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Numerous individuals and groups are posing—both online and in person—as members of groups they oppose. Malign state actors have also begun to enter the fray.
Political pressure is mounting against broad liability protections for online platforms. What’s a better way forward?
President Trump on Thursday, May 28, signed an executive order targeting Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law that protects tech companies from being held liable for third-party content shared on their sites.
Benjamin Wittes talked with Kate Klonick, Eugene Volkh, Jack Balkin and Quinta Jurecic about the executive order and what it means. You can watch that discussion here and below:
Neither of us has ever written anything that has been as misinterpreted as this piece in The Atlantic.
Bullish digital campaigning can’t change hearts and minds at the polls—but it can change Facebook.
Botched terrorist attacks aren't failures for terrorist groups. They're a learning process.
On Jan. 8 at 10:30am, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on “Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age.” The committee will hear from Monika Bickert from Facebook, Joan Donovan of the Harvard Kennedy School, Tristan Harris from the Center for Humane Technology and Justin Hurwitz from the University of Nebraska College of Law. The livestream of the hearing is available here and below.
Section 230 deliberately seeks to induce private parties to take action that would violate constitutional rights if governmental actors did it directly.
On Nov. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Eric Meiggs and Declan Harrington were charged with wire fraud, computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, among other charges. The indictment alleges an extensive nationwide scheme to steal victims' social media accounts and cryptocurrency. The full indictment is available here and below.
David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the freedom of opinion and expression, recommended in June 2018 that social media companies adopt international human rights law as the authoritative standard for their content moderation. Before Kaye’s report, the idea was fairly out of the mainstream. But the ground has shifted.