The GOP, the Supreme Court and social media: This won't end well
1 year, 10 months ago

The GOP, the Supreme Court and social media: This won't end well

Salon  

Republicans are eager to stop social media companies from removing COVID-19 misinformation posts, flagging Stop the Steal rhetoric, banning racist users and purging propaganda bots. But Section 230 isn't just the law that protects Twitter from being sued every time Dril dunks on Republicans; it's also what holds together the internet as we know it. The protections of Section 230 allow social media platforms to moderate user-generated content, and sound simple enough on the surface: "o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." Republicans also want social media platforms to break their own encrypted messaging protocols and provide law enforcement agencies a backdoor to spy on private user conversations. "For years, right-wing media and conservative politicians have claimed that social media and tech companies are biased against them and censor their content, despite copious data proving otherwise," wrote Media Matters, the study's author.

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History of this topic

The Supreme Court casts doubt on Florida and Texas laws to regulate social media platforms
6 months, 1 week ago

The Supreme Court casts doubt on Florida and Texas laws to regulate social media platforms

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday kept on hold efforts by Texas and Florida to limit how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users in a ruling that strongly defended the platforms’ free speech rights. “The court’s recognition that the government cannot control social media in an effort to impose its …

State social media laws aimed at protecting conservative users remain blocked, Supreme Court says
6 months, 1 week ago

State social media laws aimed at protecting conservative users remain blocked, Supreme Court says

CNN  

Washington CNN — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to settle the major constitutional questions raised in a blockbuster dispute over laws approved in Texas and Florida intended to protect conservative viewpoints on social media, meaning the laws will remain blocked for now while lower courts continue to sort out the constitutional questions involved. Kagan’s opinion, however, reserved special criticism …

Supreme Court seems favorable to Biden administration over efforts to combat social media posts
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Supreme Court seems favorable to Biden administration over efforts to combat social media posts

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital age. Justice Brett Kavanaugh also signaled …

Why the Supreme Court Is So Uniquely Awful at Tech Cases
55 years ago

Why the Supreme Court Is So Uniquely Awful at Tech Cases

Slate  

Among the election cases blowing up this Supreme Court term, several cases dealing with online speech could have a major impact on the tidal wave of disinformation that already threatens to wash away sense and truth in 2024. You’re talking about the two Netchoice cases, Netchoice v. Paxton and Moody v. Netchoice, that are challenging these laws passed in Texas …

Supreme Court casts doubt on GOP-led states’ efforts to regulate social media platforms
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Supreme Court casts doubt on GOP-led states’ efforts to regulate social media platforms

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court cast doubt Monday on state laws that could affect how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. Next month, the court will hear an appeal from Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing administration officials of pressuring social media companies to silence conservative points of view. Social media …

Opinion: How the Supreme Court should rule on Texas and Florida laws against social media moderation
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Opinion: How the Supreme Court should rule on Texas and Florida laws against social media moderation

LA Times  

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in two cases that could have a profound effect on the future of the internet and social media. The cases — NetChoice vs. Paxton and Moody vs. NetChoice — involve laws in Texas and Florida that prohibit social media companies from removing content from their platforms, clearly violating the 1st Amendment rights of …

The Supreme Court Is Reconsidering Its Entire Approach to the Internet. Uh-Oh.
1 year, 1 month ago

The Supreme Court Is Reconsidering Its Entire Approach to the Internet. Uh-Oh.

Slate  

This is part of Opening Arguments, Slate’s coverage of the start of the latest Supreme Court term. By the end of next June, the Supreme Court will decide whether state laws compelling social media platforms to carry content they would otherwise exclude violate the platforms’ free speech rights, whether federal agencies and officials have unlawfully coerced platforms to remove posts …

Opinion: Trump’s support faces its biggest test
1 year, 9 months ago

Opinion: Trump’s support faces its biggest test

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Sign up to get this weekly column as a newsletter. “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair,” DeSantis said even as he accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of “pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.” If Trump is prosecuted, he could …

US appeals court bars social media cos’ right to regulate online speech: Report
2 years, 3 months ago

US appeals court bars social media cos’ right to regulate online speech: Report

Live Mint  

A United States appeals court on Friday upheld a Texas law that reportedly bars large social media companies from banning or censoring users based on “viewpoint,” a setback for technology industry groups that say the measure would turn platforms into bastions of dangerous content, according to Reuters report. Judge Andrew Oldham, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in …

Ex-US President Obama Blames Social Media for 'Weakening of Democracy' Around the World
2 years, 8 months ago

Ex-US President Obama Blames Social Media for 'Weakening of Democracy' Around the World

News 18  

Former President Barack Obama has claimed that the way people consume and share information is eroding democracy around the world, and he blamed the current information ecology, which is fueled by social media corporations, for “turbocharging some of humanity’s worst impulses”. Obama said social media companies’ decisions regarding content moderation and the use of algorithms to rank posts “have made …

Right-wing Twitter imitations don't work — and Trump desperately wants back on real social media
3 years, 6 months ago

Right-wing Twitter imitations don't work — and Trump desperately wants back on real social media

Salon  

Donald Trump loves a lawsuit, and not because he's especially good at winning them. But it's also worth noting that there are multiple social media platforms that have been begging for Trump's presence, such as Parler, Gab and Mike Lindell's Frank, all of which were established to be a welcoming new home for the white supremacists, QAnon lunatics and COVID-19 …

Opinion: Trump’s meritless lawsuits don’t stand a chance
3 years, 6 months ago

Opinion: Trump’s meritless lawsuits don’t stand a chance

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Kara Alaimo, an associate professor of public relations at Hofstra University, is the author of “Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication.” She was spokeswoman for international affairs in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. CNN — On Wednesday, former President Donald Trump announced that he would file …

The case for social media to be closely regulated is clear
3 years, 6 months ago

The case for social media to be closely regulated is clear

Live Mint  

Are social media firms exceeding their limits? Barring China, where major American social media outlets are banned, pretty much the entire world is caught in a moment of great introspection about the conduct of these all-pervasive companies. After the hotly-contested decision by Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to suspend the then US president Donald Trump’s accounts in January 2021 on grounds …

Florida Republicans move against social media companies
3 years, 8 months ago

Florida Republicans move against social media companies

Associated Press  

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Concerned that social media companies were conspiring against conservatives, Florida Republicans sent a measure Thursday to Gov. The Republican governor had urged lawmakers to deliver the legislation to his desk as part of a broader effort to regulate Big Tech companies — in how they collect and use information they harvest from consumers and in how social …

Column: The drive to regulate social media is about partisan politics — and it won’t work
3 years, 11 months ago

Column: The drive to regulate social media is about partisan politics — and it won’t work

LA Times  

Based on the chatter in the corridors of political power and from elite intellectuals these days, one can’t help concluding that Twitter, Facebook and their social media cousins rank as the civilized world’s leading threats to democracy. The Information, a technology website, ponders “How to Curb Tech Executives’ Power.” Yaël Eisenstat, a former CIA officer, White House advisor, and overseer …

Twitter World's Most Powerful Editor Now? Donald Trump's Ban Raises Many Questions
3 years, 11 months ago

Twitter World's Most Powerful Editor Now? Donald Trump's Ban Raises Many Questions

News 18  

Norway’s national newspaper Aftenposten had once accused the Mark Zuckerberg-owned Facebook of being the world’s most powerful editor. After all, the Jack Dorsey-owned Twitter – essentially a tech company that operates a social media platform, just silenced the President of the United States, arguably one of the most powerful office-holders in the world, despite Trump’s current outgoing status. While critics …

Opinion: This is the right-wing media problem in a microcosm
3 years, 11 months ago

Opinion: This is the right-wing media problem in a microcosm

CNN  

Editor’s Note: Nicole Hemmer is an associate research scholar at Columbia University with the Obama Presidency Oral History Project and the author of “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics.” She co-hosts the history podcast “Past Present” and “This Day in Esoteric Political History.” The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of the …

Platforms Must Pay for Their Role in the Insurrection
55 years ago

Platforms Must Pay for Their Role in the Insurrection

Wired  

President Trump and his enablers in government and right-wing media will shoulder the blame for Wednesday’s insurrection at the US Capitol, but internet platforms—Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, in particular—have played a fomenting and facilitating role that no one should overlook. The business choices of internet platforms have enabled an explosion not only of white supremacy but also of Covid …

Social media CEOs to face grilling from Republican senators
4 years, 2 months ago

Social media CEOs to face grilling from Republican senators

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Less than a week before Election Day, the CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google are set to be grilled by Republican senators making unfounded allegations that the tech giants show anti-conservative bias. With the election looming, Republicans led by President Donald Trump have thrown a barrage of grievances at Big Tech’s social media platforms, which they accuse without …

Social media CEOs grilled about bias, misinformation and censorship
4 years, 2 months ago

Social media CEOs grilled about bias, misinformation and censorship

LA Times  

Twitter, Facebook and Google CEOs are facing a grilling by GOP senators on the premise that the tech giants show anti-conservative bias. Three of the biggest names in digital media — Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey — spoke before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation about Section …

Section 230: Why the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter are testifying before the Senate this week
4 years, 2 months ago

Section 230: Why the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter are testifying before the Senate this week

CNN  

CNN Business — A right-wing offensive is underway to discredit social media companies just days before the election. In calling for the subpoenas earlier this month, Sen. Ted Cruz blasted tech platforms for “actively interfering in this election in a way that has no precedent in the history of our country.” “Twitter and Facebook and Big Tech billionaires don’t get …

Facebook, Twitter CEOs ordered to testify by GOP senators
4 years, 2 months ago

Facebook, Twitter CEOs ordered to testify by GOP senators

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated Thursday after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address accusations of censorship in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. With Democrats boycotting the hearing, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize the legal orders if Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg …

Facebook, Twitter CEOs ordered to testify by GOP senators
4 years, 2 months ago

Facebook, Twitter CEOs ordered to testify by GOP senators

The Independent  

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated Thursday after …

Twitter and Facebook bosses ordered to testify by GOP senators
4 years, 2 months ago

Twitter and Facebook bosses ordered to testify by GOP senators

Al Jazeera  

The GOP push against Facebook and Twitter accelerated on Thursday after Republican senators threatened the CEOs of the social media companies with subpoenas to force them to address accusations of censorship in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign. With Democrats boycotting the hearing, the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorise the legal orders if Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and …

Are social media platforms arbiters of truth? | The Hindu Parley Podcast
4 years, 7 months ago

Are social media platforms arbiters of truth? | The Hindu Parley Podcast

The Hindu  

In the midst of the massive protests that have erupted in the U.S., social media platform Twitter decided to do something it had avoided for several years: call out some of President Donald Trump's tweets as being incorrect information and as being against its policies. This prompted Mr. Trump to warn social media platforms of stricter controls via an Executive …

Trump escalates war on Twitter, social media protections
4 years, 7 months ago

Trump escalates war on Twitter, social media protections

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump escalated his war on Twitter and other social media companies Thursday, signing an executive order challenging the lawsuit protections that have served as a bedrock for unfettered speech on the internet. Trump said the fact checks were “editorial decisions” by Twitter amounting to political activism and that such actions should cost social media companies their …

Trump says right-wing voices are being censored. The data says something else
4 years, 7 months ago

Trump says right-wing voices are being censored. The data says something else

CNN  

New York CNN Business — President Donald Trump has angrily complained this week about social media companies, repeatedly accusing them of censoring conservative voices and going as far as to sign an executive order Thursday seeking to limit their power. Over the last month, the top performing news organization in the US was Fox News, a conservative network which largely …

Tech firms struggle to police content while avoiding bias
5 years, 4 months ago

Tech firms struggle to police content while avoiding bias

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Take the post down. That’s just a sampling of the intense, often contradictory demands facing tech companies and their social media platforms as they try to oversee internet content without infringing on First Amendment rights. That’s done little to silence critics on the right, including at the White House, where Trump promised at a “social media summit” last …

Trump applauds far-right social media provocateurs
5 years, 5 months ago

Trump applauds far-right social media provocateurs

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump used a White House conference Thursday to applaud far-right social media provocateurs even as he conceded that some of them are extreme in their views. “And you’re bypassing the very, very corrupt media.” In lengthy remarks, he said: “You’re challenging the media gatekeepers and corporate censors to bring the truth to the American people.. You …

Trump Will Use His Social Media Summit to Amplify Lies About Anti-Conservative Bias on Social Media
55 years ago

Trump Will Use His Social Media Summit to Amplify Lies About Anti-Conservative Bias on Social Media

Slate  

This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy. It’s Trump’s “Social Media Summit,” and invitations to the White House’s East Room came from the president himself. But, here’s what makes this gathering particularly astounding: Just two days before its occurrence, a federal appeals court ruled that there is …

The Cleverness of Trump’s “Social Media Summit”
55 years ago

The Cleverness of Trump’s “Social Media Summit”

Slate  

On Thursday, a group of right-wing figures including conspiracy theory boosters, Infowars regulars, video and meme makers known for racist and anti-immigrant content, Republican strategists, and at least two GOP lawmakers is headed to the White House to meet with President Donald Trump for a “social media summit.” The plan, according to White House spokesman Judd Deere, is to have …

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