🚨 New report alert! 🚨 Our new study for the European Parliament on transnational repression in the EU is live! Co-authored with @zecsaky.bsky.social, @emiledirks.bsky.social, and @alexdukalskis.bsky.social: a great team to work with.

Predictable: www.wired.com/story/dhs-da...

Come work at CDT!! We just posted two really awesome new jobs: Senior Policy Analyst/Counsel for Privacy & Data and Research Director cdt.org/careers/

I'm hiring a senior policy analyst/counsel for the privacy & data team at CDT! "Inquire within"

On Jan. 7, the White House announced the United States’s departure from 66 multilateral organizations and treaties. @isabelalinzer.bsky.social and @aliyabhatia.bsky.social explore how the withdrawal will hamper the United States’s ability to advance human rights and civil liberties on and offline.

New from @aliyabhatia.bsky.social and me on how the US withdrawal from international organizations puts the globally connected, open internet at risk and threatens human rights worldwide: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...

In Indian election/surveillance news, a BJP-run coalition is slated to win the municipal elections in Mumbai on a platform of using advanced "Japanese AI technology" to address civic issues including tracking and deporting "Bangladeshis and Rohingya" residents www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/b...

Sean Plankey’s re-nomination to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) comes as election officials urgently need clarity about what role—if any—the agency will play in protecting elections ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The decisions we make now about the true value of sovereignty will determine whether countries retain meaningful autonomy or become clients of foreign imperialism. A citizen is not a customer and sovereignty is not a service ↘️ giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

I wrote about Iran's protests for @theatlantic.com: how AI manipulation and the suspicion of it is being weaponised to dismiss real footage of protests. This piece draws on work from my stellar team at WITNESS and years of studying information controls in Iran and beyond.

I really recommend this from @saskiabr.bsky.social. And while you're at it, subscribe to Democracy without Exception! Always good, grounded discussion that does the much-needed work of analyzing the US in a global context democracywithoutexception.substack.com/p/dont-count...

And sometimes they just say it out loud: business and profit > human life

DOJ has been demanding voter registration data from states. Texas sent theirs at the end of December. This is part of a major mess of privacy, (dis)enfranchisement, and elections trust issues www.texastribune.org/2026/01/09/t...

Just going to leave this here in case anyone's interested: "Taking photographs and video of things that are plainly visible in public spaces is a constitutional right—and that includes police and other government officials carrying out their duties." www.aclu.org/issues/free-...

New: My look at CISA's seven biggest challenges in 2026, from infrastructure protection and CIRCIA to election security and morale. Experts said workforce cuts would hamper critical activities across the board. CISA said it's "sharpened its mission." www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-7-...

There's an internet blackout in Iran designed to silence protest and quell dissent. Again. And it shows us the potential consequences of the US government's withdrawal from international spaces - particularly the Freedom Online Coalition. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/w...

Initial thoughts on US withdrawal from 66 IOs: 1. It's Bad, and indeed it's The Great Unravelling that @oonahathaway.bsky.social described. 2. Must remember that at least some of these orgs/treaties have withdrawal protocols that take time, a memo isn't magic www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

It's not about drugs, or oil and it's definitely not about democracy. Donald Trump's assault on Venezuela and capture of Maduro is all about proving the 2020 election was stolen from him—at least according to election deniers and MAGa influencers www.wired.com/story/electi...

A couple notable articles this week on the role/importance of political influencers. I recommend paring them with our recent @cdt.org deep dive on the applicability of platform and gov policy (spoiler: both are insufficient in ways that are Bad for democracy) cdt.org/insights/arc...

h/t to @brbarrett.bsky.social who did a really good piece on some specific chatbot breakdowns over the weekend

New from @garymarcus.bsky.social and me— Chatbots are: 1. Bad at providing info during breaking news events 2. Used by many people to find that info anyway 3. Making it harder for journalists to get their material seen online 4. Great vectors for manipulated media and propaganda Not great!

Have the lasses defamed the kitchen?

Meta is testing a policy that would require a paid subscription in order to shared external links, and I have some questions techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/f...

Think of the most private thing you've ever looked up or done online. Now imagine it linked to your driver's license in a database for anyone to access. As age assurance spreads to more and more services, this will keep happening.

Great to see #Texas taking action against the data-hungry "smart TV" industry www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/release... #privacy #data #DataProtection #SmartTV

ICYMI amid *waves hands*, the USG is building a makeshift national identity verification system covering US citizens and immigrants. It's not good. Yesterday we @cdt.org + our partners @protectdemocracy.org @civilrightsorg.bsky.social published this explainer: cdt.org/insights/cdt...

Don't let anyone tell you that the Commission's DSA enforcement against X is about speech or censorship. That would, indeed, be interesting. But this is just the EU enforcing some normal, boring laws that would get bipartisan support in the U.S. (I bet similar bills *have* had that support.) 1/

In a new CDT report, @isabelalinzer.bsky.social and @beccabranum.bsky.social explore how creators, platforms, and policymakers are reshaping political speech and where regulatory gaps leave elections vulnerable. Read more: cdt.org/insights/arc...

Spotify out here proving that age estimation does not, in fact, work

Reveal yourselves, fellow weirdos!

Today is #GivingTuesday! CDT is working to ensure innovation respects your rights—from defending free expression and online privacy, to advancing responsible AI, to preparing for the 2026 elections. Support CDT today with a gift of any size. cdt.org/2025givingtu...#GivingTuesday!

#GivingTuesday is tomorrow! Stand with CDT in advancing civil rights & civil liberties in the digital age. From defending free expression to protecting people’s privacy and advancing responsible AI, our impact is powered by supporters like you. Donate here: cdt.org/2025givingtu...#GivingTuesday

Genuinely spellbound by the anecdotes in @lilashroff.bsky.social's new article, such as: "one tech worker in her 20s, who asked to remain anonymous out of embarrassment ... asked Claude whether she should call 911 when her fire alarm kept going off." Google-everything culture on steroids.

This time last year the big Q was how much AI affected elections. But what's changed over the past year? What will the 2026 midterms look like? This week @tharper.bsky.social and I published new @cdt.org analysis about the current status of AI & elections: cdt.org/insights/cou...

CDT’s @isabelalinzer.bsky.social + @beccabranum.bsky.social's new report examines how creators, platforms, and policymakers are redefining political speech in the digital age. cdt.org/insights/arc...

A lot of people didn’t like the Washington Post journalist who was tortured and dismembered with a bone saw for writing critically about the man sitting next to me

A true public service 🫡

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/...