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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
Yes please. Thoughtfully and unobtrusively. Demonstrate that ads can be done with grace.
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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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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
As someone who worked at a anti money laundering supervision extraterritorial application of OFAC rules always amazed me. I think this CJEU judgment makes a lot of sense at least for legal nerds like myself.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I’m chronicling here the process of how Europe gave away sovereignty on the online space in early 1990s papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
<b>Internet Ozone Layer:</b> A Vision for Reclaiming Human Freedom in Information Civilization
In the 1990s, the United States and the European Union created the "ozone hole" in the global information environment by allowing the governance of th
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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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Reposted by Lex Zard
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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Reposted by Lex Zard
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 · 17/04/2026
I may be behind, but whats the model, is there an ios app I can download?
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Such a slippery slope this digital sovereignty
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Definitely. Wrote my PhD about that www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/...
universiteitleiden.nl
Power and dignity: the ends of online behavioral advertising in the European Union
On 7 May, Aleksandre Zardiashvili defended the thesis 'Power and dignity: the ends of online behavioral advertising in the European Union'. The doctoral research was supervised by Bart Custers and Sim...
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
They’re just trying to make it shitty. www.forbrukerradet.no/breakingfree/
forbrukerradet.no
Breaking Free
In the new report Breaking Free: Pathways to a fair technological future, the Norwegian Consumer Council has delved into enshittification and how to resist it.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I'd like to see this in Georgia soon 🇬🇪
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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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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
This is great. Legal intrusive thought though: do they have IP right from Dr. Dre for this 🙈
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Reposted by Lex Zard
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 · 10/04/2026
Reviewed this in detail. Incredible writing, but my concerns were confirmed. The article is a good description of the American scholarly view of EU law, but not of EU law itself. The article's pressure is also misplaced. If you share your e-mail in PM, I'm happy to share more detailed feedback.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
checkmyads.org/statement/jo...
checkmyads.org
Joint open letter to enforce the Digital Markets Act Against Meta
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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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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
A motivator we didn’t know we needed
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Ahh… I’m not arguing against that point. It’s too late in Europe. This looks like an amazing paper and I’m curious to read it. Huge respect to the author and aligned on the objective.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Same way money laundering is not born out of banking regulations. The source of the problem is not the rule, but an action that breaks it.
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Fantastic! Did not get it from the title and the abstract. I'm looking forward to reading it. Congrats! If interested in another take: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
<b>Internet Ozone Layer:</b> A Vision for Reclaiming Human Freedom in Information Civilization
In the 1990s, the United States and the European Union created the "ozone hole" in the global information environment by allowing the governance of th
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Curious to read, but a bit suspicious of framing. Cookie banners being born out of EU regulations is a classic industry spin, and it’s unfortunate to also find it here. Many EU scholars like myself think of cookie banners as malicious compliance, most of which are already banned. Will read closely
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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
So strange
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Reposted by Lex Zard
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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Reposted by Lex Zard
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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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Great that the Dutch government is taking action. Yet, we can’t deal with surveillance capitalism by only addressing the symptoms, like addictive algorithms. We must regulate the business model: break big tech and regulate adtech.
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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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Lex Zard @lexzard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Almost there!
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