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PODCAST

The Tech Policy Press Podcast

Tech Policy Press

Tech Policy Press is a nonprofit media and community venture intended to provoke new ideas, debate and discussion at the intersection of technology and democracy. You can find us at https://techpolicy.press/, where you can join the newsletter.

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All Episodes

45:20

Are Platforms Prepared for the Post-Election Period?

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/11/02

On Tuesday, November 5th, the final ballots will be cast in the 2024 US presidential election. But the process is far from over. How prepared are social media platforms for the post-election period? What should we make of characters like Elon Musk, who is actively advancing conspiracy theories and false claims about the integrity of the election? And what can we do going forward to support election workers and administrators on the frontlines facing threats and disinformation? To help answer these

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53:24

What Role Might Elon Musk Play in the Post-Election...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/11/02

If you’re trying to game out the potential role of technology in the post-election period in the US, there is a significant "X" factor. When he purchased the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, “Elon Musk didn’t just get a social network—he got a political weapon.” So says today’s guest, a journalist who is one of the keenest observers of phenomena on the internet: Charlie Warzel, a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of its newsletter Galaxy Brain. Justin Hendrix caught up with

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39:48

Three Perspectives on Generative AI and Elections

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/27

In this episode, Justin Hendrix speaks with three researchers who recently published projects looking at the intersection of generative AI with elections around the world, including:Samuel Woolley, Dietrich Chair of Disinformation Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and one of the authors of a set of studies titled Generative Artificial Intelligence and Elections;Lindsay Gorman, Managing Director and Senior Fellow of the Technology Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and an

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48:04

Unpacking the Principles of the Digital Services Act...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/27

Martin Husovecis an associate law professor at theLondon School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He works on questions at the intersection of technology and digital liberties, particularly platform regulation, intellectual property and freedom of expression. He's the author of Principles of the Digital Services Act, just out from Oxford University Press. Justin Hendrix spoke to him about the rollout of the DSA, what to make of progress on trusted flaggers and out-of-court dispute resolution

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46:51

Mary Anne Franks Challenges First Amendment Orthodoxy

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/20

In her new book, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment, Dr. Mary Anne Franks challenges First Amendment orthodoxy and critiques “reckless speech,” which endangers vulnerable groups and protects corporate interests, in order to advance “fearless speech,” which seeks to advance equality and democracy.

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46:27

Governing the Fediverse: A Field Study

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/20

A lot of folks frustrated with major social media platforms are migrating to alternatives like Mastodon and Bluesky, which operate on decentralized protocols. This summer, Erin KissaneandDarius Kazemireleased a report on the governance on fediverse microblogging servers and the moderation practices of the people who run them. Justin Hendrix caught up with Erin Kissane about their findings, including the emerging forms of diplomacy between different server operators, the types of political and policy

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37:58

Secure Messaging Apps and Election Integrity

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/20

With Sam Woolley, Mariana Olaizola Rosenblat and Inga K. Trauthig are authors of a new report from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and the Propaganda Research Lab at the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin titled "Covert Campaigns: Safeguarding Encrypted Messaging Platforms from Voter Manipulation." Justin Hendrix caught up with them to learn more about how political propagandists are exploiting the features of encrypted messaging platforms to

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32:28

Election Meddling, Censorship, and More Bad News in...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/19

The results in this year’s installment of the Freedom House Freedom on the Net report generally follow the same distressing trajectory as prior reports, marking a 14th consecutive year in declines in internet freedom around the world. But in this year of elections, the Freedom House analysts also identified a set of concerning phenomena related to this most fundamental act of democracy and how governments are asserting themselves, for better or worse. Justin Hendrix spoke to report authors Allie

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26:26

Independent Researchers and Journalists Mourn the...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/18

In this episode, we're crashing a funeral... for CrowdTangle, a piece of software that allowed journalists and independent researchers to get insights into social media. Not our usual material, but this particular loss marks a huge blow in the ongoing fight for public access to data from the platforms, and underscores why we need to continue to fight for transparency. And the folks convened by the Knight-Georgetown Instituteand the Coalition for Independent Technology Research refused to let it go

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35:22

From King James to Google: Barry Lynn on the...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/13

Barry Lynn is the executive director of the Open Markets Institute in Washington DC and the author of this month's cover essay in Harper's titled "The Antitrust Revolution: Liberal democracy’s last stand against Big Tech." Justin Hendrix spoke to him about his essay, about the remedy framework proposed by the US Department of Justice following the ruling in the Google search antitrust trial, and about what to anticipate for the antitrust movement following the 2024 US presidential election.

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29:30

The Evolution of Online Political Advertising: A...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/11

Today’s guest is Sam Jeffers, cofounder and executive director of Who Targets Me. Jeffers has spent several yearshas spent several years building a suite of capabilities to make political advertising more transparent,including tools for individuals anddata and support for academics, researchers and journalists. His organization also advocates forbetter policyfrom platforms, regulators and governments. (You can download the Who Targets Me browser extension to contribute your data to the project.)

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46:07

Assessing Systemic Risk Under the Digital Services Act

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/06

One of the most significant concepts in Europe’s Digital Services Act is that of “systemic risk,” which relates to the spread of illegal content, or content that might have foreseeable negative effects on the exercise of fundamental rights or on on civic discourse, electoral processes, public security and so forth. The DSA requires companies to carry out risk assessments to detail whether they are adequately addressing such risks on their platforms. What exactly amounts to systemic risk and how

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33:38

Unpacking New Mexico's Complaint Against Snap Inc.

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/10/06

Last week, Wall Street Journal technology reporter Jeff Horwitz first reported on details of an unredacted version of a complaint against Snap brought by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez. Tech Policy Press editor Justin Hendrix spoke to Horwitz about its details, and questions it leaves unanswered.

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35:44

AI Snake Oil: Separating Hype from Reality

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/29

Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor are the authors of AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference, published September 24 by Princeton University Press. In this conversation, Justin Hendrix focuses in particular on the book's Chapter 6, "Why Can't AI Fix Social Media?"

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32:53

Assessing Platform Preparedness for the 2024 US Election

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/25

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) recently assessed social media platforms’ policies, public commitments, and product interventions related to election integrity across six major issue areas: platform integrity, violent extremism and hate speech, internal and external resourcing, transparency, political advertising and state-affiliated media.Justin Hendrix spoke to two of the report's authors: ISD's Director of Technology & Society, Isabelle Frances-Wright, and its Senior US digital

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44:31

Gary Marcus Wants to Tame Silicon Valley

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/22

Gary Marcus writes that the companies developing artificial intelligence systems want the citizens of democracies “to absorb all thenegative externalities” that might arise from their products, “such as the damage to democracy from Generative AI–produced misinformation, or cybercrime and kidnapping schemes using deepfaked voice clones—without them paying a nickel.” And, he says, we need to fight back.His new book is called Taming Silicon Valley: How We Can Ensure That AI Works for Us, published by

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36:57

Resisting the Tech Coup: A Conversation with Marietje...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/22

Marietje Schaake is the author of The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley. Dr. Alondra Nelson, a Professorat theInstitute for Advanced Study, who served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden andActing Directorof theWhite House Office of Science and Technology Policy(OSTP), calls Schaake “a twenty-first century Tocqueville” who “looks at Silicon Valley and its impact on democratic society with an outsider’s gimlet eye.” Nobel prize winner Maria Ressa says Schaake's new book

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20:44

Thierry Breton Resigns- What Does it Mean for...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/21

In 2019, Thierry Breton, a French business executive who became the France’s Minister of Finance from 2005 to 2007, was nominated by PresidentEmmanuel Macronto become a member of theEuropean Commissionfor theInternal Market.In that role his name and face were closely associated with Europe’s push to regulate digital markets and the passage of legislation such as the Digital Services Act and the EU’s AI Act.On Monday, September 16 - in a letter that called into question EU Commission President Ursula

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44:23

Free Speech vs. Sovereignty?

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/15

Paris Marx, a Canadian tech critic, recently authored a post under the headline "Pavel Durov and Elon Musk are not free speech champions: The actions against Telegram and Twitter/X are about sovereignty, not speech." Justin Hendrix spoke to Paris about his assessment of these matters, and why those making claims in defense of free speech in the wake of Brazil’s ban on X and Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest in France may in fact be undermining free expression and internet freedoms in the

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20:58

Understanding Systemic Risks under the Digital...

The Tech Policy Press Podcast ·

2024/09/15

At Tech Policy Press, we’re closely following the implementation of the Digital Services Act, the European Union law designed to regulate online platforms and services. One of the DSA’s key objectives is to identify and mitigate systemic risks.But how do we gauge what rises to the level of a systemic risk? How do we get the sort of information we need from platforms to identify and mitigate systemic risk, and how do we create the kinds of collaborations between regulators and the research community

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399 results

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