YOUTUBE IN THE HOT SEAT — YouTube has repeatedly failed to act against disinformation, leading to the worldwide spread of content promoting Covid-19 conspiracy theories, hate speech and election-related falsehoods. That's the conclusion from 85 fact-checking groups that sent an open letter Wednesday to YouTube's chief executive, Susan Wojcicki. "This is a global problem. It needs a global solution," Baybars Orsek, director of the International Fact-Checking Network, a group that organized the open letter, told MT. "This letter is an effort to make sure that YouTube recognizes it has a disinformation problem." The fact-checking groups — organizations from across Europe, Asia and the Americas — called on the Google-owned video-streaming service to be more transparent about how it tackles disinformation; label more debunked videos with disclaimers; and expand its work in non-English languages. — So what's getting through the net? Everything from Covid conspiracy videos in Arabic and Greek to hate speech in Brazil, according to the fact-checking groups. "We talk a lot about Facebook and Instagram, but want to push the fact-checking conversation forward to include YouTube," said Cristina Tardáguila, program director at the International Center for Journalists. — In response, YouTube said fact-checking is only one part of how it responds to disinformation. The company said it has invested around the world to ensure people saw authoritative sources on hot-button issues. "We're always looking for meaningful ways to improve and will continue to strengthen our work with the fact checking community," Nataleigh O'Connell, a company spokesperson, said in a statement. MT EXCLUSIVE: CONGRESS URGED TO TREAD CAREFULLY ON TECH REGS — More than 25 civil rights and privacy groups are writing to members of Congress today to call for caution in regulating the tech industry, a letter first shared with MT. The groups, including Fight for the Future, Access Now and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, want lawmakers to consider six principles when developing legislation that will affect the next iteration of the internet. — They say lawmakers should consider the possible negative effects of regulation on communities of color, low-income populations and "others who have faced discrimination from traditional, often predatory Big Tech companies, banks and financial services." — Additionally, the groups warn against any rules that could limit free expression, justice and web users' civil liberties, noting that many long-established decentralized internet projects — such as Linux and Firefox — were developed by volunteers. AMAZON UNION VOTE RE-DO — Amazon workers in Alabama will vote again in February on whether to form a union, following an appeal from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, the National Labor Relations Board announced Tuesday. Amazon reached a settlement with the NLRB late last year and committed to informing workers of their rights, among other things. NLRB will mail the ballots on Feb. 4, and count them March 28. The news was first reported by Bloomberg. — The union was not entirely pleased, saying it is "deeply concerned that the decision fails to adequately prevent Amazon from continuing its objectionable behavior in a new election." It added that it had asked the labor board to impose "a number of remedies that could have made the process fairer to workers." — Last year, supporters of the union failed to win over enough workers. The union later appealed the result, alleging Amazon's participation in union-busting. The NLRB has now ruled that Amazon had interfered with the election, and therefore a new election was called for, according to a notice Tuesday. — Amazon said it respects workers' right to unionize. "Our employees have always had the choice of whether or not to join a union, and they overwhelmingly chose not to join the RWDSU last year," Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait told POLITICO's Eleanor Mueller. "We look forward to our team in BHM1 having their voices heard again." WARNING SHOT AGAINST RECUSALS — The judge overseeing the FTC's antitrust case against Facebook sent a message Tuesday to Facebook's parent company, Meta: It's going to need better arguments if it wants to force commission Chair Lina Khan to recuse herself from the suit. (And the same logic may apply to similar efforts to force a recusal for DOJ antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter.) — The ruling from U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who rejected Facebook's second attempt to toss out the FTC's lawsuit, also shot down the social network's arguments that Khan is too biased to participate in the case. In trying to get her taken off the case, Meta has cited Khan's extensive anti-monopoly work in Congress and academia — but Boasberg said those activities don't equate to the kind of "personal animosity or financial conflict of interest" that would justify a recusal. — Boasberg added that it makes sense for a president to appoint agency heads that will "implement the administration's priorities." (Like Khan, President Joe Biden has criticized big tech companies and called for tougher action against monopolies.) And the judge noted that the FTC originally voted to sue Facebook months before Khan came aboard. — While Boasberg's ruling doesn't set a legal precedent, his argument could find echoes in upcoming recusal decisions involving cases against other major tech platforms. Amazon has also asked for Khan's recusal from its own FTC probe, while Google has asked the Justice Department to recuse Kanter from the department's ongoing suit against the search giant (though Kanter's history representing Google's rivals may make Google's arguments stronger). | 
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