✍️ New Journalism Jobs and Big Tech's Privacy Policies ✍️ — April 3
Big Tech privacy policy mini review; Plus hundreds of new journalism jobs in hundreds of newsrooms in the U.S., UK, Canada and Europe
Hello folks and a happy Monday! After last week's newsletter on whether TikTok will be banned, I was left curious as to whether Western governments are using TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, as a political pawn in their cyber war against the Chinese Communist Party. Or is TikTok alone as it pertains to data collection and vulnerability to a national government? I think I already know the answer.
So today we’re going to take a look at the privacy policies of the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter and some of the other largest social media and messaging firms.
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Check out Friday's newsletter where we featured 30 upcoming journalism awards, conferences, events and fellowship deadlines. And lastly take a look at our featured jobs at RadioFreeEurope and Politico Europe. Speak to you again on Friday!
Job Corner
🚨 Featured Postings 🚨
🇪🇺🇬🇧🇪🇺
RadioFreeEurope
Location: Prague, Czechia
Contract: Full-Time
Requirements: Ideally 5+ years’ experience in digital journalism and 3+ years in audience development, engagement and measurement; Expertise in best practices, rules, and industry standards in data analytics; Experience with data visualization tools; Familiarity with either conducting user research and market research, or acting on such insights; Strong management, project management, communication, and presentation skills; Proficiency in English (other relevant languages preferred).
Deadline: Rolling
Location: Prague, Czechia
Contract: Full-Time
Requirements: Ideally 7+ years’ experience in digital journalism and 3+ years of product management experience; Familiarity with best practices, rules, and industry standards in agile product management, iterative development processes and design thinking; Proven ability to launch and develop news products, strong knowledge of digital news production and distribution; Strong knowledge of editorial SEO and how to use data to make informed publishing decisions; Proficiency in English (other relevant target region languages preferred).
Deadline: Rolling
Politico Europe
Location: London, UK
Contract: Full-Time
Requirements: 3+ years’ experience working in an audio team producing podcasts or some other broadcast equivalent; Skilled audio editor (Adobe audition or equivalent); Experience recording and setting up technical equipment; Strong communication written and oral; Ability to work under pressure and on deadline; A keen interest and knowledge in politics — UK but also Europe and the US
Deadline: Rolling
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Contract: Full-Time
Requirements: 5+ years’ experience working in an audio team; Skilled audio editor (Adobe audition or equivalent); Experience recording and setting up technical equipment; Strong communication written and oral; Ability to work under pressure and on deadline; A keen interest and knowledge of European politics
Deadline: Rolling
Journalist, Politics and Influence
Location: Paris, France
Contract: Full-Time
Requirements: 5-10 years’ experience on political, public action, economics/finance or related subjects; Good knowledge of political ecosystem and public affairs; Ability to develop network of sources and reveal proprietary information; Autonomy and sense of initiative; strong team spirit and taste for entrepreneurial adventure; The journalist will be required to collaborate with teams around Europe; French-speaking with conversational English to interact with international editorial staff.
Deadline: Rolling
Preview of New Jobs On The Board
Big Tech and Big Government Have Failed
The world’s eyes are on TikTok to prove it hasn't abused its users’ data and does not, and will not, share data with the Chinese Communist Party. Of course, having personal data in the hands of a nefarious foreign government is incredibly concerning. But if we zoom out, we have a litany of examples of U.S.-owned companies, and even the U.S. and UK governments, that have used and abused user data in the past.
In recent years, some of the largest fines and settlements for data privacy breaches have included Meta’s $725m to settle the class action lawsuit against Facebook for “losing control” of user data relating to its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and €405m issued to Instagram over how the platform handles children’s data; Google’s $391.5m for illegally tracking its users’ location; and $150m to Twitter for collecting users’ email addresses and phone numbers for security reasons and then using it to target them with ads.
And remember, it was only in 2013 that Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the U.S. government’s ability to access data held by the likes of Google, Facebook, Apple and many other internet giants, without the knowledge or consent of the actual users. They didn’t stop there and went on to spy on 193 countries around the world. Today there are still major concerns over how the NSA operates “with no judicial and limited congressional oversight despite its potential to capture Americans’ communications.” GCHQ — the UK’s NSA equivalent — was found guilty for violating human rights for bulk data collection as recently as 2021.
Time after time — and tens of millions of dollars each year in lobbying — Big Tech says it will do better, but it perennially fails to protect its users because it essentially doesn't have to. Despite the billions in fines racked up, those numbers represent a small percentage of the amount of profit that's actually made, and clearly isn't enough of a deterrent.
Perhaps it's on us as users to know what we're signing up for, before we skip to the bottom to accept everything in the privacy policy as fast as we can. But I don’t think that’s fair because, as we'll learn in more detail in the next section, these mini novels can often take more than an hour to read through and require a university-level reading comprehension to understand.
The good news is that the tide appears to finally be turning and there is hope that governments have realized that the idea of tech firms self-regulating to mitigate, not to mention racist and sexist content and fraudulent ads, simply hasn’t worked. In the UK, the government is drafting legislation to allow communications regulator Ofcom to fine companies up to 10 percent of annual revenue, and even block services, if they fail to adhere to new requirements. The EU has already issued some of the largest fines because of breaches to its GDPR. In the U.S., however, things have been far harder and slower.
Daniel’s Mini Privacy Policy Review
The case of TikTok largely focuses on two issues: data collection and sharing data with the government. Mental health is of course a serious issue and I’m glad it’s garnering more attention, however I don’t believe it’s central to this particular case.
For my mini review, I chose seven of the largest social media and messaging firms. I specifically looked at the length of each privacy policy, the time it takes to read each document and the minimum age to use each app. All seven firms, in one way or another, are legally obliged to comply with local law when it comes to sharing user data. That of course is incredibly vague, which according to VPN Overview makes it hard to determine what will happen to our data, and could save a company from legal prosecution if data is leaked.
Below is a breakdown of what I found, based on the U.S. version of each policy:
Facebook/Instagram — Privacy policy length: 11,428 words; Reading time: ~88 minutes; Minimum user age: 13.
Google/YouTube — Privacy policy length: 5,317 words; Reading time: ~41 minutes; Minimum user age: 13 (For YouTube, if a parent approves, you can be under 13).
Telegram — Privacy policy length: 4,473; Reading time: ~34 minutes; Minimum user age: 16.
TikTok — Privacy policy length: 4,438 words; Reading time: ~34 minutes; Minimum user age: 13 (except in South Korea and Indonesia - 14).
WhatApp — Privacy policy length: 3,972 words; Reading time: ~31 minutes; Minimum user age: 13 (except in the European Economic Area - 16).
Snapchat — Privacy policy length: 3,468; Reading time: ~27 minutes; Minimum user age: 13.
Twitter — Privacy policy length: 2,923 words; Reading time: ~23 minutes; Minimum user age: 13.
The first thing that stood out to me was the sheer length of the policies. They ranged from 2,923 to 11,428 words, which according to this speech-to-minutes calculator, would take the average person between 23-88 minutes to read.
It's important to note that those times are to read the documents, and don't take into account actual understanding. By the time I read through the WhatsApp policy and Googled (how ironic) what a bunch of the industry jargon actually meant, it was well over an hour. So much for my journalism degree...
Perhaps more alarming is the fact that the minimum age to use these apps without parental approval ranged from 13 to 16. There is a serious disconnect here if one must be at least 18 years old to understand what they’re accepting. At best it’s incredibly unethical, and at worst it’s bordering illegal. The problem is compounded by the fact that few apps, if any, require any rigorous proof of age to create an account.
I’m aware that data and privacy is incredibly important and complex, and thus firms should be allowed the time and space to explain clearly how our personal data is collected, where it goes and why it’s needed in the first place. But that’s not what happens.
Similar to how we shouldn’t be expected to know every single ingredient that goes into our food, the food industry is forced to label clearly the nutritional value, or lack of value, of each item. While it won’t be easy to force this upon Big Tech, it will be a step in the right direction toward a safer and more ethical internet.
The next burning question I have is how to, if even possible, scrub yourself from the internet in order to start again. Stay tuned…