The case for better reporting mechanisms, Malaysia vs Meta and Cengiz suspended
Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation, your guide to the policies, products, platforms and people shaping the future of online speech and the internet. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by members like you.
This week, I noted that platforms (in the general sense) seem to take a different view of groups of moderation experts, depending on their position and power. It boils down to; In-house councils: good. Worker collectives: bad.
I'm excited to publish the 15th and latest Viewpoint Q&A with DFRLab fellow Kat Duffy (more details below) and to welcome new subscribers Luminate, Unitary, the Victorian Government, Harvard Business School and a gaggle of others.
Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW
Today's edition is in partnership with Unitary, an AI company specialising in content understanding tools for online safety
As part of TrustCon's Birds of a Feather series, Unitary is hosting a unique networking event on Wednesday, July 12th in San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason.
Following a talk and Q&A session on black holes by Unitary’s CEO and former theoretical physicist Sasha Haco, guests have the opportunity to relax and connect with peers in the online safety community.
Five tickets have been exclusively reserved for EiM members - so don’t miss out.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
A top Google exec in Brazil has given an interview about Bill 2630, also known as the Fake News Law, and said he wants to ensure it is not "perverse for everyone". Fabio Coelho, vice president of Google Inc and Google Brazil director, said he was "in the position of dialogue" with key lawmakers without mentioning government plans to investigate him and other tech execs that lobbied against the bill (EiM #201).
Coelho has actually been here before: he was arrested by Brazilian police back in 2012 after the company refused to act on a legal order to remove a controversial political video on YouTube. The cynic in me also couldn't fail to note the timely tranche of Google announcements relating to Brazilian government programmes. Quid pro quo?