Social Media

TikTok Launches Ad In Swing States To Battle Ban

CNBC reports: TikTok has launched a $2.1 million advertising campaign with a clear message for senators in tough reelection fights this year: Block the House bill that could effectively ban the app in the United States. “Think about the 5 million small business owners that rely on TikTok to provide for their families,” one purported TikTok user says in the …

Read More »

Trump Media Stock Begins Trading Publicly Today

The Associated Press reports: As Donald Trump’s social media company begins trading publicly Tuesday, would-be investors might ask themselves if the stock is too pricey and potentially too volatile. Trump Media debuts with a stock price near $50 and a market value of about $6.8 billion. Many of Digital World’s investors were small-time investors either trying to support Trump or …

Read More »

DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring Age Verification To Access Porn Sites, Banning Minors Under 16 From Social Media

The Tallahassee Democrats reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday signed into law sweeping social media restrictions that also requires age verification to access pornographic websites in Florida. The measure would take effect at the beginning of 2025 – if it survives expected lawsuits from the nation’s largest tech companies. In that case, minors under 16 would be barred from social media …

Read More »

Judge Tosses X’s Suit Against Hate Speech Watchdog

CNN Business reports: A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X that had targeted a watchdog group for its critical reports about hate speech on the social media platform. In a blistering 52-page order, the judge blasted X’s case as plainly punitive rather than about protecting the platform’s security and legal rights. “Sometimes it is …

Read More »

GOP TikTok Mogul Also Tied To Truth Social Merger

The New York Times reports: Jeff Yass, the billionaire Wall Street financier and Republican megadonor who is a major investor in the parent company of TikTok, was also the biggest institutional shareholder of the shell company that recently merged with former President Donald J. Trump’s social media company. A December regulatory filing showed that Mr. Yass’s trading firm, Susquehanna International …

Read More »

X’s Daily US Users Down 23% Since Musk Takeover

NBC News reports: In February, X had 27 million daily active users of its mobile app in the U.S., down 18% from a year earlier, according to Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm based in San Francisco. The U.S. user base has been flat or down every month since November 2022, the first full month of Musk’s owning the app, …

Read More »

Investors Approve Deal To Take Truth Social Public

The Guardian reports: Investors approved plans to take Donald Trump’s social media platform public on Friday, netting the former president a paper fortune of $3bn. Trump Media & Technology, the firm behind his minnow social network Truth Social, has spent years fighting to land on the stock market via a so-called “blank check” merger with a shell company. It finally …

Read More »

Lawmakers Receive Threats Over Proposed TikTok Ban

The Washington Post reports: As Congress considers legislation that could ban TikTok in the United States, lawmakers are receiving a surge of threatening messages connected to popular video app. U.S. Capitol Police are investigating an “uptick” in reports of “threats and concerning messages” linked to the TikTok discussions, according to a law enforcement official, who spoke on the condition of …

Read More »

X Suspends Journalists For Exposing Nazi Cartoonist

Wired reports: X has locked and suspended the accounts of journalists and researchers who shared the alleged identity of a neo-Nazi cartoonist known as Stonetoss after the cartoonist appealed to site owner Elon Musk. The incident, critics say, highlights once again how Musk has not only welcomed extremists onto his platform but has repeatedly boosted their conspiracies, engaged with their …

Read More »

YouTube Requires Disclosure Of AI Usage In Videos

Ars Technica reports: YouTube is rolling out a new requirement for content creators: You must disclose when you’re using AI-generated content in your videos. The disclosure appears in the video upload UI and will be used to power an “altered content” warning on videos. Google previewed the “misleading AI content” policy in November, but the questionnaire is now going live. …

Read More »

SCOTUS Likely To Reject Social Media “Censorship” Claims Brought By Republican AGs And Anti-Vaxxers

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court seems likely to reject a Republican-led effort that could reshape how politicians communicate with major social media companies — with sweeping consequences for government efforts to secure elections and combat health misinformation. A majority of justices from across the ideological spectrum expressed concern about hamstringing federal government communications with social media platforms on …

Read More »

Musk: “Moderation Is Propaganda Word For Censorship”

Mediaite has the transcript: Lemon: They’re not illegal, but they’re hateful. And they can, they can lead to violence. As I just read to you, the shooters, you know, in all of these mass shootings, attributed social media to radicalizing. Musk: So, Don, you love censorship, is what you’re saying? Lemon: No, I don’t love censorship. Musk: Then why, why …

Read More »

Tomorrow: SCOTUS Hears Social Media “Censorship” Case Brought By Anti-Vaxxers, GOP Attorneys General

USA Today reports: After Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested without evidence that baseball legend Hank Aaron’s death in 2021 was caused by a COVID-19 vaccine, the Biden administration pounced. “Wanted to flag the below tweet and am wondering if we can get moving on the process for having it removed ASAP,” the digital director for the White House’s COVID response …

Read More »

SCOTUS Limits Social Media Blocks By Govt Officials

USA Today reports: A unanimous Supreme Court on Friday defined when the personal social media account of a public official is a government action, trying to settle whether constituents can be blocked from commenting or from following those accounts. A public official may block constituents, the court said, unless the official had the power to speak on the government’s behalf …

Read More »

Mnuchin: “I’m Putting Together A Group To Buy TikTok”

CNBC reports: Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is building an investor group to acquire ByteDance’s TikTok, as a bipartisan piece of legislation winding its way through Congress threatens its continued existence in the U.S. “I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m …

Read More »

Musk “Could Care Less” About Hate Speech Criticisms

Mediaite has the transcript: LEMON: Hate speech on the platform is up. Do you believe that X and you have some responsibility to moderate hate speech on the platform, that you wouldn’t have to answer these questions from reporters about the great replacement theory as it relates to– MUSK: I don’t have to answer these questions. LEMON: –great replacement theory …

Read More »

SEC Accuses Musk Of “Distorting” Twitter Investigation

Engadget reports: The SEC officials investigating Elon Musk over his handling of the Twitter takeover seem to be growing more and more impatient with his legal antics. The two sides have been locked in a dispute over Musk’s refusal to testify in the investigation. Now, in a new filing, the SEC accuses Musk of trying to “misrepresent” the regulator’s investigation. …

Read More »

Musk Axes Lemon’s X Show Over Drug Use Questions

Axios reports: Former CNN anchor Don Lemon said on Wednesday Elon Musk canceled his new show on X, formerly Twitter, after he interviewed the multi-billionaire last week. Lemon claimed Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech “absolutist,” was “mad” at him over the “tense” interview, which will be included in the premier episode of “The Don Lemon Show” next week. “Apparently, free …

Read More »

Megadonor Likely Behind Trump’s Flip-Flop On TikTok

Bloomberg News reports: The prospect that the app will be banned has thrust Jeff Yass, the trading mastermind behind market-maker Susquehanna International Group, into an uncomfortable spotlight. That’s because he owns a stake in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, that’s worth $15 billion. Yass has used that wealth to become the biggest donor in the 2024 election cycle, with $46.4 million …

Read More »

House Lawmakers Pass Ban On TikTok In 352-65 Vote

CNN reports: The bill’s fate is less than clear in the US Senate, where there is no companion bill. The Democratic chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell, has made no firm commitment to advance the proposal. “I will be talking to my Senate and House colleagues to try to find a path forward that is constitutional and …

Read More »