If we are worried about influence and manipulation, could the new TikTok deal help?
A short piece based on some research I've been working on that's coming out soon in the Journal of Cyber Policy, supported by the rotmanphilosophy.bsky.social think tank program
www.ipolitics.ca/2025/06/12/t...
“Here in Canada, you didn’t put disinformation in the [proper] context”
yes!
it would be interesting if running could support a high quality independent and audience funded outlet like cyclists have in @escapecollective.bsky.social
Cables from US embassies reveal how the silencing of VOA, RFE/RL, RFA, MBN and Radio/TV Marti are harming US interests abroad
cite is from a natpost "review".
found this masterclass in misleading citation in the speccie:
i'd like to have the last 20 minutes of my life back that i spent satisfying myself that this isn't true.
A network of X accounts is targeting Canada ahead of the election, pumping out thousands of posts about the Canadian economy and alleged support within Canada for U.S. President Donald Trump’s annexation threat
Via @thelogic.co
thelogic.co/news/canada-...
so we are somewhere in between embrace and extend but a bit before extinguish
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace...
that's super interesting! is it possible to share a bit more about this, i'd love to use it as an example in my class?
A quick read on some research I’ve been working on at UWO about Canada’s vulnerability to manipulation and election interference.
model poisoning is the new astroturfing
and the new "i'm feeling lucky" standard
Apparently, Russian propaganda directly worked to secure the election of a specific candidate in the U.S. elections in 2024.
it’s like a hack-and-leak but from the inside out.
wow nice photo too!
100%, just like the old google. (leaving to one side llms aren’t info retrieval systems). and the ux will devolve in the same way for the same reasons.
one thing i puzzle over - where will the new sources come from?
"OpenAI says that Deep Research is trained to select solid, reputable sources"
reminiscent of the effort aimed at the syria civil defence, which used youtube/twitter very effectively. much of what we know about how that worked was from the streaming api, which no longer exists. that this is still "dark magic" all these years later is such a failing.
a betrayal of the distinguished tradition of subprime mortgage-backed security safety and radium health & beauty safety!
Here is the House Judiciary Committee's letter to the European Commission asserting that the DSA and Codes of Conduct/Practice are censoring US users.
I share and have written about *some* of these concerns. But based on this, Congress clearly needs better lawyers.
drive.google.com/file/d/1V0so...
i think you are right. somewhere in the mix of "what is special about the potential social risk of ai" is the affordances we are giving it as a regulative technology. l'etat c'est moi, translated to machine.
The dynamics of this horrifying political moment reflect years long trends w/in our information systems: audience capture of an influencer by conspiracy theorists who are motivated by the interactions to descend further into those theories, attracting more attention and gaining power along the way.
4/ The biggest surprise? Media indoctrination and civil liberties repression are the most predictive of autocratic survival. These findings have big implications for “information autocracies” in the digital age.
reminded me of the “human encyclopedia” from frasier
this sounds amazing! do you have a syllabus you could share?
super interesting! i wonder if the persuasive effect is parasitic on something like an automation bias - that there is some trust being bootstrapped by the setting's interface?
1) Many underestimate the investment the PRC has put into influencing the US social media sphere.
2) The destruction of Trust and Safety at X has made it a playground for PRC actors.
3) It's nice to see them whine about BlueSky.
4) But there is nothing magical about BlueSky to keep them away.
100%
epistemic paternalism sounds great when you like the paternalist
