Author Giliann Karon

Department of Education Sued Following Markup Investigation Into FAFSA Data Shared with Facebook

Almost immediately following The Markup’s investigation, the nonprofit organizations National Student Legal Defense Network (Student Defense), which provides legal defense for higher education students, and Accountable Tech, which advocates against online surveillance practices, asked lawmakers to investigate the trackers on the FAFSA website, and requested documents from the Department of Education under the Freedom of Information Act. The groups asked the Department of Education to provide any communications between government officials and Facebook. Their request also asked for any reports or other documents about data being sent to the company through the Meta Pixel.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech on White House Report to Address Online Youth Safety

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill issued the following statement on the release of the Biden administration’s interagency task force report to protect the online safety and privacy of children and young people:

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech on Meta Removing Trump Account Restrictions

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill issued the following statement on Meta removing its restrictions to former President Trump’s accounts ahead of the 2024 elections:

Giliann Karon

Biden’s tech and telecom enforcers to face a hostile House GOP

Zamaan Qureshi, previously of the “Real Facebook Oversight Board” advocacy group, is joining Accountable Tech as a campaigns associate. He will remain as co-chair of the youth-led advocacy group Design It For Us.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on Supreme Court Content Moderation Cases

In response to the Supreme Court vacating NetChoice v. Paxton and Moody v. NetChoice, Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement:

Giliann Karon

Reactions to the Supreme Court’s 6-3 Decision in Murthy v Missouri

Nicole Gill, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Accountable Tech: “The lawsuits brought by Missouri and Louisiana were meritless and based on inaccuracies intended to weaponize the First Amendment, which would have undermined the government’s ability to defend the U.S. against election interference and disinformation campaigns, particularly in a critical election year. Cooperation between the government and platforms about foreign influence campaigns, election integrity and public health emergencies is essential to preserving public safety and a healthy democracy.”

Giliann Karon

Instagram fixes an ‘error’ over political content ahead of the debate.

Nicole Gill, a founder of Accountable Tech, a group that seeks stronger oversight of major technology companies, said Meta should be held responsible for the changes and answer questions about how the error was made and how many users were affected.

Giliann Karon

Supreme Court Backs White House on Social Media Post Removal

Some election experts said the court’s decision will enable the government and platforms to work more closely together to prevent foreign influence campaigns during the election season. Nicole Gill, executive director of tech watchdog group Accountable Tech, said cooperation is “essential to preserving public safety and a healthy democracy.”

Giliann Karon

Supreme Court rejects effort to limit government communication on misinformation

Nicole Gill, executive director and founder of Accountable Tech, a nonprofit focused on reining in the power of big tech companies, called cooperation between the government and platforms around foreign influence campaigns, election integrity and public health emergencies “essential to preserving public safety and a healthy democracy.”

Giliann Karon

US top court declines to curb govt contact with social media firms

The lawsuits intended to "weaponize" the First Amendment, which would have undermined the government's ability to defend the United States against election interference and disinformation campaigns, watchdog group Accountable Tech said as it welcomed Wednesday's ruling. "Cooperation between the government and platforms about foreign influence campaigns, election integrity and public health emergencies is essential to preserving public safety and a healthy democracy," the group said.

Giliann Karon

The Supreme Court sides with Biden administration in social media ‘jawboning’ case

“Cooperation between the government and platforms about foreign influence campaigns, election integrity and public health emergencies is essential to preserving public safety and a healthy democracy,” Nicole Gill, executive director of the advocacy group Accountable Tech, said in a statement.

Giliann Karon

Instagram accidentally activates setting to limit political content ahead of first Biden-Trump debate

Tech advocacy group Accountable Tech urged Meta to give users and creators details about the error and how long the setting was affected. Nicole Gill, executive director and co-founder of Accountable Tech, underscored the potential impact of the error based on the timing of the presidential debate.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on Meta’s Erroneous Limitation of Political Content

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on Meta briefly defaulting all Instagram accounts to limit political content, a day before the first U.S. presidential debate:

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on Murthy v. Missouri

Following today’s Supreme Court decision on Murthy v. Missouri, Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement:

Giliann Karon

How AI can help and hurt the environment

“One of the many unknowns about AI is its impact on the environment,” Kaili Lambe, policy and advocacy director at nonprofit Accountable Tech, said in a statement. “As rapid advances have led to increasingly widespread use of LLMs and other data-intensive AI systems, it’s imperative that we understand and take steps to mitigate unintended harm, including the potential for environmental degradation. Too often transparency takes a backseat when it comes to Big Tech innovation.”

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech on Governor Scott’s Veto of Vermont Kids Code

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on Governor Phil Scott’s veto of the Vermont Data Privacy Act (H.121), which includes the Vermont Kids Code.

Giliann Karon

Exclusive: Civil society groups push Big Tech to combat disinformation

Accountable Tech, All Voting is Local, and groups focused on Asian, Black, and Hispanic people also are among the signatories.

Giliann Karon

Meta says it won’t support suit against major child safety law

In February, the left-leaning advocacy group Accountable Tech launched a digital ad campaign calling on the two companies to leave NetChoice and “stop funding Big Tech’s lobbying against bipartisan legislation to protect kids online.”

Giliann Karon

Tech Groups Call On US DoJ To Investigate YouTube Monopoly

The letter was penned by groups including Accountable Tech; American Economic Liberties Project; Blue Future; Demand Progress Education Fund; Institute for Local Self-Reliance; Main Street Alliance; NextGen Competition; Other 98%; Progress America; Social Security Works; and Tech Oversight Project.

Giliann Karon

Why Congress’s AI Plan Was Doomed From the Start

The AI roadmap is “but another proof point of Big Tech’s profound and pervasive power to shape the policymaking process,” as Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gillput it Wednesday. “Lawmakers must move quickly to enact AI legislation that centers the public interest and addresses the damage AI is currently causing in communities all across the country.”

Giliann Karon

Advocates warn Schumer’s AI ‘roadmap’ doesn’t go far enough

Accountable Tech co-founder and executive director Nicole Gill said the report is “but another proof point of Big Tech’s profound and pervasive power to shape the policymaking process” and called the forums a “dream scenario for the tech industry.”

Giliann Karon

US Senate AI Report Meets Mostly Disappointment, Condemnation

Nicole Gill, Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director: "The AI roadmap released today by Sen. Schumer is but another proof point of Big Tech’s profound and pervasive power to shape the policymaking process. The last year of closed-door ‘Insight Forums’ has been a dream scenario for the tech industry, who played an outsized role in developing this roadmap and delaying legislation."

Giliann Karon

‘I feel betrayed’: Schumer’s much-awaited AI road map gets panned by watchdogs

Other groups, including the AI Now Institute, Accountable Tech, and The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, have also criticized the road map’s lack of attention to AI harms.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on Senator Schumer’s AI Roadmap

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill issued the following statement on Senator Schumer’s AI roadmap.

Giliann Karon

Voters Want Social Media Companies to Protect Minors From Harmful Online Content

New polling from Data for Progress and Accountable Tech examined voters’ attitudes toward requiring platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube to ensure minors are protected from harmful online content, and finds that voters overwhelmingly support such protections.

Giliann Karon

Maryland Kids Code Signed Into Law, But May Face Legal Challenges

At a Wednesday press briefing hosted by the Maryland Kids Code Coalition, which includes groups like Fairplay, 5Rights Foundation, and Accountable Tech, some of the bill’s sponsors criticized the tech industry for failing to cooperate with lawmakers’ efforts to protect children online.

Giliann Karon

New Mexico’s Top Prosecutor Blames Meta for Online Predators

Attorney General of New Mexico Raúl Torrez speaks during a rally organized by Accountable Tech and Design It For Us to hold tech and social media companies accountable for taking steps to protect kids and teens online on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on Governor Moore Signing Maryland Kids Code Into Law

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on Governor Wes Moore signing the Maryland Kids Code into law today.

Giliann Karon

State Bills Copy California Youth Online Privacy Law: Explained

Leading the charge is 5Rights U.S., which was instrumental in shaping California Age Appropriate Design Code. 5Rights is a member of the Kids Code Coalition, which includes tech critics and child-safety organizations such as Common Sense Media and Accountable Tech.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement on the Biden Administration’s New HIPAA Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement in response to a new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Giliann Karon

Meta’s New Default Limits on “Political Content” Weaken Free Expression Online

In response, on behalf of 200+ creators, Accountable Tech and GLAAD sent an open letter to Meta speaking out against the changes, which have several implications for free expression, especially during an election year in the US and globally.

Giliann Karon

Instagram’s shift away from political content raises questions about what counts as ‘political’

GLAAD, an LGBTQ advocacy group that organized the open letter from creators alongside Accountable Tech, called the decision to include social topics as part of political content an “appalling move.”

Giliann Karon

Creators to Meta: Adjust your political content policy!

In turn, more than 200 creators signed onto a letter — organized by Accountable Tech, a nonprofit big tech reform advocacy organization, and GLAAD, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization — sent to Meta that called on the tech giant to adjust its policy.

Giliann Karon

Hundreds of creators plead with Instagram to stop hiding political content

Now a letter – signed by more than 200 creators, and launched by LGBTQ organisation GLAAD and activists Accountable Tech – has urged Meta to reverse that change. Users should have to opt into the ban if they want to mute political content, they argue.

Giliann Karon

Creators Say Meta Shouldn’t Curb ‘Political Content’ In Policy Change Backlash

The letter, first reported on by the Washington Post, was organized by the groups Accountable Tech—a nonprofit that advocates for better regulation of Big Tech companies—and the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD, and includes the handles of more than 200 accounts, including popular accounts like the @feminist account, with which has 6 million followers on Instagram.

Giliann Karon

Content creators ask Meta to reverse politics limits on Instagram, Threads

The letter was organized by Accountable Tech, a nonprofit that says its mission is “to curb the societal harms driven by Big Tech’s toxic business practices,” and GLAAD, an LGBTQ rights organization. LGBTQ creators have been particularly concerned by the limitations because they were imposed as some states were placing restrictions on medical treatments for transgender youths.

Giliann Karon

200+ Creators Call on Instagram to Stop Limiting “Political Content” By Default

Accountable Tech and GLAAD organized an open letter signed by more than 200 creators with a collective following of more than 18 million Instagram users calling on Meta to give users the autonomy to adjust their algorithm by making the setting to limit political and social issues content opt-in rather than on-by-default.

Giliann Karon

Hundreds of creators sign letter slamming Meta’s limit on political content

Hundreds of creators, convened by GLAAD and Accountable Tech, have signed an open letter demanding that Instagram make the political content limit an opt-in feature, rather than on by default.

Giliann Karon

A new bill would try to make tools like Zoom and Teams work together securely

The bill has gained the backing of groups, including Accountable Tech, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, and encrypted email and cloud storage provider Proton. Digital rights activist Cory Doctorow also voiced his support, sharing in a statement through Wyden’s office that “Interoperability — the ability to plug something new into a technology, with or without permission from the manufacturer — is the key to defeating Big Tech.”

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Statement in Response to Oral Arguments in Murthy v. Missouri

Following today’s Supreme Court oral arguments on Murthy v. Missouri, Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement.

Giliann Karon

NEW: All Major Social Media Platforms Are Failing on Election Preparedness Policies

Accountable Tech scorecard comes as estimated two billion people worldwide head to the polls in 2024.

Giliann Karon

POLL: American Voters are Overwhelmingly Concerned about Big Tech’s Fight Against Regulation

New polling from Accountable Tech and Data For Progress reveals that voters are concerned about Big Tech’s work to overturn regulations; new report sheds light on the hypocrisy of Big Tech leaders.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech on New Big Tech “Accord” to Address AI Election Content

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Calls For Full Senate Vote on the Kids Online Safety Act

Accountable Tech Executive Director and Co-Founder Nicole Gill issued the following statement on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).

Giliann Karon

Deepfakes, Robocalls and AI, Oh My!

It's hard to know who to trust in politics these days. Can we even trust ourselves? Artificial intelligence has already made its presence felt in this year’s election, from AI-generated ads to fake Biden robocalls, and it can be very hard to tell what’s real. Nicole Gill founded Accountable Tech four years ago to monitor AI’s increasing impact on politics. She talks to CNN Political Director David Chalian about the biggest threats it presents, and how lawmakers are responding in real time.

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Launches Digital Ad Buy Calling on Snap to Leave NetChoice

Ahead of tomorrow’s Big Tech hearing on youth online safety, the ad buy targets Snap Inc. employees urging them to call on the company to stop funding lobbying efforts against legislation to protect kids online

Giliann Karon

Accountable Tech Asks Snap to Pull Funding from NetChoice following Company’s Endorsement of Kids Online Safety Act

Ahead of CEO Evan Spiegel's appearance before Senate Judiciary Committee next week, AT asks Snap to pull out of lobby group NetChoice, clarify position on children’s online safety

Giliann Karon

Google Tracking of Abortion Clinic Visits Spurs Complaint to FTC

The complaint was also signed by the nonprofit tech watchdog project Accountable Tech, which found in November 2023 that in eight experiments across the country, Google retained abortion seekers’ location data about half of the time. The findings, first reported by The Guardian, followed a similar Accountable Tech analysis in 2022 finding that Google was still retaining the data weeks after the announced policy change. The complaint says that practice puts Google afoul of its 2011 FTC Consent order agreeing to not misrepresent how it maintains and protects the privacy of data including physical location.

Giliann Karon

Google is Still Failing to Protect Privacy of Abortion Seekers

Data gathered by Accountable Tech in 7 states found that Google still collects and retains Location History data for visits to abortion clinics despite promising 18 months ago to “delete these entries”

Giliann Karon

Broad Group of Advocates and Experts File Amicus Briefs Countering Big Tech’s Attack on Landmark California Law Protecting Kids Online

Groups representing nearly 2 million educators, physicians, legal experts, tech whistleblowers, technologists, plus 21 bipartisan state Attorneys General, and the FTC file briefs urging Ninth Circuit to block Big Tech’s effort to weaponize First Amendment, overturn the nation’s first comprehensive children’s privacy law and imperil existing consumer safety laws

Giliann Karon

Google is rolling out new protections for our location data

“In July 2022, Google promised to delete sensitive location data to protect people seeking abortion care in a post-Roe America, but in the past year and a half, [it] has fallen short,” said Nicole Gill, executive director of the advocacy group Accountable Tech. “We are encouraged by their latest announcement to better protect the privacy of the millions of people who use their products every day.”

Giliann Karon

As advertisers flee Musk’s X, Democrats splurge on political ads

The platform “will continue playing a key role in shaping political discourse so long as it remains the platform of choice for reporters,” said Jesse Lehrich, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and co-founder of the left-leaning advocacy group Accountable Tech.

Giliann Karon