Platforms & Communities Reporter, The Verge
Mia Sato is a reporter at The Verge covering tech companies, platforms, and users. Since joining The Verge in 2021, she’s reported on the war in Ukraine and the spread of propaganda on TikTok; Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter; and how tech platforms and digital publishers are using artificial intelligence tools.
Sato has written about tech platforms and communities since 2019. Before joining Vox Media she was a reporter at MIT Technology Review, where she covered the intersection of technology and the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to that she served as the audience engagement editor at The Markup. As a freelance reporter, she’s written about the subversive Hmong radio shows hosted on conference call software, online knitting activism, and the teens running businesses in Instagram comment sections. Her work has appeared in outlets like The New Republic, The Appeal, and Chicago Magazine. She is based in Brooklyn.
Got a tip? Contact her at [email protected] or email for her Signal number.
Some of the biggest players in the music industry are suing generative AI music startups Suno and Udio for copyright infringement. In the lawsuits, plaintiffs include examples of AI songs that sound a lot like human artists — and some are pretty blatant.
TikTok, like other social platforms, has become part of the political fabric: politicians campaign on TikTok and groups attempt to spread propaganda via influence campaigns.
In the lead up to the UK general election, TikTok is surfacing videos from journalists and fact checkers. It’s also sharing tips for spotting fake news and definitions for things like disinformation.
Today the company rolled out an expanded takedown requests process for AI content following its initial announcement back in November.
But requesting removal doesn’t guarantee YouTube will comply. The company says it will consider things like whether the content could be mistaken as real and whether it’s parody or satire.
In a statement published yesterday, Stanford University denied it was shuttering the prominent research center studying abuse and disinformation online. In recent months, key staff have departed and others have been told to look for new jobs.
The Internet Observatory is, however, looking for money: Stanford says “founding grants will soon be exhausted” as the center moves under new leadership.
A deep dive by Rolling Stone tracked the deaths of children who died after taking fake drugs they bought on the app. Parents and law enforcement officials blame, in part, the disappearing messages feature that made Snapchat popular in the first place.
[Rolling Stone]