— 10 min read — Today is the 10th anniversary of the start of massive protests in Egypt that led to the removal of their autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak. These protests came hot on the heels of demonstrations in Tunisia that had forced their President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power on January 14th…
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— 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…
8 Comments— 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— 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— 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.
— 5 min read — The role of platforms in moderating content is a frequent topic of my posts, but it is important also to consider the ways in which people who use online services have a hand in moderating content. Some of this moderation activity is particular to each individual – we post content…
Leave a Comment— 9 min read — Summary:- journalists decide which voices should be allowed IN to a space while moderators decide which voices should be pushed OUT. Social media platforms are using both kinds of intervention though not necessarily describing them in these terms. This post explores the differences between the approaches and some of the relevant regulatory questions.
Leave a Comment— 15 min read — Summary :- I explore how a new UK misinformation regulator might do its work. I consider the relationship with other existing regulatory frameworks. I look at some examples of Covid-19 misinformation. I describe a model of Misinformation Advisory Notices.
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