Platforms

Our working definition of a digital platform (with a hat tip to Harold Feld of Public Knowledge) is an online service that operates as a two-sided or multi-sided market with at least one side that is “open” to the mass market

TikTok Collected U.S. Users’ Views on Gun Control, Abortion and Religion, Department of Justice Says

TikTok collected data about its users’ views on sensitive topics and censored content at the direction of its China-based parent company, the Justice Department said, making its most forceful case to date that the video-sharing app poses a national-security threat. The sensitive topics TikTok tracked included the views of its US-based users on gun control, abortion and religion, the Justice Department said. The Justice Department made the details public in court filings in response to a federal lawsuit TikTok filed in May 2024 arguing that a new 

Rep Porter Introduces Bill to Boost Social Media Transparency

Rep Katie Porter (D-CA) introduced legislation to protect social media users from hate speech and increase transparency from tech companies. In 2023, more than half of adults and teens reported being harassed online, up 12% from 2022, but experts lack data to evaluate how well social media companies are protecting users from hate speech. The Digital Social Platform Transparency Act would require social media companies to provide clear and accessible Terms of Service to users and report on internal content regulation processes.

Sens Hickenlooper, Capito Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Create Guidelines for Third-Party Audits of AI

Sens John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the bipartisan Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (VET AI) Act which directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to work with federal agencies and stakeholders across industry, academia, and civil society to develop detailed specifications, guidelines, and recommendations for third-party evaluators to work with AI companies to provide robust independent externa

To Reduce Disability Bias in Technology, Start With Disability Data

When people with disabilities interact with technologies, there is a risk that they will face discriminatory impacts in several important and high-stakes contexts. Disability rights and disability justice activists have a long history of fighting against discrimination that impacts disabled people.

What voters want on AI from Trump

The Artificial Intelligence Polling Institute asked nearly 1,000 respondents to rate the sometimes conflicting views that Trump allies and the man himself have expressed on AI. What they found might give pause to open-source acolytes and out-there accelerationists alike — and, perhaps unexpectedly, to the Republicans who are ready to line up behind Trump’s desire to 

Vice President Kamala Harris hasn’t said a lot about tech policy, but here’s what we know

Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) is all but certain to become the Democratic presidential candidate. If elected, Harris would be a president with roots in California’s Bay Area—the heart of the tech industry. Despite her ties to this region, Harris is largely a cipher when it comes to tech policy.

Where Vice President Kamala Harris stands on tech policy

Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris is a long-time friend to the tech industry. For those in Silicon Valley, some of whom have vocally supported former President Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, Harris' California bona fides may make them think twice. Though Harris would continue President Biden's tech policy agenda, she'd likely be more hesitant to break up Big Tech and strip platforms of their liability shield. As San Francisco's top prosecutor, California's attorney general and the state's U.S.

Joint Statement on Competition in Generative AI Foundation Models and AI Products

As competition authorities for the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, we share a commitment to the interests of our people and economies. Guided by our respective laws, we will work to ensure effective competition and the fair and honest treatment of consumers and businesses.

Congress Wants to Know if Twitter is Blocking Vice President Harris

I write to bring to your attention a serious and time-sensitive censorship issue occurring on the social media platform X. Numerous users have recently reported being blocked from following Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign handle @KamalaHQ in the past two days, following the news that President Biden will not seek re-election and that he has endorsed Vice President Harris as a candidate for President. As you know, Vice President Harris is now a bona fide candidate for President of the United States in the 2024 elections.

AI companies promised to self-regulate one year ago. What’s changed?

On July 21, 2023, seven leading AI companies—Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI—committed with the White House to a set of eight voluntary commitments on how to develop AI in a safe and trustworthy way. These included promises to do things like improve the testing and transparency around AI systems, and share information on potential harms and risks. On the first anniversary of the voluntary commitments, the tech sector has made some welcome progress, with big caveats.  Companies are doing more  to pursue technical fixes such as red-teaming (