Wild West

My First Story for The Atlantic: Nextdoor's Election-Misinformation Problem

And how it affected a city council election on Mercer Island.

May 24, 2023 • 

Eli Sanders

March 2023

“A Curious Distinction With No Basis in Law”

Why a Seattle judge poked a new hole in Section 230, and why Meta’s appealing.

Mar 21, 2023 • 

Eli Sanders

October 2022

Update: It's a $24.6 million fine for Meta.

Apologies for two emails in one day, but this seemed worth a short update to this morning’s newsletter.

Oct 26, 2022 • 

Eli Sanders

Is Meta About to Be Fined $24.6 Million?

While we wait for Judge Douglass North’s answer, I’ll explain how a question about fines actually launched the AG’s case against Meta more than two…

Oct 26, 2022 • 

Eli Sanders

September 2022

Facebook Subpoenaed My Reporting Records. With Help from Substack, I Pushed Back.

Now that Facebook has lost its trial court fight against Washington State’s “gold standard” political ad transparency law, I’m free to tell a side-story…

Sep 8, 2022 • 

Eli Sanders

"Clearly Constitutional"

A judge has rejected Facebook's attempt to strike down Washington State's decades-old political ad transparency law.

Sep 4, 2022 • 

Eli Sanders

August 2021

Legal Leap

With gratitude to all of you who have read and supported this newsletter over the past year, I want to share some personal news: I’m going to law…

Aug 23, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders

August Recess

Wild West will be back next week.

Aug 16, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders

Calling All Commenters

"We’re not trying to cut a deal with Google or Facebook and cave to their international power," says the chair of the Washington State Public Disclosure…

Aug 9, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders

Redacted, Redacted, Redacted

A Facebook disclosure about political ads raises a number of questions, including whether the company is complying with state-level campaign finance…

Aug 2, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders

July 2021

Crisis Discipline

The environment is a complex, fragile system that can be pushed to the point of collapse. So is human collective behavior in the digital age, a new…

Jul 26, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders

"They're not stopping people"

Facebook political ads are once again targeting local elections all over Washington State, despite the company's years-long ban on such ads. So Wild…

Jul 19, 2021 • 

Eli Sanders