First the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, now the ban on Twitter in Brazil. After years of making outrage and tribalism their business model, are tech titans getting their comeuppance? In this edition, we ask about the almighty showdown between the billionaire owner of the social media platform now known as X and the chief justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court who has extended the ban to VPN systems that try to flout the ruling.
Alexander de Moraes just notched up an important win, what with Musk’s Starlink satellite system relenting on initial plans to defy the Twitter ban. There’s the broader question of how to make a digital public square that extends beyond echo chambers without peddling hate and disinformation.