Tonu Basu

🧵 Thread ahead.

For over a decade, the evidence shows that social media platforms, especially Meta and Google, have profited financially from spreading misinformation because they sell highly engaging content to advertisers.

Below are some examples of how they profit from spreading misinformation.

NEW: updated long-run gap in voting between young men and women in Germany:

Gender divide continues to widen, but contrary to what is often assumed, young men continue to vote roughly in line with the overall population, while young women have swung sharply left.

www.ft.com/content/29fd...

How Political Polarization Ends History shows that, if left untreated, extreme political and social divisions are a mortal threat to democracy.

Extremely Polarized Democracies Often See Democracy Erode
Of 52 cases where democracies became severely polarized, half experienced democratic backsliding.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Delhi Police Can Now Order Social Media Companies to Remove 'Illegal Content' Under IT Act The notification issued by the Delhi Home Department states that the L-G has notified senior police officers to issue the takedown orders.

That point in the history of the world when self proclaimed guardians of free speech and information integrity are the likes of Meta and Delhi police. m.thewire.in/article/gove...

Great perspective from my former colleagues at OGP - the lack of oversight over Low Earth Satellites and AI can do significant (and ongoing) harm, but with the essential safeguards, the potential to tackle corruption

Sen Ted Cruz requests documents from the Dept of Justice on whether "foreign entities are directly or indirectly engaging in
political activities in an attempt to influence U.S. AI policy." 😶 The letter makes for an interesting read. www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

Must read!
"We highlight three main affordances of ‘open’ AI - transparency, reusability, & extensibility;[...]‘open’ AI allows some forms of oversight & experimentation...openness alone does not perturb the concentration of power in AI." @ainowinstitute.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Information saves lives: How expression protects civilians in armed conflict - ARTICLE 19 ARTICLE 19’s new policy sets out how international law protects people’s right to free expression during armed conflict.

Great piece on freedom of expression in armed conflict. Proud of my friend Chantal Joris for this deep and valuable contribution to the debate on this topic.

www.article19.org/free-express...

Lessons from the Arab region for UN cybercrime convention The UN cybercrime convention will allow governments across the Arab region and worldwide to use cybercrime laws to violate human rights.

In Dec, the UN General Assembly will adopt a new cybercrime convention, a massive blow to digital rights globally. Interestingly, both civil society & companies have criticised it. This great piece by @zaghdoudist.bsky.social highlights how cybercrime laws have been misused (in the Arab region).

Denmark: AI-powered welfare system fuels mass surveillance and risks discriminating against marginalized groups – report The Danish welfare authority, Udbetaling Danmark (UDK), risks discriminating against people with disabilities, low-income individuals, migrants, refugees, and marginalized racial groups through its us...

"The discrimination perpetuated by UDK and ATP’s algorithms is happening in an environment of pre-existing inequalities...within Danish society,...embedded in the design of ATP’s algorithmic models, facilitating the categorization of individuals & communities based on difference or “othering”"

My sister is on hunger strike to free her son Alaa Abd el-Fattah from jail in Egypt. We don’t want her to die | Ahdaf Soueif The British-Egyptian activist is imprisoned alongside thousands of other political detainees. We’re appealing to the UK government for help, says author Ahdaf Soueif

My sister is on hunger strike to free her son Alaa Abd el-Fattah from jail in Egypt. We don’t want her to die | Ahdaf Soueif

Brief update on our ongoing efforts to allow users to specify consent (or not) for AI training: 🧵

New to bsky! Talk to me about digital policy and open government (I can tell you what not to do when designing policy processes, especially if you're a government official). Always happy to exchange notes on food recommendations, Indian classical dance (or any dance really) and the sunday papers.