Senate moves to regulate social media

The ideas and innovators shaping health care

Jul 30, 2024 View in browser   By Ruth Reader, Daniel Payne, Carmen Paun, Erin Schumaker and Toni Odejimi WASHINGTON WATCH Senate support for legislation to regulate social media was broad and bipartisan. | AP Congress is closer than ever to regulating social media after the Senate on Tuesday passed legislation aimed at protecting kids online. Senators voted 91 to 3 to pass the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act, a mashup of the Kids Online Safety Act and the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act. In so doing, they bucked opposition from the tech industry as well as advocates on both the left and right concerned about online censorship, instead siding with a grassroots movement of parents and kids alarmed by suicides prompted by online bullying and predation. The bill says companies must: — Limit the amount of data they collect on children under 17. — Not target minors with advertising. — Give children the highest privacy settings by default. — Offer the ability to opt out of various design features like content recommendations and engagement nudges. — Design platforms with kids’ safety in mind. — Have an independent third party audit their platforms for potential harm to children. — Hand over data for research on how social media affects children. Tech industry responds: “The broadly shared goal of protecting younger users online is something we support, so we are disappointed this legislation risks doing more harm than good,” said Matt Schruers, president and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association. The Senate bill “raises serious First Amendment concerns by silencing speech, and creates greater privacy risks for all internet users through forced data collections and untested technology mandates.” What's next? House companion bills are awaiting committee action. Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled interest in the measures and there is bipartisan support for them.   Live briefings, policy trackers, and procedural, industry, and people intelligence from POLITICO Pro Analysis gives you the insights you need to focus your policy strategy this election cycle. Secure your seat.      WELCOME TO FUTURE PULSE Chappaquiddick, Mass. | Erin Schumaker/POLITICO This is where we explore the ideas and innovators shaping health care. Nearly 1 in 5 Olympic athletes have asthma, according to a 2023 study. That’s because high-endurance exercise can trigger the condition, particularly in cold and dry climates, Euronews reports. Share any thoughts, news, tips and feedback with Carmen Paun at cpaun@politico.com, Daniel Payne at dpayne@politico.com, Ruth Reader at rreader@politico.com, Erin Schumaker at eschumaker@politico.com, or Toni Odejimi at aodejimi@politico.com. Send tips securely through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram or WhatsApp.  FOLLOW THE MONEY AI is improving cancer diagnoses, but getting paid for adopting the tech is not always easy. | Getty Images The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has set a payment rate for an AI system to map prostate cancer, the maker of the tool announced. Unfold AI from Avenda Health, a health AI development company, uses a patient’s biopsy and pathology data to estimate tumor margins and cancer risks. The company says its system can improve diagnoses and enable doctors to use less invasive treatments. Providers’ ability to bill Medicare when they use the system is likely to boost uptake. Why it matters: Doctors and hospitals often complain that they’re not paid extra when they adopt expensive AI tools, which discourages the adoption of technology that could improve public health. Some makers of innovative tools are folding partly because they can’t secure reimbursement.   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRI     WORLDVIEW The International Olympic Committee is trying to protect athletes from online trolls. | AP The International Olympic Committee is partnering with British artificial intelligence firm Signify to detect and report online abuse on X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok targeting any of the 15,000 athletes competing in Paris. Why’s that? Online abuse can affect athletes’ mental health and athletic performance — or worse, threaten physical violence. “For the Olympic Games, [we anticipate] around half a billion social media posts,” said Kirsty Burrows, head of the IOC’s Safe Sport Unit, in an interview with Morning Tech. She pledged "support and protection for this very ubiquitous challenge that is online violence.” Some 87 percent of online abuse during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was aimed at female athletes, according to World Athletics, a governing body for international sports. British pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw and U.S. gymnast Simone Biles have spoken of the online insults they faced after pulling out of the last Olympics. The protocol: Signify is reviewing potentially abusive posts in more than 35 languages and will continue to do so until the Paralympics end in September. Burrows said the firm’s AI software was tested during last year’s Esports video game competition in Singapore. The algorithm is designed to help remove illegal and harmful content and to track down trolls. It sends posts that are “potentially criminal in nature” to the social media site for removal, Burrows said. Signify and the IOC are also trying to better understand the vitriol, such as whether coordinated bot campaigns target some athletes. The investigators will try to “deanonymize … account[s]” spewing abuse to protect athletes. They might alert authorities “if the violence is originating from a close proximity, either to Paris or to the home environment of the person concerned,” Burrows said.   Follow us on Twitter Carmen Paun @carmenpaun Daniel Payne @_daniel_payne Ruth Reader @RuthReader Erin Schumaker @erinlschumaker   Follow us

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