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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · May 12

Which also isn't great for the platforms. Hank Green quote: "If platforms don't prioritize high quality content, they dig their own graves. And Facebook has a lot of shovels."

Long term, it's not in the a platforms interest to push mildly engaging slop. Keeping an eye on FBs WVCR in the meantime...

Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · May 12

Great article by @issielapowsky.bsky.social about the impact AI content is already having. Even if the "dead internet theory" isn't 100% true, if platforms don't properly disencentivize AI content, it can still hurt online publishing and content creators.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Maybe AI Slop Is Killing the Internet, After All

The assertion that bots are choking off human life online has never seemed more true.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) @knightgtown.bsky.social · Mar 4

🚨 NEW REPORT – Better Feeds: Algorithms That Put People First 🚨
As policymakers around the globe grapple with addressing concerns about algorithms, KGI’s new report offers guidance on improving the design of algorithmic systems that shape billions of users’ digital lives.
bit.ly/3QzxVzq

Better Feeds: Algorithms That Put People First – Knight-Georgetown Institute

bit.ly

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

Integrity Institute @integrity-inst.bsky.social · Feb 27

Excited to share 3 new resources designed to advance transparency & improve risk assessment practices in the platform ecosystem. These reports analyze current transparency efforts & provide guidance on how to obtain meaningful transparency from social platforms.

Read here: integrityinstitute.o...

Integrity Institute Releases New Transparency Resources — Integrity Institute

The Integrity Institute is excited to share three new resources designed to advance transparency and improve risk assessment practices in the platform ecosystem. These reports analyze current transparency efforts and provide guidance on how to obtain meaningful transparency from social platforms.

integrityinstitute.org

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · Feb 24

New from me: Meta decided to stop working with U.S. fact-checkers at the same time as it’s revamping a program to pay bonuses to creators with high engagement numbers, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of false posts the company once policed: www.propublica.org/article/face...

As Facebook Abandons Fact-Checking, It’s Also Offering Bonuses for Viral Content

Meta decided to stop working with U.S. fact-checkers at the same time as it’s revamping a program to pay bonuses to creators with high engagement numbers, potentially pouring accelerant on the kind of...

www.propublica.org

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Jan 14

Haha!

@integrity-inst.bsky.social

But we haven’t really turned on the microphone yet here 🙈

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

People Vs Big Tech @peoplevsbigtech.bsky.social · Dec 3

👀🔎 Last week Big Tech companies published their first reports of how they assess the systemic risks of their platforms to users under the EU’s Digital Services Act. Here’s what we’ve found so far: 🧵

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · Nov 11

We're assembling a starter pack of Tech Policy Press contributors on Bluesky! Follow the folks in our community for perspectives on a range of issues at the intersection of technology and democracy!

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Reposted by Jeff Allen

Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) @knightgtown.bsky.social · Oct 29

Platform design choices impact the privacy, safety, and security of minors online. Independent research shows that content-agnostic design changes can support prosocial interactions and user well-being.

Learn more in KGI’s recent submission to the European Commission: shorturl.at/B00Jz

KGI Comments to the European Commission on Guidelines to Enforce the Protection of Minors Online - Knight–Georgetown Institute

October 29, 2024By Peter Chapman and Zander Arnao The European Commission recently requested evidence to inform the development of Guidelines on the protection of minors online under the Digital Servi...

shorturl.at

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Oct 2

With @mattmotyl.bsky.social , Jenn Louie, Spencer Gurley, and Sofia Bonilla.

www.linkedin.com/in/jennslouie
www.linkedin.com/in/spencergu...
www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-g-b...

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Oct 2

New piece in @techpolicypress.bsky.social from me and others the Integrity Institute!

Want a safer social media? Then we need more transparency from the platforms about the scale, cause, and nature of harms. A key way to change the incentives of the companies.

www.techpolicy.press/making-socia...

Making Social Media Safer Requires Meaningful Transparency | TechPolicy.Press

The authors argue that meaningful transparency requires companies to disclose the total number of exposures to violating content, not just the prevalence.

www.techpolicy.press

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Mar 6

Check out the Safe by Default report from Panoptykon, which discusses concrete changes platforms can make to move from engagement based design and ranking towards more human centric recommender systems.

panoptykon.org/sites/defaul...

panoptykon.org

Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 13

Really excited to see the Non-Engagement Con paper come out! This represents broad consensus views about ranking and recommendations from a lot of experts on all kinds of ranking and recommendation systems.

arxiv.org/abs/2402.06831

Reposted by Jeff Allen

NYU's Center for Social Media and Politics @csmapnyu.org · Feb 13

Searching for sensitive topics on Instagram often surfaces harmful content, but doing the same search on Google doesn't. Why? One ranks search results based on engagement, and one ranks them based on quality and relevance. Interesting analysis here from the Integrity Institute's Jeff Allen 👇

Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 13

Why is Instagram search so much more harmful than Google search?

New article from me on Instagram's decision to completely block searches for sensitive topics, on the Integrity Institute blog.

integrityinstitute.org/blog/why-is-...

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 13

Why is Instagram search so much more harmful than Google search?

New article from me on Instagram's decision to completely block searches for sensitive topics, on the Integrity Institute blog.

integrityinstitute.org/blog/why-is-...

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 8

Big thanks to @katieharbath.bsky.social and Glenn Ellingson for being leaders in that work, and to the dozens of members who contributed!

Check out all our elections program work here:
integrityinstitute.org/elections-in...

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 8

The EC cited Integrity Institute work multiple times in their guidance to platforms on protecting elections!

Exciting moment! That is the result of a year of work by our community putting together our recommended best practices on election integrity.

digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/comm...

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Jeff Allen @jeffallen.bsky.social · Feb 1

The Integrity Institute has been very active on all things child safety, leading into the Senate hearing yesterday. Check out the recap!

integrityinstitute.org/blog/child-s...

And the preread ICYMI:

integrityinstitute.org/blog/child-s...