Tech policy & human rights
Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in The Closing of the Net
I'm delighted to introduce my new working paper 'Algorithms patrolling content: where's the harm?' An empirical examination of Facebook shadow bans and their impact on users.
READ THE FULL ABSTRACT & DOWNLOAD it via SSRN.
The paper reveals how the Facebook shadow ban works by blocking dissemination of content in News Feed. This is Facebook’s recommender system that curates content for users, and is also the name of the algorithm
that encodes the process. The paper investigates shadow bans experienced by 20 UK Facebook Pages, that were 'ghosted' or 'hidden' for varying lengths of time, with no possibility to appeal. The findings raise questions about how to balance freedom of expression against other rights in the online context.
This is a very different approach from my previous research, because it involves data analysis of Facebook Pages, and goes 'under the bonnet' to look at how Facebook operates from the user's perspective. For me, it has been an amazing journey, working with users and trying to unravel what is happening to them from behind the scenes. The outcomes suggest that an up-ending of the current policy approach is needed - we must move away from a model based on the old media systems, that just looks at what's on the surface, and develop an understanding of how these platforms really operate.
IPtegrity commentary
- UK bulk intercept surveillance - court ruling calls for tighter safeguards
- Not a blank cheque: European Parliament consents to EU-UK Agreement
- Oversight Board Decision moves Facebook into human rights ambit
- UK border safety alert - mind the capability gap
- What? Will UK government ignore security as it walks away from EU?
- Britain unplugged: the security risk of no-deal
- Betting on a costly space race: MPs probe OneWeb satellite deal
- Disrupting supply chains: how leaving the Single Market means systemic breakdown
- Big tech and anti-trust: an ill-fitting suit?
- Schrems ruling puts a spoke in UK data flows from 2021
- Russia Report: how to balance social media and national security?
- Digital rights - why they matter in a time of coronavirus
- EU upload filter - Germany’s crucial deciding vote
- Copyright Directive upload filter - why EU Council should block it
- Data and Brexit – a mis-calculation?
- EU lawmakers seek to protect free speech in online content rules
- How Brexit rips up business models Part 2: visas for money and music
Published work
- Algorithms Patrolling Content: Where’s the Harm?
- Content responsibility: The looming cloud of uncertainty for Internet intermediaries
- Freedom of Expression, Human Rights Standards and Private Online Censorship
- The Policy Challenge Of Content Restrictions: How Private Actors Engage The Duties Of States
- Internet Policy Review - The Aereo dilemma and copyright in the cloud
My Linked In profileIptegrity in brief
Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing. I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022) Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity
Speaking engagements
Iptegrity.com is made available free of charge for non-commercial use, Please link-back & attribute Monica Horten. Thank you for respecting this.
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States v the 'Net?
Read The Closing of the Net, by me, Monica Horten.
"original and valuable" Times higher Education
" essential read for anyone interested in understanding the forces at play behind the web." ITSecurity.co.uk
Find out more about the book here The Closing of the Net
FROM £15.99
In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.
