— 13 min read — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has attracted a lot of (mostly favourable) attention for criticising the recent removal of Donald Trump’s social media accounts. As it is well known that she has strong political disagreements with the outgoing US President, her comments have been interpreted by some as a powerful argument…
4 Commentsregulate.tech Posts
— 10 min read — Summary :- I explore the power of platforms to ‘eject’ people from their services following recent decisions about President Trump’s accounts.
Leave a Comment— 9 min read — Summary:- I look at new UK rules on collecting sales tax as an example of regulation driving businesses to use platforms. Regulators prefer to deal with a small number of large intermediaries rather than enforce against many individuals.
1 Comment— 14 min read — Summary :- this post describes a model for ‘Harm Reduction Plans’. Platforms would create these documents to explain how they are responding to specific harms. They would be provided to regulators and form part of any new oversight mechanism.
Leave a Comment— 6 min read — If you live in the UK you will likely have been amused by a video produced by the comedian Matt Lucas sending up the Government’s advice on what people need to do in response to Covid-19. The phrase ‘go to work, don’t go to work’ has become a zeitgeist response…
1 Comment— 10 min read — A Court Scene Imagine a scenario in which the newly-independent UK is summoned to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to explain why it thinks UK national security laws and practices are consistent with EU law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The UK has to attend the hearing…
Leave a Comment— 20 min read — Summary :- I explore why people feel that tech company taxation is unfair, look at how current structures work, and describe possible alternative models for taxing digital services.
Leave a Comment— 12 min read — Summary :- I explore some of the dynamics within digital platforms that make them hesitant to share data with external researchers.
2 Comments— 11 min read — I am a political animal, and so cannot tear my eyes away from the ongoing saga of the US Presidential Election. The most extraordinary (in the true sense of that word) aspect to it is that there is now a significant faction in the US willing to undermine the reputation…
Leave a Comment— 7 min read — Summary :- there is increasing political interest in the UK in legislation to tackle anti-vax content online.
We need to invest time in understanding types of anti-vax content and how this could be treated before rushing into creating new enforcement mechanisms.