MC Weekly Update 12/4: The Chip Crunch Problem

Alex and Evelyn discuss whether telling your most important customers to go eff themselves is a good business strategy; the continual challenges of moderating CSAM; Meta’s preparations for the 2024 elections; the injunction of Montana’s TikTok ban; and the most important AI story no one is talking about.

Show Notes

Stanford’s Evelyn Douek and Alex Stamos weigh in on the latest online trust and safety news and developments:

  • Elon Musk told advertisers to go f*** themselves in an interview with Jona–… sorry, Andrew Ross Sorkin of the NYT. Is this a good business strategy? – Kate Conger and Remy Tumin / The New York Times 
  • Meta is still algorithmically promoting child sexual abuse material on its platforms. – Jeff Horwitz and Katherine Blunt / WSJ
    • They say they’re still working on it: Meta
  • On the flip side, Google’s risk-averse approach to CSAM and its poor customer service creates a different problem for people who suddenly find themselves locked out of their entire accounts. – Kashmir Hill / New York Times
  • Meta says it is adopting the same approach as in the past for the 2024 election season. – Nick Clegg / Meta
    • Except this time, the government apparently will not be giving them any tip-offs about foreign interference. Such communication has been stalled since july. – Naomi Nix and Cat Zakrzewski / The Washington Post
    • As Meta detailed in its quarterly adversarial threat report, though, this is not because such interference has stopped. – Meta
  • A district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing Montana’s state-wide ban from going into effect in the new year. – Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times; US District Court
  • Doritos has had the most important AI breakthrough of the year, with its crunch-cancellation software for gamers who like to snack. – Sydney Page / The Washington Post

Join the conversation and connect with Evelyn and Alex on Twitter at @evelyndouek and @alexstamos.

Moderated Content is produced in partnership by Stanford Law School and the Cyber Policy Center. Special thanks to John Perrino for research and editorial assistance.

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Transcript

Transcript coming soon.