Descriptions:
The a16z Show hosts a policy conversation between a16z general partner Katherine Boyle and Sarah Rogers, the current US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy. Rogers describes a sweeping reversal in the State Department’s posture on internet censorship — from an era in which the department actively flagged social media posts it considered disinformation (the subject of the Murthy v. Missouri Supreme Court case), to her current mandate focused on transparency, freedom of expression, and what she calls truth and reconciliation on prior censorship activity.
A significant portion of the discussion covers the collision between US free speech norms and European digital regulation. Rogers details a 2024 incident in which then-European Commission official Thierry Breton sent a letter to Elon Musk threatening regulatory penalties if he proceeded with a planned interview with Donald Trump — before the interview had taken place. She connects this to a subsequent €20 million fine against X under a separate investigation, arguing that ostensibly content-neutral regulations are being enforced in politically skewed ways, a pattern she describes as litigating in her private practice before the Supreme Court prior to joining the administration.
The conversation frames the global proliferation of a “western AI stack” as a top soft power priority, citing economist Tyler Cowen’s concept of AI with a western soul. For anyone tracking how US–EU tensions over speech, platform liability, and AI governance are evolving, this episode offers direct first-person perspective from inside the current State Department.
📺 Source: a16z · Published May 04, 2026
🏷️ Format: Interview
