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In something of a followup to our last episode about Elon Musk's playbook, today we're digging deeper into the comparison between Washington and Silicon Valley and what it tells us about DOGE. Johns Hopkins International Affairs professor Henry Farrell has been looking specifically at the concept of "blitzscaling", and this week he joins us on the podcast to talk about how Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing blitzscaling to government. "Blizscaling for Tyrants" on Substack: https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/blitzscaling-for-tyrants

We've written a lot about how understanding the playbook Elon Musk used at Twitter is key to understanding his current playbook with DOGE. The people who literally wrote the book on said playbook are New York Times journalists Ryan Mac and Kate Conger (the latter of whom joined the podcast last year to discuss the book), and this week they both join us to dig deeper into the ways Musk is reusing his Twitter methods on the entire federal government.

Though the original promise of the internet has been twisted and distorted, today we're seeing more and more people working to restore decentralization and user power online. One such person who sees the problem better than most is Flipboard founder and former Twitter board member (among many other things) Mike McCue, whose new application Surf is a kind of browser for the open social web. Mike joins us on this week's episode to talk all about Surf and the future of the internet.

We probably don't need to tell you that the current tariff situation is causing complete chaos in global supply chains, in large part due to the uncertainty — for all we know, the exact rules will have changed since this episode was recorded just yesterday. But we wanted to get some insight into the impact on small businesses, so this week we're joined by Jesse Vincent, co-founder of Keyboardio (makers of one of Mike's favorite keyboards, who recently wrote an open letter to their US customers), to talk about the challenge of running a business amidst Trump's tariff chaos. The open letter: https://shop.keyboard.io/blogs/news/an-open-letter-to-u-s-customers

It's hard to create a law about children online without first identifying who the children are. We've written a lot about the problems that arise with mandated age verification, and a new paper by Eric Goldman, The "Segregate-and-Suppress" Approach to Regulating Child Safety Online, digs into why the entire popular approach to such laws is paradoxical and broken. This week, Eric joins us on the podcast for a discussion about why regulators should develop a wider and more thoughtful toolkit of online child safety measures. Read the paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5208739

Many people don't think of reproductive health and reproductive rights as tech issues, but they very much are — moreso than ever in a post-Dobbs America. The internet is vital to communication and spreading information around reproductive health care, while abortion drugs are changing the very nature of what reproductive rights protect. This week we're joined by Elisa Wells and Amy Merrill, two of the cofounders of Plan C, a nonprofit that aims to make abortion pills available by mail across the US, for a discussion about looking at reproductive health through the lens of disruptive technology.

If you're a Techdirt reader, you're probably familiar with Senator Ron Wyden. In January, he released his new book It Takes Chutzpah, offering up a call for political boldness that feels even more relevant with every day that passes. This week, Senator Wyden joins Mike on the podcast to talk about the book and the political moment we find ourselves in.

In the digital age, attention is a resource — but if we can have a little slice of yours, we've got a great conversation about that very subject for you to listen to. This week, Mike is joined by journalist Chris Hayes to discuss his new book, The Siren's Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, and examine just what's going on in the attention economy and where it might head in the future. The Siren's Call: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/719661/the-sirens-call-by-chris-hayes/

We recently announced the launch of Otherwise Objectionable, a brand new documentary podcast hosted by Mike in partnership with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, covering the history — and the vital importance — of Section 230. This week, we're featuring the entire debut episode right here on the Techdirt Podcast. Check it out, and subscribe to Otherwise Objectionable in your podcast app of choice.

At long last, we've got a fresh new original episode for you! This week, Mike is joined by David Enrich, business investigations editor for the New York Times, to discuss his new book Murder The Truth, all about the abuse of defamation laws to silence journalists and discourage critical reporting of the rich and powerful.

We're finally getting back into the rhythm of things, and in fact right at this very moment Mike is recording a brand new original episode for next week on the podcast — but this week, we've got a cross-post and a special extra treat. Mike recently once again joined Andy Levy on The New Abnormal podcast to discuss what Elon Musk is up to in the federal government, and how those of us who closely followed his Twitter takeover know exactly the playbook he's working from. But before that, we've also got the teaser trailer for the upcoming documentary podcast Otherwise Objectionable, hosted by Mike for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. You can listen to them both right here on this week's episode.

We've got another cross-post episode this week! Recently, Mike appeared on The Dynamist podcast from the Foundation for American Innovation for the second entry in a four-part series about copyright and artificial intelligence. He's joined by Alex Winter and Tim Hwang, and host Evan Swarztrauber, for a discussion about how artists, creators, and tech companies are navigating the rapidly changing AI landscape.

We've written about the many signs that Trump FCC pick Brendan Carr is eager to be America's top censor. Recently, Mike once again joined Andy Levy on The New Abnormal podcast for a discussion about how much of a threat Carr represents to free speech and the First Amendment, and you can listen to the whole segment here on this week's episode.

Last week, we launched the crowdfunding campaign for One Billion Users, our new card game where players compete to build the biggest and best social media network. As is tradition when we launch a new game, myself and our game design partner Randy Lubin joined Mike on an episode of the podcast to talk all about the game and why you should help us release it by backing the Kickstarter. One Billion Users on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mmasnick/one-billion-users-the-social-media-card-game/

We've got another cross-post for you this week, and this time it's also a live panel recording. Recently, Mike joined a panel at Boston University Questrom School of Business which was recorded for WBUR's Is Business Broken? podcast, alongside professors Marshall Van Alstyne and Nadine Strossen, and moderated by host Curt Nickisch. The discussion is all about Section 230 specifically and the regulation of speech more broadly, and you can listen to the whole thing here on this week's episode.

It's been a few weeks, but we're back! Although the podcast schedule is still going to be sporadic for a little while longer (Mike explains further in the intro) we've got a couple cross-post episodes lined up, starting with today's. Recently, Mike joined Ed Zitron on his Better Offline podcast for a far-reaching interview about (among other things) the history of Techdirt, the future of Bluesky, and the origins of the Streisand Effect. You can listen to the whole conversation here on this week's episode. Better Offline Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-streisand-effect-with-mike-masnick/id1730587238?i=1000675856146

Though the current popular narrative about social media seems to be that it is harmful and has little or no redeeming value, the truth (which a lot of people know) is that it also has a lot of value, and the potential to be even better. A recent research report from New_Public finds some ideas on how to pursue that potential by looking at a niche, local social media site that moves a lot slower than the big networks, and this week we're joined by New_Public co-director Eli Pariser to discuss what useful lessons there might be to learn from "slow social media". Read the report (pdf): https://newpublic.org/uploads/2024/07/Front-Porch-Forum-report-2.pdf

If you're a Techdirt reader (or any tech news reader) you've already heard a lot of stories about the chaos of Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, but no matter how much you know, there's a lot to learn in a new book that hits the shelves today. Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mac, is the definitive retelling of the saga-so-far, and it's full of fascinating details that make it a gripping read. Today, Kate joins us on the podcast to talk all about the book and the stories therein. Get the book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/737290/character-limit-by-kate-conger-and-ryan-mac/

There's been plenty of conversation over the past decade about how unprepared the mainstream media was for the shifts that have happened in politics and political discourse, especially when it comes to finding... well... the truth. As we move towards the 2024 election, the challenges of reporting and fact checking are once again in the spotlight, and this week we're joined by NYU Journalism Professor and Jay Rosen to talk about the state of modern journalism, and how fact checking so often fails.

A few months ago, Mike wrote about the ways he uses AI tools when writing for Techdirt — not to do any of the actual writing, but to help improve it. The specific tool in question is Lex, a word processor with embedded AI features, and this week Lex founder Nathan Baschez joins Mike on the podcast to talk more about AI as a tool for creative improvement rather than a replacement for creativity.