The language is leaving me

7 May 2026
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Reading lists, books, and imagination

Social Media is Now Parasocial Media

In the interest of the power of naming things, I love this short open-access paper from danah boyd where she suggests shifting the term we use to describe social media.

As she explains, the term “social media” is a hangover from a more optimistic time when these sites were nodes for authentic human connections. We are now light years beyond that: these sites are nodes for AI scrapers, gamed algorithms, and monetised content. They exist solely to exploit and to harm. The authentic human connections, at least on those applications, are long gone.

Hence renaming it parasocial media, as a phenomenon which “creates the conditions for people to objectify one another at a distance as mediatized objects, helping realize the different layers of toxicity that social media scholars document.”

And she is right: we are no longer watching each other on these sites. We are watching depictions of each other, as filtered through machines.

Got a thing

25 March 2026
Musings

Although classes ended last April, my dissertation was submitted in September, and my MSc was confirmed in December, the nature of the university graduation queue meant that I didn’t get my actual degree until last week.

And there it is. Read More

I, Sisyphus

28 February 2026
UK policy

Banning children from VPNs and social media will erode adults’ privacy

I spoke with New Scientist about a handful of clauses in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is currently reaching the finish line of the Parliamentary process. These clauses are resurrecting several incredibly bad ideas which were debated out of the Online Safety Act, a good four or five years ago.

There are very good reasons that those clauses, and their unintended consequences, were taken out of the then-Bill.

But here we are, all these years later, seeing those bad ideas smashed with brute force into a completely separate bill.

The Prince, The Paedo, The Palace, and the “Safety Tech” app

20 February 2026
UK policy

I have two skills in my professional locker which are both very useful and which also cause me a lot of trouble.

One of those skills is a photographic memory, which I’ve had since primary school. If I am scratching away at a policy question, I can remember a verbatim passage from a book I read years ago, and I can also remember that it was on the top half of a left hand page. I don’t understand it. It just is.

The other skill is an uncanny inner radar for charlatans, chancers, shysters, grifters, hustlers, and (as per previous blog entries…) actual criminal predators. Even when it’s years before The Stories come out or The Revelations are revealed, I will find myself looking at the centre of attention, being the only person in the room who not is applauding them like a seal, because I’m thinking to myself what’s your story, morning glory. I don’t understand it. It just is.

What I do understand is why these skills are why I have spent my adult professional life being labelled “difficult”, often at the cost of the professional work itself. Over time you come to learn that “difficult” means “person who remembers everything and sees right through your bullshit”. Which is why I tend to wear “difficult” as a badge of pride.

Well.

In light of various dramatic news events this week, I must report that once again, without even trying or knowing The Stories, I spotted one from hundreds of miles away, and I remembered where I kept the receipts.

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At last, a wonderful day in Parliament.

30 January 2026
Privacy

What an absolute honour and privilege it was to spend Wednesday morning in the House of Commons, alongside dissidents from Russia, Afghanistan, and China, speaking to Parliamentarians about the importance of end-to-end encryption.

The event, organised by Index on Censorship, was the most amazing, inspiring, and – here is the important point – politically effective gathering I’ve ever attended in the building. Hats off to Index for pulling it together.

Their campaign materials are excellent resources for further advocacy.

I have endured some right miserable days in the palace, so leaving with a smile on my face, knowing that good things had been done, felt amazing. But it wasn’t about me, of course. The three dissidents, who were so generous with their time and their words, are why we do this. It was humbling just to talk to them. This is why the work matters. This is what it’s all about.

Extra special thanks to Olga from Pussy Riot for doing me a massive favour. It was very much appreciated, by both the sender and the recipient. On an end-to-end encrypted app, of course.

I took this photo, I’m not in it!

Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, America

26 January 2026
CN x TP
the cover of the Atlantic's May 1951 issue

As I mentioned in my 2025 reading roundup, I spent some time last year immersed in studying the international protocols which have been devised to collect, categorise, and preserve digital evidence of war crimes, and crimes against humanity, for use in future tribunals.

These are the standards which allow human rights defenders to ensure that the video of something horrible which somebody filmed on their phone – perhaps while they were just walking along, minding their own business – meets the standards needed for submission as legal evidence for the next Nurembergs, whilst being safely preserved long enough to make it there.

The result of this research, a final paper for one of my MSc courses, was the only essay I’ve ever written for which I needed to add a content warning, because rape is a weapon of war.

Although my research focused on Ukraine, I made the point that these protocols have been used in Syria, Sudan, and Yemen.

I now make the point that they also need to be used in America.

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The Darnella test of social media and smartphone regulation

16 January 2026
Policy
Still image from a police body cam of a small group of people witnessing George Floyd's murder

There’s a lot happening this week, very fast, in the political sphere, about banning social media for teenagers, or banning them from smartphones. I have plenty to say about that, but right now I want you all to focus on this part.

This is my personal touchstone for evaluating proposed regulation about social media, and/or smartphones, where teenagers are concerned. I call it the Darnella test.

Ok, so who’s Darnella?

She’s a fucking hero.

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The worst fucking app idea ever

12 January 2026
CN x TP / Privacy

The tricky thing about my MPhil project is that I am researching a moving target. I am attempting to take current political affairs, which are unfolding very very fast, and translate them into normative legal shapes. This requires keeping an eye on many issues, as they unfold, to see whether they evolve into main characters or wither into side quests.

Here is an example of one of the issues I’m tracking. What it is, in the long term, remains to be seen. But I thought it was a good example of how many arms and legs this project has grown.

As you will be aware, or at least you should be, one of the overt goals of the US Christian Nationalist movement is pronatalism. My interest in this issue (or any given issue) starts at the point where it becomes a matter of technology, regulation, or technology regulation. Which it did.

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