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PODCAST

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

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

technology tech news

All Episodes

39:15

Going to the Ballot Bot

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/10/02

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, Ben is joined by Katie Harbath, Meta’s former director of public policy for global elections and now founder of technology policy firm Anchor Change. She is also the author of Disrupting Politics, out on Tuesday. Together they discuss: TSE (Brazil Election Commission) clarifies rules on deepfakes in the 2026 elections (O Diário do Par...

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37:06

Some Assembly Required

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/09/25

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: Trump dismisses concerns about AI risks at UN, says he won't rein it in (PBS News)A.I. Gone Rogue? Trump Proposes Not New Rules but an ‘A.I. Force.’ (New York Times) 22 countries back call to keep AI ‘under human control’ (POLITICO)If AI is going to destroy humanity, Scott Bessent says hyperscalers, not govern...

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36:11

No Child Left Online

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/09/18

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: What is in the EU's planned KIDS Act? (Reuters)Proposal for EU KIDS Act - 'EU Keeping Internet Digital Spaces Accountable and Trustworthy' (EU Commission)France makes new attempt to ban social media for children under age 15 (Le Monde)Reading scores plummet as ‘digital distraction’ harms students (FT)We are setting...

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41:10

Duty of Careful What You Wish For

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/09/11

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: Australians will be able to switch off social media algorithms under planned legislation (BBC News)Australia’s social media ban has an enforcement problem. These new laws aim to fix it (The Conversation)The Netherlands forced Meta to let users ditch algorithmic feeds. Here’s what happened (The Conversation)What We ...

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42:01

License to Spill

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/09/04

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: FBI Probes Service Selling 153M+ Drivers Licenses (Krebs on Security)Introducing ChatGPT for Teens: Built for learning, backed by protections (OpenAI)OpenAI Says ChatGPT Is Safer for Teens. Now It Needs to Show Proof (RAND)'AI is less judgmental' (Washington Post)And in the extended episode for Patreon supporters, ...

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34:54

Move Fast and Settle Things

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/08/28

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: Meta Just Paid Nearly $17 Billion To Make Sure It Gets To Write The Kid Safety Rules For Every Other Social Media Platform (Techdirt)Mark Zuckerberg Wants to Make Sure His Competitors Share His Pain (New York Times)Meta settlement opens new front in global fight over social media harm (Reuters)And in the extended episode...

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42:12

School of Hard Blocks

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/08/21

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, Mike is joined by Chris Messina, inventor of the #hashtag in social media, who has worked on internet and social media efforts for decades. Together they discuss: Oakland Unified Announces New Cell Phone Policy Now in Effect; Policy is Based on New State Law Req...

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41:17

Watermark My Words

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/08/14

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: Claude will apply invisible watermarks to AI text and images (The Verge)Claude-inspired copypasting (LinkedIn)Anthropic investors bet on $2tn valuation in record IPO (Financial Times)The Future is for Everyone (Meta)OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves start-up less than a year after joining (Financial Times)US court rules Met...

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37:33

In the Modi for Takedowns

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/08/07

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: India summons Meta executives over briefly restricted Modi Facebook post (Reuters)‘No explanation given’: Arvind Kejriwal claims Meta restricted his account in India (The Times of India)Meta apologises to India for restricting PM Modi's post (Reuters)India temporarily bans Telegram over exam paper leak concern (BBC)eBay ...

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38:24

Zuck Starts Throwing His Weights Around

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/31

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. ...

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56:32

Live at TrustCon 2026

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/24

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 ...

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39:20

Spotlight: PwC’s Dan Hays on the future of Trust &...

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/22

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 al...

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52:14

Putting Some Meat On The Bans

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/17

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 Ni...

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36:41

Sell Me Lies, Sell Me Sweet Meta Lies

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/10

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, ...

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47:10

Making the Best of a Ban Situation

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/07/03

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 rig...

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14:38

Teaser: The Ctrl-Alt-Speech Reading List

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/06/26

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, pl...

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44:30

Close Your Apps and Think of England

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/06/19

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 burn...

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37:57

Cupertino d'État

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/06/12

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...

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42:54

Generous to a Default

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/06/05

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 T...

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39:03

Deus vs. Machina

Ctrl-Alt-Speech ·

2026/05/29

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 Thie...

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125 results

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