By Abhi Chaudhuri, Dominique Wimmer, Jenna Dietz, Matt Motyl and David Jay

We hear a lot about how things go wrong in the social internet, and not enough about the practices that make them better. In this case study from the members of the Integrity Institute we’ll explore how Trust and Safety teams work to address harmful behavior online.

By Caroline Nichols & Kay Spencer

The paid social media space encompasses all content distributed through digital platforms where compensation, in any form - made both in-platform and offline, influences message creation, amplification, or distribution. The online paid content space lacks sufficient transparency and regulation, particularly for political and electoral content. Current regulations are modeled after traditional advertising frameworks but fall short in addressing digital realities. 

By Megan Hepp and Sarah Godlewski

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped society in countless ways—from shifting workplace norms to changing consumer behaviors. But one of its most dangerous legacies is the rise and normalization of medical misinformation online. In this blog, members Megan Hepp and Sarah Godlewski examine the risks of misinformation in pregnancy, labor, and delivery—and the complex challenges Trust and Safety teams face in moderating this critical content.

By Theodora Skeadas and Rehan Mirza

The Tech Policy Tracker project began in the summer of 2023 with the vision to create a centralized resource of US technology policy and legislation for policymakers, researchers, and advocates. Recognizing the great work done by civil society organizations in building more specialized trackers, we aggregated this work to produce our first iteration of the tracker in early 2024.

By Caroline Nichols, Kay Spencer, and Nicholas Shen

Integrity professionals concerned about Russian election interference have been closely watching Moldova, and observed a concerning trend. Moldova, which shares a border with Ukraine, is often a test-bed for Russian interference tactics.

Affective political polarization has been growing in the United States for decades. Animosity mixed with hostile partisan media, inflammatory elite rhetoric, political segregation, and poorly moderated social media is the recipe for politically-motivated violence. 

By Matt Motyl and Spencer Gurley

Countless stories claim generative AI is democratizing disinformation and hijacking democracy, and a recent survey shows that 47% of US voters sometimes see what they think is AI-generated election content in their feeds.

X and Facebook users report highest rates of negative experiences in Poland; YouTube users report the most learning experiences.

On January 31, 2024, the US Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on child safety online. Prior to the hearing, Integrity Institute released a list of recommendations on how platforms could better protect child safety online. Following the hearing, Institute staff share their takeaways in this post mortem.

User controls are the next frontier in content moderation at scale, but only if we use them.

Here are some red herrings you might notice companies and policymakers raise on January 31, and what they should be addressing instead.