Digital Digest – 25 June

Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

In this week’s Digital Digest we look closer to home at the British Heart Foundation’s response to Christian Eriksens heart attack, Facebook’s attempts to overturn the Government’s junk food ban and the launch of 5Rights ‘Twisted Toys’ campaign.

We then focus on big tech as a global coalition of privacy advocates calls for a ban on surveillance-based advertising, EU antitrust inquiry into Google and a Global Witness report into Facebook’s failure to remove Myanmar military propaganda from its platform.

CLOSER TO HOME

British Heart Foundation reunites with celebrity Ambassador Vinnie Jones

Vinnie Jones reunited with the British Heart Foundation to call on the UK to “help save lives by learning CPR”. The campaign is a direct response to Danish Striker Christian Eriksen, who collapsed on pitch after suffering a cardiac arrest, during a European Championship game against Finland.

The ad, which is a 40 second message, aired during Thursday’s pre-match coverage of the Denmark vs Belgium game on ITV. Created by Saatchi & Saatchi, British Heart Foundation’s newly appointed advertising partner, the film delivers a simple and hard-hitting message – learning CPR helps save lives.

Facebook lobbies government in an attempt to reverse junk food advertising ban

Facebook has urged UK Government ministers to reverse a ban on junk food advertising over fears it will scupper the social media accounts of thousands of small businesses. The Silicon Valley giant has warned that a total online ban would inflict financial pain on bakeries, coffee shops and restaurants by stopping ads on their social media channels.

Facebook could face the sharp end of the ban, with Deutsche Bank analysts estimating that small firms account for around three-quarters of its $70bn (£51bn) annual ad revenues.

About one in three British children leave primary school overweight or obese, fuelling fears that Britian is facing an “obesity time bomb”.

A children’s rights group has created a range of mock toys that highlight the abuse children face online.

Campaign group 5Rights launched Twisted Toys to highlight how abuse that happens online would not be tolerated offline.

5Rights Launch Twisted Toys campaign to highlights dangers for children in the digital world

New research from 5Rights found that 80 per cent of parents do not trust tech companies to protect children online. To raise awareness among parents of the dangers children face while online, 5rights have launched a range of mock toys as part of its ‘Twisted Toys’ campaign.

The Twisted Toys campaign is producing short, satirical video ads and made-up toys to highlight the dangers. The toys include a “Share Bear” that collects and shares a child’s data and a “Pocket Troll” that scrutinises their activity and bombards them with horrible comments.

Earlier this year, the government proposed the Online Safety Bill, which will introduce a new duty of care for social media platforms and put them under the scrutiny of Ofcom in its new role as an online regulator. However, 5Rights believes the bill doesn’t go far enough.

BIG TECH

International coalition united in call for ban on ‘surveillance advertising’

An international coalition of consumer protection, digital and civil rights organizations and data protection experts – including groups like Privacy International, the Open Rights Group, the Center for Digital Democracy, the New Economics Foundation, Beuc, Edri and Fairplay – has added its voice to growing calls for a ban on what’s been billed as “surveillance-based advertising”.

In an open letter to EU and US policy makers, the coalition suggests the DSA as the ideal legislative vehicle to contain a ban on surveillance-based ads. The open letter points to a report from the NCC’s which found that only one in ten people are positive about commercial actors collecting information about them online.

The letter is just the latest salvo against ‘toxic adtech’. And advertising giants like Facebook and Google have — for several years now — seen the pro-privacy writing on the wall. To some extent, their future market dominance will depend on developing advertising models which don’t depend on the systematic surveillance of consumers to function.

Google in EU crosshairs again with advertising antitrust inquiry

EU regulators open another antitrust investigation into Google’s digital advertising business, which they fear gives it an unfair advantage over rivals and advertisers. “We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

A new EU inquiry could end up targeting all of Google’s ad empire. According to market researcher eMarketer, Google could control 27% of global online ad spending this year, including 57% for search ads and 10% of display.

Google and Facebook together account for most of the global internet-ad sales market but the practices of both are now under increased scrutiny from regulators around the world. The extent to which their market dominance continues is now up for debate.

Facebook promoting Myanmar military propaganda despite promising action two years ago

Facebook is under fire after an investigation by Global Witness found the platform was promoting content that incites violence against Myanmar’s coup protesters and amplifies junta misinformation, despite promising to clamp down on the misuse of its platform, according to a study.

Content that supported the arrests of civilians by the military and security forces in Myanmar should be removed under existing Facebook policies. The social media company previously acknowledged that its platform has been misused in Myanmar, where it is hugely popular and influential.

In 2018, following the massacre of Rohingya Muslims by the military, Facebook admitted that its platform had been used to “foment division and incite offline violence”.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

1. Google launches its first permanent retail space which will feature sleek demo spaces and an event hub. See here.

2. T-Mobile quietly enters the ad-tech space, appointing veteran Mike Peralta as VP of Marketing Solutions. See here.

3. American Express provides on- and off-site Wimbledon experiences and it launches a virtual-reality tennis game reimagined as an augmented-reality experience. See here.

4. Chloe Ferry, Chloe Khan, Jodie Marsh and Lucy Mecklenburgh are the first social media influencers to be publicly named by the ASA for repeatedly breaking advertising rules on social media. See here.

5. Worldwide regulatory crackdowns on cryptocurrencies have wiped out almost all of Bitcoins gain for the year, sinking below $30,000 for the first time since January. See here.

6. The draft Online Safety Bill has been slammed by campaigners for giving the tech giants too much power in policing the internet. See here.

WORTH A READ

1. Sound may be an undervalued medium but that’s changing rapidly, according to a new panel discussion with The Drum and podcasting platform Acast. See here.

2. The five trends likely to determine the future of big data technologies. See here.

3. Facebook’s VR ad setback shows the importance of putting customer experience first. See here.

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Under The Radar – 18 June

Christian Lue on Unsplash

This week, we discuss:

1. Allegations that the DOJ ‘snooped’ on Democrats and journalists

2. The rise of OnlyFans

3. The G7’s plan to counter Chinese influence in the developing world

Shadow of Russia investigation still looms over Capitol Hill

What happened?

John Demers, the head of the US Justice Department’s (DOJ) national security division, is resigning after it emerged the DOJ subpoenaed Apple for the data of House Intelligence Committee members, their staff, and their families during the Russia investigation. Journalists at the New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post were also targeted as part of the DOJ’s investigation into the repeated leaks to the media.

What does it mean?

While Demers is not thought to have been personally involved, it’s hard to believe that he was not briefed on the extraordinary move, given that he was appointed as division head just days after the subpoenas were issued. Demers’ scalp is the first to result from the almighty backlash on Capitol Hill and in America’s newsrooms, who have rightly pointed out that media leaks of this nature were certainly not illegal, and posed no actual threat to national security.

The subpoenaing the phone records of members of Congress is almost unheard of in the U.S, with investigations of elected officials always likely to be perceived as being politically motivated. Indeed, the purpose of the Constitution’s ‘Speech or Debate’ clause is to protect members of Congress from having to worry that anything they say in the course of legislative activities will implicate them legally.

It’s not hard to imagine that President Trump and his administration would have been furious about the repeated leaks, before strong-arming the DOJ into locating their source. Such an inference – of political influence in this scandal – raises fresh concerns about the DOJ’s integrity, especially during one of the most tumultuous periods in America’s history.

Was the DOJ more concerned with silencing President Trump’s sworn enemies than it was with upholding the rule of law? The jury is still out.

Can OnlyFans keep its fans?

What happened?

The content subscription service, OnlyFans, is exploring a share sale to new investors.

The social media platform allows content creators to sell video clips directly to subscribers who pay between $5 and $50 a month with OnlyFans taking a 20 percent cut of each transaction. While ostensibly aimed at all types of creators who want to make money off their own content, by far the majority of the material on the site is pornography.

What does it mean?

In its coverage of this news, Financial Times framed the site as a lockdown success story. It reported that, with more than 120m users and $400m in net sales this year, OnlyFans would have a multibillion pound valuation if it went public, making it one of the UK’s leading tech companies.

This type of assessment ignores the fact that the company has to face the ethical and reputational quandaries that come with allowing explicit content on its site.

All social media platforms need to make a bargain between duty of care and profit, but for OnlyFans the stakes are especially high.

OnlyFans’ appeal is that it gives creators ownership over their own work, allowing them to set their own prices and establish their own boundaries. But, as more sex workers join the site, creators will be incentivised to upload increasingly more graphic content for less money in order to stay competitive. Although the site requires all users to be over 18, a recent BBC investigation uncovered a trove of teenage creators – some as young as 13 – who cheated the age-verification processes to upload explicit videos.

OnlyFans promises a more authentic, intimate relationship between creator and subscriber. Let’s see if it can ensure these relationships don’t turn ugly.

Shifting attitudes towards China: a new era on the horizon?

What happened?

Among other news to come out of the G7 summit was the announcement that a task force will be established to explore a Western alternative to the Chinese ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. This reflects an ongoing shift in attitudes towards China and signals a more hardline, unified stance from the Western powers towards countering Sino influence in the developing world.

What does it mean?

The Chinese government has appeared impervious to international criticism, especially in relation to its human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. It has become clear that trying to influence Chinese domestic affairs is a fruitless endeavour and yields no results. The new task force announcement suggests that the Western powers are changing their approach and refocusing their efforts on influencing Chinese interests and supremacy abroad – more specifically, in the developing world. The major challenge already facing the task force is to successfully deliver on a project that embodies the twin objectives of Western powers: carbon neutrality and shared values and systems of governance. For it to succeed, there also has to be a cohesion of values and actions among those involved. This is likely to prove a considerable challenge when dealing with the developing world, where corruption and political instability are rife. Consequently, convincing developing countries to embrace any new proposals for a Western-led revolution in global standards to tackle corruption is by no means guaranteed.

Above all, it remains unclear as to whether such a coordinated move will have any tangible impact on the way in which China positions itself on the global stage and handles domestic dissent. History suggests not.

This Week’s Must Reads

1. ‘Biden’s Summit Gave Putin the World Stage He Craves’ by Brian Bennett for TIME

2. ‘Has BrewDog’s toxic culture pierced the craft-beer balloon? begun’ by Melissa Cole for The Telegraph

3. ‘Social media platforms must abandon algorithmic secrecy’ by Frederick Mostert and Alex Urbelis for the Financial Times

4. ‘”Worst of times”: Hong Kong media defiant amid police crackdown’ by Helen Davidson for The Guardian

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Digital Digest – 11 June

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

In this week’s Digital Digest we look closer to home at plans to push back sharing NHS patient data, Ofcom’s study into online habits during lockdown and the Sun’s Euros advert.

We then look at big tech as the state of Ohio sues Google, Facebook announces Trump’s ban extension and websites across the globe recover from unprecedented error.

CLOSER TO HOME

NHS patient data-sharing scheme pushed back over data-privacy fears 

Plans to allow an NHS system to extract patient data from doctors’ surgeries in England have now been pushed back by two months amid worries over privacy. According to NHS Digital, the data will be used for a “wide variety of research and analysis to help run and improve health and care services”.

It replaces a data system called General Practice Extraction Service, which also allows for the study of pseudonymised data (and in certain cases, data with identifying elements). The other is what is seen as a lack of public information about the scheme, and the limited time for people to opt out.

Similar concerns led to the scrapping of an earlier data-sharing scheme in England in 2016 called Care.data. The extent to which this new system can get back on track entirely depends on the Government’s ability to assuage the public that their privacy concerns have been addressed. 

British adults had more screen time during lockdown the rest of Europe

British adults spent more time online during lockdown than anywhere else in Europe, a new report by Ofcom has revealed.

Around half of UK adults – 49 per cent or around 26 million – visited an adult website or app during the pandemic. However lockdown saw an increase in romance scams, with money lost to fraudsters increasing by 12 per cent to £18.5 million.

TikTok in particular experienced ‘huge’ growth during the pandemic, Ofcom found, from 3.5 million UK adult visitors in September 2019 to 14 million by March 2021. 

‘Eur all invited’ says The Sun

Tabloid newspaper The Sun has launched a TV advert that sees father, son, family and friends celebrating the Euros football competition. The ad includes footage of a boy putting up a Sun-branded Euros poster on the fridge, his mum hanging bunting along the garden fence, the dad putting up a goal in the garden to play with friends before they all watch and enjoy a football match on the TV. A voiceover can be heard saying “Whether it’s your first tournament, or just feels like it, no one does football like The Sun. And ‘Eur all invited’.”

The ad was created by Pulse Creative, a News UK-dedicated joint venture between The&Partnership, M/SIX and Wunderman Thompson, and will run until 11 July across TV, radio and social media.  

BIG TECH:

Ohio sues Google, claims tech giant should be regulated as public utility

The state of Ohio filed suit against Google on Tuesday, claiming the tech giant should be  regulated as a public utility due to its “discriminatory and anti-competitive” practices. The complainant cited Google’s ability to create “no click searches,” which means a query that directs users “to other Google platforms, such as YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, Google News, Google Shopping and Google Travel.”

Google has claimed the lawsuit would make Google Search results worse and make it harder for small businesses to connect directly with customers.

Facebook suspends Trump accounts for two years

Facebook has suspended former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for two years. Head of Global Affairs & Former deputy-PM Nick Clegg wrote that Trump’s actions “constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available” and that Facebook would extend the restriction should he continue to post a risk to public safety. Clegg also shed light on Facebook’s policies, insisting that spreading misinformation was not enough to warrant a ban from the platform, but the speech must rise to the level of incitement to violence for moderators to justify removal.

Should Facebook reinstate Trump in two years time, he would have access to the social media platforms if he chooses to run in the 2024 presidential election. Nevertheless, Trump has hit back at the decision, calling it “an insult” to the millions who voted for him last year.

Websites back online after Fastly-linked glitch takes down internet

Thousands of government, news and social media websites across the globe were coming back online on Tuesday after getting hit by a widespread hour-long outage linked to U.S.-based cloud company Fastly Inc.

High-traffic sites including Reddit, Amazon, CNN, PayPal, Spotify, Al Jazeera Media Network and the New York Times went down, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

Fasty said the bug had been triggered when just one of its customers had changed their settings, raising questions about the internet’s infrastructure.

ALSO IN THE NEWS

1. 8.2 billion passwords have been leaked online in one of the biggest data breaches the world has ever seen

2. NATO allies are to increase their AI defence co-operation to counter China’s growing dominance

3. The US Senate passed legislation that provides more than $250bn to maintain a competitive edge over China in areas including AI, quantum computing and semiconductors

4. 300 criminal gangs operating in more than 100 countries were duped into conducting illegal activities on an FBI monitored messaging app, leading to more than 800 arrests worldwide

WORTH A READ

1. METRO: ‘We’ve reached a whole new demographic of people that we’ve been able to turn into customers!’: How one small business owner used digital marketing to boost her online sales

2. FT: Down and out in Chinese tech

3. The Drum: We need to reframe the debate on outcome-based pricing

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