Hillicon Valley — Advocacy groups take a stand against TikTok

View in your browser OVERNIGHT POLICY: Hillicon Valley Advocacy groups take a stand against TikTok © Getty Images Today is Monday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup. Tech advocacy groups have long been working to hold social media giants accountable for the spread of hate speech and extremism. Now, a coalition of groups are joining together to set their sights on TikTok.  The Biden administration has taken steps to prioritize cybersecurity over the past week. President Biden’s meeting with top tech CEOs and other key stakeholders at the White House seems to have kickstarted the conversation about how the private sector can strengthen cybersecurity, while the administration on Monday announced a new tech workforce program.  Follow The Hill’s cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@millsrodrigo) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar), for more coverage. Let’s jump in. Human rights groups press TikTok on hate speech © Getty A coalition of tech advocacy and human rights groups is urging TikTok to crack down on the spread of hate speech and extremism after a recent report detailed the reach of such content on the platform.  The top line: More than a dozen groups signed on to a letter sent to top TikTok executives Monday, calling for the platform take “substantive action” against hate speech and extremism, citing a report released by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) last week that outlined the breadth of the harmful content on the video-sharing app.  “We’ve already seen countless examples of online hate translating to offline violence, both in the United States and around the globe, often with deadly consequences. It’s because of this dangerous reality that TikTok has a responsibility to act to address gaps in your content moderation policies and boost transparency more widely for the public and researchers. For some populations around the world, this is a matter of life and death,” the groups wrote. The background: The report is based on three months of research on a sample of 1,030 videos from 491 accounts posted to TikTok. To conduct the research, ISD generated a list of 157 keywords associated with extremist individuals, groups, ideologies and related incidents or events. After finding such accounts typically follow or are allowed by other accounts with shared ideological interests, ISD used a “snowball methodology” to expand the sample.  Researchers identified 312 videos — 30 percent of the full sample reviewed — promoting white supremacy. They also reported 246 videos — 24 percent of the sample — featured support for an extremist or terrorist individual or organization.  What’s next: UltraViolet, which spearheaded the letter, and the 19 other signatories urged TikTok to put in place recommendations included in ISD’s report. Read more here.  Biden rallies the cyber troops © Getty Images A meeting between President Biden and more than two dozen key leaders from a variety of industries this week has increased momentum for plans to quickly address rising cyber threats. Top companies involved: Leaders from the fields of tech, energy, insurance and education attended the event Wednesday, including the CEOs of Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, JPMorgan and Bank of America. For the Biden administration, the summit also served to highlight the federal government's efforts to tackle cybersecurity challenges following months of massive attacks on public and private groups that have pinched key industries while laying bare the scourge of cybercrime. Industry leaders weigh in: “Look, there is nothing like a summit convened by the president to focus everyone’s minds, and I think that is the benefit of doing something like this,” Chris Padilla, the vice president of government and regulatory affairs at IBM who attended the meeting, told The Hill. “It elevates importance, it commits very senior-level people to follow up and do something, and good for them for doing it,” he said. Read more about the meeting here. U.S. DIGITAL CORPS, STEP RIGHT UP The Biden administration on Monday announced it was establishing a program to recruit and train people to serve in digital positions within the federal government and address issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and cybersecurity concerns.  The U.S. Digital Corps will launch later this year as a two-year fellowship for 30 initial participants. Its goal is to recruit people already working in technology fields such as cybersecurity and data science to work for the federal government.  The program will allow participants to work at agencies during the two years, with initial host agencies including the General Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The agencies are aiming to prioritize diversity in selecting participants, committing to build a group that is representative of the larger nation in terms of race, gender and ethnicity.  Read more about the new fellowship here. BERENSON BANNED Twitter has banned conservative author Alex Berenson due to violations of its COVID-19 misinformation rules, the social media giant confirmed on Sunday.  “The account was permanently suspended for repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.  Berenson said in a Substack post on Saturday that he had been banned from Twitter. Read more here.  BITS AND PIECES An op-ed to chew on: Congress's once-in-a-generation opportunity to support cleantech innovation Lighter click: the age-old question Notable links from around the web: How Police Laid Down A Geofence Dragnet For Kenosha Protestors (The Verge/Russell Brandom) The first national cyber director has big plans to toughen U.S. digital defenses (Politico/Eric Geller)  There’s no escape from Facebook, even if you don’t use it (Washington Post/Geoffrey Fowler) For the crypto world, bipartisan infrastructure package brings a 'political awakening' (CNN/Rachel Janfaza)  One last thing: Look out for a crypto comeback The debate over regulating cryptocurrency is set to heat up when lawmakers reconvene in Washington, as industry leaders and members of both parties double down on their objections to the current language in the bipartisan infrastructure bill. And beyond revising the infrastructure provision after failed efforts, further attempts to regulate cryptocurrency may bring together unlikely allies in Congress — and draw battle lines within parties. “Rather than trying to ignore or suppress cryptocurrency and related technologies, regulators and legislators alike need to recognize that open, public networks are here to stay. Our laws and regulations must adapt to these developments,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) said in a statement Thursday. Read more here.  That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s technology and cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Tuesday. Sign Up for Hillicon Valley Forward Hillicon Valley Privacy Policy  |   Manage Subscriptions  |   Unsubscribe Email to a friend  |   Sign Up for Other Newsletters The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 © 1998 - 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

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