October 28, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Tech ethicists and branding professionals on Thursday said consumers should not be hoodwinked by Facebook’s name change, which numerous observers compared to earlier efforts by tobacco and fossil fuel companies to distract attention from their societal harms. Read more…
October 22, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Contrary to claims by former U.S. President Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians and pundits that Twitter favors posts by liberals, new internal research shared Thursday by the social media titan showed that conservative tweets received greater algorithmic amplification Read more…
October 20, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Digital rights advocates on Wednesday shrugged off reports that Facebook is planning to change its name by accusing the company of attempting to divert attention from its failure to address problems plaguing the platform and calling for Read more…
October 14, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams A day after hundreds of Amazon and Google workers condemned their employers for complicity in Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians, over 40 grassroots groups on Wednesday announced a campaign to amplify the efforts of activists around the world Read more…
September 11, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams As the United States on Saturday commemorates the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks with plenty of patriotic zeal but perhaps too little introspection, peace advocates have marked the occasion by reflecting on the costs Read more…
August 2, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Despite promises to crack down on hate speech, social media companies took no action against over 80% of the anti-Jewish posts—which included incitements to violence against Jews and Holocaust denial—reported on their platforms during a recent six-week Read more…
July 26, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Over two dozen advocacy groups on Monday sent a letter urging members of Congress to back a measure that, if enacted, would close the so-called “backdoor search” loophole that allows warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens’ data by Read more…
July 19, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday clarified his remarks from last week that social media companies like Facebook are “killing people” by allowing the spread of Covid-19 misinformation, explaining instead that users are posting deadly “bad information.” Read more…
July 19, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams To help close the digital divide and curb the pernicious influence of internet service provider lobbying, Congress must pass legislation and the Federal Communications Commission should restore net neutrality regulations, according to a report published Monday. The report by Read more…
July 12, 2021 by Ethics in Tech board member Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams Progressive politicians and advocates this week responded to the so-called billionaire blastoff—the space race between Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos—with derision and calls to solve earthly problems of people and planet before spending Read more…