Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 7m

Habe lange gezögert und bin nun bei Fairmail gelandet, ebenfalls Open Source.

Reposted by Torben Klausa

neongrey @neongrey.bsky.social · 4d

all discourse aside, there is one machine with consciousness. it's printers. they are alive and conscious and they hate you and they'd take your arm clean off if you let them. never trust a printer.

140 4K 9.1K

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 14h

@anke.domscheit-berg.de , vielleicht passts ja mit der RE-Verbindung und man sieht sich dort? 🤞

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 1d

One of my favorite pieces of platform research is the econ paper on big tech being driven by FOMO: On TikTok and Instagram, "large shares of active users prefer each platform not to exist".
www.nber.org/papers/w31771

When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Frau Büüsker @uedio.bsky.social · 3d

Ihr habt wahrgenommen, welchen Unterschied zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement in den letzten Tagen bei der Frage der Chatkontrolle gemacht hat?
Gut.
Lasst euch nicht einreden, Engagement nütze nichts.

20 410 1.5K

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 3d

Link ist bei mir ein 404er

1 1

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 7d

Wenn Big Tech auf bloßen US-Regierungs*wunsch* (nicht: Rechtspflicht!) Apps entfernt, sollten uns in 🇪🇺 endlich bessere Ideen kommen als "Plattformregulierung", um unsere digitale Souveränität (i.e. Demokratie) zu retten.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Apple removes ICE tracking apps after pressure by Trump administration

Apple said on Thursday that it had removed ICEBlock, the most popular ICE-tracking app, and other similar apps from its App Store after it was contacted by President Donald Trump's administration.

www.reuters.com

1

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Angus Johnston @angus.bsky.social · 8d

I’m no Newsom fanboy, but figuring out how to change the incentives of institutions considering capitulation is one of the big tasks of our moment.

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · 8d

Gavin Newsom announces that any California university that caves to Trump and signs his “loyalty pledge” will be immediately defunded.

“CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS.”

36 490 2.6K

Reposted by Torben Klausa

D64 @d-64.org · 8d

Ohne private Kommunikation entsteht eine Atmosphäre der Selbstzensur.

„Wir schaffen damit eine Infrastruktur, die autokratische Staaten in und außerhalb Europas zur Verfolgung von Oppositionellen und zur Unterdrückung von Kritik nutzen könnten“, so @sveawindwehr.bsky.social

#ChatkontrolleStoppen

Chatkontrolle: Zivilgesellschaft warnt vor massiven Grundrechtseinschränkungen | D64 – Zentrum für digitalen Fortschritt

"Die sogenannte Chatkontrolle untergräbt Grundrechte, ohne den Schutz von Betroffenen zu verbessern" erklärt Svea Windwehr, Co-Vorsitzende von D64.

d-64.org

6 7

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Bluesky-Briefing 🦋 @bluesky-tipps.bsky.social · 10d

Flashes - die Instagram-Alternative aus Berlin sucht Beta-Tester:innen für ihre Android-Version. Interessierte tragen einfach hier ihre Emailadresse ein: 👇

Flashes App 🌩️ @flashes.blue · 11d

Android people: if you want to be part of the beta test, please leave an email address here:

Flashes Android Beta 🤖

Leave your email to be included in the beta test

forms.gle

7 6

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Claes de Vreese @claesdevreese.bsky.social · 12d

All EU countries appear to be gone in the Google political ad library

By @lizcarolan.com

4 51 72

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Julien Hoez @julienhoez.eu · 16d

Whenever I thought about the fact that I'd potentially live to see some form of dystopian future, I expected/hoped it would be a lot more Cyberpunk and a lot less shit.

4 8 64

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 17d

... and therefore potentially more relevant and engaging. And for that matter: also more self-regulating/moderating. Such a community might be even harder to establish from within the existing hype networks. But it might be a good application of Mastodon-type of architectures

2

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 17d

Add re vertical drift: I wonder whether it's mostly us extroverts enjoying the global hype machine. I've been thinking a lot about the potential of social media for local public spheres. Where the discussion is much closer to people's everyday lives ...

1 1

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 17d

I could imagine a centralized "baseline" moderation on larger scale (e.g. national or 🇪🇺 level) and sub-communities with stricter/special rules. I think that a certain degree of centralization (in terms of infrastructure, moderation) isn't just a question of (dangerous) power, but also efficiency (?)

1 1

Reposted by Torben Klausa

shauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 18d

they boutta find out how hard it is to get people to resubscribe once they cancel a service

Jimmy Kimmel's Show to Return to ABC on Tuesday
Night
The network removal of Mr. Kimmel's show last week almost immediately morphed into a flashpoint for free speech in America.

370 770 6.3K

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 18d

and re: moderation effort
bsky.app/profile/torb...

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 18d

One could argue that this is exactly where the societal value of social media (democratic discourse) calls for a societal contribution (moderation effort).
IMHO this is not so different from the idea of public service broadcasting.

1 1

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 18d

Isn't this exactly the idea of Mastodon & the Fediverse/ActivityPub? By choosing a certain server, you partake in the network as a whole but at the same time submit to the server's community standards - potentially cutting you off of other instances with laxer rules

bsky.app/profile/neut...

neutral @neutral.zone · 18d

Tens of thousands of self-contained, slightly overlapping villages. Of course, the impulse to "solve" this kind of problem are still there. I'm already mentally gaming the idea of how you could reframe this with SimClusters to make it more granular. But that's a reductive impulse.

1 2

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 18d

One could argue that this is exactly where the societal value of social media (democratic discourse) calls for a societal contribution (moderation effort).
IMHO this is not so different from the idea of public service broadcasting.

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 18d

there's going to be a lot of "TikTok was always bad!" comments, but a MAGA owned TikTok will make the days of Chinese ownership look like a summer picnic

ByteDance was at least trying to behave due to past pressures by semi-competent administrations

MAGA TikTok faces zero oversight constraints

3 17 100

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 18d

Digital sovereignty is a policy decision - and apparently one that can be taken...

Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 18d

www.ft.com/content/6596...

EU to block Big Tech from new financial data sharing system

Germany argues groups such as Apple and Meta are excluded to protect Europe’s ‘digital sovereignty’

www.ft.com

Reposted by Torben Klausa

Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 19d

Just got sucked into @neal.fun's "Not a Robot"

neal.fun/not-a-robot/

I'm Not a Robot

Prove your humanity once and for all

neal.fun

91 230 880

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 21d

Background: In 2026, the first Digital Market Act review is due - including the question on whether the current interoperability clauses are sufficient. Since this is a potentially big deal for breaking up lock-in effects, I'm really curious.

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 21d

Whodunnit?
A year ago, the European Commission called for tenders for a study of interoperability tools in the digital single market. Anyone here who knows which team of researchers has taken on the challenge?
digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu/dma-call-ten...

CALL FOR TENDERS FOR A STUDY OF INTEROPERABILITY TOOLS IN THE DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET

The European Commission is launching a call for tenders for a study into interoperability tools in the digital single market in the context of the Digital Markets Act.

digital-markets-act.ec.europa.eu

1

Torben Klausa @torbatschow.de · 21d

There’s so much to dig into here: content moderation as a societal good, the need to fight not only enshittification but also authoritarianism. If you’ve ever wondered why we need competitive, open social networks, this one’s for you.

Laurens @laurenshof.online · 21d

‘Blueskyism’, Political Violence, and Open Social Networks Under Authoritarianism

on how the last weeks have shifted the threat model for open social networks: from fighting platform decay to the threat of authoritarianism

connectedplaces.online/blueskyism-p...

‘Blueskyism’, Political Violence, and Open Social Networks Under Authoritarianism

After Kirk's murder, calls for censorship and the crackdown on political places started to include Bluesky. Open social networks must now fight political suppression as well as platform monopolies.

connectedplaces.online

1 6