In 2022, a father took a photo of his toddler’s medical condition at the request of a doctor. The image was uploaded to Google Photos. Google’s automated systems flagged the content. His account was suspended. Law enforcement investigated and cleared him of wrongdoing. His Google account — containing years of personal data — was not restored [1].
This was widely discussed as a moderation controversy.
It was not only that.
It was an infrastructure event. Continue reading The Architecture of Dependence: Personal Identity, Big Tech, and Europe’s Hidden Single Points of Failure