Ben Shepard
Ben Shepard

Science & Society News

Learn what is happening inside the Duke Initiative for Science & Society. Stay up-to-date on our research, events, and student activities.

Fri, Sep 20

FTC: Social media and video streaming companies violate user privacy on ‘vast’ scale

FTC: Social media and video streaming companies violate user privacy on ‘vast’ scale

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report released Thursday asserts that large social media and video streaming companies are essentially maintaining an all-seeing surveillance apparatus that spies on consumers with few internal controls to regulate how users and non-users’ data is collected, stored and sold.

The report is based on FTC orders for information sent to nine platforms including Meta, Amazon, X, Snap, YouTube and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok.

The orders were sent in 2020 and reflect the companies’ practices between 2019 and 2020 — but the agency said many of the behaviors it covered remain in use today.

The information the FTC collected from the companies is being released now in part because Congress is currently considering legislation — known as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens’ Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA 2.0) — to better regulate the companies, the report said

Wed, Sep 18

With TV Drug Ads, What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get

Triumphant music plays as cancer patients go camping, do some gardening, and watch fireworks in ads for Opdivo+Yervoy, a combination of immunotherapies to treat metastatic melanoma and lung cancer. Ads for Skyrizi, a medicine to treat plaque psoriasis and other illnesses, show patients snorkeling and riding bikes — flashing their rash-free elbows. People with Type 2 diabetes dance and sing around their office carrels, tipping their hats to Jardiance. Drugs now come with celebrity endorsements: Wouldn’t you want the migraine treatment endorsed by Lady Gaga, Nurtec ODT?

Drug ads have been ubiquitous on TV since the late 1990s and have spilled onto the internet and social media. The United States and New Zealand are the only countries that legally allow direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. (The European Union was furious when Lady Gaga’s Instagram post promoting the migraine drug was visible on the continent, noting it flagrantly violated its ban on direct-to-consumer advertising.)

 

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This story also ran on Bloomberg. It can be republished for free

Mon, Sep 16

LISTEN: The Coalition for Health AI Wants Local Governance and National Standards for Health AI

In this week’s episode of “Podnosis,” we dive into a discussion with two founders of the Coalition for Health AI (CHAI). They share why both local providers and the federal government must play a role in overseeing AI in healthcare.

Brian Anderson, M.D., CEO of CHAI, and Michael Pencina, Ph.D., COO of CHAI and Director of Duke AI Health, tackle the misconception that legacy tech giants can stifle startup competitors through the assurance lab model. They also share updates on the federal AI assurance lab network, revealed first to Fierce Healthcare.

Mon, Sep 09

EPA Thought Industry-Funded Scientists Could Support Its Conclusion That a Long-Regulated Pesticide Is Not a Cancer Risk

The consultants, who worked for Dow, the pesticide manufacturer, help corporate interests defend their products against environmental and health regulations.

 

Fri, Sep 06

Duke University Receives $30 Million To Hire For AI, Research

This is part of a broader faculty hiring initiative at Duke focused on science and technology.