Ctrl-Alt-Speech

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Bullshit in a China Shop Jan 16, 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:

TikTok Oral Arguments (Supreme Court)
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S. (NBC News)
Trump considers executive order hoping to ‘save TikTok’ from ban or sale in U.S. law (Washington Post)
TikTok Users Gleefully Embrace Even More Chinese App To Spite US TikTok Ban (Techdirt)
Meta employees criticize Zuckerberg decisions to end fact-checking (CNBC)
Meta moderators were already in Texas before Zuckerberg announced move, say ex-workers (The Guardian)
Not Many Meta Employees Will Have to Move to Texas After All (Wired)
Meta just flipped the switch that prevents misinformation from spreading in the United States (Platformer)
Brazil expresses concern over Meta’s changes to content moderation (Al Jazeera)
EU reassesses tech probes into Apple, Google and Meta (Financial Times)
Despite DEI & content moderation reversals, advertisers won’t flee Meta (The Drum)
Meta’s ‘free speech’ overhaul sparks advertisers’ concern (Financial Times)
French Woman Says AI Brad Pitt Scammed Her Out of $850K (Hollywood Reporter)
French TV show pulled after ridicule of woman who fell for AI Brad Pitt (The Guardian)
Why This OnlyFans Model Posts Machine Learning Explainers to Pornhub (404 Media)

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.

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).

Zuck and Cover Jan 10, 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:

Here's why Meta ended fact-checking, according to experts (ABC News)
Meta Follows Elon Musk’s Lead, Moves Staffers to Billionaire-Friendly Texas (Wired)
Leaked Meta Rules: Users Are Free to Post “Mexican Immigrants Are Trash!” or “Trans People Are Immoral” (The Intercept)
Trust & Safety is how platforms put values into action (T&S Insider from Everything in Moderation)
Nadler Releases Democratic Staff Report on Republicans' Deluded Theory to Undermine Free Speech (House Committee on the Judiciary)
EU vows to 'energetically' pursue X probe under Digital rulebook (Bloomberg)
Twitter Briefly Blocked The NY Post, Elon Cried Foul. Now He’s Doing Far Worse (Techdirt)
The Great Decentralization (Noema Mag)

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

How The Online Regulators Stole Christmas Dec 20, 2024

Show notes

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

Social media platforms have work to do to comply with Online Safety Act, says Ofcom (The Guardian)
LFGSS and Microcosm shutting down 16th March 2025 (the day before the Online Safety Act is enforced) (LFGSS)
The GamingOnLinux Forum is shutting (GamingOnLinux)
Australia leads the world in setting new standards for online child safety (eSafety Commission)
How will Australia's under-16 social media ban work? We asked the law's enforcer (NPR)
Fentanyl Almost Killed Michael Brewer. Now He Wants Snap to Pay (Bloomberg)
Telegram Moderation Overview (Telegram)
U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to TikTok ban (CNBC)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund. While Online Regulators may have stolen Christmas, Ctrl-Alt-Speech is going to try to take a short holiday break and will return in early January.

Sometimes You Have to Whack Some Moles Dec 13, 2024

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 was suicidal and needed help. A 15-year-old girl pushed him to kill himself on a live stream (Washington Post)
Romania’s top court annuls presidential election result (CNN)
Continuing to protect the integrity of TikTok during Romanian elections (TikTok)
Covert Facebook Network Found Targeting Romanian Voters (Bloomberg)
TikTok pushes far right candidate content in Romanian election, Global Witness investigation shows (Global Witness)
Romania annulled its presidential election results amid alleged Russian interference. What happens next? (Atlantic Council)
X’s Yaccarino Praises Child Safety Bill and Urges House Backing (Bloomberg)
Elon Musk’s X comes out in favor of pro-censorship law (Mashable - January 2024)
Kenya’s President Wades Into Meta Lawsuits (TIME)
Attacker Has Techdirt Reclassified As Phishing Site, Proving Masnick’s Impossibility Law Once Again (Techdirt)

No actual moles were harmed in the making of this episode, which is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.

Comply & Demand Dec 06, 2024

Show notes

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

TikTok Ban Upheld (DC Circuit)
TikTok’s Romanian reckoning (Politico)
Romania asks EU to investigate TikTok’s election handling after ultranationalist’s stunning win (Politico)
TikTok Removes Covert Network Linked to Romanian Candidate (Bloomberg)
GOP FTC Commissioners Abuse “Free Speech” Rhetoric To Push For Government Control Over Online Speech (Techdirt)
Race to replace FTC chair Lina Khan pits antitrust hawks against candidate softer on Big Tech: sources (NY Post)
Meta says it’s mistakenly moderating too much (The Verge)
The Curious Case Of ChatGPT’s Banned Names: Hard-Coding Blocks To Avoid Nuisance Threats (Techdirt)

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, Natalie Campbell and John Perrino from Internet Society join us to talk about the social media age restriction law in Australia, a proposed age verification bill in Canada, and the trend of age gating and age verification globally, and what it means for the open internet.

Nothing to FCC Here Nov 22, 2024

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 David Sullivan, the Executive Director of the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership. They cover:

Trump's FCC Pick Wants to Be the Speech Police. That's Not His Job (Wired)
Sauce for the Goose: The FCC Lacks Authority to Interpret Section 230 Post-Loper Bright (The Federalist Society)
Roblox gives parents more power to protect the safety of young gamers (NBC)
Meta should allow third party imagery of terrorist attacks, with a warning (Oversight Board)
As Bluesky soars, Threads rolls out custom feeds globally (TechCrunch)
Threads’ algorithm will focus more on the people you follow (The Verge)
The communications minister cited a study in support of a teen social media ban. Its co-author disagrees (Crikey)
Meta says it has removed 2 million accounts linked to pig butchering scams (The Record)
You Too Can Hire an ‘Etsy Witch’ to Curse Elon Musk (Wired)

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

Locate Your Nearest X-it Nov 15, 2024

Show notes

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

Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia follows The Guardian in quitting Elon Musk’s X due to disinformation and ‘disturbing content’ (Fortune)
Bluesky attracts millions as users leave Musk's X after Trump win (Reuters)
Advertisers set to return to X as they seek favour with Elon Musk and Donald Trump (Financial Times)
The plan to ban children under 16 from social media (The Times)
Should smartphones be banned in schools? (Financial Times)
Facebook and Instagram to Offer Subscription for No Ads in Europe (Facebook)
An update on political advertising in the European Union (Google)
Facebook’s Algorithms Think a Small English Community Is Up to No Good (Gizmodo)
Phony X accounts are meddling in Ghana’s election (Rest of World)
Sockpuppet network impersonating Americans and Canadians amplifies pro-Israel narratives on X (DFR Lab)

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

Presidents & Precedents Nov 08, 2024

Show notes

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

Pennsylvania Becomes Hot Spot for Election Disinformation (NY Times)
After Trump Took the Lead, Election Deniers Went Suddenly Silent (NY Times)
X Is a White-Supremacist Site (The Atlantic)
Papers, Please? The Republican Plan to Wall Off the Internet (Tech Policy Press)
What Trump's Victory Means for Internet Policy (CNET)
The government plans to ban under-16s from social media platforms. Here's what we know so far (ABC Australia)
Canada orders shutdown of TikTok's Canadian business, app access to continue (Reuters)

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

Sorry, This Episode Will Not Cheer You Up Nov 01, 2024

Show notes

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

These look like Harris ads. Trump backers bought them (Washington Post)
Facebook Took More Than $1 Million For Ads Sowing Election Lies (Forbes)
Election officials are outmatched by Elon Musk’s misinformation machine (CNN)
Election Falsehoods Take Off on YouTube as It Looks the Other Way (New York Times)
Exploiting Meta’s Weaknesses, Deceptive Political Ads Thrived on Facebook and Instagram in Run-Up to Election (ProPublica)
The U.S. Spies Who Sound the Alarm About Election Interference (New Yorker)
This Is What $44 Billion Buys You (The Atlantic)
How Russia, China and Iran Are Interfering in the Presidential Election (New York Times)
Can A.I. Be Blamed for a Teen’s Suicide? (New York Times)
'Sickening' Molly Russell chatbots found on Character.ai (BBC)

This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund, and by our sponsor Concentrix, the technology and services leader driving trust, safety, and content moderation globally. In our Bonus Chat, Dom Sparkes, Trust and Safety Director for EMEA, and David Elliot, Head of Technology, try to lighten the mood by discussing how to make a compelling business case for online safety and the importance of measuring ROI.

Minisode: The Robots Take Over Ctrl-Alt-Speech Oct 25, 2024

Show notes

Ben and Mike are technically off this week, but we decided to run an experiment. After discussing Google’s NotebookLM and its ability to create AI-generated podcasts about any content, Mike experimented with how it would handle one of the stories Mike & Ben discussed last week: Daphne Keller’s The Rise of the Compliant Speech Platform on Lawfare. Mike explains why we’re running this, some of the work that went into it, as well as his thoughts on the experiment, followed by the AI-generated version.

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

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