Tag: Facebook
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The Digital Wild West Needs a Sheriff
By Steven Hill, American Purpose, October 6, 2021
Licenses and permits are standard fare in the brick-and-mortar world. Why not for internet companies?
Since the birth of the Big Tech media platforms fifteen years ago, democracies around the world have been the subjects of an unfolding experiment based on this question: Can a nation’s crucial news and information infrastructure depend on digital technologies that facilitate (a) a global free-speech zone of (b) unlimited audience size with (c) non-human, algorithmic curation of massive volumes of disinformation that (d) can be spread with unprecedented ease?…
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Reining in Facebook and Google: A Common Transatlantic Project
By Steven Hill and Stephan Richter, The Globalist, April 7, 2021
Big Tech media present a serious challenge for Western democracies. Tackling them is a worthy mission for the Biden Administration and the EU to work on jointly.
In recent weeks, two remarkable developments took place affecting Big Tech media.…
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The Real Battle Between Big Tech and the Free Press Is Just Beginning
By Steven Hill, Zocalo Public Square, April 1, 2021
From Australia to Maryland, the news industry is in a fight for Its life against Facebook and Google
From Australia to Maryland, the free press is waging a battle for survival against Facebook and Google. Besides being gushing firehoses of COVID disinformation and QAnon conspiracies, Google and Facebook have been dangerously undermining the financial stability of media outlets all over the world.…
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Europe’s Digital Fix Is Already Broken
by Steven Hill, Project Syndicate, March 25, 2021
After unveiling two new digital regulations to much fanfare last year, the European Commission already needs to go back to the drawing board. Big Tech’s latest scandals have made clear that the only workable governance model for the digital economy is one that treats the leading platforms as utilities.…
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Big Tech vs the Free Press
By Steven Hill, International Politics and Society, March 18, 2021
Beyond censorship, Big Tech’s capture of digital ad revenue poses a major threat to the free press. But it could now face a united transatlantic front
At the end of February 2021, two remarkable developments took place. First, Facebook and Google were trying to bully Australia over a new law requiring the Big Tech platforms to share digital advertising revenues with Australian media companies.…
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The EU is about to make Facebook even worse
By Steven Hill, International Politics and Society, Feb 12, 2021
Big Tech media platforms are dangerous. But the EU’s proposed competition laws won’t fix it — and could make it worse
The European Union has earned a reputation as the world’s foremost regulator of Big Tech companies. Its latest salvo is the recently proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA).…
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How we can tame the wild west of Big Tech media?
By Steven Hill, Mercury News, Jan 27, 2021
Why do so many people, including both former President Donald Trump and new President Joe Biden, keep talking about getting rid of an obscure law called Section 230?
The short answer is that Section 230, part of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, is the legal underpinning for one of the largest and most consequential experiments in American history.…
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Should Big Tech Own Our Personal Data?
By Steven Hill, Wired, February 13, 2019
Personal data is increasingly a core part of our personhood. Which is why the “service for data” model is a devil’s bargain.
Facebook, Twitter and Google seem to take turns making the wrong kinds of headlines. Last month it was Google’s turn. The company was fined $57 million by a French regulatory agency, the first time a large Silicon Valley company has been penalized for violating the European Union’s new privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).…
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WA Post: How to rein in Big Tech
By Steven Hill, Washington Post, January 7, 2019
Self-regulation by Internet-based companies clearly has not worked. The best way to harness our digital future is to use technology itself to apply established business principles for regulating Big Tech.
Every month, new controversies emerge regarding Facebook, Google, Twitter and other Internet-based companies.…