— 13 min read — Summary :- I look at the ways in which online platforms might respond to pressures related to toxic political content. I consider variations of rules for discussing politics in pubs. I describe the business logic that may apply to specific platforms.
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— 3 min read — People sitting inside President Trump’s campaign right now must be laughing. If they produce something outrageous and push this out through their social media channels, then they seem always to be able to “win”. On a normal day, the content goes out to the audience of supporters they have built…
1 Comment— 18 min read — Summary :- I put questions about the regulation of online political ads into a framework of general election regulation. I urge caution in terms of unilateral moves by any party. I suggest how progress can be made but only through broad consultation and deliberation.
Leave a Comment— 9 min read — Summary:- I use the story of Scylla and Charybdis to describe the situation of platforms in respect of US political content. I share views on the political dynamics that are in play with the current US President. I propose more detailed policy ‘course-plotting’ as the best way forward.
Leave a Comment— 14 min read — Summary :- platforms should aim to become ‘good’ regulators. Key to this is separating out rule-making and enforcement functions within companies. There is a lot learning that platforms can take from governments about how to do this well.
1 Comment— 5 min read — I will be writing more about whether internet platforms should be treated as ‘publishers’ of the content they carry. Before I do that, I want first to address some phrases that are thrown around which sound appealing but become more complex under closer examination. We often hear people say they want…
Leave a Comment— 8 min read — There is much excitement today about the US President threatening to move against social media companies after Twitter attached a factcheck to two of his tweets. This includes a review of a piece of US law called ‘Section 230’ with the implied threat that this review may lead to this…
1 Comment— 5 min read — Reflections on the decision not to remove conspiracy theory tweets by the US President. I consider how defamation law and ‘common decency’ standards may be part of the response.
Leave a Comment— 19 min read — Summary :- I describe some of the ways that governments are using regulation to control political speech including misinformation. I frame this as being within a broader context of attitudes to sedition and talk about the exceptional situation in the US.
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