Item No. 1 on President-elect Joe Biden's day-one tech agenda, controlling the flood of misinformation online, offers no fast fixes — but other tech issues facing the new administration hold out opportunities for quick action and concrete progress.
What to watch: Closing the digital divide will be a high priority, as the pandemic has exposed how many Americans still lack reliable in-home internet connections and the devices needed to work and learn remotely.
Combatting the global "infodemic" of harmful information online requires structural changes in how states exercise power over tech giants, a new report this month from an international human rights coalition argues.
Driving the news: The report, from the Forum on Information and Democracy's Working Group on Infodemics, recommends a broad new set of regulations to govern global digital platforms.
IBM last month offered a public apology to Lynn Conway, a pioneering computer scientist whom the company fired in 1968 when it learned of her gender transition.
The big picture: Conway broke new ground in both tech and transgender rights, and IBM's apology, first reported in Forbes, came with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Snapchat Monday launched Spotlight, a video tab within its app that, like TikTok, distributes videos based more on how popular they are than on who created them.
Of note: In an effort to lure users to try the new feature, Snapchat says it will give away $1 million total to the creators of the top-performing videos on Spotlight each day for the remainder of 2020, and potentially beyond.
