The TAKE IT DOWN ACT is law. Compliance is the floor—platforms must invest the time and effort necessary to protect users and meaningfully respond to image-based sexual abuse, says CDT's Becca Branum.

Alongside our partners at @cdt.org + @civilrightsorg.bsky.social, we published an explainer on recent efforts by the federal gov to gain unprecedented access to state administrative data and what it means for the privacy and security of Americans’ personal info. protectdemocracy.org/work/federal...

🚨 New from CDT: The non-consensual distribution of intimate imagery — incl. AI-generated content — is a growing form of image-based abuse. Victims face high barriers to reporting and removal. CDT’s latest report from @beccabranum.bsky.social & Mi Yeon Kim assesses how major platforms handle NDII.

Great news at a time we need it.

Yes, the First Amendment protects noncitizens, too—and this has been the law for eighty years, even if many people are suddenly pretending it’s an open question. www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/07/aaup...

What happens when the federal government seeks to centralize sensitive state data on individuals? On July 16, AEI & CDT will bring together experts to unpack the civil liberties, privacy & security implications of federal data consolidation. Details 👇

A conference in the NYT v OpenAI case today impacts the privacy of 400m+ ChatGPT users. No matter the case’s merits, there’s no way the chat outputs of *all* users should be saved without constraint. CDT’s @bankston.bsky.social on why the judge must craft a nuanced approach: cdt.org/insights/in-...

This week, a Texas judge struck down the rule prohibiting sharing patients’ abortion records with law enforcement when the procedure was lawfully provided. CDT previously supported the rule & commended HHS for passing it. 1) cdt.org/insights/cdt... 2) cdt.org/press/hhs-ad...

Every one of these petty, ideologically driven visa denials is an assault on *our* freedom of association, our right to hear, and our ability to learn about the world around us. They are meant to make us stupider, more susceptible to manipulation, and less free. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/w...

Smart, important 🧵 from Senior Director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice

wasn't just enough to freeze a state's ability to regulate consumer protection and civil rights. now, very coercive tactics: if you want the money to build out high-speed internet to un-served and under-served communities, we have to ban your state's ability to do AI policy.

If attempted, this would constitute flagrant violations of the Privacy Act of 1974 www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/t...

How this year’s Pulitzer awardees used AI in their reporting www.niemanlab.org/2025/05/how-...

Wikipedia is the ground truth of the internet. It has over 260000 dedicated people engaged in radically transparent content moderation and that’s why it’s the last best thing on the Internet. Targeting it says more about the one doing the targeting. www.theverge.com/news/656720/...

Leading us off, CDT CEO @alexreevegivens.bsky.social: “We’re convening this event because the U.S. is facing a crisis moment for the future of free speech."

Who will stand up for free expression? Join CDT + a powerhouse panel — incl. FCC’s @agomezfcc.bsky.social, @alexabdo.bsky.social, Kate Tumarello & @alexreevegivens.bsky.social — for a convo on defending the First Amendment. 🗓️ April 24 | 2-3PM ET | Webinar RSVP: cdt.org/event/who-wi...

ICYMI, DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

New op-ed from @maribel-wadsworth.bsky.social “…public station is in some places the last truly local newsroom. Eliminate the funding, and you silence local voices. You shrink civic space. You take away access to trusted information in communities that need it most.”

Keep the faith. Take action. Be honest about risk. Be prudent (with words, acquaintances, and technology). @juliaangwin.com and @amifieldsmeyer.bsky.social distill the wisdom of elders and of the ages into a primer for The Opposition™️ Your weekend #mustread

Official U.S. government communications should always be cross-posted in an accessible format to a .gov website so that no American has to sign up for a commercial service nor agree to Terms of Service to read public laws, court rulings, orders, or other edicts of government.

Courage is contagious: IRS leaders are right to resign over the outrageous deal for taxpayers’ information to be used in sweeping immigration efforts. apnews.com/article/irs-...

On #TransDayOfVisibility, we celebrate trans + nonbinary people & call for tech policies that protect their rights – esp. in a time when their right to exist is increasingly under attack. From AI bias to online harassment, digital spaces should be designed for safety, privacy, & free expression.

A new executive order threatens to disenfranchise millions of American voters and undermine data security by giving DOGE access to voter records in every state. Join Brennan Center experts for a virtual discussion on how we can protect our elections on Tues, Apr. 1, at 3 pm ET. RSVP:

Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, and not all of them are familiar with secure messaging and its nuances. Which means there’s misinfo flying around that might drive people away from Signal and private communications. 1/

“What FTC minority commissioners can do is bring transparency and accountability to the work of the agency”

Thank you @sarahjeong.bsky.social for this thoughtful post. We need these individual acts of leadership.

Just so we’re all clear, the Supreme Court *expressly ruled* that the president cannot fire FTC commissioners without cause in 1935’s Humphrey’s Executor. Trump’s action here is brazenly illegal under any interpretation of the law as it stands. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

President Trump's attempt to fire the Democratic members of the #FederalTradeCommission today is outrageous. The FTC is now the latest agency to see its Dem commissioners fired without cause, joining the Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board, EEOC, Federal Election Commission, NLRB & more.

This is the chilling impact of FCC Chair Brendan Carr's war on free speech.

The government retaliating against a cinema for its movie choices violates the First Amendment, plain and simple.

This is a battle for the soul of the university. Can universities choose for themselves what they teach, who they admit, and how they will discipline students or not? If Columbia agrees to these demands it admits that it is the fed gov that calls the shots and that academic freedom is meaningless

Measuring whether an #AI system works fairly for all its users is a basic element of ensuring the AI system *actually works*. Proud of CDT's #MirandaBogen award at @futureofprivacy.bsky.social's #PrivacyPapersForPolicymakers for her report on Navigating Demographic Measurement for Fairness & Equity

🚨 Exciting news! 🚨 @mbogen.bsky.social, Director of CDT’s AI Governance Lab, has been named a winner of @futureofprivacy.bsky.social's 2025 Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award! 🎉 fpf.org/press-releas...

📢 Exciting news! CDT is thrilled to welcome Ambassador Karen Kornbluh as a Visiting Fellow. Kornbluh brings extensive experience in tech policy, global governance, and democracy. Welcome aboard! 👏 cdt.org/staff/karen-...

Democracy relies on the freedom of the press. The Trump Administration's pressure on news outlets is increasing, part of a broader campaign to silence dissent. Our team at @cendemtech.bsky.social weighed in on the latest attack out of the #FCC: cdt.org/insights/cdt...

Arresting and threatening to deport students because of their participation in political protest is the kind of action one ordinarily associates with the world’s most repressive regimes. It’s genuinely shocking that this appears to be what’s going on right here. 1/

This is beyond McCarthyite. Every law firm in the country should condemn it, and Perkins Coie should sue over it. This is textbook First Amendment retaliation, and even our current Supreme Court will say so, if given the opportunity. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

What leadership & a genuine commitment to the Constitution looks like. Thank you #DeanTreanor & my former home at #GeorgetownLaw.

🎧 What happens when a key US intelligence watchdog loses its independent oversight? This episode unpacks Trump’s firing of PCLOB members, the lawsuit announced last week, and what it means for privacy, surveillance, and US-EU data relations. Featuring interviews with Travis LeBlanc and Greg Nojeim:

CDT CEO @alexreevegivens.bsky.social: “Eliminating the AI Safety Institute would do nothing to make U.S. AI companies more competitive—and would undermine efforts to make sure that AI tools are safe and effective.” fortune.com/2025/02/...

On Lawfare Daily, @kevintfrazier.bsky.social spoke to @alexreevegivens.bsky.social, Courtney Lang, and Nema Milaninia about the Paris AI Action Summit, whether it marks a formal pivot away from AI safety to AI security and what an embrace of AI security means for AI governance.

Re: the FTC and the platforms We *should* be concerned about platform power over speech, but it isn’t censorship. As the Supreme Court said last year, the companies’ editorial decisions to moderate content are protected by the First Amendment. 1/

CDT CEO @alexreevegivens.bsky.social in @apnews.com on the recent White House executive order which claims unprecedented, unconstitutional power over independent agencies. apnews.com/article/t...

More destructive news as the President releases a new EO that will overturn the independence of key agencies charged with protecting American consumers, including the #FTC and #FCC. My reaction for @cendemtech.bsky.social here:

Surreal news: Super/Man - The Christopher Reeve Story won a #BAFTA! As we live through a time dominated by would-be strong men, I'm so grateful that this film shows what it *actually* means to be strong. That strength comes from valuing people and lifting them up - not demeaning and dividing them.

I understand why these stories exist but it’s important to be clear that he’s not “saving” 16 billion, he’s choosing, personally, without oversight, to wipe out 16 billion dollars of government services to veterans and the disabled and food safety etc etc

I spoke with @apnews.com at the #AIActionSummit. "We talk about the U.S. as a leader in AI innovation, but really what we're seeing is the U.S. cede its leadership in the international ecosystem. The collapse of USAID is the biggest gift the U.S. can give to China." www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B7l...

This weekend the #MunichSecurityConference hosted an important dialogue on #AI's impact on elections. On the one year anniversary of the AI & Elections Accord signed by 25+ companies to address threats of AI-driven election manipulation, we urged companies to keep up the work.