Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Jordan Taylor

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 13h

NBC News has reportedly eliminated its NBC BLK, NBC Asian America, NBC Latino and NBC OUT teams

NBC News’ 150 Layoffs Gut Black, Latino, Asian American and LGBTQ+ Diversity Teams

The cuts affected teams across the NBC News operation and came as the network no longer needed to support two different news operations. MSNBC has begun growing its own newsroom, hiring swaths of tale...

www.thewrap.com

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Queer in AI @queerinai.com · 7d

We are launching our Graduate School Application Financial Aid Program (www.queerinai.com/grad-app-aid) for 2025-2026. We’ll give up to $750 per person to LGBTQIA+ STEM scholars applying to graduate programs. Apply at openreview.net/group?id=Que.... 1/5

Grad App Aid — Queer in AI

www.queerinai.com

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 7d

Good rundown of the current situation on Bsky (written before Rudy's update that Blacksky is going to make Link available to its users)

plus.flux.community/p/banning-co...

Banning controversy reveals Bluesky’s federation isn’t there yet

Bluesky’s protocol is so complicated that not even the biggest alternative network has figured out how to become independent

plus.flux.community

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Jordan Taylor @jordant.bsky.social · 9d

More reason to just use an open source pdf editor

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Black Aziz Anansi @blackazizanansi.blacksky.app · 9d

THEY BANNED ERIN TOO!?!??! NOO!!!!!!!

Tyler, from the Internet @tylerfromtheinternet.com · 9d

Erin Baba is a journalist. Link is a lawyer.

Bluesky silences journalists and lawyers now for the sake of the leadership egos.

These rank, arrogant amateurs playacting at being kings and queens of the sandcastle.

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Jordan Taylor @jordant.bsky.social · 9d

Just got a "upsell error" message from Adobe 🙃

An error message reading upsell.error.title.contact_admin

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Jordan Taylor @jordant.bsky.social · 10d

As Doctorow warned: “I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will”

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Jordan Taylor @jordant.bsky.social · 10d

If leadership has the power to arbitrarily enforce moderation policies, Bluesky is no better than Tw*tter

This warning from Cory Doctorow feels quite timely: doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...

Bluesky and enshittification

No one is the enshittifier of their own story.

doctorow.medium.com

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John Scott-Railton @jsrailton.bsky.social · 10d

NEW: breach of Discord age verification data.

Including some users passports & DLs

Age verification is a badly implemented data grab wrapped in a moral panic.

Mark my words, as age verification mandates expand, we'll end up more surveilled and less secure. 1/

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Leif Hancox-Li, PhD @struthious.bsky.social · 10d

oh look the fears of everyone who understands data privacy are valid

John Scott-Railton @jsrailton.bsky.social · 10d

NEW: breach of Discord age verification data.

Including some users passports & DLs

Age verification is a badly implemented data grab wrapped in a moral panic.

Mark my words, as age verification mandates expand, we'll end up more surveilled and less secure. 1/

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 16d

Tomorrow, @bsky.app will begin requiring all users in Ohio to submit facial scans, government IDs or other identity info to access the site, in order to prevent prosecution under the state's age-verification law.

Meanwhile, X does nothing. Because it likely doesn't fear prosecution.

Bluesky rolls out age verification for users in Ohio | TechCrunch

Users in Ohio will have to verify their age to use Bluesky's social network as of Monday.

techcrunch.com

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 21d

Instead of worrying that TikTok could carry Chinese government propaganda — which the Supreme Court declined to even consider — "people can now be concerned that TikTok could be a conduit for US government propaganda," EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social and @evacide.bsky.social said.

TikTok’s Future: U.S. Owners To Control Algorithm And Data In Proposed Deal

TikTok’s U.S. operations could soon be run by Oracle, Silver Lake Partners and the Murdochs under a proposed $100 billion deal.

www.forbes.com

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Ted Mann @whereisted.bsky.social · 23d

Trump is rescinding road safety grants all over the country, in blue states and red ones.

The reason: those projects are "hostile" to cars.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars

The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking ba...

www.bloomberg.com

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Daniel Laurison @daniellaurison.bsky.social · 26d

Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."

Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 27d

So, a university president fired a professor because they taught a course that discussed there being more than two genders, and now the university president is being fired for not having fired the professor quickly enough, is where we're at. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...

Texas A&M President to Step Down After Controversy Over ‘Gender Ideology’

www.nytimes.com

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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 26d

EFF has been investigating stories from users whose abortion-related content has been taken down. What did we find? Over and over again, the policies say one thing, but the actual enforcement says another. www.eff.org/pages/our-s...

Our Stop Censoring Abortion Campaign Uncovers a Social Media

For months, EFF has been investigating stories from users whose abortion-related content has been taken down or otherwise suppressed by major social media platforms. In collaboration with our

www.eff.org

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Laura Sell @laurasell.bsky.social · 26d

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream

The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

www.insidehighered.com

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Jordan Taylor @jordant.bsky.social · 26d

Folks gonna start adding a no hologram clause to their wills

The Hollywood Reporter @thr.com · 26d

For decades, Stan Lee was the king of comic conventions. Now, nearly seven years after his death at the age of 95, he will once again be a presence at L.A. Comic Con, this time as a hologram that will use AI to have conversations with fans.

An AI Stan Lee Hologram Will Speak With Fans at L.A. Comic Con

For decades, Stan Lee was the king of comic conventions. Now, nearly seven years after his death at the age of 95, he will once again be a presence at L.A. Comic Con, this time as a hologram that will use AI to have conversations with fans.

bit.ly

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 26d

"In parts of the country, the government would like sites to collect an unprecedented amount of identifying information about their users. In the whole country, the government would like to track down and prosecute those users if they are rude... It doesn’t take a mastermind to see the risks."

The right to anonymity is powerful, and America is destroying it

Age verification was already risky — now it’s downright dangerous.

www.theverge.com

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Chip Mitchell @chipmitchell1.bsky.social · 26d

Nearly 50 college instructors across #Illinois landed on #CharlieKirk's “Professor Watchlist.” @wbez.org reached out to all of them and found the list triggered hateful messages, threats of rape or death, and intensification since Kirk's killing.

#twill www.wbez.org/politics/202...

Illinois professors face threats after landing on Charlie Kirk group watchlist

An online database compiled by a group affiliated with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk identifies close to 50 Illinois college instructors it labels "radical professors."

www.wbez.org

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 27d

"If bills like HB 4938 are the future of the conservative movement, then the true obscenity isn’t pornography—it’s the authoritarian urge to strip people of their rights under the guise of protecting morality: No one is protected; everyone is a criminal."

Michael McGrady Jr 🏳️‍🌈🫡 @mdmcjr.press · 28d

www.techdirt.com/2025/09/17/t...

The Illiberal, Transphobic Pipe Dream Of Banning Porn Reaches Michigan Republicans

It appears that the illiberal, transphobic pipe dream of banning all pornography has reached an enterprising group of far-right Christian nationalist Republicans in Michigan who want to impose the …

www.techdirt.com

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Saeed Jones @theferocity.bsky.social · 28d

I’m sure all the standup comedians who have been ranting about censorship the last few years are going to take to the streets any minute now.

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 28d

People upset about the Michigan "antiporn" law don't realise the power the state already has to deeem vast swaths of sex related content illegal — and the power to harass those who challenge them.

This 2 Live Crew arrest is a good refresher.

Sheriffs Arrest Record Store Owner for Selling 2 Live Crew "As Nasty as They Wanna Be" (June 8 1990)

YouTube video by Foggy Melson Music

www.youtube.com

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · Sep 15

Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill prohibiting the any "depiction or description" of trans people or trans existence online, including it in a bill banning "pornographic" material

The bill would completely erase trans people online, equating them with porn.