Ctrl-Alt-Speech

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover:The U.S. Is About to Design an AI Regulator. Here's How to Get It Right (Council on Foreign Relations)Mark Zuckerberg Says U.S. Should Accelerate AI Development, Not Restrict It (WSJ)Want AI you can trust? Start by building the right institutions (Atlantic Council)Anthropic Says It's Against A Ban On Open Weight Models. It Just Wants To Ban Everything That Makes Them Good (Techdirt)The High Stakes Behind the EU's €890M Google DMA Fine (Tech Policy Press)Europe bears its teeth, political panic about OpenAI hack and YouTube refines partner policy (Everything in Moderation)Trump vows new tariffs on the E.U. after Brussels fines Google $1 billion (Qz)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:Elon Musk's xAI sues Minnesota over law banning ‘nudification' technology (The Guardian)The Worst Person You Know Just Filed A Good First Amendment Lawsuit Against A Very Badly Drafted Nudify App Ban (Techdirt)Our fun links this week are a replica of Scooby Doo's Mystery-Machine and the Saltburn cricket scandal because we need more satire right now.If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

Our third annual Live at TrustCon recording of Ctrl-Alt-Speech! Ben was back this year! Mike and Ben were joined live on stage with Kat Duffy, senior fellow for digital and cyberspace policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and Zoe Darme, Director for Trust, Knowledge and Information Products at Google. They cover:Security incident disclosure — July 2026 (Hugging Face)OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation (OpenAI)An OpenAI test model escaped and broke into a real company's servers (CNN)France Joins a Global Move Toward Restricting Social Media for Children (NY Times)xAI sues user for exploiting AI tool to sexualise minors (Al Jazeera)Special thanks to the Trust & Safety Professionals Association (TSPA) and all the work they do each year in putting on TrustCon, and for allowing us to host the live podcast as the closing session again this year.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).

In this sponsored Spotlight episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, host Ben Whitelaw speaks to PwC's Dan Hays at TrustCon about the firm's recently published Trust & Safety Outlook report.They discuss: How AI is simultaneously creating new risks and reshaping the tools used to address them;What the rise of autonomous agents means for governance, accountability and the future of the internet; andHow platforms should respond to an increasingly fragmented regulatory landscape.The conversation also explores how Trust & Safety is becoming a more strategic function inside companies, how automation could change the role of practitioners and vendors, and which emerging risks remain most underestimated.This episode is brought to you in conjunction with our sponsor, PwC. Download the report today.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Niklas Eder, co-founder and co-CEO of User Rights, a designated out of court dispute settlement body under the Digital Services Act which reviews complaints from users whose social media posts have been deleted or moderated. Together, Ben and Niklas discuss:UK to lay out social media curbs for 16 and 17 year-olds (POLITICO)‘What's the point?' Teenagers give their verdict on Britain's social media curfew (The Guardian)EU moves towards social media ban for children (Financial Times)They Helped Women Fight Online Abuse. They Were Barred From the U.S. (The New York Times)Discord confirms AI moderators have banned thousands over harmless images (Mashable)Federal Court Suspends Trump Immigration Policy Targeting Technology Researchers (Knight First Amendment Institute)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:EU threatens Meta with fines over 'addictive' Facebook and Instagram (BBC News)Commission preliminarily finds the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook in breach of the Digital Services Act (European Commission)The Question of Legality and the Function of the Commission's Preliminary Findings Against Meta (Verfassungsblog)Our fun links this week are a lawn mowing game for post-World Cup stress relief and the Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers because we need more satire right now. This episode is sponsored by PwC, whose upcoming 2026 Trust and Safety Outlook Report explores the forces reshaping how organizations are approaching online safety and integrity. In our special bonus chat, Ben sits down with Dan Hays, Principal Partner of Strategy& (part of the PwC network), to talk about the future of trust and safety and get a sneak peek at some of the themes in their report before its release next week at TrustCon.If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover:‘It's not like we knowingly have bad ads': Meta on ad fraud, teen safety, and why AI will not replace agencies (The Media Leader)Instagram running ads promoting child sexual abuse material in India (BBC)Meta Now Lets Anyone Use Your Instagram Photos in AI Images—Unless You Opt Out (Wired)At 17, She Sued Meta and Google, and Won. Now She's Ready to Tell Her Story (Bloomberg)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:Beijing is looking at curbing overseas access to China's top AI models, sources say (Reuters)Fable 5 Is Back After Anthropic Irons Out Security Concerns With US Government (PC Mag)AI Giants Are Handing Out Tons of Free Computing Power to Grab Startup Share (WSJ)Introducing Tokens to the Future: Token Grants to AI Builders (LinkedIn)OpenAI proposes handing Trump administration 5% stake (Financial Times)Our fun links this week are Roost, the “slow-cial” messaging app, and PlotLines for visualizing classic novels on a map.If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Cori Crider, executive director of the Future of Technology Institute, an independent non-profit focusing on technology that serves the public. She previously co-founded legal non-profit Foxglove and led national security litigation at human rights organisation, Reprieve. Together, Ben and Cori discuss:Australia to double potential fines for Facebook and Instagram (ABC News)85% of kids are still using social media despite ban. But we need a new measure to judge its success (The Conversation)German expert panel suggests social media ban for under-13s (Reuters)EXCLUSIVE: EU could announce social media ban for kids in September (Euractiv)The EU Wants To Grow Homegrown Tech. Its Courts Keep Making That Impossible (Techdirt)Eurosky x Funk (German pub broadcaster youth programme) partnership (Linkedin)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:TikTok announce major redundancies amid push for AI content moderation (The Independent)Meta looks to AI to review harmful content in cost-cutting drive (Financial Times)Our fun links this week are the rise of dopamine sites (Ben) and Polaroid's billboard campaign (Cori).If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

In a special bonus episode for our Patreon supporters, Mike and Ben discuss some of their favorite must-read books about online speech, platform power, and content moderation. This free teaser covers their first two picks: It's Complicated by Danah Boyd and Behind the Screen by Sarah T. Roberts. To hear the full episode with all six books, become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter on Patreon.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Jen Weedon, a T&S veteran of Meta and Niantic. She is currently consulting and teaching at Columbia school of International and Public Affairs. Together, Ben and Jen discuss:Jen Weedon on anticipating platform threats and how to manage burnout (Everything in Moderation)AI Slop and the Information Ecosystem (Columbia University)UK examines steps to stop children circumventing social media ban (Financial Times)Social media ban for UK's under 16s will go even further than Australia's policy (BMJ)The split-screen reaction to the UK social media ban (Everything in Moderation)Anthropic shuts down newest AI model after U.S. bans foreign use (The Washington Post)India blocks Telegram messaging app until June 22, government says (Reuters)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:Spotify removed 57,000 fake podcast episodes selling illegal drugs after congressional pressure (TNW)Spotify chief defends AI-generated music (Financial Times)Our fun links this week are the How Alberta eradicated rats (Ben) and Mogwooooo's Instagram account (Jen).If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover:Tech bosses threatened with prison if they fail to protect children (The Times)Apple and Google given three months to ban nude images on children's devices (BBC News)Keir Starmer's social media ban for under-16s could backfire, experts warn (OpenDemocracy)Apple previews new child safety features (Apple)Apple's WWDC keynote was very different, but this will be the new normal (9to5mac)Ottawa introduces bill to restrict social media for teens, regulate AI chatbots (Globe and Mail)Australia builds enforcement layer behind age assurance laws (Biometric Update)NCAC Welcomes Meta Oversight Board's New Account Recommendations (NCAC)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 (Anthropic)Microsoft restricts Claude Fable for employees over data retention concern (The Verge)The Rise of the Compliant Speech Platform (Lawfare)Policy on the AI Exponential (Dario Amodei)Our fun links this week are the 7-0 World Cup game (Ben) and Chipotlai Max (Mike).If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover:New 13+ Content Settings for Teen Accounts Expanding Globally on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger (Meta)Meta Expands Safety Features for Teenagers (New York Times)Hackers Used Meta's AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts (Krebs on Security)Everyone In This LEGO Dispute Should Have Spoken To A Lawyer Earlier Than They Did (Techdirt)Can you go 82-0? (82-0)My toddler's version of a silent disco (Instagram)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet (Liberalism)If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover.In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover:The Boring Internet (Terry Godier)Orkney Library & Archive (Bluesky)Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to the pope (Politico)Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah's remarks on Pope Leo XIV's encyclical "Magnifica humanitas" (Anthropic)Vance calls Pope Leo's AI warnings ‘profound' (NBC News)American heresy: should Peter Thiel be burned at the stake? (Le Grand Continent)Spotify chief defends AI-generated music (Financial Times)OpenAI readies cyber, misinformation defenses ahead of elections (Axios)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, they cover:In a surprise, Meta increases funding to the Oversight Board (Platformer)Spotlight: Five Years of the Oversight Board, from Experiment to Essential Institution (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)If you're already a Patreon supporter, you can get the extended episode on Patreon.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).

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by civil liberties lawyer Jennifer Granick. Together they discuss:Kickstarter rolls back its mature content policy after outcry (Engadget)Apple gives update on the App Store and its key protections (9to5 Mac)Thoughts on the £1,000,000 SaSu Fine (Preston Byrne)Pushing back from Big Tech: Africa's hard road to AI sovereignty (Rest of World)America's dangerous, messy deepfakes crackdown is here (The Verge)X accounts are limited to 50 posts and 200 replies a day unless they pay for a blue checkmark (Engadget)Support the podcast by joining our Patreon, with special founder membership available until May 28th.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).

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn. Together they discuss:Pennsylvania sues AI chatbot as state lawmakers wrestle with stricter regulations (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)Children are drawing moustaches on their faces to fool online age checks - and it's working (Euronews)The Online Safety Act: Are children safer online? (Internet Matters)Utah first state to hold websites liable for users who mask their location with VPNs — law goes into effect, designed to prevent bypassing age checks (Tom's Hardware)Three Justifications—and the AI Accelerant—of India's Digital Censorship Infrastructure (Tech Policy Press)Did School Cellphone Bans Work? New Study Finds Mixed Results.(NY Times)Support the podcast by joining our Patreon, with special founder membership available until May 28th. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by Jess Miers, law professor at University of Akron School of Law. Together, they discuss:AI Chatbots: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)OpenAI's Sam Altman apologizes to Canadian community after failing to flag mass shooter's conversations with its AI chatbot (CNN)OpenAI And Sam Altman Could Face Dozens More Lawsuits Over School Shooting In British Columbia, Lawyer Says (Forbes)Manitoba premier addresses province's plan to ban youth from social media, AI chatbots (CTV News)Turkey Passes Legislation Barring Children Under 15 From Social Media (NY Times)How YouTube Took Over the American Classroom (WSJ)Support the podcast by joining our Patreon, with special founder membership available until May 28th. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this special episode, Mike and Ben reflect on 100 episodes of the podcast, followed by an important announcement: we're launching a Patreon and making some changes to Ctrl-Alt-Speech!Starting on May 28th, Patreon members will get early access to extended weekly episodes with in-depth coverage of an extra major story. The free episodes will continue here on this feed, just slightly shorter and released one day later. You can become a member now at one of two levels: Supporters get early access to the extended episodes, and for a limited time Founders get that plus the opportunity to send us news stories that you think we should cover each week. After the new episodes begin at the end of May, the Founder tier will become the Insider tier with all the same benefits at a slightly higher price, so act now if you don't want to miss out (you'll also get bragging rights as a founding member!)We're immensely grateful to the incredible audience we've found over these past 100 episodes, and this is our way of helping make the podcast sustainable for the next 100! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:The Darkest Web (BBC)Federal agencies skirt Trump's Anthropic ban to test its advanced AI model (Politico)Anthropic Opposes the Extreme AI Liability Bill That OpenAI Backed (Wired)Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says (Politico EU)Statement by President von der Leyen with Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on the digital age verification app (European Commission)Apple threatened to remove Grok from the App Store over sexualized deepfakes, letter says (NBC News)A fake Ledger app on the Apple App Store drained $9.5 million in crypto (Coindesk)India's Decentralized System of Internet Censorship (Tech Policy Press)As Social Media Tears Society Apart, a New Crop of Scary Movies Focuses on the Horror of Content Moderation (Variety)We're still yet to find a Ctrl-Alt-Speech 2026 Bingo Card winner — could this week be your lucky day? Play along!  Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Fadzai Madzingira, a digital policy expert with a decade of experience at Meta, Salesforce, Ofcom and currently Twitch, where she leads the policy, outreach and education teams. Together, they discuss:Exclusive: Meta has discussed ending funding to the Oversight Board (Platformer)Spotlight: Five Years of the Oversight Board, from Experiment to Essential Institution (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)What Teens Are Doing With Those Role-Playing Chatbots (The New York Times)Early Lessons from Australia's Teen Social Media Ban for the Rest of the World (Tech Policy Press)Stuck in the Middleware with Youth with Vaishnavi J (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)Greece to ban social media for under-15s from 2027, calls on EU action (Reuters)The Family Tech Cycle: Navigating Screens, Devices, and Social Media (Joan Ganz Cooney Center)We're still yet to find a Ctrl-Alt-Speech 2026 Bingo Card winner — could this week be your lucky day? Play along. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:It's official: Australia's teen social media ban isn't working, yet (Crikey)Social Media Minimum Age - Compliance update (eSafety Commision)Blunder from Down Under (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)April 3 could create a dangerous gap in child safety across Europe (Thorn)Commissioners pile pressure on Parliament to pass child sexual abuse bill (POLITICO)Weeks After Denouncing Government Censorship On Rogan, Zuckerberg Texted Elon Musk Offering To Take Down Content For DOGE (Techdirt)What Is YouTube's Dominance Doing to Us? We Asked Its C.E.O. (The New York Times)This Episode is Broadly Safe To Listen To (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)Meta will "substantially reduce" describing Instagram teen accounts as PG-13 (Engadget)Rated R for Ridiculous (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)If you've got Elon Musk in your Ctrl-Alt-Speech 2026 Bingo Card this week, you're in luck. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:How London become a T&S hub (Everything in Moderation) Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They're Actually Cheering For (Techdirt)Supreme Court Sides With Internet Provider in Copyright Fight Over Pirated Music (New York Times)US settles social media censorship case, bars agencies from threatening penalties (Reuters)Meta's latest AI improves its terrible content moderation (The Register)Transparency Report 2025 (User Rights)An automated moderation error left Tumblr users panicked (The Verge)Don't forget to listen along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and drop us a line if you win or have ideas for new squares. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don't rewrite an Iran missile story (Times of Israel)Maybe Turning War Into a Casino Was a Bad Idea? (The Atlantic)French music streamer Deezer battles deluge of AI fraud (Financial Times)I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI - and it only took 20 minutes (BBC)US to Receive $10 Billion Fee for TikTok Deal, WSJ Reports (Bloomberg)'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back (404 Media)‘Another internet is possible': Norway rails against ‘enshittification' (The Guardian)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.  

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Grammarly turned me into an AI editor against my will and I hate it (Platformer)Grammarly has disabled its tool offering generative-AI feedback credited to real writers (Engadget)Grammarly Is Facing a Class Action Lawsuit Over Its AI ‘Expert Review' Feature (Wired)Who's a Better Writer: A.I. or Humans? Take Our Quiz. (NY Times)Molly vs the Machines review – a powerful story of love, loss and the dangers of social media (Guardian)UK: New Molly Russell documentary provides further evidence that social media needs complete redesign (Amnesty International)WhatsApp is launching parent-linked accounts for pre-teens (TechCrunch)Meta urged to boost oversight of fake AI videos (BBC)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In a special episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Ben and Mike discuss (with apologies to Tay-Tay) the three eras of content moderation in the media and what comes next. Their conversation builds on Ben's essay in the soon-to-be-published Trust, Safety, and the Internet We Share Multistakeholder Insights, a new book looking at the evolution of the Trust & Safety industry and how platform policies decisions are made. The pre-print is available online.Together, they unpack three distinct phases: The Strange Fascination Era (2003–2015), when newsrooms powered platform growth and treated social media as an exciting new frontier; The “We're Watching You” Era (2016–2020), when investigative reporting exposed online harms and pushed platforms to formalise Trust & Safety; and The Mask Off Era (2021–present), as platforms retreat from working with the media and the commitment to moderation waned.We'll be back next week with our regular episode.  Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, a podcast that makes sense of the rapidly changing world of tech. Together, they discuss:After a deadly raid, an AI power struggle erupts at the Pentagon (Washington Post)Following: Anthropic vs. The Pentagon (Platformer)Anthropic Drops Flagship Safety Pledge (TIME)Hackers Expose Age-Verification Software Powering Surveillance Web (The Rage)Discord is delaying its global age verification rollout (The Verge)Reddit fined £14m by UK data watchdog over age verification checks (BBC News)How to evaluate Trust & Safety vendors (Everything in Moderation*)Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans (Commissioner for Human Rights)MPs reject total ban, want data housed locally (The Star)Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere (Reuters)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Dr Blake Hallinan, Professor of Platform Studies in the Department of Media & Journalism Studies at Aarhus University. Together, they discuss:On Section 230's 30th Birthday, A Look Back At Why It's Such A Good Law And Why Messing With It Would Be Bad (Techdirt)An 18-Million-Subscriber YouTuber Just Explained Section 230 Better Than Every Politician In Washington (Techdirt)Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally (Discord)Media Literacy Parent's study (GOV.UK)EU says TikTok must disable ‘addictive' features like infinite scroll, fix its recommendation engine (Techcrunch)We Didn't Ask for This Internet with Tim Wu and Cory Doctorow (The New York Times)Despite Meta's ban, Fidesz candidates successfully posted 162 political ads on Facebook in January 9 (Lakmusz.hu)Claude's Constitution Needs a Bill of Rights and Oversight (Oversight Board)Account Closed Without Notice: Debanking Adult Industry Workers in Canada (ResearchGate)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this special bonus for Ctrl-Alt-Speech listeners, we're cross-posting an episode from the Future Around And Find Out podcast hosted by Dan Blumberg with guest Kwaku Aning.This week Dan and Kwaku dig into: The uncanny valley that is AI agents and Moltbook—the "Reddit" that agents built for themselves to complain about humans, create a religion, and behave in ways that freak humans out Anthropic takes aim at OpenAI with a Super Bowl ad that's spicy (for cubs and cougars alike) We read Claude's "Constitution" and ask: Should AI do what you ask it to do—or what it thinks you really want long-term? Why Dan switched from OpenAI to Claude (and what he learned about tone, capability, and custom projects) OpenAI scrambles; the market stumbles; Jensen Huang acts like Sam Altman is "just someone I used to know" How AEO (AI Engine Optimization) becomes critical in an AI-agent world—and what that means for brand, marketing, and search Why social media is already past (dark social won) Elon's pivot to humanoid robots, data centers in space, and other cool things we definitely need Are we setting higher ethical standards for machines than for tech leaders? Subscribe to FAFO wherever you get your podcasts, or at futurearound.com Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:House Judiciary Releases EU X Fine Details (House Judiciary X Account)New Report Exposes European Commission Decade-Long Campaign to Censor American Speech (House Judiciary Committee)X offices raided in France as UK opens fresh investigation into Grok (BBC)Hey Gavin Newsom! Investigating TikTok's Moderation Is Just As Unconstitutional As When Texas & Florida Tried It (Techdirt)Spain Aims to Ban Social Media for Children Under 16, Prime Minister Says (NY Times)TikTok Keyword Analysis (LinkedIn)Why newsrooms are taking comments seriously again (New_ Public)Whoops, Websites Realize That Killing Their Comment Sections Was A Mistake (Techdirt)Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech's 2026 Bingo Card! Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by Konstantinos Komaitis, Senior Resident Fellow for Global and Democratic Governance at the Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRLab) at the Atlantic Council. Together, they discuss:Who Owns TikTok in the U.S. Now? (NY Times)TikTok is investigating why some users can't write 'Epstein' in messages (NPR)TikTok users freak out over app's ‘immigration status' collection — here's what it means (TechCrunch)TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes (Wired)Social network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikTok's US takeover (TechCrunch)Europe votes to tackle deep dependence on US tech in sovereignty drive (Computerworld)Meta hides followers and following lists for users based in Iran (Iran International)Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only (Rest of World)The ‘Social Media Addiction' Narrative May Be More Harmful Than Social Media Itself (Techdirt)Payment processors were against CSAM until Grok started making it (The Verge) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:My year with a flip phone (Financial Times)Claude's Constitution (Anthropic)From the CEO: What's coming to YouTube in 2026 (Youtube)BBC to show programmes on YouTube in landmark deal (Financial Times)Rand Paul: I've changed my mind — Google and YouTube can't be trusted to do the right thing and must be reined in (NY Post)Rand Paul Only Wants Google To Be The Arbiter Of Truth When The Videos Are About Him (Techdirt)Roskomnadzor Denies Reports That It's Throttling Telegram Over Content Moderation Disputes (Moscow Times)Europeans set to launch an alternative to X. It's called W (Cybernews) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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.Follow Ben at Everything in Moderation and Mike at Techdirt. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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 HappenedThis episode is brought to you in partnership with Resolver. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

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. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Character.AI is banning minors from AI character chats (Financial Times)Strengthening ChatGPT's responses in sensitive conversations (OpenAI)Senators propose banning teens from using AI chatbots (The Verge)EU accuses Meta, TikTok of breaching digital rules (Politico) Meta and TikTok are obstructing researchers' access to data, European Commission rules (Science.org)Hey Elon: Let Me Help You Speed Run The Content Moderation Learning Curve (Techdirt)China's new law: only degree-holding influencers can discuss professional topics – netizens divided on its impact (IOL) Wizz is like ‘Tinder for kids,' as teens use the app to hook up while adult predators lurk (NY Post) This episode is brought to you by our sponsor WebPurify, an Intouch company. IntouchCX is a global leader in digital customer experience management, back office processing, trust and safety, and AI services. Webpurify has just launched their very first podcast series, Trust Issues - Insights from the People Who Keep the Internet Safe, and Mike and Ben are fans. Listen to all three episodes on Spotify and watch on YouTube. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Wikipedia Volunteers Avert Tragedy by Taking Down Gunman at Conference (New York Times)AI-Generated Content a Triple Threat for Reddit Moderators (Cornell Tech)Wikipedia Says AI Is Causing a Dangerous Decline in Human Visitors (404 Media)As social media age restrictions spread, is the internet entering its Victorian era? (The Conversation)Winning with misinformation: New research identifies link between endorsing easily disproven claims and prioritizing symbolic strength (The Conversation)Tinder Launches Mandatory Facial Verification to Weed Out Bots and Scammers (Wired)This episode is brought to you by our sponsor Clavata.ai, a first-of-its-kind, automated content safety platform that allows you to go from defining a policy to enforcement in minutes. In our Bonus Chat, we speak with founder Brett Levenson on how to make T&S more consistent and explainable and the benefits of treating policy as code. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Sam Altman says OpenAI isn't ‘moral police of the world' after erotica ChatGPT post blows up (CNBC)Where are all the women on Sora 2? This could be a nightmare for OpenAI. (Business Insider)Musk's AI Is Being Used to Make Hardcore Porn: ‘Grok Is Learning Genitalia Really Fast!' (Rolling Stone)Instagram Will Limit Content for Teenagers Based on PG-13 Ratings (NY Times)UK MPs urged to investigate TikTok's plans to cut 439 content moderator jobs (The Guardian)TikTok ‘directs child accounts to pornographic content within a few clicks' (The Guardian)New AI video tools are fuelling violent racism on TikTok (The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)New York City Sues Instagram Rather Than Teach Kids Filters Aren't Real (Techdirt)Kids who use social media score lower on reading and memory tests, a study shows (NPR)Congress is Asking the Wrong Questions About Discord and Boys (Time)Adolescence star Stephen Graham launches global project asking fathers to write to their sons (The Guardian) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Thomas Hughes, CEO of Appeals Centre Europe and former Director at the Oversight Board. Together they discuss:Appeals Centre Europe Transparency Report (ACE)Most people want platforms (not governments) to be responsible for moderating content (Reuters Institute) Happy Birthday, Digital Services Act! – Time for a Reality Check (Algorithm Watch)Proof-of-age ID leaked in Discord data breach (The Guardian)Update on a Security Incident Involving Third-Party Customer Service (Discord)Another Day, Another Age Verification Data Breach: Discord's Third-Party Partner Leaked Government IDs (Techdirt)Exclusive: Apple Quietly Made ICE Agents a Protected Class (Migrant Insider)My Email to Tim Cook (Wiley Hodges — Substack) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by Dave Willner, founder of Zentropi, and long-time trust & safety expert who worked at Facebook, AirBnB, and OpenAI in Trust & Safety roles. Together they discuss:Masnick's Impossibility Theorem: Content Moderation At Scale Is Impossible To Do Well (Techdirt)UK makes new attempt to access Apple cloud data (Financial Times)Imgur pulls out of UK after data regulator warns of fines (TechCrunch)Leaked Meta guidelines show how it trains AI chatbots to respond to child sexual exploitation prompts (Business Insider)OpenAI's Sora joins Meta in pushing AI-generated videos. Some are worried about a flood of 'AI slop' (ABC News)Flights in Afghanistan grounded after internet shutdown (BBC) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:How platforms are responding to the Charlie Kirk shooting (The Verge)Bluesky Issues Warning to Any Users Celebrating Charlie Kirk Assassination (Newsweek)Right-Wing Activists Are Targeting People for Allegedly Celebrating Charlie Kirk's Death (Wired)Charlie Kirk Was Shot and Killed in a Post-Content-Moderation World (Wired)Has Britain Gone Too Far With Its Digital Controls? (New York Times)The Censorship Alarm Is Ringing in the Wrong Direction (Public Knowledge)We now know who the new owners of TikTok will be - if Trump gets his deal done with Xi (CNN)Nepal's Social Media Ban Backfires as Politics Moves to a Chat Room (New York Times) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Nepal to block some social media including Facebook (Reuters)Why Nepal Banned 26 Social Media Platforms And What It Means (Medianama)A parliament in flames, a leader toppled. Nepal's Gen-Z protesters ask: What comes next? (CNN)When Trolls Take On Tyrants: 4chan and Kiwi Farms Sue the UK Over Extraterritorial Censorship (Techdirt)Wikipedia is resilient because it's boring (The Verge)Former Meta employees say they saw child abuse in VR before company blocked research (NBC News)Mark Zuckerberg sues Mark Zuckerberg (Techcrunch) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Jordan escalates global tech argument, with Farage's help (Politico) Farage's rules for free speech: talk about anything but your lunch (The Times)Is Jonathan Haidt right about smartphones? (TES)My mom and Dr. DeepSeek (Rest of World)AI 'deadbots' are persuasive — and researchers say they're primed for monetization (NPR)OpenAI co-founder calls for AI labs to safety-test rival models (TechCrunch)Privacy-Preserving Age Verification—and Its Limitations (Steven M. Bellovin) Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

This is the second of our special episodes for the month of August. Last time, we talked a bit about the past and future of Ctrl-Alt-Speech; this time, Mike and Ben answer some questions from our listeners, and also share a few of the latest reviews. We're taking one more week off after this, then we'll be back in the first week of September with a return to our regular weekly news roundups!  Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

We're taking a little break from our regular weekly news roundups this month, but we've got a couple special episodes lined up in the mean time, starting with a conversation all about the past and future of Ctrl-Alt-Speech. This week, Mike and Ben talk about how the podcast got started, how we create the episodes, our philosophy about sponsorship, and what we need to make Ctrl-Alt-Speech sustainable in the long run. We hope you enjoy it!  Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

Our second annual live at TrustCon recording of Ctrl-Alt-Speech! Ben was unable to make the trip halfway around the world, but Mike was joined by trust & safety influencer Alice Hunsberger from Musubi and Ashken Kazaryan, a Senior Legal Fellow at the Future of Free Speech at Vanderbilt University. They cover:As millions adopt Grok to fact-check, misinformation abounds (Al Jazeera)Analysis Of Grok's Epstein Comments Show How This AI Chatbot Is Learning (Forbes)People With Body Dysmorphia Are Spiraling Out After Asking AI to Rate Their Looks (Rolling Stone)Can A Chatbot Be Your Therapist? Casper's Neil Parikh Launches A New $93 Million-Backed Startup To Try (Forbes)A Realist Perspective on Trust & Safety (Tech Policy Press)This week's sponsor is Modulate. In our bonus chat Mike Masnick talks with Modulate founder and CEO Mike Pappas, live at TrustCon, about the kinds of voice scams they're seeing, with a focus on scams using social engineering techniques to pressure people to do things they probably shouldn't do. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:a16z-Backed AI Site Civitai Is Mostly Porn, Despite Claiming Otherwise (404 Media)Hugging Face Is Hosting 5,000 Nonconsensual AI Models of Real People (404 Media)Ofcom head says age checks are ‘really big moment' for children's online safety (The Guardian)New online safety rules not 'the end of the conversation', says minister (BBC)Commission's guidelines for online child safety target platforms of all sizes (Euractiv)I met the sextortion scammers destroying young lives for £1 a day (The Times)“Why me?” On shame, self-blame, and feeling so. damn. Stupid. (Blockparty)If It Breaks Wikipedia, It's Probably Bad Policy (InternetExchange)This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund and by our sponsor, the Digital Trust & Safety Partnership. In our bonus chat Mike talks with DTSP Executive Director David Sullivan to talk about their new Safe Framework Specification, which is an official ISO standard (available for free download) which will help everyone better understand best practices and concepts around online trust & safety work. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:Jack Cable calls out Cluely over bogus DMCA (X)The cofounder of the viral AI 'cheating' startup Cluely says he only hires people for 2 jobs (Business Insider)Missouri AG: Any AI That Doesn't Praise Donald Trump Might Be “Consumer Fraud” (No, Really) (Techdirt)Instagram wrongly accuses some users of breaching child sex abuse rules (BBC)Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot praises Adolf Hitler on X (FT)Grok Becomes ‘MechaHitler,' Twitter Becomes X: How Centralized Tech Is Prone To Fascist Manipulation (Techdirt)See the leaked teen social media ban tech trial report that has experts worried (Crikey)New anti-fraud system is labelling hospital texts and other legitimate messages as ‘likely scam' (Irish Independent)Why Ireland's New “Scam Likely” Labels Might Actually Make SMS Fraud Worse for Banks and the Public (Medium)This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund. Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.