Michiel van Hulten
@michielvanhulten.eu
Democracy defender. Former EU/NL politician and official. No longer on Twitter, Facebook or Whatsapp.
Thou shalt not let the richest man on Earth tell his 250 million followers to murder journalists. Thou shalt lock him up for inciting violence.
I’m just a simple Internet user, but it seems to me that the UK government shouldn’t use this man’s website for official communications, I dunno.
Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 2w agoHere is a call for the murder of Home Office ministers + officials by the X user endorsed by the site owner Elon Musk.
What do these companies have in common: -Amazon -Walmart -FedEx -McDonald's -Dollar General -DoorDash -Instacart They're all highly profitable, give their CEOs lucrative salaries, and pay thousands of workers starvation wages — making them reliant on SNAP and Medicaid.
Kids shouldn't have to sue to make social media safe. A 15-year-old is dropping his lawsuit against Meta for their addictive design. This comes after another child was forced to go to trial for a brutal 7 weeks in a similar case. Meta would rather go to trial with kids than prioritize safety.
🇪🇺Commission just fined #Google €890m for anti-competitive practices under DMA. But tech sovereignty advocates aren't impressed by the amount. "Plenty of people would dodge the fare if the fine were cheaper than the ticket" says Green MEP Alexandra Geese. "The size of this fine is disappointing...🧵
EU fines Google €890m for competition breaches over search and apps
Firm told to treat third-party services that appear in its results in ‘fair and non-discriminatory manner’
theguardian.com
France's decision to ban under-15s from social media is a direct result of Big Tech companies systematically flouting EU online safety legislation. In @euobserver.com I argue we need a new approach: requiring apps to be certified as safe before they can access kids. euobserver.com/228652/von-d...
Von der Leyen is right to reject a blanket kids’ social media ban — but her plan still lets Big Tech off the hook
The EU has left the door open to age-estimation by behavioural profiling, and the EU's own data protection authorities have warned that this can be more intrusive than the verification it replaces, in...
euobserver.com
As hosepipe bans are issued across the country, my reporting today reveals that data centres are estimated to be using 6.6 million litres of drinking water every single day! Water UK said this is a “genuine failing of government”. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Not enough water for UK’s datacentre plans, trade body says
Industry says government’s failure to address cooling demands means AI growth plans are ‘fatally flawed’
theguardian.com
We require tablets and smartphones to be certified as safe before they can be sold. So why do we allow the apps that run on them to be live-tested on kids? We need 'safe social': apps certified as safe before they can access children. My op-ed for @euobserver.com euobserver.com/228652/von-d...
Von der Leyen is right to reject a blanket kids’ social media ban — but her plan still lets Big Tech off the hook
The EU has left the door open to age-estimation by behavioural profiling, and the EU's own data protection authorities have warned that this can be more intrusive than the verification it replaces, in...
euobserver.com
Category error to call today's economy neoliberal. It is more like globalised corporatism in which the largest players work with and against national governments for the most advantageous conditions. www.ft.com/content/b41a...
JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon warns of ‘consequences’ if Andy Burnham taxes banks
Chief executive says any tax raid by new UK prime minister would threaten bank’s planned £3bn London office
ft.com
UK CEO shocked to discover that access to incoming PM Burnham’s chief of staff can’t be bought. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations @somoamsterdam.bsky.social has published an excellent analysis of the EU data centre market, pointing out that the current EU policy of uncontrolled data centre expansion will only end up benefiting US Big Tech giants. www.somo.nl/eus-data-cen...
EU's data centre expansion will fast-track profits and power for US Big Tech and investors - SOMO
The global competition to ‘win’ the AI-race is driving an unparalleled expansion of large-scale data centres across the world. Cloaked in a narrative of pursuing European tech sovereignty and adopting...
somo.nl
YouTube still recommends harmful content to teen accounts, including thinspiration, extreme calorie restriction & subliminal weight-loss videos. Our new findings show the platform can reduce these harms when it chooses to. The problem isn't that YouTube can’t act. It's that it hasn't done enough 🧵
Good to see the European Commission taking a leaf out of JFK's book! ec.europa.eu/commission/p... (Image generated by Gemini, loosely based on a quote by Commission President Von der Leyen today.)
All democratic governments and political parties and all public authorities should quit X. And anyone else with an ounce of morality should, too.
Frédéric Moreau@goodclimate.bsky.social · last mo.Shouldn't DCMS set mandatory policy on this matter across government anyway?
Starmer's government is still on X, the platform that promotes hate and racism.
Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · last mo.Asked about rising racism and hatred in the UK, Keir Starmer says "the very sad thing is I am not able to say that in the 10 years since Jo Cox's death that things have got better because sadly they have got worse. That's on all of us to fix." Well yes, and your government has done what exactly?
Yes. It's just bizarre cope to argue that "govt leaving wouldn't change anything". Of course it would - journalist/media/commentators would move immediately, the rest of the public sector would move in a week, and much of civil society would follow. This really isn't hard.
A Ukrainian drone strike on a Moscow oil refinery sparked a flood of memes. Here are some of the best. Share your favorites! 🧵 1/16 ⬇️
The second part of this sounds absolutely groundbreaking. Could the era of platform impunity finally be coming to an end?
Steve Peers@stevepeers.bsky.social · 2mo agoEU, tech law CJEU: Member States can require age verification for porn, and ban rebroadcast of traffic cop information also ***a website that controls what viewers see via an algorithm is liable for the content*** curia.europa.eu/site/upload/...
My first in a series of World Cup collages for @theguardian.com 👇 www.theguardian.com/football/pic...
Aaand it’s official. The Dutch Labour Party and Green Left have merged to become Progressive Netherlands. 💚❤️
Elon Musk becomes the world’s first trillionaire today. Instead of focusing on his SpaceX IPO, we found that he is amplifying anti-migrant narratives on X fueling real-life violence in Belfast.
Plans to ban under-16s from social media are politically understandable and may be the only immediate way to keep kids safe online. A more sustainable solution is to require platforms to be certified as safe by a regulator before they can have kids on them. My op-ed: www.euractiv.com/opinion/euro...
Europe needs 'safe social' to protect children online | Euractiv
Until a regulatory body declares them safe to use, Europe has to put an end to the live-testing of dangerous products on children
euractiv.com
And yet there are still people who call themselves progressives who are active on the main social media network fuelling this violence. The excuse: I want to be able to reach everyone. The reality: you're helping to sustain this poisonous ecosystem. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Violence erupts in Belfast after protests over knife attack
Crowds, including people in masks and hoods, burned vehicles and properties after calls for demonstrations from far-right figures
theguardian.com
Have you heard of Apple's decision on the rollout of Siri AI in Europe? Let's get the facts straight ⬇️