Updated our piece to include reference to a local Zambian news report, citing unnamed sources, that the Zambian government's actions were influenced by China, and a statement from Article 19 that points to "claims, many of them well-founded" that foreign pressure contributed to Zambia's decision.

RightsCon 2026 being cancelled at the last minute is more than a disruption — it’s a warning. Spaces for digital rights are shrinking. We need to rally, adapt, and defend them now. www.komaitis.org/write-share-... #RightsCon #InternetFreedom #DigitalRights #RightsCon2026 #China #humanrights

Brussels says Meta's risk assessment of under-13 access is "incomplete and arbitrary." The preliminary findings landed alongside a same-day push to accelerate the EU age verification app rollout, reports Ramsha Jahangir.

Misunderstanding of our AI reality as a binary AI vs. Real is furthering eroding the truth in the information space, best exemplified by this week's Trump vs. Islamic Republic disinformation tit for tat over real Iranian women protesters. @witnessorg.bsky.social @techpolicypress.bsky.social

Big Tech wrote the EU law that hides their data centres' environmental impact. The EU wants to triple its data centre capacity in the next five years. While the full scale of their energy and water footprint is hidden from the public. Our new @investigate-europe.eu investigation reveals why.

Microsoft and other US tech companies successfully lobbied the EU to hide the environmental toll of their data centers, Investigate Europe reports in collaboration with Tech Policy Press and other media partners.

Journalists know that losing the Wayback Machine would be a nightmare: www.wired.com/story/the-in...

Australia’s Social Media Minimum Age law has been in effect for three months. The eSafety Commissioner’s first report shows a rough rollout — platforms are missing key obligations and early harm indicators haven’t moved. @markscott.bsky.social and I report: www.techpolicy.press/early-lesson...

In @techpolicypress.bsky.social , @ramshajahangir.bsky.social also wrote a deep dive on the community notes expansion in repressive human rights regimes,conflict & election-sensitive countries could create tangible harms that #Meta must address: www.techpolicy.press/oversight-bo...

A Dutch court has ruled Grok must stop generating non-consensual undressing images of Dutch residents worldwide and child sexual abuse material in the Netherlands, with €100,000-a-day fines for non-compliance, reports Ramsha Jahangir.

The Oversight Board flagged that a global Community Notes expansion in repressive human rights regimes, and conflict and election-sensitive countries, could create significant human rights risks and tangible harms that Meta must address, reports Ramsha Jahangir.

Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s first country with a comprehensive AI law. Modeled on the EU’s risk-based approach, it emphasizes human oversight, risk classification, and digital sovereignty as part of Hanoi’s 2045 development push, reports Lam Le.

The EU is pushing ahead with AI Act changes that weaken protections for high-risk systems and leave no meaningful path to redress, even as evidence of harm mounts, write CDT Europe’s Laura Lazaro Cabrera and Magdalena Maier.

On March 1, Iranian drone strikes hit three AWS facilities in the UAE and Bahrain. Iran cited the data centers' support of US military networks. It is inevitable that such facilities would be deemed targets, but the global business and legal fallout are still emerging, writes Mahmoud Abuwasel.

The EU is ramping up defense AI investment, while much of it sits outside the bloc’s flagship AI law, Raluca Besliu reports. As military and civilian systems increasingly overlap, a regulatory gap is emerging over how dual-use AI will be governed in Europe.

This is "our" Manifesto for a Free Internet. We are Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom. Happy International Women's Day! initiated by @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot

On March 6, the Indonesian government announced plans to “delay access” to social media accounts for children under 16. Learn more about these plans in our Global Social Media Age Restriction Tracker, which now tracks efforts to restrict or ban teens from social media in 42 countries.

A Berlin court has ordered X to grant researchers API access under the Digital Services Act. Daniela Alvarado Rincón, Simone Ruf and Jürgen Bering explain how they won the case, and why it’s a major step for researcher data access.

The expanding war in Iran brought to the fore questions about the role of technology in armed conflict, including the controversial use of new artificial intelligence technologies. Tech Policy Press invited perspectives from experts on what they are watching for as the situation unfolds.

NSO Group’s 🇺🇸lobbying efforts provide a stark case study of how #spyware firms deploy vast resources to influence government & democratic decision-making in pursuit of their commercial interests. ➡️ Here’s my analysis for @techpolicypress.bsky.social. www.techpolicy.press/will-nsos-us...

Speaking of chaos agents… the CJEU’s Russmedia ruling leaves some gnarly open questions about what regulator is in charge of this, and what law applies. X is going to have a field day complaining about that in their briefs.

Privacy regulators from four continents have aligned around a clear position that AI-generated sexualized deepfakes are a data protection violation. For Grok, already under investigation in multiple jurisdictions, that alignment increases the likelihood of sustained and parallel regulatory action.

"It's not a legal story, but a question of political attitude," Thierry Breton told the European Parliament yesterday. He said he’d spent years explaining the law to platform CEOs and US govt officials, that they understood it, and that their current posture was a deliberate political choice.

Two months after Washington imposed visa bans on four individuals over the EU’s Digital Services Act, the European Parliament summoned them on Wednesday to account for what many MEPs see as a direct challenge to Europe’s regulatory authority, reports Ramsha Jahangir.

NEW on @indicator.media: I found an AI-generated podcast network that has published 350,000 episodes in the past month. That's 11,000 episodes a day, or about one year's worth of audio content. You'll be shocked to find out it's not generating original material.

"Banning children’s access to social media...shifts the responsibility for safety from the platforms that create the environment to the children who navigate it." - Council of Europe High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty

Impressive joint-statement by over 60 (!) intl data protection regulators re the harms that can arise from AI image-generating tools (apropos to nothing). Sets clear expectations for industry and signals a commitment to supervisory coordination across borders. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

@ramshajahangir.bsky.social and I had pieces in @techpolicypress.bsky.social last month, dealing with the descriptive and aspirational elements to this intl coordination question, as it applies to online safety regulators www.techpolicy.press/regulators-a... www.techpolicy.press/how-a-small-...

Make sure to try out the tracker: www.techpolicy.press/tracking-eff...

Governments worldwide are moving to restrict youth access to social media — from Australia’s nationwide under-16 ban to fast-moving proposals in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Tech Policy Press is tracking these legislative efforts across continents and jurisdictions. 40 countries on the map:

This week marks the second DSA and Platform Regulation conference in Amsterdam, where participants will revisit the Digital Services Act (DSA) two years after it entered full effect across the European Union. Senior editor Ramsha Jahangir spoke to the organizers: www.techpolicy.press/the-digital-...

The European Commission’s first DSA fine against X reveals an enforcement strategy focused on corporate ownership and control, interface design, and barriers to data access, writes Matteo Fabbri.

How are governments integrating AI into their decision-making and legislative processes? I spoke to those on the front line, including the Estonian prime minister, for my latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social techpolicy.press/governments-...

Governments don’t “break” the internet during shutdowns—they use powers already baked into law and infrastructure, writes Dinah van der Geest. Iran’s 2026 shutdown shows why Starlink and satellite internet were never the censorship-proof fix they were sold as.

Another day, another fact-check of the House Judiciary Committee. If there's a line X can cross to lose Jim Jordan's support, apparently becoming one of the worlds top CSAM peddlers isn't it. www.techpolicy.press/how-the-hous...

It’s hugely problematic that US lawmakers (ie Jim Jordan (R)) leak EU Commission documents outlining the fine of X. It’s also problematic that the DSA instruments are not faster. By @ramshajahangir.bsky.social and @justinhendrix.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/eu-decision-...

WARNING, fellow journalists: As @nicoschmidt.io explains, attackers are trying to hijack reporters' Signal accounts by tricking people into handing over their 2FA codes. www.linkedin.com/posts/nicosc...

Online safety regulators face global companies with national tools but the Grok scandal shows rulebooks alone are not enough, writes Owen Bennett. Basel shows how coordination, not new laws, can turn that imbalance around. www.techpolicy.press/how-a-small-...

The EU just joined the global crackdown on X’s Grok. But child safety enforcement still stops at the border. Here's a look at where different government actions stand — and what the fragmented response reveals about the struggle to coordinate on online harms. www.techpolicy.press/regulators-a...

Poland is becoming a key test case for Europe’s Digital Services Act after President Karol Nawrocki vetoed a bill that would have set up the national enforcement machinery required under the DSA, a move that exposes how domestic politics can undermine EU platform regulation, Fernanda Seavon reports.

Tech Policy Press is thrilled to announce its third fellowship cohort, selecting 10 fellows from around the world for the 2026 program: James Ball, Varsha Bansal, Liz Carolan, Tatiana Dias, Apar Gupta, Jake Laperruque, Lam Le, Petra Molnar, Vas Panagiotopoulos, and Chris Mills Rodrigo. Details here:

Iran’s Case Should Put an End to Illusions About Digital Sovereignty, by @azadehakbari.bsky.social for @techpolicypress.bsky.social. Important not just for #Iran, but to counter the growing tendency to see #nationalism as a solution to platform #capitalism. www.techpolicy.press/irans-case-s...

For those playing along at home, @techpolicypress.bsky.social is tracking regulator responses to Grok's non-consensual intimate imagery: European Commission, France, Ireland, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, United States, Australia, UK, and Canada www.techpolicy.press/tracking-reg...

Age assurance is a big theme of 2026. But no one wants to be in charge of it. The latest group holding the parcel when the music stops? App stores. My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/the-drive-fo...

X could face a ban under the EU's Digital Services Act and UK's Online Safety Act over the Grok scandal, but legal proportionality tests, free expression limits, and practical enforcement hurdles make it unlikely, writes Owen Bennett. www.techpolicy.press/why-europe-c...

The U.S. just walked away from the Freedom Online Coalition. This "quiet" exit from the FOC signals a massive shift: Internet freedom is no longer a U.S. strategic priority. Washington is vacating the table where the rules of the road are written: www.techpolicy.press/trump-ends-a...

Our tracker of regulatory activity and statements related to the ongoing publication of nonconsensual AI-generated sexual images of women and children on X updated to include latest related items from Ireland and Australia. www.techpolicy.press/tracking-reg...

My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social looks at the drive for European tech sovereignty that took place this year - and what's likely to happen in 2026 www.techpolicy.press/europe-tried...

Ireland hosts one of the world’s highest concentrations of data centers. The expansion has reshaped the grid, while Big Tech markets itself as green. As the EU plans to triple capacity, Ireland offers a warning. Read our investigation with @algorithmwatch.org www.techpolicy.press/what-ireland...