Idaho’s Abortion Lawsuit, TTP Podcast Appearances, and Marc Andreessen’s Govt. Insiders

Idaho’s Largest Hospital System Sues AG, Seeking Abortion Protections

On Tuesday, the largest healthcare system in Idaho filed a lawsuit against state Attorney General Raúl Labrador, alleging that Idaho’s abortion ban is a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA)—a law that requires hospitals receiving Medicare funds to provide stabilizing treatment to patients who arrive at their emergency departments. In its complaint, St. Lukes argues that abortions can qualify as life-saving care in certain circumstances, and that Idaho’s existing abortion ban is so limiting that it does not allow providers to comply with the requirements of EMTALA. Specifically, Idaho’s law only allows a physician to terminate a pregnancy to prevent the death of a mother. In practice, this means that a patient cannot receive an abortion even if continuing the pregnancy will permanently disable her or threaten her ability to have more children. Physicians are also less likely to offer abortions even in life-or-death cases, out of fear that they will be criminally prosecuted. In response to the lawsuit, Labrador issued a statement claiming that Idaho’s abortion ban and EMTALA were not in conflict, and that “laws protecting the sanctity of life are left up to the individual states.”

TTP Director Katie Paul Discusses Meta Content Moderation Changes, Social Media and Immigration

This week, TTP Director Katie Paul appeared on two podcasts to discuss content moderation and the role social media platforms can play in enabling violence, as more tech companies abandon their already-strained trust and safety efforts. First, she spoke with Justin Glawe on his podcast American Doom, to explain how Meta’s choice to abandon fact-checking could be particularly devastating for users outside the United States. While Meta’s fact-checking was far from perfect, Katie predicts that rolling back these policies will turn Meta platforms into a “free-for-all,” in a complete reversal of the suppression of political content on Threads. The company had been ignoring reports from regional fact-checkers for years, but the loss of funding will still impact civil society organizations that depended on the contracts.

Katie also appeared on the Borders and Belonging podcast from Toronto Metropolitan University, which is hosted by immigration researcher Maggie Perzyna. There, she discussed Meta’s failure to address the spread of misinformation targeting migrants, who often rely on platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp to stay connected. In 2022, TTP assembled a team of interviewers to survey US-bound migrants from Central America, almost 70% of whom said they used Facebook to find information. Some respondents told the interviewers that Facebook and WhatsApp had connected them with scammers who stole their money, abandoned them in unsafe conditions, or otherwise misled them. This situation will likely worsen as Meta moves away from content moderation and relies on user reports to identify bad actors.

Marc Andreessen Taps Appointees for Agency Roles

Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has been selecting candidates for positions across multiple federal agencies, according to new reporting by The Washington Post—and his influence appears to go beyond roles in tech policy and economics. Though the investor described himself as an “unpaid intern” of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), he has appeared in a steady lineup of interviews to explain how Musk’s plans fit into a deregulatory, pro-tech agenda. Andreessen seems to have been involved with the unofficial cost-cutting commission since it was announced, but The Post’s reporting and Andreessen’s own comments suggest that he is helping to make personnel decisions in places like the Department of Health and Human Services and the Pentagon. In a Hoover Institution podcast published this week, Andreessen said that while he wouldn’t name names, “a lot of very smart people are putting their hands up” for positions in agencies. Already, Trump has nominated Andreessen Horowitz managing partner Scott Kupor to lead the Office of Personnel Management, where he will have considerable power over the recruiting of government employees.

Andreessen wouldn’t be the first tech billionaire to pack the federal government with his allies. In 2022, TTP published a report explaining how former Google CEO Eric Schmidt used an obscure government program to place at least 24 fellows in influential government posts, many of which aligned with Schmidt’s financial interests. Like Andreessen, Schmidt has made investments in defense tech start-ups which could benefit immensely under a friendly administration.

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