AI, regulation, legislation & design of platforms

Articles about AI, regulation, legislation and the design of media platforms around the world, with the potential to impact the greater sector.

Reblancing the relationship between big tech and news media

CIMA - SASHA SCHROEDER

Rebalancing the Relationship Between Big Tech and News MediaCenter for International Media Assistance

As the global journalism industry struggles to adapt to shrinking revenue brought on by the failure of traditional business models, Big Tech companies continue to dominate the digital advertising market. This uneven playing field has led policymakers in the US, EU, and Australia to attempt to rebalance the relationship between Big Tech and news organizations—but how are those efforts impacting media outlets located outside of the Global North?

How Latin American Journalists Are Using Collaborations To Get Around Censorship Laws (August, 2022)

NiemanLab- CARLOS EDUARDO HUERTAS

How Latin American Journalists Are Using Collaborations To Get Around Censorship Laws - Nieman ReportsNieman Reports

"Faced with the lack of guarantees protecting journalistic work, the only way reporters have been able to remain at liberty and continue to disseminate information is by leaving their countries and taking their families with them. 'We have returned to a journalism of the catacombs,' says the Nicaraguan journalist Octavio Enríquez."

E.U. Takes Hungary to Highest Court Over LGBT and Media Rules (July, 2022)

TIME- RAF CASERT, JUSTIN SPIKE

https://time.com/6197598/eu-hungary-court-challenge-lgbt-media/time.com

"The European Union’s executive intensified its legal standoff with Hungary on Friday by taking the country to the E.U.’s highest court over a restrictive law on LGBT issues and media freedom.

The E.U. had already tried for a year to make Hungary change a law that bans content portraying or promoting homosexuality. The European Commission said it “discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Iron net: Digital repression in the Middle East and North Africa (June, 2022)

European Council on Foreign Relations- JAMES LYNCH

Iron net: Digital repression in the Middle East and North Africa – European Council on Foreign Relationsecfr

"For much of the world’s population, the digital realm has become central to the human experience. Yet access to information and essential services is often mediated by digital platforms, with or without users’ knowledge. This means that the governments, businesses, or individuals who dominate the digital realm have the potential to gain control over the public sphere. There is now little trace of the widespread optimism that once defined public views of the digital revolution."

Facebook and paying for news (June, 2022)

Columbia Journalism Review- MATHEW INGRAM

Facebook and paying for newsColumbia Journalism Review

"But the pressure on Google and Facebook to pay publishers ramped up with legislation in Australia in 2021, which forced platforms to sign licensing deals with media outlets or face binding arbitration."

The EU Just Stepped Up Its Fight Against Disinformation- Here's What That Means (June, 2022)

Forbes- DARREONNA DAVIS

The EU Just Stepped Up Its Fight Against Disinformation—Here's What That MeansForbes

"Google and Meta were among a number of tech giants that have signed the European Commission's updated and stronger guidelines on disinformation, the latest in a string of measures the EU has taken to fight disinformation during the pandemic and amid the war in Ukraine."

How science helps fuel a culture of misinformation

NiemanLab- JOELLE RENSTROM

How science helps fuel a culture of misinformationNieman Lab

"Institutions often incentivize scientists going for tenure to focus on quantity rather than quality of publications and to exaggerate study results beyond the bounds of rigorous analysis. Scientific journals themselves can boost their revenue when they are more widely read. Thus, some journals may pounce on submissions with juicy titles that will attract readers. At the same time, many scientific articles contain more jargon than ever, which encourages misinterpretation, political spin, and a declining public trust in the scientific process. Addressing scientific misinformation requires top-down changes to promote accuracy and accessibility, starting with scientists and the scientific publishing process itself."

Spyware like Pegasus is a warning: Digital authoritarianism can happen in democracies too (June, 2022)

Atlantic Council- NICK FOURIEZOS

Spyware like Pegasus is a warning: Digital authoritarianism can happen in democracies, tooAtlantic Council

This article highlights various journalists' experiences with being targetted by the Pegasus spyware, whose actions were revealed by "an extensive coordinated global investigation by journalists and nonprofits."

Turkey's Planned Internet Law to Criminalise 'Spreading Misinformation' (May, 2022)

Balkan Insight- HAMDI FIRAT BUYUK

Turkey's Planned Internet Law to Criminalise 'Spreading Misinformation'Balkan Insight

"Journalists unions have condemned the new draft internet law, which for the first time will define 'spreading misinformation on purpose' as a crime incurring a one-to-three year jail sentence."

Another language, another alphabet: Polish media adds Ukrainian sections amid war (May, 2022)

NiemanLab- LYDIA TOMKIW

Another language, another alphabet: Polish media adds Ukrainian sections amid warNieman Lab

"PAP’s Ukrainian-language service, run out of its Warsaw office, was formed in a week and publishes content every day on topics like the war in Ukraine and Poland’s response. Recent headlines included a look at Poland’s demand of more EU sanctions against Russia and a story on locations in Trostyanets where Ukrainian civilians were tortured."

A Bill Could Criminalize NGOs and the Media in Venezuela (May, 2022)

Caracas Chronicles- GABRIELA MESONES ROJO

A Bill Could Criminalize NGOs and the Media in Venezuela | Caracas ChroniclesCaracas Chronicles

"The bill has not been formally presented in an ordinary session of Parliament yet, but many alarms have been raised because it’s considered that it could justify the control, persecution, or suspension of these organizations, and leave them without access to external financing."

Syria passes draconian cybercrime laws (May, 2022)

Index on Censorship- MARK FRARY

Syria passes draconian cybercrime laws - Index on CensorshipIndex on Censorship

"In a statement the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) said the law could be used to violate many of the basic digital rights of citizens, especially freedom of expression and freedom of digital privacy."

Turkey's Planned Internet Law to Criminalise 'Spreading Misinformation' (May, 2022)

BalkanInsight- HAMDI FIRAT BUYUK

Turkey's Planned Internet Law to Criminalise 'Spreading Misinformation'Balkan Insight

"Journalists unions have condemned the new draft internet law, which for the first time will define 'spreading misinformation on purpose' as a crime incurring a one-to-three year jail sentence."

Facebook's new data-sharing plans raise old concerns (May, 2022)

Columbia Journalism Review- MATHEW INGRAM

Facebook’s new data-sharing plans raise old concernsColumbia Journalism Review

"On Monday, META, the parent company of Facebook, said that it plans to share more data about political ad targeting on its platform with social scientists and other researchers, as part of what the company calls its Open Research and Transparency project."

Digital-Ad Giants Google, Facebook, Amazon Come Down From Pandemic Highs (May, 2022)

Wallstreet Journal- SUZANNE VRANICA

Digital-Ad Giants Google, Facebook, Amazon Come Down From Pandemic HighsThe Wall Street Journal

"An ad-revenue slowdown comes as consumer behaviors resume pre-Covid patterns."

Facebook, AI, and a less friendly news feed (May, 2022)

CJR- MATHEW INGRAM

Facebook, AI, and a less friendly news feedColumbia Journalism Review

"Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, reported its quarterly financial results, noting that while the number of Facebook users increased during the first months of this year, the company’s revenues grew at the slowest rate since Facebook went public a decade ago. This news came on the heels of a February earnings report in which Meta said that its profit shrank, and also revealed that its user base had fallen for the first time since Facebook went public."

Royal Society cautions against censorship of scientific misinformation online (Jan, 2022)

The Royal Society

Royal Society cautions against censorship of scientific misinformation online | Royal Societyroyalsociety

"Governments and social media platforms should not rely on content removal for combatting harmful scientific misinformation online, a report by the Royal Society, the UK’s national academy of science, has said."

Disinformation: A New Type of State-Sponsored Violence (October 12, 2021)

The India Forum- NEELANJAN SIRCAR

Disinformation: A New Type of State-Sponsored ViolenceThe India Forum

"While attempts by the ruling party to control the media and the messaging are not new in India, what we see now is the use of new technology to 'curate' and exercise 'centralised control' to spread disinformation in order to harass and intimidate critics."

YouTube is major conduit of fake news, factcheckers say (Jan. 12, 2022)

The Guardian - DAN MILMO

YouTube is major conduit of fake news, factcheckers saythe Guardian

"YouTube is a major conduit of online disinformation and misinformation worldwide and is not doing enough to tackle the spread of falsehoods on its platform, according to a global coalition of factchecking organisations."

How do you fix and "information disorder"? The Aspen Institute has some ideas (November 15, 2021)

How do you fix an “information disorder”? The Aspen Institute has some ideasNieman Lab

Nieman Lab - JOSHUA BENTON

"Understanding the root problems of information disorder requires understanding hard-wired human behaviors, economic and political policy, group psychology and ideologies, and the relationship to people's sense of individual and community identity."

Brussels, Paris split with press publishers over exemptions in online content rules (October 20, 2021)

Brussels, Paris split with press publishers over exemptions in online content rulesPOLITICO

Politico- CLOTHILDE GOUJARD

"The European Commission and France have thrown their weight against press publishers in an ongoing debate over whether media content should be exempt from the EU's upcoming online content rules."

EU Countries Aiming for Common Position on Tech Rules on Nov. 25 (October 29, 2021)

https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-countries-aiming-common-position-tech-rules-nov-25-2021-10-29www.reuters.com

Reuters- FOO YUN CHEE

The Digital Services Act (DSA) seeks to hold tech companies accountable for the illegal and potentially dangerous content shared on their platforms.

Revealed: Facebook's Secret Blacklist of "Dangerous Individuals and Organizations" (October 12, 2021)

Revealed: Facebook’s Secret Blacklist of “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations”The Intercept

The Intercept- SAM BIDDLE

The Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy is "a sweeping set of restrictions on what Facebook’s nearly 3 billion users can say about an enormous and ever-growing roster of entities deemed beyond the pale." However, this system has resulted in a "blacklist of over 4,000 people and groups, including politicians, writers, charities, hospitals, hundreds of music acts, and long-dead historical figures."

“Fake news” laws are failing to stem Covid-19 misinformation in Southeast Asia (July 2021)

Rest of World - PETER GUEST, FEBRIANA FIRDAUS & TAMMY DANAN

Singapore’s conspiracists thrive on Telegram, while a punk rocker and a former health official drive rumors in Indonesia.