Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · 23d

This is such brazen censorship. It’s all right there in the open, a quintessential jawboning case, the lawsuit writes itself.

Reposted by Megan Iorio

Yaël Eisenstat @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social · Jul 2

We partnered with these amazing legal, privacy & tech accountability experts on an amicus brief for a case about how Meta’s design choices allegedly harmed kids. At Cybersecurity for Democracy, we conduct scientific research to show how these systems work & what accountability can look like. More 👇🏼

EPIC @epic.org · Jul 2

EPIC led a coalition of legal scholars including @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy, and Tech Justice Law Project to file a Ninth Circuit amicus brief arguing against Meta’s use of Section 230 to shield itself from lawsuits. 🧵 #Meta #SocialMedia #Section230

EPIC Leads Coalition of Tech Accountability Groups, Legal Scholars in Telling Ninth Circuit to Deny Meta Section 230 Protections for Alleged Addictive Design

epic.org

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

Yaël Eisenstat @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social · Jul 2

Thanks to @epic.org for leading the way, to @comminsense.bsky.social and TJLP for this collaboration, and the below legal scholars, who signed on in support. What a team! cc: @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social & @meganiorio.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/mega...

Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jul 2

The 11 legal scholars are experts on Section 230, platform governance, & digital rights, including @oliviersylvain.bsky.social, @daniellecitron.bsky.social, @brettfrischmann.bsky.social, @FrankPasquale.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy, @gaiabernstein.bsky.social, & @ariezra.bsky.social. Thank you all!

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jul 2

The 11 legal scholars are experts on Section 230, platform governance, & digital rights, including @oliviersylvain.bsky.social, @daniellecitron.bsky.social, @brettfrischmann.bsky.social, @FrankPasquale.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy, @gaiabernstein.bsky.social, & @ariezra.bsky.social. Thank you all!

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jul 2

EPIC collaborated w/ @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy (@yaeleisenstat.bsky.social @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) & Tech Justice Law Project on a brief telling the Ninth Circuit to deny Meta Section 230 protections for its allegedly addictive design. 11 legal scholars joined!

EPIC @epic.org · Jul 2

EPIC led a coalition of legal scholars including @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy, and Tech Justice Law Project to file a Ninth Circuit amicus brief arguing against Meta’s use of Section 230 to shield itself from lawsuits. 🧵 #Meta #SocialMedia #Section230

EPIC Leads Coalition of Tech Accountability Groups, Legal Scholars in Telling Ninth Circuit to Deny Meta Section 230 Protections for Alleged Addictive Design

epic.org

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

EPIC @epic.org · Jun 27

SCOTUS's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton today properly leaves legislatures with room to provide kids with heightened protections online but does not go far enough in incentivizing legislatures to prescribe privacy-protective age assurance methods. epic.org/supreme-cour...

Supreme Court Rules that Government Can Impose Age Verification Requirements on Porn Sites Subject Only to Limited Privacy Safeguards

epic.org

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jun 24

The California Age-Appropriate Design Code case is back in the 9th Circuit. Did NetChoice remedy the flaws the Ninth Circuit ID'ed the first time around? Nope. But the district court granted a full injunction anyway—endorsing yet another bad legal theory that endangers long-established privacy laws

EPIC @epic.org · Jun 24

📄 EPIC submitted its fourth amicus brief in #NetChoice v. Bonta against tech industry group NetChoice’s attempt to overturn the #California Age-Appropriate Design Code: epic.org/epic-urges-n...

epic.org

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

EPIC @epic.org · Jun 12

BIG NEWS! This afternoon, Governor Phil Scott signed the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) into law! governor.vermont.gov/press-releas...

Action Taken by Governor Phil Scott on Legislation - June 12, 2025 | Office of Governor Phil Scott

governor.vermont.gov

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jun 5

Also super telling that the Searchlight guy thinks that angering a key Dem constituency is a good thing. My guy you sound like the absolute worst political strategist and all you are going to do is help Dems lose harder.

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · Jun 5

why would you say this out loud. why would you give us this lmao

Nobody had anything good to say about people on social media.

“Being yelled at on Bluesky is good,” said Mr. Jain, who co-founded Split Ticket, an election analytics firm. Mocking people he sees as keyboard warriors who take shots at the center, he added: “You’re not fighting fascism, you’re posting on your phone. If you want to fight fascism, go and win elections.”

Bruises from digital bullying by the left were a recurring theme.

“The backlash that happens online is actually the sign that you’re doing something right,” said Adam Jentleson, a former chief of staff to Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. He has spent recent months preparing to establish a new think tank, called Searchlight, that he has billed as for political realists.

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

EPIC @epic.org · May 29

EPIC applauds the passage of Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC) today: epic.org/epic-applaud...

EPIC Applauds Passage of Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code

<p>Today, the Vermont Legislature passed the Vermont Age-Appropriate Design Code (AADC). The Vermont AADC protects kids’ privacy, enhances kids’ autonomy, and ensures their online safety by prohibitin...

epic.org

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

EPIC @epic.org · Apr 2

⚠️ NetChoice v. Bonta: An oral argument explainer 🧵

EPIC Senior Counsel Megan Iorio (@meganiorio.bsky.social) and EPIC Counsel Tom McBrien (@tommcbrien.bsky.social) broke down key areas of argument ahead of today’s Ninth Circuit hearing of NetChoice v. Bonta: epic.org/ninth-circui...

Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Apr 2

Ninth Circuit oral argument in NetChoice's challenge to CA's addictive feed law is coming up in a few minutes. We @epic.org put together a quick preview of the argument. epic.org/ninth-circui...

Ninth Circuit To Hear Oral Argument in Case About Whether Algorithms Directed to Induce Habit-Forming Behavior Are Protected Speech

epic.org

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Apr 2

A live stream of the argument is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt22...

Phoenix Ceremonial Courtroom 8:30 AM Wednesday 4/2

YouTube video by United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

www.youtube.com

Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Apr 2

Ninth Circuit oral argument in NetChoice's challenge to CA's addictive feed law is coming up in a few minutes. We @epic.org put together a quick preview of the argument. epic.org/ninth-circui...

Ninth Circuit To Hear Oral Argument in Case About Whether Algorithms Directed to Induce Habit-Forming Behavior Are Protected Speech

epic.org

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Mar 27

All of that to say he didn’t like what she said in her op-ed so he sent goons to disappear her off the street.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Mar 27

Marco Rubio on Rumeysa Ozturk: "We revoked her visa ... once you've lost your visa, you're no longer legally in the United States ... if you come into the US as a visitor and create a ruckus for us, we don't want it. We don't want it in our country. Go back and do it in your country."

Reposted by Megan Iorio

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Mar 26

A Tufts University student has been kidnapped for ICE because a year ago, she co-authored this op-ed which criticizes Israel, calls for the adoption of non-binding faculty senate resolutions, and celebrates the end of apartheid in South Africa

www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024...

Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions - The Tufts Daily

The independent student newspaper of Tufts University

www.tuftsdaily.com

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

Heba Gowayed هبة جويد @hebagowayed.bsky.social · Mar 26

Thanks Prem for amplifying!

Please sign onto this Columbia boycott (with a carve out for departments and people targeted).

We cannot proceed with business as usual. We cannot give colloquia on a campus that's colluding with authoritarians dragging their students off campus.

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 26

Nearly 1000 teachers, academics, and more are mounting an academic boycott of Columbia.

Columbia "is colluding with the current U.S. government's project to destroy higher education and criminalize protest," they say.

Signers include Noura Erakat, Marc Lamont Hill, Ruha Benjamin.

Press release about a new boycott of Columbia

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · Mar 26

The "Is it a constitutional crisis yet?!" discussion is so absurd: Of course you can construct increasingly esoteric definitions for why this current moment doesn't meet your exact criteria yet. But meanwhile, this is where we are: Masked agents of the states abducting people for writing op-eds.

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Mar 26

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying.

They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks.

From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · Mar 25

In today’s one-two punch, the @aaup.bsky.social National alongside MESA & 3 of our chapters also sued the Trump administration over their unconstitutional ideological-deportation policies that have chilled speech & dissent on campuses nationwide.

www.aaup.org/news/aaup-al...

AAUP, Allies Sue over Trump Policy of Arresting and Threatening to Deport Students and Faculty for Lawful Speech

The national AAUP; chapters at Harvard, Rutgers, and NYU; and the Middle East Studies Association today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests,...

www.aaup.org

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Mar 18

👏

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 18

2000+ Jewish professors, staff, and students circulating a letter on Trump-Vance's arrest of Mahmoud Khalil:

"We hold various views…But we are united in denouncing…anyone who invokes our name—and cynical claims of antisemitism—to harass, expel, arrest, or deport members of our campus communities."

Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Mar 14

My analysis of the decision issued yesterday in the CA Age-Appropriate Design Code case. Short of it is that the First Amendment analysis is wrong and unnecessary and the judge shouldn’t have opined on the constitutional questions at all b/c the case could have been decided on severability.

EPIC @epic.org · Mar 14

Yesterday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against CA’s Age-Appropriate Design Code in its entirety.
The judge's 1st Amend. analysis flouted directions from the 9th Cir. & SCOTUS to more critically examine Big Tech’s demands for broad relief from regulation.
epic.org/judge-in-cal...

Judge in California Age-Appropriate Design Code Case Gets the First Amendment Wrong—Again

<p>Yesterday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code(“CAADC”) in its entirety. In doing so, the judge flouted directions from the Ninth Circui...

epic.org

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Mar 8

Fuck yeah Georgetown Law, this is how you stand up to threats from an authoritarian regime. As an alumna, I knew Martin has picked a fight with the wrong school. GULC is deeply committed to the critical study of law & supports students pursuing public interest in ways other top schools don’t.

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · Mar 6

With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:

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Reposted by Megan Iorio

Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · Mar 6

With his permission, I'm sharing Dean Treanor's response to Ed Martin's letter:

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Mar 6

When will Democrats learn you can’t out-Republican the Republicans but you can deploy populism to address the actual problems we’re facing. Trump is dismantling democracy, he is screwing with your social security, he is shredding the freedom to speak, and he’s making every damn one of us less safe.

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · Mar 5

I’m six years younger than Elissa Slotkin but I also remember the horrible Reagan years when he left the queer community to die and Black communities to drown in poverty and started the destruction of higher ed so I know any Democrat trying to take us back to that era fucking sucks

Reposted by Megan Iorio

EPIC @epic.org · Feb 11

🚨 EPIC, @democracyforward.bsky.social, and a federal worker filed suit today against DOGE over its illegal seizure of personnel records and payment system data—actions which constitute the largest data breach in American history. 🧵

Read our full complaint here: epic.org/wp-content/u...

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · Jan 29

The Ninth Circuit has enjoined California's law regulating addictive feeds pending appeal. No opinion attached. Merits briefing in the appeal will proceed on an expedited schedule (completed by mid-to-late March) and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for the Ninth Circuit to rule thereafter.

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