Legislation

• The U.S. government moved closer to banning the video social media app TikTok after the House of Representatives attached the measure to an emergency spending bill on Apr.
• The move could improve the bill’s chances in the Senate, and President Joe Biden has indicated that he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
• The bill would force ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, to either sell its American holdings to a U.S. company or face a ban in the country.
• For one, ByteDance can be required to assist the Chinese Communist Party in gathering intelligence, according to the Chinese National Intelligence Law.
• The fact that China, a country that Americans criticize for its authoritarian practices, bans social media platforms is hardly a reason for the U.S. to do the same.
• Here’s why I think the recent move against TikTok misses the larger point: Americans’ sources of information have declined in quality and the problem goes beyond any one social media platform.

The deeper problem

• But the proposed solution of switching to American ownership of the app ignores an even more fundamental threat.
• The deeper problem is not that the Chinese government can easily manipulate content on the app.
• It is, rather, that people think it is OK to get their news from social media in the first place.
• In other words, the real national security vulnerability is that people have acquiesced to informing themselves through social media.

Media and technology literacy

• Research suggests that it will only be alleviated by inculcating media and technology literacy habits from an early age.
• My colleagues and I have just launched a pilot program to boost digital media literacy with the Boston Mayor’s Youth Council.
• Some of these measures to boost media and technology literacy might not be popular among tech users and tech companies.

The Applied Ethics Center at UMass Boston receives funding from the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies. Nir Eisikovits serves as the data ethics advisor to Hour25AI, a startup dedicated to reducing digital distractions.

• - Certification framework to boost high-quality carbon removals and counter greenwashing
  - New rules will enable farmers to get paid to remove carbon
  - Public EU registry to ensure transparency
  The law will set up an EU certification framework for carbon removals to boost their uptake and help achieve EU climate neutrality by 2050.
• Parliament on Wednesday adopted the provisional political agreement with EU countries on a new voluntary certification framework for carbon removals, with 441 votes in favour, 139 against and 41 abstentions.
• The legislation covers different types of carbon removals, namely permanent carbon storage through industrial technologies, carbon storage in long-lasting products and carbon farming.
• You can read more about the new rules in the press release after the deal with EU countries.

The new internal rules will strengthen Parliament’s working methods, its institutional role, and its capacity to act.Committee on Constitutional Affairs Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

• - EU electricity market will be more affordable and consumer friendly
  - “Contracts for Difference” to encourage energy investments
  - Vulnerable customers will be protected from having their electricity cut off
  - EU will have power to declare regional or EU-wide electricity price crisis
  The reform adopted on Thursday will make the EU electricity market more stable, affordable, and sustainable.
• MEPs also secured that EU countries can prohibit suppliers from cutting the electricity supply of vulnerable customers, including during disputes between suppliers and customers.
• Quote
  “This reform puts citizens at the forefront of electricity market design.
• The Parliament has taken a step forward in democratising energy, creating a market design that responds to the failures exposed by the energy crisis.