Destroying Autocracy â November 27, 2025
Welcome to this weekâs âDestroying Autocracyâ.
Itâs your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big mediaâs journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You canât be free without safety and privacy.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck âem.
The Programmerâs Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to each weekâs Symfony Station CommuniquĂŠ and Battalion âDestroying Autocracyâ post along with their featured articles. And youâll be set with TPF after the fusing in January.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.

Featured Item(s)
The Atlantic writes:
Over the weekend, Elon Muskâs X rolled out a feature that had the immediate result of sowing maximum chaos. The update, called âAbout This Account,â allows people to click on the profile of an X user and see such information as: which country the account was created in, where its user is currently based, and how many times the username has been changed.
Nikita Bier, Xâs head of product, said the feature was âan important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square.â Roughly four hours later, with the update in the wild, Bier sent another post: âI need a drink.â
Almost immediately, âAbout This Accountâ stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by âpatrioticâ Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand.
@MAGANationX, an account with almost 400,000 followers and whose bio says it is a âPatriot Voice for We The People,â is based in âEastern Europe (Non-EU),â according to the feature, and has changed its username five times since the account was made, last year.
On X and Bluesky, users dredged up countless examples of fake or misleading rage-baiting accounts posting aggressive culture-war takes to large audiences. An account called âMaga Nadineâ claims to be living in and posting from the United States but is, according to X, based in Morocco. An âAmerica Firstâ account with 67,000 followers is apparently based in Bangladesh. Poetically, the X handle @American is based in Pakistan, according to the feature.
Elon Muskâs Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors
Just FYI, December 25th will be the day I stop exploring the stupidity of our current timeline and the last Destroying Autocracy post. Again, see the notes above about The Fulcrum.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russiaâs War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
EuroNews reports:
Life after chatbots: Meet the âAI vegansâ refusing to accept a virtual reality
Kagi is:
Introducing SlopStop: Community-driven AI slop detection in Kagi Search
Orion 1.0 â´ď¸ Browse Beyond
Fucking awesome if you use Macs.
TechPolicy Press reports:
Why Civil Society Is Sounding the Alarm on the EUâs Omnibus Rollback
The Guardian reports:
European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16s
The Free Software Foundation Europe shares:
Germany Stack: Only Free Software Enables Digital Sovereignty
Wikimedia announces:
Unifying our mobile and desktop domains
Decidim reviews:
Decidim Fest 2025: Collective energy, digital sovereignty and a common roadmap
The Conversation reports:
Tim Berners-Lee wants everyone to own their own data â his plan needs state and consumer support to work
Mullvad reports:
An important victory â but we still need to stop Chat Control.
Ploum says:
Donât Do Snake Oil Writing
Fiona Fokus says:
I donât care how well your âAIâ works
Abso-fucking-lutely.
Neutral
The Guardian asks:
Has Britain become an economic colony?
England always makes sure to ape the shitty parts of America.
W3C shares:
Preventing Abuse of Digital Credentials
Ben Werdmuller covers:
The EFF we need now
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Heise reports:
Analysis of the Digital Sovereignty Summit: Open Source Gets Scolded
We Are Solomon reports:
Hungry for data: Inside Europolâs secretive AI program
The Intercept reports:
The FBI wants to use Surveillance Drones with Facial Recognition Technology
How Corporate Partnerships Powered University Surveillance of Palestine Protests
The Counter Offensive reports:
Witkoff was secretly giving Russians advice
Pariah States
The Register reports:
CISA warns spyware crews are breaking into Signal and WhatsApp accounts
DarkReading reports:
DPRKâs FlexibleFerret Tightens macOS Grip
Big Media
The Columbia Journalism Review reports:
Could Public Skepticism of the Press Actually Be Good for Democracy?
It could since most Big Media is owned by right-wing c^nts.
ProPublica shares:
ProPublicaâs May-August 2025 Impact Report: Independent Investigations That Spur Change
Big Tech
Sage Journals
Algorithms at your service: Understanding how Xâs systems of recommendation likely fueled the far-right riots in the United Kingdom by amplifying visual representations of racist conspiracy theories
RenĂŠe DiResta reports:
On the internet, nobody knows youâre a MAGA influencer⌠in Lagos
The Daily Beast reports:
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls
404 Media reports:
Americaâs Polarization Has Become the Worldâs Side Hustle
The Register reports:
Meta knows how bad its sites are for kids, say lawyers
MM+M reports:
What healthcare marketers need to know about Metaâs censoring of abortion ads
The Markup reports:
How American Big Tech guards the profits it extracts around the world
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Cox Enterprises discloses Oracle E-Business Suite data breach
Hmm, cable companies are literally shit at everything.
Code beautifiers expose credentials from banks, govt, tech orgs
DarkReading reports:
Infamous Shai-hulud Worm Resurfaces From the Depths
The Register reports:
FCC guts post-Salt Typhoon telco rules despite ongoing espionage risk
Fediverse
Terence Eden has:
Now witness the power of this fully operational Fediverse!
Ghost has:
Explore the independent web
RadWeb Hosting shares:
How to Host Your Own Mastodon Server on a VPS (5 Minute Quick-Start Guide)
How to Install Pleroma on Ubuntu VPS (5 Minute Quick-Start Guide)
NodeBB announces:
NodeBB v4.7.0 â category boost fixes, remote media/emoji in chats, and more!
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
Connected Places has:
ATmosphere Report â 144
CTAs (aka show us some free love)Thatâs it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
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Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#activitypub #ai #atproto #autocracy #bigJournalism #bigTech #democracy #fascism #fediverse #mastodon #nodebb #pleroma #stopChina #stopIsrael #stopRedAmerica #stopRussia #supportUkraine #technoanarchism #technofeudalism
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