Pawel Popiel
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ppopiel.bsky.social
Pawel Popiel
@ppopiel.bsky.social
1.8K followers 650 following 460 posts
Media policy + platforms + political economy | Assistant Prof @ Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University | US Team Research Lead - GMICP.org | Affiliate @ MIC Center, UPenn and CITAP, UNC | Philly expat | pawelpopiel.com
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ppopiel.bsky.social
Pawel Popiel @ppopiel.bsky.social · Jun 23
Now out! My and @kvasudevan.bsky.social's new edited book, featuring stellar contributions grappling with the politics of digital platforms expanding and attempting to reshape politics, economics, and social relations in their extractive image.
www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...
Platforms, Power, and Friction | Pawel Popiel, Krishnan Vasudevan | Ta
This edited book deconstructs the myth of frictionless digital platform expansion, revealing the persistent "platform frictions" that shape platform economies
www.taylorfrancis.com
ppopiel.bsky.social
Some Thanksgiving reflection.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/o...
Annual after-tax wage growth compared with inflation. Only high income exceeds inflation rate. But the reason for her detention was a guess. “Never once did we receive any written notice for why she was officially detained,” Mr. Pomerleau said. Border Patrol “wouldn’t answer phone calls. They wouldn’t respond to emails, written letters. It got to the point where I sent three associate attorneys to the airport after nearly four days of her detention, demanding to see her.” But, he said, “they wouldn’t even acknowledge that she was there.” (In a statement to Times Opinion, D.H.S. said that Ms. Rosa “was detained by C.B.P. at Boston Logan International Airport after her records revealed a conviction for possession of a controlled substance in 2003,” adding, “While in custody, Rosa had access to water, bathroom facilities, medicine and food.”)
November 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
Seized by the hypnotic (and increasingly inflated) AI momentum, the EC will be pruning its gold-standard data regulations to boost (always ever-elusive) innovation and "scaling up"
ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
Simpler EU digital rules and new digital wallets to save billions for businesses and boost innovation
Europe\'s businesses, from factories to start-ups, will spend less time on administrative work and compliance and more time innovating and scaling-up, thanks to the European Commission\'s new digital ...
ec.europa.eu
November 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
notaaroncraig.bsky.social
Nexstar filed their official paperwork on their proposed merger with Tegna today. Unlawful deal still stinks.

www.freepress.net/news/propose...
Proposed Nexstar-Tegna Merger Is Blatant Violation of the Law Prohibiting One Company from Too Much Control of Local Airwaves
The $6.2 billion deal also would violate the FCC’s few remaining local-ownership limits in nearly 30 markets. In some, it would leave Nexstar in control of three of the top-four-ranked stations.
www.freepress.net
November 18, 2025 at 11:20 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"According to drafts circulated in recent weeks, key aspects of the General Data Protection Regulation, or G.D.P.R., a data privacy law, would be rewritten. Parts of a law restricting certain uses of A.I. would also be delayed." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/t...
Europe Begins Rethinking Its Crackdown on Big Tech
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
josephcox.bsky.social
New: Google has chosen a side in Trump's mass deportation campaign. Google is hosting a CBP facial recognition app to hunt immigrants; no indication Google will remove. At same time Google takes down apps for reporting ICE sightings

“Big tech has made their choice”

www.404media.co/google-has-c...
Google Has Chosen a Side in Trump's Mass Deportation Effort
Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable gr...
www.404media.co
November 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
Antitrust as news distribution regulation: "A probe into claims that Google demoted publishers carrying 'third party' promotional content such as sponsored editorial articles, which media groups claim are key to their business model."
www.ft.com/content/644e...
EU readies new investigation into Google over news publisher rankings
Brussels set to announce fresh probe under Digital Markets Act despite Trump threats on tariffs
www.ft.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
" Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/fce77ba4-6231-4920-9e99-693a6c38e7d5 Even allowing for some fudging between annualised run rates and period-end totals, the apparent gap between revenues and running costs is a lot more than has been reported previously. And, like Ed, we’re struggling to explain how the numbers can be so far apart. If the data is accurate — which we can't guarantee, to reiterate, but we’re writing this post after giving both companies every opportunity to tell us that it isn’t — then it would call into question the business model of OpenAI and nearly every other general-purpose LLM vendor. At some point, going by the figures, either running costs have to collapse or customer charges have to rise dramatically. There’s no hint of either trend taking hold yet."
November 12, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
jacobsoboroff.bsky.social
"When I picked up my granddaughter from the federal agents, she had a dirty diaper, a bruise on her face, and was developing a rash. She was exhausted and cried… My heart aches knowing this could happen to others, to my kids, or even me, despite being U.S. citizens.”
November 8, 2025 at 3:26 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
variety.com/2025/film/fe...
"Paramount’s leadership has not shied away from making its views on the war in Gaza public. In September, it became the first major studio to denounce a celebrity-driven open letter signed by A-listers like Emma Stone and Javier Bardem that called for a boycott of Israeli film institutions implicated in “genocide and apartheid” against Palestinians. (Warner Bros. followed, but cited legal reasons for its decision.) And sources say Paramount maintains a list of talent it will not work with because they are deemed to be “overtly antisemitic” as well as “xenophobic” and “homophobic.” Whether the boycott signatories are on that list is unclear. [Update, Nov. 7: Other sources intimately familiar with Paramount said that while an itemized list does not exist, the management team shares a set of values and has no desire to work with anyone who expresses hate in public and damaging ways]."
November 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"On average, the company shows its platforms’ users an estimated 15 billion 'higher risk' scam advertisements – those that show clear signs of being fraudulent – every day. Meta earns about $7 billion in annualized revenue from this category of scam ads each year."
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"The three human rights groups’ account terminations cumulatively amount to the erasure of more than 700 videos, according to an Intercept tally. The deleted videos range in scope from investigations, such as an analysis of the Israeli killing of American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to testimonies of Palestinians tortured by Israeli forces and documentaries like “The Beach,” about children playing on a beach who were killed by an Israeli strike. Some videos are still available through copies saved on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine or on alternate platforms, such as Facebook and Vimeo. The wiping only affected the group’s official channels; videos which were produced by the nonprofits but hosted on alternate YouTube channels remain active. No cumulative index of videos deleted by YouTube is available, however, and many appear to not be available elsewhere online."
November 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
pewresearch.org
Today, 52% of adults under 50 have at least some trust in information from national news media.

➡️ Adults under 30 are now about as likely to say they trust information from national news organizations (51%) as they are to trust information from social media sites (50%). www.pewresearch.org/...
Line charts showing that Americans under 30 now about equally likely to trust information from national news outlets, social media.
November 5, 2025 at 4:02 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
When there's a will (and protracted legal battles, the threat of a break-up, and international policy scrutiny), there's a way!
www.theverge.com/policy/81399...
Epic and Google agree to settle their lawsuit and change Android’s fate globally
Big Android changes through 2032.
www.theverge.com
November 5, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
pettertornberg.com
Is social media dying? How much has Twitter changed as it became X? Which party now dominates the conversation?

Using nationally representative ANES data from 2020 & 2024, I map how the U.S. social media landscape has transformed.

Here are the key take-aways 🧵

arxiv.org/abs/2510.25417
October 30, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
pettertornberg.com
In short, the ANES data shows:
📉 Social media use is shrinking
💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right
🧩 Platforms are splintering
🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme
October 30, 2025 at 8:09 AM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"Universal and Udio reached a 'compensatory legal settlement' as well as new licensing agreements for recorded music and publishing that will 'provide further revenue opportunities' for the record label’s artists and songwriters."
October 30, 2025 at 6:04 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"The partnership positions ChatGPT as a transactional platform, allowing users to complete purchases without leaving the chat interface. For merchants, the connection provides access to ChatGPT’s vast user base of more than 800 million weekly active users."
www.pymnts.com/cpi-posts/pa...
PayPal Partners With OpenAI to Bring Payments Directly Into ChatGPT | PYMNTS.com
PayPal announced on Tuesday that it has entered a partnership with OpenAI that will allow users of ChatGPT to make purchases directly through PayPal’s
www.pymnts.com
October 29, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
justinbaragona.bsky.social
This is the state of American media right now.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Top media analyst tells Comcast to hire Charlie Kirk’s widow as NBC’s editor-in-chief
‘Sure, at first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal, and Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently,’ media analyst Rich Greenfield wrote this week
www.independent.co.uk
October 27, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
nytimes.com
History lessons are being wiped from the internet, and California is retreating from ethnic studies, as education across the U.S. swings away from curriculums that are seen as too progressive.
How Politics Is Changing the Way History Is Taught
History lessons are being wiped from the internet, and California is retreating from ethnic studies, as education swings away from curriculums that are seen as too progressive.
nyti.ms
October 27, 2025 at 3:50 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
"Dominant tech companies are now helping to steer what an entire generation of students learn about AI, and how they use it — with little evidence of educational benefits and mounting concerns that chatbots are spreading misinformation and eroding critical thinking." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/t...
Big Tech Makes Cal State Its A.I. Training Ground
www.nytimes.com
October 27, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
icsjournal.bsky.social
#OutNow in #iCS
A study of Philadelphia’s broadband strategy shows how efforts to close the digital divide can reinforce corporate power. Popiel and Berman trace how public subsidies and networked governance advanced dominance more than digital inclusion.
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The network dialectic: the digital divide and the contradictions of Philadelphia's digital equity strategy
This study examines the political economy, discursive legitimations, and effectiveness of the primary U.S. policy response to narrowing the digital divide: public subsidies for internet service. Us...
www.tandfonline.com
October 24, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
brendannyhan.bsky.social
This is authoritarianism. Picking his media oligarchs.
craigipedia.bsky.social Craig Harrington @craigipedia.bsky.social · Oct 23
Not simply fascism. Monarchism.
Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino, via Twitter: https://x.com/cgasparino/status/1981496719863955913 SCOOP: A Trump official tells @nypost that the administration favors Paramount Skydance to buy Warner Bros. Discovery – and a number of rival bidders are likely to face stiff hurdles from US regulators in the blockbuster auction. “Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration,” a senior Trump administration official told On The Money. “The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done. And that points to the Ellisons.”
October 24, 2025 at 12:06 AM
ppopiel.bsky.social
Disgraced or re-graced?
In April of 2024, Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he and Binance had failed to adequately implement anti-money laundering protections. The company was also hit with a massive $4.3 billion fine as part of its settlement with the Department of Justice under the Biden administration. The department said that Binance had become a hub of criminal money laundering, facilitating “billions of dollars of unregulated cryptocurrency transactions,” including “nearly” $900 million in transactions between the US and Iran.
October 23, 2025 at 6:54 PM
ppopiel.bsky.social
'They claimed that after 18 days of using ChatGPT, OpenAI had stolen their “soulprint” to create a software update that had been designed to turn that particular person against themselves. “Im struggling,” they wrote. “Pleas help me. Bc I feel very alone. Thank you.”' www.wired.com/story/ftc-co...
People Who Say They’re Experiencing AI Psychosis Beg the FTC for Help
The Federal Trade Commission received 200 complaints mentioning ChatGPT between November 2022 and August 2025. Several attributed delusions, paranoia, and spiritual crises to the chatbot.
www.wired.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Reposted by Pawel Popiel
aozorasf.bsky.social
This is who is paying for the destruction of the White House East Wing, per @wsj.com

Altria Group Inc.
Amazon
Apple Inc.
Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp.
Caterpillar Inc.
Coinbase Global
Comcast Corp.
Hard Rock International
Google
HP Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corp.
Meta Platforms Inc.
1/3
October 21, 2025 at 12:28 AM