martin johannes riedl
@martinriedl.bsky.social
asst prof, school of journalism and media @ university of tennessee | topics: political influencers, platform governance, content moderation, chat and messaging apps, journalism | he/him | 🇪🇺 alien | www.martinriedl.com | opinions: own
Pinned
Extreme speech thrives in encrypted spaces, but killing encryption won’t stop it, says a group of researchers who have studied the problem from multiple angles. We need context-driven governance, not backdoors, they say.
Policy Directions on Encrypted Messaging and Extreme Speech | TechPolicy.Press
Encryption, disinformation, and democracy: rethinking policy for messaging apps with rights-based safeguards.
www.techpolicy.press
This last acad year, I spent time in Munich at @caslmu.bsky.social, working with a fab group of folks led by @sahanaudupa.bsky.social on a policy report on encrypted messaging apps and extreme speech.
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
New conspiracy theory just dropped:
What if peer review, committee meetings, strategic plans, promotion & tenure processes, and letter-writing requests are all part of a secret plot to keep smart, creative, active minds from thinking and writing the big ideas that would *really* change the world?
What if peer review, committee meetings, strategic plans, promotion & tenure processes, and letter-writing requests are all part of a secret plot to keep smart, creative, active minds from thinking and writing the big ideas that would *really* change the world?
November 19, 2025 at 10:45 PM
New conspiracy theory just dropped:
What if peer review, committee meetings, strategic plans, promotion & tenure processes, and letter-writing requests are all part of a secret plot to keep smart, creative, active minds from thinking and writing the big ideas that would *really* change the world?
What if peer review, committee meetings, strategic plans, promotion & tenure processes, and letter-writing requests are all part of a secret plot to keep smart, creative, active minds from thinking and writing the big ideas that would *really* change the world?
Very excited to read the final report - congrats, @isabelalinzer.bsky.social & @beccabranum.bsky.social. Love the title 📐
New report alert🚨🚨 Political influencers aren’t quite activists, media, or advertisers. So what are they? How do social media policies and government regulations apply?
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
🧵 on this transformative trend in democracy and politics:
cdt.org/insights/arc...
Architects of Online Influence: How Creators, Platforms, and Policymakers Shape Political Speech
[ PDF version ] A social media creator gave gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars to Donald Trump during a livestream ahead of the 2024 presidential election. A progressive influencer ranted in a v...
cdt.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Very excited to read the final report - congrats, @isabelalinzer.bsky.social & @beccabranum.bsky.social. Love the title 📐
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...
This week Open AI walked back a call for the govt to backstop financing for its trillion dollar investments in data centers. This was only the tip of the iceberg; a slow bailout for AI firms is already underway. Read more from @ambakak.bsky.social and I in @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/opinion/you-...
Opinion | You May Already Be Bailing Out the AI Business
Washington is treating the industry as if it’s too big to fail, even as the market sends lukewarm signals.
www.wsj.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Absolute must read on the AI bailout-in-progress: apparently it's not enough that lifetimes of human ingenuity and creativity have been stolen and enclosed to create generative AI and balloon billionaire wealth - much more public looting is in store...
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
Law Profs teaching First Amendment: I have put together a FREE, recently updated, and easy to use casebook for use in free speech classes. If you are interested in using such a casebook, send me an email or DM and I would be happy to share!
November 7, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Law Profs teaching First Amendment: I have put together a FREE, recently updated, and easy to use casebook for use in free speech classes. If you are interested in using such a casebook, send me an email or DM and I would be happy to share!
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
🚨Special Issue Alert: Platforms, Publics, and Anti-Publics
(1/9) Introduction from our guest editors Zoetanya Sujon, Harry Dyer and Felipe Bonow Soares. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
#academicsky #socialmediasky
(1/9) Introduction from our guest editors Zoetanya Sujon, Harry Dyer and Felipe Bonow Soares. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
#academicsky #socialmediasky
November 7, 2025 at 4:35 PM
🚨Special Issue Alert: Platforms, Publics, and Anti-Publics
(1/9) Introduction from our guest editors Zoetanya Sujon, Harry Dyer and Felipe Bonow Soares. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
#academicsky #socialmediasky
(1/9) Introduction from our guest editors Zoetanya Sujon, Harry Dyer and Felipe Bonow Soares. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
#academicsky #socialmediasky
😔
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 4, 2025 at 12:29 PM
😔
note so self: include this case in chapter on ai influencers that i still need to write
Venture capitalists Andreessen and Horowitz invest in startup that sells thousands of AI bot influencers to manipulate social media as a service, clearly violating major platform policies
www.404media.co/a16z-backed-...
www.404media.co/a16z-backed-...
a16z-Backed Startup Sells Thousands of ‘Synthetic Influencers’ to Manipulate Social Media as a Service
Andreessen Horowitz is funding a company that clearly violates the inauthentic behavior policies of every major social media platform.
www.404media.co
November 3, 2025 at 2:14 AM
note so self: include this case in chapter on ai influencers that i still need to write
October 29, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
What makes the internet so special you ask? It was designed in the 1970s to create a system resilient to single points of.....oh.
Jokes aside, I'm grateful that so much infrastructure *did* keep running yesterday. Saying a general thanks to all the engineers whose work made that possible.
Jokes aside, I'm grateful that so much infrastructure *did* keep running yesterday. Saying a general thanks to all the engineers whose work made that possible.
According to more than a dozen college and uni students, “the Canvas outage threw off their schedules, preventing them from not just submitting and viewing assignments but also from participating in-class activities, contacting professors, and accessing the textbooks and other materials…”
The AWS Outage Was a Nightmare for College Students
The outage impacted online learning platform Canvas, which is used by half of college students across the US, leaving many unable to access course materials or contact professors.
www.wired.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:24 PM
What makes the internet so special you ask? It was designed in the 1970s to create a system resilient to single points of.....oh.
Jokes aside, I'm grateful that so much infrastructure *did* keep running yesterday. Saying a general thanks to all the engineers whose work made that possible.
Jokes aside, I'm grateful that so much infrastructure *did* keep running yesterday. Saying a general thanks to all the engineers whose work made that possible.
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
Seems like an opportune moment to re-up our paper about AWS seeking infrastructural dominance in education through a range of operations that include platforming the edtech industry on its cloud services codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/h...
How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?
You know what platform never crashes?
You know what platform never crashes?
October 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Seems like an opportune moment to re-up our paper about AWS seeking infrastructural dominance in education through a range of operations that include platforming the edtech industry on its cloud services codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/h...
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
I spoke with Brendan Rascius of the Miami Herald about DHS Secretary Noem’s Hatch Act-violating video blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
October 14, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I spoke with Brendan Rascius of the Miami Herald about DHS Secretary Noem’s Hatch Act-violating video blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
The #CASResearchGroup around Sahana Udupa @sahanaudupa.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social has come to an end, but the project will continue.
www.cas.lmu.de/de/programme...
www.cas.lmu.de/de/programme...
October 10, 2025 at 10:57 AM
The #CASResearchGroup around Sahana Udupa @sahanaudupa.bsky.social @lmumuenchen.bsky.social has come to an end, but the project will continue.
www.cas.lmu.de/de/programme...
www.cas.lmu.de/de/programme...
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
Warum Verschlüsselung wichtig ist und bleibt, hat uns Plattformforscher @martinriedl.bsky.social ebenfalls im Interview erklärt. Er führt einige Beispiele aus den USA an. buff.ly/YuyQpsq
Chatkontrolle: „Hey Plattformen, regelt das mal.“
Im Interview spricht Martin Riedl, Plattformforscher an der University of Texas at Austin, über die Relevanz von verschlüsselten Apps, wie Content Moderation jenseits von Client-Side-Scanning…
buff.ly
October 7, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Warum Verschlüsselung wichtig ist und bleibt, hat uns Plattformforscher @martinriedl.bsky.social ebenfalls im Interview erklärt. Er führt einige Beispiele aus den USA an. buff.ly/YuyQpsq
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
It's like a Choose Your Own Hatch Act Violation.
October 1, 2025 at 5:35 PM
It's like a Choose Your Own Hatch Act Violation.
slop machine
Scoop with @lmatsakis.bsky.social: OpenAI is about to launch a TikTok-style social app for AI generated videos. We got the deets (and the docs): www.wired.com/story/openai...
OpenAI Is Preparing to Launch a Social App for AI-Generated Videos
The platform appears to closely resemble TikTok and is powered by Sora 2, OpenAI's latest video generation model.
www.wired.com
September 29, 2025 at 8:02 PM
slop machine
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...
Welcome to Campus. Here’s Your ChatGPT.
www.nytimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 9:51 PM
OpenAI's VP for education recently said the company wanted to become "core infrastructure" for schools and universities. Any infrastructure, though, always depends on habituating users to its technical affordances - so I've been trying to track how it's doing that 🧵 www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/t...
This is but a small gripe in light of the weight of the world, but here's my annual complaint about the misuse of 'crescendo' in U.S. journalism. Reader, it does NOT mean the climax of something, but the process of getting louder as the late Miles Hoffman wrote in '13
www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/o...
Opinion | A Crescendo of Errors (Published 2013)
www.nytimes.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:28 PM
This is but a small gripe in light of the weight of the world, but here's my annual complaint about the misuse of 'crescendo' in U.S. journalism. Reader, it does NOT mean the climax of something, but the process of getting louder as the late Miles Hoffman wrote in '13
www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/o...
www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/o...
I recently spoke with @sachapfeiffer.bsky.social of @npr.org for a story on Democrats and their social media capabilities - aired on All Things Considered today.
Listen to it here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...
Listen to it here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...
Social video and podcasts are the next frontier for Democrats seeking office
Some political strategists say Democrats are falling behind Republicans in reaching voters in an important way: They're not active enough on platforms like TikTok.
www.npr.org
September 19, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I recently spoke with @sachapfeiffer.bsky.social of @npr.org for a story on Democrats and their social media capabilities - aired on All Things Considered today.
Listen to it here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...
Listen to it here ⬇️⬇️⬇️
www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...
here's an idea: before provosts buy new software and force faculty to use it for annual reviews (like sympletic elements), they should be mandated to manually enter a few CVs themselves. i have a hunch that there would be a certain degree of deterrence
September 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM
here's an idea: before provosts buy new software and force faculty to use it for annual reviews (like sympletic elements), they should be mandated to manually enter a few CVs themselves. i have a hunch that there would be a certain degree of deterrence
i was gonna complain again about peer review, but everything has been said already...🤦♂️
September 5, 2025 at 9:01 PM
i was gonna complain again about peer review, but everything has been said already...🤦♂️
Reposted by martin johannes riedl
Just bringing this thread back for reasons.
An untenured woman assistant professor burned a flag in her class for pedagogy in 1989 and it remains the most badass thing any colleague I’ve had has ever done and I’ve had some pretty badass colleagues
An untenured woman assistant professor burned a flag in her class for pedagogy in 1989 and it remains the most badass thing any colleague I’ve had has ever done and I’ve had some pretty badass colleagues
I have a emeritus colleague who burned a flag *in her classroom* the same year as the decision to illustrate the strength of personal objections that would arise and the meaning of “symbolic speech.” Every time I see her I’m just like, wow, badass.
August 26, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Just bringing this thread back for reasons.
An untenured woman assistant professor burned a flag in her class for pedagogy in 1989 and it remains the most badass thing any colleague I’ve had has ever done and I’ve had some pretty badass colleagues
An untenured woman assistant professor burned a flag in her class for pedagogy in 1989 and it remains the most badass thing any colleague I’ve had has ever done and I’ve had some pretty badass colleagues
when you get edits back on a paper and the person made line edits to direct quotes 🤦♂️ (not mentioning any names here 🤣)
August 22, 2025 at 8:02 PM
when you get edits back on a paper and the person made line edits to direct quotes 🤦♂️ (not mentioning any names here 🤣)
This last acad year, I spent time in Munich at @caslmu.bsky.social, working with a fab group of folks led by @sahanaudupa.bsky.social on a policy report on encrypted messaging apps and extreme speech.
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽
Extreme speech thrives in encrypted spaces, but killing encryption won’t stop it, says a group of researchers who have studied the problem from multiple angles. We need context-driven governance, not backdoors, they say.
Policy Directions on Encrypted Messaging and Extreme Speech | TechPolicy.Press
Encryption, disinformation, and democracy: rethinking policy for messaging apps with rights-based safeguards.
www.techpolicy.press
August 22, 2025 at 5:15 PM
This last acad year, I spent time in Munich at @caslmu.bsky.social, working with a fab group of folks led by @sahanaudupa.bsky.social on a policy report on encrypted messaging apps and extreme speech.
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽
Report is out & below is a summary of findings & recommendations in @techpolicypress.bsky.social 🔽