icm-mediabusiness

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New EU Law: Platforms Have to Explain Their Algorithms.

On Saturday, the European Union bloc unveiled the sister law of the Digital Markets Act -- which was unveiled last month -- entitled the Digital Services Act. While the Digital Markets Act focuses on creating a more "even playfield" in the tech world, the Digital Services Act was created to police content.

The Verge reported that this law will force tech companies to be accountable for the content that appears on their social media platforms. obligations detailed in the act include removing illegal content and goods more rapidly, explaining to the public how their algorithms work, and being strict in the removal of misinformation. If companies do not comply, they face fines up to 6% of their annual turnover.

The European Union has said that one of the biggest concerns regarding the expansion of the internet and social media platforms is the trade and exchange of illegal goods, services, and content online. Furthermore, the press release explains that "online services are also being misused by manipulative algorithmic systems to amplify the spread of disinformation, and for other harmful purposes."

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner for Competition, claimed the new law would “ensure that platforms are held accountable for the risks their services can pose to society and citizens.”

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Elon Musk Becomes a Twitter Board Member and Largest Stakeholder

On Monday, April 4th, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he bought a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter shares, making him the largest shareholder of the company. According to the New York Times, the news increased Twitter's share by 20% on Monday and the company's stock opened almost 8% higher on Tuesday when it was revealed that Musk was appointed to the board.

While speaking to The Verge, Twitter spokesperson Adrian Zamora revealed that the social media platform is “committed to impartiality in the development and enforcement of its policies and rules.” This means that Musk will be held accountable to the same standards as everyone else, and therefore his account could still potentially be banned or suspended. Zamora also stated that board members cannot make decisions on the platform's policies.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed that the Tesla CEO will work as a class II director on the company's board until 2024. Board Members do not have a day-to-day say in operations but have the power to approve mergers and oversee the company's performance.

Agrawal also said that “for so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the Company’s common stock outstanding at such time." This is an attempt of curbing Musk from gaining too much control of the company right away as a newly elected board member. 

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EU's Digital Markets Act to Control Tech Giants' Monopoly in Market

On Thursday, March 26th, the European Union's Digital Markets Act shared a list of rules designed to contain the market power of companies that rule the internet economy, such as Meta, Google, and Apple.

In the European Union's press release, tech giants behind apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or iMessage would be forced to make their apps “interoperable” with smaller messaging platforms. This will allow fair competition and more choice for users, according to the lawmakers. . The reforms would prevent “walled gardens,” which are closed systems that make it harder for a user to move from one company to the other because of difficulty in communication across apps.

The rules will apply to "gatekeepers," which, according to CNBC, are tech companies with a "market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros ($83 billion) or annual revenues within the EU of at least 7.5 billion euros in the past three years." These companies must also have at least 45 million monthly users or ten thousand business accounts/users in the EU.

The law (which hasn't been approved yet) could force companies to open up systems that they have complete control over. This would mean, for example, that users using WhatsApp could communicate with users utilizing iMessage, for example.

The Verge has reported that if companies do not comply with the law when it goes into effect, the EU can fine the company 10% of its global annual revenue. The fine is doubled for repeated infringements, and in the case of a systematic breaking of the law, the European Commission would be able to prevent the company from making acquisitions.

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Twitter May Turn to Podcasting For Revenue

A year ago, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced a plan to reach 315 million monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) by the end of 2023 and double Twitter's revenue. Twitter has not achieved the growth metrics they set for themselves in the fourth quarter of 2021. The platform has been trying to attract users and increase revenue streams through social commerce, live audio, and subscription models, but the forecast is that Twitter users will decrease in number over time.

As an attempt to increase revenue, Twitter is engineering a tab dedicated to podcasts. Twitter began dealing with audio with the launch of Spaces in 2020 and the acquisition of podcast platform Breaker. It is a logical step for the platform to include its own in-house podcasting tool. According to TechCrunch, a Twitter spokesperson said about the podcast tool, “We’re always exploring new ways to help people engage in the conversation on Twitter, but have no further details to share at this time.”

The number of internet users that listen to podcasts have grown consistently since 2018. As per eMarketer, in 2025 there will be 142.7 million internet users in the US listening to podcasts.

Platforms such as Facebook and Reddit have already expanded into audio and podcasting features to generate revenue, according to The Verge. Twitter has rolled out a number of beta tools to test user engagement (and increase in revenue) in the last year, so it isn't certain whether the podcast tool will stay.

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Trump Makes First Post on New App TRUTH Social

Mashable has reported that former president Donald Trump has shared his first post on TRUTH Social, the social media platform created by Trump Media & Technology Group. On Sunday, the 20th, the app had a soft launch where users were encouraged to join the waitlist.

The app's launch was pushed back several times. TRUTH Social was supposed to launch on President's Day, but the full launch was pushed back to March 31st. On Tuesday morning, the app appeared at the top of the Apple Store's free apps download chart. Trump Media & Technology Group is reportedly planning on going public through a merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp. According to CNBC, Digital World's stock went up by 14% on Tuesday after TRUTH Social's soft launch.

Through Donald Trump's post, it became clear that there are similarities between TRUTH Social and Twitter. Trump's preferred method of communication while in office was broadcasting small messages on Twitter, and therefore is taking a similar approach in the new app seems like a coherent step.

Other apps that are lenient in content moderation, such as Gettr, Parler, and Gab, are already available in the market. Trump could potentially steal users away from the three existing apps and convince them to join TRUTH social. According to TIMES, "And [that would mean the site] could break through the critical threshold and actually get big enough to support real ad revenue," creating a large right-wing social media platform.

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Meta Launches Personal Boundary Feature to Protect Users in VR

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social media platform in the virtual reality world, is still in its beta phase but has seen some controversy due to users’ inappropriate behavior towards each other. In December, The Verge broke a story about a female tester for the platform being groped in VR, while another was virtually sexually harassed. These happenings were very controversial to Meta and shone a light on how even in a digital setting, women are prone to abuse and disrespect.

As a consequence, Meta has recently launched a feature called Personal Boudry, which, according to the company, “prevents avatars from coming within a set distance of each other, creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions.”

This feature will allow users to utilize Meta’s VR platforms with more ease. The company is trying to influence as many people as possible to join the virtual reality universe, and, perhaps, the Personal Boundary feature will convince more women to interact with Horizon World and engage in the digital realm. Even though the best option for the community would be to exclude users that are inappropriate with each other, this solution is largely impossible because, unfortunately, the number of users that do not act in a civil manner is too large for the company to intercept. According to Social Media Today, Meta has noted, that “its platforms are merely a reflection of society and broader societal trends. It’s not Meta’s fault that people have negative impulses and choose to project them via its apps.”

According to Meta, it will seem as if there is a four-foot distance between users while using Personal Boundary. Perhaps this update will make people feel more secure in the virtual world after the non-sensical, abusive attacks on female users.

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Introduction: Sources

The sector i’m going to track this semester is social media. Three sources i’ll use are the Wall street Journal, Social Media Today, Tech Crunch, Mashable, and Buzzfeed.