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The DIY era of regulating tech

Have we entered the everyone-for-themselves era of regulating tech and moderating content?

How do you make tech safe when it’s moving faster than government regulation? Even for the public, it’s hard to keep up with the pace of technological development. 

Today, the answer in the US might be DIY.

In the absence of federal, enforceable laws governing artificial intelligence and social media content moderation in the US, states are taking it upon themselves, individuals are engaging in their own personalized content moderation system, school districts are rolling out their own policies, and tech companies are introducing new features.

This week we explore how regulation and content moderation are working in the liminal space when the harms of technology are well-documented, but the speed of that technology is outpacing our ability to reign it in.

// Growing concern

From the discrimination of algorithms, to AI-generated deepfakes and disinformation, to content on social media platforms that's harmful for children’s mental health, there is a growing consciousness worldwide about the problems caused by today’s technology.

• Last week, a report issued by the US State Department was published, with the conclusion that the most advanced AI systems could “pose an extinction-level threat to the human species.”
• Last month, Project Liberty Foundation released research finding that the majority of adults globally believe that social media companies bear “a great deal” of responsibility for making the internet safe.
• Last year, a poll done by Project Liberty Alliance member Issue One found that 87% of the US electorate want government action to combat the harms being caused by social media platforms.

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In the absence of comprehensive laws and sound enforcement, there’s a patchwork of solutions emerging at every level.

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// Tech is fast, passing laws is slow

Lawmakers are beginning to take action.

• Last week, the European Union adopted the world’s first set of laws to broadly regulate AI.
• In the US, no federal law to regulate AI or safely moderate social media content exists, but there have been Congressional hearings on social media harms, the US House passed a bill last week that would ban TikTok, and the Supreme Court has been forced to weigh in on prickly cases balancing safety online with free speech rights.

While the US lags behind Europe in comprehensive regulations around tech (the EU has been the world’s leader in passing laws to regulate big tech for years), Europe’s speed in passing laws has not translated into ease of enforcing them.

// The era of DIY regulation

In the absence of comprehensive laws and sound enforcement, there’s a patchwork of solutions emerging at every level.

• States: Filling the void left by inaction at the US federal level, US states are taking action. Nearly 200 bills were introduced in local state legislatures in 2023 aimed at regulating AI (only 12 of which became law), and this year states across the US will debate over 400 AI-related bills. To limit the harms caused by social media, US states have taken a variety of approaches, leading to a lack of consistency and a patchwork of directives, according to a report by Brookings last year.

• Companies: Pressured by lawmakers and whistleblowers to self-regulate their own platforms, tech companies are launching internal initiatives with trust & safety at the center, conducting their own audits, and issuing voluntary commitments. Bluesky, the X alternative, launched Ozone last week, a tool that lets users create and run their own independent moderation services.

• Schools: School districts are taking matters into their own hands in the face of greater awareness about the harms of social media to students. Schools across the US are banning phones in classrooms. New York Public Schools, the largest public school system in the US, has issued social media guidelines for students and for staff.

• Individuals: Individuals are leaving big tech platforms for shared server co-ops and “the fediverse,” the decentralized network of social media alternatives. Teens are giving advice to fellow teens, creating processes to fact-check information online, and launching organizations like Log Off, a youth-led organization committed to helping young people build healthy relationships with social media and online platforms.

• Research & Civil Society: Last year, the Stanford Internet Observatory launched a pilot program to support researchers studying issues of online trust and safety. Dozens of organizations in Project Liberty’s Alliance are doing everything from educating parents to fighting disinformation to protecting elections to archiving the internet.

// From DIY to self-governance?

From legislatures to dinner tables across the US and around the world, the amount of activity and momentum is beginning to compound. 

Can the decentralized efforts to regulate tech and safely moderate its content translate into new governance models? 

New books and research outline a path to a more democratized and self-governed internet.

• University of Colorado professor Nathan Schneider released Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life, a roadmap for how to build democratic governance online.
• Northwestern Law professor Paul Gowder released his book, The Networked Leviathan: For Democratic Platforms, which argues that tech platforms like Facebook and X should be governed as democracies.
• Project Liberty Founder Frank McCourt released OUR BIGGEST FIGHT, his book on how we can transition to a web anchored in data privacy and data ownership.

Is it inevitable that the DIY era of regulating tech will translate into new laws, new norms, and new beliefs about the role of technology in our lives? Time will tell, but we’re optimistic.

Project Liberty in the news

Last week, Project Liberty Founder, Frank McCourt, released his first book: OUR BIGGEST FIGHT. In support of the book, he spoke with a variety of media outlets: 

• America cannot get ‘blinded’ by TikTok and needs to look at the ‘bigger picture’: Frank McCourt provided analysis of the US’s latest efforts to ban TikTok. Mornings with Maria on Fox Business.
• 'Our personhood is now owned by someone else': How to reclaim dignity in the digital age, according to Frank McCourt from Project Liberty. MSNBC.
• Podcast: Frank McCourt joined Jennifer Strong from MIT Technology Review's podcast SHIFT to discuss his new book in front of a live audience. SHIFT. 

Other notable headlines

// 📱 An article in the Atlantic argued we need to end the phone-based childhood. The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development.

// 🏛 This week, the US Supreme Court is hearing a case on how the government communicates with social media companies, according to an article in The Verge. 

// 🤔 Social media’s unregulated evolution over the past decade holds lessons that apply directly to AI companies and technologies, according to an article in MIT Technology Review.

// 🚰 As the amount of available content grows with the use of AI, social media’s role as curator will become even more important. An article in The Atlantic proposed three solutions.

// 🦺 An article in Tech Policy Press identified strategies to reduce the harms from synthetic media.

// 🚫 An article in The Wall Street Journal highlighted how researchers are warning against data poisoning. By tampering with the data used to train AI models, hackers can spread misinformation and steal data.

// 🚸 An article in The Washington Post highlighted research from Pew, which found that almost half of teenagers think their parents get distracted by their phones.

// 🚚 An article in The Financial Times featured a story about how an Uber Eats delivery driver was sick of the algorithms that controlled his day, so he decided to fight back.

// 📹 An article in The New York Times explored why, in the face of a potential ban, the sale of TikTok would not be easy.

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