The Tech Policy Press Podcast

Paddy Leerssen, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam focusing on social media regulation and DSA research. He discusses the DSA’s two-year enforcement milestone and evolving empirical work. Conversation covers audits and risk assessments, rising private litigation across Europe, national versus EU enforcement tensions, and blind spots like marketplaces and gender-based violence.

Carrie Goldberg, a victims’ rights attorney who sues tech platforms over design harms, shares stories from a decade of litigation. She discusses treating apps as products, building a practice around image-based abuse, battles over Section 230, algorithmic accountability, and high-profile suits against Amazon, Meta, Grindr and Omegle. Short, sharp takes on law, design, and online safety.

Alejandra Montoya-Boyer, civil rights leader focused on surveillance and AI policy, and Irna Landrum, Minneapolis-based campaigner on surveillance and immigration enforcement, discuss a large immigration operation that revealed a sprawling surveillance apparatus. They talk about facial recognition, masked agents, community intimidation, data-driven tracking, and urgent calls to limit biometric dragnet tools and federal AI/privacy powers.

Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a George Washington University law professor and author on policing and surveillance. He discusses the spread of sensor-driven data from smart devices and how it weakens privacy protections. They cover risks like domestic and reproductive surveillance, legal and judicial fixes, and the 'tyrant test' approach to designing safeguards.

Chris Mills-Rodrigo, managing editor at Inequality.org and tech policy fellow, studies documenting state violence. He discusses viral ICE and Minneapolis videos and how communities collect and protect footage. He explores provenance, chain of custody, platform risks, and encrypted coordination tactics used to preserve evidence and shape public narratives.

Jennifer Lind, Associate Professor at Dartmouth and author of Autocracy 2.0, explains the rise of 'smart authoritarianism'—a model that preserves political control while protecting economic growth. She traces China's learning from Singapore, revisits assumptions about Chinese innovation, discusses tech competition and export controls, and considers what democracies can do to remain competitive.

Spencer Overton, a law professor and expert on voting rights, dives into the troubling intersection of AI policy and ethnonationalism under the Trump administration. He discusses how the removal of bias safeguards in AI promotes exclusion and perpetuates racial inequality. Overton outlines the harms of unregulated AI, including deception and homogenization. He also highlights federal uses of AI and their societal implications, calls for an Equitable AI Act, and argues for maintaining pluralism while regulating technology to ensure fairness.

Join Daniela Stockmann, a professor of digital governance, and Ting Luo, an AI and government expert, as they delve into their new book, Governing Digital China. They challenge the simplistic view of Chinese digital governance, introducing the concept of 'popular corporatism'—where citizens, tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba, and the state influence each other. Discover how user preferences can push platforms for more privacy and less censorship, and explore the balance between economic growth and political control in China’s evolving landscape.

In this engaging discussion, Kate Ruane, Amina Fazlullah, and Joel Thayer dive into the evolving landscape of child online safety laws in the U.S. as we head toward 2026. They explore state-level approaches, including age verification and social media labels, while highlighting the potential legal challenges these initiatives face. The panel also discusses the implications of AI and generative technology on youth privacy and safety. With legal uncertainties looming, the experts forecast a continued push for stronger protections and regulations.

Riana Pfefferkorn, a policy fellow at Stanford focusing on generative AI and nonconsensual imagery, dives deep into the controversy sparked by Elon Musk's Grok chatbot. She discusses the alarming outputs of Grok, including requests for sexualized images and the associated legal risks. Riana explains the challenges of moderating this content and the implications of the upcoming Take It Down Act. She also highlights the strain on resources for enforcing laws against child sexual abuse material and provides practical advice for victims seeking remedies.