Briefing Center

Marketing pages

  • Who we are
  • Watch a demo
  • Sign up
  • Log in
News

Ctrl-Alt-Speech: We’ve Hit Grok Bottom

Techdirt · Mike Masnick · last updated January 15, 2026 – 1:53 PM
Email Bluesky Facebook LinkedIn

Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.

Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, or your podcast app of choice — or go straight to the RSS feed.

In this week’s round-up of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Mike and Ben cover:

  • UK, Canadian watchdogs press on with probes into Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot (Reuters)
  • Musk’s xAI limits Grok’s ability to create sexualized images of real people on X after backlash (CNBC)
  • X claims it has stopped Grok from undressing people, but of course it hasn’t (The Verge)
  • State Department Threatens UK Over Grok Investigation, Because Only The US Is Allowed To Ban Foreign Apps (Techdirt)
  • Keir Starmer tells MPs he is open to social media ban for young people (The Guardian)
  • Statement from the Molly Rose Foundation (LinkedIn)
  • Wes Streeting asks US expert Jonathan Haidt to address officials on social media ban for under-16s (The Guardian)
  • Some social media use can benefit teen mental health (AAP)
  • Arlington-focused Facebook group with 25,000 members is removed, angering moderators (ARLnow)
  • Bandcamp becomes the first major music platform to ban AI content (The Verge)
View full article

here today, more tomorrow

We’ve launched briefing.center with a focus on the press and media.

And we’ve added Citizen Cartwright, a daily quick-read news summary by veteran Washington journalist Linda Cartwright. We’ve also created a new voting rights knowledge center for Citizen Cartwright subscribers. (You can sign up for a dedicated morning email at citizencartwright.com.)

You can sign up here for full access to press and media and Citizen Cartwright on briefing.center.

You can use briefing.center as the center of your information management, or just one of your tools. We’re happy to discuss your information needs.

Sign up