Becca Branum

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...

Our recommendations aim to help governments, companies, and creators support a healthy, rights-respecting, and robust online speech environment. Hope you can check it out! cdt.org/insights/arc...

Political speech is indispensable and worth fighting for. At the same time, we all deserve an information ecosystem that’s transparent and empowers us to know who’s working (and paying) to win our votes and attention.

In "Architects of Online Influence," @isabelalinzer.bsky.social and I explore how political influencers shape online discourse — and how the financial and regulatory incentives surrounding them shape our democracy.

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...

So excited to share @cdt.org's latest report, marrying my two great loves: free expression and campaign finance regulation! (Kidding - but only a little) cdt.org/insights/arc...

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings. Look on my works and let me know if you have any questions! 🤗

Civil Disobedience of Copyright Keeps Science Going Creating and sharing knowledge are defining traits of humankind, yet copyright law has grown so restrictive that it can require acts of civil disobedience to ensure that students and scholars have

Researchers won’t stand by as their work is cordoned off by inequitable publishing. Gatekeepers need to get on board or be left behind. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Image of a cluttered desk with a computer.

🎭 TONIGHT: CDT’s free expression expert @beccabranum.bsky.social joins as a featured speaker at Theater Alliance’s Content with Your Content? — pairing the play Drink in Moderation with a conversation on how to make digital spaces safer.

📍 DC | 7:30 PM ET
🎟 Details: cdt.org/event/social...

I think so.

The addition of the digital forgery crime that reintroduces an element regarding consent creates a lot more ambiguity about what was intended.

All of which is to say the absence of a consent-related element paired with a consent "rule of construction" is a remnant of the 2023 SHIELD Act. On its own, that bill was understandable enough, I think.

TAKE IT DOWN maintains the latter construction, with a privacy, but not a consent, related element for real depictions. But then TAKE IT DOWN creates a crime for digital forgeries with elements that are the exact opposite: directly addressing consent, but not privacy.

That appears to have shifted in 2023, removing the element addressing consent while leaving the element on privacy expectations, paired with language similar to what's in TAKE IT DOWN specifying consent to creation =/= consent to distribution www.congress.gov/bill/118th-c...

TAKE IT DOWN is basically the SHIELD Act, expanded to cover AI depictions, plus the new notice and take-down system. SHIELD has been introduced a few times over the years. When introduced in 2019, it had both lack of consent + privacy-related elements www.congress.gov/bill/116th-c...

VICTORY! In a win for student expression on campus, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today overruled a lower court's decision, sided with FIRE’s clients, and blocked West Texas A&M University’s unconstitutional ban on drag shows.

The NO FAKES Act is a veritable smorgasbord of platform governance and expression problems. Grateful to have smart thinkers like @daphnek.bsky.social lending their expertise to defend the rights of regular people who would be harmed by the bill. Congress can do better: cdt.org/insights/cdt...

The TAKE IT DOWN Act Is US Law. Platforms Must Do More Than The Bare Minimum | TechPolicy.Press Platforms must invest the time and effort necessary to protect users and meaningfully respond to image-based sexual abuse, writes CDT's Becca Branum.

The TAKE IT DOWN ACT is law. Compliance is the floor—platforms must invest the time and effort necessary to protect users and meaningfully respond to image-based sexual abuse, says CDT's Becca Branum.

| Knight First Amendment Institute

Recent law grads — we're now hiring for legal fellows to begin in Fall 2025. Our First Amendment rights are under daily assault. I hope you'll consider applying to work with us at @knightcolumbia.org to push back.

knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...

As the industry works to come into compliance with the TAKE IT DOWN Act, they should look to our recommendations to build notice-and-takedown systems that are easy-to-use, victim-centered, and effective. cdt.org/wp-content/u...

In our report, we examined reporting mechanisms across 8 diverse platforms and identified troubling shortcomings - including inconsistent policy language and structure, insufficient incorporation of AI-generated NDII, barriers to reporting, and limited transparency and support.

When victims encounter NDII, their first response is often to seek the removal of that content to prevent its spread. That requires easy-to-use, accessible, and effective notice-and-takedown mechanisms for people in acute distress.

The non-consensual distribution of intimate imagery (NDII) — both real and AI-generated content — is a growing & deeply harmful form of image-based sexual abuse. With the proliferation of generative AI, victims face escalating risks and endure potential exposure even after content is taken down.

I'm excited to share @cdt.org's newest report - Rapid Response: Building Victim-Centered Reporting Processes for Nonconsensual Intimate Imagery cdt.org/insights/rap...

The government policing a company's viewpoint violates the First Amendment @jmiers230.bsky.social

Ethical Use of Pervasive Data for Research | Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics (IDDP) | Columbian College of Arts & Sciences | The George Washington University The IDDP Council for Pervasive Data Ethics - Next Steps for the U.S convened to chart a set of actions to advance ethical practices in computing research.

GWU IDDP organized a Council to reflect on the comments submitted to NTIA’s Request For Comment (RFC) regarding Ethical Guidelines for Research Using Pervasive Data. Check out the findings here: iddp.gwu.edu/ethical-use-...

Careful consideration of the First Amendment stakes will ensure that consumers are appropriately protected from harms without opening the door to content- or viewpoint-based restrictions on the content we read and the information we seek.

CDT and EFF Urge Court to Carefully Consider Users’ First Amendment Rights in Garcia v. Character Technologies, Inc. On Monday, CDT and EFF sought leave to submit an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida to grant an interlocutory appeal to the Eleventh Circuit to ensure adequa...

There are more questions than answers about how courts will apply First Amendment precedent to cases involving AI, but I'm glad @cdt.org and @eff.org are lending their expertise to highlight the stakes for users. cdt.org/insights/cdt...

The Egg Yolk Principle: Human Sexuality Will Always Outsmart Prudish Algorithms and Hateful Politicians Anti-porn laws can't stop porn, but they can stop free speech. In the meantime, people will continue to get off to anything and everything.

Had fun chatting with @samleecole.bsky.social about censorship, p*rn, and obscenity for this article. Prosecutors have more important things to do than officiating romcom plots and (no judgment!) egg-themed instagram accounts. Give it a read!

www.404media.co/egg-yolk-pop...

YouTube video by Taylor Lorenz The Take It Down Act Is a Free Speech Killer

In case you wonder why some people who care about stopping so-called "revenge porn" *aren't* celebrating the passage of TAKE IT DOWN, @beccabranum.bsky.social does a great job of laying it out in this convo with @taylorlorenz.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVve...

"A growing recognition that women's pain should be treated" is one hell of a sentence.

CDT Opposes Trump Administration Initiative to Routinely Collect Social Media Identifiers from Applicants for Immigration Benefits These comments were co-authored by CDT Intern Jacob Smith. Today, CDT submitted comments opposing USCIS’ initiative to routinely collect social media identifiers from applicants for a wide variety of ...

Comments by @cendemtech.bsky.social @beccabranum.bsky.social say it like it is: USCIS social media surveillance plans enable viewpoint-based immigration enforcement and interfere with freedoms of expression and assembly cdt.org/insights/cdt...