Breaking Open Tech’s Black Box

Yaёl Eisenstat is a Vice President at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), where she heads the Center for Technology and Society. Shutterstock As the urgency increases to rein in “big tech,” more attention is turning to the need for transparency as a starting point. For years, I have voiced serious concerns about the lack of accountability in the social media industry and called for transparency as a necessary first step to breaking open the “black box.” We need federal transparency legislation not just for transparency’s sake, but as a key ingredient to solving some of the very real problems of our current online ecosystem. Today, mainstream digital platforms hold immense power over every aspect of our lives: they influence the news we consume, the information we pursue, the connections we make, the narratives we believe, and even the reach of our own voices. This power is not only concentrated within a handful of dominant companies but also rests in the hands of select decision-makers within those companies.  No other industry operates under as much secrecy and autonomy as “big tech.” The lack of transparency surrounding tech company operations is truly unprecedented, and frankly unacceptable. Platforms working inside a “black box” ultimately leave users in the dark about the processes and business decisions that directly impact their lives.  For far too long, social media companies have operated largely unchecked, implementing monetization policies, prioritizing certain political and influential users, and leveraging AI-powered systems without any real accountability to the public. We know many…Breaking Open Tech’s Black Box