet
NBC News: Ella Irwin says working at X was 'the hardest experience' of her career
New York Times: An Industry Insider Drives an Open Alternative to Big Tech’s A.I.
New York Times: What if We Could All Control A.I.?
Politico: How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington
Rest of World: Signal President Meredith Whittaker on resisting government threats to privacy
Business Insider: Mark Zuckerberg delivers on promise to pour 'gasoline' on Threads growth as the platform regains users while X shrinks
Forbes: On TikTok, White Supremacist ‘Active Club’ Recruitment Videos May Have Reached Millions
Axios: Social media firms scramble to curb wartime misinformation
ProPublica: Local Newspapers Are Vanishing. How Should We Remember Them?
Center for Politics: Partisan Desires Override Support for Constitutional Freedoms and American Values
Poynter: Fact-checkers and the social media misinformation tsunami: A Q&A with Lucas Graves
The Information: What To Do About Misinformation in the Upcoming Election Cycle?
WSJ: Elon Musk’s X Courts Political Advertisers Ahead of a Contentious Election Year
Washington Post: How Ron DeSantis Lost the Internet
- : Why can't our tech billionaires learn anything new?
Journal of Free Speech Law: Platform Transparency and the Rule of Law
Brookings: The long reach of Taamneh: Carriage and removal requirements for internet platforms
Journal of the European Economic Association: The Effect of Social Media on Elections: Evidence from the United States
International Republican Institute: IRI’s Regional Civic and Govtech Convening
Stanford, MIT, Princeton: Foundation Model Transparency Index
Harvard: Facebook Files Archive
Harvard finally released their database of all of the docs leaked by Frances Haugen.
- : Introducing the Neely Center Design Code for Social Media
Washington Post: India uses widespread internet blackouts to mask domestic turmoil
Sean Topham: From Underdogs to TikTok Titans: The digital campaign that rewrote NZ’s political playbook
TechCabal: Nigeria still wants to regulate social media
Fast Company: Europe’s Gaza misinformation crackdown could set a dangerous precedent
United States Institute of Peace: Russian Influence Campaigns in Latin America
Bloomberg: Big Tech, AI Models, Google, Facebook to Face Antitrust Inquiry in South Africa
TikTok: Our continued actions to protect the TikTok community during the Israel-Hamas war
The Verge: Discord is going to give out warnings instead of permanent bans
Meta Response: Videos Criticizing a Turkish Government Official’s Response to the Turkey Earthquake
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