Highly recommend Lorna Woods excellent analysis of the legality of Groks "undressing" function and use www.onlinesafetyact.net/analysis/gro... Shows the limits of the law, particularly the regulators powers. Watch this space as governments the world over wrestle with abusive uses of AI tech.

Online safety, digital surveillance and the last dying breaths of our right to privacy... This week in Common Ground I write about age assurance tech as a trogan horse for all our rights... bit.ly/3X7feX9

Child Safety Panic May Permanently Devour Our Privacy

Dramatic, tech-driven changes in the name of online safety may mortgage standards of privacy that we cannot build back.

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Fantastic event on next Tuesday for those willing or able to travel to London Join writers, actors and campaigners to discuss the Hack, phone hacking, and what's next for press reform @hackedoff.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-hack-w...

The Hack: What next?

Join TV personality Kerry Katona, writer Jack Thorne and star guests to discuss ITV drama The Hack - and must happen next.

eventbrite.co.uk

We were waiting for this. AI developers got a nod from the UK courts on whether their AI models infringe copyrighted work. Recently, a judge threw out a passing off claim advanced by Getty Images against AI developer Stability. How do you feel about this? bit.ly/49pvBpn #AI #Copyright #AINews

Is AI Conquering Copyright? UK Court Throws Developers Fresh Bone

A new court ruling has altered how copyright holders can guard their work from AI learning. With regulatory frameworks still on blueprint, have AI developers evaded one of their early challengers?

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We finally have the last edition of the Hack, out now! Thanks for those of you who've gone on the journey with our companion piece to ITV's the Hack. It's been a fun ride, and we know that a better media is possible @hackedoff.bsky.social @mediareformuk.bsky.social youtu.be/KnJNLrJC5Yc

After The Hack #7 | with Byline Times & Impress

YouTube video by Byline TV

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What u find interesting about the Pete Hesgeth new pentagon access guidelines for journalists is the mislaid notion that people can contract our of their constitutional rights... www.google.com/amp/s/www.bb...

Divestment in quality media intentional or accidental? The stats support more effectiveness for brands and advertisers... So let's stop chasing eyeballs, clicks, impressions and build a digital economy that doesn't rely on exploitation. How about investing in ethical accountable media? #awc

The fight for trustworthy and accountable journalism found a new advocate in... the Pope? 😅 www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned

Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists

theguardian.com

Either, the Government will do nothing and the cycle of scandal and cosmetic reform will repeat. Press disinformation, intrusion and other abuses will go on, day to day, destroying peoples’ lives, distorting elections and misleading the public, but making little impact on the national policy agenda

How is phone hacking connected to one of the most notorious unsolved murders in Britain? Episode 2 of #afterthehack is out now. If you're watching the Hack on ITV 9pm, this is the best companion podcast for all the insights, hot takes and more. youtu.be/hN1NgxsJbxw

After The Hack #2 | with Byline Times & Impress

YouTube video by Byline TV

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Really powerful words from Hugh Grant on the last 12 years of political failure, including the current Government, for victims of press abuse. If we want a better media we need this collusion to end.

At the Labour Party conference this week advocating for quick wins and ready made solutions for a better media with @hackedoff.bsky.social @mediareformuk.bsky.social and @pressjustice.bsky.social

Started watching #theHack on ITV and want more? 'After the Hack', our recap show with @bylinetimes.bsky.social is now out! Weekly episodes on the real politics and behind the scenes goss of the phone hacking scandal, plus what action you can take to build a better media youtu.be/VlCYtc_IGoU?...

After The Hack | Preview Show with Byline Times & Impress

YouTube video by Byline TV

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It's lack of independence, discretion to interpret public interest and blended remit over content and market controls that allows US agencies like the Federal Communications Commission to become ideologically captured by Commissioners at the top #jimmykimmel

Just to be blunt, if you want Wired and 404 and The Verge to employ reporters who understand the memes on bullet casings and can connect them to gaming culture while having the legal and support resources to deal with waves of harassment when we do it… you have to subscribe and pay for the work

onion person@junlper.beer · 11mo ago

the entire media ecosystem is just not built or ready for events like this and far right billionaires like larry ellison buying news orgs will only make this worse

Lucy Connolly and Graham Linehan are the latest high profile cases of speech being policed online. Posting hateful content and inciting violence against others without early intervention can fuel a pattern of behaviour which gives them the confidence to continue to post.

scarce and inconsistent policing of hateful and abusive content online has reduced that risk and emboldened people to push the boundaries further. Lack of enforcement online has created a culture of illegality.

Spoke too soon Nepal ban is lifted after tragedy during public protests www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nepal protests: Social media ban lifted after 19 killed in protests

Thousands had taken to the streets demanding that the government lift the ban and tackle corruption.

bbc.co.uk

In case you missed it Nepal just shut down access to 26 major platforms, including Meta and X for failing to meet new legal requirements. The age of platform sovereignty is ending. Global connectivity will be superseded by physical borders.

The House of Lords Communications Committee released a sobering report on #medialiteracy painting a picture of a nation in a literacy crisis. However the recommendations proposed are all over the place

🇬🇧🗞🔥🕵️ I wrote a guest post at @lexiekk.bsky.social's Common Ground newsletter, about six character profiles involved in misinformation and manipulation patterns surrounding the UK Southport-spinoff summer riots of 2024, and ideas for systemic-level mitigation measures. #platforms #OSINT #SOCMINT

How Platform Design Amplified Misinformation in the Southport Attack Aftermath

Sohan Dsouza, open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigator, takes over Common Ground to analyse six key actors who exploited social media to spread false claims that fueled anti-immigrant riots.

lexiekirkconnellkawana.substack.com

Last week I broke down how Big Tech spent 25 years dodging regulatory scrutiny with a simple playbook and turned a blind eye to illegal behaviour of its users online. This week's focus is the news publishers who became the catalyst for change. bit.ly/3G6Xztw

Why Calls for Big Tech Regulation Feel New But Aren't: Part 2

News publishers now ‘fed up’ and concerned about digital market power on commerce and democracy, started regularly investigating tech company practises and raising awareness with the public.

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💭 "Identifying who is causing harm is less difficult in our contemporary centralised internet where there are fewer upstream players and many have backdoor arrangements with law enforcement." bit.ly/3TiWHoy

Why Calls for Big Tech Regulation Feel New But Aren't

Tech giants built monopolies on a foundation of rule-dodging and regulatory capture while everyone bought into the myth that digital chaos was just the price of innovation.

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🚨 The inconvenient truth about social media age bans 🚨 Everyone's rushing to "protect" children by banning them from social media. Australia, Texas, Florida—it feels obvious, right? But these bans might actually make the internet LESS safe for everyone. bit.ly/4kjpPYV

💡 If news publishers no longer see the value in being indexed and ranked in search results, is there a world in which they might voluntarily withdraw from search engines like Google entirely? bit.ly/3FdYEPY

All roads lead to Rome: closing the loop on news in Google search

If news publishers no longer see the value in being indexed and ranked in search results, is there a world in which they might voluntarily withdraw from search engines like Google entirely?

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Great piece from @publicinterestnews.org.uk on Local Democracy Reporting Scheme and what #BBC could do to improve the scheme so it supports accountable independent local journalism www.publicinterestnews.org.uk/post/indie-n...

Indie News Providers react to Local Democracy Reporting Service contracts announcement

In light of last week's announcement, Jonathan Heawood unpacks the reactions among indie news providers on the BBC's Local Democracy Reporting Service.Last Friday, the BBC Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) announced the awardees of new contracts to host Local Democracy Reporters (LDRs) for the next two-and-a-half years.  The LDRS is an initiative set up by the BBC in 2017. It pays for 165 journalism jobs to help report on local democracy issues across the UK, hosted by publishers followin

publicinterestnews.org.uk

Things I like about the Davie speech: -recognition of the trust crisis, news alienation and audience decline -recognition of the existential threat disinfo poses www.theguardian.com/media/2025/m...

BBC boss says disinformation ‘trust crisis’ putting social fabric of UK at risk

Tim Davie pitches BBC as unifying force as he announces plans to make more news content for YouTube and TikTok

theguardian.com

💡 The subtle art of silencing doesn't need book burnings in the 21st century. It works through bureaucratic whispers, financial pressure, and systemic nudges. We need to move beyond defensive trench warfare to proactively reshape what free expression should mean. bit.ly/4deURhH

The Subtle Art of Silencing: A Starter Pack on Modern Censorship Techniques

The most insidious forms of censorship don't arrive with loud proclamations or dramatic book burnings. Instead, they creep in through bureaucratic whispers, financial pressures, and systemic nudges.

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5 days out from the extended deadline for Tik Tok to divest it's US business. Trump has suggested he's willing to extend again, this is an example of the not so subtle ways the state acts on our right to freedom of expression indirectly. I'm writing more about this this week.

Fresh from the Cambridge Disinformation Summit 2025! 🧠 The big takeaway? Disinformation has evolved to unprecedented scale and sophistication. Current solutions mostly just monitor or expose—but we need to address the SOURCE. bit.ly/4k6DdPo

Everyone wants to fight disinformation as long as they get to define it

Most of our current fight against disinformation is focused on monitoring and exposing disinformation. This is not enough. Here's what I think we need to do to cut disinformation off at the source.

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