Like Social Media, AI Requires Difficult Choices
December 2 2025In his 2020 book, “Future Politics,” British barrister Jamie Susskind wrote that the dominant question of the 20th century was “How much of our collective life should be...
Read moreThis chilling paragraph is in a comprehensive Brookings report about the use of tech to deport people from the US:
The administration has also adapted its methods of social...
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Dozens of accounts on X that promoted Scottish independence went dark during an internet blackout in Iran. Well, that’s one way to identify fake accounts and misinformation campaigns.
Read moreAge Verification Using Facial Scans
April 18 2025Discord is testing the feature:
“We’re currently running tests in select regions to age-gate access to certain spaces or user settings,” a spokesperson for Discord said in a...
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AI and the Evolution of Social Media
March 19 2024Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A decade ago, social media was celebrated for sparking democratic uprisings in the Arab world and beyond. Now front pages are splashed...
Read moreTikTok Editorial Analysis
January 2 2024TikTok seems to be skewing things in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. (This is a serious analysis, and the methodology looks sound.)
Conclusion: Substantial Differences in Hashtag...
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Google Is Not Deleting Old YouTube Videos
May 22 2023Google has backtracked on its plan to delete inactive YouTube videos—at least for now. Of course, it could change its mind anytime it wants. It would be nice if this...
Read moreBanning TikTok
February 27 2023Congress is currently debating bills that would ban TikTok in the United States. We are here as technologists to tell you that this is a terrible idea...
Read moreThe EARN IT Act Is Back
February 4 2022Senators have reintroduced the EARN IT Act, requiring social media companies (among others) to administer a massive surveillance operation on their users:
A group of lawmakers led by Sen....
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TikTok Can Now Collect Biometric Data
June 14 2021
This is probably worth paying attention to:
A change to TikTok’s U.S. privacy policy on Wednesday introduced a new section that says the social video app “may collect...
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