Peter A. McKay



An uphill battle against online propaganda

From WaPo, new detail about how the U.S. and Europe are combating a nettlesome challenge

Below is the latest edition of #w3w, my free newsletter about decentralization. If you would like to receive it in your inbox every Sunday, please subscribe here.

Two Washington Post tech stories last week are worth highighting for anyone concerned about the effect of political disinformation on democracy. Both articles provide insight into the ad-hoc methods Western governments are employing against the problem right now, for better or worse.

Tech beat writer Drew Harwell reports that TikTok made an extraordinary offer to the American government in 2022 to let federal officials pick TikTok's U.S. board of directors, monitor its source code, and have access to a "kill switch" that could shut the service down at any time.

Harwell reports the Biden administration declined the offer, ultimately choosing instead to push ahead with a new law that would force a sale of TikTok outright, or else ban it in the U.S. altogether.

Ostensibly, the administration is concerned that TikTok is Chinese-owned, thus could be used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on or unduly influence American society. On the other hand, a potential ban could run afoul of the First Amendment.

Separately, Paris-based columnist Lee Hockstader says Russia is brazenly spreading disinformation online to influence next month's European Union Parliament elections. The propaganda campaign is likely a harbinger of what U.S. users will see heading into November's presidential election here, Hockstader says.

On to the rest of the week's headlines, none of them nearly so apocalyptic as the above. I promise...

Week in Review: May 26 to June 1, 2024

  • President Biden vetoed legislation that would have changed a controversial accounting rule affecting financial firms that hold crypto tokens for customers. But the industry still holds hope for passage of a separate bill nicknamed FIT21 that would clarify the roles of different federal agencies in regulating crypto. The Block's Elizabeth Napolitano reports that Biden’s re-election campaign has begun reaching out to industry players over the past two weeks for guidance on crypto policy.
  • ETF updates: BlackRock surpassed rival Grayscale as issuer of the most popular exchange-traded fund on bitcoin, measured by assets under management. Meanwhile, BlackRock is also among a raft of Wall Street firms jockeying to offer spot ETFs on ether as well, after U.S. regulators recently okayed exchanges to list such funds. One big player dropped out of that race, however: Cathie Woods' Ark Investment Management.
  • Gemini announced Wednesday that users of its crypto lending accounts have received all their digital assets back in-kind as part of a settlement with bankrupt partner Genesis. The payments represent a significant milestone in one of the most contentious and closely watched cases from the "crypto winter" that erupted in late 2022. (CoinDesk)
  • Ryan Salame, the former chief of FTX's Bahamas unit, was sentenced by a federal judge in New York to 7-1/2 years in prison. He is the first of exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's lieutenants to get jail time in connection with FTX's collapse in late 2022. (Bloomberg)
  • MoonPay launched a new platform to help consumer-facing brands simplify the web3 experience for their customers. Gucci, Puma, and Mastercard are among the early users of the new platform. (The Block)
  • Robinhood announced the release of a new application programming interface (API) that will allow U.S. crypto traders to set up automated strategies. (Cointelegraph)
  • A federal judge in Utah dismissed a civil enforcement case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against the crypto miner DEBT Box and ordered the regulator to pay $1.8 million in DEBT Box's legal fees. Ouch. (Decrypt)
  • Eureka? Researchers have unlocked a $3 million crypto wallet that had been dormant for 11 years by exploiting a bug in an old version of a password manager. (Wired)

Odds & Ends

  • The sea lion population at Pier 39 on San Francisco’s northern edge just set a new record. The pier's harbor master says the animals were initially drawn to a large school of anchovies near the Golden Gate Bridge, though it is unclear what has kept them around. (New York Times)
  • After a three-year research project, Major League Baseball has incorporated the performance of Negro League players from the 1920s through the 1940s into the sport's statistical canon. As a result, legendary Negro League catcher Bob Gibson became the new holder of several career and single-season MLB records previously held by Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and Barry Bonds. Wow. (Associated Press)
  • A judge in Washtenaw County, Mich., was shocked to see a man with a suspended driver's license join a court Zoom call while driving a car. 🤦‍♀️ (CBS News)

That's it for now. Thanks for reading the newsletter today! Again, if you want to receive #w3w in your inbox every Sunday, subscribe here.

Best wishes for a healthy and productive week ahead.