Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, @freiheitsrechte.org! <3

Dear friends from other countries: please join the Brazilians as we celebrate this groundbreaking decision.

What happened today is awful. People who fight against gun violence, people who loathe what Charlie Kirk stood for, must also condemn political violence. It’s a vicious cycle. This is a very dangerous moment.

this is the industry governments want to hand over education and other societal infrastructure www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

The wait time for a visa appointment in Colombia, Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nigeria are over 1 year. Among other things, this means people getting notices that they have been accepted to conferences hosted within the same year in the U.S. will not be able to come if they don't have a visa already

"You can say what you like, I don’t care, because that’s what free speech is," Nigel Farage has just told the House Judiciary Committee, about three hours after his party banned me from covering its conference this weekend.

Want a masterclass in corporate capture? Tune in to hear Jim Jordan parrot the talking points of Big Tech, who have effectively duped the US govt into fighting their battles to avoid accountability abroad: judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...

My colleague Matt Zucker (along with Kendra Albert) wrote on how Trump's attacks put reliable science at risk - gift link share.inquirer.com/RFiRkS - @standupforscience.bsky.social you'll like this one.

“We cannot be subject to the will of a third country.” Extremely strong statement from @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu about Europe's sovereignty - and its need to defend itself to deter bullying. Europe can build its own kit, break dependencies, and target enforcement. It's going to take all of it.

The EU is a market with 450 million people. There is vast public support for regulation of big tech and for companies to meet their responsibilities. Giving in after a decade of efforts in this space is undesirable and unnecessary. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/b...

I'm one of the 37 targeted below by DNI Tulsi Gabbard. I haven't had a clearance nor worked in government since 2013. This is political theater & a dangerous example of government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their 1st Amendment rights. My full statement:

Adam Raine, 16, died from suicide in April after months on ChatGPT discussing plans to end his life. His parents have filed the first known case against OpenAI for wrongful death. Overwhelming at times to work on this story, but here it is. My latest on AI chatbots: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

Trump "is considering imposing sanctions on European Union or member state officials responsible for implementing the bloc's landmark Digital Services Act, two sources familiar with the matter said, over U.S. complaints that the law censors Americans and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies."

My lab's been attacked by an anti-wind group and their lawyers. They threatened the science funding of my whole university, to shut me and my undergraduate research assistants up. NYT just covered it. 1/n www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/c...

Listen guys, if you're going to highlight this provision, you might also want to acknowledge the other provisions that require Columbia to restrict teaching, scholarship, and campus protest, and that limit the university's autonomy re admissions and hiring. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

How is independent tech research faring in 2025 amidst extraordinary headwinds & what can we do to preserve / grow it? A new report, "Power in Numbers" by @thecoalition.bsky.social summarizes the struggle for public-interest tech research worldwide. independenttechresearch.org/citr-report-...

This is a very important report from @thecoalition.bsky.social on the challenges of technology research: "Across countries, support for public-interest research on technology is rapidly eroding, just as society’s need for it grows more urgent" independenttechresearch.org/citr-report-...

"Building alternative institutions outside of gov. that reduce reliance on the authoritarian regime, lessen its power and relevance over day-to-day life, and preserve sites of independent thought can be vital both in preserving science and in defending democracy." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Columbia settlement is an “astonishing transfer of autonomy and authority to . . . an administration whose disdain for the values of the academy is demonstrated anew every day.” New @knightcolumbia.org analysis of the Columbia settlement, just published. knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

so I am one of the 12 people (including the “god-fathers of AI”) that will be at the Vatican this September for a two full-day working group on the Future of AI here is my Vatican approved short provocation on 'AI and Fraternity' for the working group

"The F.T.C. move is an attempt to tilt the media landscape in favor of the government in ways that are simply un-American. If we want a media that is willing to stand up to government, we need to fight for the right to boycott, not just for ourselves but also for advertisers."

💥NEW💥: Come work with us! Future of Tech Institute is hiring *three* senior advocacy roles to run advocacy with EU institutions, Germany, and France. (Roles in thread) EU: tinyurl.com/5n6awzdw

One of the most crucial pieces of legislation to implement the Digital Services Act came out today: the Delegated Act on data access.The act clarifies the procedures for platforms to share internal, non-public data to vetted researchers digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/d...

Called up @kateconger.com this week to talk about the absolutely wild merger drama at the FTC. There’s an Elon connection. Because of course there is. slate.com/podcasts/wha...

The bipartisan American Science Acceleration Project sounds promising, but "move fast and break things" isn't a strategy for trustworthy research. I write in @science.org about why we need acceleration that opens doors to participation and accountability. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Grant reinstatement NEWS!! NIH staff today were instructed to reinstate ~900 grants the Administration terminated, which the federal court found were illegal last week. Grants will be reinstated to researchers at state universities in 16 Dem states; and who are APHA or UAW member plaintiffs.

This Reviled Pest Is the Unsung Hero of Every Major City in the World www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/m...

Folks who stand up for and defend democracy and democratic principles and institutions are sometimes faulted for being nostalgic and conservative. I honestly don’t know any “democracy defenders” who don’t believe that all kinds of existing democracies cannot and should not be improved.

Note that courts have already thrown out similar investigations by both Missouri and Texas as an obvious and blatant attack on @mmfa.bsky.social's First Amendment rights.

So your research area has been politicized and your federal funding cancelled, what now? I try to give some answers in this opinion piece for @nature.com 1/ www.nature.com/articles/d41...

There are ways to keep crucial research going https://go.nature.com/3GWY3m3

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/b.... Theyre canceling studies on misinformation bc it interferes with people’s 1st amendment rights? First, the studies don’t do that - Even still, lying may be protected speech but to is calling people out for it. @nytimes.com @standupforscience.bsky.social #science

Academic freedom in the Netherlands under pressure. New report from Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences @knaw-nl.bsky.social What is needed: 🚩 stronger freedom of research 🚩 less substantive government influence 🚩 support against intimidation and attacks www.knaw.nl/nieuws/knaw-...

We’re growing, and we want you with us! The Coalition for Independent Technology Research is a global community of researchers demanding transparency and supporting public understanding about the societal impacts of technology. (1/4)

Following the latest cuts to research funding in the US, risks of undetected online activities from foreign influence operations to cybercrime could be higher than ever. Researchers are asked to do more with less. OM is now offering free Pro platform access to those impacted by recent NSF cuts.

This @niemanlab.org story gives more background and concrete examples of revoked disinformation research, fx @katestarbird.bsky.social @lkfazio.bsky.social following the NSF announcement. Defunding disinformation research is very shortsighted in today’s world. www.niemanlab.org/2025/04/nati...

This is a really really great explainer to the Joker economy we’re in. Highly recommend.

This morning, FACULTY UNIONS led by @aaup.bsky.social sued the Trump administration over the unlawful funding cuts at Columbia. We will not let the federal government use coercion to rob us of academic freedom and critical research! So proud of my union! protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/u...

I'm testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee today at 2pm about how the Republican myth of the "censorship industrial complex" is used to distract from and justify Trump's very real assault on the First Amendment www.welch.senate.gov/welch-announ...

I wrote this about news organizations that were settling with Trump, but it's equally true of law firms that are settling with him. Maybe even *more* true, since the spectacle of *lawyers* surrendering to Trump is especially dispiriting. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/o...

🔬🧪🧬 SCIENTISTS! we are collecting stories from folks whose research has been disrupted by the Trump admin. Whether you’re a grad student, postdoc, faculty, we want to hear from you! ty to everyone who has already shared. my signal: caitlingilbert.24 thewashingtonpost.formstack.com/forms/scient...

Knight Institute Condemns Trump Administration’s Effort to “Subjugate Universities to Official Power.” See statements from @jameeljaffer.bsky.social & @alexabdo.bsky.social below: knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

In which the Department of Homeland Security struggles to answer a very simple question: "Is any criticism of the United States government a deportable offense?" (From NPR here: www.npr.org/2025/03/13/n...)

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/

Let's call this what it is: This is censorship of scientific research. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Shellenberger is name-checking the Stanford Internet Observatory too. So I want to take the opportunity to share my substack that documents just how extensively Michael Shellenberger lied in that first congressional testimony in 2023. reneediresta.substack.com

Someday, someone will write about how the conflation of university speech with “censorship” was used to mobilize actual government censorship.

We took X to court. And we won! ⚖️ The courts ruled that X must urgently grant us access to their publicly available data via their API. This access is critical for our analysis of online public discourse ahead of the upcoming German elections. Read: bit.ly/4gBWGp4 Here's what's happened 1/3 👇

Attacks on researchers are an age-old tactic deployed by autocrats to destroy public accountability. We all see what’s happening to NIH, NSF, etc. But there are many more, less obvious attacks happening and in the works. 1/

Great and clear summary. But shaping the narrative isn't your only form of power.