The New Yorker staff writer Jay Caspian Kang joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss efforts by the U.S. government to rein in social media, including the latest attempt to ban TikTok. While Kang agrees that society should be more conscientious about how we, especially children, use social media, he argues that efforts to ban these apps also violate the First Amendment.

“Social media has become the public square, even if it is privately owned,” he says.

This episode was originally published in March, 2024.

This week’s reading:

“The Misguided Attempt to Control Tiktok,” by Jay Caspian Kang

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.

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