The risks of internet regulation, Oz puts six platforms on notice and J. Nathan Matias on the up
Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation's Week in Review, your in-depth guide to the policies, products, platforms and people shaping the future of online speech and the internet. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by members like you.
Thanks to all of you who tuned into and gave feedback on last week's Ctrl-Alt-Speech, particularly the listener who emailed in to say 'TURN IT UP'. I am a podcasting novice and, having now been told to 'eat the mic', hope today's episode will be better than the first. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Expect us to touch again on the trend for online regulators turning up the heat on platforms, both in the US and further afield. As we discussed in last week's episode, there's a strong whiff of digital nationalism to it all.
Here's everything in moderation from the last seven days — BW
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Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
Australia's online regulator has sent six technology companies notices requesting more information about their efforts to address terrorist information. The eSafety Commissioner sent the notices to YouTube-owner Google, Meta — For WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook — Reddit and X/Twitter — to find out more about the "systems, processes, resources [and] innovation technologies" being used to detect online terror. The platforms have 49 days to reply.
The trigger is not clear but, from comments issued by Julie Inman Grant, a recent Tech Against Terrorism report and ongoing user reports of content related to the Christchurch attack — some four years after the atrocity — seems to have inspired the notices. Increased co-ordination between regulators — as seen by the growth of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network and a recent trip to meet EU officials —may also have something to do with it.