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) Insid...
Jun 26, 2025•46 min•Season 1Ep. 63
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 (Indicat...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 62
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 und...
Jun 12, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 61
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 governo...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 60
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 ...
May 23, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 59
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: The Copyright Office Issues A Largely Disappointing Report On AI Training, And Once Again A Major Fair Use Analysis Inexplicably Ignores The First Amendment (Techdirt) Trump fires Copyright Office director after report raises questions about AI training (TechCrunch) Elon Musk’s X caves to ‘...
May 15, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 58
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 Compa...
May 01, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 57
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...
Apr 24, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 56
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)...
Apr 17, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 55
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: BookMyShow Restores Kunal Kamra’s Profile After Controversy (Medianama) Kunal Kamra show audience members served notices (The Times of India) Cops force banker to cut short vacation to join Kamra probe (The Times of India) U...
Apr 10, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 54
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...
Apr 03, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 53
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 a...
Mar 28, 2025•52 min•Season 1Ep. 52
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 (Bloomber...
Mar 20, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 51
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...
Mar 13, 2025•57 min•Season 1Ep. 50
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...
Mar 07, 2025•51 min•Season 1Ep. 49
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 Spee...
Feb 27, 2025•50 min•Season 1Ep. 48
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...
Feb 14, 2025•58 min•Season 1Ep. 47
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 So...
Feb 06, 2025•54 min•Season 1Ep. 46
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 ...
Jan 30, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 45
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 onli...
Jan 24, 2025•53 min•Season 1Ep. 44
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-check...
Jan 17, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 43
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 Moderat...
Jan 11, 2025•55 min•Season 1Ep. 42
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'...
Dec 20, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 41
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 Roman...
Dec 13, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 40
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...
Dec 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 39
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 ...
Nov 22, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 38
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...
Nov 15, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 37
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 ...
Nov 08, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 36
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 Face...
Nov 01, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 35
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 v...
Oct 25, 2024•26 min•Season 1Ep. 34
