{"id":15719,"date":"2024-10-15T06:08:44","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15719"},"modified":"2024-10-15T06:08:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T13:08:45","slug":"the-battle-over-who-controls-the-internet-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=15719","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Battle Over Who Controls the Internet&#8221;, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/jack-nicas\">Jack Nicas<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/paul-mozur\">Paul Mozur<\/a>, October 15, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"article-summary\"><em>We explore an important shift in the yearslong struggle.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve each covered the conflict between tech companies and governments for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/10\/15\/multimedia\/15themorning-nl-brazil-X-mkqf\/15themorning-nl-brazil-X-mkqf-articleLarge-v6.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A protester wearing a Brazilian flag and holding a photo of Elon Musk.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil.Credit&#8230;Dado Galdieri for The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For years, the battle between governments and tech giants has played out behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then Brazil blocked X, Elon Musk\u2019s social network. For the past five weeks, the site went dark across the nation of 200 million after Musk ignored court orders to pull down certain accounts. (It came back online last week after he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/21\/world\/americas\/elon-musk-x-brazil.html\">eventually complied<\/a>.) Meanwhile, in France, authorities have charged Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, a free-for-all messaging app, with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/28\/business\/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-charged.html\">a slew of crimes<\/a>. They accuse him of refusing to comply with investigations into the spread of illicit content&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/07\/technology\/telegram-crime-terrorism.html\">on the platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are witnessing an important shift in the yearslong struggle over who controls the internet. Governments are becoming more demanding, just as some tech leaders seek to promote themselves as free-speech martyrs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as the dust has settled, a clear winner has emerged. In today\u2019s newsletter, we\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/10\/15\/multimedia\/15themorning-durov-vbjl\/15themorning-durov-vbjl-articleLarge-v6.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A man on stage in a black shirt. \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram.Credit&#8230;Jim Wilson\/The New York Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-4bfb71c4\">Governments assert control<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The world woke up to the dangers of online disinformation about\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/11\/18\/technology\/fake-news-on-facebook-in-foreign-elections-thats-not-new.html\">a decade ago<\/a>. But governments do not typically move fast. That means, in many places, regulation is just arriving now. Last year,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/27\/technology\/disinformation-law-european-union.html\">a European Union law<\/a>\u00a0required tech companies to better police their platforms. In Brazil, a Supreme Court judge has been ordering the removal of social media accounts he calls threats to democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In some countries, the crackdown is tied to an erosion of democracy. The Indian government, for example, is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/05\/business\/twitter-india-lawsuit.html\">forcing social networks<\/a>&nbsp;to limit content it sees as critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And Indonesia has unfurled&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/04\/technology\/internet-censorship.html\">one of the world\u2019s harshest laws<\/a>&nbsp;against online speech in what authorities have described as an effort to maintain public order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, tech companies are taking down more content. Google said it fielded more than 100,000 government requests to remove content from its platforms last year, up 87 percent from 2021. Meta \u2014 which runs Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp \u2014 reported the number of accounts, posts and comments it took down at the request of governments last year was up sixfold. (This doesn\u2019t include Indonesia, because enforcement of its new law breaks the curve; it ordered Meta to take down&nbsp;<em>47.7 million<\/em>&nbsp;items last year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/10\/15\/multimedia\/15themorning-musk-nl-qgbh\/15themorning-musk-nl-qgbh-articleLarge-v2.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Elon Musk in a dark suit. \"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Elon MuskCredit&#8230;Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-239a33c9\">Two defiant tech leaders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For years, tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Larry Page and Jack Dorsey have mostly either&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/05\/17\/technology\/apple-china-censorship-data.html\">acquiesced to the requests<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/03\/23\/technology\/23google.html\">walked away from markets<\/a>. The executives sat for congressional hearings and hired more content moderators. They censored at the behest of dictators. They issued timid statements saying they had no choice but to follow local laws. As a result, governments didn\u2019t shut the companies out, and they became&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2018\/08\/02\/technology\/apple-trillion-market-cap.html\">some of the most valuable firms<\/a>&nbsp;in history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Musk and Durov have tried to pave a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Musk complained loudly about the Brazilian Supreme Court justice\u2019s orders. Then he simply stopped obeying. When the judge responded by blocking X, Musk tried\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/01\/world\/americas\/elon-musk-brazil-starlink-x.html\">various<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/18\/world\/americas\/brazil-musk-x-ban.html\">workarounds<\/a>\u00a0to evade the ban (they didn\u2019t work) and even called on Brazilians to take to the streets against the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Durov has taken a quieter approach. Under his watch, Telegram ignored government demands, as if it didn\u2019t see their email. (When the same Brazilian judge briefly blocked Telegram in 2022, the company actually&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/20\/world\/americas\/brazil-telegram-bolsonaro.html\">argued just that<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together the two men represent a new type of tech leader, one who sometimes uses his power to flout government orders. Both men appear emboldened by the culture wars, where pushing an absolutist vision of free speech has won them many devotees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-70a90d34\">The state strikes back<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>But the governments have kept the upper hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three weeks into X\u2019s block in Brazil, Musk surrendered. X took down various accounts, complying with orders Musk had vowed to resist, while his lawyers asked the court to lift the ban. The site went live again last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"interactive-headline\">More Takedowns Under Musk<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"interactive-leadin\">How X handled government requests after Musk bought it in 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A bar chart showing how X (formerly Twitter) handled government requests after Musk bought it in 2002. The total compliance rate increased to 71 percent in 2024 from 54 percent in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nytimes.com\/newsgraphics\/2024-10-10-themorning-x-takedowns\/d8387405-e640-4d51-be68-f548ddc42050\/_assets\/themorning-musk-x-takedowns-600.png\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First half of<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>each year<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Takedown<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>requests<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Compliance rate<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>67%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>18,520<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Japan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>79%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>46,650<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>61%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5,450<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Turkey<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>68%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>9,360<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>62%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2,090<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Korea<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>73%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>5,890<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>51%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>290<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>European Union<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>80%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2,460<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>37%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>17,030<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All others<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>26%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>8,350<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>54%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201921<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>43,390<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Total<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>71%<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201924<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>72,700<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"interactive-notes\">Notes: Takedown requests comprise court orders and other legal demands. Twitter did not report data for 2022 and 2023. Figures are rounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"interactive-source\">Source: Company reports<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"interactive-credit\">By Karl Russell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Publicly, Musk didn\u2019t mention his capitulation. That followed a pattern. While he has cast himself as a free-speech warrior, his own company has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Safety\/status\/1838959102984106363\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">released data<\/a>&nbsp;showing X has complied with government takedown requests more often than before he bought it. X said it obeyed such requests about 70 percent of the time in the first half of the year, compared with roughly half the time in 2021, the last time it disclosed data. (Japan and Turkey have filed the most takedown requests this year.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Durov, meanwhile, has sounded more conciliatory than ever. In his first post after he was arrested in France, he admitted that Telegram\u2019s fast growth \u201cmade it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.\u201d Then he announced the app would work more closely with governments to fight criminal activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"link-3c1c6048\">For more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Brazil gave one judge broad power to combat misinformation. After he blocked X, some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/08\/31\/world\/americas\/brazil-x-ban-free-speech.html\">wonder whether that was a good idea<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On Telegram, criminals sell drugs, far-right protesters coordinate rallies and terrorists broadcast attacks.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/07\/technology\/telegram-crime-terrorism.html\">See how that happened<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Apple, Google and Meta are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/04\/technology\/europe-apple-meta-google-microsoft.html\">making major changes<\/a>\u00a0in response to new laws and regulations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Twitter once banned people like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alex Jones who spread conspiracy theories.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/12\/technology\/x-misinformation-social-media.html\">Musk brought them back<\/a>\u00a0on X.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Jack Nicas\u00a0and\u00a0Paul Mozur, October 15, 2024 We explore an important shift in the yearslong struggle.\u00a0 We\u2019ve each covered the conflict between tech companies and governments for a decade. For years, the battle between governments and tech giants has played out behind the scenes. Then Brazil blocked X, Elon Musk\u2019s social network. For the past five [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15720,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15719\/revisions\/15720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}