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On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about a clever effort to restore net neutrality in Montana and New York. They also discuss Facebook’s latest news feed tweaks—this time it’s trying to resuscitate the local news economy by putting more stories from local sources in your feed. Then the hosts are joined by Dipayan Ghosh—a former privacy and policy adviser to Facebook, the Obama administration, and the Hillary Clinton campaign—to talk about his recent report on how digital advertising technologies lend themselves to disinformation campaigns, and what the government can do about it. And as always, Don’t Close My Tabs, the hosts’ picks for best on the web this week.
Stories discussed on the show:
Slate: New York and Montana Have a New Trick to Protect Net Neutrality
Slate: Facebook Is Putting More “Local News” in Your Feed. That’s a lot Harder Than It Sounds.
New America: Digital Deceit: The Technologies Behind Precision Propaganda on the Internet
New York Times: Once Cozy With Silicon Valley, Democrats Grow Weary of Tech Giants
Don’t Close My Tabs:
Guardian: Fitness Tracking App Strava Gives Away Location of Secret US Army Bases
New York Times: The Follower Factory
Podcast production by Max Jacobs.
If Then plugs:
You can get updates about what’s coming up next by following us on Twitter @ifthenpod. You can follow Will @WillOremus and April @Aprilaser. If you have a question or comment, you can email us at ifthen@slate.com.
If Then is presented by Slate and Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
