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The Story Of Elon Musk's Twitter Takeover

If you're a Techdirt reader (or any tech news reader) you've already heard a lot of stories about the chaos of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, but no matter how much you know, there's a lot to learn in a new book that hits the shelves today. Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, is the definitive retelling of the saga-so-far, and it's full of fascinating details that make it a gripping read. Today, Kate joins us on the podcast to talk all about the book and the stories therein. Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737290/character-limit-by-kate-conger-and-ryan-mac/

Sep 17, 202450 min

How Fact Checking Fails

There's been plenty of conversation over the past decade about how unprepared the mainstream media was for the shifts that have happened in politics and political discourse, especially when it comes to finding... well... the truth. As we move towards the 2024 election, the challenges of reporting and fact checking are once again in the spotlight, and this week we're joined by NYU Journalism Professor and Jay Rosen to talk about the state of modern journalism, and how fact checking so often fails.

Aug 27, 202446 min

AI As A Tool For Writing, Not A Replacement

A few months ago, Mike wrote about the ways he uses AI tools when writing for Techdirt — not to do any of the actual writing, but to help improve it. The specific tool in question is Lex, a word processor with embedded AI features, and this week Lex founder Nathan Baschez joins Mike on the podcast to talk more about AI as a tool for creative improvement rather than a replacement for creativity.

Aug 14, 202445 min

The NCMEC Board Is Captured & Failing, Says Former Member

We've had several episodes and posts lately all about NCMEC, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, looking at both the great work it does and some of the problems that plague it. One thing we've often been especially concerned about is the center's advocacy efforts, such as pushing for FOSTA and KOSA. This week, we're joined by former NCMEC board member Don McGowan, who shares his story about leaving the board over the many problems that plague it.

Aug 7, 202447 min

Link Taxes Won't Save Journalism

A few weeks ago, Mike was the moderator on a panel hosted by CCIA all about link taxes — the various problematic efforts around the world to force internet companies to pay media outlets for sending them traffic. The panel featured Public Knowledge Policy Director Lisa Macpherson, Lion Publishers Executive Director Chris Krewson, and lawyer Cathy Gellis who we regularly work with here at Techdirt. You can listen to the whole discussion here on this week's episode of the podcast.

Jul 17, 202458 min

The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality

It was over six years ago when we last had Renée DiResta on the podcast for a detailed discussion about misinformation and disinformation on social media. Since then, she's not only led extensive research on the subject, she's also become a central figure in the fever-dream conspiracy theories of online disinformation peddlers. Her new book Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality dives deep into the modern ecosystem of online disinformation, and she joins us again on this week's episode to discuss the many things that have changed in the past six years.

Jul 9, 202457 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech Minisode: The Supreme Court’s NetChoice Ruling

The hosts of Ctrl-Alt-Speech are both on vacation this week, but we didn’t want to leave our listeners waiting too long for an update on today’s big news about online speech: the Supreme Court’s ruling in the NetChoice cases, which sends the Texas and Florida laws that would limit the ability of online platforms to moderate political speech back to the lower courts. So Mike Masnick has stepped briefly back to the microphone to join our producer, Leigh Beadon, for a quick mini episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, which we’re also posting to the Techdirt podcast feed. In this short discussion, Mike explains the immediate implications of the ruling, the way it separates procedural questions from its broader guidance on the First Amendment, and what it signals about how the court will evaluate issues like this in the future. Read more about the NetChoice ruling in our coverage on Techdirt: From Mike Masnick - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/01/in-content-moderation-cases-supreme-court-says-try-again-but-makes-it-clear-moderation-deserves-first-amendment-protections/ From Cathy Gellis - https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/01/in-the-netchoice-cases-alito-and-his-buddies-are-wrong-but-even-if-they-were-right-it-may-not-matter-and-thats-largely-good-news/

Jul 1, 202419 min

Raising Kids In A Digital World

We weren't planning to do a series, but after our last two episodes with Alice Marwick and then Candice Odgers, things have lined up nicely for a trifecta of episodes about the current moral panic around kids and social media. This week, we're joined by Dr. Devorah Heitner, an expert on kids and technology and author of the recent book Growing Up In Public, as well as a Substack about mentoring kids in a connected world, to discuss what parents really need to know about kids, social media, and the internet.

Jun 25, 202449 min

What An Actual Expert Thinks About Kids & Social Media

In the conversation about keeping kids safe online, the actual experts with the most to offer are all too often treated as outsiders and interlopers. One such expert is Candice Odgers, Professor of Psychological Science and Informatics at the University of California Irvine, who has recently been involved in a lot of debates against people who are very confident despite having far less information and expertise. This week, she joins us for something of a follow-up to our previous episode, to have a more productive discussion about the real challenges with kids and social media and the real efforts to address them.

Jun 18, 202443 min

A Primer On Child Online Safety Legislation

There's a broad legislative push for rules that would (supposedly) protect kids online. But as we've written about at length, while the concern for teen mental health might be genuine, the legislative response is highly problematic and based on a misdiagnosis of the underlying problems. This week, we're joined by UNC's Alice Marwick, one of a group of academics who recently released a primer on child safety legislation, to discuss the many different issues at play and the problems with various regulatory proposals. Child Online Safety Legislation (COSL) - A Primer: https://citap.pubpub.org/pub/cosl/release/5

Jun 11, 202449 min

The Importance Of Section 230 For Online Communities

At the latest committee hearing about its repeal bill, Congress finally deigned to bring in one witness who spoke in defense of Section 230. Engine Executive Director Kate Tummarello got a little bit of time to explain how Section 230 isn't about protecting big tech, it's about protecting the hosts and users of all kinds of extremely important and valuable online communities. But that little bit of time was far from enough, so this week Kate joins us on the podcast to say some more things that Congress really, really needs to listen to.

Jun 4, 202447 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Deepfake It Till You Make It (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss a fascinating story about how political deepfakes are being used in the Indian election - but not in the way you might expect. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

May 30, 202413 min

Platform Moderation Or Individual Control?

As decentralized social media experiments continue, we're getting more and more opportunities to really understand the impact of decentralized systems and how they are received by users. Amy Zhang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Washington, has been studying and thinking about these issues a lot, and this week she joins us on the podcast to discuss a recent paper and, in general, how users are faring in the world of decentralized social media and content moderation. Research paper, "Do Users Want Platform Moderation or Individual Control?" - https://arxiv.org/pdf/2301.02208

May 21, 202446 min

Generative AI Is Doomed

There's no shortage of prognostication about the future of generative AI, including plenty of predictions that it won't actually be around forever for various reasons. A lot of these takes are a little too speculative or just not very interesting, but one that stands out comes from law professor and returning podcast guest Eric Goldman, who joins us this week to discuss his recent lecture and subsequent paper arguing that the regulatory environment won't allow generative AI to survive. 2024 Nies Lecture on Intellectual Property: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3tzZ_nH-AI Research paper, "Generative AI Is Doomed": https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4802313

May 14, 202448 min

The Challenges Facing NCMEC's CyberTipline

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's CyberTipline is a central component of the fight against child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, but there have been a lot of questions about how well it truly works. A recent report from the Stanford Internet Observatory, which we've published two recent posts about, provides an extremely useful window into the system. This week, we're joined by two of the report's authors, Shelby Grossman and Riana Pfefferkorn, to dig into the content of the report and the light it sheds on the challenges faced by the CyberTipline. Stanford Report: https://purl.stanford.edu/pr592kc5483 Techdirt posts: https://www.techdirt.com/company/ncmec/

May 7, 202450 min

Talking TikTok

We've got one more cross-post episode for you today, then next week we're back with a brand new discussion. Recently, Mike joined the Daily Beast's The New Abnormal podcast with host Andy Levy for a conversation about the big news from last week: Biden signing a bill that will ban TikTok in the US if owner ByteDance doesn't divest from it. The full episode of The New Abnormal covers other topics as well, or you can listen to Mike's segment isolated here on this week's episode. The New Abnormal episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-campaign-shifts-strategy-for-its-part-time-candidate/id1508202790?i=1000653645212

Apr 30, 202419 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Combating Sextortion (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the startling epidemic of "sextortion" scammers targeting teens online. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing Friday - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Apr 24, 202414 min

Copyright Conundrum

This week, we've got another cross-post episode for you. Mike recently appeared on the Sidebar podcast from Courthouse News as part of an episode taking an in-depth look at why copyright is actually the biggest free speech restriction in the US and the various questions, implications, and problems that arise from this. You can listen to the whole thing here on this week's episode.

Apr 24, 202434 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Facebook's New AI Content Policy (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Ben and guest host Alice Hunsberger discuss Meta/Facebook's new policy for labeling AI-generated content. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Apr 18, 20249 min

Abolishing Section 230 Would Abolish Wikipedia

Last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing all about Section 230, in which they didn't even attempt to find a witness pointing out its benefits. Among the many organizations that could have provided that vital perspective is the Wikimedia Foundation (as seen in three excellent posts on Medium), and this week we're joined by Rebecca MacKinnon, Wikimedia's VP of Global Advocacy and long-time open internet defender, to talk about why the hearing was bad and Section 230 is very, very important. Posts by Wikimedia: https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/if-congress-repeals-section-230-what-will-that-mean-for-wikipedia-691559dfb2c5 https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/common-assumptions-and-misunderstandings-about-online-content-moderation-and-reforming-section-230-eb9bd6d70d58 https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/alternatives-to-reforming-section-230-refocusing-internet-regulation-on-empowering-people-c175af4d6626

Apr 16, 202443 min

Democratic Design For Online Spaces

One very important thing to understand in the conversation about online speech is that there are many different kinds of online communities, big and small, and they all have their own needs when it comes to rules and governance. This fact is a key element of a new book, Governable Spaces: Democratic Design for Online Life by media studies professor Nathan Schneider, and this week Nathan joins the podcast to talk about how democracy does (and doesn't) manifest in online communities.

Apr 9, 202448 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The Most Moderated Word on Meta (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the recent decision from the Oversight Board that reveals the single most moderated word on Meta's social media sites. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl…ch/id1734530193 Overcast: overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: music.amazon.com/podcasts/9384201…e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLc…Hqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Apr 4, 202411 min

How Important Will The Murthy Case Be?

We've written a lot about the Murthy case at the Supreme Court, and especially how poor of a job the states did in making their argument. Now, as we await the ruling, there are a lot of questions about what it will look like and how consequential it will be. This week, we're joined by law professor Kate Klonick to discuss what happened, what's likely to come next, and what kind of impact it will have.

Apr 3, 202450 min

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: Elon Musk & Stonetoss (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from last week's episode, Mike and Ben discuss the latest curious and contradictory content moderation decisions by Elon Musk, and a recent article about the risks and challenges associated with how different countries approach internet regulation. Listen to the whole episode covering all the week's biggest news in online speech - and get ready for this week's episode, releasing tomorrow - by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/93842011-b662-430a-8e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: https://www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Mar 28, 20249 min

Cognitive Liberty Is The End Goal Of Decentralization

Last year in September, we released a cross-post episode of Mike's appearance on the DWeb Decoded podcast with Danny O'Brien. If you listened to that episode, you know that Mike and Danny go way back, and Danny played an important role in the founding of Techdirt. This week, we've got the inverse counterpart to that episode, with Danny joining Mike here on the Techdirt podcast for a discussion about decentralization and "cognitive liberty" (and a bunch of other topics).

Mar 26, 20241h 4m

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The TikTok Ban (Teaser)

Check out Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike Masnick's brand new podcast with Ben Whitelaw, creator of the Everything in Moderation newsletter. In this teaser excerpt from the debut episode of Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike and Ben discuss the US bill that aims to ban TikTok, or at least force ByteDance to divest from it. Listen to the whole episode, covering all the week's biggest news in online speech, by visiting ctrlaltspeech.com or subscribing to Ctrl-Alt-Speech on your podcast platform of choice! Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ctrl-alt-speech/id1734530193 Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1734530193 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1N3tvLxUTCR7oTdUgUCQvc Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/93842011-b662-430a-8e51-218433a7e647 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcky6_VTbejGkZ7aHqqc3ZjufeEw2AS7Z More: https://www.ctrlaltspeech.com/

Mar 18, 202413 min

Gaming Like It's 1928!

As is tradition, now that we've announced the winners of our latest public domain game jam, Gaming Like It's 1928, it's time for a special episode of the podcast taking a closer look at them. Just like in past years, Mike is joined by myself and our game design partner Randy Lubin to discuss our thoughts on the winners in all six categories, and a bunch of other great games that didn't quite make the cut.

Mar 13, 202443 min

Checking In On Bluesky With Jay Graber

Anyone who follows Techdirt knows we're very interested in the progress of Bluesky, the decentralized social network that embraces our concept of protocols over platforms. Bluesky recently ended its invite-only beta and opened its doors to the public, so it seems like a great time for a check-in, and who better to check in with than Bluesky CEO Jay Graber? Jay joins us on this week's episode for a discussion about Bluesky's progress and what the future holds.

Mar 5, 202457 min

KOSA Isn't Just Wrong About The Internet, It's Wrong About Child Safety

In our coverage of the problems with KOSA and other legislative pushes to "protect the children" online, we usually (for obvious reasons) come at the subject from the technology side, and look at all the ways these laws misunderstand the internet. But that's not their only flaw: these proposals also tend to lack any real understanding of child safety. Maureen Flatley is someone who has been vocal from the other side, having covered child safety issues for about as long as we've covered tech, and she joins us on this week's episode to discuss how KOSA and its ilk aren't rooted in what we really know about keeping kids safe.

Feb 21, 202449 min

How To Actually Help Kids Online

As we've written about repeatedly, efforts to protect kids online and improve their mental health at the moment all seem to be focused on taking social media away from them, even though all the evidence suggests this would be harmful, not helpful. Today, we're joined by Rob Morris, who aims to take a different approach with his online mental health service Koko, for a discussion about how the real way to help kids is to meet them where they're at.

Feb 13, 202438 min

Is the Internet Killing Culture? (No. Don’t Be Stupid.)

A couple weeks ago, we released the 2024 edition of our Sky Is Rising report about the state of the entertainment industries. Last week, Mike and I joined Corbin Barthold on Techfreedom's Tech Policy Podcast for a discussion about the report and, more broadly, the state of culture in the internet era and the conversations that surround it. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode of the Techdirt Podcast.

Feb 6, 20241h 2m

The Data Transfer Initiative After One Year

Back in April, we were joined on the podcast by Chris Riley, the Executive Director of the new nonprofit Data Transfer Initiative that aimed to promote data portability and empower users to transfer their data from one service to another. Today, the Initiative has released its first annual report, and Chris is back on the podcast for a discussion all about how things are going, and what's on deck for 2024. Data Transfer Initiative Annual Report 2023 (PDF): https://dtinit.org/assets/DTI-Annual-Report-2023.pdf

Feb 1, 202438 min

Protocols, Not Platforms

We've got a nice fresh live recording for you today! Just yesterday, Mike was at the Knight Foundation's INFORMED Conference to participate in a panel discussion with Bluesky CEO Jay Graber, moderated by former Twitter Trust & Safety head Yoel Roth. The subject was decentralized and federated social media, especially its implications for content moderation, and you can listen to the whole panel here on this week's episode.

Jan 25, 20241h 2m

Beeper And The Power Of Protocols

Last month, we wrote about Apple's nonsensical attack on Beeper, a universal messaging app that exemplifies many of the things we talk about here on Techdirt, like adversarial interoperability and the value of embracing open protocols over walled platforms. This week, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky joins us on the podcast to talk about the app, the fight with Apple, and the power of protocols.

Jan 17, 202447 min

Could A Design Code Help Social Media Serve Society Better?

We're back from the holidays, and it's time for a new episode of the Techdirt Podcast! This week, we're joined by Ravi Iyer, Research Director for the USC Marshall School's Neely Center and Managing Director of the Psychology of Technology Institute, to discuss a proposed "design code" that aims to make social media better serve society. Mike isn't entirely convinced by the approach, leading to a long discussion about all its ins and outs.

Jan 9, 202457 min

Content Moderation Games

Many of you might know Andrew "K'Tetch" Norton as a Techdirt commenter, or from his work at TorrentFreak or for the Pirate Party, and some of you might know that he also runs his own podcast, Tetch Talk. Recently, Andrew asked Mike and I to join him on the podcast for a discussion about our content moderation games Moderator Mayhem and Trust & Safety Tycoon, and today we're posting a mirror of the full discussion for our last podcast of the year. See you in 2024!

Dec 19, 20231h 14m

Could Engineer Licensing Make AI Safer?

There's plenty of discussion right now about what approach, regulatory or otherwise, could rein in the potential harms of AI systems. This week, we're joined by professor and researcher Chinmayi Sharma to discuss her brand new article that offers an interesting idea: professionalizing the AI field with engineer licensing and a malpractice standard. Read the article: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/setting-a-higher-bar-professionalizing-ai-engineering

Dec 13, 202357 min

Decentralizing Innovation

We've got another cross-post episode this week! Recently, Mike joined the debut episode of the new Dot Social podcast from Flipboard CEO Mike McCue for a discussion about decentralized social media and the open social web, and the ways in which they are poised to spur widespread innovation. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode.

Dec 5, 20231h 0m

AI Is Going To Change More Than You Realize

The world of generative AI has been changing rapidly, and that's not something that's going to stop any time soon. Today, we're joined on the podcast by Jonathan Ross, founder and CEO of Groq (no, not Elon Musk's new bot called Grok) — a company working on a new technology stack that drastically speeds up performance of AI models — to talk about all things AI, and the many ways it's going to change in the coming months and years.

Nov 28, 202350 min

Trust & Safety In Wartime

As you hopefully know, we recently launched (and then released a podcast about) our new game, Trust & Safety Tycoon, which we created in association with the Atlantic Council's Task Force for a Trustworthy Future Web. This week, we've got two people from the Atlantic Council joining us on the podcast: Democracy & Tech Initiative Director Rose Jackson and DRFLab Senior Fellow and Managing Editor Andy Carvin. In the wake of current events in Israel, the conversation turned to a look at the unique challenges of trust and safety during times of global armed conflict.

Oct 31, 202357 min

Your Face Belongs To Us, With Kashmir Hill

We've written plenty about facial recognition here on Techdirt, and especially the infamous Clearview AI. Now, journalist Kashmir Hill, who wrote the original New York Times story that told the story about the company's inception, has written a new book all about the subject: Your Face Belongs To Us. This week, she joins us on the podcast to discuss the whole story of Clearview AI, the rise of facial recognition, and the impact on privacy. Your Face Belongs To Us: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/691288/your-face-belongs-to-us-by-kashmir-hill/

Oct 24, 202348 min

Trust & Safety Tycoon

As you hopefully know by now, earlier this week we launched our new game, Trust & Safety Tycoon. It's a free, browser-based game (playable on desktop or mobile, though we recommend desktop for the best experience) that puts you in the shoes of the head of trust and safety at a rapidly growing social media platform, where you must face all the difficult decisions that entails. As we did for our past games Moderator Mayhem and Startup Trail, Mike, myself, and our game design partner Randy Lubin of Leveraged Play sat down after the release to record a podcast episode all about the game, our design process, and the reaction from players so far.

Oct 20, 202346 min

Open Sourcing The Trust & Safety Toolkit

The trust and safety conversation tends to focus on the huge platforms, and the millions of smaller websites (some still quite big!) get ignored. But those websites have trust and safety needs too, and they use a lot of different tools to meet them. Most of these tools are proprietary, but there's a growing push to build more open source tooling for the purpose, which was discussed by Derek Slater in a recent Atlantic Council report. This week, Derek joins us on the podcast to talk about the problems that open source trust and safety tools can solve.

Sep 26, 202341 min

Liability, Speech & Marketplaces

We've got a slightly unusual (at first glace) crosspost episode for you this week! Recently, Mike joined Dave Cooper, CEO and Founder of brand protection agency IPSecure, on the company's Owning The Buy Box podcast. As you probably know, we're pretty skeptical of brand protection companies here at Techdirt, but Dave has a history of heeding our criticisms and being thoughtful about policy and court rulings, enabling an interesting and insightful discussion about a recent legal decision and the brand protection space as a whole.

Sep 19, 202353 min

Link Taxes Are (Still) Bad

Earlier this year, we had an episode looking at Canada's proposed social media link tax and the many ways it would be terrible. Since then, that link tax has become law (though not yet come into effect), and unsurprisingly proven that the dire predictions were correct. Also since then, the Cato Institute's Paul Matzko published an excellent paper on link taxes in general, and Paul joins us on this week's episode to discuss the many reasons that a link tax won't save the newspaper industry. Read the paper: https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/link-tax-wont-save-newspaper-industry Listen to our previous episode on Canada's link tax: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/04/04/techdirt-podcast-episode-349-link-taxes-are-bad-canada-edition/

Sep 12, 202357 min

Thinking About Decentralization

We've got a another cross-post episode for you this week, on a subject near and dear to our hearts: protocols over platforms, and restoring decentralization online. Mike recently joined Danny O'Brien on the DWeb Decoded podcast to talk all about these topics, as well as tell a little story about Danny's role in the founding of Techdirt, and you can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode.

Sep 5, 202356 min

Social Media & Mental Health

Social media isn't the first phenomenon to spark a moral panic about its impact on people's (and especially young people's) mental health, and it surely won't be the last — but for now, it's the star of the show. A lot of people will gladly latch on to, and casually misrepresent, any research that might strengthen their belief in social media's harms. But that doesn't mean there are no harms: it's just that good research needs to account for the complexity of the subject and social media's myriad impacts, good and bad. One person doing such research is Professor Andy Przybylski from the University of Oxford, who joins us on this week's episode for a more detailed and meaningful discussion about social media and mental health.

Aug 29, 20231h 8m

Gigi Sohn On Community Broadband

If you didn't know who Gigi Sohn was before her stalled-out FCC nomination and the ridiculous smear campaign that came with it, you surely do by now. And if you read Techdirt, you know she's one of the most experienced and passionate experts around when it comes to broadband. This week, she returns to the podcast after quite some time to discuss her new role at the American Association for Public Broadband and the fight for more community-owned broadband in the US.

Aug 15, 202351 min

The YouTube Effect, With Alex Winter

As you may recall, we weren't fans of The Social Dilemma, the documentary manipulated people with misinformation in the course of complaining about that exact practice. But now there's a much better and more interesting documentary in the space, and one that's worth your time: The YouTube Effect by Alex Winter. It takes a deep dive into the good and the bad of YouTube, and grapples with the fact that it has helped radicalize a lot of people. This week, Alex joins Mike (who still contests some of the points in the movie) on the podcast to discuss (and debate) the documentary and the role of YouTube in our culture. Watch The YouTube Effect: https://www.yteffect.com/

Aug 9, 202357 min

Can Interoperability Be Mandated?

We've long believed in the power of online platform interoperability and the power it gives to users to curate their own experiences. One of the prime examples of this is Block Party, created by Tracy Chou, which has had to suspend its operations following ExTwitter's API changes. Tracy joined us on the podcast once before to discuss Block Party, and now she's back to talk about her new service, Privacy Party, as well as the broader topic of platform interoperability and whether it could be mandated with regulations.

Aug 1, 202357 min