Social Media

The Verge reports: President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday revoking the Trump-era bans on TikTok and WeChat. In place of the Trump order, Biden will direct the commerce secretary to investigate apps with ties to foreign adversaries that may pose a risk to American data privacy or national security. The order takes the place of a series of …

Politico reports: While the majority of Americans have heard about former President Donald Trump’s Facebook suspension, just over half support the platform’s two-year ban, according to a new POLITICO/ Morning Consult poll released Monday. 71 percent of voters have heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump’s suspension from the social media platform, while 51 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat …

The BBC reports: American author Naomi Wolf has been suspended from Twitter after spreading vaccine misinformation. Dr Wolf, well known for her acclaimed third-wave feminist book The Beauty Myth, posted a wide-range of unfounded theories about vaccines. One tweet claimed that vaccines were a “software platform that can receive uploads.” She also compared Dr Anthony Fauci, the top Covid adviser …

CNN reports: The Nigerian government has ordered federal prosecutors to arrest and prosecute users of the Twitter app, after a ban on the social media company took effect on Friday. Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, issued the directive Saturday in a statement signed on his behalf by his spokesman, Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu. Nigeria’s Ministry of …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook said Friday that it plans to suspend Trump for two years following his comments in the wake of the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, and will only reinstate him” if the risk to public safety has receded.” Since the 2016 election, the company has applied a test to political speech that weighs the newsworthiness of …

The Verge reports: Facebook plans to end its controversial policy that mostly shields politicians from the content moderation rules that apply to other users, a sharp reversal that could have global ramifications for how elected officials use the social network. The change, which Facebook is set to announce as soon as Friday, comes after the Oversight Board — an independent …

The Verge reports: Twitter has officially announced Twitter Blue, a paid subscription service that offers access to new features like undoing tweets and viewing threads in an easier to digest “Reader Mode.” Starting Thursday, it will roll out first in Canada and Australia, where the subscription will cost $3.49 CAD or $4.49 AUD per month, respectively. A new undo send …

Click Orlando reports: Two technology organizations have joined together to sue Florida over the legislation targeting social media companies Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law this week. NetChoice, a nonprofit, along with the Computer and Communications Industry Association filed suit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee. Under the new law that takes …

The Washington Post reports: As the U.S. reopens a debate into the origins of the novel coronavirus, Facebook reversed course Thursday and said that it would no longer remove posts that claim the virus is man-made. The decision is notable because it shows, once again, how social media giants struggle to strike the right balance between protecting the public from …

From Facebook’s corporate blog: Today, we’re launching new ways to inform people if they’re interacting with content that’s been rated by a fact-checker as well as taking stronger action against people who repeatedly share misinformation on Facebook. Whether it’s false or misleading content about COVID-19 and vaccines, climate change, elections or other topics, we’re making sure fewer people see misinformation …

Playbook reports: Twitter removed a tweet from ’80s pop singer Richard Marx for violating its rules after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said it encouraged violence against him. (The tweet came days before someone sent a suspicious package with white powder to the senator’s home in Kentucky.) But that hasn’t stopped Marx from spreading the message in his original tweet — …

The BBC reports: India’s government has instructed social media companies to remove any content that refers to the “Indian variant” of Covid-19. The IT ministry said the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the variant as B.1.617 and any reference to “Indian” was false. Geographical terms have been used to describe a number of other variants, including the UK and Brazil. …

The Washington Post reports: When social media network Parler came back to life on Apple’s App Store Monday, it was designed to be a less offensive version than what users are able to see elsewhere. Posts that are labeled “hate” by Parler’s new artificial intelligence moderation system won’t be visible on iPhones. There’s a different standard for people who look …

Axios reports: The leading social media sites — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube — are all “categorically unsafe” for LGBTQ people, according to a new study from GLAAD, the results of which were revealed Sunday on “Axios on HBO.” GLAAD had planned to give each of the sites a grade as part of its inaugural social media index, but …

NBC News reports: The Department of Homeland Security has begun implementing a strategy to gather and analyze intelligence about security threats from public social media posts, DHS officials said. The goal is to build a warning system to detect the sort of posts that appeared to predict an attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 but were missed or …

NBC News reports: Most Americans admit they use social media at least once a day, but they also believe platforms like Facebook and Twitter are doing more to divide the nation than to bring it together, according to brand-new results from the latest national NBC News poll. Overall, 66 percent of adults say they use social media once a day …

The New York Daily News reports: Fox News correspondent and law school graduate Geraldo Rivera is accusing Facebook of denying Donald Trump his constitutional rights. Twitter spoke freely about the mustached pundit’s understanding of the First Amendment. “Facebook is full of s–t,” Rivera tweeted after the social media platform decided to uphold its suspension of the 45th president’s account following …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook’s Oversight Board on Wednesday upheld the social network’s decision to ban former president Trump four months after Capitol riot, but also gave Facebook six months to review the decision. The binding ruling by the 20-member Oversight Board, which is largely independent and funded by the social network, could set the stage for a new political …

Politico reports: Facebook’s oversight board will announce its ruling on whether former President Donald Trump’s account should be reinstated or remain suspended on Wednesday morning, the group said. An imminent decision on a blockbuster case: The ruling, which Facebook has said will be binding, could usher in Trump’s return to the world’s biggest social network — or cut him off …

“That is anti-American. That is anti-free speech. It’s anti-First Amendment and make no mistake, the left is cheering them on. You hear the Democrats sometimes talk about these companies — they love the power that these companies have. “They love it. They love the power over speech that Facebook and Twitter have, and they want them to do more. The …