MC Weekly Update 5/6: Good luck, Linda!
Alex and Evelyn cover a of stories you'd definitely want to hear on your first day as the CEO of Twitter: Twitter has been failing to remove dozens of known images of child sexual abuse, as revealed by an investigation by Stanford Internet Observatory; ad revenue is way down; Senators are concerned the company cannot comply with its obligations under the FTC consent decree; this is not helped by the fact it recently lost two high ranking trust and safety employees... and more! Good luck Linda! Meanwhile, YouTube is no longer enforcing its 2020 election misinformation policy; Instagram has reinstated RFK Jr's account; TikTok has been sharing user on an internal messaging tool accessible by ByteDance employees; and the Surgeon General issued an Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.
Moderated Content · Evelyn Douek, Alex Stamos
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Show Notes
Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:
- Stanford Internet Observatory research discovered serious failings with Twitter’s detection and removal systems for child abuse content. - Alexa Corse/ The Wall Street Journal, @stanfordio
Twitter Corner
- In another welcome gift on Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino’s first day, leaked documents show Twitter’s ad revenue is down nearly 60% from last year. - Ryan Mac, Tiffany Hsu/ The New York Times
- Four Democratic senators sent a letter to Elon Musk and Yaccarino inquiring if there are still enough people at Twitter to comply with the company’s FTC data privacy agreements. - Brian Fung/ CNN
- Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, and head of brand safety and ad quality, A.J. Brown, resigned after Musk reversed their decision to limit the reach of a Daily Wire documentary. - Kylie Robison/ Fortune, Sheila Dang/ Reuters, Alexa Corse/ The Wall Street Journal, Suzanne Vranica, Patience Haggin, Alexa Corse/ The Wall Street Journal
- Twitter planned to limit the visibility of the documentary for misgendering, but Elon Musk overturned the decision and issued an apology to Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing saying the content is allowed and blaming his staff for a “mistake.” - Todd Spangler/ Variety, @elonmusk
- Twitter is demanding researchers delete data acquired through academic data access agreements within 30 days after the contracts expire unless they pay a new rate of at least $42,000 per month — a near exponential increase — for an enterprise API that provides less access. - Chris Stokel-Walker/ i newspaper
- Let’s hope Linda is feeling good about DSA compliance which will start in August for Twitter.
- Twitter dropped out of the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation. - Kelvin Chan/ Associated Press, Ewa Krukowska/ Bloomberg News, Justin Hendrix/ Tech Policy Press, Natasha Lomas/ TechCrunch, @GlobalAffairs
- The European Commission will conduct a voluntary content moderation compliance test with Twitter for the forthcoming Digital Services Act regulations during a visit to Twitter headquarters in San Francisco later this month. - Sam Schechner/ The Wall Street Journal
- Meanwhile, YouTube announced it will stop enforcing its 2020 election misinformation policy. Good thing there’s no big events coming up in the next year where the amount and importance of such claims is likely to increase! - Sara Fischer/ Axios, YouTube
- Instagram lifted its account suspension for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Sunday, saying it was a mistake not to reinstate him after he launched a presidential campaign in April. - Cristiano Lima/ The Washington Post
- Kennedy’s account was previously suspended for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about vaccines and COVID-19. His nonprofit, the Children’s Health Defense, is still suspended from the platform.
- TikTok has been sharing user data on an internal messaging tool that is accessible to ByteDance employees in China. - Sapna Maheshwari and Ryan Mac/ The New York Times
- The surgeon general released a report on the effect social media has on young people, noting benefits, but warning about specific harms and calling for action by social media companies, policymakers, researchers, children, and parents and guardians. - Casey Newton/ Platformer, Taylor Hatmaker/ TechCrunch, Matt Richtel, Catherine Pearson, Michael Levenson/ The New York Times, Department of Health and Human Services, Vivek Murthy/ The Washington Post (commentary)
- Conservative groups are hoping to take advantage of a legislative response to child safety concerns to remove pro-LGBTQ and similar content on social issues and sexual health and identity. - Mike Masnick/ Techdirt
Join the conversation and connect with Evelyn and Alex on Twitter at @evelyndouek and @alexstamos.
Moderated Content is produced in partnership by Stanford Law School and the Cyber Policy Center. Special thanks to John Perrino for research and editorial assistance.
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