December 2019

Sponsor: 

Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee

House Commerce Committee

Date: 
Wed, 01/08/2020 - 16:30

A hearing on deception and manipulation online: Deepfakes and Cheap Fakes; Dark Patterns; and Social Media Bots

Witnesses

Monika Bickert
Vice President of Global Policy Management
Facebook

Joan Donovan, Ph.D.
Research Director of the Technology and Social Change Project
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School



The internet’s last great myth is finally dead

The 2010s are defined by our total absorption into the digital. Engaging online quickly became a necessary part of being a person. “As more people began to register their existence digitally, a past time turned into an imperative: you have to register digitally to exist,” journalist Jia Tolentino writes. With that, she said, came the commodification of self, which keeps us endlessly tethered to the web, either as a means of self-promotion or as a way of feeding the human compulsion to connect. As we’ve remained here, our internet selves have grown more robust.

President Trump Signs TRACED Act Into Law

This historic legislation will provide American consumers with even greater protection against annoying unsolicited robocalls. American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation. President Donald J. Trump is proud to have worked with Congress to get this bipartisan legislation to his desk, and even prouder to sign it into law today.