Nebraska CPC Funding, a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, and Tech’s Broken Promises
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** CfA's August 17, 2024 Newsletter
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With your support, Campaign for Accountability is working to expose corruption and hold the powerful accountable.
** This Week's Updates:
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How Federal Funding Keeps Flowing to Anti-Abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers
Earlier this month, an in-depth investigation ([link removed]) by Nebraska’s Flatwater Free Press revealed that State Auditor Mike Foley had maintained a close relationship with a network of anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), advising them on their spending and even rewriting grant requests. Freedom of information requests filed by the Press revealed that Foley helped the CPCs meet spending requirements for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding; if the federal government threatened to claw the money back, he said, Nebraska could pay the bill using unspent TANF dollars, “of which we have plenty.” Indeed, Nebraska’s unusually low TANF eligibility cutoff has led to fewer and fewer families qualifying for the program, allowing the state to develop a $131 million reserve
([link removed]) . Nebraska CPCs, meanwhile, received $2.8 million in TANF funds between August 2021 and January 2024.
In 2022, the Nebraska ACLU published a report ([link removed]) on the state’s CPCs, which outnumber Nebraska abortion providers eight-to-one. The report noted that CPCs are not bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), meaning they have no obligation to protect patient privacy. In April, CfA sent complaints ([link removed]) to the attorneys general of Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington alleging that CPCs in their states had potentially violated consumer protection laws by telling clients their personal health information was protected under HIPAA.
On Monday, CfA’s complaints were cited in a new article ([link removed]) by Jenifer McKenna, a reproductive rights advocate and the co-founder of the California Women’s Law Center. “[Unregulated pregnancy clinics] operate under no legal requirement to protect client confidentiality and no regulatory authority that would govern their handling of client data,” McKenna writes. That information could later be used against patients in abortion-related investigations, if the clinics chose to share it with law enforcement.
Lawmakers Press Mark Zuckerberg on Illegal Drug Advertisements Identified by TTP
Last month, CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) published a report ([link removed]) revealing that Meta had screened and approved hundreds of advertisements for dangerous drugs, demonstrating a systemic failure to protect users and enforce its own policies ([link removed]) . Now, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers has cited TTP’s research in a letter ([link removed]) to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, noting that his company appears to have “shirk[ed] its social responsibility” despite repeated promises ([link removed]) to do better. The letter also condemns Meta for monetizing and amplifying this content, rather than simply allowing users to post it, and asks Zuckerberg to reveal
how much money his company has made from illegal drug advertisements.
The morning the letter was published, TTP identified additional drug advertisements ([link removed]) in Meta’s Ad Library, including ones for cocaine and MDMA. Just this week, Meta appears to have shown an advertisement ([link removed]) for a powdered substance to 25,000 users in the EU, where it is forced to be more transparent about its operations. The letter was covered by CNBC ([link removed]) and Engadget ([link removed]) , both of which received a two-week-old statement from Meta that had previously been shared with The Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) . The Journal published a follow-up report
([link removed]) last night, with details about the letter and Meta’s other content moderation failures.
New “Broken Promises” Initiative Cites TTP Research, While EU Pushes for Answers
This week, Issue One released an updated database ([link removed]) to track Big Tech’s broken promises on user wellbeing and public safety, drawing on earlier research ([link removed]) published by TTP and a number of other tech watchdog organizations. The launch of the database coincides with the death of CrowdTangle ([link removed]) , a monitoring tool for Meta platforms that allowed researchers to track viral disinformation and calls for violence. Now, researchers must rely on the more limited “Meta Content Library,” which will likely hinder ([link removed]) ongoing studies and make it harder for independent experts to hold Meta accountable. Journalists at for-profit newsrooms will also be unable to access the library, even though they were allowed access to
CrowdTangle.
Meta also refused a request ([link removed]) from a bipartisan coalition of US Senators, who asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to extend support for CrowdTangle through the 2024 elections. In the EU, though, large platforms like Meta’s Instagram and Facebook are held to a higher standard; today, the European Commission asked ([link removed]) Meta to confirm that its Content Library is compliant with the data-sharing requirements of the Digital Services Act, expressing concern about its limitations. A Meta spokesperson told ([link removed]) Euro News that the company’s content library is “more comprehensive” than CrowdTangle, and that its staff “remained in discussion” with the Commission.
What We're Reading
FTC bans fake online reviews, inflated social media influence; rule takes effect in October ([link removed])
For Abortion Providers, a Tough Business Gets Even Tougher ([link removed])
The Unraveling of a Crypto Dream ([link removed])
** Follow Our Work:
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We thank you for your continued support. Without people like you, our work would not be possible.
Here is how you can stay involved and help us accomplish our mission:
1. Follow CfA on Threads ([link removed]) and BlueSky ([link removed])
2. Follow the Tech Transparency Project on Threads ([link removed]) and Bluesky ([link removed])
3. Tell your friends and colleagues ([link removed]) about CfA.
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5. Make a tax-deductible donation ([link removed]) .
Be on the lookout for more updates about our work in the upcoming weeks. Thanks again for signing up to be a part of CfA!
Sincerely,
Michelle Kuppersmith
Executive Director, Campaign for Accountability
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