It’s a story as old as law enforcement itself: when protesters start protesting, it’s often the cops who decide it’s time for everything to get violent, rather than those engaged in protests. We saw a LOT of this during the protests following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis, Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin. Whatever […]
In the shadow of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, something remarkable seems to be happening that Trump’s movement seems completely unable to see. Trapped within their own epistemic bubble, MAGA appears to have fundamentally misread the political moment, interpreting tragedy as total victory over their opponents. The miscalculation is breathtaking in its scope. The White House seems […]
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In what may be a first in American legal history, a sitting president just had his lawsuit struck down by a federal judge before the defendants even had a chance to respond. Judge Steven Merryday didn’t wait for a motion to dismiss. He didn’t wait for the defendants to file an answer. Four days after […]
So look, I’m not one of these people who thinks “AI” has no useful applications. Just this week I had an efficient conversation with a Gemini chatbot when trying to cancel a Google subscription. I used ChatGPT to help me fact check my own work debunking false claims made by a different AI (an aggregation […]
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Heart of Dawn with a comment about Disney pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s show: Conservatives absolutely hate “cancel culture” right up to the point they are the ones doing it. Hypocrisy is dead to these people. In second place, it’s Thad with a comment about Trump […]
Five Years Ago This week in 2020, the first phase of the TikTok fight resolved with Oracle getting a lucrative hosting deal instead of buying the company in a deal driven by Trump-world insiders, while a court refused to block Trump’s executive order. At the same time, users were fighting to block the less-discussed part […]
We’ve talked a lot about Ryan Walters recently, mostly because he keeps forgetting that the United States Constitution applies to him and his state. Between his attempt to inject Christian theocracy into the public school system while enriching Dear Leader Trump or his fight with his own board members in the wake of some mild […]
It’s been a good while since we’ve had an old-fashioned copyright troll nonsense story around here, and boy do we have a doozy for you today. Regular Techdirt readers know that we’ve covered Paul Levy’s work for years—the man who the Washingtonian once dubbed “the web bully’s worst enemy” has been taking down copyright trolls […]
Techdirt has long lamented how in the modern era, you don’t really “own” what you buy. That game console, smart lock, or smart refrigerator can quickly become less useful (or completely useless) with a firmware update, bankruptcy, or addition of annoying subscription paywall. The problem is particularly bad when it comes to digital rentals. In […]
It’s fascinating how quickly the tune changes when the shoe’s on the other foot. For years, we’ve been treated to endless screaming about how any effort to identify and counter foreign manipulation on social media was “censorship” and a violation of Americans’ free speech rights. The same crowd that turned researchers into pariahs and shut […]
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This isn’t anything that actually needed to be done. The federal government has plenty of options at its disposal if it thinks someone is providing material support for terrorism. It’s one of things that keeps the FBI loaded up with anti-terrorism dollars, thanks to its ability to radicalize people just so it can arrest them. […]
We’ve mentioned repeatedly how the AT&T–>Time Warner–>Discovery series of media mergers were some of the most destructive and pointless business efforts ever, resulting in tens of thousands of layoffs, the cancellation of endless popular programs, higher prices for consumers, and a shittier overall product. One of the men at the heart of this dysfunction has […]
When you’re brought before Congress to testify, you’re not supposed to lie. I realize that sounds rather obvious to many of you, but I’ll remind you that this is the year of our lord, 2025, and such common sensibilities are not quite as common as they used to be. Even if you’re not under oath, […]
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed. In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online […]
A Canadian tribunal’s $72,000 fine against X for refusing to globally remove non-consensual intimate images (NCII) exposes a fundamental tension that courts have been dodging for years: When can one country order worldwide content takedowns, and when should platforms comply regardless of legal compulsion? Unfortunately, almost all the commentary on the case is ignoring those […]
On Monday, I published a two-part blog post about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) settlement with Aylo, parent company of Pornhub. The FTC’s complaint alleged that Aylo violated federal consumer protection law by allowing child sex abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual pornography (which I’ll call NCII) on its various sites, despite claiming it didn’t. The […]
As Mike just got done noting, our major media companies continue to respond to authoritarianism by being pathetic and feckless little shitweasels. First with the ABC and CBS bribery payments to our mad idiot king, and most recently exemplified by ABC’s firing of Jimmy Kimmel because he gave Republicans a sad. Who could have imagined […]
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