Pope Leo on 'the moralization of machines', biometric checks and Board gets boost
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.
It’s not every week that you get global religious figures turning their attention to topics that EiM covers week in, week out. But that was the case this week as Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural enycylical placed online safety, internet regulation and AI governance on the global agenda. (see: People section).
It was there that Mike and I spent a lot of time on this week’s Ctrl-Alt-Speech, where I was back in the co-hosting chair after three weeks off. Become a Patreon supporter to get instant access and extended analysis or get the free episode later today wherever you listen.
Good news for anyone who’s been considering becoming a paid EiM member: You can now download an invoice/receipt directly via your Account on the EiM website. If you have a personal development budget or scope to expense EiM, now’s a good chance to do so.
Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW
Following our recent webinar with Ofcom on Year 2 risk assessments, Resolver is hosting the next session in our Regulatory Readiness series on June 18th.
"Paper compliance" is giving way to active supervision. Regulators across the UK and Europe are now calling out easily bypassed systems and demanding "highly effective" child safety controls.
Join senior leaders from Ofcom, Coimisiún na Meán, the ICO and Internet Matters to unpack real-world enforcement, move past the safety vs. privacy binary, and explore technical insights from market red-teaming. Designed for GCs and Trust & Safety leaders.
Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
After three months that have felt like double that, the UK’s under-16 social media ban consultation closed on Tuesday with more than 80,000 responses. UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer took the chance to meet with various groups calling for change, including parents of children who reportedly died as a result of social media; the Smartphone Free Childhood campaign group — which reportedly mobilised a significant numbers of the 42,000+ parent who filled in the consultation — and campaigners of all stripes.
What happens now: Starmer reportedly told parents that the government would be announced in “weeks, not months” but the bigger question is what will that look like. The Guardian asked experts what they believe should happen next and, unsurprisingly, everyone has different ideas. Notably, one expert, who was part of the Australia age assurance trial last year, said: “[A ban] is not the golden recipe, this is not the template you should follow”. Hmmm.