Once You Slop, You Can't Stop

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
• Twitter Inc. Official 'Bird Logo' Fascia Sign - An Iconic Fixture from the Company’s Market Square Headquarters in San Francisco (rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/349988607146…) (RR Auction)
• AI Slop Is a Brute Force Attack on the Algorithms That Control Reality (404media.co/ai-slop-is-a-brute-force-attack-on…) (404 Media)
• Spain to impose massive fines for not labelling AI-generated content (reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence…) (Reuters)
• China Announces Generative AI Labeling to Cull Disinformation (bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-14/china-a…) (Bloomberg)
• After Axing Fact-Checkers, Meta’s Community Notes Will Have Help From X (adweek.com/media/axing-fact-checkers-metas-com…) (Adweek)
• UK to crack down on illegal content across social media (ft.com/content/91414488-7146-4b9c-9ac4-15767be…) (Financial Times)
• Lobsters and the Online Safety Act (lobste.rs/s/ukosa1/uk_users_lobsters_needs_you…) (Lobste.rs)
• We are sorry. The forum has closed down (thehamsterforum.com/ams/forum-closure.79) (The Hamster Forum)
• ‘Kids can bypass anything if they’re clever enough!’ How tech experts keep their children safe online (theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/mar/16/how-t…) (The Guardian)
• The Snapchat Move That Leaves Teen Girls Heartbroken (wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/snapchat-half-swipe…) (WSJ)
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund. If you’re in London on Thursday 27th March, join Ben, Mark Scott (Digital Politics) and Georgia Iacovou (Horrific/Terrific) for an evening of tech policy, discussion and drinks. Register your interest (lu.ma/e629hs6l).
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Ctrl-Alt-Speech is the podcast where we make sense of the major debates shaping online speech, platform power, content moderation and the future of the internet. It’s co-hosted by Mike Masnick (Techdirt (techdirt.com)) and Ben Whitelaw (Everything in Moderation (everythinginmoderation.co)).