Moderated Content

Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:

• The attention grabbing 404 Media headline “Has Facebook Stopped Trying?” could be on to something. Alex discusses significant disinvestment in trust and safety at Facebook with lots of junk spreading (such as AI-generated Shrimp Jesus) and a sextortion challenge. - Jason Koebler/ 404 Media
• YouTube announced it is testing a feature for users to add notes under videos with context or fact checks. - YouTube
• The U.S. military ran a covert anti-vaccine influence operation on social media intended to discredit China’s COVID vaccine in the Philippines. - Chris Bing, Joel Schectman. Reuters
• U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for a warning label on social media platforms in a New York Times opinion essay. - Vivek Murthy/ The New York Times, “The Daily”, Erin Burnett/ CNN
  • Not everyone agrees with his recommendation (not to mention the First Amendment or existing evidence). - Clay Calvert/ AEI, Deidre McPhillips/ CNN, J. Nathan Matias, Janet Haven/ Tech Policy Press, Mike Masnick/ The Daily Beast, Caroline Mimbs Nyce/ The Atlantic
  • They reference this report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine - National Academies 
    • And this one pager
• New York state lawmakers passed and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act prohibiting social media companies from using “addictive” algorithmic feeds for minors under 18 without parental consent. - Anthony Izaguirre/ Associated Press, Carolyn Thompson/ Associated Press, Mark Wilson/ Fast Company, Kat Tenbarge/ NBC News, Austin Jenkins/ Pluribus News, Anthony Ha/ TechCrunch, Common Sense Media, Governor of New York
  • Negotiations at the end of the state legislative session on June 6 limited a restriction on overnight notifications and removed the right to take private legal action against social media companies for alleged violations.
  • Tech trade associations oppose the legislation arguing it is unconstitutional with free speech restrictions that make children less safe with less curation of social media feeds. - Chamber of Progress, NetChoice

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.

Like what you heard? Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast with friends!

Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:

• OpenAI published its first transparency report on covert influence operations using the company’s AI models finding the tools were used for existing campaigns by Russia, China, Iran and Israel with limited reach. - Ina Fried/ Axios, OpenAI 
• In very related news, Meta announced it removed foreign influence operations using AI-generated content. - Aisha Counts/ Bloomberg News, Margarita Franklin, Lindsay Hundley, Mike Torrey, David Agranovich, Mike Dvilyanski/ Meta
  • Meta claims it is still able to detect influence operations using AI-generated content, but recent Stanford Internet Observatory research found such content is being widely used for spam that generates engagement with surreal or emotional content.
  • Both Meta and OpenAI point fingers at Israeli actors for using generative AI in influence operations and Meta claimed a victory in stopping the infamous Russian Doppelganger operation.
• California legislators are considering dozens of bills with AI regulations. One of the most prominent and controversial is SB 1047, the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act. - Jeremy B. White/ Politico
  • What it Would Do: The bill would create sweeping AI safety regulations against “hazardous capabilities” and a Frontier Model Division of California Department of Technology to set those new rules for the most powerful AI models, including a “kill switch.” The bill also includes CalCompute, a public cloud computing cluster for AI safety research.
  • The Politics: The bill was introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener, an ambitious Democrat seeking to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While state lawmakers have introduced many ambitious AI safety regulations, Governor Gavin Newsom is urging a focus on innovation to protect the state’s tech industry. - Jeremy B. White/ Politico

TikTok Tick-Tock

• TikTok is funding a lawsuit brought by a diverse group of eight creators against the federal government’s divest-or-ban measure. The new suit was combined with the lawsuit brought by TikTok and parent company ByteDance with an expedited schedule to hear the case in September. - Josephine Rozzelle/ CNBC, David Shepardson/ Reuters, Julia Shapero/ The Hill, Taylor Lorenz, Drew Harwell/ The Washington Post
  • The creators include a cattle rancher, cookie baker, feminist activist, college football coach and a rapping conservative commentator. Their challenge focuses on First Amendment free speech rights.
• The tech trade association NetChoice booted TikTok earlier in May following pushback from Congressional offices that warned of an investigation into organizations tied to TikTok. - Daniel Lippman, Brendan Bordelon/ Politico
• In a possible preview of what to expect in Murthy v. Missouri, the Supreme Court released a unanimous decision in NRA v. Vullo that found a New York state official likely violated the free speech rights of the National Rifle Association by pressuring banks and insurers to cut ties with the organization after the Parkland high school shooting. - Justin Jouvenal/ The Washington Post

Down Under

• An Australian court rejected an eSafety Commissioner global removal order for X to hide content with video of a stabbing attack at a Sydney church. eSafety has since dropped the case against X. - Jake Evans, Jordyn Butler/ ​​ABC News (Australia), Rod McGuirk/ Associated Press, Tanvi Nair/ Australian Institute of International Affairs, Sumathi Bala/ CNBC, Josh Taylor/ The Guardian
  • The court ruling acknowledged that the order would likely “be ignored or disparaged in other countries.”

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.

Like what you heard? Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast with friends!

Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:

TikTok Tick-Tock

• A law requiring TikTok parent company ByteDance to divest or face a U.S. ban was passed and signed into law as part of a foreign aid and national security funding package. - Casey Newton/ Platformer, Rebecca Kern/ Politico, Mike Scarcella/ Reuters, John Perrino/ Tech Policy Press, Sapna Maheshwari, David McCabe/ The New York Times, Drew Harwell/ The Washington Post, Cristiano Lima-Strong/ The Washington Post, @TikTokPolicy

Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (EU Policy Corner)

• The European Commission opened formal proceedings against Meta on potential DSA violations including the “deprecation and planned discontinuation of CrowdTangle” happening “without an adequate replacement” ahead of the European elections. - Jon Brodkin/ Ars Technica, Clothilde Goujard/ Politico, Clothilde Goujard, Aoife White/ Politico, Natasha Lomas/ TechCrunch, Lisa O'Carroll/ The Guardian, Adam Satariano/ The New York Times, European Commission, Mathias Vermeulen (@mathver)
  • The probe will also investigate how foreign influence operations are spreading on Facebook and Instagram, how Meta is handling political advertising and content recommendations and issues with flagging and removing illegal content.
  • Meta’s Threads announced it wouldn’t recommend political commentary earlier this year and recent research found the pro-Kremlin Doppelganger network is buying Facebook ads ahead of the EU election. - Clothilde Goujard/ Politico, Taylor Lorenz, Naomi Nix/ The Washington Post
• The REPORT Act was signed into law by President Biden on May 7 after passing both chambers of Congress on April 29. The law makes common sense updates to the nation's online child abuse reporting system and expands reporting requirements to include instances of child grooming and trafficking. - Dave Williams/ Capitol Beat, Julie Tsirkin/ NBC News, Lauren Forristal/ TechCrunch, Amanda Silberling/ TechCrunch, Kate Klonick, Margo Williams/ The Klonickles, The White House, @HouseFloor, Office of Congresswoman Laurel Lee, Office of Senator Jon Ossoff, Office of Senator Marsha Blackburn
• Georgia lawmakers passed the Protecting Georgia's Children on Social Media Act of 2024, SB 351, requiring age verification and parental consent for teens under 16 to create social media accounts. The bill also updates school education requirements to cover online safety. - Brenna Goth/ Bloomberg Law, FOX 5 Atlanta

Legal Corner

• SCOTUS denied an application for a stay of the Texas age verification law for adult sites. The cert petition is still pending and they didn’t give a reason, but it’s still kind of amazing given the precedent is so firmly against them and you’d normally expect a stay when First Amendment rights are threatened. - Andrew Chung/ Reuters, Adam Liptak/ The New York Times, Free Speech Coalition

Sports Corner

• Alex said he is “excited” to root for the New York Knicks in the NBA playoffs with his Sacramento Kings failing to make the playoffs. If only there was more New York sports coverage. - Chris Herring/ ESPN
  • Despite calling New York sports fans “the worst,” his show notes writer says there is still time to be a bandwagon Jalen Brunson fan.

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.

Like what you heard? Don’t forget to subscribe and share the podcast with friends!