This is an _incredible_ resource and I'm so happy to be working at a place that does such valuable work. Bravo @katherinepomps.bsky.social and @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org !!

ICYMI, I spelled out the geopolitical landscape of tech and content moderation and why its so bad for free expression (and democracy generally!) in @lawfaremedia.org this week.

This is weird. . .

Happy2have new attorney general whose entire legal experience can be summed up in three sentences on Wikipedia.

My latest for @lawfaremedia.org on how Marco Rubio's open instruction to use X for U.S. propaganda and diplomacy is the latest high water mark in government cooptation of private platforms. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

Just another day in America re-litigating settled law from 1898 and ending this day watching humans slingshot the moon.

It is existentially bone-chilling that the birthright citizenship case made it to the Supreme Court.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a cable this week directing embassies and consulates to launch campaigns countering foreign propaganda, and specifically endorsed X as a tool for the effort. @klonick.bsky.social explores the consequences of the government using social media for statecraft.

If you were wondering how the class field trip went

There is a certain sad kismetic irony to birthright citizenship being heard in the Supreme Court on April Fools' Day, because if you had told me if ever in my lifetime we would be litigating birth right citizenship, I would have thought you were joking.

Fun @lawfaremedia.org RatSec recording coming soon with me, @annabower.bsky.social, @kevintfrazier.bsky.social and of course, @sranderson.bsky.social !

Oh man. Our first April Fools with advanced synthetic media. What could possibly go wrong.

Here’s a headline you’d never see in Europe

ICYMI I wrote about how cookie banners are not just impotent compliance/regulatory regimes, they actually make our lives & world worse in myriad ways. We should get rid of them. And we should learn from our mistakes as we move into a critical period of regulation for AI technology.

It took 20 years and the most corrupt administration in U.S. history but it seems like the much-feared future of normalizing social media as a giant propaganda machine is unequivocally here. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

I wrote about Zuckerberg's texts with Musk and how they undermine the principles of a fair and equal platform for everyone www.platformer.news/zuckerberg-m...

The tactics FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson decried as jawboning in Murthy (weaponized investigations) are, of course, precisely the same tactics he's used against Newsguard, Media Matters, and gender-affirming care providers over speech he doesn't like (ad boycotts or trans care). It's always projection

2021 Republicans: How dare tech companies talk to government about moderating speech!!! We’ll create a whole false narrative about it and take it all the way to the Supreme Court! 2025 Republicans: We run things now so

Read ISP fellow @klonick.bsky.social's new article: "Ban Cookie Banners: A Case Study in Tech Regulation" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They’re Actually Cheering For First things first: Meta is a terrible company that has spent years making terrible decisions and being terrible at explaining the challenges of social media trust & safety, all…

Request: Does anyone have a person/outlet that went through the evidence presented about addiction at the KGM/LA Social Media trial?

It is really early to tell the significance of this bc it could all be reversed on appeal on both whether the judge's early 1A and 230 decisions were correct (which allowed this to proceed to trial) and then the jury's decision as well. This will likely be years before it is final -- or not!

Jury just came back with an additional $3M in punitive damages so grand total of $6M. ~2000 Plaintiffs consolidated on the case are in different situations but even as a bottom number for settlement that puts the loss around $12B just for the California state cases that are currently brought.

Clarifying that I mis-framed this. The cases are consolidated but this was a bellwether trial, meaning the outcome was representative but not binding & meant to encourage settlement. Journalists for an expert on this see @alahav.bsky.social ! digitalcommons.lib.uconn.edu/law_papers/3...

But what is significant here is that there are 1000s of cases just like this waiting in the wings. That means even if you multiply $3M across 1000 plaintiffs, up to $3B in damages.

Jury finds Goog & Meta negligent with only $3M in compensatory damages split 30/70 Next phase is punitive damages which can be much higher, which can be up to a 10:1 ratio with compensatory damages....so the max we're looking at here is $33M, which is very very little www.cnbc.com/2026/03/25/m...

Everything old is new again. Except this isn't that old, and we should really listen to the lessons of the past 25 years. Most of the solutions to these problems aren't going to be technical. They are going to be normative and cultural and political, just like the social media questions were.

This is, in small part, why the fear of the Chinese hoovering up our data through TikTok was so stupid in the justification of the TikTok law. If China wants our data they can just buy it cheap like everyone else.

Funny thing about American mass media is how woke content is broadly popular, routinely pays for itself, and sometimes goes blockbuster, whereas right-wing content is a narrow niche that rarely reaches breakeven, never goes blockbuster, and usually requires immense subsidies for it to exist at all.

This, by the way, is also something FOREIGN governments can do.

Today's livestream for the hearing on Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction will start at 6:20 pm ET. This livestream will feature @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @rparloff.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social, and @klonick.bsky.social. Watch the discussion:

Judge interrupts gov't final argument to *credulously* ask how they can argue that Anthropic going to the press and bringing attention to DOD conduct isn't speech, which I'm frankly a bit surprised by. Judge seems very sympathetic to claim that Anthropic going to the press was 1A protected speech

Go @alanrozenshtein.com !!! I know that guy!!

Judge: "So why did Secretary Hegseth say this if it doesn't have any legal effect or he doesn't intend to act on it?" Defense counsel [gentle laugh]: "Uh I don't know."

Judge just made clear that her questions on statutory issues of this case are in service of her concern over the retaliation claims on 1A issues -- which is interesting because those claims don't have to necessarily reached if she decides on statutory grounds, esp just for a preliminary injunction

And we're off! Follow @lawfaremedia.org here for a live tweet of the Anthropic v. DOW hearing.

Following today's hearing at 4:30ET/1:30PT on Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org will be joined by @mollyroberts.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, and @klonick.bsky.social on a Lawfare Live to discuss what went down.

Also, just to state the obvious, these questions indicate the judge has no inclination to discuss or decide on the First Amendment issues raised by Anthropic, which is not surprising given what a slam dunk the supply chain questions are.

The hearing on Anthropic's request for a preliminary injunction is today at 4:30ET/1:30PT; and the judge's questions to DOD/DOW indicate this is going to be 🔥 @lawfaremedia.org 's @annabower.bsky.social and @rparloff.bsky.social will be live tweeting coverage! Join us!

Retweet does not = endorsement

ICYMI: Watch @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org, @klonick.bsky.social, @rparloff.bsky.social, @annabower.bsky.social, @ericcolumbus.bsky.social, and @mollyroberts.bsky.social discuss the government’s response to Anthropic’s suit, a judge returning VOA employees to work, and more.

The thing I hate most about cookie banners is when I have to disable my adblocker to see them in the first place because a site will not function at all until I have explicitly clicked through the cookie banner.

Cookie banners are a scourge, but also the result of "well meaning" regulators thinking they were fixing a real problem, but coming up with a solution that helps no one and does real damage. That happens so freaking often and I wish regulators and legislators were more open to understanding why.

Thrilled to publish my latest article BAN COOKIE BANNERS: A CASE STUDY IN TECH REGULATION with the Harv. J. of Law & Tech! A cri de cœur to end this worse-than-useless regulatory compliance regime and let something that actually protects users take its place. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 1/

In a new @latimes.com Op-Ed, I discuss how Kansas’s recent law invalidating 1,700 transgender individuals’ driver’s licenses raises significant questions about proportionality and administrative purpose. It criminalizes trans folks for no benefit to anyone. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

jurgen habermas, celebrated philosopher, early bluesky adopter, died today at his home in germany.

In 1 hour, @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org will sit down with @sranderson.bsky.social, @ericcolumbus.bsky.social, @klonick.bsky.social and @rparloff.bsky.social to discuss Anthropic’s suit challenging its designation as a supply chain risk, litigation over immigration policies, and more.

On Rational Security, @sranderson.bsky.social, @klonick.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social, and Troy Edwards talked through the week’s national security news stories, including Anthropic's suit over DOD's supply chain risk designation of it, the Israel-U.S. campaign against Iran, and more.

Quoted alongside the great @daphnek.bsky.social, @klonick.bsky.social, and @hutko.bsky.social in this Financial Times piece on 'The transatlantic battle over free speech' - www.ft.com/content/37d4... via @financialtimes.com