Good reporting on what's happening with SAVE. Something they hint at but is worth stating more plainly: DHS is expanding SAVE beyond people in the immigration system to include US-born citizens. Given potential errors, that raises the risk of disenfranchisement & improper immigration enforcement

“Architects of Online Influence: How Creators, Platforms, and Policymakers Shape Political Speech” electionlawblog.org?p=153011

Political speech is indispensable and worth fighting for. At the same time, we all deserve an information ecosystem that’s transparent and empowers us to know who’s working (and paying) to win our votes and attention.

So excited to share @cdt.org's latest report, marrying my two great loves: free expression and campaign finance regulation! (Kidding - but only a little) cdt.org/insights/arc...

New report alert🚨🚨 Political influencers aren’t quite activists, media, or advertisers. So what are they? How do social media policies and government regulations apply? 🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics: cdt.org/insights/arc...

NEW: In the latest in our @cdt.org series on the border search exception, we show how your devices can be searched, fully copied, stored with DHS for years, and have sensitive data harvested with powerful AI tools. All without a warrant. cdt.org/insights/the...

This report is absolutely fantastic. A nuanced, expert approach to something that matters a whole heck of a lot, and is absolutely essential to get right

Good @laurenfeiner.bsky.social story about the state of CISA that highlights potentially corrosive fears among the agency's critical infrastructure partners about the Trump administration's cuts and politicization: www.theverge.com/policy/81688...

Two things can be true: this signals impunity for TNR and that's bad and makes people less safe, and the existing levers of accountability punish on low-level folks instead of getting to the source of the problem www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

BREAKING: The Supreme Court rejects a call to overturn its decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

“‘DHS effectively collapsing different government databases into one is a privacy and practical disaster,’ said @isabelalinzer.bsky.social, elections and democracy fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology, in a statement.“

I missed this last week - but wow what a convergence of what it means to be online in 2025. We're at the combination political-influencers-disinformation-transnational-repression-pizza-hut 🧵 www.cnbctv18.com/world/chinas...

Stating the obvious that as a researcher, archive sites are so important to being able to do my work. Governments and companies delete their webpages. Whether intentional or not, that undermines public knowledge and accountability. Archives help make up for that gap www.theverge.com/news/815691/...

I was one of the four people who got canned. In the interim, you can subscribe to my newsletter, Straight From The Hut. No paywall, but feel free to choose the pay to support model. I'm not going anywhere — the show goes on, and I'll be back on MSNBC Saturday night. straightfromthehut.substack.com

NEW: DHS used to only have information on immigrants who’d had contact with the agency. Under a new data-sharing agreement, the system added information — including full Social Security numbers — on millions of Americans not in DHS databases.

Unsolicited recommendation for Democracy Without Exception. It's actually a substack I open and read every time. Very thoughtful (and much-needed) approach to putting US democracy in a global context democracywithoutexception.substack.com

Are people wearing inflatable frog costumes doing the Cha Cha Slide as part of protests outside of ICE detention centers in Portland "domestic terrorists"? Of course not. cdt.org/insights/wha...

Incredible reporting www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Whether the people in the comments on these posts understand they are viewing AI is one thing, but what about the people who casually scroll past and don't look for a watermark or notice a telltale glitch? Passive consumption is an underappreciated risk IMO gizmodo.com/fake-protest...

"That is what this war teaches us: Even suffering has a hierarchy, and even survival has a rank... The hierarchy determines how we speak, what we share and how we live with one another. I want people outside Gaza to understand these details." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nate's piece feels especially essential this week. The US forced return of Iranians just days before we marked the anniversary of Khashoggi's assassination invites some heavy reflection on the progress that has been made, how far there remains to go, and the humanity at stake

Returning 400 people to Iran.. this is mass refoulement, forced return. The US is facilitating Tehran's campaign of transnational repression www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/w...

As immigration agents have escalated their tactics, US citizens, many of them Latino men, have been stopped and in some cases taken into custody by law enforcement officers. Allison, Jenny and I took a closer look at the encounters. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/29/u...

My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social The internet is under a quiet coup. Surveillance tech once for dictators is now global, sold to governments. Democracies are complicit, civil society is shrinking. Will we defend an open internet—or let it vanish? www.techpolicy.press/the-internet...

Happy to announce our call for applications for the @cdt.org Non-Resident Fellows program (2026-27). You can find more information here: cdt.org/about/fellows/ Applications are due by October 6, 2025.

Author copies for Dictating the Agenda: The Authoritarian Resurgence in World Politics by me & @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social arrived today! If you re-post this by Sept 30 we'll put you in a drawing & send the winner a free signed copy anywhere they happen to be on the planet.

CDT Fellow @isabelalinzer.bsky.social joins Haverford College to discuss new research & pressing questions on democracy + tech—and what it means to build an impactful career in this space. Tues, Sept 9 | 4:30–5:30 p.m. ET

Ahead of tomorrow's hearing on European "censorship" of Americans under the Digital Services Act, I have a new blog post explaining why that is not a thing. You can get the gist in about two minutes of skimming the bold text, or stay for the details. 1/ cyberlaw.stanford.edu/a-primer-on-...

📢 Save the date! #FOSO2025 is back Oct 28–29. This year we’ll explore how government “jawboning” & other pressures threaten free speech—online, in universities, media, & beyond—and what new legal protections can do to push back. cdt.org/event/the-fu...

trump/rubio decide us will *not* participate in the human rights council universal periodic review. this is what major human rights violators do (tho many still come). it's extremely self-defeating, tho of course the UPR will still go forward. one important point i want to emphasize.

Fixed it 4 u

CDT’s @isabelalinzer.bsky.social explores when political speech by influencers becomes something more — raising urgent questions about transparency, regulation, & information integrity. A must-read for anyone tracking the evolving implications of speech ^ election integrity. cdt.org/insights/thi...

A banger from @taylorlorenz.bsky.social, filling in detail about the shady political influencer economy. Lots worthwhile in here, but especially jaw-dropping to see examples of contractually forbidding influencers from disclosing their working relationships www.wired.com/story/dark-m...

For no reason at all, reupping my thread about the recent global history of extraterritorial borders, deporting or exiling people to third countries, and where that leads...

Really worrying reporting that states have to make a choice between (A) forgoing crucial election security support and (B) opening the door to unwanted federal control www.npr.org/2025/08/22/n...

CDT's ‪@kateruane.bsky.social‬: “The State Department’s announcement should send a chill down the spine of every American. No one should feel the government breathing down their neck when they post about politics or social issues online." apnews.com/article/trum...

I'm really excited about the work we're doing on this topic. More TK soon👀

How do social media content moderation systems work for low-resource and indigenous languages of the Global South/Majority World? Please join us on August 7! #contentmoderation #LLMs #AI #NLP #languages

Read this piece where we explore the serious implications of synthetic media in conflict -especially when it begins to further destabilise an already fragile information ecosystem like Iran’s, amid wartime conditions where access to truth can mean the difference between life and death.

AI risks are growing, but attention to elections is dwindling. CDT’s report, by @isabelalinzer.bsky.social, with case studies by Laura Zommer & @kianvest.bsky.social, outlines steps for sustaining info resilience through collaboration & responsive policy. Read more: cdt.org/insights/ada...

CASE STUDIES: AI amplified information integrity challenges during elections in 2024. CDT’s new report examines how civic actors in Mexico, Taiwan, and beyond adapted—tracking deepfakes, using AI for fact-checking, and countering disinformation. cdt.org/insights/ada...

After discovering a "very sophisticated" Iranian hack of his office's website, Arizona's secretary of state notified federal and state authorities — but not CISA, in which he said he's lost faith. archive.is/B47dV (h/t @derekbjohnson.bsky.social)

Tremendous, meticulous, disturbing reporting here on India’s Hindu nationalist government deporting Muslim citizens by literally forcing them to walk the plank into the sea. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

🎉 Tech Prom is back! 🎉 Join CDT on October 23 at The LINE DC for an unforgettable evening with the tech policy community. Connect, celebrate, and support CDT’s mission. 🎟️ Tickets & sponsorships now available! 📍 The LINE DC | 🕕 6–10 PM cdt.org/event/2025-t...

the president does not actually have the power to fire a university president or a museum director, but if elites simply roll over under pressure, then effectively he does

This month, Isabel repped CDT at the Council of Europe’s Octopus Conference, speaking on AI in elections + global deepfake legislation. We’re lucky to have her on the team! cdt.org/insights/cdt...

Really important to keep our eye on the ball with AI & elections, even between cycles and especially as CISA is gutted. @stuartathompson.bsky.social + @stevenleemyers.bsky.social do that here. Recent related research from my @cdt.org colleagues below🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...

"Transnational repression of human rights defenders: The impacts on civic space and the responsibility of host states" - Study on transnational repression with @mmichae1sen.bsky.social and @saipirafurstenberg.bsky.social now online.

Traveling to or from the U.S. with your devices? Be aware: Border agents have broad search authority. Our latest blog by Jacob Smith, CDT Intern, reveals crucial privacy risks & how your digital life can be exposed. cdt.org/insights/pro...