Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
@nathaliemarechal.net
Human rights & democracy advocate in 🇺🇸 & the 🌍. Privacy & data @ CDT. She/her. Opinions personal, etc. ❌👑
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Sometimes you just have to let @lopatto.bsky.social say it out loud www.theverge.com/policy/85990...
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards
Once you’ve traded your principles for proximity to power, do you even run your own company?
www.theverge.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Sometimes you just have to let @lopatto.bsky.social say it out loud www.theverge.com/policy/85990...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
The struggle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right.
The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship.
Everyone must choose which side they’re on.
The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship.
Everyone must choose which side they’re on.
January 11, 2026 at 11:01 PM
The struggle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right.
The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship.
Everyone must choose which side they’re on.
The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship.
Everyone must choose which side they’re on.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
The Trump admin's sanctions on researchers and regulators who work on content-moderation, fact-checking, and disinfo are part of an effort to protect the tech ecosystem that has allowed the the far right to flourish. Good piece from @davidakaye.bsky.social. www.techpolicy.press/the-trump-li...
The Trump Lie About Europe and Why it Matters | TechPolicy.Press
The Trump administration is promoting disinformation about European law and policy for reasons that go well beyond social media regulation, writes David Kaye.
www.techpolicy.press
January 11, 2026 at 1:06 PM
The Trump admin's sanctions on researchers and regulators who work on content-moderation, fact-checking, and disinfo are part of an effort to protect the tech ecosystem that has allowed the the far right to flourish. Good piece from @davidakaye.bsky.social. www.techpolicy.press/the-trump-li...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Must-read - I've long thought the effects of social media on the mass public are likely overrated but their effects on elites are underrated
New, from me: The Trump administration isn’t just using social media to shape a narrative. They view the world through a social media lens in a way that is plausibly corrupting their judgment and undermining their performance.
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Welcome to the clicktatorship. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/life-under...
Life Under a Clicktatorship
What happens to government when everything is content?
donmoynihan.substack.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Must-read - I've long thought the effects of social media on the mass public are likely overrated but their effects on elites are underrated
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
"Companies are developing a variety of systems that steer the swarm of words and pixels toward more predictable outcomes, which they define in terms of their own interests.
These interests include profit, but can also be used to steer models as ideological tools of oppression."
These interests include profit, but can also be used to steer models as ideological tools of oppression."
Don't blame Grok: We need to move beyond the idea that generative AI models are just data, models & prompts. That frame places AI companies as passive observers of their own products - but they're the sole deciders of how models are optimized & to what goals. From me in @techpolicypress.bsky.social:
Why Musk is Culpable in Grok's Undressing Fiasco | TechPolicy.Press
Grok’s functionality is not a black box, but the result of specific design decisions made by executives and engineers at xAI, writes Eryk Salvaggio.
www.techpolicy.press
January 8, 2026 at 11:38 AM
"Companies are developing a variety of systems that steer the swarm of words and pixels toward more predictable outcomes, which they define in terms of their own interests.
These interests include profit, but can also be used to steer models as ideological tools of oppression."
These interests include profit, but can also be used to steer models as ideological tools of oppression."
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
This is the current front page of the Times. The Washington Post is even worse. Their headlines are privileging the accounts of the administration with a track record of lying as being as valid as eye witness accounts and videos.
January 8, 2026 at 1:50 AM
This is the current front page of the Times. The Washington Post is even worse. Their headlines are privileging the accounts of the administration with a track record of lying as being as valid as eye witness accounts and videos.
New report from @mbogen.bsky.social & yours truly, on how the big AI companies are trying to make money and what it means for all of us.
I am more proud of the title than I have any right to be.
I am more proud of the title than I have any right to be.
🚨NEW REPORT from CDT’s @mbogen.bsky.social & @nathaliemarechal.net: Risky Business: Advanced AI Companies’ Race for Revenue. It explores how frontier AI companies’ business models and structures can shape user rights, safety, and the future of AI. cdt.org/insights/ris...
January 7, 2026 at 8:36 PM
New report from @mbogen.bsky.social & yours truly, on how the big AI companies are trying to make money and what it means for all of us.
I am more proud of the title than I have any right to be.
I am more proud of the title than I have any right to be.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
This this this this this this this this this
If you do this, you are doing PR for the companies
If you do this, you are doing PR for the companies
Journalistic Malpractice: No LLM Ever ‘Admits’ To Anything, And Reporting Otherwise Is A Lie
Over the past week, Reuters, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, CNBC, and a parade of other outlets published headlines claiming that Grok—Elon Musk's LLM chatbot (the one that once referred to itself as…
Over the past week, Reuters, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, CNBC, and a parade of other outlets published headlines claiming that Grok—Elon Musk's LLM chatbot (the one that once referred to itself as…
Journalistic Malpractice: No LLM Ever ‘Admits’ To Anything, And Reporting Otherwise Is A Lie
Over the past week, Reuters, Newsweek, the Daily Beast, CNBC, and a parade of other outlets published headlines claiming that Grok—Elon Musk's LLM chatbot (the one that once referred to itself as "MechaHitler")—had "apologized" for generating non-consensual intimate images of minors and was “fixing” its failed guardrails. Grok did no such thing. Grok cannot apologize. Grok is not a human. Grok has no sense of what is happening.
www.techdirt.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:24 PM
This this this this this this this this this
If you do this, you are doing PR for the companies
If you do this, you are doing PR for the companies
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
there is a never-ending list of reasons that doing this is irresponsible and that using it in any form would be a mistake, but perhaps #1 should be about law enforcement access
OpenAI has not earned one iota of public trust, and each day a story like this comes out: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
OpenAI has not earned one iota of public trust, and each day a story like this comes out: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
January 7, 2026 at 8:10 PM
there is a never-ending list of reasons that doing this is irresponsible and that using it in any form would be a mistake, but perhaps #1 should be about law enforcement access
OpenAI has not earned one iota of public trust, and each day a story like this comes out: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
OpenAI has not earned one iota of public trust, and each day a story like this comes out: www.404media.co/here-is-the-...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
this is how every outlet should refer to X
January 6, 2026 at 5:11 PM
this is how every outlet should refer to X
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
In an even remotely healthy political system and culture - and everywhere else in the democratic world - January 6 would have been a dealbreaker: The end of Trump as a major political figure. He would have been convicted, shunned, banished - everyone associated with him ostracized from public life.
January 6 in History
Wrote this two years ago: “If the insurrectionist-in-chief returns to power without ever facing any real consequences and while explicitly declaring his intent to establish a vindictive autocracy, then January 6 will have been successful.”
And here we are.
Wrote this two years ago: “If the insurrectionist-in-chief returns to power without ever facing any real consequences and while explicitly declaring his intent to establish a vindictive autocracy, then January 6 will have been successful.”
And here we are.
January 6 in History
Was it a key moment in the republic’s eventual demise or a milestone on the road to democracy’s ultimate triumph? The meaning of January 6 is yet to be determined
steady.page
January 6, 2026 at 7:39 PM
In an even remotely healthy political system and culture - and everywhere else in the democratic world - January 6 would have been a dealbreaker: The end of Trump as a major political figure. He would have been convicted, shunned, banished - everyone associated with him ostracized from public life.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Around 2.28 he says tells Tapper: "You are approaching this from the wrong frame, this neoliberal frame that the United States job is to go around the world and demand immediate elections be held everywhere."
Man, I know neoliberalism has been defined in all sorts of ways, but thats truly a new one.
Man, I know neoliberalism has been defined in all sorts of ways, but thats truly a new one.
MILLER: The US is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere. We're a superpower. It's absurd we'd allow a nation in our backyard to become a supplier of resources to our adversaries
TAPPER: Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do what they want?
M: *yells*
TAPPER: Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do what they want?
M: *yells*
January 6, 2026 at 1:36 AM
Around 2.28 he says tells Tapper: "You are approaching this from the wrong frame, this neoliberal frame that the United States job is to go around the world and demand immediate elections be held everywhere."
Man, I know neoliberalism has been defined in all sorts of ways, but thats truly a new one.
Man, I know neoliberalism has been defined in all sorts of ways, but thats truly a new one.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
The way the press is treating chatbots, like they have agency and they “know” things all of a sudden, crossed the line recently from dumb and obsequious to something else entirely. Treating them as alive and making conscious decisions is an almost religious belief. It won’t age well.
January 3, 2026 at 2:52 AM
The way the press is treating chatbots, like they have agency and they “know” things all of a sudden, crossed the line recently from dumb and obsequious to something else entirely. Treating them as alive and making conscious decisions is an almost religious belief. It won’t age well.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
"AI" is and for a very long time has been a term used for obfuscation, occultation, and sleight of hand; but any sufficiently transparent magic is indistinguishable from technology.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
January 2, 2026 at 10:04 PM
"AI" is and for a very long time has been a term used for obfuscation, occultation, and sleight of hand; but any sufficiently transparent magic is indistinguishable from technology.
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
muse.jhu.edu/pub/3/articl...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Do not quote Grok (or indeed any LLM) as if it is a thing with thoughts or agency. This is really poor journalism.
"Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements were being made to prevent this."
Grok says safeguard lapses led to images of 'minors in minimal clothing' on X
Elon Musk's xAI artificial intelligence chatbot Grok said on Friday lapses in safeguards had resulted in "images depicting minors in minimal clothing" on social media platform X and that improvements ...
www.reuters.com
January 2, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Do not quote Grok (or indeed any LLM) as if it is a thing with thoughts or agency. This is really poor journalism.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Hey Sam, I'm a professor of tech ethics, and I'll do this job for free, here's my 100% serious recommendation: you can't solve these problems, the whole thing needs to be shut down. Take your billions and go do something else. Honestly.
www.theverge.com/news/850537/...
www.theverge.com/news/850537/...
Sam Altman is hiring someone to worry about the dangers of AI
Sam Altman is hiring a Head of Preparedness at OpenAI to worry about the dangers of AI.
www.theverge.com
December 27, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Hey Sam, I'm a professor of tech ethics, and I'll do this job for free, here's my 100% serious recommendation: you can't solve these problems, the whole thing needs to be shut down. Take your billions and go do something else. Honestly.
www.theverge.com/news/850537/...
www.theverge.com/news/850537/...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Good news; a judge has blocked the detention of a technology researcher that the State Department had slated to deport.
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Judge Blocks Detention of British Researcher Who Scrutinizes Online Hate
www.nytimes.com
December 26, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Good news; a judge has blocked the detention of a technology researcher that the State Department had slated to deport.
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
However, this is just the start of what will certainly be a longer-term challenge. What can we do about this? A thread.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/u...
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and hammers up to all who know what’s up!
December 25, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and hammers up to all who know what’s up!
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Hey guys, is punishing human rights activists the government disagrees with good for free speech? Asking for a friend. www.state.gov/releases/off...
Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex - United States Department of State
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose....
www.state.gov
December 24, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Hey guys, is punishing human rights activists the government disagrees with good for free speech? Asking for a friend. www.state.gov/releases/off...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
The government has broad authority to control admission but courts have held *repeatedly*, over more than half a century, that the First Amendment bars the government from denying visas to foreign citizens simply because it dislikes what they have to say. 1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
They Seek to Curb Online Hate. The U.S. Accuses Them of Censorship.
www.nytimes.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:26 PM
The government has broad authority to control admission but courts have held *repeatedly*, over more than half a century, that the First Amendment bars the government from denying visas to foreign citizens simply because it dislikes what they have to say. 1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/b...
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
For years now, GOP leaders have gone round after round with “censorship industrial complex“ hearings that rehashed the old information and led nowhere, because the First Amendment exists. But now Rubio has the reins and is eager to try abusing immigration law to do what the constitution prohibits.
December 23, 2025 at 9:30 PM
For years now, GOP leaders have gone round after round with “censorship industrial complex“ hearings that rehashed the old information and led nowhere, because the First Amendment exists. But now Rubio has the reins and is eager to try abusing immigration law to do what the constitution prohibits.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Four of the five individuals work with NGOs, the fifth — former EU regulator Thierry Breton — is being targeted for his work as an EU regulator and in particular, putting Elon Musk on notice of potential enforcement actions against X/Twitter.
December 23, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Four of the five individuals work with NGOs, the fifth — former EU regulator Thierry Breton — is being targeted for his work as an EU regulator and in particular, putting Elon Musk on notice of potential enforcement actions against X/Twitter.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
The Trump admin has sanctioned five individuals for being part of the “censorship industrial complex”: the Orwellian misnomer for efforts to combat harassment and disinfo online. It’s an escalation of a clear trend: weaponizing immigration laws to persecute First Amendment-protected activities.
December 23, 2025 at 9:17 PM
The Trump admin has sanctioned five individuals for being part of the “censorship industrial complex”: the Orwellian misnomer for efforts to combat harassment and disinfo online. It’s an escalation of a clear trend: weaponizing immigration laws to persecute First Amendment-protected activities.
Reposted by Nathalie Maréchal, PhD
Chilling, sweeping, horrific, distorting of long-held jurisprudence protecting speech of citizens & non-citizens alike. So don't forget -- it's unconstitutional. www.state.gov/releases/off...
Announcement of Actions to Combat the Global Censorship-Industrial Complex - United States Department of State
The State Department is taking decisive action against five individuals who have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints they oppose....
www.state.gov
December 23, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Chilling, sweeping, horrific, distorting of long-held jurisprudence protecting speech of citizens & non-citizens alike. So don't forget -- it's unconstitutional. www.state.gov/releases/off...