Dr. Lex Zard

"We are at war. In a hybrid conflict, the frontline is everywhere and everyone is on it." — @stollmeyer.bsky.social

OTD in 1975 Hannah Arendt died.

"The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".

Translating the CJEU judgment in Amazon vs EC on art.40 DSA: (1) giving vetted researchers data isn’t a disproportionate privacy intrusion; (2) compliance may be costly but you can bear it; (3) if you have a better way to study systemic risks, we haven’t heard it. curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...

The European digital rule-book is not up for negotiation.
We, Europeans, have adopted our rules to ensure fair markets and to protect consumers rights while backing Europe’s digital future.
It’s our duty to preserve our values and to defend our people. 🇪🇺

The reason why platform companies do make it hard to find account location information is not because they believe in privacy, it's so that advertisers do not know how much is lost to low-tier engagement.

Growth, at all costs, means avoiding publishing basic metadata so that advertisers don't sue.

No prizes for guessing who grok chose sorry

I asked grok who was the better role model for humanity, Jesus Christ or Elon Musk. GUESS WHAT.

Some ideas floating in Europe ;) papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

😮

"In Spain, the law stands above any algorithm or big tech company. And whoever violates our rights will face the consequences,” he added."

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is hit with €479m compensation bill for unfair competition in Spain - Olive Press News Spain TECH company Meta has been ordered to pay €479 million to Spanish digital media outlets for unfair competition practices and infringement of EU data

Spain punishes Meta for dispossessing Spanish consumers, and news media publishers with anticompetitive behaviour.
www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2...

A teddy bear equipped with AI was meant to be a child’s chat companion, but it eagerly jumped into topics like BDSM and “where to find knives.” The manufacturer stopped sales and cut off access. AI toys need strict filters, testing, and oversight or ot ends in a plush sewer. #AIact #GDPR

🇪🇺 🔥 Paper 🔥 🇪🇺

We can talk of AI, cloud, and chips, but the most imminent problem the EU faces is surveillance capitalism, at root of which are user agents making the Internet lawless - information ozone hole. We must fix this first!

👉 tinyurl.com/rvrknh94

#digitalsovereignty #eurostack #omnibus

I really think that you are spiraling down at this in a wrong direction. I may be totally wrong, I just share my thoughts on top of my head without rereading articles and recitals, but I doubt it. I hope you get to solid conclusion on this!

As you also know, they argue many things. They do provide Messenger as a separate app.

But groups are provided as part of Facebook are they not, vis-a-vis Messenger that is another service.

😂

Fair points. @mathver.bsky.social what do you think?

My take is, DSA considers Facebook an online platform because it allows for public dissemination as a service, not because it aways does so. I agree there is a gray line, but I think teleology would win here.

I have a different view. Facebook is always an online platform, a very large one. E.g. DSA advertising rules apply for Facebook always.

An old barber in Georgia asked me today if I regretted moving to the Netherlands 8 years ago, now that Europe is falling. "Twilight of Europe", he said, patronising me. It is so sad to see people brainwashed like that by all the crap in the media.

I do think its deliberate. Denial...

There is no way this can pass the DSA test. The DSA must be enforced, fast. This information violence can not continue. I wrote a bit about Elon's agenda here: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...

Made it to Georgia, where disinformation is only information. There is no agreement on facts, no shared reality, and no trust on social institutions. This information armageddon (@mariaressa.bsky.social) is coming to the whole world unless we win the battle for information integrity.

I think it's a good trend to re-claim the national flag for non-far-right parties around the world. It is very human to love where they come from. It is silly to surrender national identity to fascists.

"Big tech know that they're stoking a bubble that will end in a crash. They are not concerned. The crash will wipe out smaller rivals and weaken the governments that they want to control." — @moonalice.com

Looks beautiful!

YouTube video by DW News Is Europe overregulating AI? | DW Business

So difficult to watch. If we believe Meta's spokesperson, EU has green lighted their AI training practices, personalized ads, and no-one in industry has a problem with them using AI in ads. Cringe.

Brazil developed a highly popular electronic payments system called Pix. Meta tried to undercut it by shipping WhatsApp Pay first, hoping to ride on network effects, to which the Brazilians (rightly) said "no."

Now Trump is trying to retaliate.
economia.uol.com.br/colunas/mari...

This. Except I would say Thiel is more dangerous.

Oh Europe, never too solid