In-class role-playing games to explore the impact of technology on society; embedded philosophy experts & social scientists in CS classes; “red teams” that probe students’ projects for possible negative societal impacts; and more.
It’s #NationalHonestyDay, what better time to hear from a few of the leading voices in Big Tech on what they really think of some of the issues plaguing their platforms… 🤔
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You know when you’re happily watching a video about the merits of different types of fishing rods and two recommended videos later you’re watching some political propaganda? Yeah, we invented that. Pretty smart if you ask us (you can’t).
Felt cute, might invade your timeline with misinformation AND track everything you do online - and trust us, we won’t be deleting it later 😉 - aren’t we just the worst?!
Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla accepts cryptocurrency donations. This led to an important discussion about cryptocurrency’s environmental impact. We’re listening, and taking action. 1/4
Decentralized web technology continues to be an important area for us to explore, but a lot has changed since we started accepting crypto donations. 2/4
So, starting today we are reviewing if and how our current policy on crypto donations fits with our climate goals. And as we conduct our review, we will pause the ability to donate cryptocurrency. 3/4
The producers of The Social Dilemma brought some serious and valid concerns about the impact of social media platforms to a broad Netflix audience. BUT… 🧵
There were glaring omissions, including insights from those who have been key thought leaders on these topics, including women and people of color.
If you want to engage more deeply in these topics, we urge you to take time to read and learn from those who have been sounding alarm bells for years about how social platforms exacerbate existing inequalities.
The UK general election demonstrates the ongoing limitations of @Facebook & @Google’s current “transparency” tools.
Exhibit A: days before the UK election, a bug in FB’s tools made paid-for messages, worth a combined £7.4 million, inaccessible to scrutiny politico.eu/article/facebo…
What’s up with this @Facebook? It was a similar situation before the European Parliamentary election earlier this year, before the US elections in 2016, and in others across the world.
You should give a full explanation for what happened @Facebook, beyond “the bug is now fixed”, and promise that it won’t happen again. We thought you were “focused and leading on transparency” @sherylsandberg?
The findings could have huge implications for political polarization as well as electoral campaign efforts to reach an audience beyond their “base.”
Why? @Facebook’s delivery decisions rely on artificial intelligence. Political ad delivery isn’t just decided by the candidate or party, Facebook’s algorithms ultimately decide who sees which advertisements.
Word is that @Facebook and @Google are considering a ban on microtargeting of political ads.
We think that’s good news, but with some important caveats... 🧵1/4
@Facebook, @Google – and in particular @YouTube – should consider broad changes to their policy, rather than limiting their restrictions solely to ads run by candidates for office. 🧵2/4
The implementation of a policy banning political microtargeting should include input from civil society groups, technologists, researchers, political scientists and others who understand the profound impact that paid political ads have on democracies around the world.🧵3/4