Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Backdoors And Backsteps

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 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.

Filed Under: ai, artificial intelligence, content moderation, encryption, eu, first amendment, free speech, kanye west, uk
Companies: apple, google, meta, shopify, tiktok

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Digital Oligarchs Gunning for Europe (DOGE)

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:

• 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.

Filed Under: ai, artificial intelligence, content moderation, deepseek, dsa, elon musk, europe, jim jordan, josh hawley
Companies: amazon, apple, meta, twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: This Episode Has Masculine Energy

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, Mike is joined by guest host Renee DiResta, associate research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. They cover:

• The new free speech crisis hiding in plain sight (MSNBC)
• ‘Free Speech’ Warrior RFK Jr. Has Been Trying To Censor a Blogger for Years (Who What Why)
• In motion to dismiss, chatbot platform Character AI claims it is protected by the First Amendment (TechCrunch)
• Trump Signs Agreement Calling for Meta to Pay $25 Million to Settle Suit (WSJ)
• Meta’s Free-Speech Shift Made It Clear to Advertisers: ‘Brand Safety’ Is Out of Vogue (WSJ)
• X refuses to remove stabbing video watched by Southport killer (Financial Times)

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

Filed Under: chilling effects, content moderation, donald trump, first amendment, free speech, renee diresta, rfk jr.
Companies: character.ai, meta, twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The TickTock On TikTok

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:

• 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.

Filed Under: atprotocol, content moderation, donald trump, dsa, eu, first amendment, free speech
Companies: bluesky, bytedance, meta, tiktok, twitter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Bullshit In A China Shop

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:

• 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.

Filed Under: brazil, china, content moderation, donald trump, eu, mark zuckerberg, tiktok ban
Companies: apple, bytedance, google, meta, pornhub, tiktok

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Zuck And Cover

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:

• 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)

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.

Filed Under: content moderation, dsa, elon musk, fact checking, mark zuckerberg
Companies: meta, tiktok, twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: How The Online Regulators Stole 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 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.

Filed Under: australia, content moderation, ofcom, online safety act, supreme court
Companies: snapchat, telegram, tiktok

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Sometimes You Have To Whack Some Moles

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:

• 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)
• 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.

Filed Under: content moderation, elections, elon musk, first amendment, free speech, linda yaccarino, phishing, romania
Companies: meta, tiktok, twitter, x

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Comply & Demand

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:

• 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.

Filed Under: andrew ferguson, chatgpt, content moderation, fcc, ftc, nick clegg, romania
Companies: bytedance, meta, openai, tiktok

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Nothing To FCC Here

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, 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.

Filed Under: brendan carr, content moderation, donald trump, elon musk, fcc, oversight board, social media
Companies: bluesky, etsy, meta, roblox