This is why we have conducted a stress test to ensure the readiness of Very Large Online Platforms to counter potential manipulation and interference using the tools provided by the Digital Services Act.
It addressed multiple scenarios, including:
⚠ Information manipulation via deep fakes, other AI uses
⚠ Attempts of suppression of voices
⚠ Intentional spread of false information
⚠ Online incitement to violence
We’ve had a tremendously busy first quarter, too much too fit in a newsletter, so here’s the roundup of what’s been happening these past few months.
Content Classification System
This is the biggest project we have underway: build an opt-in, privacy-preserving CSAM detection and reporting system to help protect the Fediverse. We are halfway through our initial buildout, which will allow server operators to optionally send their media to IFTAS for hash and match detection using the Safer platform from Thorn. No media leaves IFTAS, and if we get a pertinent match we take care of the necessary reporting. This one’s a complex activity, but we are working our way through and hope to have more on this soon.
We’ve set aside funds to pay active moderators a monthly stipend for their guidance and input on our activities, and we are extremely pleased to announce our initial cohort has been onboarded and the first payments went out for March. This group is tasked with reviewing our our products and services, and ensuring a broad range of voices are heard throughout the process. You can review our Moderator Advisory Panel on the About Us page, welcome to everyone who stepped up to help guide this work and thank you for your participation!
FediCheck / CARIAD
FediCheck is our moderation-as-a-service domain federation app, it allows Mastodon servers to sign in and automatically update their domain blocks and retractions from a trusted list. For this iteration we are using our CARIAD list (an aggregation of the most blocked domains) combined with our Do Not Interact list, each domain is reviewed before inclusion, and the service is intended for new administrators to get a kick start on their federation choices while keeping them safe from day 1 harassment.
We’ve onboarded our first batch of beta testers and while we’ve got some kinks to iron out, the service is working well. We’ll keep adding more servers from the initial round of requests, and work our way toward making this a free, public service.
We have contracted with Tall Poppy for up to 20 moderators to gain access to a range of personal safety tools, including live support during online harassment and doxxing attacks. We are scheduling the first onboarding and hope to offer this to many more in the coming months.
Working with the great folks at Tremau, we launched the first of our regulatory guidance materials, this easy-to-read guide to the DSA allows Fediverse administrators to review their exposure to the DSA, and practical guidance on working toward compliance.
We’ve installed and experimented with the Bluesky open source moderation tool Ozone. As part of this activity, we’ve set up a labeller account on Bluesky, we’re not actively moderating anything (yet) but we are looking into if and how we can support labelling on the network. Our Bluesky links:
Lillian and Jon have been conducting a survey of moderators to help guide the production of a number of templates for moderation teams, including a moderator agreement and code of conduct. Longer-term this will become a handbook for hands-on moderator activities.
IFTAS is now a recognised 501c3 organisation, this means we can accept tax-deductible donations to support our work. Everything we do is free of charge and we need your support to keep the work moving forward!
We have a number of ways for you to support the mission:
If you’re considering making a contribution, your employer may have matching funds available! We are registered with Benevity, check with your company’s giving program to see if you can double your contribution!
Spoiler Alert
We are slowly opening the doors to our collaboration portal “IFTAS Connect”.
We’ve issued invitations to our Needs Assessment participants, and will be opening up more broadly in late April. IFTAS Connect is a community of practice for moderators, community managers and researchers new and old to come together, share what works, seek help, and get guides and resources for their day to day work.
Signals sharing – we will soon be convening a group to begin the work of classifying shareable information to strengthen the Fediverse defenses against spam, disinformation and more, using an ISAC-like format. Email us for more info.
Additional regulatory guidance for administrators, GDPR, UK’s OSA and more on the list.
Moderator wellness and resilience education
Thanks for reading, to stay on top of our activities please join our newsletter.
⚠️ Opening of formal proceedings against TikTok under the Digital Services Act.
We are concerned that TikTok has launched the "Task and Reward Program" of TikTok Lite without conducting a diligent assessment of the risks it entails.
We suspect an infringement of the #DSA, and we consider that there are risks of serious damage for the mental health of users.
Therefore, we have communicated to TikTok our intention to suspend the TikTok Lite rewards programme in the EU.
Online platforms must be accountable for ensuring safer, more transparent online spaces.
As of next week, adult entertainment platforms Pornhub, Stripchat and Xvideos will have to comply with the most stringent obligations under the Digital Services Act, including:
Submitting risk assessment reports
Putting in place mitigation measures to address systemic risks
Complying with additional transparency obligations
Komisja Europejska wciągnęła największe platformy pornograficzne na listę VLOP-ów: https://europa.eu/!mYM4vb
To zmusi je do mapowania ryzyka i minimalizowania go.
Byliśmy w grupie organizacji, które walczyły o to, żeby te największe platformy pornograficzne poddać kontroli zgodnie z #DSA, jako VLOP-y. Dlaczego to ważne, wyjaśnialiśmy na stronie:
#EU#Neoliberalism#Neoiliberalism#Censorship#Surveillance#DSA: "Despite the significance of digitalisation in mediating these political-economic shifts, mainstream platform regulation scholarship remains largely disconnected from these wider trends. EU laws are predominantly analysed using normative framings aligned with ‘progressive neoliberalism’, as efforts to balance growth and innovation against fundamental rights and ‘public values’. Schematically, EU regulation is distinguished on this basis from a free-market US approach and authoritarian, state-capitalist Chinese approach.
Against this, the paper makes two key claims. First, EU platform regulation can more helpfully be framed as manifesting an ongoing shift away from progressive neoliberalism and towards neo-illiberalism. Fundamental rights and liberal-democratic norms which previously legitimised EU policy are increasingly sacrificed in favour of unrestrained state surveillance and private-sector-led innovation. Second, methodologically, researchers should not only consider how these laws are being implemented currently, but also look ahead to an increasingly-plausible ‘far-right Europe’.
To demonstrate this framework’s analytical value, the paper examines the 2022 Digital Services Act, arguing that its overall regulatory approach is characteristically neo-illiberal: economically, it embraces marketised media governance and corporate power, while politically, it creates extensive possibilities for state censorship. Broadly, it seeks to strengthen platforms’ accountability in three main ways: individual consumer rights; empowering civil society via transparency and consultation; and technocratic risk management procedures."
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Niedawna afera z blokowaniem postów Muzeum w Oświęcimiu mogłaby potoczyć się inaczej, gdyby w Polsce działały pozasądowe organy rozstrzygania sporów o decyzję moderacyjne. Ich powstanie przewiduje akt o usługach cyfrowych #DSA. Mają być niezależne i tanie, a także szybsze niż sądy.
So apparently Apple approved a knock-off of GBA4iOS — the predecessor to @delta I made in high school — in the App Store. I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads + tracking)
I’ve bit my tongue a bunch in the past month…but this really frustrates me. So glad App Review exists to protect consumers from scams and rip-offs like this 🙄
🇩🇪 Frankreich fordert Alterskontrolle durch soziale Netzwerke, letztlich um Jugendliche unter 15 auszuschließen. Das verstößt gegen den #DigitalServicesAct, aber EU-Kommission greift nicht durch...
@echo_pbreyer
Im Artikel 35 des #DSA steht doch genau das drinnen, dass große Onlineplattformen Werkzeuge der Altersüberprüfung einführen sollen um Eltern kontrolle zu geben und Kinderrechte zu schützen.
Deutschlands größte Internet-Provider haben den Zugang zu #SciHub gesperrt. Das bestätigen Vodafone, Telekom, 1&1 und Telefónica auf Anfrage @netzpolitik_feed. Grund ist die rechtlich nicht bindende Empfehlung der Organisation #CUII, die Interessen von Branchenverbänden vertritt. @Freiheitsrechte warnt vor #Overblocking.
IFTAS is happy to announce the public availability of our DSA Guide for Decentralized Services – a practical guide for small and micro services that are subject to the EU’s Digital Services Act.
Developed in collaboration with the great people at Tremau, our DSA Guide is designed to help independent social media service providers navigate these complex regulations and achieve compliance with these new rules without compromising the unique qualities of federated, open social networks.
As part of our Needs Assessment activities, we’ve heard a repeated need for help understanding the complex regulatory landscape that decentralized services need to consider, and this DSA Guide is the first of many in our plan to provide clear, actionable guidance to a range of regulations for the community.
As of February 2024, all online services and digital platforms that offer services in the European Union are required to be fully compliant with the DSA. If your server has member accounts in the EU, or is publicly viewable in the EU, your service is most likely impacted by this regulation.
However, various portions of the DSA are not applicable to “small and micro” services, and this guide will show you clearly which parts apply and which do not.
For administrators of platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube, and Pixelfed, the DSA Guide can help demystify the requirements and offer practical advice on achieving compliance for the over 27,000 independent operators of these and other decentralized social media services who otherwise may not be able to obtain the guidance and advice that larger operations can afford to invest in.
Both the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority, and the European Commission’s Competition DG are looking for very senior “digital” experts for seniormanagement roles. Unfortunately I think it’s a mistake to combine the two, as very few people have experience of both. The EU position is less of an issue as it involves managing a small-ish team of subject specialists, and has now closed for applications, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s reopened a second time (here’s more on the EU approach). But the CMA role has “an expected team size of up to 200 colleagues” 🫣
My experience of the UK civil service is that seniority (and even vaguely half-reasonable salaries) only comes with managing very large groups of people. This is a disaster for highly technical subject areas. I had junior colleagues with PhDs at the same level as new graduates, on salaries that barely enabled them to live in London with their parents 😱
Tech firms are much better at separating out expert and managerial roles, while paying both appropriately. This is something governments are going to have to learn to do if they want to regulate the digital world effectively 🧐 (To be fair, the CMA has employed a number of digital experts already.)
Less useful in my experience are technical advisory boards. I was on the UK Information Commissioner’s Office’s for years, but it achieved little. It’s hard to tell how effectively the Technical Advisory Panel under the 🇬🇧 Investigatory Powers Act is working due to its secrecy/spookiness/need for top secret clearance, although I did participate in a useful one-day workshop it ran (they even published a summary of our discussions).
I also have broader thoughts from my time as a civil servant on making better use of academic expertise!
Für drei Pornoplattformen gelten künftig ähnlich strikte Auflagen in der EU wie für Facebook oder Google. Das neue Gesetz soll Grundrechte schützen – könnte Nutzer:innen aber in einem Punkt auch massiv schaden. Der Überblick.
"In this panel, members of the French and #AmericanLeft come together to discuss the ongoing movement in #SolidarityWithPalestine and its struggles against #Israel’s War in #Gaza, and the growing repression faced by this movement in #France and the United States."