Ctrl-Alt-Speech

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World Wide Wedge Issue Apr 03, 2025

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

Zuckerberg Tries to Enlist Trump in Fight Against Meta EU Ruling (WSJ)
EU set to limit Apple and Meta fines to avoid ire of Donald Trump (Financial Times)
Adolescence hard to watch as a dad, Starmer tells creators (BBC)
‘Adolescence’ on Netflix: A painful wake-up call about unregulated internet use for teens (The Conversation)
Adolescence hits Netflix's Top 10 Global chart in just three weeks as it reaches over 96MILLION views (Daily Mail)
Online ‘Pedophile Hunters’ Are Growing More Violent — and Going Viral (NY Times)
ESPN’s Pat McAfee and others amplified a false rumor. A teenager’s life was ‘destroyed’ (NY Times)
Myanmar’s Internet Censorship Limits Information About Quake (NY Times)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund, and by our sponsor Internet Society, a global nonprofit that advocates for an open, globally connected, secure and trustworthy Internet for everyone. In our Bonus Chat, Internet Society’s Natalie Campbell talks about issues around US leadership on digital trade and an open internet, related to a letter the Internet Society sent this week to the US Trade Representative.

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).

Chief Equivocation Officer Mar 28, 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:

X takes Indian govt to court, alleges arbitrary censorship of content (Business Standard)
India criticises X for calling compliance website a censorship tool (Reuters)
Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest (Politico)
Elon Musk pressured Reddit’s CEO on content moderation (The Verge)
Snapchat CEO Talks Zuckerberg, Content Moderation, AR Glasses and More (SocialMediaToday)
YouTube CEO on content moderation: ‘Where the world was five years ago is very different’ than today (Semafor)
Porn on Spotify Is Infiltrating the Platform’s Top Podcast Charts (Bloomberg)
Ofcom fines provider of OnlyFans £1.05 million (Ofcom)
A New Social Media App Punishes Users for Rage-Baiting (Wired)

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

Once You Slop, You Can't Stop Mar 20, 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:

Twitter Inc. Official 'Bird Logo' Fascia Sign - An Iconic Fixture from the Company’s Market Square Headquarters in San Francisco (RR Auction)
AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality (404 Media)
Spain to impose massive fines for not labelling AI-generated content (Reuters)
China Announces Generative AI Labeling to Cull Disinformation (Bloomberg)
After Axing Fact-Checkers, Meta’s Community Notes Will Have Help From X (Adweek)
UK to crack down on illegal content across social media (Financial Times)
Lobsters and the Online Safety Act (Lobste.rs)
We are sorry. The forum has closed down (The Hamster Forum)
‘Kids can bypass anything if they’re clever enough!’ How tech experts keep their children safe online (The Guardian)
The Snapchat Move That Leaves Teen Girls Heartbroken (WSJ)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund. If you’re in London on Thursday 27th March, join Ben, Mark Scott (Digital Politics) and Georgia Iacovou (Horrific/Terrific) for an evening of tech policy, discussion and drinks. Register your interest.

The TAKE IT DOWN Takedown Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

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

Bluesky's CEO on the Future of Social Media (YouTube)
The Take It Down Act isn’t a law, it’s a weapon (The Verge)
Trump Promises To Abuse Take It Down Act For Censorship, Just As We Warned (Techdirt)
Ex-Facebook employee alleges sexual harassment and human rights failures in new memoir (NBC News)
Meta goes to arbitrator to prevent whistleblower from promoting tell-all book (CNBC)
Reddit's rule check feature will help users avoid breaking subreddit rules (Engadget)
Users Make Voices Heard as Appeals Centre’s First Decisions Overturn Platforms (Appeals Centre Europe)
'Pretty Vile:' Spotify Removes Andrew Tate 'Pimping Hoes' Class After Employees Complain (404 Media)
Keep kids off Roblox if you're worried, its CEO tells parents (BBC)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund, and by our sponsor Resolver, the leading provider of risk intelligence and advisory services. In our Bonus Chat, Karley Chadwick, head of platform Trust and Safety Delivery at Resolver, talks about emerging safety trends in gaming and augmented reality and reflects on her experience as a threat analyst.

If you’re in London on Thursday 27th March, join Ben, Mark Scott (Digital Politics) and Georgia Iacovou (Horrific/Terrific) for an evening of tech policy, discussion and drinks. Register your interest.

E Pluribus Chaos Mar 06, 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 Kat Duffy, Senior Fellow for Digital and Cyberspace Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and CEO of RightsDuff Strategies. They cover:

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not) (Techdirt)
America’s Global Presence Isn’t ‘Soft Power.’ It’s a Superpower. (Foreign Policy)
These teenage boys were blackmailed online – and it cost them their lives (USA Today)
United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (UN)
Chairman Jordan Subpoenas Big Tech for Information on Foreign Censorship of American Speech (House Judiciary Committee)

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

The Comedy of Errors Feb 27, 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:

Facebook & Content Moderation (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver)
Australia takes enforcement action against Telegram for serious delay in terror and child sexual abuse transparency (eSafety Commission)
US judge says Trump Media, Rumble need not follow Brazilian order they deem censorship (Reuters)
Why the Rumble Suit Against a Brazilian Justice is Not About Free Speech (Tech Policy Press)
Underage Users at Meta, Snap Show Large Australian Breaches (Bloomberg)
‘Big Tech Censorship’ of Users Targeted by Trump’s FTC Chief (Bloomberg)
Instagram 'Error' Turned Reels Into Neverending Scroll of Murder, Gore, and Violence (404 Media)
Meta’s ‘free speech’ revamp divides oversight board (Financial Times)
Microsoft Hosted Explicit Videos of This Startup Founder for Years. Here's How She Got Them Taken Down (Wired)

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

Backdoors and Backsteps Feb 14, 2025

Show notes

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben are joined by a group of students from the Media Law and Policy class at the American University School of Communication. Together they cover:

U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts (Washington Post)
US lawmakers respond to the UK’s Apple encryption backdoor request (Engadget)
UK: Encryption order threatens global privacy rights (Human Rights Watch)
Analysis: AI Summit emphasizes innovation and competition over trust and safety (DFR Lab)
An overdue idea for making the internet safer just got the funding it needs (Platformer)
Google-backed public interest AI partnership launches with $400M+ for open ecosystem building (Techcrunch)
Britain dances to JD Vance’s tune as it renames AI institute (Politico)
Section 230 Still Works in the Fourth Circuit (For Now)–M.P. v. Meta (Eric Goldman)
TikTok Opts to Not Take Section 230 Immunity Fight to the US Supreme Court (Law.com)
Shopify says risk of fraud, not Nazi swastika, was reason for Kanye West store takedown (The Logic)

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

Digital Oligarchs Gunning for Europe (DOGE) Feb 06, 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:

Elon’s Twitter Destruction Playbook Hits The US Government, And It’s Even More Dangerous (Techdirt)
US presses Brussels for answers over EU social media law (Politico)
Inside the Elon Musk-Jim Jordan ‘mind meld’ shaking up Capitol Hill (Politico)
Musk adds Shell, Nestlé, Lego to X advertiser ‘boycott’ lawsuit (The Hill)
Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like (Techdirt)
In wake of Meta moderation shift, advertisers have accepted new status quo: brand safety is a myth (Digiday)
Meta sees no ‘noticeable impact’ in advertiser demand since content policy shift (Marketing Week)
Amazon Raises Its Ad Spending on Elon Musk’s X, in Major Reversal (Wall Street Journal)
Senator Hawley Proposes Jail Time for People Who Download DeepSeek (404 Media)
Apple Blasts EU Laws After First Porn App Comes to iPhones (Bloomberg)

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

This Episode has Masculine Energy Jan 30, 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 Renee DiResta, associate research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. They cover:

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

The TickTock on TikTok Jan 23, 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:

Application Of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act To TikTok (The White House)
Restoring Freedom Of Speech And Ending Federal Censorship (The White House)
America Is No Longer the Home of the Free Internet (The Atlantic)
Good morning, America: Why India banned TikTok 5 years back (India Today)
Facebook, X, YouTube to do more against online hate speech, EU says (Reuters)
Commission welcomes the integration of the revised Code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online into the Digital Services Act (European Commission)
Bluesky 2024 Moderation Report (Bluesky)
Bluesky's 2024 moderation report shows how quickly harmful content grew as new users flocked in (Engadget)
The Technological Poison Pill: How ATProtocol Encourages Competition, Resists Evil Billionaires, Lock-In & Enshittification (Techdirt)
We need to protect the protocol that runs Bluesky (MIT Technology Review)

If you’re in London on Thursday 30th January, join Ben, Mark Scott (Digital Politics) and Georgia Iacovou (Horrific/Terrific) for an evening of tech policy, discussion and drinks. Register your interest.

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

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