CLIPS: 28 April, 2022
Welcome to the Progressive Tech Policy Project! We curate and send weekly summaries of news on the left, along with occasional deep dives to reflect on timely issues. We always welcome your feedback and suggestions, and you can reach us anytime at techpolicy@geer.com. - Szelena Gray, Editor
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White House “Declaration For The Future Of The Internet” Unveils International Initiative For Fighting Disinformation Online
The United States joined more than 55 other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Japan, and Ukraine, in signing a commitment to push for internet rules that promote democratic values. Outlining their vision for a new global standard of internet practices, the coalition of countries has called for an internet that protects human rights, the flow of information, interoperability, and the privacy of its users amidst what Biden Administration officials call a rise in digital authoritarianism. The initiative hopes to counter the increasing deployment of cyberattacks, specifically attacks against internet infrastructure, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing trends of independent news censorship and disinformation. Digital rights groups are applauding the introduction of shared practices that advance digital freedom, and encouraging follow through. The pledge is not legally binding, but the countries, including Ukraine, Argentina and New Zealand, said in the document that it should “be used as a reference for public policymakers, as well as citizens, businesses and civil society organizations.”
COVERAGE
Euractiv, US, EU and Western allies to subscribe to democratic principles of the internet
New York Times, U.S. and more than 55 other countries pledge to keep an open internet.
The Hill, US, partner countries launch declaration to promote free, open internet
Reuters, U.S. joins 55 nations to set new global rules for the internet
Axios, More than 55 countries sign a declaration for internet freedom
Nextgov, U.S. Enters International Initiative to Oppose Online Disinformation and Censorship
Yahoo, US, EU Members Among 60 Nations Calling for Open, Global Internet
RESPONSES
In a Twitter thread, the Center for Democracy and Technology wrote: “Today, @CenDemTech welcomes the Declaration for the Future of the Internet as an important commitment by nations around the world to uphold #humanrights online & off, advance democratic ideals, & promote an open Internet… Authoritarian regimes worldwide are pursuing restrictive policies to surveil & censor their populations. It is vital that democratic governments advance an alternative vision for the future of the Internet, one that respects the rule of law & promotes human rights.”
They continued: “Unfortunately, the Declaration misses this opportunity to secure commitments from democratic governments to protect access to end-to-end #encryption, and to refrain from undermining people’s #privacy and security.”
In a statement, President and CEO Alexandra Reeve-Givens said: “The Declaration underscores important priorities: for governments to maintain an open, free, global, interoperable, secure and reliable internet; to ensure the internet reinforces democratic principles and human rights; and to promote inclusive multistakeholder internet governance processes… For the Declaration to have persuasive power, all signatories… must review their own laws and policies against the Declaration’s standards. In the U.S., this includes taking the long overdue step of passing a meaningful federal consumer privacy law.”
In a Twitter thread, founder of Ranking Digital Rights, Rebecca MacKinnon, wrote: “It is good to see this group of governments reaffirming and updating their commitments and inviting all of us to hold them accountable to these commitments. We certainly plan to do so… Authoritarian attacks on internet freedom and openness are deplorable but as Freedom House shows democracies haven't done so hot lately.”
She continued, saying: “Of course, a big difference between the signatories of today's declaration and authoritarian countries, is that it's possible to use the internet to criticize these governments for failing to protect our human rights, without being censored or worse… Thus I personally commend the governments who have signed today's Declaration for the Future of the Internet. It offers everyone across civil society a renewed and concrete opportunity to hold them to their commitments. We have much work to do.”
Alex Howard, Director of the Digital Democracy Project, tweeted, “The context for the @WhiteHouse’s declaration is grim. Digital authoritarianism is on the rise from Russia to China to Iran… This ‘Declaration of the Future of the Internet’ is the positive, democratic vision for our global network of networks — ‘one that is truly open & fosters competition, privacy, & respect for human rights’ — that has been missing for years in Washington.”
Dr. Courtney Radsch of Tech Policy Press and Article 19 tweeted, “Biden admin's Alliance for the Future of the Internet has ambitious #HumanRights agenda & doubles down on existing coordination mechanisms (a critique of earlier drafts was redundancy). Led by @superwuster, whose work on tech, law & econ should inform new internet freedom agenda.”
Three Days After Elon Musk Buys Twitter, Speculation Spurs Massive User Churn
Since Twitter's Board of Directors accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy the social media platform for $44 billion, thousands of users have reactivated or deactivated their Twitter accounts. From April 25-27, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost about 38,000 followers and Barack Obama lost more than 300,000 followers, while Marjorie Taylor Greene gained about 107,000 followers and Ted Cruz gained about 114,000. Twitter confirmed the changes to NBC, noting that these massive fluctuations are organic and not bots, appearing likely to be a response to the news of Musk’s ownership.
A dominant concern among progressives is that, under Musks’ direction, individuals who promote violence and spread disinformation (e.g. Donald Trump) would be allowed back on the platform. European regulators plan to uphold content moderation policies regardless. France's digital minister Cédric O reaffirmed that Twitter, and any company operating in Europe, must comply with European policies and “quickly adapt to the Digital Services Act.” Under the DSA, Twitter would be subject to risk audits and must have systems that flag the EU’s definition of restricted content for swift removal; violations can result in fines of up to 6% of Twitter’s global annual revenue, and repeated offenses will result in a ban of the platform.
COVERAGE
ABC News, Musk's Twitter ambitions to collide with Europe's tech rules
Fortune, Twitter says thousands of users really are closing—and opening—accounts on the Musk buyout news
The Verge, Conservative Twitter accounts got boost in followers after Musk acquisition, data shows
Techcrunch, Twitter confirms fluctuations in follower counts after Musk deal was announced were organic
The Guardian, Could Elon Musk’s Twitter plans prove a costly mistake?
Tech Policy Press, Europe’s Digital Services Act May Tie Musk’s Hands At Twitter
Vice, Should You Worry About Elon Musk Reading Your Twitter DMs?
New York Times, Elon Musk Got Twitter Because He Gets Twitter
Wired, Musk’s Plan to Reveal the Twitter Algorithm Won’t Solve Anything
RESPONSES
Sleeping Giants tweeted, “The Venn Diagram of people cheering for Musk to make this a “free speech” platform and the people who are cheering for a corporation to be punished by a government for supporting LGBTQ rights is a perfect circle.”
The Center for Countering Digital Hate tweeted, ““The only way Musk can reinstate them is to say the rules don’t exist anymore, which would show an appalling lack of judgment.” @Imi_Ahmed told the @guardian reinstating @twitter accounts banned for serious breaches would be a terrible mistake.”
Siva Vaidhyanathan, columnist for The Guardian, tweeted, “Europe’s Digital Services Act May Tie Musk’s Hands At Twitter”
Public Citizen tweeted, “FYI: We’re blocked by Elon Musk. So much for being “committed” to free speech.”
Justin Hendrix, editor at Tech Policy Press, tweeted, “Ranking Digital Rights: Twitter at Top of “Failing Class” of Tech Firms // Perhaps ironically, @rankingrights awards Twitter its top spot in part due to its performance on freedom of expression, just as new owner Elon Musk launches an attack on its policies.”
Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future tweeted, “there literally isn't a Section 230 angle on Musk buying Twitter so please stop trying to invent one”
Greer also tweeted, “Musk's power won't be absolute, but neither are the checks in place to prevent abuse”
Eva Galperin, Director of Cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, tweeted, “This is your regular reminder that the guy who is currently buying Twitter still needs to have a lawyer review some of his tweets because of an SEC consent decree.”
Adam Serwer, staff writer for The Atlantic, tweeted, “The argument over content moderation on social media is about political power, not free speech, but people say free speech because it sounds better”
EU Reaches Final Agreement On DSA, Setting Up Sweeping New Regulations For Tech Platforms
Following two years of negotiations and extensive consultation with experts, on Saturday EU officials reached a provisional agreement on the Digital Services Act, which sets new rules for how intermediary platforms must moderate content. The proposal has been developed alongside the Digital Markets Act, a separate law that imposes new regulations on so-called gatekeeper platforms (platforms that operate core services as designated by regulators), including a ban on self-preferencing. The DMA passed on March 24, as we covered last month.
While the full text is yet to be revealed, the European Commission and European Parliament have detailed a number of obligations that increase “due diligence” requirements for platforms with 45+ million monthly users, and carry penalties up to 6% of a company’s annual global revenue. These provisions include:
A ban on targeted advertising based on individual’s religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, as well as a full ban on targeted ads towards minors.
A ban on deceptive user interfaces known as “dark patterns” that attempt to trick users into doing things they wouldn’t otherwise do.
Mandatory disclosure on the workings of recommender algorithms, including information access for researchers, publication of routine transparency reports, and offer users the option for a recommender system “not based on profiling.”
Updates to content moderation policies to require a timely response (the final draft suggests within 24 hours) to users’ notifications about prohibited content, as well as a built-in mechanism to appeal content take-downs.
Obligations for online marketplaces to vet and provide basic information on traders to prevent the sale of illegal goods or services..
Over the course of the bill’s multi-year drafting process, its breadth has increased dramatically, resulting in several peaks in discussion about its provisions — including most recently a controversial “crisis response mechanism” which allows EU Commission officials to require content removal under to-be-determined rules in crisis situations (as in the invasion of Ukraine), which privacy groups like EFF warned could give the Commission inordinate control over speech on large platforms.
COVERAGE
New York Times, E.U. Takes Aim at Social Media’s Harms With Landmark New Law
CNN, Europe agrees to sweeping new regulations for tech platforms
CNBC, EU agrees on landmark law aimed at forcing Big Tech firms to tackle illegal content
The Hill, EU law targets Big Tech over hate speech, disinformation
Ars Technica, EU to unveil landmark law to force Big Tech to police illegal content
CNet, Amazon, Google, Meta Among Targets of EU Law on Disinformation, Harmful Content
The Verge, Google, Meta, and others will have to explain their algorithms under new EU legislation
TechCrunch, Europe seals a deal on tighter rules for digital services
Tech Policy Press, The Digital Services Act: How is Europe Planning to Regulate Tech?
The Center for Internet & Society, What Does The DSA Say?
RESPONSES
A coalition of human rights activism groups, the “Digital Services Act Human Rights Alliance,” this week sent a letter to EU officials, listing several recommendations for protecting free expression and saying the DSA “...must adopt human rights based approach to platform governance… and that the European Union should craft the DSA with global impacts in mind.”
Members of the coalition include EFF, Ranking Digital Rights, the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Open Technology Institute.
In a statement, CDT wrote: “[We] welcome this significant step forward in increasing platform accountability and in protecting users’ fundamental rights online. But the devil will be in the details… The duty to fine-tune the DSA is now in the hands of the technical negotiators, and… the scope for radical changes has narrowed further…. Focus now therefore turns to the realization of implementation and enforcement of the flagship Regulation. Will the proposed more centralized enforcement regime work? Has the EU missed a crucial opportunity to truly set a gold standard for online content governance?”
In a statement, EFF wrote: “Based on what we have learned so far, the deal avoids transforming social networks and search engines into censorship tools, which is great news… But the agreement isn’t all good news. Although it takes crucial steps to limit pervasive online behavioral surveillance practices and rejects the concerning parliamentary proposal to mandate cell phone registration for pornographic content creators, it fails to grant users explicit rights to encrypt their communications and use digital service anonymously to speak freely and protect their private conversations.”
International Policy Director Christoph Schmon broke down newest updates to the DSA in a Twitter thread, adding: “Users will understand how decisions are made, have a right to appeal and have options to see their content reinstated if platforms make mistakes. This is the right approach to platform regulation. Platforms will need to assess and mitigate risks, a model that comes with Q marks.”
Accountable Tech tweeted, “With the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act, the EU is transforming platform governance standards for Big Tech. If the US doesn't rise to the occasion and #ReinInBigTech, the rules of the digital economy will be written without us.”
Co-founder Jesse Lehrich tweeted, “the #DSA will fundamentally transform platform governance standards, globally, for the better. taken with the companion #DMA – which curtails tech giants' most egregious monopoly abuses – the EU has just rewritten the rules of the digital economy.”
In a statement, Access Now wrote: “The [DSA’s] human rights-centric framework will provide a clearly defined set of due diligence responsibilities for companies — placing the responsibility on the shoulders of those profiting, not on everyday people simply using these platforms, to create safe spaces to communicate… [However,] the final text of the DSA could be more ambitious. Many progressive measures, such as clear safeguards for end-to-end encryption in communications were either ignored or weakened during negotiations.”
Global Freedom of Expression Lead, Eliska Pirkova, tweeted, “Overall, the #DSA may cause change for the better. However, a number of progressive measures did not survive negotiations. Only the future will tell how far reaching that change will be.”
In a statement, Amnesty International wrote: “The DSA will finally protect EU citizens from intrusive data harvesting and ads that use personal information… in ways we would have never expected or wanted. [However,] it is a missed opportunity that the DSA did not go further and phase out all invasive surveillance-based advertising practices to truly uphold people’s rights to privacy, data protection and non-discrimination. It is now crucial that the DSA is robustly enforced so that it does not turn into a mere paper tiger.”
SumOfUs tweeted, “The EU has agreed the #DSA! This is a historic win for and by the #PEOPLE. #BigTech will finally be forced to end its profit over people business model. A lot to be done to ensure its enforcement, but now its time to celebrate this major win.”
In a Twitter thread, Platform Regulation Director for Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center, Daphne Keller, wrote: “The DSA had a fairly open, democratic drafting process until the past few weeks. But what is happening now is shameful. Interest groups are getting ideas tacked on… that never had any public airing, debate, or input at all… The last minute, hushed up changes to the law that are perhaps most alarming for fundamental rights are the ones about mandatory ‘crisis protocol’ content removals under future rules TBD by the Commission.”
She continued, “When a political deal (1) is heavily lobbied by big corporate interests, (2) has major consequences for ordinary people, and (3) gets completed suddenly, in the shadows, against longstanding civil society recommendations, and with no debate... That is a time to get mad.”
Co-founder of Amnesty International - Technology and board member at SumOfUs, Tanya O’Carroll, tweeted, “Unfortunately, EU member states severely weakened Parliament’s proposals to fully ban deceptive dark patterns on the web and left a big loophole in the way sensitive inferences can still be used to target ads. Unsurprisingly Big Tech lobbying had a hand… Now the test will be whether the DSA meets the same fate as GDPR: a grand legal document that fails to translate into people’s rights in practice. A stronger enforcement role for the Commission will help but only if given the resources & expertise (which remains to be seen).”
CEO of Digital Content Next, Jason Kint, tweeted, “Lawmakers like to say with the DSA they’ve taken the principle that ‘what is illegal offline must also be illegal online.’ Just imagine! And importantly, it has heightened risk and enforcement for very large online platforms and search engines.”
President of Color of Change, Rashad Robinson, tweeted, “If we don't have protections against harms and ways people can hold corporations accountable for those harms, we will only perpetuate existing power structures. And we cannot enforce those protections without antitrust legislation. #BreakUpBigTech.”
Competition Policy Director at Public Knowledge, Charlotte Slaiman, tweeted, “It's really hard to quit Facebook, that's the problem. I don't blame people who are still on it: the network effects are strong. That's why we need new laws to make it easier to leave. People are really frustrated by their social media experience, but they are stuck.”
Senator Sanders Urges President Biden To Revoke Government Contracts For Companies That Violate Labor Laws Amidst Second Amazon Union Vote
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is calling upon President Biden to sign an executive order to block companies that have engaged in unlawful anti-union activity from receiving government contracts. He joins a coalition of union groups, including the Amazon Labor Union, urging the federal and New York state governments to stop subsidizing Amazon following claims that the company engaged in illegal union busting. The demand for government action comes amidst another union election taking place in Staten Island, NY; this time at Amazon’s LDJ5 warehouse.
While just across the street, Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse found union success in a historic vote, there is still a long road ahead until they reach their first contract agreement with Amazon. Amazon has filed several major objections with the National Labor Relations Board to overturn the results of the election at JFK8, and ALU organizers are saying they’ve experienced anti-union efforts by the company. In fact, as the labor movement gains further traction, in the tech industry in particular, union organizers are accusing companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks of deploying anti-union tactics to discourage unionization.
COVERAGE
The Washington Post, Amazon union could face a tough road ahead after victory
The Guardian, Amazon labor organizers push for second union victory in New York
The Verge, The Amazon Labor Union beat a behemoth — can it keep winning? - The Verge
Politico, Sanders pressures Biden on Amazon unions: 'The time for talk is over' - POLITICO
The New York Times, Amazon Workers Begin Voting on Union at Another Staten Island Facility
The Washington Post, From Amazon to Apple, tech giants turn to old-school union-busting
Market Watch, Unions’ push at Amazon, Apple and Starbucks could be ‘most significant moment in the American labor movement’ in decades
RESPONSES
Accountable Tech tweeted, “Workers at Big Tech fulfillment centers are organizing in the face of record wealth and power, but not without pushback.”
Quoting an article, Hypervisible tweeted, “"Tech companies have surveilled workers suspected of organizing, posted anti-union propaganda and hired anti-union consultants..."
Randi Weingarten, President of AFT Union, tweeted, “Amazon has been breaking labor law by firing union organizers and looks like using taxpayer dollars to do that. @AFTunion and @NYSUT have joined with @amazonlabor to call for a full investigation.
SEIU tweeted, “Respecting workers’ right to a union is the right thing to do. Treating workers with dignity and respect can also mean more stability for companies.”
The Coalition to Defend Amazon Workers tweeted, “[call] on all New York unions to join .@amazonlabor .@AFTunion @nysut .@Britt4Congress petition .@TishJames to force .@amazon to return $400 million dollars of tax subsidies for unlawful union-busting in violation of the Excelsior Jobs Act. NY Taxpayers want their money.
Color of Change tweeted, “.@Amazon’s racist smear campaign against Black union organizer @Shut_downAmazon further proves it needs to undergo a racial equity audit. A FULL racial equity audit, in addition to the union, would provide Black workers additional protections.”
OPEN TABS
Reuters, U.S. Senate set to confirm Bedoya as FTC commissioner
Ars Technica, Google Play makes bizarre decision to ban call-recording apps
Wall Street Journal, Online Privacy Protections Gain Traction With Lawmakers, Tech Industry
Engadget, Leaked document indicates Facebook has little insight into how user data is handled
Microsoft, The hybrid war in Ukraine