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Liz Carolan

@lizcarolan.com
3.4K followers 341 following 543 posts

I publish thebriefing.ie, & founded organisations working on tech & democracy. Tech Policy Press fellow. Political scientist, advocate, writer, knitter. DMs open

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Reposted by Liz Carolan
Colin Murray @colinmurray.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Looking forward to this event at The MAC on Thursday evening, depending on how the place looks at that juncture given how the week is shaping up...
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Sam Wilson @samwilson.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
I am amazed that for a few years we had the ability to instantly access information through an almost perfect search engine and the makers of that search engine decided hundreds of billions wasn’t enough profit so they destroyed it
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Irish Council for Civil Liberties 🏳️‍🌈 @iccl.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Attacks on elected representatives have no place in our democracy. We wish Michael Healy-Rae well and a swift recovery. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
rte.ie
Michael Healy-Rae returns home to Kerry after assault
Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae has returned home to Kilgarvan in Co Kerry, after he was injured during an assault in Dublin yesterday.
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Enda o Dowd @endaodowd.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Online people talk about the imminenent threat of mankind’s extinction by the most powerful technology ever conceived. In Dublin four men operate traffic lights at every second crossing
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 12/09/2026
When petulance met dignity
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 10/09/2026
Did @rteradio1.bsky.social just go off the air for anyone else? #speirgorm
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 09/09/2026
This is a first - an article I wrote for the @irishtimes.com about my love of kids clubs has been translated for a French publication; The new header points out that in Ireland, "the Anglo-Saxon concept of “parenthood as total self-sacrifice” prevails" www.courrierinternational.com/article/vu-d...
courrierinternational.com
J’ai découvert le plaisir coupable de s’accorder du temps sans enfant, à la manière des parents français
En vacances dans l’Hexagone, cette journaliste du “Irish Times” s’étonne de constater que les parents français laissent volontiers leur progéniture dans les “cl...
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 08/09/2026
Here is our draft definition of 'artificial intelligence' from 1981. It was written by a lovely human.
Index card with Merriam-Webster's draft definition of 'artificial intelligence' from 1981
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
The urge became too strong.
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Jeremy Cliffe @jeremycliffe.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Polls have closed in Saxony-Anhalt and exit polls put result on a knife edge (AfD 41 seats, others 42). First projections based on actual results due out soon. But if exit polls are right this is a rupture in the history of the federal republic.
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The moment anyone tells you you shouldn’t join a union, urgently look around for a union to join.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 28/08/2026
Trying to get my head around AI‘s “circular financing” & it’s so 2008 coded it reminded me of The Big Short line; if you feel bored & stupid, start worrying I’m concerned our Govs aren’t worried enough; in the @irishtimes.com today: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 28/08/2026
Trying to get my head around AI‘s “circular financing” & it’s so 2008 coded it reminded me of The Big Short line; if you feel bored & stupid, start worrying I’m concerned our Govs aren’t worried enough; in the @irishtimes.com today: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
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Mike Masnick @masnick.com · 27/08/2026
In case you wanted about 3,700 words on the problems with today's "settlement" that gives Meta way more power over how the internet works than it should have.
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Casey Newton @caseynewton.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Wrote about Meta's ludicrous effort to position itself as a leader in child safety after today's $17 billion settlement with state AGs www.platformer.news/meta-child-s...
This — along with countless other documented harms — is the actual history of Meta’s treatment of its child users: as a precious resource to be mined, monetized, and analyzed well beyond what the law allows. No wonder, then, that as of last month, nearly six in 10 Americans support banning under-16s from social media entirely. At least 10 countries have passed or implemented such bans already, and more are likely to follow.

Viewed in that light, Meta’s belated announcement of new limits and safety features is hardly the “groundbreaking” agreement Mahoney describes it as. Rather, it’s a bet that accepting a small amount of pain will let the company avoid a much larger one. Given the thousands of lawsuits the company still faces around the country, though, Meta still may be in for a world of hurt.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 26/08/2026
This is some bullshit Meta settles its case for $17billion But that is not the $200 billion sought And its over 10 years, so $1.7billion And its spread across 52 states / territories, is that $35m? And its a grant for "online safety initiatives" And no judgement of liability Its a <1% tax
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 25/08/2026
Myself and @elaineburke.bsky.social were talking today about Substacks downward slide into being just another social media platform... and then I get this email
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EDMO Ireland @edmoireland.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
While algorithms reward dangerous content, regulations focus on enforcing community guidelines instead of punishing harmful design choices. Key read by @lizcarolan.com for anyone tracking platform liability: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
M9 crash exposes limits of rules on social media giants when it comes to online harms
Deaths of five teenagers linked to popularity of high risk-taking for ‘likes’ and affirmation
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Clare Moriarty @quiteclare.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
In hopes of proving my credentials in both the jock & dweeb spaces, I've a piece on sporting bodies in the IT today and spoke about competitive Scrabble on Newstalk on Fri. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026... newstalk.com/podcasts/highlights-from-the-hard-shoulder/are-board-games-beneficial-to-you
irishtimes.com
The discourse around super-thin is fraught: Could we replace it?
On SkinnyTok, a TikTok subsection devoted to ‘thinspiration’, people claim extreme caloric restriction is the new mindfulness
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Richard Chambers @newschambers.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Covering the smart glasses backlash this week - anyone got any stories or know places in Ireland where they’ve been barred or had difficulties?
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 24/08/2026
This comment on a LinkedIn post about my piece on Friday about the horrific M9 crash really bothered me - I know better than to reply but I didn’t want to leave it unanswered and I thought to myself “hey, this isn’t Twitter“…
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 21/08/2026
10 years into building the EU’s tech regulation infrastructure and we still can’t actually hold companies accountable for harms Maybe American litigiousness will beat us to me Me in the @irishtimes.com today www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
M9 crash exposes limits of rules on social media giants when it comes to online harms
Deaths of five teenagers linked to popularity of high risk-taking for ‘likes’ and affirmation
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 21/08/2026
10 years into building the EU’s tech regulation infrastructure and we still can’t actually hold companies accountable for harms Maybe American litigiousness will beat us to me Me in the @irishtimes.com today www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
M9 crash exposes limits of rules on social media giants when it comes to online harms
Deaths of five teenagers linked to popularity of high risk-taking for ‘likes’ and affirmation
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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 19/08/2026
do we know of any universities/higher ed institutions that have explicitly stated resistance/refusal of genai as their official policy
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Sam Tranum @samtranum.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The Oireachtas has been leaning into Microsoft for its comms, even as other European governments abandon US tech. Switching to the US big tech provider, for phone systems and more, comes at a time of fierce debate about tech sovereignty.
dublininquirer.com
The Oireachtas leans into Microsoft for its comms, even as other European governments abandon US tech
Switching to the US big tech provider, for phone systems and more, comes at a time of fierce debate about tech sovereignty.
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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The actions in early 2025 of one unelected man, Elon Musk, have reversed 25 years of monumental progress in child health writes Dr Suzanne Crowe in today's @irishexaminer.bsky.social www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
irishexaminer.com
Elon Musk’s USAID cuts will cause 4.5m child deaths
‘The Lancet’ report shows that the US DOGE defunding of foreign aid has reversed decades of progress in child health worldwide, writes Dr Suzanne Crowe
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This is a complete distraction. Ireland cannot build a nuclear power plant fast enough to matter. Making a decision to do so would excuse punting on all the wind and solar things it can and must do. This is a lobby project of the tech industry to have something to say when building data centres.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 14/08/2026
The “scan and pulp” story hit a nerve this week, but it’s only scratching the surface of what the AI industry is doing; which is fundamentally transforming the economics of human creativity and destroying the legal infrastructure - in place since the 1700s - that makes it a viable profession
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The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 14/08/2026
Liz Carolan: Why are AI firms bulk buying and pulping books? Because it’s cheaper than paying writers
irishtimes.com
Liz Carolan: Why are AI firms bulk buying and pulping books? Because it’s cheaper than paying writers
In an internal memo, an executive at AI firm Anthropic wrote that ‘Project Panama is our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world’
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Grateful if you could spread the word on this one
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 07/08/2026
i just made my annual 3 min phone call to Eir that saves me €180 per year ”My deal is expiring, can you put me on the best plan?” And it’s €15/ month for unlimited everything
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 07/08/2026
When I heard that a 4 ton piece of SpaceX junk put a massive crater on the moon, I imagined whatever species that will replace us in millions of years trying to fathom what could have done that Little will they know how much the recklessness was even worse on earth
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The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 07/08/2026
Liz Carolan: An 18 crater on the Moon is the smallest of our Elon Musk-shaped problems
irishtimes.com
Liz Carolan: An 18 crater on the Moon is the smallest of our Elon Musk-shaped problems
SpaceX incident felt like a parable for the move-fast-and-break-things leadership style espoused by the Tesla founder
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Prof David Farrell, UCD @davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
That’s an important read by @lizcarolan.com
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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
If you were confused about what happened in Ceuta last week read this piece by @lizcarolan.com who's looking at how it blew up online and who's behind it... www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
irishexaminer.com
Liz Carolan: Migrants pay a deadly price in Ceuta disinformation disaster
All the layers of neglected dysfunction in our information environment have come together into one deadly, toxic mess for Moroccans in Ceuta, writes Liz Carolan
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 05/08/2026
We too easily skipped over the part of the Ceuta story where thousands of young people were manipulated into risking or losing their lives for a lie; to orchestrate images that then led the news agenda for the weekend, and kneejerk reactions from EU Govs And the Irish failures that let this happen
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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Ireland’s notorious mother and baby institutions operated until the late 1990s. Zoei Bonny was the last baby to die under the care of Bessborough, in Cork, in 1994. Her mother Cindi shared her story with me a few days ago. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
Bessborough survivor Cindi Bonny on the death of her baby Zoei in 1994
Podcast Episode · The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast · 31 July · 36min
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Sam Tranum @samtranum.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Using the recently updated collisiontracker.ie - which now includes RSA data and a tool to analyse by time period - I had a look at this transport corridor, in an article that unexpectedly veered into the debate on judicial reviews. There's a cool visualisation by Brian Rogers too.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 01/08/2026
An ode to getting a break from your children on holidays: www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
irishtimes.com
Liz Carolan: We need to stop guilt-tripping parents for wanting a few hours’ break from their kids
I felt guilty for using the kids’ club, but I shouldn’t have
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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Cindi Bonny was just 16 but she had already experienced homelessness, drug addiction and an abusive relationship when she first entered Bessborough in 1993, pregnant with her son Kevin. Her second baby Zoie was the last one to die there. www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlig...
irishexaminer.com
The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: Bessborough survivor Cindi Bonny on the death of her baby Zoei in 1994
Cindi Bonny was just 16 but she had already experienced homelessness, drug addiction and an abusive relationship when she first entered Bessborough in 1993, pregnant with her son Kevin
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Ryan Mac 🙃 @rmac.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
the guts it takes to do something like this. props to the goat @davephilipps.bsky.social, who always tells these stories of vets and their families with such care. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/u...
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
This is an important role - National Data Guardian. Advises the health and care system so people’s information is kept safe and confidential, and is shared when appropriate to achieve better outcomes for patients. £63k for 3.5 days a week apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9039
apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk
Appointment details – National Data Guardian – Apply for a public appointment – GOV.UK
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Sam Jeffers @worklesshard.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
There seems to be a very good (and increasing) chance that the US approach to AI has been the wrong one.
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Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera @pantibliss.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
They will do literally anything except hold tech companies responsible for their products and what they publish
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Major platforms sold political ads in Cyprus despite saying they had banned the practice, according to new research. Tech Policy Press fellow Liz Carolan on the gaps in EU rules ahead of major European elections.
buff.ly
EU Political Ad Rules Leave Elections Open to Foreign Manipulation
Cyprus election study exposes major gaps in Meta, TikTok and Google’s enforcement of the EU's political ad rules, writes Liz Carolan.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 13/07/2026
A decade later, we’re all bored to bloody tears talking about online political ads BUT NOTHING HAS CHANGED Exhibit 7000: Meta, TikTok and Google repeatedly sold political ads in Cyprus - thousands of them in a tiny place - despite bans, despite laws, despite risks of malign foreign influence
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
The push towards ubiquitous police-accessible facial recognition video surveillance of our public spaces is just starting here, with the passage of Jim O’Callaghan’s EU-Law busting Bill. Elsewhere, they already tried it and even *the LAPD* has dropped it because of its privacy implications.
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Liz Carolan @lizcarolan.com · 11/07/2026
Pockets full of treasure 🪎
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Asvatha @asvatha.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Coming out of hibernation to plug this piece I wrote for @techpolicypress.bsky.social on why we need to pay attention to the steady expansion of surveillance infrastructure in India. www.techpolicy.press/india-is-bui...
techpolicy.press
India is Building Surveillance Infrastructure on Broken Data and Bad Policing
Each layer of the stack amplifies the errors of the layer beneath it, writes Dr. Asvatha Babu.
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Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The next six months is just going to be Irish Ministers enthusiastically signing the worst set of EU legislation in history.
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