More DSA decisions 'coming', Oz social media ban reaction and Spencer's alive internet theory
Hello and welcome to Everything in Moderation's Week in Review, your need-to-know news and analysis about platform policy, content moderation and internet regulation. It's written by me, Ben Whitelaw and supported by members like you.
If this week’s newsletter were a meal, it’d be the kind that leaves no room for dessert: a hefty slab of European enforcement drama, a sharp pickle of US diplomatic outrage, and a generous side of Australia’s age-gating experiment. Mike and I try and chew our way through it all during this week's Ctrl-Alt-Speech, which will be one of the last of 2025. Have a listen wherever you get your podcast or go to ctrlaltspeech.com to get it fresh from the source.
Welcome to new subscribers from Berkeley, the Better Info Project, Tremau, Technology Coalition, UC Santa Cruz, That Game Company and plenty of others. If you’re working on something interesting, hiring, or wrestling with a question, hit reply — I always like hearing what EiM readers are up to and thinking about.
Here's your Week in Review — BW
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Policies
New and emerging internet policy and online speech regulation
The €120m fine dished out to X/Twitter by the European Commission for breaching the Digital Services Act (EiM #317) triggered a predictably extraordinary set of reactions from across the Atlantic this week. JD Vance said the EU should not be “attacking American companies over garbage” — which I don’t think refers to Elon Musk’s compliance efforts — while the US envoy to the EU told Bloomberg “only American companies” were being singled out.
Tech regulator-in-chief Henna Virkkunen was quick to say only 3/10 companies that the EU are investigating are US-based — but she did admit the two-year wait for this decision was “a very long time” and other investigations would conclude soon.
Meanwhile, Australia’s under-16 social media ban formally took effect on Wednesday. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended the measure as a necessary step to “save lives” and “change lives for this and future generations". However, early signs have not been promising — teens have used photos of their mums, their dogs and fake IDs to get around the blocks. My favourite comment came from 15-year-old Zoe, who, frankly, makes me hopeful about the future of the internet.