Tech Policy Press

Europe’s AI Act Leaves a Gap for Military AI Entering Civilian Life What legal and governance mechanisms, if any, will ensure that military AI development aligns with the safeguards applied to civilian systems under EU law?

The EU is ramping up defense AI investment, while much of it sits outside the bloc’s flagship AI law, Raluca Besliu reports. As military and civilian systems increasingly overlap, a regulatory gap is emerging over how dual-use AI will be governed in Europe.

Unpacking The FTC’s Double-Edged Age-Verification Gamble The FTC policy statement on age verification raises urgent questions about whether the policy is trading one risk for another, Danai Nhando writes.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) was designed to protect personal information collected from children, but the act of verifying a child’s age generates a data trail before any protection kicks in, writes Danai Nhando. Who protects the data being collected to protect children?

Despite Using Iranian Meddling to Justify War, Trump Axes Election Defenses It's hypocritical for the President to pretend to care about foreign actors influencing US elections, writes Paul M. Barrett.

Trump has invoked Iran’s past attempts to influence US elections as a justification for war. But his administration has decimated CISA and stopped the FBI from investigating foreign election interference, writes Paul M. Barrett. Is Trump building a case to intervene in future elections?

Trump and Big Tech’s PR Campaign for Data Centers is Too Little, Too Late Energy bills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of hyperscale data centers, writes Jenna Ruddock.

Last Wednesday, US tech companies gathered at the White House to sign a nonbinding, unenforceable pledge to offset data center energy costs. But energy bills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of hyperscale data centers people see in their backyards, writes Jenna Ruddock.

Nepal's Gen Z Used TikTok and Discord to Win a Historic Election The election of rapper-turned politician Balen Shah was shaped by platforms and algorithms built on the other side of the world, writes Aaradhyaa Gyawali.

Nepal's Gen Z used TikTok, Discord & Reddit to flip their country’s political system, as rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah crushed the 6-time incumbent in last week's election. Aaradhyaa Gyawali offers an account of how events played out, and what it says about the role of technology in elections.

Five Unresolved Issues in OpenAI’s Deal With the Department of Defense Jake Laperruque discusses key questions about OpenAI’s agreement with the DOD, including how its safeguards on domestic surveillance will work in practice.

OpenAI says its Defense Department contract includes “red lines” on mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. But the newly released terms still leave key questions about surveillance, privacy, and how these safeguards would work in practice, argues Tech Policy Press Fellow Jake Laperruque.

How Researchers Won a Legal Fight to Access X's Data Under the DSA A Berlin court has delivered a consequential ruling, ordering X to grant Democracy Reporting International access to its publicly available data.

A Berlin court has ordered X to grant researchers API access under the Digital Services Act. Daniela Alvarado Rincón, Simone Ruf and Jürgen Bering explain how they won the case, and why it’s a major step for researcher data access.

Key Questions on the Role of Technology in the Expanding Middle East War Tech Policy Press asked experts working at the intersection of technology policy, security, and international affairs to share what they are watching.

The expanding war in Iran brought to the fore questions about the role of technology in armed conflict, including the controversial use of new artificial intelligence technologies. Tech Policy Press invited perspectives from experts on what they are watching for as the situation unfolds.

Tracking Efforts To Restrict Or Ban Teens from Social Media Across the Globe Several countries have passed—and many others are considering—restrictions or bans on teens accessing social media platforms.

On March 6, the Indonesian government announced plans to “delay access” to social media accounts for children under 16. Learn more about these plans in our Global Social Media Age Restriction Tracker, which now tracks efforts to restrict or ban teens from social media in 42 countries.

Cindy Cohn on How to Sustain the Fight Against Authoritarianism Cohn is the author of Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance, out March 10 from MIT Press.

Podcast! Justin Hendrix spoke to Electronic Frontier Foundation executive director Cindy Cohn. Her new book, Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance, weaves her journey with the legal battles she's fought on behalf of whistleblowers, researchers, and everyday people.

Unpacking The FTC’s Double-Edged Age-Verification Gamble The FTC policy statement on age verification raises urgent questions about whether the policy is trading one risk for another, Danai Nhando writes.

The FTC has cast age verification as an essential shield against harmful online content, effectively carving out a quiet safe harbor for tech platforms. But its solution raises urgent questions about whether it is trading one risk to children for another, Danai Nhando writes.

Despite Using Iranian Meddling to Justify War, Trump Axes Election Defenses It's hypocritical for the President to pretend to care about foreign actors influencing US elections, writes Paul M. Barrett.

Trump has invoked Iran’s past attempts to influence US elections as a justification for war. But his administration has decimated CISA and stopped the FBI from investigating foreign election interference, writes Paul M. Barrett. Is Trump building a case to intervene in future elections?

Nepal's Gen Z Used TikTok and Discord to Win a Historic Election The election of rapper-turned politician Balen Shah was shaped by platforms and algorithms built on the other side of the world, writes Aaradhyaa Gyawali.

Nepal's Gen Z used TikTok, Discord & Reddit to flip their country’s political system, as rapper-turned-politician Balen Shah crushed the 6-time incumbent in last week's election. Aaradhyaa Gyawali offers an account of how events played out, and what it says about the role of technology in elections.

If an Agent Extension Can Act as You, Marketplaces Need Minimum Duties Malicious AI agent extensions are already appearing in marketplaces. To prevent real harm, platforms need minimum standards, argues Kostakis Bouzoukas.

Malicious AI agent extensions are already appearing in public marketplaces. The real risk isn’t just malware—it’s missing accountability. If a marketplace doesn’t have minimum standards to protect users, “it is not ready to distribute extensions that operate at scale,” argues Kostakis Bouzoukas.

What India’s Push for Global Digital Repositories Tells Us About Its Tech Diplomacy India’s push for global repositories promotes its tech leadership while avoiding taking positions in a polarized governance landscape, argues Arindrajit Basu.

Although India’s recent announcement of a global repository of AI use cases will enable it to project tech leadership in the Global South, it has used similar initiatives in the past to avoid firm ideological commitments on contested issues in global technology governance, argues Arindrajit Basu.

Trump and Big Tech’s PR Campaign for Data Centers is Too Little, Too Late Energy bills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of hyperscale data centers, writes Jenna Ruddock.

Last Wednesday, US tech companies gathered at the White House to sign a nonbinding, unenforceable pledge to offset data center energy costs. But energy bills are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the costs of hyperscale data centers people see in their backyards, writes Jenna Ruddock.

Five Unresolved Issues in OpenAI’s Deal With the Department of Defense Jake Laperruque discusses key questions about OpenAI’s agreement with the DOD, including how its safeguards on domestic surveillance will work in practice.

OpenAI says its Defense Department contract includes “red lines” on mass domestic surveillance and autonomous weapons. But the newly released terms still leave key questions about surveillance, privacy, and how these safeguards would work in practice, argues Tech Policy Press Fellow Jake Laperruque.

Americas First War in Age of LLMs Exposes Myth of AI Alignment The military is turning to tools that relieve the burden of conscience and function like a moral sedative, writes Eryk Salvaggio.

The Trump administration’s escalating campaign in Iran marks the beginning of America’s first war in the age of large language models. These events make clear that those who work on AI safety must confront the limits of so-called “alignment to human values,” writes Eryk Salvaggio.

How Researchers Won a Legal Fight to Access X's Data Under the DSA A Berlin court has delivered a consequential ruling, ordering X to grant Democracy Reporting International access to its publicly available data.

A Berlin court has ordered X to grant researchers API access under the Digital Services Act. Daniela Alvarado Rincón, Simone Ruf and Jürgen Bering explain how they won the case, and why it’s a major step for researcher data access.

What the India AI Summit Leader's Declaration Means for the Future of the Digital Commons The summit produced symbolic commitments while changing nothing in the AI innovation paradigm, write Ramya Chandrasekhar and Renata Ávila.

Despite the platitudes in New Delhi, we are far from achieving the vision of shared global infrastructure that the AI Impact Summit Leader’s Declaration proposes, write Ramya Chandrasekhar and Renata Ávila. We must preserve democratic influence over the tools being deployed, they say.

Shareholder Control and the New Politics of Platform Regulation The TikTok deal in the US reveals a new era of tech oligarchy. Paddy Leerssen unpacks why platform ownership matters and how it can be held accountable.

For politically active billionaires and their allies in Washington, social media is becoming an instrument of political power, writes Paddy Leerssen. Broadly, a new regulatory paradigm for content moderation is emerging: the EU writes laws, the US buys shares.

House GOP Moves Ahead with Kids Online Safety Package as Democrats Balk House Republicans forged ahead on a child online safety package over the vocal opposition of committee Democrats.

House Republicans on Thursday advanced a package aimed at expanding protections for children online over vocal opposition from Democratic lawmakers, who said the package had been weakened and could actually put more kids at risk, Cristiano Lima-Strong reports.

AI and the Future of Artistic Labor As AI enters the performing arts, the real risk isn’t job loss alone—it’s the hollowing of creative work and the exploitation of labor, argues James Paisley.

When discussing AI and the labor force, we fixate on one question: Will it replace workers? For the performing arts, that’s incomplete, argues James Paisley. The deeper risk isn’t just job loss, but the erosion of creative agency and the transformation of artists into executors of AI outputs.

People Have the Right to Refuse AI Britt Paris is the author of Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up, a new book published by the University of California Press.

You don’t have to participate in AI’s massive hype inflation, writes critical informatics scholar Britt S. Paris. You have a right to refuse the ‘inevitable’.

Key Questions on the Role of Technology in the Expanding Middle East War Tech Policy Press asked experts working at the intersection of technology policy, security, and international affairs to share what they are watching.

The expanding war in Iran brought to the fore questions about the role of technology in armed conflict, including the controversial use of new artificial intelligence technologies. Tech Policy Press invited perspectives from experts on what they are watching for as the situation unfolds.

Global Digital Policy Roundup: February 2026 Drawing from the Digital Policy Alert’s daily monitoring of G20 countries, the roundup summarizes the highlights in four core areas of digital policy.

Check out another installment of the Global Digital Policy Roundup for February 2026 from the experts at Digital Policy Alert. Maria Buza and Tommaso Giardini highlight tech policy developments in content moderation, artificial intelligence, competition, and data governance.

Cindy Cohn on How to Sustain the Fight Against Authoritarianism Cohn is the author of Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance, out March 10 from MIT Press.

Podcast! Justin Hendrix spoke to Electronic Frontier Foundation executive director Cindy Cohn. Her new book, Privacy’s Defender: My Thirty-Year Fight Against Digital Surveillance, weaves her journey with the legal battles she's fought on behalf of whistleblowers, researchers, and everyday people.

We Need to Disentangle Hype from AI and Quantum Computing Much like AI in its pre-generative stage, quantum is bursting with promise that feels just out of reach, write Danny Tobey, Ashley Carr, and Michael Atleson.

Quantum is bursting with promise that feels just out of reach—much like pre-generative AI. A breakthrough 'LLM moment' may soon arrive, write DLA Piper's Danny Tobey, Ashley Carr and Michael Atleson. What hopefully won't follow: the hyped product claims that plagued AI.

Congress’ Child Safety Bills Sound Good. Families Suggest They Won't Work. Lawmakers risk advancing bills that may not be effective nor in line with what some parents and teens actually want, Michal Luria and Aliya Bhatia write.

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee considers legislation aimed at protecting children online, it risks advancing bills that while well-intentioned may not be effective nor in line with what some parents and teens actually want, Aliya Bhatia and Michal Luria write.

February 2026 US Tech Policy Roundup A roundup of the most important US tech policy developments in the federal government, Congress, and beyond from Freedman Consulting and Tech Policy Press.

Catch up on what happened in US tech policy in February with a roundup from Freedman Consulting’s Rachel Lau and Shirley Frame, including coverage of the Department of Defense and Anthropic dispute, expanding use of AI by the federal government, and child safety-focused trials against Meta.