CfA's October 8, 2021 Newsletter

This Week:

• TTP Research Featured in Facebook Whistleblower Hearing: On Tuesday, while questioning Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, Utah Senator Mike Lee used research from CfA's Tech Transparency Project to illustrate the point that Facebook is failing to prevent inappropriate ads from being shown to children. Sen. Lee displayed several ads from a recent TTP report that had been approved by Facebook for users age 13-17, despite their explicit promotion of pill abuse, alcoholic drinks, anorexia, smoking, dating services, and gambling. (Hearing Video, Report)
  • After seeing TTP's ads, Ms. Haugen responded: "It is very possible that none of those ads were seen by a human. And the reality is that we've seen from repeated documents from within my disclosures that Facebook's AI systems only catch a very small minority of offending content."

What We're Reading:

• Facebook is drawing a bipartisan backlash from Congress, but the SEC could deliver a tougher blow: "The SEC is likely to give those allegations serious weight, experts in securities law said. They point to a confluence of factors lining up against Facebook: Haugen’s revelations, which formed the basis of a series in the Wall Street Journal, have generated some urgency for regulators to respond; the SEC under Chairman Gary Gensler is converting whistleblower complaints into agency action at a record clip; and Gensler has made a priority of improving corporate disclosures, a matter that lies at the heart of Haugen’s complaints." (The Washington Post, October 8)

• Google cracks down on climate change denial by targeting ads: "Google is cracking down on digital ads promoting false climate change claims or being used to make money from such content, hoping to limit revenue for climate change deniers and stop the spread of misinformation on its platforms.
  
  The company said Thursday in a blog post that the new policy will also apply to YouTube, which last week announced a sweeping crackdown of vaccine misinformation." (ABC News, October 8)

• Lawmakers: FTC must ensure tech companies uphold youth online privacy: "Three U.S. Democratic lawmakers on Friday urged the Federal Trade Commision to ensure technology companies like Facebook , Alphabet's YouTube and TikTok comply with policy changes aimed protecting young people online.
  
  The letter from Senator Ed Markey and Representatives Kathy Castor and Lori Trahan cited recent commitments by the companies amid growing concern by lawmakers about young people online. The FTC, said the letter seen by Reuters, has an "obligation to ensure that powerful technology platforms comply with their public statements and policies on children’s and teen’s privacy."
  
  The FTC and Facebook declined to comment. TikTok and YouTube did not immediately comment." (Reuters, October 8)

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