The Verge: Google asks Congress to not ban teens from social media. “Google responded to congressional child online safety proposals with its own counteroffer for the first time Monday, urging lawmakers to drop problematic protections like age-verification tech.”
NBC News: Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are among the tech execs who will attend the Senate’s first AI forum. “Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders in the tech industry will gather at the Capitol next month for the first in a series of policy forums to discuss ways to regulate artificial intelligence, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday. In addition to Musk and Zuckerberg, other confirmed chief executives include Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, as well as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.”
Techdirt: Unregulated Data Brokers Using The Data They Over-Collect To Run Ads Opposing The Regulation Of Data Brokers. “We’ve noted a few times that there are two major reasons that the U.S. still hasn’t passed even a basic privacy law for the internet era or regulated data brokers. One, the government is corrupt, and has repeatedly buckled to the lobbying of multiple industries that find the current dysfunction very profitable. Two, the government loves the current lax system because it allows them to dodge warrants.”
Radio New Zealand: Google offshoot ‘X’ lobbies NZ government over electricity projects. “An offshoot of Google has lobbied the government hard over electricity projects and had multiple meetings with Minister of Energy Megan Woods. Woods initiated the meetings and was ‘very excited’ by the huge US company’s so-called ‘moonshot’ ideas.”
Washington Post: Twitter gutted its policy team. Some of the band is getting back together.. “Over a dozen former executives who led Twitter’s public policy team on Wednesday are launching a new political advisory group, taking the practically unheard of step of reuniting en masse after the company, since-rebranded X, shed much of its own shop under Elon Musk. The newly minted Blue Owl Group, a nod to Twitter’s once-iconic bird logo, is stacked with longtime tech veterans looking to use the new perch to shape major debates about the internet, artificial intelligence and climate — while recapturing the company’s sensibilities.”
The Guardian: Why is Google stonewalling regulation in Brazil?. “Newspaper Folha de S Paulo reported that Google’s strategy included sending emails to YouTubers saying there would be less money to invest in their channels and asking them to talk to their Congress. The tech giant also fumbled with search results, prominently showing its own blog post and other articles that were critical of the bill, according to a study by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.”
Associated Press: Brazil orders Google to halt campaign against speech bill. “Brazil’s Justice Ministry on Tuesday ordered Google to stop conducting what it called a propaganda campaign against Brazilian legislation aimed at curbing misinformation, or face about $200,000 per hour in fines.”
Globe and Mail: Google denies it engaged in ‘astroturfing’ to lobby Ottawa through third parties . “Google denied accusations in a Commons committee Thursday that it had engaged in ‘astroturfing’ campaigns to lobby against federal bills by paying individuals and other organizations to oppose them.”
Washington Post: Washington vows to tackle AI, as tech titans and critics descend. “…policymakers arrive to the new debate bruised from battles over how to regulate the technology industry — having passed no comprehensive tech laws despite years of congressional hearings, historic investigations and bipartisan-backed proposals. This time, some are hoping to move quickly to avoid similar errors.”
Politico: Disconnected: Eurocrats go unlisted in EU phone book. “Under a new policy, the European Commission has removed the names of lower-level staff from the EU WhoisWho directory. The online database used to have email addresses and phone numbers for officials up and down the ranks of the EU executive. But that apparently made them too easy prey for those seeking to influence EU policy. So now only their bosses — heads of unit and above — will be included in the public-facing directory.”
Daily Beast: TikTokers Came to D.C. to Lobby Congress. It Got Kinda Weird.. “There’s already a ban on the app for government devices. But some lawmakers are pushing to ban it in the U.S. altogether unless ByteDance, which is partially owned by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, sells its stake in the platform. President Joe Biden already signed off on a bipartisan bill that would give the president authority to ban the app nationwide. In a building usually defined by drab suits and perfectly staged appearances, the TikTokers made sure things got a bit weird.”
New York Times: The Younger Brother Caught in the Middle of the FTX Investigation. “The money flowed freely at a pandemic-prevention organization run by the younger brother of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul. Just over $375,000 financed a failed campaign in Colorado to increase taxes on cannabis sales in order to support pandemic research. Another $1 million was spent on consulting and advertising expenses in a single year. And $3.3 million went toward the purchase of a luxurious townhouse a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol.”
BBC: How fake copyright complaints are muzzling journalists. “Journalists have been forced to temporarily take down articles critical of powerful oil lobbyists due to the exploitation of US copyright law, according to a new report.”
Politico: Ex-Google boss helps fund dozens of jobs in Biden’s administration. “Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google who has long sought influence over White House science policy , is helping to fund the salaries of more than two dozen officials in the Biden administration under the auspices of an outside group, the Federation of American Scientists.”
Los Angeles Times: Emails reveal Sam Bankman-Fried’s courtship of federal regulators. “Before his mid-December arrest, cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried repeatedly claimed that he was a responsible business leader who sought more regulation of cryptocurrency and wanted his industry to be part of the mainstream financial system. But now that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Justice Department are prosecuting the 30-year-old for fraud, the extensive professional relationships he cultivated with current and former federal regulators risk embarrassment for all involved.”
