Donald Trump Backs His Co-President; Says Attacks On Tesla Dealerships Will Be Treated As ‘Terrorism’
The people have spoken. And by “people,” I mean “Elon Musk.” Trump is now buying into the batshit crazy that is the current Musk/Cybertruck discourse. This, of course, leaves the nominal VP plenty of time to get into long personal arguments with critics on Twitter. But it leaves the head DOGE free to bend Trump’s […]
$42.5 Billion Broadband Grant Program Being Rewritten To Benefit Elon Musk
We’ve often noted how there are $42.5 billion in broadband grants headed to the states courtesy of the 2021 infrastructure bill. The GOP voted against the bill, but have repeatedly turned around and taken credit for its looming benefits among our broadly misinformed electorate. And, as we predicted, they’re now redrafting key components of the […]
Warner Bros. Streisands The Leaked Trailer For Canceled Powerpuff Girls Show To The Moon
Whenever we talk about an instance of the Streisand Effect, the dot-connecting portion of our readership will often chime in, wondering aloud if the subject of the post was Streisanding on purpose. Whether for attention, to generate buzz, or some other nefarious end, how do we know someone isn’t using the effect for gain? I […]
Judge Uses D&D’s Failure To Make Him Worship Satan To School Florida On Social Media Moral Panics
When Florida’s lawyers tried to defend the state’s social media age restriction law by claiming it’s “well known” that platforms harm children, they probably weren’t expecting to get schooled on moral panics by a judge citing his own experiences with… Dungeons & Dragons. But that’s exactly what happened in a recent hearing challenging Florida’s unconstitutional […]
Techdirt Podcast Episode 410: Murder The Truth
Support us on Patreon » At long last, we’ve got a fresh new original episode for you! This week, Mike is joined by David Enrich, business investigations editor for the New York Times, to discuss his new book Murder The Truth, all about the abuse of defamation laws to silence journalists and discourage critical reporting of […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/11/techdirt-podcast-episode-410-murder-the-truth/
Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers
When a president uses executive power to not just blacklist but effectively destroy a major law firm, solely for representing political opponents, it means he’s given up any pretense that he’s not an authoritarian hellbent on destroying anyone who opposes him through any means necessary. Donald Trump’s executive order targeting Perkins Coie isn’t just an […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/11/trumps-latest-weapon-against-critics-destroying-their-lawyers/
Daily Deal: The 2025 MERN Full Stack Developer Bundle
Advance your programming skills and start building responsive apps with the 2025 MERN Full Stack Developer Bundle. The 10 courses cover HTML, Bootstrap, CSS, React, MongoDB, Express, NodeJS, and more. It’s on sale for $40. Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/11/daily-deal-the-2025-mern-full-stack-developer-bundle-3/
Cybertruck Owners Are Asking Congressional Reps To Protect Them From People Who Don’t Like Cybertruck Owners
There are many reasons a person might feel compelled to purchase a Tesla Cybertruck. Most of those reasons are tied to Elon Musk himself. If you like Elon Musk and think he’s a pretty cool dude, despite his mawkish behavior, mindless DOGE-based destruction, occasional Nazi salutes, ruining of Twitter, and his desperate courting of white […]
Trump FCC Boss Brendan Carr Harasses Google For Not Carrying Right Wing Religious Programming
As somebody who has covered the telecom and media industries professionally for decades, there’s simply of no limit of problems in both sectors competent federal regulators could be taking aim at. Broadband price gouging by monopolies, widespread telecom privacy and security failures, or the obvious harm of unchecked media consolidation all come quickly to mind. […]
5th Circuit: No Immunity For Cop Who Killed Woman By Shooting Her Through Her Own Backyard Window
None of this will undo this extremely unnecessary killing. But it will at least provide more case law that will hopefully deter cops from shooting first and retiring mid-investigation later. This is one of the most horrific killings by police officers that don’t involve Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Responding to a welfare check call, […]
DOGE Has Become What It Claimed To Destroy
There’s that old saying that every accusation is a confession. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Musk/Trump administration, everything is projection. While claiming to champion free speech and fight government censorship, they’ve become the most aggressively censorial administration in modern history. After years of performative outrage about campus speech restrictions, they’re systematically dismantling […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/10/doge-has-become-what-it-claimed-to-destroy/
Trump’s Anti-DEI Efforts Are Stupidly Erasing Aspects Of American History
Back before the plan to destroy our democracy got started in earnest, and back before the pandemic that dominated our lives for several years (whether we thought it should or not), was a time when we were having quaint, albeit silly, arguments about confederate monuments and whether they should be removed. My memory is good […]
Thanks To Trump, The Land Of The Free Is Now Just An Aspiring Autocracy
Anyone paying attention to the first Trump term (and who wasn’t?) saw the latent threat to democracy buried only slightly beneath the bluster and spray-on tan. Here was a man who spent years building a mythology that presented him as the ultimate deal maker, when the reality showed he was just a guy who spent […]
Daily Deal: Cybersecurity Projects Bundle
The Cybersecurity Projects Bundle offers a hands-on program featuring five real-world cybersecurity projects, totaling 35 tasks. Participants start with an introductory video for each project, detailing objectives and requirements, followed by task completion that mirrors real cybersecurity challenges. Support from industry professionals ensures personalized feedback and guidance. Upon completing the program, participants gain practical experience, […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/10/daily-deal-cybersecurity-projects-bundle-6/
GOP Senators Trade Constitutional Authority For Elon’s Phone Number
Republican Senators are so aware that Elon Musk is literally running the government now that they’re getting his personal cell phone number to beg him to reverse his mistakes. This would be concerning enough on its own — but it’s especially alarming given that just weeks ago, the DOJ explicitly claimed in court that Musk […]
All 50 States Have Now Pushed ‘Right To Repair’ Laws, But Actual Enforcement Is Spotty At Best
State laws attempting to make it cheaper and easier to repair your own tech continue to gain steam. With the recent introduction of a new “right to repair” law in Wisconsin, U.S. PIRG notes that all 50 U.S. states have now at least introduced such bills: “This is more than a legislative landmark—it’s a tipping […]
Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Thad with a comment on our post about Techdirt’s focus as of late, in response to another comment asking for recommendations of other good outlets: Wired has been pretty much head of the pack at covering Musk’s government takeover. ProPublica might be the best […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/09/funniest-most-insightful-comments-of-the-week-at-techdirt-151/
This Week In Techdirt History: March 2nd – 8th
Five Years Ago This week in 2020, Senator Thom Tillis followed up his awful patent reform push with an awful copyright reform push, while bogus automated copyright claims by CBS were blocking a bunch of Super Tuesday speeches, and Senators officially began their push to undermine encryption and Section 230 with the EARN IT act. […]
https://www.techdirt.com/2025/03/08/this-week-in-techdirt-history-march-2nd-8th/
No, Phil Spencer, Having AI Mock Up An Old Game Is Not The Same As Preserving It
We really need to stop pointing to Artificial Intelligence as some panacea, with all the world’s problems one well-constructed AI prompt away from resolution. That’s especially true when those same problems have much more simple and accessible answers. The preservation of video games has been a hobbyhorse of mine for some time, one which can […]
The Uberization Of Nursing Sees The Usual Problems For Gig Workers, But Here Comes ‘Uber For Armed Guards’ Anyway
Uber has only been around for 15 years, but its underlying business model of on-demand labor, organized online, has been applied widely around the world in many industries. That’s despite concerns that gig workers get a raw deal, since they do the same work as employees, but without the protections and benefits the latter enjoy. […]