Click to Trust TrustLab

On February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act will go into effect, altering the way online platforms are held accountable for the content they host. Some see this legislative change as a necessary measure for safeguarding our online lives. Others see it as a potential hindrance to freedom of speech that has the unfortunate consequence of creating a less open internet.
In this first episode of Click to Trust’s debut three-episode story, hosts Carmo Braga da Costa (Head of Content at TrustLab), and Tom Siegel (Co-Founder and CEO of TrustLab) interview journalist and Everything in Moderation founder Ben Whitelaw and TrustLab’s own Benji Loney to discover what legislation like the Digital Services Act will mean for the future of the internet, and how the change it brings will affect more than just the big platforms like Facebook and X.

On February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act will go into effect, altering the way online platforms are held accountable for the content they host. Some see this legislative change as a necessary measure for safeguarding our online lives. Others see it as a potential hindrance to freedom of speech that has the unfortunate consequence of creating a less open internet.
To better understand the impacts that the DSA could have, we’re examining regulations that are already in place in this episode of Click to Trust. We’ll hear from Ofcom’s Online Safety Senior Manager, Sophie Parker, about how the Online Safety Act (legislation similar to the DSA) is already changing the online landscape across the UK. And with the trend toward online regulation going global, we’ll check in with Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant, about how her department balances the criticism that regulations stifle free speech with the reality that something must be done to keep the vulnerable safe online.

On February 17, 2024, the Digital Services Act will go into effect, altering the way online platforms are held accountable for the content they host. Some see this legislative change as a necessary measure for safeguarding our online lives. Others see it as a potential hindrance to freedom of speech that has the unfortunate consequence of creating a less open internet.
But we can’t talk about the DSA without addressing the artificially generated elephant in the room. What impact will increasing online regulation have on artificial intelligence? In this episode of Click to Trust, we’ll start to answer that question with the help of Scot Pansing, principal of The Human Side of Technology. And in this last episode of our Digital Services Act investigation, we’ll check in with Tom Siegel for a look back at what we’ve learned and where we go from here with online regulation.

2024 is a busy year for democracy! More countries will hold elections this year that at any point in the next two decades to come. So perhaps more than ever, it’s critical that we take a look at the growing amount of misinformation that threatens to influence or subvert these elections.
In this first episode in an ongoing series about misinformation, we speak with Tom Siegel to get a primer on what misinformation is, how it impacts our elections, and what we can do to mitigate those effects. Spoilers: Misinformation isn’t going away anytime soon.

2024 is a busy year for democracy! More countries will hold elections this year that at any point in the next two decades to come. So perhaps more than ever, it’s critical that we take a look at the growing amount of misinformation that threatens to influence or subvert these elections.
In this episode of Click to Trust, we’ll hear from Steven Brill, Co-CEO at NewsGuard, a journalistic organization whose mission is to counter misinformation online by rating the reliability and credibility of news and information. Since 2018, NewsGuard has been fighting an uphill battle against misinformation by collecting, updating, and deploying more than 6.9 million data points on more than 35,000 news and information sources.

2024 is a busy year for democracy! More countries will hold elections this year that at any point in the next two decades to come. So perhaps more than ever, it’s critical that we take a look at the growing amount of misinformation that threatens to influence or subvert these elections.
In this episode of Click to Trust, we’ll hear from Katie Harbath, an expert in misinformation and election interference as well as the Chief Global Affairs Officer at Duco. In her interview with Tom Siegel, Katie shares her thoughts on the balance between freedom of speech and user safety and how the approaches taken by social media companies so far are not enough to safeguard their users. Katie’s insights highlight the role that individual responsibility plays in combating misinformation and that consumers simply can not wait for organizations to tackle the problem of misinformation for us.
Highlights:
Takeaway One: Katie Harbath illuminates the growing necessity for government regulations to level the playing field in the tech industry and assist in funding trust and safety initiatives.Takeaway Two: There is a pressing need for ethical guidelines and responsible AI use, especially in critical areas like election integrity.Takeaway Three: The battle against misinformation is relentless as new tactics continue to surface. It’s imperative that tech companies adapt with innovative solutions.Jump Into the Conversation:
[09:38] Misinformation caused by websites pivoting to claim 5G causes COVID.
[19:22] Algorithms designed to maximize inflammatory content consumption.
[24:45] What happened with Hertz Rent-a-Car inadvertently placed an ad on a misinformation website.
[31:26] The constant cat-and-mouse game with the accelerating pace of AI development.
Resources:Anchor Change with Katie Harbath (newsletter)Impossible Tradeoffs with Katie Harbath (podcast)