Claes de Vreese

Column | Zuckerberg fired the fact-checkers. We tested their replacement. Our tech columnist drafted 65 community notes, Meta’s new crowdsourced system to fight falsehoods. It failed to make a dent.

Community Notes were never going to replace fact checking. It could offer something else, something complementary.

So far it does not look like it is offering much. Saying that it is a new system still being tested is simply not good enough when you are Meta.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

What the Columbia Settlement Really Means

It is clear that collective action is needed. Individual university settlements leave everyone vulnerable.

@knightcolumbia.org: Alternatives to settlement come at risks. But a real risk is that Columbia’s settlement becomes "a model for the rest of the academy"

knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

Column | Zuckerberg fired the fact-checkers. We tested their replacement. Our tech columnist drafted 65 community notes, Meta’s new crowdsourced system to fight falsehoods. It failed to make a dent.

Community Notes were never going to replace fact checking. It could offer something else, something complementary.

So far it does not look like it is offering much. Saying that it is a new system still being tested is simply not good enough when you are Meta.

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

117. Alondra Nelson, Biden's Head of Science and Technology Policy, talks AI, Trump's research funding cuts, and how memes replaced Happy Days - Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at UMass A... Alondra Nelson is arguably the most important sociologist of science in America. She isn’t just a brilliant researcher of how race and racism has shaped public health in America, nor just a thoughtful...

This is probably the last episode of "Reimagining the Internet", the podcast Mike Sugarman and I have produced for the last five years. Talk about going out on a high note: I interview Alondra Nelson on AI, universities and the Trump administration:

publicinfrastructure.org/podcast/117-...

In defense of digital political ads Separate decisions from Meta and Google to close digital political ads offerings in the EU are a direct attack on free speech and transparency.

Political ads are not bad.

But the recent announcement from #Meta to stop with online political advertising in the EU is. Bad that is.

@markscott.bsky.social lays out why this is an ‘abdication of responsibility’ on the side of Meta (and Google)

www.digitalpolitics.co/newsletter057/

’Thema Europa ondergeschoven kindje in verkiezingscampagne voor Tweede Kamer’ In de aanloop naar de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen is Nederland te veel met zichzelf en te weinig met Europa bezig, meent de achtkoppige denktank EU-olifantcollectief. „Hoewel in Brussel besluiten worden genomen met verregaande gevolgen voor onze samenleving, blijft Europa een bijzin in de Nederlandse politiek. Nationale verkiezingen zijn hét moment om dat patroon te doorbreken.”

OPROEP #EUdebat!

De wereld staat in brand, er woedt oorlog, Trump heft tarieven en toch blijft in Nederland Europa de olifant in de kamer 🇪🇺🐘.

Niet omdat het onbelangrijk is. Maar omdat het voor Haagse politici ongemakkelijk is. #EUolifant #TK2025

Onze take ↘️

www.telegraaf.nl/opinie/thema...

Musk, a social media powerhouse, boosts fortunes of hard-right figures in Europe Elon Musk is a kingmaker on X. He has used his dominance of the platform he owns to boost the influence of hard-right politicians and activists across Europe, an Associated Press analysis of tens of t...

How to boost online presence if you are far right? Interact with #Musk on X.

"Every alarm bell needs to ring” @cschaldemose.bsky.social

Most examples stem from the period where Musk was a central part of the US administration. Upcoming elections will be interesting.

apnews.com/article/musk...

The number "#3" next to an icon of a thermometer with a plus next to it. Above both, the newsletters release day is shown: 31.07.2025

It’s been a while — but our newsletter is finally here!

In this edition, we skip the “risk in focus” to bring you:
🛠️ An update on what we’ve been doing
📊 Our top 5 insights data access highlights
🗓️ An overview of upcoming calls, workshops, and ongoing surveys

dsa40collaboratory.eu/newsletters/...

Chatbots hallucineren nogal eens, dat is een risico als je ze om stemadvies vraagt Stemhulpen: Veel kiezers zullen voor de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen bij chatbots als ChatGPT aankloppen voor stemadvies. Is dat wel verstandig?

Een extra onderdeel van het gereedschapskist voorafgaand aan verkiezingen 🗳️

Enkele voor- en nog meer nadelen van chatbots als stemhulpen.

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/... www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it's shutting down The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funnels federal money to public media stations, says it's winding down operations after President Trump signed a law rescinding all funding.

Dark times for journalism and public service media. CPB shuts down after withdrawal funding.

"Public media has been one of the most trusted institutions in American life, providing educational opportunity, emergency alerts, civil discourse, and cultural connection”

www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n...

Haagse Zaken in de zomer III: de normalisering van uiterst rechts Het is zomerreces in Den Haag. In deze periode tussen de val van het kabinet en de start van een nieuwe verkiezingscampagne nodigen we in Haagse Zaken schrijvers, wetenschappers en denkers uit om het ...

Ik mocht aanschuiven bij Haagse Zaken en sprak met @guusvalk.bsky.social over de normalisering van uiterst rechts gedachtegoed, hoe je onderzoek doet naar uiterst rechts, hoe dat verschilt in 🇩🇪 en 🇳🇱, en welke verantwoordelijkheid er ligt bij de wetenschap en journalistiek.
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...

The European Political Science Society is now accepting paper & panel proposals for its annual conference!

📢 Call for Papers: EPSS 2026 – Belfast

🗓️ June 18–20, 2026

📍 ICC Belfast

📬 Deadline: Nov 7, 2025

🧵

Analysis | The Fact Checker rose in an era of false claims. Falsehoods are now winning. Longtime Fact Checker Glenn Kessler takes stock as he departs The Washington Post.

One President has changed fact checking, the funding of fact checking, and the lives of fact checkers.

Fact checkers are under pressure. Falsehoods are thriving.

Important reflections by @glennkessler.bsky.social

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

The signing of the EU’s Code of Practice for generative AI across companies interesting. So far:

Microsoft ✍️ ✅
Meta 🟥
X ✍️ only security chapter

www.euractiv.com/section/tech...

American Crisis exclusive: The 'Media Capitulation Index' A sweeping report — with rankings — on the decline of independence in our corporatized media

“It’s more than a trend. It’s a growing crisis of the press abdicating its responsibility to hold powerful people and institutions accountable”

@sulliview.bsky.social

margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/american-c...

The Trump AI Action Plan is Deregulation Framed as Innovation | TechPolicy.Press The administration's plan favors corporate interests over the public interest, write Public Citizen's J.B. Branch, Ilana Beller, and Tyson Slocum.

Deregulation does not equate innovation. Regulation does not per se hamper innovation.

Good analysis in @techpolicypress.bsky.social

www.techpolicy.press/the-trump-ai...

Register to the #DSA40 Data Access days today before we reach maximum capacity!
Join us in Berlin, September 25 & 26 - to connect and collaborate around DSA-based data access!
More info here: dsa40collaboratory.eu/data-access-...

Governments Want to Ease AI Regulation for Innovation, But Do Citizens Agree? | TechPolicy.Press A 2025 survey across six countries finds that citizens are not in favor of deregulation and allowing AI innovation to progress unchecked.

First: regulation is not the opposite of innovation when it comes to AI

Second: citizens want AI to be regulated.
🇺🇸 🇪🇺 and elsewhere: listen to your citizens.

See evidence from 5 continents 🌍 in our @techpolicypress.bsky.social piece

@aimediademlab.bsky.social
www.techpolicy.press/governments-...

Governments Want to Ease AI Regulation for Innovation, But Do Citizens Agree? | TechPolicy.Press A 2025 survey across six countries finds that citizens are not in favor of deregulation and allowing AI innovation to progress unchecked.

Do citizens want AI regulation, and what do they expect from their governments? Claes de Vreese, Natali Helberger, Sophie Morosely, Nicolas Mattis, and Laurens Naudts surveyed citizens in Brazil, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the US to find out:

Geen politieke reclame op Facebook en Instagram 'is een beetje krankzinnig' Meta stopt per 1 oktober met politieke advertenties. Eind oktober zijn er Tweede Kamerverkiezingen.

Meta stopt per 1 oktober met politieke advertenties. Experts vinden het een opmerkelijk en onnodig besluit. "Eigenlijk een beetje krankzinnig."
nos.nl/nieuwsuur/ar...

Ending Political, Electoral and Social Issue Advertising in the EU in Response to Incoming European Regulation From early October 2025, we will no longer allow political, electoral and social issue ads on our platforms in the EU. This is a difficult decision - one

Meta ends political ads on their platforms in the EU by October because they don't want to comply with new transparency and targeting regulations.

The reasons given here are really weak. And if you do *not* allow these ads, you still need to define what they are.

about.fb.com/news/2025/07...

Horizon Europe 2028 - 2034: twice bigger, simpler, faster and more impactful Research and innovation news alert: As part of the next long-term EU budget 2028-2034, the Commission is proposing to double the budget of the research and innovation framework programme to €175 billi...

Very promising news on the next seven-year EU budget, with a proposed substantial increase for Horizon Europe including the ERC.

We are analysing the other parts of this proposal in more detail.

@Vonderleyen @EZaharievaEU

research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/news/all-res...

States legally obligated to tackle climate change: ICJ The world's highest court Wednesday declared that states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and that failing to do so was a "wrongful act" that could open the door to reparations.

#climatejustice

‘The world's highest court Wednesday declared that states have a legal obligation to tackle climate change and that failing to do so was a "wrongful act" that could open the door to reparations’

www.rfi.fr/en/internati...

Enforcement of EU's Tech Laws Should Not Be Traded Away | TechPolicy.Press The stakes are too high to allow the enforcement of European law to be used as a bargaining chip in transatlantic trade disputes, writes Svea Windwehr.

Delaying enforcement of the Digital Services Act risks misframing it as a barrier to trade and reinforces the troubling idea that EU tech law can be shaped by external pressure, writes @sveawindwehr.bsky.social.

How effective are user corrections on social media, and does adding a link to a fact check improve effectiveness?

In piece led by @sachaltay.bsky.social we find corrections have small effects, adding a fact-check unlikely to make them more effective misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/the-... 1/6

Photos taken w care and most sun in four days 😉 🌧️ 🍀

Landscapes of Inishmore island

Inishmore, Ireland. Spectacular.
🇮🇪 ⛅️

I'm very pleased to announce that @cwts.nl and Dialogic will develop an Open Science monitoring framework and prototype dashboard for the Netherlands in the coming 2 years.

@opensciencenl.bsky.social has selected the consortium through a European tender (outlined OSNL 2024–2025 work programme).

Very fair point. Still an excellent overview.

More informative than a lot of journalism ⬇️