Information that is published or distributed in a digital form, including text, data, sound recordings, photographs and images, motion pictures, and software.
Digital Content
Federal Trade Commission’s Alvaro Bedoya says laws to keep teens off social media won’t work
As government officials increasingly scrutinize how digital platforms may harm kids, a growing number of states are proposing sweeping restrictions to limit their access to social media. But a top federal enforcer active on kids’ safety issues said that he opposes such limits, arguing they are unlikely to work and may run afoul of the Constitution. “Meet a teenager, they will find a way to get around that,” said Federal Trade Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces First-Ever Consortium Dedicated to AI Safety
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the creation of the US AI Safety Institute Consortium (AISIC), which will unite AI creators and users, academics, government and industry researchers, and civil society organizations in support of the development and deployment of safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI).
ESPN, Fox and Warner Team Up to Create Sports-Streaming Platform
ESPN, Fox, and Warner are teaming up to create a supersize sports-streaming service that will offer content from all major leagues, a deal that will reshape the sports and media landscape. The as-yet-unnamed service will be offered directly to consumers, who would be able to stream a host of channels that are heavy in live sports, including ESPN, TNT, Fox, FS1 and ABC, the companies said in a statement. Each of the companies will have one-third ownership of the new service, which is expected to launch in the fall.
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Federal Communications Commissioner Simington Speaks to Silicon Flatirons
I’m excited to talk to you about what I think will be an unsettling future reality: the accelerating move from a single Internet and technology market toward one fragmented along national borders due to concerns about digital sovereignty. There was a lot of heady idealism in the early days of the Internet. The internet was a universal, open network where people from around the world could exchange services and ideas basically without restriction.
Meta Calls for Industry Effort to Label AI-Generated Content
In January at the World Economic Forum, Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, called a nascent effort to detect artificially generated content “the most urgent task” facing the tech industry today. Now, Mr. Clegg has proposed a solution.
Google will no longer back up the Internet: Cached webpages are dead
Google will no longer be keeping a backup of the entire Internet. Google Search's "cached" links have long been an alternative way to load a website that was down or had changed, but now the company is killing them off. Google "Search Liaison" Danny Sullivan confirmed the feature removal in an X post, saying the feature "was meant for helping people access pages when way back, you often couldn't depend on a page loading. These days, things have greatly improved.
Child safety hearing puts key internet law back in Congress’s crosshairs
Senators of both parties are focusing their criticism on a law that Congress passed in 1996—a law that paved the way for social media as we know it. That law, said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), “needs to change.” The statute in question is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives online service providers broad immunity from lawsuits over their users’ posts, with the goal of promoting free expression online. Over the years, it has survived court challenges, legislative pushes, and an executive order by President Donald Trump. Now, it is in Congress’s sights once again.
Child Safety Hearing: Senators Say Tech Platforms Hurt Children
CEO's from Meta, Snap, X, TikTok, and Discord testified in a contentious and emotional Senate hearing on child online safety. Lawmakers invoked the stories of online child abuse victims—many of whom sat directly behind the tech leaders—to issue a stunning rebuke to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and other executives.