Age Against the Machine

More from Ctrl-Alt-Speech All episodes →

1. 

   S1 · E106 · 12 Jun 2026 · 38 min

   Cupertino d'État

   In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover: Tech bosses threatened with prison if they fail to protect children (The Times)Apple and Google given three months to ban nude images on children's devices (BBC News)Keir Starmer’s social media ban for under-16s could backfire, experts warn (OpenDemocracy)Apple previews new child safety features (Apple)Apple's WWDC keynote was very different, but this will be the new normal (9to5mac)Ottawa introduces bill to restrict social media for teens, regulate...

2. 

   S1 · E105 · 5 Jun 2026 · 43 min

   Generous to a Default

   Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover. In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover: New 13+ Content Settings for Teen Accounts Expanding Globally on Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger (Meta)Meta Expands Safety Features for Teenagers (New York Times)Hackers Used Meta’s AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts (Krebs on Security)Everyone In This LEGO Dispute Should Have Spoken To A Lawyer Earlier Than T...

3. 

   S1 · E104 · 29 May 2026 · 39 min

   Deus vs. Machina

   Become a Ctrl-Alt-Speech supporter to get extended episodes of the podcast plus the chance to submit stories for us to cover. In this week's episode, Mike and Ben cover: The Boring Internet (Terry Godier)Orkney Library & Archive (Bluesky)Silicon Valley takes its AI pitch to the pope (Politico)Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah's remarks on Pope Leo XIV's encyclical "Magnifica humanitas" (Anthropic)Vance calls Pope Leo’s AI warnings ‘profound’ (NBC News)American heresy: should Peter Thie...

4. 

   S1 · E103 · 21 May 2026 · 54 min

   Message in a Bottleneck

   In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by civil liberties lawyer Jennifer Granick. Together they discuss: Kickstarter rolls back its mature content policy after outcry (Engadget)Apple gives update on the App Store and its key protections (9to5 Mac)Thoughts on the £1,000,000 SaSu Fine (Preston Byrne)Pushing back from Big Tech: Africa’s hard road to AI sovereignty (Rest of World)America’s dangerous, messy deepfakes ...

5. 

   S1 · E102 · 7 May 2026 · 51 min

   The Human Element in the Room

   In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike is joined by First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn. Together they discuss: Pennsylvania sues AI chatbot as state lawmakers wrestle with stricter regulations (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)Children are drawing moustaches on their faces to fool online age checks - and it's working (Euronews)The Online Safety Act: Are children safer online? (Internet Matters)Utah first state to hold websites liable...

6. 

   S1 · E100 · 23 Apr 2026 · 30 min

   Celebrating 100 Episodes & Launching Our Patreon

   In this special episode, Mike and Ben reflect on 100 episodes of the podcast, followed by an important announcement: we’re launching a Patreon and making some changes to Ctrl-Alt-Speech! Starting on May 28th, Patreon members will get early access to extended weekly episodes with in-depth coverage of an extra major story. The free episodes will continue here on this feed, just slightly shorter and released one day later. You can become a member now at one of two levels: Supporters get ea...

7. 

   S1 · E99 · 16 Apr 2026 · 52 min

   The Silence of the LLMs

   In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover: The Darkest Web (BBC)Federal agencies skirt Trump’s Anthropic ban to test its advanced AI model (Politico)Anthropic Opposes the Extreme AI Liability Bill That OpenAI Backed (Wired)Europe should regulate Big Tech instead of banning kids from social media, Estonia says (Politico EU)Statement by President von der Leyen with Executive Vice-President Virkkunen on the digital...

8. 

   S1 · E98 · 9 Apr 2026 · 51 min

   Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ Internet

   In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Fadzai Madzingira, a digital policy expert with a decade of experience at Meta, Salesforce, Ofcom and currently Twitch, where she leads the policy, outreach and education teams. Together, they discuss: Exclusive: Meta has discussed ending funding to the Oversight Board (Platformer)Spotlight: Five Years of the Oversight Board, from Experiment to Essential Institution (Ctrl-A...

9. 

   S1 · E97 · 2 Apr 2026 · 51 min

   Age Old Questions

   In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover: It's official: Australia's teen social media ban isn't working, yet (Crikey)Social Media Minimum Age - Compliance update (eSafety Commision)Blunder from Down Under (Ctrl-Alt-Speech)April 3 could create a dangerous gap in child safety across Europe (Thorn)Commissioners pile pressure on Parliament to pass child sexual abuse bill (POLITICO)Weeks After Denouncing Government...

10. 

    S1 · E96 · 26 Mar 2026 · 53 min

    For Meta or Worse

    In this week's round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover: How London become a T&S hub (Everything in Moderation) Everyone Cheering The Social Media Addiction Verdicts Against Meta Should Understand What They’re Actually Cheering For (Techdirt)Supreme Court Sides With Internet Provider in Copyright Fight Over Pirated Music (New York Times)US settles social media censorship case, bars agencies from threatening penalties...