Meta rolls back covid misinformation rules

The tech giant’s oversight board in April recommended that it “maintain” its rules against misleading coronavirus content until global health authorities removed the pandemic’s emergency status, a step the World Health Organization took two weeks later in May. 

The board criticized the Facebook and Instagram parent company at the time over its “insistence” on taking “a single, global approach” to the issue rather than developing a “localized” policy that took into account the pandemic’s progression on a regional basis. 

The group, made up of legal experts and advocates, wrote in an advisory opinion that “by ruling out this option, Meta has frustrated the Board’s efforts to reconcile competing viewpoints from stakeholders and Board Members on how to best address harmful COVID-19 misinformation.”

The company’s new policy shift, which will take effect in the coming weeks, brings its position more in line with the board’s recommendation. 

“In countries that have a Covid-19 public health emergency declaration, we will continue to remove content for violating our Covid-19 misinformation policies given the risk of imminent physical harm,” Meta said in a post Friday shared first with The Technology 202.

It added, “Our Covid-19 misinformation rules will no longer be in effect globally as the global public health emergency declaration that triggered those rules has been lifted.”

The company said it will consult with health experts to determine which specific claims could still face removal in countries where emergency declarations are in place. Meta first asked for its oversight board’s opinion on the issue in July 2022. 

The social media giant’s rules on medical misinformation sparked major political backlash, with Democrats accusing it of failing to stamp out harmful claims about the virus and Republicans slamming it for stifling views about the pandemic’s risks.

House lawmakers hauled in CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify on the topic alongside other top tech executives in March 2021, hammering the companies over their response to the pandemic.

Criticism of Meta’s approach reached a fever pitch in May 2021 after the company said it would no longer remove claims that covid-19 was manufactured or man-made amid renewed debate about the origins of the virus, as I first reported. 

Two months later, President Biden said social media platforms like Facebook were “killing people” by not policing more forcefully against misinformation about vaccines. 

The company, since renamed Meta, said at the time that Biden’s claim was not “supported by the facts.” Biden later walked back the remarks, laying the blame on misinformation spreaders.

Twitter in November disclosed that it would no longer enforce its covid misinformation rules, taking the step shortly after Elon Musk took over the platform and months before the United States or WHO declared an end to their health emergency declarations.

Instagram earlier this month reinstated the account of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic and the nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy, after he announced he is running for president as a long-shot Democratic challenger to Biden. 

The company removed his account in 2021 for “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines.”

YouTube’s policies as of Thursday stated that it still prohibits “content that denies the existence of the coronavirus or encourages the use of home remedies in place of medical treatment” or that “explicitly disputes the efficacy of global or local health authority advice regarding social distancing that may lead people to act against that guidance.”

“YouTube’s policies on COVID-19 are subject to change in response to changes to global or local health authorities’ guidance on the virus,” the Google-owned company’s policies stated.

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Google sues digital marketer over alleged fake reviews

Google is suing Ethan Hu, a California-based digital marketer the company alleges created hundreds of fake business profiles on its websites and then wrote thousands of fake reviews for them before selling them to other companies to use for promotion, Gerrit De Vynck reports for The Technology 202.  

It’s the second time the tech giant has taken this action, after suing a man in Cameroon last year for using Google tools to allegedly try to scam elderly Americans into sending him money by falsely saying he was selling puppies. Hu did not immediately return a request for comment early Friday.

Fake reviews have plagued Google for years, and the company says it works hard to try to stop them. Still, the problem has persisted, and the advent of easy-to-use generative artificial intelligence chatbots might make it even worse. The Federal Trade Commission is working on new rules to penalize those who post and host fake reviews, and Google wants to show the government that it’s doing something on this issue, potentially to avoid stronger penalties.

China leading world on AI rules, Senate Intelligence leader says

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said China is leading the world in the development of artificial intelligence regulations and guardrails, Mohar Chatterjee reports for Politico.

China “has a variety of efforts in AI, and they have already actually moved even further than Europe in having specific legislation,” Warner said in an interview at Politico’s Global Tech Summit. The nation is a “leading competitor” in the AI field, he said.

“Warner is worried the Chinese government will use AI on an ‘offensive basis, or on a misinformation and deceptive basis against the balance of the world. He also noted that Beijing has a head start on both the U.S. and EU when it comes to regulating the fast-moving technology,’” Chatterjee writes. China in April proposed rules to govern generative AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the report adds.

The remarks come after the E.U. advanced sweeping legislation this week aimed at protecting consumers from potentially dangerous applications of AI. U.S. Senate members this week also attended their first briefing on the emerging technology as Congress works to craft new federal safeguards for AI systems. 

E.U. to ban Chinese telecom equipment from internal networks

The E.U. will ban equipment made by Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE from its internal communications networks, Jillian Deutsch and Thomas Seal report for Bloomberg News.

Deutsch and Seal write: “As part of an effort to crack down on Chinese equipment in critical infrastructure, European Union’s executive arm urged countries to phase out high-risk vendors” from telecom networks, according to guidelines published Thursday.

The move comes as the E.U. faces increased pressure from U.S. counterparts to take a tougher stance on China, the report notes. The U.S. has previously taken action against Huawei and ZTE, claiming they have the ability to conduct espionage and spy on U.S. networks.

The bloc’s industry chief Thierry Breton on Thursday urged more nations to join in restricting or banning the companies, Foo Yun Chee reports for Reuters.

“To date, only 10 of them have used these prerogatives to restrict or exclude high-risk vendors. This is too slow, and it poses a major security risk and exposes the Union’s collective security, since it creates a major dependency for the EU and serious vulnerabilities,” he said in a news conference.

Agency scanner

Former White House advisors and tech researchers co-sign new statement against AI harms (Venture Beat)

Hill happenings

Chief of staff to new top Democrat on antitrust subcommittee lobbied for Apple, Amazon (CNBC)

Senate Judiciary advances journalism bargaining bill targeting Big Tech (CNN)

Inside the industry

Google, one of AI’s biggest backers, warns own staff about chatbots (Reuters)

Twitter is a more dangerous platform for the LGBTQ community now than it was a year ago, GLAAD finds (CNBC)

Google earned $10 million by allowing misleading anti-abortion ads from 'fake clinics,' report says (CNN)

Competition watch

Singapore warns U.S., EU chip subsidies will ‘drive up costs’ (Politico)

Subsidies from Big Tech should be last option for EU telcos - Meta Platforms (Reuters)

Trending

Amazon’s cloud computing service recovers from outage (Caroline O'Donovan)

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