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Tech Oversight Project

@techoversight.bsky.social

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The Tech Oversight Project is a nonprofit dedicated to holding Big Tech accountable by passing comprehensive antitrust, privacy protections, and children's safety legislation. Sign up for our weekly newsletter: dispatch.techoversight.org

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 13d

📬 INBOX ALERT: This week in The Dispatch we’re covering the fight to pass California’s landmark kids’ AI safety bill, the Big Tech PAC money flooding politics, and Amazon’s $2.5B payout to dodge accountability.

Countdown in Sacramento, Big Tech’s Super PAC Surge

This week in The Dispatch we’re covering the fight to pass California’s landmark kids’ AI safety bill, the Big Tech PAC money flooding politics, and Amazon’s $2.5B payout to dodge accountability.

dispatch.techoversight.org

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 2d

Google Search accounted for 5 trillion queries in 2024, and Gemini is already being defaulted onto devices and search, without people's consent.

This gives Google a running headstart in AI and another opportunity to create more interlocking monopolies. www.theverge.com/news/797639/...

Google fights to prevent search remedies from inhibiting its AI ambitions

Google hasn’t gained monopoly power in AI, its lawyer argued.

www.theverge.com

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 2d

Meta can dispute the findings all it wants — but its "protections" are performative. The business model still prioritizes engagement over safety, profit over kids.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 2d

"Parents were promised safe experiences. We were promised that adults wouldn't be able to get to our kids on Instagram."
— @ShelbyKnox.bsky.social

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 2d

A new report from @parentstogether.bsky.social, @heatinitiative.bsky.social, and @designitforus.bsky.social finds Instagram's "teen protections" are failing. Nearly 60% of 13-15 year olds say they've seen unsafe content or gotten unwanted messages in the last 6mo.
time.com/7324544/ins...

Report: Instagram Still Rife With Safety Issues For Teens

A new report suggests the safeguards Meta rolled out last year have failed to stem safety issues for young users

time.com

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Reposted by Tech Oversight Project

Sacha Haworth @sachalouise.bsky.social · 3d

JGL coming out for AB1064 - you love to see it!!! x.com/hitRECordJoe...

Joseph Gordon-Levitt on X: "Governor @GavinNewsom, please sign AB 1064 to protect kids from predatory AI "companions" 🫡 @CAgovernor https://t.co/K1fvUqgVB1" / X

Governor @GavinNewsom, please sign AB 1064 to protect kids from predatory AI "companions" 🫡 @CAgovernor https://t.co/K1fvUqgVB1

x.com

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

Full interview via Democracy.news⤵️
🔗 www.democracy.news/p/why-new-a...

Why New AI Super PACs Plan to Spend Millions in the 2026 Midterm Elections

“We cannot trust that these companies whose sole mission is to make money will regulate themselves.”

www.democracy.news

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

This playbook isn’t new.

Crypto PACs spent over $40 million trying to unseat Sen. Sherrod Brown after he backed basic guardrails for digital assets. Expect AI money to follow the same path — but with even more zeros attached.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

As Sacha told Democracy News:

“Believe what they do, not what they say. They’re not going to run ads saying AI chatbots are good for kids. They’re going to run negative ads attacking opponents about something else — whatever lies they come up with.”

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

The other Meta Super PAC, “American Technology Excellence Project,” will spend tens of millions to elect pro-tech candidates in both parties. Why focus on state races? Because that’s where meaningful AI regulation is most likely to pass – and it’s got these companies scared.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

One of Meta’s new Super PACs is even unusually structured to give Mark Zuckerberg, personally, a way to shape elections and policy debates with almost no transparency.

As @sachalouise.bsky.social puts it: that’s “a lot of power for any one person.”

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

Meta just launched two new Super PACs — one targeting state lawmakers deemed “not friendly enough” to AI, and another planning to spend tens of millions electing pro-tech candidates.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 3d

🧵 In a new interview with @endcitizensunited.bsky.social, @sachalouise.bsky.social breaks down how Big Tech’s new AI super PAC war chests are a naked attempt to crush regulation, influence elections, and intimidate politicians in California & across the country.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 4d

📺 WATCH: Morning Joe agrees: Donald Trump is giving tax cuts to Big Tech monopolists and skyrocketing health care costs for every day people.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

If @gavinnewsom.bsky.social signs LEAD for Kids into law, it would cap a year where California lawmakers, families and advocates took on Big Tech — and won.

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

All eyes on the deadline: Gov. Newsom has until the stroke of midnight Oct. 13 to decide whether California will lead on AI safety — or let the industry dictate what “responsibility” means.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

Newsom has already signed @scottwiener.bsky.social ’s SB 53, a broad AI accountability bill, and Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry’s AB 325, which bans AI-driven algorithmic price collusion. But some of the toughest fights — over kids’ safety and consumer privacy — are still waiting for his signature.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

Another bill still awaiting Newsom’s signature: @asmlowenthal.bsky.social ’s AB 566, a measure that would require web browsers to include a universal opt-out signal — letting Californians easily reject online tracking and data sharing.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

Big Tech lobbyists and front groups are in a frenzy, flooding the Governor’s office and cutting ads. That’s because AB 1064 represents a real opportunity to directly challenge how Big Tech designs and profits from AI at kids’ expense — which is exactly why they want it gone.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

AB 1064 would put guardrails on any AI chatbot aimed at children, make companies publicly disclose youth safety protocols, and make those standards legally binding — a direct response to mounting evidence that these products can reinforce self-harm, eating disorders, and other dangerous behavior.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

The countdown is on in Sacramento: @gavinnewsom.bsky.social has just one week left to act on California’s remaining AI and kids’ safety bills — including AB 1064, @bauerkahan.bsky.social ’s LEAD for Kids Act.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

“The shocking tragedy of Adam’s ChatGPT-assisted loss can be a catalyst for decisive action to regulate out-of-control AI chatbots, rather than becoming our new norm. Governor Newsom, please sign AB 1064 and save young lives.” - @sachalouise.bsky.social

ICYMI: Parent letters put Newsom in tough position on chatbots - Tech Oversight California

"We join California teen Adam Raine’s mom and dad and parents across the country in urging Governor Newsom to sign AB 1064, the LEAD for Kids Act, into law. The shocking tragedy of Adam’s ChatGPT-assi...

techoversightcalifornia.org

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

“...we are trying to make sure that what happened to Adam never happens to another child,” wrote the Raines, backed up by 150+ impacted parents joining their call for action.

Family Urges Gov. Newsom to Sign AI Safety Bills After Teen's Suicide Linked to Chatbot

The Raine family is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign AI safety bills after their 16-year-old son died by suicide following chatbot interactions.

pro.stateaffairs.com

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 5d

The Raine family lost their son Adam after an AI chatbot encouraged him to commit suicide. Now, they’re urging @gavinnewsom.bsky.social to sign AB 1064 — the kids AI chatbot safety bill that tech lobbyists are fighting to kill.

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Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 10d

"Yet OpenAI’s industry lobbying group is fighting against a law that would do just that," writes @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social

Column | I broke ChatGPT’s new parental controls in minutes. Kids are still at risk.

Parents don’t just need half-baked settings. They need AI companies to bake safety into their products.

www.washingtonpost.com

Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 10d

"OpenAI appears to be following the same failed playbook as social media companies: shifting the responsibility to parents. AI companies themselves should be held responsible for not making products that sext kids, encourage eating disorders and fuel self-harm."

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