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Matt Abrams

@mattabrams.org
1.5K followers 5.4K following 244 posts

www.linkedin.com/in/mattabrams Advisor, Investor, Co-Founder, Board Member cursed (and blessed) with curiosity and a drive to #leaveitbetter Focused on intersection of quality information, deliberative dialogue (citizens’ assemblies), and trust

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Matt Abrams
Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
We will livestream our talk on Tech CEO Culture, featuring @karaswisher.bsky.social, podcaster, journalist, and author of Burn Book. Saturday 9 May 2026, 3:30-5:00 PM BST. Hosted with @mctd.bsky.social and @jbs.cam.ac.uk. www.youtube.com/live/r6LCAUC...
youtube.com
Cambridge Disinformation Summit
Tech CEO Culture with Kara Swisher, fireside chat at the University of Cambridge, 9 May 2026 3:30 PM
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Reposted by Matt Abrams
Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Palantir put out a 22-point summary of their CEO's book The Technological Republic. It's pitched as a defence of the West, but if you read it through the VDA framework, verification, deliberation, accountability, what it's actually doing looks rather different. twitter-thread.com/t/2045574398...
Opening text of a thread by Palantir from X
Because we get asked a lot.

The Technological Republic, in brief.

1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation.

2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible.

3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public.

4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 08/03/2026
"A woman who claims she was abused as a minor by both Epstein and Trump has given the FBI vivid accounts that include aspects of her life corroborated by the The Post and Courier through public records ... she claimed Trump forced her to commit a sex act on him sometime around 1984."
postandcourier.com
Fuzzy memories and hard facts: An SC accuser's claims against Epstein, Trump examined
An alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein gave FBI agents true accounts of her time growing up in SC. Claims she made about Donald Trump remain unsubstantiated.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February. A record number of Americans are withdrawing from their 401ks to cover expenses. Americans owe $18.5 trillion in debt — an historic high. Meanwhile, the wealth of America's 935 billionaires soared by $1.5 trillion in 2025. “Golden Age” for whom?
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
This is what all big companies should be doing.
Screenshot of an X post by “No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen” claiming Costco is demanding that Trump reimburse them for tariffs so they can refund customers. Below are two images side by side: the Costco Wholesale logo and a photo of Donald Trump looking at a phone while reporters hold microphones near him.
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
The king of the hypocrites, really. Just an utterly shameless person who also, if I recall correctly, covered up sexual abuse crimes.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 11/02/2026
Instead, Kari Lake has badly damaged America's international broadcasters and wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers money www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
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Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
There are four non-mutually-exclusive fundamental incentives to disinformation campaigns: 1) financial 2) power 3) physical 4) social-psychological I assess the most powerful current narratives are to offer: Absolution of shame and self-regulation. This supports all four incentives.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Peter Thiel has been open about this for a long time. Trump is a way to break the republic, which can then be replaced by “free economic zones” with oligarchs as dictators and tech as a taskmaster for helpless humans without any rights. (1/2)
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Marietje Schaake @marietjeschaake.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Do Americans appreciate how quickly they are alienating even their staunchest former allies? Read conservative @tomtugendhat.bsky.social from the UK and former Canadian PM Stephen Harper making the case for sovereignty: dispatches.tomtugendhat.org/p/the-two-em... and www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
dispatches.tomtugendhat.org
The Two Empires of AI
AI may feel universal but the capability is sovereign and the power sits in the US and China. Sovereignty matters. Written together with Christopher Ahlberg.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
"Better never means better for everyone... It always means worse, for some"
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Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
“Cognitive warfare is not coming—it is already here.” Discussion from Mark Van Helzing link: www.linkedin.com/pulse/cognit...
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Bellingcat's Discord community is still digging through the Epstein files and making sure they're all safely backed up. You can join the thread here: discord.com/channels/709... Some really weird stuff in there. New users can use this link to join the server: discord.com/invite/belli...
discord.com
Discord - Group Chat That’s All Fun & Games
Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out.
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Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Similar to my testimony in European Parliament last year. youtu.be/xJaJfROLs6Y?...
youtu.be
Prof Jagolinzer testifies to EU Parliament about the dark uses of cryptocurrency
YouTube video by Cambridge Disinformation Summit
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Bruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free
youtu.be
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Pay attention to this. The purpose of these investigations is not just to manufacture evidence to support Trump’s 2020 “voter fraud” accusations, but also to set the stage for another round of efforts to suppress votes and delegitimize election results in 2026 (which the GOP is likely to lose).
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CNN @cnn.com · 28/01/2026
Weeks before the 2024 election, American military hackers carried out a secret operation to disrupt the work of Russian trolls spewing false information at US voters. cnn.it/4qHxzHb
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 26/01/2026
“At times, Minneapolis reminded me of what I saw during the Arab Spring in 2011, a series of street clashes between protesters and police that quickly swelled into a much larger struggle against autocracy,” Robert F. Worth reports.
bit.ly
The Minneapolis Uprising
A series of street-level clashes have snowballed into a larger fight against autocracy.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 25/01/2026
This witness to Alex Pretti's murder not only refutes the governmen't story, but says she is afraid to go home because federal agents might arrest her. This is what it feels like to live under state terror. www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
documentcloud.org
TincherSealedWitnessDec012426.PDF
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Matt Abrams @mattabrams.org · 26/01/2026
👇💯 The lack of intellectual humility, particularly across tech / venture, is not self-destructive as it should be, but rather humanity-destructive
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Rodney Brooks @rodneyabrooks.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
I post politically on eXtwitter and no science/tech, and here only post on science/tech. But we must not look away from what is happening right now, out in the open with no regard for morality or human life. Do not look away.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
If you're interested in seeing how framing contests are taking shape after the ICE killing of another person in Minneapolis, here's a window into the conversation on X this morning. Link to interactive graph: faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/Spot... * I put this together quickly. Sorry for any errors
Spotlight graph of X discourse about the shooting/killing of a man by ICE agents on January 24 in Minneapolis. Graph showing X posts along time (X axis) and cumulative number of X posts shared by that time (Y axis). Post counts are estimated (by Brandwatch) and include both X posts and reposts where the text contained terms indicating the post was about the *shooting AND the video* during the time period. Individual posts are plotted on the graph, sized by the number of reposts that post received (during the time period). Plotted posts are limited to posts that received >1 reposts.

Two posts are highlighted.

One by @gremloe (1/24/2026, 12:31:31 PM EDT): “It appears from zooming in just moments before ICE/CBP shoot yet another US citizen, one agent removes the victims firearm from his waste holster. The victim was UNARMED when he was shot multiple times. This is a state execution. Again.”

A second by @bennyjohnson (1/24/2026, 1:21:28 PM EDT): “Tim Walz just a few days ago was climbing on the gate of his mansion urging protesters to keep causing “trouble” and fighting ICE. An armed man just attacked agents and got killed. See how that works? Minnesota officials are fueling this.”
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Don't believe your lying eyes:
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Please reshare the below post, unfortunately some accounts with lots of followers have reposted the false claim and loads of people are falling for it.
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
Same thing every time: 1. Reframe the victim as the villain 2. Make the state the injured party 3. Turn critique into complicity (“oh so you side with terrorists”) 4. Expand blame to an entire out-group 5. Fuse to a larger us-against-them story to keep any alarmed within the base from defecting
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
not surprising and yet still jarring to read ex-FBI agents describing how Kash Patel and Bongino reacted to Charlie Kirk's murder while running the agency. truly the content creator administration/podcast govt www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
It’s not a meme it’s a deceptively edited photograph.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 22/01/2026
US law requires 2/3 Senate approval for international treaties
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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Podcast Jay and the Resentment Bros own this
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Alan Jagolinzer @jagolinzer.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
As I tell my students: “Where there is chaos, there is opportunity.” There is a great opportunity to rebuild infrastructure in other regions and in private enterprises, with support from investors such as major pension funds. Opportunity to build, but with real urgency.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Coming to a state near you soon:
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 20/01/2026
Danish pension fund to dump US treasuries "The US is basically not a good credit and long-term the US government finances are not sustainable," says chief investment officer www.investing.com/news/stock-m...
investing.com
Danish pension fund AkademikerPension to exit US Treasuries By Investing.com
Danish pension fund AkademikerPension to exit US Treasuries
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
I’ve been reading Trump’s "Board of Peace Charter," and despite the name, this isn’t a multilateral institution, it’s a centralised structure built entirely around the authority of one person (Trump). www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-ch...
timesofisrael.com
Full text: Charter of Trump’s Board of Peace
No mention of Gaza, which bolsters ToI's reporting that US also envisions panel helping resolve other conflicts worldwide; member countries must pay $1 billion for permanent spot
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NPR @npr.org · 20/01/2026
The three most-senior cardinals leading U.S. archdioceses issued the rebuke in a joint statement on Monday, saying recent policies have thrown America's "morale role in confronting evil" into question. n.pr/4bNfjrc
n.pr
Top U.S. archbishops denounce American foreign policy
The three most-senior cardinals leading U.S. archdioceses issued the rebuke in a joint statement on Monday, saying recent policies have thrown America's "morale role in confronting evil" into question.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 20/01/2026
The Prime Minister of Belgium speaks:
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Inhumane and incredibly short-sighted. These meds keep people healthy and protect their partners and communities. This is a death sentence for people who can’t afford the meds ($20k plus per year) and will lead to more infections, more drastically altered lives, and more need for assistance.
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
I've been doing a soft launch of my new Substack, Sensemaking Distortion, a blog about how our ability to make sense of the world around us is being profoundly distorted by digital and social media. I just published the Welcome post this morning. open.substack.com/pub/katestar...
open.substack.com
Welcome to Sensemaking Distortion
A blog about how our ability make sense of everything is profoundly distorted by digital and social media.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 19/01/2026
Unhinged
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The Economist @economist.com · 18/01/2026
Spying appealed to his theatre-loving side, the disguises and the dissembling, the building and betraying of trust. Aldrich Ames enjoyed almost every part of the job
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Aldrich Ames built a career on betraying trust
The most senior CIA man to spy for Russia died on January 5th, aged 84
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
When I lecture to students about how the apparently thriving economy of the 1920s was really a house of cards just waiting to be knocked down, one of the points I stress is how much a small number of the very rich were essentially propping up consumer spending in unsustainable ways
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Keir Starmer says Trump’s threat to impose tariffs over Greenland ‘completely wrong’ www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Keir Starmer says Trump’s threat to impose tariffs over Greenland ‘completely wrong’
Prime minister and opposition politicians condemn threat to impose 10% tariff unless deal reached to buy the Arctic island
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 17/01/2026
The families of Danes killed in Afghanistan have a message for Trump www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...
theatlantic.com
The Sacrifice of the Danes
After September 11, Denmark fought alongside its ally. The families of fallen soldiers have a message for Trump.
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
US federal forces blind two protesters shot in face with ‘less-lethal’ munitions www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US federal forces blind two protesters shot in face with ‘less-lethal’ munitions
Kaden Rummler and Britain Rodriguez tell KTLA and LA Times of being shot at close range during California protest
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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
From “they’re eating the pets” and Alligator Alcatraz, to “waste, fraud, and abuse” and DOGE dismantling USAID, to the invasion of Minnesota to halt allegedly massive fraud: Participatory propaganda, facilitated by online platforms, driving policy in a right wing populist administration.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 17/01/2026
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Only Pew Research Center to go!
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Elon Musk’s Grok ‘Undressing’ Problem Isn’t Fixed www.wired.com/story/elon-m...
wired.com
Elon Musk’s Grok ‘Undressing’ Problem Isn’t Fixed
X has placed more restrictions on Grok’s ability to generate explicit AI images, but tests show that the updates have created a patchwork of limitations that fail to fully address the issue.
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 14/01/2026
UPDATE: Jack Daniel’s parent co. Brown-Forman tells me it has nothing to do with CBS’ “Whiskey Friday” concept. “Jack Daniel’s is not involved in any such segment, nor do we have any awareness of the segment and any potential partnerships or sponsorships.”
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Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 13/01/2026
this is indistinguishable from a half-assed digital media pitch from the pivot-to-video era that would have been rejected by thrillist's senior video producer for being pointless and corny
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Matt Abrams @mattabrams.org · 12/01/2026
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/u...
nytimes.com
U.S. Citizens Are Joining the Military to Protect Undocumented Parents
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