Facial verification gone global, TikTok and Meta in breach of DSA and Wikipedia heroes
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 members like you.
What does a Twitch streamer in San Diego have in common with Wikipedians in New York? Both were put in danger this week by the actions of people they knew or interacted with online. For platforms where the line between digital and physical is blurred, it's a reminder of how on- and offline interact in ways we can never expect.
If you're a listener of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, the podcast I host with Techdirt’s Mike Masnick, we have a challenge for you: leave us a spooky review for Halloween season and we'll read it out on the podcast. This week’s episode is particularly frightening so you have lots of inspiration.
Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW
Season two of the Safe Space podcast is here. Tune in for conversations with leaders, thinkers, and builders working to protect online communities. Hosted by John Starr, Advisor at Thorn, and Pailes Halai, Senior Manager of Partnerships at Thorn, this podcast dives into the personal journeys of those shaping the future of the digital world — one policy, one decision, and one conversation at a time.
- Ep 1: Aaron R. of Bluesky
- Ep 2: John Buckley of Lego
- Ep 3: Del Harvey, formerly of Twitter
- Ep 4: David Polgar of ATIH
- Ep 5: Ryn Linthicum of Anthropic
- Ep 6: Lauren Jonas of Open AI (coming soon)
These conversations are wide-ranging and insightful, offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how each of these leaders in trust and safety approach their work and wellbeing.
Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts or watch the episodes and Lightning Rounds on YouTube.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
In news that has emerged in the last few hours, the European Commission has preliminarily found TikTok and Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act for researcher access to data, content moderation appeals and Notice and Action mechanisms. The companies will respond to the decision and, if found to be non-compliant, will face a fine of up to 6% of global revenue (unlikely in all honesty).
You're on notice: While the first two breaches are not a big surprise — new platform access for researchers is imminent and will change the dynamic — I'm surprised to see Notice and Action characterised as "confusing and dissuading" by the Commission. If it was that difficult, would 68 million people have done it for Meta alone? I'm sure that's what the platforms will say.
Meta and Google will get the Ted Cruz treatment (EiM #308) next week as policy representatives from the two platforms testify before his Senate Judiciary Committee on alleged “jawboning” by the Biden administration. Earlier this year, Politico reported that Cruz had a one-on-one meeting with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to complain about so-called throttling of conservative speech. Expect some of the same and a rehash of some familiar complaints.
Last week’s (EiM #309) highlighted the growing European movement to tighten online safety rules for children. This week, that momentum continues from a new front: Renew Europe, the EU’s fifth-largest political group, has gone all-in on tackling the mental health impact of “addictive design", reports Euractiv. The party is urging Brussels to enforce child-safe defaults — from removing harmful filters to limiting late-night notifications — and to clarify how dark design patterns fall under the Digital Services Act. It’s another sign that youth wellbeing is fast becoming the EU’s next digital battleground.
Party politics: For EiM readers not familiar with European political machinery, most elected members of European Parliament join a party after being elected and use that to shape the European Parliament’s agenda. While Renew has lost seats and influence in recent years, where one party goes, others often follow.