Thomas Germain

Is social media addictive by design or just irresistible entertainment? The panel tackles the lawsuit that's dragging tech giants onto the witness stand and how surveillance tech is quietly expanding while lawmakers and users scramble to catch up. Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at landmark US trial Instagram Chief Says Social Media Is Not 'Clinically Addictive' in Landmark Trial Section 230 turns 30 as it faces its biggest tests yet Meta apparently thinks we're too distracted to care about facial recognition and Ray-Bans Amazon Ring's Super Bowl ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app. Discord backtracks on controversial age verification rollout...kind of Discord/Twitch/Snapchat age verification bypass The DJI Romo robovac had security so poor that this man remotely accessed thousands of them HP's laptop subscriptions are a great deal — for HP FTC Ratchets Up Microsoft Probe, Queries Rivals on Cloud, AI T-Mobile announces its network is now full of AI by rolling out real-time translation Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags SpaceX Prioritizes Lunar 'Self-Growing City' Over Mars Project, Musk Says Elon Musk declares victory with Medicaid data release Waymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving Cars Backblaze Drive Stats for 2025 $1.8 million MST3K Kickstarter brings in (almost) everyone from the old show OpenAI Is Nuking Its 4o Model. China's ChatGPT Fans Aren't OK Hideki Sato, designer of all Sega's consoles, has died Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78 Launching The Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Wesley Faulkner , Stacey Higginbotham , and Thomas Germain Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zscaler.com/security <a href="https://www.monarch.com" target=

Is social media addictive by design or just irresistible entertainment? The panel tackles the lawsuit that's dragging tech giants onto the witness stand and how surveillance tech is quietly expanding while lawmakers and users scramble to catch up. Jury told that Meta, Google 'engineered addiction' at landmark US trial Instagram Chief Says Social Media Is Not 'Clinically Addictive' in Landmark Trial Section 230 turns 30 as it faces its biggest tests yet Meta apparently thinks we're too distracted to care about facial recognition and Ray-Bans Amazon Ring's Super Bowl ad sparks backlash amid fears of mass surveillance Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash TikTok is tracking you, even if you don't use the app. Discord backtracks on controversial age verification rollout...kind of Discord/Twitch/Snapchat age verification bypass The DJI Romo robovac had security so poor that this man remotely accessed thousands of them HP's laptop subscriptions are a great deal — for HP FTC Ratchets Up Microsoft Probe, Queries Rivals on Cloud, AI T-Mobile announces its network is now full of AI by rolling out real-time translation Apple's latest attempt to launch the new Siri runs into snags SpaceX Prioritizes Lunar 'Self-Growing City' Over Mars Project, Musk Says Elon Musk declares victory with Medicaid data release Waymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving Cars Backblaze Drive Stats for 2025 $1.8 million MST3K Kickstarter brings in (almost) everyone from the old show OpenAI Is Nuking Its 4o Model. China's ChatGPT Fans Aren't OK Hideki Sato, designer of all Sega's consoles, has died Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78 Launching The Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Wesley Faulkner , Stacey Higginbotham , and Thomas Germain Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zscaler.com/security <a href="https://www.monarch.com" target=

In the fourth live-to-tape episode of Better Offlive, Ed Zitron sits down with the BBC's Thomas Germain to talk about breaking up big tech, and how we can find hope in the hopelessness of multiple monopolies and algorithms. LINKS: Thomas Germain: https://x.com/thomasgermain vkgoeswild: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbKM5fcSsaEFZRP-bjH8Y9w Dan Yang: https://www.instagram.com/realdanyang Cities By Diana: https://www.instagram.com/citiesbydiana See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.