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 data watchdog over age verification checks (BBC News)
- How to evaluate Trust & Safety vendors (Everything in Moderation*)
- Regulate platforms, not children – Commissioner urges caution over social media bans (Commissioner for Human Rights)
- MPs reject total ban, want data housed locally (The Star)
- Exclusive: US plans online portal to bypass content bans in Europe and elsewhere (Reuters)
Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech’s 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win!
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast from Techdirt and Everything in Moderation. Send us your feedback at podcast@ctrlaltspeech.com and sponsorship enquiries to sponsorship@ctrlaltspeech.com. Thanks for listening.
Information
- Show
- FrequencyUpdated Weekly
- PublishedFebruary 26, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC
- Length47 min
- Season1
- Episode92
- RatingClean
