2020 Election
YouTube declares war on US election misinformation… a month late
As Twitter and Facebook scrambled to institute new policies for the 2020 election, YouTube was… mostly quiet. The platform didn’t make any flashy announcements about a crackdown on electio
Trump didn’t concede, but he will move Biden’s transition forward
With an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots, election results took a bit longer this year than usual. But if Americans were expecting an election week, November stretched on into a month of electi
More voting software FUD falls flat after Trump highlights dubious data
Reports that Dominion Software, which provides voting tabulation tools to about half the states in the U.S., “deleted” millions of votes have been soundly rebuffed after outgoing President
Twitter labeled 300,000 US election tweets — around 0.2%
Just over a week after the U.S. elections, Twitter has offered a breakdown of some of its efforts to label misleading tweets. The site says that from October 27 to November 11, it labeled some 300,000
Facebook extends its temporary ban on political ads for another month
The election is settled, but the nation is far from it. Before Election Day in the U.S., Facebook hit pause on all political and social issue ads. At the time, the company made it clear that the preca
House Reps ask FCC to ‘stop work on all partisan, controversial items’ during transition
Two U.S. representatives who oversee the FCC have asked the agency to respect the results of the election by abandoning any “partisan, controversial items under consideration.” This likely
‘Free speech’ social network Parler tops app store rankings following Biden’s election win
Chafing at new misinformation safeguards and a lost election, dejected Trump supporters flocked to the alternative social network Parler over the weekend. Parler’s homepage promises that users c
Joe Biden wins the 2020 US presidential election
Following a tense week of vote tallying, Joe Biden won the state of Pennsylvania and vaulted ahead in the race to become the next president of the United States. Biden’s win in the critical stat
Steve Bannon’s show pulled off Twitter and YouTube over calls for violence
Former presidential advisor and right-wing pundit Steve Bannon had his show suspended from Twitter and an episode removed by YouTube after calling for violence against FBI director Christopher Wray an
Facebook takes down ‘Stop the Steal 2020’ group organizing around false claims of election chicanery
Facebook has taken down a group that had amassed more than 300,000 members and was sharing misinformation and organizing around false allegations of impropriety during the 2020 elections. The group, c
TikTok takes down some hashtags related to election misinformation, ignores others
As social media platforms struggle to get U.S. election misinformation under control with varying degrees of success, TikTok has taken new actions to stop people from searching and browsing select has
Facebook blocks hashtags for #sharpiegate, #stopthesteal election conspiracies
Facebook today began to block select hashtags that were being used to share misinformation related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Now, searches for the hashtags #sharpiegate are being blocked
Dear Sophie: How will this election nail-biter affect immigration?
Whatever the election results, there will still be many ways for people to legally navigate the U.S. immigration process and access the opportunity and security of life here.
YouTube removes ads from, but won’t pull, ‘Trump Won’ video following backlash
This year’s presidential election has already proven to be a considerable test of the U.S. democratic system. It’s also been doing a fine job testing the systems behind leading social networks fou
TikTok takes down election misinformation aimed at younger users
TikTok confirmed today it has taken down videos spreading election misinformation that had been posted to two high-profile Republican-supporting accounts, The Republican Hype House and The Republican
Massachusetts voters pass a right-to-repair measure, giving them unprecedented access to their car data
A ballot measure passed by 75% of voters in Massachusetts has resolved a thorny question that could have widespread implications for the automotive industry: once a person buys a vehicle, they own all
Close US election results plunge social media into nightmare misinformation scenario
When Trump spoke early Wednesday morning, it became clear which long-dreaded election scenario an anxious nation was on the cusp of. “This is a fraud on the American public,” Trump said in
Election Day was largely free from disruptive cyberattacks, as efforts shift to combating misinformation
Polls closed in the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday without any significant or disruptive cyberattacks, according to cybersecurity officials and experts. Election Day wasn’t without its pr
Portland, Maine passes referendum banning facial surveillance
As we’re currently shifting through all of the national and local votes from last night’s elections, here’s a small but important victory for privacy advocates out of Portland, Maine. Per the Ba
Cannabis legalization measures set to pass in 5 states
Cannabis legalization was on five state ballots yesterday and ran the table. Voters in Oregon, where cannabis is already legal, also approved a measure addressing street drugs and another that sought