Nayana and I are underway with a new season of skeptechs, as well as a new hub on Substack where you can sign up to get our episodes sent directly to your inbox.
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Monocle 24 appearance
Back on the Monocle 24 breakfast show this morning for another tech round-up, where I covered Iran, Brazil, and VR. Catch up here (46′).
Monocle 24 appearance
In my latest tech news round-up on Monocle 24’s morning show, I covered the ban of TikTok use in the US House of Representatives and the effect of lay-offs on the tech industry.
Quoted in the Financial Times
I’m quoted in this FT story about the rise of Twitter rival Mastodon.
Monocle 24 appearance
In my tech-round up for Monocle 24’s The Globalist this morning, I covered the news that Twitter has banned several leading tech journalists, as well as Donald Trump’s dubious launch of a NFT collection.
skeptechs 4.5: Twitter, Ticketmaster, and three years of skeptechs!
In the latest episode of skeptechs, Nayana and I discuss Twitter, backlash to Ticketmaster, and reminisce on three years of our show.
Monocle 24 appearance
In my latest round-up for Monocle 24’s morning show, I discuss the continued fallout from Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover as well as new regulation which could bring flying taxis closer to reality.
Quoted in the Financial Times
I’m quoted in this Financial Times article which discusses Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter and its effects on smaller rivals like Mastodon.
App store governance: implications, limitations, and regulatory responses
In this article, we analyse two case studies: the removals from app stores in 2021 of the fringe American social media app Parler and of the Russian opposition app Smart Voting. On the basis of this analysis, we identify three critical limitations for app store governance at present: Apple’s and Google’s dominance, the substantive opacity of their respective app store guidelines, and the procedural arbitrariness with which these guidelines are applied to specific cases. We then assess the potential efficacy of legislative proposals in the EU and US to intervene in this domain and conclude by offering some recommendations supporting more efficacious and socially responsible app store governance.
I have a new article with Jessica Morley and Luciano Floridi now published in Telecommunications Policy, which looks at the issues for app store governance raised by the removals of Parler and Smart Voting from app stores.
Constitutional metaphors: Facebook’s “Supreme Court” and the Legitimation of Platform Governance
A range of rhetorical devices have been used to simplify the complexities associated with the governance of online platforms. This includes “constitutional metaphors”: metaphorical allusions to traditional political concepts such as statehood, democracy, and constitutionalism. Here, we empirically trace the ascent of a powerful constitutional metaphor currently employed in the news media discourse on platform governance: characterizations of Facebook’s Oversight Board (OB) as a “supreme court.”
I have a new paper published open access in New Media and Society with Philipp Darius, Dominiquo Santistevan and Moritz Schramm, about Facebook’s “Oversight Board” and the depiction of it as a “Supreme Court”.
Josh Cowls 