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

Facebook Is Rebuked by Oversight Board Over Transparency on Treatment of Prominent Users

Facebook's oversight board said the company hadn’t been forthcoming about how it exempts high-profile users from its rules and said it is drafting recommendations for how to overhaul the system, following a Wall Street Journal investigation into the practice. The oversight board said Facebook had repeatedly failed to turn over, or provided incomplete, information about how it treats content from large numbers of prominent users.

Sen Luján Introduces Legislation to Hold Tech Platforms Accountable for Algorithmic Promotion of Extremist Content

Sen Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced the Protecting Americans from Dangerous Algorithms Act (S.3029) to hold large social media companies accountable for using computer algorithms that promote harmful and dangerous content that leads to offline violence. Reps Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Anna G Eshoo (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the US House of Representatives.

Sen Blumenthal asks Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about Instagram's impact on kids

Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to participate in a Congressional hearing on Instagram and its impact on kids in a letter October 20. The Chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security cited the testimony of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and the Wall Street Journal's reports on Facebook as cause for the CEO's appearance before his subcommittee.

Facebook doubles down on curated News Tab

Facebook is looking to introduce more news products for its News Tab in the coming months, including more curated collections around big events and breaking news. The News Tab, a separate destination for news on Facebook from publishers selected by the tech giant, has helped the company address regulatory scrutiny that it doesn't do enough to combat misinformation. It is currently live in the US, UK, Australia and Germany, with other English-speaking countries in consideration.

EU’s Ambitious New Tech Rules to Be Delayed Further Into 2022

European Union countries will delay a key target of finalizing new rules hitting tech platforms by the spring of 2022, now saying they aim to reach a deal “as soon as possible” ahead of a leaders’ summit on October 21. The EU’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act are two heavily debated pieces of legislation unveiled in 2020 by the European Commission that seek to curb the power of Big Tech. The Digital Markets Act seeks to curb anti-competitive behavior, while the Digital Services Act would regulate online content.

Sponsor 

Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security

Senate Commerce Committee

Date 
Tue, 10/26/2021 - 10:00

Children and teens face immense peer pressure to be on apps such as Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. While social media can provide entertainment and educational opportunities, these apps have also been misused to harm kids and promote destructive acts, such as vandalism in schools, deadly viral challenges, bullying, eating disorders, manipulative influencer marketing, and grooming. This hearing will examine how tech companies treat young audiences, including how algorithms and product design choices can amplify harms, addiction, and intrusions into privacy.



‘Squid Game’ hit raises stakes for Netflix in broadband battle

SK Broadband, wholly owned by South Korea’s largest mobile carrier SK Telecom, thinks Netflix should pay a congestion charge for hit shows like the streaming service's recently released "Squid Game." The company says the traffic that Netflix generates on its network has surged to 1.2tn bits of data processed per second as of September 2021, the month of Squid Game’s release, a 24-fold increase over three years. It has had to upgrade its network twice to accommodate the traffic surge caused by the show.

The Technopolar Moment: How Digital Powers Will Reshape the Global Order

States have been the primary actors in global affairs for nearly 400 years. That is starting to change, as a handful of large technology companies rival them for geopolitical influence. Nonstate actors are increasingly shaping geopolitics, with technology companies in the lead. And although Europe wants to play, its companies do not have the size or geopolitical influence to compete with their American and Chinese counterparts. Most of the analysis of US-Chinese technological competition, however, is stuck in a statist paradigm.

Tech money floods the Senate

Google, Amazon and Microsoft have donated tens of thousands of dollars to key members of the Senate over the past three months. Some of the most significant conversations about the future of tech regulation are moving to the upper chamber, with Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) negotiating with bipartisan lawmakers over tech antitrust legislation and senators considering how to respond to the Senate Commerce Committee’s explosive hearing with Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in October 2021.

Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Proposal to Protect Children from Dangerous App Content

Reps Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced a bipartisan resolution (H.Res.721) that calls on technology companies to help empower parents to better protect their children from inappropriate content on digital applications.