Technology

REPORT: Reality Check: How to Protect Human Rights in the 3D Immersive Web

REPORT: Reality Check: How to Protect Human Rights in the 3D Immersive Web

Our latest report, “Reality Check: How to Protect Human Rights in the 3D Immersive Web,” explains the risks to privacy and safety exacerbated by immersive technologies and recommends steps tech companies and the government can take to minimize those risks.

REPORT: Safeguarding AI: Addressing the Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence

REPORT: Safeguarding AI: Addressing the Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Our latest report, Safeguarding AI: Addressing the Risks of Generative Artificial Intelligence, identifies he risks related to generative AI and recommends steps tech companies and the government can take to minimize those risks.

REPORT: Gaming the System: How Extremists Exploit Gaming Sites And What Can Be Done About It

REPORT: Gaming the System: How Extremists Exploit Gaming Sites And What Can Be Done About It

Our latest report, Gaming The System: How Extremists Exploit Gaming Sites And What Can Be Done To Counter Them, describes how extremist actors are exploiting online gaming sites to disseminate violent ideologies, network with like-minded people, and perpetrate real-world harm. The report recommends concrete steps the gaming and gaming-adjacent industries should take to counter such exploitation and avoid serious harm to users and society.

WEBINAR: Spreading the Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud

WEBINAR: Spreading the Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud

On September 28th, our Center hosted a virtual discussion about the report, Spreading the Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud. Elizabeth Dwoskin, who covers Silicon Valley for The Washington Post posed questions to Katie Harbath, formerly Facebook’s policy director for elections and now the principal at Anchor Change, a civic-tech consultancy, and Paul Barrett, the Center’s deputy director.

REPORT: Spreading The Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud

REPORT: Spreading The Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud

Our latest report, Spreading the Big Lie: How Social Media Sites Have Amplified False Claims of U.S. Election Fraud, explains how the major platforms are fueling distrust of elections and recommends reforms such as enhanced fact-checking and outside auditing.

REPORT: A Platform ‘Weaponized’: How YouTube Spreads Harmful Content – And What Can Be Done About It

REPORT: A Platform ‘Weaponized’: How YouTube Spreads Harmful Content – And What Can Be Done About It

Our latest paper, A Platform ‘Weaponized’: How YouTube Spreads Harmful Content – And What Can Be Done About It, sheds light on the least-well-understood major platform and offers recommendations for improvement.

WHITE PAPER: Enhancing the FTC's Consumer Protection Authority to Regulate Social Media Companies

WHITE PAPER: Enhancing the FTC's Consumer Protection Authority to Regulate Social Media Companies

Our new white paper, Enhancing the FTC's Consumer Protection Authority to Regulate Social Media Companies, explains why the government needs to oversee platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a way to reduce misinformation, hate speech, and other forms of harmful content.

REPORT: Fueling the Fire: How Social Media Intensifies U.S. Political Polarization – And What Can Be Done About It

REPORT: Fueling the Fire: How Social Media Intensifies U.S. Political Polarization – And What Can Be Done About It

Our September 2021 report, Fueling the Fire: How Social Media intensifies U.S. Political Polarization -- And What We Can Do About It, explains that while the major tech platforms may not cause partisan hatred in the first instance, they do exacerbate the problem, which has dire consequences for our democracy.

Recommendations to the Biden Administration On Regulating Disinformation and Other Harmful Content on Social Media

Recommendations to the Biden Administration On Regulating Disinformation and Other Harmful Content on Social Media

This white paper recommends a range of steps the Biden Administration should take to counter disinformation and other harmful content on major social media platforms.

REPORT: False Accusation: The Unfounded Claim That Social Media Companies Censor Conservatives

REPORT: False Accusation: The Unfounded Claim That Social Media Companies Censor Conservatives

Our latest report, False Accusation: The Unfounded Claim that Social Media Companies Censor Conservatives, debunks the myth that the political right is suppressed online and recommends that the platforms make their content moderation practices more transparent.

Role-play Exercise: Silverlake in China: Investor Responsibility for State Surveillance in Xinjiang

Role-play Exercise: Silverlake in China: Investor Responsibility for State Surveillance in Xinjiang

This role-play exercise asks a broad question: how should US companies and investors respond when SenseTime and other technology firms are added to the Entity List? What affirmative responsibilities, if any, do US companies and investors bear for addressing privacy rights and for declining to invest in or have commercial relationships with Chinese firms like SenseTime that are assisting the mass surveillance efforts in Xinjiang.

REPORT: Regulating Social Media: The Fight Over Section 230 -- and Beyond

REPORT: Regulating Social Media: The Fight Over Section 230 -- and Beyond

Our report on Section 230 and regulation of social media companies, Regulating Social Media: The Fight Over Section 230--and Beyond, recommends amending the foundational law of the commercial internet and creating a Digital Regulatory Agency.

REPORT: Who Moderates the Social Media Giants? A Call to End Outsourcing

REPORT: Who Moderates the Social Media Giants? A Call to End Outsourcing

In June 2020, we shifted our focus to content moderation, publishing Who Moderates the Social Media Giants? A Call to End Outsourcing. This report recommends that Facebook and its rivals stop outsourcing responsibility for what gets removed from their platforms and instead embrace this vital function themselves.

Hillicon Valley: Instagram Seen as Top 2020 Disinformation Target

Hillicon Valley: Instagram Seen as Top 2020 Disinformation Target

The center’s report on disinformation and the 2020 presidential election is cited to highlight the risks posed by Instagram, WhatsApp, deepfake videos, and foreign interference. Michael Posner is quoted, urging social media companies to combat disinformation to achieve public and private gains.

Report Highlights Instagram, Deepfake Videos as Key Disinformation Threats in 2020 Election

Report Highlights Instagram, Deepfake Videos as Key Disinformation Threats in 2020 Election

Author Maggie Miller quotes Michael Posner and Deputy Director Paul Barrett on the potential use of social media to spread disinformation related to the 2020 presidential election. Barrett calls on Congress to use its position to educate the public about the threat and increase digital literacy through bipartisan hearings.

The Technology 202: New NYU Report Urges Social Media Companies to Take Down ‘Provably’ False Information

The Technology 202: New NYU Report Urges Social Media Companies to Take Down ‘Provably’ False Information

Author Cat Zakrzewski cites our latest report, and its nine recommendations to social media companies, on combating disinformation in the run up to the 2020 presidential election.

REPORT: Disinformation and the 2020 Election: How the Social Media Industry Should Prepare

REPORT: Disinformation and the 2020 Election: How the Social Media Industry Should Prepare

In September 2019, we published Disinformation and the 2020 Election: How the Social Media Industry Should Prepare. This report looks at the types and sources of false content likely to surface during the next presidential campaign. It also provides recommendations to the major social media companies for responding to disinformation.

The Technology 202: Social media companies readying to combat disinformation in Democratic debates

The Technology 202: Social media companies readying to combat disinformation in Democratic debates

With the Democratic debates fast approaching, social media companies are preparing themselves against the spread of disinformation.