Elon Musk’s Twitter deal will spur on efforts to censor online speech – not halt them Rachel Chiu If Twitter turns into a free speech-centric platform, lawmakers and regulators will be emboldened to take greater action against offensive content. On Monday, Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the social media site for $54.20 per share, a move that will take the company private and enable the tech billionaire to incorporate his own [...]
In a bid to crack down on Big Tech, we cannot forget the small players and individuals Rachel Chiu A bill poised to erode free speech in both the UK and around the world was put before Parliament last week in the form of the long-awaited Online Safety Bill. The 225-page legislation proposes solutions for a wide range of online abuses, from child sexual exploitation to fraudulent advertising, while promising to hold Big Tech [...]
The Online Safety Bill’s noble objectives won’t save it from disastrous outcomes Rachel Chiu For months, technology experts and digital rights advocates have voiced concerns about the Online Safety Bill — namely, that the bill in its current form will not be able to curtail harmful content, as the Royal Society recently claimed. The conversation is finally starting to shift in their favour. Last month, the House of Commons [...]
Handle with care: Big Tech mergers are not as evil as our watchdogs might believe December 7, 2021 Watchdogs and oversight bodies around the world, including the US Federal Trade Commission, have tried to break up Big Tech, but the UK may be the first to succeed — at the cost of entrepreneurship and innovation. Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority ordered Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to sell Giphy over antitrust concerns. [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Legislation won’t solve the Facebook problem October 26, 2021 Whistleblower Frances Haugen has revealed troubling details about Facebook’s algorithms and how they foster a polarised environment. While there is a compelling moral case for regulating these harms, legislation will not solve the problem.Facebook already prohibits a wide range of content that is legal but offensive to users. The company uses algorithms to sort through [...]
Britain’s pay gap standards are outdated and threaten an equal future October 5, 2021 The continual disparity between men’s and women’s pay remains the starkest illustration of gender inequality in the UK. For several years now, we’ve had the data showing the harsh reality that female workers are valued less – but simply shining a light on a problem is not always enough to fix it. We only know [...]
Facebook’s $400m acquisition of Giphy could be blocked based on fruitless antitrust claims September 9, 2021 The Competition and Markets Authority have threatened to dissolve Facebook’s £289m acquisition of Giphy based on fruitless allegations the merger would be anti-competitive. The only catch is: Facebook and Giphy are not competitors. Breaking up this deal on antitrust grounds will have international consequences. Regulators across the world are becoming increasingly hostile towards Facebook, as [...]
