Taylor Hatmaker
The Latest from Taylor Hatmaker
Imagine a better future for social media at TechCrunch Sessions: Justice
Toxic culture, deadly conspiracies and organized hate have exploded online in recent years. We’ll discuss how much responsibility social networks have in the rise of these phenomena and how to build
Minneapolis bans its police department from using facial recognition software
Minneapolis voted Friday to ban the use of facial recognition software for its police department, growing the list of major cities that have implemented local restrictions on the controversial technol
Facebook Oversight Board says other social networks ‘welcome to join’ if project succeeds
The Facebook Oversight Board has only been operational for a short time, but the nascent project is already looking ahead. In a conversation hosted by the Carnegie Endowment Thursday, Oversight Board
Twitter says Trump is banned forever — even if he runs for president again
As the second impeachment trial of his presidency unfolds, there’s another bit of bad news for the former president. In a new interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Twitter Chief Financial Office
Facebook says it will remove more COVID-19 conspiracies that discourage vaccination
Vaccine misinformation has been around since well before the pandemic, but ensuring that anti-scientific conspiracies don’t get boosted online is more crucial than ever as the world races agains
The SAFE TECH Act offers Section 230 reform, but the law’s defenders warn of major side effects
The first major Section 230 reform proposal of the Biden era is out. In a new bill, Senate Democrats Mark Warner (D-VA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) propose changes to Section 230 of
House punishes Republican lawmaker who promoted violent conspiracy theories
Democrats in the House voted to strip freshman Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of some of her responsibilities Thursday, citing her penchant for violent, anti-democratic and at times ant
New antitrust reform bill charts one possible path for regulating big tech
As Democrats settle into control of both chambers of Congress, signs of the party’s legislative priorities are starting to manifest. So far, lawmakers’ interest in reimagining tech’s
You can now give Facebook’s Oversight Board feedback on the decision to suspend Trump
Facebook’s “Supreme Court” is now accepting comments on one of its earliest and likely most consequential cases. The Facebook Oversight Board announced Friday that it would begin acc
Lawmakers announce hearings on GameStop and online trading platforms
The GameStop short squeeze saga caught the attention of Congress Thursday morning and that buzz is already panning out into hearings on the topic. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Co
AOC, Ted Cruz slam Robinhood for freezing some trades amid GameStop volatility
With Reddit’s interest in sending some stocks soaring showing no sign of slowing down, the trading app Robinhood started restricting some transactions Thursday morning. Reddit wasn’t happy
Pro-Trump Twitter figure arrested for spreading vote-by-text disinformation in 2016
The man behind a once-influential pro-Trump account is facing charges of election interference for allegedly disseminating voting disinformation on Twitter in 2016. Federal prosecutors allege that Do
Facebook will give academic researchers access to 2020 election ad targeting data
Starting next month, Facebook will open up academic access to a dataset of 1.3 million political and social issue ads, including those that ran between August 3 and November 3, 2020 — Election Day i
Facebook’s Oversight Board will review the decision to suspend Trump
Facebook announced Thursday that its newly established external policy review group will take on one of the company’s most consequential acts: The decision to suspend former President Trump. On
Threat of inauguration violence casts a long shadow over social media
As the U.S. heads into one of the most perilous phases of American democracy since the Civil War, social media companies are scrambling to shore up their patchwork defenses for a moment they appear to
Facebook blocks new events around DC and state capitols
As a precaution against coordinated violence as the U.S. approaches President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Facebook announced a few new measures it’s putting in place. In a blog post an
Telegram blocks ‘dozens’ of hardcore hate channels threatening violence
With many social networks suddenly reevaluating their policies in light of recent political violence in the U.S., the popular messaging app Telegram has begun chipping away at an organized network of
Why Twitter says it banned President Trump
Twitter permanently banned the U.S. president Friday, taking a dramatic step to limit Trump’s ability to communicate with his followers. That decision, made in light of his encouragement for Wed
Twitter permanently bans President Trump
Twitter permanently removed the president of the United States from its platform Friday, citing concerns over the “risk of further incitement of violence” and Trump’s previous transg
Twitter bans former Trump adviser Michael Flynn and other QAnon figures
Twitter took action against a pair of President Trump’s close associates Friday, banning them from the platform as part of a broader effort to contain the QAnon conspiracy movement. Trump’