By Cristiano Lima-Strong, washingtonpost.com, 7-30-24 The Senate overwhelmingly passed a pair of bills to expand online privacy and safety protections for children on July 30, delivering a major win for parent and youth activists who have clamored for action against tech companies they say are endangering the well-being of kids. The legislation, approved 91-3, [...]
By Cristiano Lima-Strong, washingtonpost.com, 7-25-24 Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said this week that he expects a pair of bills boosting online privacy and safety protections for children to clear the chamber “by a very large vote,” with initial consideration set for as early as Thursday, July 25. Schumer, who has faced months [...]
By Will Oremus, washingtonpost.com, 7-24-24 Weeks after the Supreme Court rejected a conservative-led push to block contacts between the U.S. government and social media companies, a new report from the Justice Department’s inspector general found that intelligence agencies’ communications with the companies have sometimes been undisciplined. The 53-page report, published July 24 by Justice Department [...]
By Cristiano Lima-Strong, washingtonpost.com, 7-9-24 Federal regulators have for the first time banned a digital platform from serving users under 18, accusing the app – known as NGL – of exaggerating its ability to use artificial intelligence to curb cyberbullying in a groundbreaking settlement. An app popular among children and teens, NGL aggressively marketed to [...]
By Will Oremus, Cat Zakrzewski, and Justin Jouvenal, washingtonpost.com, 7-1-24 The Supreme Court on July 1 ordered lower courts to take a second look at a pair of laws in Texas and Florida that would have prevented social media companies from removing certain political posts or accounts, saying the courts had not fully addressed the [...]
By Adam R. Jacobson, Radio Ink, 6-30-24 Twin 6-3 decisions in late June by the U.S. Supreme Court could usher in a new era at the FCC when it comes to how it interprets ambiguous congressional laws. The first decision (Loper Bright) erases “Chevron deference,” a practice stemming from a 40-year-old Supreme Court ruling [...]
By Ann E. Marimow and Cat Zakrzewski, washingtonpost.com, 6-26-24 The Supreme Court on June 26 rejected a Republican-led effort to sharply restrict White House officials and other federal employees from pressuring social media companies to remove posts from their platforms that the U.S. government deems problematic, saying the challengers did not have legal standing [...]
By Natalie Korach, TheWrap.com, 6-24-24 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) leveled two lawsuits against AI companies over mass copyright infringement of sound recordings used to train generative technology. The blockbuster lawsuits have been filed by the music companies that hold the rights to recordings allegedly infringed upon including Sony Music Entertainment, UMG [...]
By Heather Kelly, washingtonpost.com, 5-22-24 After years of Meta steadily walking away from news on its platforms, the company’s new AI tool is now using the work of those outlets for content. Meta’s new chatbot, Meta AI, is happy to scan news outlets and summarize their latest stories and headlines for anyone who asks. [...]
By Gerrit De Vynck and Cat Zakrzewski, washingtonpost.com, 5-13-24 As tech giant Google gears up this week for Google I/O, its annual developer conference, creators are worried about the expanding reach of its new search tool that incorporates artificial intelligence. The product, dubbed “Search Generative Experience,” or SGE, directly answers queries with complex, multi-paragraph [...]