This Week in Tech (Audio) TWiT 1059: I'm Interested in Your Toolset - Why Your Favorite Site Went Dark This Week
12 snips
Nov 24, 2025 
Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ, known as the 'digital Jesuit', advises on tech for the Vatican. Molly White, a crypto and tech accountability writer, dives into the world of web3 grifts. Wesley Faulkner from works-not-working discusses developer relations. They tackle Google's ad monopoly, age verification challenges on platforms like Roblox, and critiqued Microsoft’s Copilot in real-world scenarios. The debate on Cloudflare's central power over the internet and evolving EU privacy regulations adds depth to an insightful tech conversation.
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Opaque Verification Masks Influence
- X's attempt to reveal account origins briefly exposed that many high-profile influencers were actually foreign-run accounts.
- Leo, Molly, and Fr. Robert agreed that centralized platforms filled with bots benefit from opaque verification systems.
Leaving X Reduced Doomscrolling
- Molly said she still posts but mostly syndicates to multiple platforms and rarely scrolls X due to low signal.
- Leo and Wesley described quitting X reduced doomscrolling and improved mental well-being.
Standardize Age Verification APIs
- Prepare age-verification as an API-level negotiation so apps, browsers, and ISPs can enforce rules uniformly.
- Wesley suggested a standard where services advertise capabilities and clients or routers toggle restrictions accordingly.