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Lex Zard

@lexzard.bsky.social
237 followers 259 following 89 posts

Policy Director @ Check My Ads Online advertising policy Aleksandre Zardiashvili, PhD Views my own

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Reposted by Lex Zard
852dude @852dude.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Bro. People are cool as fuck.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Same here
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Thank you for this piece. A common sense argument policymakers miss.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Bans regulate users, and taxes on ad-revenue target the wrong variable; a tax on harmful amplification would reach the producer's incentives instead, writes Mihaela Popa-Wyatt.
techpolicy.press
To Curb Online Harm to Children, Tax Amplification
As countries ban children from social media, a better solution may be to tax the algorithms that profit from harmful content instead, argues Mihaela Popa-Wyatt.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I ask for what you call "private data" as my full time job fellow traveler. Don't jump into conclusions too quick.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I just played in an amateur football tourney against a team with 36 yo player who played in the playoffs of the previous world cup. He was really good, and they beat us, but the kids I grew up with playing football would eat him alive. They never made it. A lot of success in life is simply random.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
BlueSky needs a translate function, contextual ads and fun content. Have not found a good way to follow the world cup here
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Reposted by Lex Zard
noyb – European Center for Digital Rights @noyb.eu · 23/06/2026
👉 In the Council’s latest position paper, the plan to abolish the cookie banner has been scrapped. This will likely cost European users a great deal of hassle, frustration and billions of clicks per year. noyb.eu/en/eu-member...
noyb.eu
EU Member States (and Google) suddenly want to keep cookie banners!
The EU Commission proposed a solution to get rid of cookie banners. Some Member States are now working against it, despite requests for simplification
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
As Zuboff keeps asking: "Who decides, who decides?"
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 06/06/2026
“The search market is also locked down by a cartel of Google and browser vendors, and anything that helps break that improves sovereignty by unlocking this market,” Berjon tells Cybernews. cybernews.com/tech/alterna...
cybernews.com
What is a truly sovereign European alternative to Google Search?
Qwant, Ecosia, Mojeek, and GOOD are marketed as sovereign European alternatives to Google Search, but some of them rely on Microsoft’s Bing search indexes.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
There are so many things wrong with this.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
What are the odds of prediction markets being a reason for the end of our civilisation?
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Prediction markets don't just reflect reality. They can shape it. Leah Ferentinos, Glenn Borsky and Sean Anthony Guillory call on the trust and safety community to engage with this fast-growing space.
buff.ly
Why Prediction Markets Need Trust and Safety Professionals
Leah Ferentinos, Glenn Borsky, and Sean Guillory say the trust and safety skillset is directly applicable and urgently needed in prediction markets.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are all planning huge layoffs. Amazon got $17.5B in federal tax breaks last year. Jeff Bezos is worth $270B. Meta saved $13.7B in taxes. Mark Zuckerberg is worth $210B. Microsoft saved $12.5B last year. Its CEO is worth $1.3B. This is what a rigged economy looks like.
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Irish Council for Civil Liberties 🏳️‍🌈 @iccl.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
This is very welcome news today that the Oireachtas Media Committee has recommended that recommender algorithms be disabled for children and turned off by default for adults. ICCL has long highlighted the dangers of algorithms and campaigned for them to be switched off.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
chiller @chiller.eurosky.social · 14/05/2026
Absolutely fuck you, Amazon. When I bought this device there was no mention of my purchase being time limited at your discretion. It does not require software updates, so the only "support" necessary is that kindle books are available in a format that can be sent to it. This shouldn't be legal.
Dear Customer,

Thank you for being a
longtime Kindle customer.
We're glad our devices have
served you well for as long as
they have. Starting May 20,
2026 - 14 to 18 years after
their initial launches - we are
discontinuing support for
Kindle devices released in
2012 or earlier. Here's what
this means for you:
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
This will be super informative workshop about AI in advertising, Iesha will present the findings of her research, and we hope to discuss policy implications.
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Xan López @xanlopez.net · 08/05/2026
The European Commission (@ec.europa.eu) has updated the top follow buttons on its web page. Mastodon and Bluesky are in, X is out. commission.europa.eu/index_en
Follow buttons on the European Commission's web page: Mastodon, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Facebook, Youtube, link to other channels.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Meta builds AI version of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with staff
ft.com
Meta builds AI version of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with staff
Chief executive is training and testing his own character as part of wider push to develop ‘personal superintelligence’
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Matt Steinglass @mattsteinglass.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Lovely piece by @simonvanteutem.bsky.social: “Strip away the misogyny, the supplements, the snarling podcasts, and what remains is a disarmingly simple promise: you can make something of yourself.” www.ft.com/content/a00c...
ft.com
The market failure beneath the manosphere
Confronting the misogyny and get-rich-quick schemes of influencers means talking openly to young men about success
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Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
We publish a major @citizenlab.ca report on Webloc, an ad-based mass surveillance system that monitors the movements and personal characteristics of hundreds of millions people globally based on data obtained from mobile apps and digital advertising. Customers include ICE, El Salvador, and Hungary.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Joint open letter with @noyb.eu and @iccl.bsky.social to the @ec.europa.eu to enforce the DMA as intended and end Meta’s non-compliance with the EU law. checkmyads.org/statement/jo...
checkmyads.org
Joint open letter to enforce the Digital Markets Act Against Meta
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Alderik @alderik.eurosky.social · 17/03/2026
“The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) in Sweden at a recent board meeting moved to exclude Meta as a member of IAB Sweden. The board claimed during a meeting that Meta is not doing enough to prevent fraudulent ads.” www.mediapost.com/publications...
mediapost.com
IAB Sweden Expels Meta: Warns Advertisers About Fraud, Brand Safety 03/13/2026
The Interactive Advertising Bureau in Sweden at a recent board meeting moved to exclude Meta as a member of IAB Sweden, claiming that Meta is not doing enough to prevent fraudulent ads. The move sets standards for other European bodies to demand higher advertising standards from major tech platforms, and highlights the need for increased protection against advertising scams.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.eurosky.social · 22/02/2026
"...für große Sprachmodelle wie ChatGPT brauche es inzwischen schon wieder zusätzliche Regeln" www.derstandard.at/consent/tcf/...
derstandard.at
VG Newsmedia soll Medien Abgeltung von Google, Meta und Co sichern
Digitalriesen entwickelten "zerstörerische Kraft": Rechtsexperte Thomas Höppner sieht "erhebliche Schwächen" in österreichischer Leistungsschutzregelung
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Who makes these decisions? Still, I don’t think she can win the Digital Omnibus. That would mean the EU digs its own grave.
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
"Just as the world watched courtrooms hold Big Tobacco and Big Pharma accountable, we will, for the first time, see Big Tech CEOs like Zuckerberg take the stand."
wired.com
Meta Goes to Trial in a New Mexico Child Safety Case. Here’s What’s at Stake
Attorney general Raúl Torrez is accusing the tech giant of failing to protect minors on Facebook and Instagram.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Yes, please.
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Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.eurosky.social · 28/01/2026
"we're now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features" - let's see. It would hardly be the first time Google has leveraged the CMA to obstruct genuine progress
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Europe wanting to become sovereign and competitive by leading quantum tech and chips and doing nothing about online ecosystem and its monetization is a headless chicken running fast imo #bruxconf2026 #sovereignty
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
In Brussels today? Let’s catch up.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Claire Atkin @catthekin.checkmyads.org · 25/01/2026
Adtech is almost everything you do online. They’re using Adtech to track and investigate. Every little thing you do — shopping, browsing, checking health information, connecting on social, ChatGPT — is on Adtech.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Alexios Mantzarlis @mantzarlis.com · 21/01/2026
New on @indicator.media: I found 4,431 new ads for AI nudifiers on Meta ran since my last audit in December. I'm losing my mind here.
indicator.media
Meta is *still* running thousands of ads for AI nudifiers
But hey, at least some of them appear to be scams that can’t be used to undress
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
This can really be a turning point if you know what I mean
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
That's a surprise! Just kidding - OpenAI announces it will start selling ads for the US users: openai.com/index/our-ap...
openai.com
Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT
OpenAI plans to test advertising in the U.S. for ChatGPT’s free and Go tiers to expand affordable access to AI worldwide, while protecting privacy, trust, and answer quality.
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Reposted by Lex Zard
Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.eurosky.social · 15/01/2026
"Open Letter Signed by Coalition of 28 Organizations Demands Apple, Google Remove Grok AI and X from App Stores" fairplayforkids.org/open-letter-...
fairplayforkids.org
Open Letter Signed by Coalition of 28 Organizations Demands Apple, Google Remove Grok AI and X from App Stores - Fairplay
Members of ParentsSOS, a coalition of 20 survivor families who have lost children to online harms, attended today’s hearing of the House Subcommittee on Commerce,anufacturing, and Trade on a compendiu...
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Could not agree more. Great leadership from @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
In a letter to the NYT on January 29, 1958, a NATO official wrote: "the organisation was founded to stop Communist aggression in Europe, without the resort to war...The continued Soviet insistence on the break-up of NATO is the surest measure of its success." web.archive.org/web/20160912...
web.archive.org
NATO History
NATO History
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
Its crazy that after all this people still don't understand that the Big Tech gave mandate to Trump to dissolve the EU. Thats his primary goal in international relations. Not joking.
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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 04/12/2025
"We are at war. In a hybrid conflict, the frontline is everywhere and everyone is on it." — @stollmeyer.bsky.social
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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
OTD in 1975 Hannah Arendt died. "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact & fiction and the distinction between true & false no longer exist".
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Mathias Vermeulen @mathver.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Translating the CJEU judgment in Amazon vs EC on art.40 DSA: (1) giving vetted researchers data isn’t a disproportionate privacy intrusion; (2) compliance may be costly but you can bear it; (3) if you have a better way to study systemic risks, we haven’t heard it. curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...
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Teresa Ribera @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu · 24/11/2025
The European digital rule-book is not up for negotiation. We, Europeans, have adopted our rules to ensure fair markets and to protect consumers rights while backing Europe’s digital future. It’s our duty to preserve our values and to defend our people. 🇪🇺
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BostonJoan 🏳️‍🌈 🦫 @bostonjoan.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
The reason why platform companies do make it hard to find account location information is not because they believe in privacy, it's so that advertisers do not know how much is lost to low-tier engagement. Growth, at all costs, means avoiding publishing basic metadata so that advertisers don't sue.
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 20/11/2025
I asked grok who was the better role model for humanity, Jesus Christ or Elon Musk. GUESS WHAT.
No prizes for guessing who grok chose sorry
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Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.eurosky.social · 19/11/2025
"In Spain, the law stands above any algorithm or big tech company. And whoever violates our rights will face the consequences,” he added."
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Spain punishes Meta for dispossessing Spanish consumers, and news media publishers with anticompetitive behaviour. www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2...
theolivepress.es
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta is hit with €479m compensation bill for unfair competition in Spain - Olive Press News Spain
TECH company Meta has been ordered to pay €479 million to Spanish digital media outlets for unfair competition practices and infringement of EU data
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Lukasz Olejnik @lukaszolejnik.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
A teddy bear equipped with AI was meant to be a child’s chat companion, but it eagerly jumped into topics like BDSM and “where to find knives.” The manufacturer stopped sales and cut off access. AI toys need strict filters, testing, and oversight or ot ends in a plush sewer. #AIact #GDPR
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
🇪🇺 🔥 Paper 🔥 🇪🇺 We can talk of AI, cloud, and chips, but the most imminent problem the EU faces is surveillance capitalism, at root of which are user agents making the Internet lawless - information ozone hole. We must fix this first! 👉 tinyurl.com/rvrknh94 #digitalsovereignty #eurostack #omnibus
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
An old barber in Georgia asked me today if I regretted moving to the Netherlands 8 years ago, now that Europe is falling. "Twilight of Europe", he said, patronising me. It is so sad to see people brainwashed like that by all the crap in the media.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
There is no way this can pass the DSA test. The DSA must be enforced, fast. This information violence can not continue. I wrote a bit about Elon's agenda here: www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr...
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