Ctrl-Alt-Speech
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly news podcast co-created by Techdirt’s Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation’s Ben Whitelaw. Each episode looks at the latest news in online speech, covering issues regarding trust & safety, content moderation, regulation, court rulings, new services & technology, and more.The podcast regularly features expert guests with experience in the trust & safety/online speech worlds, discussing the ins and outs of the news that week and what it may mean for the industry. Each episode takes a deep dive into one or two key stories, and includes a quicker roundup of other important news. It's a must...
Zuck Starts Throwing His Weights Around
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...Live at TrustCon 2026
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...Spotlight: PwC’s Dan Hays on the future of Trust & Safety
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 vendo...
Putting Some Meat On The Bans
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?’...Sell Me Lies, Sell Me Sweet Meta Lies
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 (Bloo...Making the Best of a Ban Situation
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...Teaser: The Ctrl-Alt-Speech Reading List
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 M...
Close Your Apps and Think of England
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...Cupertino d'État
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 We...Generous to a Default
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...Deus vs. Machina
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 o...Message in a Bottleneck
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...The Human Element in the Room
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 Justif...Age Against the Machine
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)Tur...Celebrating 100 Episodes & Launching Our Patreon
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 tim...
The Silence of the LLMs
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 Ne...Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ Internet
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...Age Old Questions
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 It...For Meta or Worse
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 V...Money for Nothing and Clicks for a Fee
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 Wh...Writing Some Wrongs
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 document...The (Content Moderation) Eras Tour
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 W...
Let Fly the Claudes of War, with Casey Newton
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 dat...Panic! At The Discord
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 infin...FAFO: Claude Goes High Brow With Its Super Bowl Ad & "Constitution"; OpenAI Scrambles
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...C'est la Vile Content
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 co...Think Globally, Stack Locally
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...This Episode is Broadly Safe to Listen To
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 Rep...We’ve Hit Grok Bottom
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 yo...Spotlight: Five Years of the Oversight Board, from Experiment to Essential Institution
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...
Making Our 2026 Bingo Card
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 the podcast where we make sense of the major debates shaping online speech, platform po...
Have Yourself a Very Meta Christmas
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...
Censors & Sensibility
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 (U...Stuck in the Middleware with Youth
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 ag...Spotlight: Building Better CSAM Detection with Resolver’s George Vlasto
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 on...
You Can't Antitrust Anyone These Days
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 P...Deviation from the Teen
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...New Blocks On The Kids
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 Gett...Chat Bot Your Tongue?
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 o...A Tale of Two Internets
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...