Ctrl-Alt-Speech

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Teen But Not Heard Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by guest host Bridget Todd, a technology and culture writer, speaker and trainer and host of two great podcasts, There are No Girls on the Internet and IRL: Online Life is Real Life. Together, they cover:

AI Models And Parents Don’t Understand ‘Let Him Cook’ (404 Media)
Trial reveals flaws in tech intended to enforce Australian social media ban for under-16s (The Guardian)
Inside /r/SGExams: Meet the young volunteers behind 1 of S’pore’s largest online forums for students (Straits Times)
The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back (Rest of World)
Man with real-life girlfriend and child proposes to AI chatbot after programming it to flirt: ‘I think this is actual love (New York Post)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is the podcast where we make sense of the major debates shaping online speech, platform power, content moderation and the future of the internet. It’s co-hosted by Mike Masnick (Techdirt) and Ben Whitelaw (Everything in Moderation).

Outsourced But Not Out Of Mind Jun 19, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by guest host Mercy Mutemi, lawyer and managing partner of Nzili & Sumbi Advocates. Together, they cover:

Meta can be sued in Kenya for human trafficking and for algorithmic amplification of harm (Open Democracy)
Billy Perrigo on investigating Facebook's 'ethical' outsourced content moderation in Kenya (Everything in Moderation)
A first look at Meta’s Community Notes (Indicator Media)
Get Noted (Columbia Journalism Review)
The Meaning of Being an African YouTuber: Big Audiences, No Big Money + Is TikTok Excluding Africans From its Creator Economy? (Fast Company)
Is TikTok Excluding Africans From its Creator Economy? (OkayAfrica)
I was tricked, tortured, finally freed: inside a Burmese scam farm (The Times)
Tanzania announces shutdown of X because of pornography (BBC)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Outrage For The Machine Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

He’s a Master of Outrage on X. The Pay Isn’t Great. (NY Times)
The vulnerable teen drawn into far-right extremism online (Financial Times)
X, Bluesky and Reddit in France’s crosshairs amid porn clampdown (Politico)
EU sidesteps Macron’s ultimatum to ban social media for kids under 15 (Euractiv)
Commission seeks feedback on the guidelines on protection of minors online under the Digital Services Act (European Commission)
OnlyFans releases stern statement as it DEACTIVATES Bonnie Blue’s account for defiant reason (The Tab)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Algorithm Shrugged May 29, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by guest host Zeve Sanderson, the founding Executive Director of the NYU Center for Social Media & Politics. Together, they cover:

If algorithms radicalize a mass shooter, are companies to blame? (The Verge)
Large Language Models Are More Persuasive Than Incentivized Human Persuaders (Arxiv)
A dangerous plan to ‘win’ the AI race is circulating (Washington Post)
Texas governor signs law to enforce age verification on Apple, Google app stores (Reuters)
AB 853: California AI Transparency Act.(CalMatters)
Regulators Are Investigating Whether Media Matters Colluded With Advertisers (NY Times)
Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline (TechCrunch)
Why Anthropic’s New AI Model Sometimes Tries to ‘Snitch’ (Wired)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund, and by our sponsor Modulate. In our Bonus Chat, we speak with Modulate CTO Carter Huffman about how their voice technology can actually detect fraud.

Moderation Without Representation May 22, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by guest host Hank Green, popular YouTube creator and educator. After spending some time talking about being a creator at the whims of platforms, they cover:

Crash Course Coin (Complexly)
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College (NY Mag)
The Professors Are Using ChatGPT, and Some Students Aren’t Happy About It (NY Times)
How Miami Schools Are Leading 100,000 Students Into the A.I. Future (NY Times)
We Shouldn’t Have To Explain To The FTC Why Content Moderation Is So Crucial To Free Speech, But We Did (Techdirt)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Hypocritical Infrastructure May 15, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by guest host Cathy Gellis, an internet and First Amendment lawyer. Together, they cover:

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Look What The Chat Dragged In May 01, 2025

Show notes

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

The group chats that changed America (Semafor)
Curtis Yarvin Says Democracy Is Done. Powerful Conservatives Are Listening (New York Times)
Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators (The Guardian)
Social media moderators’ lives are getting worse. Big Tech needs to take responsibility (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)
Meta’s ‘Digital Companions’ Will Talk Sex With Users—Even Children (Wall Street Journal)
Kids should avoid AI companion bots—under force of law, assessment says (CalMatters)
I'm a mom who works in tech, and AI scares me. I taught my daughter these simple guidelines to spot fake content (Business Insider)
Playing ‘whack-a-mole’ with Meta over my fraudulent avatars (Financial Times)
Meta slowest to remove scam content, says City watchdog (The Guardian)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund, and by our sponsor Modulate. In our Bonus Chat, we speak with Modulate CEO Mike Pappas about the evolving landscape of online fraud and how the company’s work detecting abuse in gaming environments is helping identify financial misconduct across different types of digital platforms.

Red Pills & Blue Checks Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

4chan is dead. It's Toxic Legacy is everywhere (Wired)
Wide-Ranging Decisions Protect Speech and Address Harms (Oversight Board)
Meta’s oversight board rebukes company over policy overhaul (Reuters)
Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not) (Techdirt)
Most young Aussie men are turning to masculinity influencers, and it's impacting their mental health (ABC News)
Young Men’s Health in a Digital World (Movember)
Teens, Social Media and Mental Health (Pew Research Center)
National Science Foundation cancels research grants related to misinformation and disinformation (Nieman Lab)
Bluesky Is Rolling Out Official Verification (Wired)
Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps … yet (TechCrunch)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Why Can't We De-Friend Apr 17, 2025

Show notes

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Failed Negotiations to End Antitrust Case (Wall Street Journal)
Mark Zuckerberg once suggested wiping all Facebook friends lists to boost usage (The Verge)
Would You Give PornHub Your ID? (The Atlantic)
How Social-Media Sites Can Fight Hate Without Censorship (The Atlantic)
Facebook Banned Me for Life Because I Help People Use It Less (Slate, 2021)
ASML Fellow Launches CLR:SKY (Berkman Klein Center)
Block Party deep cleans your social media, notifications, settings, and more in one click
Liz Truss to launch ‘uncensored’ social network to counter mainstream media (The Guardian)
OpenAI is building a social network (The Verge)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Can't Take(down) A Joke? Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by guest host Prateek Waghre, former executive director at the Internet Freedom Foundation and currently a fellow at Tech Policy Press. Together, they cover: