Makena Kelly

Former Policy Reporter

Google, OpenAI team up with the White House for cybersecurity challenge

Makena KellyAug 9, 2023

Makena KellyAug 8, 2023

The most abysmal policy debate I’ve ever seen ended with a multi-millionaire doing the worm.

Copyright law can’t seem to keep up with how fast YouTube and streaming trends evolve, so creators have long taken it upon themselves to set up industry norms for “react”-style videos.

Recently, Twitch and Kick star xQc caught a lot of heat for breaking those norms after posting what essentially amounted to reuploads of content by smaller creators.

He challenged YouTuber Ethan Klein to a debate over the merits of fair use, but the conversation devolved into... xQc doing the worm? I think there’s a real discussion to be had about copyright and content creation, but this definitely wasn’t it.

Twitch King xQc Does The Worm In The Middle Of Copyright Debate

[Kotaku]

Makena KellyAug 3, 2023

House Republicans can’t stop picking fights with Elon Musk’s enemies.

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee keep saying they’re investigating “collusion” between the Biden administration and Big Tech to “censor” conservatives, but they’re starting to act more like an Elon Musk fan club than anything else.

On top of investigating the Federal Trade Commission’s investigation into Musk’s Twitter takeover, they’re now going after the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for its role in this “censorship regime.”

Musk, of course, sued CCDH just two days ago, accusing the non-profit of unlawfully accessing Twitter data and cherry-picking posts to make the platform look more hateful than it is.

Pornhub goes dark in Arkansas after age verification law kicks in

Makena KellyAug 3, 2023

Makena KellyAug 1, 2023

Ron DeSantis might want to ban TikTok, if elected president.

DeSantis wouldn’t commit to banning the app, but said its connections to China raised some serious concerns.

“At the end of the day I don’t want big brother to be getting into everybody’s apps,” told The Wall Street Journal. “I think it’s creating a security vulnerability for us. I think they are mining a lot of data.”

Honestly, it’s a surprising position to take on the same day the DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, disclosed $2 million worth of funding from Doug Leone, a partner of Sequoia Capital which is one of TikTok’s largest investors.