#FakeNews existed before Facebook, and #CancelCulture existed before Twitter. The press engaged in both of these when all news was in ink. Shamelessly, wild narratives in Opinion Editorials being peddled as fact or universal truth have long existed. Legendary Progressive Rock Band RUSH learned this the hard way when a journalist attempted to sabotage their…
Chuck Ross The Chinese government’s foreign ministry portrayed China as the victim of coronavirus disinformation on Monday, before suggesting minutes later that the U.S. government is “hiding something” regarding the pandemic. “China always stands against disinformation campaign. We are victim rather than producer of disinformation,” the Chinese foreign ministry wrote from its Twitter account. The account then…
Two months ago, it had been mandatory in my local grocery to use only shopping bags brought from home. Plastic bags were illegal by local ordinance. Then the virus hit. Suddenly the opposite was true. It was illegal to bring bags from home because they could spread disease. Plastic bags were mandatory. As a huge…
The 2020 presidential race has been a great opportunity to illuminate shady practices, both in politics and in private life. Much like with 2016, it has made it easy to identify mental gymnasts on your Facebook friends list, and which businesses will donate to which side of the aisle. But most of all, it has…
The next several years may be among the most important for the future of free speech since the United States’ founding. The parameters of the United States’ centuries-old debate on the First Amendment are undergoing rapid and irreversible change driven by an explosion in information and communication technology. Before the widespread adoption of social media,…
On Monday, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley continued his quest to crush Big Tech by releasing a radical plan to overhaul the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Hawley proposes replacing the FTC’s five-member commission with a single Director, who would report directly to the Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice (DOJ). His plan would also…
Leah Jessen Over 115 applicants have applied to adopt a cat dubbed the “world’s worst cat,” a shelter in North Carolina said Friday. The Mitchell County Animal Rescue posted an adoption ad for Perdita the cat Wednesday on Facebook. “Meet Perdita, not for the faint of heart. LIKES: staring into your soul until you feel as if…
Chris White Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey proposed a plan Wednesday night that could potentially make moderating the giant company’s enormous platform a relic of the past. The tech giant is spearheading a coalition of researchers to construct an open and decentralized network that would, if successful, make Twitter one of several clients for the standard….
Audrey Conklin on October 30, 2019 Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Facebook for not policing political ads in a Wednesday tweet. The failed presidential candidate’s tweet came as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg faces backlash for defending the tech giant’s policy of not fact-checking political ads the same way it fact-checks other ads in…
Audrey Conklin Facebook announced Monday an effort to “protect the 2020 U.S. elections” by clearly marking fake news posts, offering protections to politicians’ accounts and offering more transparency. The effort comes after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg defended the social media site’s new advertisement policies, which will effectively allow political campaigns to release misinformation to voters, in an…