Ctrl-Alt-Speech

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 [email protected] and sponsorship enquiries to [email protected]. 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 [email protected] and sponsorship enquiries to [email protected]. 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 [email protected] and sponsorship enquiries to [email protected]. 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 [email protected] and sponsorship enquiries to [email protected]. 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 [email protected] and sponsorship enquiries to [email protected]. Thanks for listening.