Following the murder of George Floyd and the protests it has catalysed across the globe, ISD examined Facebook’s ad library for signs of policy violations, in particular content that “exploits crises or controversial political or social issues for commercial purposes”
This report offers an interim review of responses to the COVID-19 ‘infodemic’ from three major technology companies – Facebook, Google and Twitter – from March to May 2020. These platforms have been forced to mobilise at speed, trialling policies and enforcement approaches that can meet such a challenge.
Algorithms play a central role in social media platforms – and may contribute to systemic, structural challenges to democracy and human rights. As identified in the White Paper, through their decisions around the design of algorithms, the platforms have a significant impact on citizens’ rights to information and free expression, our rights not to be discriminated against or abused, and core democratic values.
This briefing brings together the findings of a group of eight organisations who monitored the UK’s digital landscape leading up to the General Election. It provides overwhelming evidence that current regulations are not fit for the digital era.
On 8th April 2019, the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) released its much-anticipated Online Harms White Paper, setting out a range of proposed legislative and non-legislative measures to tackle online harms ranging from illegal (e.g. terrorist content) through to harmful but not necessarily illegal online behaviour.
ISD submitted expert advice to the consultation on the UK Government’s Online Harms White Paper, which lays out the stated design for regulation of technology companies in the UK. ISD worked with leading UK research and civil society organisations including Carnegie UK, Demos, Doteveryone, the Fawcett Society and the Jo Cox Foundation to produce a joint statement on the Online Harms White Paper and the direction of regulation in the UK.
