Op-eds etc.
By Jordi Calvet-Bademunt and Joan Barata This piece is part of a series that marks the first 100 days since the full implementation of Europe’s Digital Services Act. You can read more items in the series here. The adoption of the Digital Services Act (DSA) represented a major development within the context of the EU and beyond. Based […]
By Natalie Alkiviadou Introduction Article 17 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), commonly referred to as the ‘abuse clause,’ provides that: “Nothing in [the] Convention may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the […]
By Jacob Mchangama In January 2015, Islamic terrorists murdered 12 people at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for depicting the Prophet Muhammad. When PEN America honored the magazine with its Freedom of Expression Courage Award that same year, the organization received backlash from prominent members. Then-PEN president Andrew Solomon stood by the decision, saying that the controversy was a reminder that […]
By Jordi Calvet-Bademunt “When we started this work, we were curious. Now, we have real concerns.” The CEO of the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), the British antitrust regulator, was referring to the competition risks her team has identified in the foundation models industry. Foundation models are a type of generative AI. Popular models include OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Google’s […]
By Jacob Mchangama Free speech pessimism is on the rise among America’s elites. “Free Speech Is Killing Us,” read a 2019 op-ed in The New York Times. Recently, an article in The New York Times Magazine concluded, “It’s time to ask whether the American way of protecting free speech is actually keeping us free.” George Washington University Law […]
By Jacob Mchangama and Jordi Calvet-Bademunt Google recently made headlines globally because its chatbot Gemini generated images of people of color instead of white people in historical settings that featured white people. Adobe Firefly’s image creation tool saw similar issues. This led some commentators to complain that AI had gone “woke.” Others suggested these issues resulted from faulty efforts […]
By Jordi Calvet-Bademunt Overview: The Digital Services Act (DSA), Europe’s online safety rulebook, finally became applicable to all companies on February 17, 2024. Until then, it only applied to the so-called very large online platforms (VLOPs) and very large online search engines (VLOSEs). February 17th was also the date EU Member States were required to designate […]
By Jacob Mchangama It is undeniable that the proliferation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs on college campuses and in the workplace has contributed to a censorious atmosphere throughout U.S. culture. Some employees fear reprisal for speaking about certain issues in the office while college faculty and guest speakers have been shouted down, condemned, disinvited, or […]
By Jacob Mchangama 2024 is a pivotal year for the future of global democracy, as some two billion—about half the adult population of the globe—will have the chance to vote. Even though more people will cast a ballot in 2024 than any previous year, the prevailing mood seems more fearful than celebratory. In the words of […]
By Jacob Mchangama Should J.K. Rowling face criminal charges for misgendering someone on social media? In March, transgender British TV personality India Willoughby reported the “Harry Potter” author to the police for posting that “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.” Willoughby was about a month […]