During 2025, Tech Policy Press produced 86 podcast installments that tackled pressing topics at the nexus of technology and democratic governance. Conversations spanned AI exaggeration, the regulation of digital platforms, internet policy frameworks, and how tech magnates and authoritarian regimes exploit technology to erode democratic norms. The outlet thanks both its interview subjects and its audience, particularly those who follow the feed through their preferred podcast platforms, and promises continued coverage of these vital debates in 2026.
1. Unpacking the Politics of the EU's €120M Fine of Musk's X — December 7
The European Commission's December enforcement action against Elon Musk's X marked a watershed moment: the first-ever non-compliance ruling under the Digital Services Act. The episode brought together Joris van Hoboken, a professor at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the DSA Observatory's core team, to examine the enforcement decision, its political dimensions, and broader questions surrounding digital regulation across Europe.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/626e5e7c-d1d3-440a-8f61-f5eede49e8ca/
2. Decolonizing the Future: Karen Hao on Resisting the Empire of AI — May 23
Karen Hao returned to the podcast in May to discuss her book, Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI. The conversation built on her earlier appearances examining how social media business models corrode information quality, the circumstances surrounding Sam Altman's unexpected departure from OpenAI in 2023, and the controversy that erupted following DeepSeek's rollout.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/faf8b11b-46b0-41d8-b75b-9325c779a96c/
3. Adam Becker Takes Aim at Silicon Valley Nonsense — April 27
Science journalist Adam Becker, author of MORE EVERYTHING FOREVER: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, joined the show in April to dissect the pseudoscientific and hazardous ideologies—from AI utopias to life-extension schemes—that motivate many Silicon Valley figures.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3ef518d4-a636-4595-bb45-968540b00b67/
4. DOGE and the United States of AI — April 6
Just after nationwide "Hands Off" demonstrations in early April demanded that billionaire Elon Musk step down from his government post and that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) be dissolved, the podcast convened four observers tracking DOGE's activities. The panel featured Eryk Salvaggio, a Tech Policy Press fellow; Rebecca Williams, senior strategist at ACLU's Privacy and Data Governance Unit; Emily Tavoulareas, researcher and instructor at Georgetown's McCourt School for Public Policy leading efforts to chronicle the US Digital Service's establishment; and Matthew Kirschenbaum, Distinguished University Professor in English at the University of Maryland.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/68c0256a-71ee-466c-a6f3-d48cda1d44c3/
5. The Open Internet is Dead. What Comes Next? — October 12
Mallory Knodel, head of the Social Web Foundation and creator of the weekly Internet Exchange newsletter, and Burcu Kilic, senior fellow at Canada's Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), explored how the concept of an "open internet" has been systematically dismantled through decades of regulatory decisions and industry consolidation. The discussion drew from their Internet Exchange piece, "Big Tech Redefined the Open Internet to Serve Its Own Interests."
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/b78588de-a52a-4a1c-8aa6-22dbcd24d423/
6. How Venture Capital Warps the World — May 4
Catherine Bracy, a civic technologist and grassroots organizer working at the intersection of technology and socioeconomic inequality, discussed her book World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy in May. Bracy argues that venture capital must undergo fundamental reform to produce genuine innovation benefiting society, rather than merely generating outsized profits for an increasingly concentrated investor base.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/5862d6da-1a88-4dd8-bff0-5ddb878de432/
7. The Dangerous Combination of Technology and Capitalism — February 2
Jathan Sadowski, a senior lecturer in information technology at Monash University in Melbourne, co-host of the weekly podcast This Machine Kills, and author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism (University of California Press), joined the show in February. He contends that technology currently operates beyond even minimal public accountability—much less public oversight—that society applies to other power structures.
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ec52df12-52e6-4cc6-ad58-8735691ca5f1/
8. New Insights on Tech and the Crisis of Democracy — August 24
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/b7442bb2-17b9-4036-93ce-d5e5b8b1cc1a/
A collection of scholars from diverse academic backgrounds collaborated on Connective Action and the Rise of the Far-Right: Platforms, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy, released by Oxford University Press in summer 2025. The volume merges conventional political science with computational social science methods to illuminate democratic erosion and contemporary challenges, particularly in the United States. The podcast featured two editors and two authors: Steven Livingston, professor and founding director of the Institute for Data Democracy and Politics at George Washington University; Michael Miller, managing director of the Moynihan Center at the City College of New York; Kate Starbird, professor at the University of Washington and co-founder of the Center for an Informed Public; and Josephine Lukito, assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin and senior faculty research associate at the Center for Media Engagement.
9. Considering Trump's AI Plan and the Future It Portends — July 24
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/36869689-82a2-41e2-8f5b-a8620f2bfcdd/
President Donald Trump presented the administration's AI strategy at the "Winning the AI Race Summit" in July. To assess the plan and its potential consequences, the podcast brought together Sarah West, co-director of the AI Now Institute; Maia Woluchem, program director of the Trustworthy Infrastructures team at Data and Society; and Ryan Gerety, director of the Athena Coalition.
10. A Critical Look at Trump's AI Executive Order — December 14
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/1c3a9bdd-dab0-486a-9ebb-f7ac98c01982/
In December, Trump signed an executive order in front of assembled journalists aimed at preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence. Trump characterized AI as vital to American competitiveness and called for centralized federal approval authority over AI developers. Olivier Sylvain, law professor at Fordham Law School and senior policy research fellow at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, analyzed the order's implications. Shortly after its release, Sylvain published "Why Trump's AI EO Will be DOA in Court" on Tech Policy Press.
11. Interrogating Tech Power and Democratic Crisis — June 29
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/3db74747-ab3f-4dd8-8874-9024a2562f13/
The podcast partnered with Data & Society to produce "Ideologies of Control: A Series on Tech Power and Democratic Crisis," examining how wealthy tech entrepreneurs and authoritarian regimes weaponize AI and digital systems to undermine democracy, expand dominance, and reshape the world in ways that jeopardize privacy, worker protections, environmental health, and democratic institutions. Four contributing authors participated in the June episode: Jacob Metcalf, program director of the AI On the Ground Initiative at Data & Society; Tamara Kneese, then program director of the Climate, Technology and Justice program at Data & Society; Reem Suleiman, then outgoing US advocacy lead at the Mozilla Foundation and member of Oakland's Privacy Advisory Commission; and Kevin De Liban, founder of TechTonic Justice.
12. Is an Anti-Fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence Possible? — March 23
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/5dcb9599-ebee-410a-a674-c8eba2e25b88/
Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence (Bristol University Press, 2022), explored pathways toward a technological future less conducive to authoritarianism and fascism. The conversation examined strategies for building collective resistance to authoritarian corporate and state control and whether alternative computing models are achievable.
13. Taking on the AI Con — June 1
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/f1384818-2c89-48b2-8d8f-65ccb142c548/
Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna, authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want (Harper Collins), appeared in June. The Guardian has called their book "refreshingly sarcastic," while Business Insider describes it as a "funny and irreverent deconstruction of AI." Both authors have occasionally contributed pieces to Tech Policy Press.
14. A Conversation with Dr. Alondra Nelson on AI and Democracy — March 16
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/8a6dc903-b120-4f2d-b840-0c3b01215e8d/
Dr. Alondra Nelson, who holds the Harold F. Linder Chair and directs the Science, Technology, and Social Values Lab at the Institute for Advanced Study (where she has taught since 2019), discussed AI policy trajectories in March. From 2021 to 2023, she served as deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director and principal deputy director for science and society at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, playing a central role in shaping the Biden administration's AI approach. She spearheaded the White House "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights," which shaped President Biden's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence. The conversation focused on how AI policy is evolving under the Trump administration and the imperative to center human welfare—rather than technological advancement or corporate interests—in policy design.
15. A National Heist? Evaluating Elon Musk's March Through Washington — February 9
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/140defe9-2c5b-4d2b-a161-00d05b6af6bb/
As Trump's second term entered its third week, Elon Musk took center stage as the Department of Government Efficiency launched its push to dismantle federal agencies. The podcast featured two specialists monitoring these developments: David Kaye, law professor at the University of California Irvine and former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression; and Yaël Eisenstat, director of policy impact at Cybersecurity for Democracy at New York University.
Source: Tech Policy Press
