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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 1h

“Today, the European Commission published guidelines to support the effective implementation of the Regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising, which will become fully applicable as of 10 October.” ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Commission publishes guidelines to support the implementation of the Regulation on the Transparency of Political Advertising

Today, the European Commission published guidelines to support the effective implementation of the Regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising, which will become fully applicable...

ec.europa.eu

Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 3h

"More than half of [Conor] McGregor’s X posts related to the presidential election contained false information, while over 28% contained ethnonationalist rhetoric. However, only 23 of McGregor’s posts had a proposed Community Note" www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...

Why Community Notes fail to stop misinformation on social media

Replacing independent fact-checkers with social media users to moderate online posts raises many questions about content moderation

www.rte.ie

Reposted by Alderik Oosthoek

Patrick Breyer @echo-pbreyer.digitalcourage.social.ap.brid.gy · 8h

🇪🇺Germany's Minister of Justice today: "Suspicionless #chatcontrol must be taboo in a state governed by the rule of law." Private communication cannot be placed under general suspicion. "Germany will not agree to such proposals at the EU level." […]

Original post on digitalcourage.social

digitalcourage.social

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 7h

“Yesterday, a Dutch appeals court threw out Elon Musk’s X request for a gag order against local tech expert and legal scholar Danny Mekić. Mekić sued X in 2023 after the platform briefly made his account invisible, a so-called shadow ban“ euobserver.com/digital/ar90...

Dutch court rejects X’s bid to silence data privacy claimant

A Dutch appeals court has rejected X’s request for a gag order against a Dutch legal scholar — in a case challenging 'shadowbanning' under EU privacy and Digital Services Act rules.

euobserver.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 9h

“While copyright protects creative works, personality rights protect an individual's image, voice, and identity. [..] deepfakes should be handled through personality rights, which are "directly connected to the honor, intimacy, and dignity of the person." www.techpolicy.press/denmark-lead...

Denmark Leads EU Push to Copyright Faces in Fight Against Deepfakes | TechPolicy.Press

Denmark's Copyright Act amendments would give individuals copyright over their own likenesses, reports Giovana Fleck.

www.techpolicy.press

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 10h

“Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said her government plans to ban “several social media” platforms for children under the age of 15 while addressing the country’s Parliament on Tuesday.” www.euractiv.com/news/denmark...

Denmark to ban some social media websites for under-15s | Euractiv

The EU member has made protecting minors a top priority for its Council Presidency

www.euractiv.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 1d

“Deloitte Australia will partially refund the [..] $290,000 paid by the Australian government for a report that was littered with apparent AI-generated errors, including a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic research” apnews.com/article/aust...

Deloitte to partially refund Australian government for report with apparent AI-generated errors

Deloitte Australia will partially refund the Australian government for a report filled with apparent AI-generated errors.

apnews.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 1d

“Cruz alleged that "bias is particularly evident in Wikipedia's reliable sources/perennial sources list" because it describes "MSNBC and CNN as 'generally reliable' sources, while listing Fox News as a 'generally unreliable' source for politics and science.” arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

Ted Cruz picks a fight with Wikipedia, accusing platform of left-wing bias

Cruz sends letter demanding answers from Wikimedia Foundation.

arstechnica.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 1d

“Altman said there were “no current plans” in a concrete way to introduce ads within the feature. But he went on to say that he enjoys Instagram ads — and didn’t rule out introducing that type of relevant ad within Pulse in the future.” www.theverge.com/news/793073/...

Sam Altman says there are no current plans for ads within ChatGPT Pulse — but he’s not ruling it out

The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in vi...

www.theverge.com

Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 2d

"Lobby filings show Facebook owner Meta [..] has been in contact in recent months with Jack Chambers, the public expenditure minister; Peter Burke, the enterprise minister; and Fine Gael TD James Geoghegan, vice-chairman of the Oireachtas AI committee.” www.businesspost.ie/companies/me...

Meta and Ibec press government to hire tsar to ‘coordinate’ digital ad rules

www.businesspost.ie

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 3d

“Critics argue that South Korea’s cyber defenses are hindered by a fragmented system of government ministries and agencies, often resulting in slow and uncoordinated responses, per local media reports.” techcrunch.com/2025/10/04/a...

A breach every month raises doubts about South Korea's digital defenses | TechCrunch

Known for its blazing fast internet and home to some of the world’s biggest tech giants, South Korea has also faced a string of data breaches and cybersecurity lapses that has struggled to match the p...

techcrunch.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 4d

“One of Discord’s third-party customer service providers was compromised by an “unauthorized party,” the company says. [They] gained access to “information from [..] users who had contacted Discord through our Customer Support and/or Trust & Safety teams”” www.theverge.com/news/792032/...

Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and scanned photo IDs

An “unauthorized party” may have accessed the names of users, the last four digits of credit card numbers, and more.

www.theverge.com

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Reposted by Alderik Oosthoek

Tony Tassell @tonytassell.bsky.social · 5d

Have we passed peak social media? @jburnmurdoch.ft.com here www.ft.com/content/a072...

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 5d

“Global Witness set up fake accounts using a 13-year-old’s birth date and turned on the video app’s “restricted mode” [..] TikTok suggested sexualised and explicit search terms to seven test accounts that were created on clean phones with no search history.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

TikTok ‘directs child accounts to pornographic content within a few clicks’

Despite platform’s limits on adult content, study finds it not only accessible but often suggested

www.theguardian.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 6d

"The judge orders Meta to adjust its apps so that the user’s choice is preserved, even when the user navigates to another section or restarts the app." www.bitsoffreedom.nl/2025/10/02/j...

Judge in the Bits of Freedom vs. Meta lawsuit: Meta must respect users’ choice

Bits of Freedom komt op voor internetvrijheid door de online grondrechten op communicatievrijheid en privacy te beschermen.

www.bitsoffreedom.nl

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 6d

McGrath: "The possible inclusion of hate speech and hate crime in the list of ‘EU crimes’ [..] requires a Council decision adopted at unanimity and with the consent of the European Parliament. To date, the Council has not reached the needed unanimity." www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/docume...

www.europarl.europa.eu

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Reposted by Alderik Oosthoek

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 7d

The UK government has issued a new order to Apple to create a backdoor into its cloud storage service, this time targeting only British users’ data on.ft.com/4nonyx0

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 7d

“Image-hosting platform Imgur has blocked people in the UK from accessing its content. [..] [ICO] said it recently notified the platform's parent company, MediaLab AI, of plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data.” www.bbc.com/news/article...

Imgur blocks access to UK users after proposed regulatory fine

The image-hosting platform - which is widely used to make memes - was facing a fine over its use of children's data.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Alderik Oosthoek

Craig Silverman @craigsilverman.bsky.social · 8d

I found +3,000 Meta ads for nudifiers & AI girlfriend apps that featured bare breasts, simulated sex acts etc.

Meta said in June that it had deployed new methods to block nudifier ads. Indicator will continue to report on its progress, or lack thereof:

Sexually explicit ads for nudifiers and AI girlfriend apps continue to plague Meta

Indicator found thousands of ads that featured bare breasts and simulated sex acts

indicator.media

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 8d

"The data suggests Threads has reached parity with X — around 130 million daily active users — and is on track to surpass it globally within days. [..] It's worth noting, however, that X still far surpassed Threads in web traffic, according to Similarweb." mashable.com/article/thre...

Threads is tracking to surpass X in daily active users

Insta's Twitter dupe Threads could soon surpass X in daily active users.

mashable.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 8d

“Klein is a popular content creator whose YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers. [..] Klein filed a legal motion to compel Discord and Reddit to reveal the identities of those moderators [who criticise him]” www.404media.co/reddit-mods-...

Reddit Mods Sued by YouTuber Ethan Klein Fight Efforts to Unmask Them

Klein has attempted to subpoena Discord and Reddit for information that would reveal the identity of moderators of a subreddit critical of him. The moderators' lawyers fear their clients will be physi...

www.404media.co

Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 8d

“Electronic Arts, maker of video games like “Madden NFL" and “The Sims,” is being acquired for $55 billion, the most expensive levered buyout in history. [..] If the transaction closes as anticipated, it will end EA’s 36-year history as a publicly traded company” abcnews.go.com/Business/wir...

Video game maker Electronic Arts to be acquired and taken private for $55 billion

Electronic Arts, the video game maker of “Madden NFL,” “The Sims,” and other popular titles, is being acquired and taken private for $55 billion

abcnews.go.com

Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 8d

“Teresa Ribera told POLITICO she had agreed with her boss, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, that it wasn’t the right approach to talk to reporters on Sept. 5, in contrast with how her predecessor Margrethe Vestager had announced major rulings.” www.politico.eu/article/tere...

Ribera says she decided handling of €3B Google fine, contradicting Commission claim

Spokesperson Podestà says she was acting in good faith when she said a press conference didn’t go ahead because of the competition chief’s travel arrangements.

www.politico.eu

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 9d

“Austria's military has completed a major IT overhaul, replacing Microsoft Office with the open-source LibreOffice suite [..] this move isn't about saving money. The real motivation is to gain digital sovereignty and control over critical data.” www.zdnet.com/article/this...

This European military just ditched Microsoft for open-source LibreOffice - here's why

It's not about the cost savings, either. Many government organizations are replacing Microsoft software for a more important reason.

www.zdnet.com

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Alderik Oosthoek @alderik.bsky.social · 10d

“We had been told that Google would try to stop people placing political ads, a "ban" that was to come into effect this week. I did not read anywhere that this would mean the erasure of this archive of our political history.” www.thebriefing.ie/google-just-...

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for coun...

www.thebriefing.ie

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