The year social media dropped its filter

Hi, it’s Davey in New York. In 2023, Big Tech started to care less about content moderation. But first…Three things you need to know today:• [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, it’s Davey in New York. In 2023, Big Tech started to care less about content moderation. But first… Three things you need to know today: • Iranian-linked hackers exposed a weakness[in the US water system](. • OpenAI is in fundraising talks that would increase its [valuation to $100 billion](. • China’s video-game curbs [rattled the industry](. Social media, unfiltered A year ago I was spending many of my days talking to sources who explained to me how Twitter (it wasn’t called X yet) was busting content moderation norms as then-head of trust and safety [Ella Irwin eschewed long-held safety protocols]( to cater to the whims of her new boss, Elon Musk. Back then, Musk's Twitter seemed like an outlier. But in hindsight, the situation there foreshadowed how much content moderation norms would change in 2023. Early in the year, large tech companies including Meta Platforms Inc., Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. [cut significant numbers of jobs](in response to souring economic conditions. In their search for efficiency, many tech companies included content moderation in their cuts. The platforms seemed to say, if we face intense criticism from the public no matter how many resources we pour into the efforts, maybe we can do the same work with less? Twitter, which had already been [leading the charge](, seemed different from other social platforms, given the impact Musk had on the company's values. But then [Meta cut]( many of its policy staffers and contractors reviewing content, too, and pledged to carry out more moderation using artificial intelligence. (2023 was the year of doing everything with AI, and OpenAI said in August it has been testing using [its technology for content moderation](, but there has been little reporting on how well it performs.) Google’s parent, Alphabet Inc., laid off about half of its employees [at Jigsaw](, a company that produces tools to combat online hate speech and disinformation, and [quietly cut policy experts and content moderators at YouTube](. Microsoft [laid off its AI ethics and society team](. As the companies retrench, they've also undercut the ability of independent researchers, academics and journalists to monitor their platforms. In mid-2022, Meta began [pulling support for CrowdTangle](, a Facebook-owned social media analysis tool, and there's little sign it has reversed course in 2023. In April, Twitter [started]( charging people thousands of dollars to use its API to examine the platform — a prohibitive cost for many researchers, especially those students, civil rights groups and others who [aren't affiliated with well-funded institutions](. The change hit members of those groups outside the US particularly hard. Some researchers have resorted to [breaking companies’ rules]( to access the data they need. In Europe, the Digital Services Act may pave a way for researchers to continue to keep doing their work. This year, [Meta](, [TikTok]( and [X]( introduced new academic research APIs in response to the European Union’s rules. It's not yet clear whether civil society groups and journalists who aren’t affiliated with a university will get access, though, and the APIs are limited in their current forms. Heading into 2024, the stakes of content moderation look pretty high, given the [dozens of national elections]( taking place across the globe over the course of the year. It's not at all clear that tech will regain its appetite for the work. Either way, researchers and journalists make the best of the tools and services we’ve got today, including at Bloomberg, where we recently utilized X’s open-source Community Notes database to take a look at how the platform [failed to stem the surge of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war](. —[Davey Alba](mailto:malba13@bloomberg.net) The big story A surge in demand for electric vehicles from domestic buyers has pushed China into a [dominant position in the EV supply chain](. Get fully charged A fertility clinic pushed doctors [to conduct more egg retrievals](. Google considered, but rejected changes[to its Play Store fees because it would have cost billions of dollars.]( Programming note: We’ll be taking Monday off for the holiday. See you on Tuesday! Looking back at 2023 Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang’s bet on artificial intelligence propelled the chipmaker [past $1 trillion in market value](. Apple’s plans for a mixed reality headset, [called Vision Pro](, came into focus with the launch to consumers set for early 2024. Microsoft overcame two years of regulatory challenges to complete its [$69 billion acquisition]( of video-gamemaker Activision Blizzard. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? 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