FTC lays out antitrust case, TikTok 'adds context to content' and Haidt analyses Snap Inc
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 and supported by members like you.
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Although not squarely about Trust & Safety, Meta's big antitrust case feels more and more like a story that will shape how platforms govern speech for the next decade, even if that means that nothing happens at the end of the two-month trial. Hit reply and tell me what your take has been so far.
This is your Week in Review for the last seven days. Enjoy your weekend — BW
It's finally here! Tickets are officially on sale for All Things in Moderation (ATIM) 2025 - the leading global gathering for anyone building safer, smarter, and more inclusive digital communities.
This year's two-day agenda (15-16th May) features:
- The latest in best-practice moderation and online governance
- New regulations reshaping digital platforms
- Building safer online spaces for young people
- Reclaiming community from the grip of social media monopolies
... and much more!
Whether you work in online community, social media, policy, product, or safety—or you simply care about the future of the internet—ATIM is a must-attend event.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
The Federal Trade Commission this week brought its antitrust case against Meta with its lawyers arguing that the purchase of both WhatsApp and Instagram created a “monopoly power”. CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand for 13 hours over three days in a kind of Silicon Valley fever dream of his best but mostly worst ideas.
I’m not a competition expert by any means but so many of the difficult issues related to content moderation feel directly linked to the size and scale of the platforms and the moats each of them build around themselves. So I’ve been reading the following as closely as possible:
- Wired gives a broad overview including the FTC’s key argument that Meta’s acquisitions allowed it to provide less data privacy to users and more buggy and expensive services to advertisers.
- In a blogpost littered with faux patriotism, Meta’s Chief Legal Officer says the FTC’s case “ignores how the market actually works and chases a theory that doesn’t hold up in the real world”.
- The Verge also reported on a sub-drama about poorly redacted slides, if you can call something about a formatted pdf a sub drama.
Can the Digital Services Act's (DSA) rely on platforms acting in "good faith" with the politicisation of major platforms that’s happened over the 6-12 months? That’s the question posed by doctoral candidate Nikolaus von Bernuth in a piece for Verfasungsblog. By following the principle of “enforced self-regulation: von Bernuth argues that the regulation risks under-enforcement and regulatory capture, particularly if transparency and independent scrutiny are weak. With the recent hooha (EiM #289), it’s a timely perspective.