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Mike Stabile

@mikestabile.bsky.social
12K followers 913 following 4.1K posts

First Amendment rodeo clown. Policy Director at Free Speech Coalition, co-founder SWR Data, among other things. Personal account, all outrage / nonsense here is my own. Terrible at DMs

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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 9h
"My concern about the bans is that people will go underground. When they go underground online, bad things happen — really terrible things happen."
businessinsider.com
Tech is entering its prohibition era. We've been here before.
Governments are seeking to set restrictions on popular tech. Though well-intentioned, the bans are easier said than done.
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Riana @riana.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
NEW RESEARCH PAPER! With Cyndie Demeocq at U of Edinburgh, today I’m releasing a paper analyzing 71 federal criminal cases, filed around the US from 2022-2025, that somehow involve AI-generated or -morphed CSAM or child obscenity. Here's the SSRN link: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Yes, It's Already Illegal: Federal Criminal Prosecutions for AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material, 2022-2025
<div> Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is now capable of creating realistic-looking images and videos with just a text prompt. This capacity has been mi
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Utah wanted websites to verify the actual, physical location of visitors and force them to identify VPN users. The controversial addition to the state's age-verification law was suppose to go into effect next week, but a District Court judge struck it down at least temporarily.
techradar.com
Federal judge strikes down Utah's controversial VPN age verification rules
A major win for digital privacy as courts rule that state-level age verification laws cannot mandate the tracking of encrypted web traffic
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Zoom's new AI assistant comes with a prompt to "make me sound smart" on a call. Good luck!
Pre-programmed prompts: 

Catch me up

Make me sound smart

Decisions and Action Items
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Kriss Lowrance @krisslowrance.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
My job in 2019: "Make porn sites work better, so adults who pay money to view porn will want to pay money to view porn." My Job in 2026: "Draft a compliance plan for Eastwestern Tennabamaho's new 'porn sites confirm viewer's blood type every 10 seconds' law, so Visa doesn't drone-strike my house"
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Ursula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy?
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“I don’t want the government spying on me” is the type of straightforward position to take, regardless of ideology.
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🌦️Wifeguy Auteur🌦️ @delugeduvall.effigyfilms.com · 25/09/2026
if “we’re all cam girls in a surveillance state” ya’ll better be acting in solidarity with actual fucking cam girls 😒
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JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is the master key to deciphering contemporary debates about free speech. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/se...
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
VPN bans are a direct response to age-verification. Legislators are frustrated that people are getting around their surveillance, but rather than rethink their strategy, they're doubling down and banning VPNs. Fight the Flock-ing of the internet.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
some pilots are part of the furry community
An illustration of the Ralph Lauren Polo bear dressed up as a pilot and standing in front of a red airplane. The text says "Polo Aviator by Ralph Lauren."
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 24/09/2026
"No one on Bluesky thinks they’re interacting with a cross section of the population. But a lot of people on X do think that." talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/we-di...
talkingpointsmemo.com
We Didn’t Know Until This Day … Twitter Was the Echo Chamber All Along
Daniel Drezner says we are now in the Wile E. Coyote phase...
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
"Housing instability, criminalization, poverty, isolation, and institutional indifference create danger... We should not need a million files, a room full of chemicals, and the possibility of a serial killer before missing women become visible."
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
welp, there's a new SCREEN Act. Sort of. This one's "Strengthened Checks for Reliable Evaluation of Entrants Nationwide Act" and focused on cruise lines visas (?) Purely as an acronym, I think "Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net Act" is better. Or at least campier.
rickscott.senate.gov
Sen. Rick Scott Introduces SCREEN Act to Help Protect American Kids from Foreign Predators
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Florida's educational commissioner singled out Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" demanding its removal from school libraries, even if no complaint is filed: “The time is over for how we are addressing the smut, the porn, the inappropriateness that is still infiltrating our libraries in our schools."
yahoo.com
Florida schools must do more to purge ‘inappropriate’ books, commissioner says
The big story: Saying Florida parents continue to find too much age-inappropriate material in their children’s schools, state education commissioner Henry Mack instructed districts to do a better job ...
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Adult content creators are seen as real people by fans, rebutting years of anti-porn claims that sex work strips creators of humanity. In fact, OnlyFans creators were percieved as having more self-control, free will and capacity for independent thinking than other women.
psypost.org
Sexual objectification does not erase the perceived humanity of OnlyFans creators, study suggests
People who sell explicit digital content online are heavily sexually objectified by observers, yet they are still viewed as capable individuals with free will. These findings challenge traditional psy...
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Cecilia Tan @ceciliatan.com · 23/09/2026
So less than 5 years ago, korean company Kakao bought the serial fiction site Radish for $440 million, Tapas for $510 million. Both were moneymaking sites where a fair number of romance and erotica writers made bank. But they shut down Radish less than a year ago, and now Tapas will close, too. Why?
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Discord re-launches age-verification after its disastrous roll-out (and privacy leak) earlier this year. But this time, they say they're not asking for ID or biometrics (at least for most people), but relying on less sensitive information like account age.
polygon.com
Discord's Controversial Age Verification Policy Starts Today
Discord company says "90%" of users won't be asked to confirm their age
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
British regular Ofcom praised Apple for its age-check protocols. The same regulator is now investigating Pornhub for using those same protocols OSA's becoming less and less about protecting kids and more and more about creating a regime to punish speech and platforms the government doesn't like
bbc.com
Pornhub age checks investigated by Ofcom
The regulator says it has concerns over how the site is relying on third party checks provided by Apple for some users.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
And it’s not even Locktober
playboy.com
One in Three Gen Z Men Hasn't Masturbated in 90 Days
One in three men and nearly half of women haven't masturbated in the last 90 days according to Playboy's Gen Z Sex Survey.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
France's National Assembly is considering a bill that would criminalize adult content sales, equating online content creation with pimping. Consumers and platforms would face steep fines and prison. The bill is being championed by Céline Thiébault-Martinez, an MP on the supposed socialist left.
avn.com
An Anti-Sexual Violence Bill Could Ban Adult Sites in France AVN
A proposed national bill intended to combat gender-based and sexual violence in the French Republic could drastically expand pimping and procurement measures online to potentially cover direct-to-cons...
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“Girth of a Nation”
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"HHS Launches Commission on Gooning, Calls for EO on Semen Retention"
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
"Hot2Vote is launching a $100K campaign in Atlanta to ensure people are registered to vote — with the help of adult film stars. The multimedia effort includes more than 100 performers telling people 'always check their status' after the state’s mass cancellation of inactive voter registrations."
politico.com
Shapiro stakes a ’28 position on AI
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Helen Rosner @hels.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Bluesky why did you declare a drawing I made for a three-year-old to be adult content
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Lorelei Lee (they/them) @loreleilee.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
And we can't have reproductive freedom or trans rights without sex workers' rights. The connection should be obvious.
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Florida Freedom to Read Project @flfreedomread.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“The options are fewer and farther away in rural communities, so removing a book from a school library can have a greater practical effect on whether a young person can obtain it,” William Johnson of @penamerica.bsky.social said. www.cfpublic.org/education/20...
cfpublic.org
Nearly 600 books were banned from Florida schools last year
The removals were reported in just 10 of Florida’s 67 school districts. Three are in Central Florida: Orange, Polk and Sumter counties.
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I want to see a ban on facial recognition, ALPRs, and other AI surveillance weapons. I want strict privacy legislation cracking down on all companies including AI giants nonconsensual hoovering up of data. I want robust protections for open source and open weights. I want... What do you want?
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"“I have always been unapologetically me... These attacks on my identity have just made me stronger in my values and convictions.”
washingtonsun.com
Democratic Congressional Candidate Defends Resurfaced Explicit Photos
Chris Gallant, 37, said the photos have no bearing on his ability to serve in Congress.
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Lorelei Lee (they/them) @loreleilee.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Happy Sex Worker Pride Day (September 14th). It’s a great day to support sex workers by donating to sex worker-led organizations. Help me make a list of org’s donation pages below! #sexworkerpride #sexworkiswork #decrimnow
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Nazis mad about consensual sex again.
nypost.com
Exclusive | NY Dem House candidate modeled for XXX-rated BDSM ads while serving in National Guard
Aspiring eastern Long Island congressman Chris Gallant, 37, appears to have had a prior career modeling sex toys for one of the self-described “forerunner” fetish stores in the country.
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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/09/2026
The fact that OpenAI is making it much easier for unskilled people to break into and damage servers is indeed *very* bad news, but it's not *new* bad news. Irresponsible parties have been doing this for years, most notably the NSA.
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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview. IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing. Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 12/09/2026
A trans man in the UK has been banned in the workplace restrooms after he was forced to use the women's restrooms to comply with the new EHRC guidance. The women complained because he is visibly male and so they told him he can't use any bathroom.
A screenshot of a Reddit post from the r/LegalAdviceUK subreddit by user Dijstraanon, titled "FtM transgender facing two different issues at work? England."
The post text reads:
"Brother in law is trans FtM and presents fully as a man. He's now facing an impossible situation at work with his employer telling him that due to recent legislation he must use the toilet of his birth gender. BUT several female colleagues have raised a grievance about him using their gendered toilet.
His employer has told him that he cannot use the toilet while he is at work until they sort it out and cannot give him a timeframe to do so. They do [cut off] have disabled separate toilets.
In the mean time one of his female colleagues has accused him of sexual harassment because he was used their gendered toilet. His menstrual cycle meant he needed to use the toilet.
He's been with the employer for just over 5 years but only in this location for 18 months. The location is mainly male with just a handful of females, and his workshop only has male toilets.
I do not know how to support him and as he's not in a union there is no one to turn too right now."
The post has an orange "Comments Moderated" tag, 169 upvotes, and 134 comments.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I'm going to suggest that Pedocon theory is not really "theory" anymore, expect maybe in so far as you can say gravity is a theory.
abcnews.com
Convicted sex offender offered opening prayer at rally for GOP Senate nominee in North Carolina
A North Carolina pastor who led the opening prayer at a recent campaign stop for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley is a registered sex offender, twice sentenced to prison
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Thinking about how a girl at Christian summer camp asked me if my dad was in Al Qaeda and I got in trouble for asking if her dad was a Klansman bc “her question was understandable”
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"You’d be surprised how much content gets pumpkin-spiced. We’ve seen pumpkin-spice pits, pantyhose and pedicures. We’ve seen it incorporated into fetishes from wrestling and burping to breast expansion and paypigs."
vice.com
The Pumpkin Spice Craze Has Somehow Reached Fetish Porn. Seriously.
Fetish creators are folding PSLs into everything from burping and wrestling to breast expansion, turning fall’s favorite flavor fully NSFW.
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Lorelei Lee (they/them) @loreleilee.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A thing I don't see enough in convos abt LLMs is how they egregiously misunderstand what writing is FOR. LLMs assume writing is primarily meant to be consumed by other people. But the actual act of producing language on the page is a process of DISCOVERY. It's a process of finding out what you think
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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · 11/09/2026
Pretending the days after Sept. 11, 2001 were some kind of gauzy Hallmark special when we came together as a country is nauseating and ahistorical. The country went completely insane and has not recovered
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Evan Greer @evangreer.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
it would have been great if y'all listened to us 20 years ago but may i suggest starting now?
nytimes.com
Opinion | Civil Libertarians Knew This Would Happen. We Should Have Listened.
The civil libertarians’ warnings have come true.
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onion person @junlper.beer · 10/09/2026
trying to get people to understand that the trans women in sports debate isn’t really about sports but a meta narrative pushed by the right all about slowly getting all trans people out of public life is truly impossible
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Phoenix Calida @phoenixcalida.latinsky.app · 10/09/2026
I cannot get past this There are flock cameras and LPRs everywhere and apparently these traffickers routinely park in these traffick laden streets to beat girls They literally can't track them? But cops STILL can't find the traffickers?? These cameras are utterly useless then
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Phoenix Calida @phoenixcalida.latinsky.app · 08/09/2026
I have doubts about this Its giving copaganda based around the idea that not being able to arrest everyone means you can't arrest anyone I'd be curious to know why not arresting sex workers means you can't arrest traffickers since those are different crimes but im not giving NYT my email
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
And porn. DVD sales are up as much as 20% in states with online age-verification.
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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“Fascism always fails!!” Is less comforting than I’d like it to be given that it also usually kills several million people first.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
“I want to break this habit of people treating women and femmes and queers and sex workers like we’re just like tiny little helpless creatures. I want us to feel that power we have within us.”
playboy.com
Meet the Women Forming Gun Clubs for Self Protection
Sex worker gun clubs are popping up across the country as a form of self-defense and community protection.
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Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Act 372 allows police to arrest librarians if they allow children to access "material harmful to minors." Librarians, fearing arrest, have been forced to cut off access to LGBTQ+ resources, sex ed and literature that deals with sex, sexuality, race or gender. And in some cases, the whole library.
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Martha Hickson @sassylibrarian.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Book banners tried to have me arrested. Tried to have me fired. Tried to destroy my life. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any of them at the Emmy Awards.
Martha holding an Emmy Award for The Librarians documentary
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SWOP Behind Bars @swopbehindbars.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
A memorial for Gloria Steinem In 1963, Gloria Steinem put on a fake name, a fake age, a satin corset, and took a job as a Playboy Bunny. Then she took the ears off, went home, and spent the next sixty years telling the world what it means to work in the sex industry.
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