Ctrl-Alt-Speech: We’ve Hit Grok Bottom

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

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

• UK, Canadian watchdogs press on with probes into Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot (Reuters)
• Musk’s xAI limits Grok’s ability to create sexualized images of real people on X after backlash (CNBC)
• X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t (The Verge)
• State Department Threatens UK Over Grok Investigation, Because Only The US Is Allowed To Ban Foreign Apps (Techdirt)
• Keir Starmer tells MPs he is open to social media ban for young people (The Guardian)
• Statement from the Molly Rose Foundation (LinkedIn)
• Wes Streeting asks US expert Jonathan Haidt to address officials on social media ban for under-16s (The Guardian)
• Some social media use can benefit teen mental health (AAP)
• Arlington-focused Facebook group with 25,000 members is removed, angering moderators (ARLnow)
• Bandcamp becomes the first major music platform to ban AI content (The Verge)

Filed Under: content moderation, grok, jonathan haidt, social media, state department, uk
Companies: bandcamp, facebook, meta, twitter, x, xai

Ctrl-Alt-Speech Spotlight: Five Years Of The Oversight Board, From Experiment To Essential Institution

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In this sponsored Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, host Ben Whitelaw talks to Oversight Board co-chair Paolo Carozza (Professor of Law and Concurrent Professor at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana) and Board member Julie Owono (Executive Director of Internet Without Borders and research affiliate at Berkman Klein Centre) about the Board’s five-year journey and its plans for the future.

Together, Ben, Paolo and Julie discuss the Board’s recently published report, From Bold Experiment to Essential Institution, and what it means to call Board “essential” in today’s ever-evolving internet landscape. They also talk about how the Board has changed, the criticisms it faces around cost and influence, and what comes next in 2026 and beyond.

This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Oversight Board. To sponsor a Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, get in touch via email (podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com) or visit ctrlaltspeech.com

Filed Under: content moderation, facebook, julie owona, meta, oversight board, paolo carozza, social media, threads
Companies: facebook, meta

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Making Our 2026 Bingo Card

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In the first Ctrl-Alt-Speech episode of 2026, Mike and Ben look forward at the year ahead and begin building a bingo card of things that might happen. They discuss a short list of possible squares, ask for listeners to contribute more ideas, and go few a through suggestions that have already come in. Soon, we’ll release an official Ctrl-Alt-Speech bingo card for listeners to play along throughout the year.

Filed Under: age verification, ai, artificial intelligence, content moderation, predictions, section 230, social media

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Have Yourself A Very Meta Christmas

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In the last Ctrl-Alt-Speech of the year, Mike and Ben round up the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation with the following stories:

• Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content | Global development (The Guardian)
• Facebook is testing a link-posting limit for professional accounts and pages (Techcrunch)
• Meta adopts new age-check system to meet global child safety laws (FT)
• Russian ban on Roblox gaming platform sparks rare protest (Reuters)
• OpenAI hires George Osborne to spearhead global ‘Stargate’ expansion (FT)
• Oscars Bolts From ABC to YouTube Starting in 2029 (Hollywood Reporter)

Filed Under: content moderation, george osborne, oscars, podcast, russia
Companies: facebook, meta, openai, roblox

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Censors & Sensibility

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

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

• Resonant Computing Manifesto 
• Support Techdirt’s Uncompromising Coverage, Get Our First Commemorative Coin (Techdirt)
• US Ambassador Slams EU Tech Rules as Musk’s X Hit With Fine (Bloomberg)
• Why the X fine is causing so much transatlantic drama (Politico)
• Tech workers face new H1-B scrutiny as Trump targets ‘censorship’ (Washington Post)
• H1-B visa advice (LinkedIn – Alice Hunsberger)
• Australian leader defends social media ban as teens flaunt workarounds (Reuters)
• Age restrictions alone won’t keep children safe online (Unicef)
• Focus must be on making social media safe for children as Australia brings in ban (Save The Children)
• Operation Bluebird tries to reclaim Twitter (LinkedIn)

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor CCIA, an international, not-for-profit trade association representing a broad cross section of communications and technology firms and that promotes open markets, open systems, and open networks.

Filed Under: age restriction, australia, censorship, content moderation, dsa, eu, free speech, h1-b, social media
Companies: twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Stuck In The Middleware With Youth

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Vaishnavi J, former head of youth policy at Meta and founder and principal of Vyanams Strategies, a product advisory firm that helps companies, civil society, and governments build safer age appropriate experiences. Prior to founding Vys, she led video policy at Twitter, built its safety team in APAC and was Google’s child safety polciy lead in APAC. Together Ben and Vaishnavi discuss:

• House overhauls KOSA in a new kids online safety package (The Verge)
• A nationwide internet age verification plan is sweeping Congress (The Verge)
• Grindr supports app store age-verification bill despite censorship concerns (Pink News)
• A summary of the technology sector’s response to the UK’s new online safety rules (Ofcom)
• Age Assurance Implementation Handbook (Vyanams)
• Interoperable Age Assurance (Age Verification Providers Association)
• EU’s non-binding resolution around revamping child safety rules (European Parliament)
• ‘We’ll be watching’: Social media companies warned about complying with ban as teens flock to alternative apps (Crikey)
• The Salesforce of safety: Software vendors as infrastructural/professional nodes in the field of online trust and safety (Sage, Platforms & Society)
• It’s their job to keep AI from destroying everything (The Verge)

Filed Under: age verification, ai, artificial intelligence, child safety, content moderation, social media

Ctrl-Alt-Speech Spotlight: Building Better CSAM Detection With Resolver’s George Vlasto

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In this sponsored Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, host Ben Whitelaw speaks with George Vlasto, head of the Trust & Safety division at Resolver, as the organisation marks its 20th anniversary. Their conversation looks back at two decades of Resolver’s work supporting platforms and safeguarding online communities, and explores how that legacy has shaped its newest innovations.

Ben and George dig into Resolver’s unique approach to scaling the detection of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) and unpack why ATHENA — the company’s latest breakthrough — may be one of the most significant yet under-recognised tools in the fight against online harms.

Further reading: 

• Twenty Years of Protecting Children Online 
• The Human at the Heart of the Machine: A 20-Year Lesson in Online Safety 
• From Reactive to Predictive: Why It’s No Longer Enough to Spot What’s Already Happened

This episode is brought to you in partnership with Resolver. To sponsor a Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, visit our website.

Filed Under: ai, artificial intelligence, content moderation, csam, george vlasto
Companies: resolver

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: You Can’t Antitrust Anyone These Days

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

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

• Meta wins FTC antitrust trial over Instagram, WhatsApp deals (CNBC)
• Commission eyes further simplification of tech rules after DSA review (Euractiv)
• Inside Europe’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ tech strategy (Digital Policy)
• NetChoice sues Virginia to block its one-hour social media limit for kids (The Verge)
• Tech Giants Sue California Over Social Media Access Law (2) (Bloomberg Law)
• TikTok to give users power to reduce amount of AI content on their feeds (The Guardian) 
• The Most Frustrating Word for Trust & Safety Professionals (LinkedIn)

Filed Under: content moderation, dsa, eu, europe, netchoice, regulation
Companies: meta, tiktok

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Deviation From The Teen

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Kenji Yoshino, who has the excellent title of Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law and the Director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Kenji is also a member of the Oversight Board. Together Ben and Kenji discuss:

• ‘Andrew Tate is dead’: inside the minds of 16-year-olds (The Observer)
• Introducing the Teen Safety Blueprint (OpenAI)
• OpenAI unveils blueprint for teen AI safety standards (Axios)
• OpenAI Faces Legal Storm Over Claims Its AI Drove Users to Suicide, Delusions (KQED)
• Irish watchdog opens content moderation probe into Elon Musk’s X (Euractiv)

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor CCIA, an international, not-for-profit trade association representing a broad cross section of communications and technology firms and that promotes open markets, open systems, and open networks.

Filed Under: ai, artificial intelligence, content moderation, elon musk, kenji yoshino, oversight board, teen safety
Companies: openai, twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: New Blocks On The Kids

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

from the ctrl-alt-speech dept

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

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

• It’s Cool to Have No Followers Now (New Yorker)
• Introducing Safe for Work? — all about T&S jobs (Everything in Moderation*)
• Kids Turn Podcast Comments Into Secret Chat Rooms, Because Of Course They Do (Techdirt)
• Reddit and Kick added to child social media ban (ABC News)
• X boss explains why ‘horrific’ video viewed by Axel Rudakubana wasn’t removed (The Independent)
• Southport Inquiry (YouTube)
• How Elon Musk is Boosting The British Right (Sky News)
• arXiv Changes Rules After Getting Spammed With AI-Generated ‘Research’ Papers (404 Media)
• TikTok Investigated in France Over Content That Promotes Suicide (Bloomberg) 
• France Moves to Block the Shein Website Over a Sex Doll Scandal (New York Times) 
• EU leaders paper over splits on US tech reliance (Politico) 

This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Safer by Thorn, a purpose-built CSAM and CSE solution. Powered by trusted data and Thorn’s issue expertise, Safer helps trust and safety teams proactively detect CSAM and child sexual exploitation messages.

Filed Under: arxiv, australia, content moderation, elon musk, southport inquiry
Companies: kick, reddit, shein, tiktok, twitter, x