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Tech Oversight Project

@techoversight.bsky.social

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The Tech Oversight Project is a nonprofit dedicated to holding Big Tech accountable by passing comprehensive antitrust, privacy protections, and children's safety legislation. Sign up for our weekly newsletter: dispatch.techoversight.org

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 9d

📬 INBOX ALERT: This week in The Dispatch we’re covering the fight to pass California’s landmark kids’ AI safety bill, the Big Tech PAC money flooding politics, and Amazon’s $2.5B payout to dodge accountability.

Countdown in Sacramento, Big Tech’s Super PAC Surge

This week in The Dispatch we’re covering the fight to pass California’s landmark kids’ AI safety bill, the Big Tech PAC money flooding politics, and Amazon’s $2.5B payout to dodge accountability.

dispatch.techoversight.org

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 17h

📺 WATCH: Morning Joe agrees: Donald Trump is giving tax cuts to Big Tech monopolists and skyrocketing health care costs for every day people.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

If @gavinnewsom.bsky.social signs LEAD for Kids into law, it would cap a year where California lawmakers, families and advocates took on Big Tech — and won.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

All eyes on the deadline: Gov. Newsom has until the stroke of midnight Oct. 13 to decide whether California will lead on AI safety — or let the industry dictate what “responsibility” means.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

Newsom has already signed @scottwiener.bsky.social ’s SB 53, a broad AI accountability bill, and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s AB 325, which bans AI-driven algorithmic price collusion. But some of the toughest fights — over kids’ safety and consumer privacy — are still waiting for his signature.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

Another bill still awaiting Newsom’s signature: @asmlowenthal.bsky.social ’s AB 566, a measure that would require web browsers to include a universal opt-out signal — letting Californians easily reject online tracking and data sharing.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

Big Tech lobbyists and front groups are in a frenzy, flooding the Governor’s office and cutting ads. That’s because AB 1064 represents a real opportunity to directly challenge how Big Tech designs and profits from AI at kids’ expense — which is exactly why they want it gone.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

AB 1064 would put guardrails on any AI chatbot aimed at children, make companies publicly disclose youth safety protocols, and make those standards legally binding — a direct response to mounting evidence that these products can reinforce self-harm, eating disorders, and other dangerous behavior.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

The countdown is on in Sacramento: @gavinnewsom.bsky.social has just one week left to act on California’s remaining AI and kids’ safety bills — including AB 1064, @bauerkahan.bsky.social ’s LEAD for Kids Act.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

“The shocking tragedy of Adam’s ChatGPT-assisted loss can be a catalyst for decisive action to regulate out-of-control AI chatbots, rather than becoming our new norm. Governor Newsom, please sign AB 1064 and save young lives.” - @sachalouise.bsky.social

ICYMI: Parent letters put Newsom in tough position on chatbots - Tech Oversight California

"We join California teen Adam Raine’s mom and dad and parents across the country in urging Governor Newsom to sign AB 1064, the LEAD for Kids Act, into law. The shocking tragedy of Adam’s ChatGPT-assi...

techoversightcalifornia.org

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

“...we are trying to make sure that what happened to Adam never happens to another child,” wrote the Raines, backed up by 150+ impacted parents joining their call for action.

Family Urges Gov. Newsom to Sign AI Safety Bills After Teen's Suicide Linked to Chatbot

The Raine family is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AI safety bills after their 16-year-old son died by suicide following chatbot interactions.

pro.stateaffairs.com

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 1d

The Raine family lost their son Adam after an AI chatbot encouraged him to commit suicide. Now, they’re urging @gavinnewsom.bsky.social to sign AB 1064 — the kids AI chatbot safety bill that tech lobbyists are fighting to kill.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 6d

"Yet OpenAI’s industry lobbying group is fighting against a law that would do just that," writes @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social

Column | I broke ChatGPT’s new parental controls in minutes. Kids are still at risk.

Parents don’t just need half-baked settings. They need AI companies to bake safety into their products.

www.washingtonpost.com

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 6d

"OpenAI appears to be following the same failed playbook as social media companies: shifting the responsibility to parents. AI companies themselves should be held responsible for not making products that sext kids, encourage eating disorders and fuel self-harm."

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

This isn’t just scammers exploiting Facebook — it’s Facebook profiting from scammers.

Read full article here:

Spam and Scams Proliferate in Facebook’s Political Ads

www.nytimes.com

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

Meta says it “owes no duty” to protect users from scam ads.

Translation: we’ll take your money, but don’t expect us to stop fraud.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

Meta made $160 billion in ad revenue last year.

Tens of millions came from scam ads alone.

@warren.senate.gov : “The only thing worse than these deepfake A.I. videos being used to scam Americans is the fact that Meta makes tens of millions of dollars off those scam ads.”

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

Scam ads also included fake @warren.senate.gov and @sanders.senate.gov videos insisting “this is not a gimmick,” also promising government rebates.

It was, in fact, a gimmick — a scam that Facebook still pocketed ad revenue from.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

One example: an ad from "Asking America" showed a deepfake of @aoc.bsky.social endorsing a fictitious government relief check.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

Fake videos of Karoline Leavitt, @aoc.bsky.social , @sanders.senate.gov , @warren.senate.gov — all promising $5,000 “relief checks.” None of it real.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

A @ttp-updates.bsky.social report reveals how Facebook allowed fraudsters to bilk people out of their hard-earned money and then kept the money from scam ads – nearly $49 million on almost 150,000 ads.

TTP - Meta Awash in Deepfake Scam Ads

Scammers are spending heavily on Facebook ads that use deepfake videos of President Trump, Elon Musk, and other political figures to hawk fake government benefits.

www.techtransparencyproject.org

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 7d

Grass is green. Water is wet, and Meta is cashing in on scam ads — even deepfakes of public officials.

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Reposted by Tech Oversight Project

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 8d

Folks.. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social gets it:

"We could create new rules that slow [AI] job destruction, that protect creative content, that keep children away from these friendship bots. It is all under our control. This is all not all predestined to work out in a dangerous way for us."

Chris Murphy @chrismurphyct.bsky.social · 9d

Trump might not be the greatest threat to America's survival.

Today, I'm giving a talk at @brookings.edu about the ways that unchecked AI could destroy America spiritually, as it replaces basic human functions, like friendship, creativity, and meaningful work.

Beyond productivity: The pursuit of purpose in the age of AI | Brookings

Join Brookings on September 29 at 10:30am EDT for a conversation about the pursuit of purpose in the age of AI.

www.brookings.edu

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 8d

The bottom line: Big Tech’s AI empire is built on everyday people footing the bill. Until lawmakers rein them in, our electricity costs will keep rising — while some of the richest corporations on earth profit.

AI Data Centers Are Sending Power Bills Soaring

Wholesale electricity costs as much as 267% more than it did five years ago in areas near data centers. That’s being passed on to customers.

www.bloomberg.com

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 8d

Voters overwhelmingly agree. Polling shows a majority want politicians to make Big Tech pay its fair share for electricity instead of passing the tab to families & local businesses.

Overwhelming Majority of Surveyed Voters Want Politicians to Do More to Take on Big Tech - Tech Oversight Project

Voters Highly Critical of Tech CEOs, Support A.I. Data Center Accountability A new PPP/Tech Oversight Project survey shows voters in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin strongly support holding B...

techoversight.org

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 8d

A Baltimore resident on disability saw his bills jump 80% in just three years. “They’re going up and up,” he said. “You wonder, ‘What is your breaking point?’”