An AI model most dangerous, Europe’s child safety muddle and Altman fights back
Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation's Week in Review, your need-to-know news and analysis about platform policy, content moderation and internet regulation. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by paid members like you.
I’m in Perugia, Italy, this week for one of Europe’s big media festivals but mainly to eat my own bodyweight in pasta and tiramisu.
As well as the usual angst about the future of the industry, there have been excellent sessions on media coverage of online safety (something I have written about since 2021) and a screening for a new BBC documentary on US law enforcement efforts to stop child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Powerful stuff.
Mike is back on Ctrl-Alt-Speech after his cacti-filled break and together we talk about AI safety liability, muddled (or strategic?) EU thinking on child safety and lots more. Next week is our 100th episode and we have an important and exciting announcement — tune in for that.
As well as all the reads in this week’s newsletter, check out Alice Hunsberger’s guide to operationalising platform policy, published earlier this week in T&S Insider. 15+ years of experience distilled into 4000 words. Become an EiM member and dive in.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
Two stories this week show the tension at the heart of Europe’s child safety discussion or, if you're being generous, its whole strategy.
Politico reported comments from the Estonian education minister pushing back on age-based bans and arguing instead that the EU should "actually take this power and start regulating the big American corporations." Meanwhile, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and vice-president Henna Virkkunen (EiM #263) announced the rollout of the EU’s age verification app, which has been in testing since July last year and will allow users to prove their age via a passport, national ID or trusted institution like a school or bank. The technology is not mandatory for platforms to use but alternatives must be as good.
Vulnerable, in many senses: Despite being billed as having "the highest privacy standards in the world", a security researcher has already exposed vulnerabilities in the app that, he argues, could lead to an "enormous breach". As another headline from this week aptly puts it, age verification is a mess but it looks like we're doing it anyway.
That pressure is growing in the UK too. Keir Starmer told tech bosses this week that “things can’t go on like this”, as child safety becomes an even more politically potent issue. His comments come as the government’s under-16 social media ban consultation (EiM #324) has already drawn more than 40,000 responses — not quite the 228,000 for same-sex marriage in 2012 but nonetheless an indication of the broad public interest. The deadline is the 28th May.