Why Can't We De-Friend

In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:
• Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Failed Negotiations to End Antitrust Case (wsj.com/us-news/law/mark-zuckerberg-meta-antit…) (Wall Street Journal)
• Mark Zuckerberg once suggested wiping all Facebook friends lists to boost usage (theverge.com/news/649246/mark-zuckerberg-faceb…) (The Verge)
• Would You Give PornHub Your ID? (theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2025/04/can-w…) (The Atlantic)
• How Social-Media Sites Can Fight Hate Without Censorship (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/meta-fig…) (The Atlantic)
• Facebook Banned Me for Life Because I Help People Use It Less (slate.com/technology/2021/10/facebook-unfollow…) (Slate, 2021)
• ASML Fellow Launches CLR:SKY (cyber.harvard.edu/story/2025-04/asml-fellow-la…) (Berkman Klein Center)
• Block Party deep cleans your social media, notifications, settings, and more in one click (blockpartyapp.com)
• Liz Truss to launch ‘uncensored’ social network to counter mainstream media (theguardian.com/politics/2025/apr/15/liz-truss…) (The Guardian)
• OpenAI is building a social network (theverge.com/openai/648130/openai-social-netwo…) (The Verge)
This episode is brought to you with financial support from the Future of Online Trust & Safety Fund.
Follow us on Instagram (instagram.com/ctrlaltspeech), YouTube (youtube.com/@CtrlAltSpeech), and Bluesky (bsky.app/profile/ctrlaltspeech.com).
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)).