Refreshing tech policy content for you
Much more refreshing than the latest "healthy soda" trend, I'd imagine. Read further for our thoughts on the conservative legal movement, bringing humans back into space, and so much more.
We love the permissionless innovation that the Internet fosters. But some innovations that originate online are… a bit of a hit or miss. One such example is “healthy Coke,” an idea that started on TikTok and has been circulating around social media this week. Supposedly, if you mix sparkling water with balsamic vinegar, it tastes like a more natural, unprocessed version of Coca-Cola. Sounds about right… right? Well, the concoction gets mixed reviews. Some brave experimenters claim it’s “better than you think.” Others found it “disgusting.” If you try it, let me know what you think! Maybe it’s just a question of picking the right flavor?
Rule of Law. Corbin has an essay in The Bulwark this week assessing the state of the conservative legal movement. You had to support Trump, many skeptical Republicans were told during the 2016 election, because he would place good, restrained, rule-of-law judges on the bench. For a while, surprisingly, it kind of worked out that way (the judges, not the validity of supporting Trump). But are Trump’s judges at last taking a Trumpist turn? Corbin investigates. Along the way, he discusses in detail the litigation over Florida’s and Texas’s social media regulations. That those laws violate the First Amendment, Corbin notes, should be obvious to any conservative judge who still adheres to the free-speech jurisprudence built by the conservative legal movement. Full essay here. Promote Corbin’s work on Twitter here or here.
Space Law. On Friday, Jim filed comments in response to NASA’s request for comments on its “Moon to Mars 50 Objectives.” The comments urged NASA to place greater emphasis on the economic benefits to be gained from humans in space rather than making science the sole emphasis of returning humans to the Moon. The Objectives also describe a pathway reliant on government-built systems that are significantly over budget and behind schedule, while virtually ignoring the revolution occurring in the commercial space launch industry. Finally, our comments urge NASA against taking a narrow, insular approach to the process and to consider dissenting feedback in the same manner that other federal agencies deal with comments from impacted stakeholders. Check out the press release here, and share on Twitter here.
Social Media Regulation. On Wednesday, Berin was quoted in CNN Business regarding the Supreme Court's move to vacate the Fifth Circuit's decision on Texas’s social media law. In the article, Berin stressed the likelihood this case will go up to the Court next term. Berin added this is likely the reason the dissent was short and the other justices were mum—they see this coming. A plethora of local stations also picked up the story including outlets in San Diego, Milwaukee, and El Paso.
Berin was also quoted in the Washington Examiner predicting the Fifth Circuit’s decision on the merits will conflict with the Eleventh Circuit's decision. Ari was quoted with similar thoughts in The Verge, adding that the Fifth Circuit seems highly sympathetic to Texas’s reasoning—making it almost inevitable there will be a split and the court will grant cert in the next term. For more analysis on the Supreme Court’s ruling, be sure to check out our recent Twitter Spaces conversation, along with the accompanying Twitter thread.
Content Moderation. Yesterday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar held a press conference to rally support for the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), a bill ostensibly aimed at prohibiting “self-preferencing” by tech companies. In response, Andy wrote a Twitter thread highlighting the dramatically different and contradictory goals Republicans and Democrats have for the legislation. Republicans like Rep. Ken Buck and Sen. Ted Cruz have stated that the AICOA will address the right’s content moderation concerns—their fear of being “censored” by left-leaning social media companies in Silicon Valley. Democrats, however, insist the bill only addresses competition and does not impact content moderation. Andy’s thread highlighted the tension between these viewpoints and pushed back against Senator Klobuchar’s dismissal that AICOA would be weaponized against content moderation.
Follow us on Twitter! Corbin @CorbinKBarthold; Bilal @BilalKSayyed; Andy @AndyJungTech; Santana @SantanaBoulton; Jason @JasonKuznicki; me (Rachel) @MillionthRachel; Berin @BerinSzoka; Ari @AriCohn.