Another Facebook hearing is on the horizon.
Canadian and UK lawmakers have banded together in a fight against political manipulation online, according to TechCrunch. The two countries have together summoned Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a joint co…
Category: Elections
Texas has a long history of problems with Hart eSlate voting machines
During early voting in some Texas counties, a handful of voters reported seeing their straight-ticket votes changed to endorse the opposing party. Others reported that an issue with the voting machines appeared to remove any selection for U.S. Senate altogether. The Texas Secretary of State’s office told TechCrunch that it has received “15-20 calls” from […]
View More Texas has a long history of problems with Hart eSlate voting machinesNow it’s way easier to see who’s doing the most political spending on Facebook
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Facebook has been pulling back the curtain on how politicians, super PACs, corporations, and other entities spend money on its platform. On Tuesday, it made that information more comprehensible, and therefore useful, with a weekly Ad Archive Report that summarizes political and “issues” advertising on the platform.
Facebook launched the Ad Archive in May alongside new labelling requirements for advertisers. The archive allowed anyone with a Facebook account to search all ads about elected officials, political candidates, and “issues.” As of Tuesday, now anyone — regardless of whether they have a Facebook account — can search the archive. Read more…
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View More Now it’s way easier to see who’s doing the most political spending on FacebookTwitter releases trove of 10 million tweets by foreign bad actors
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Twitter has brought the foreign election-interfering trolls out from under their bridges.
On Wednesday, Twitter announced in a blog post that it was releasing the complete cache of data and content by foreign entities including Russia and Iran created to interfere with American politics and information. The amount of content is staggering: 4,611 accounts from foreign bad actors published over 10 million tweets to manipulate American discourse since 2009.
Twitter is publishing the data in compliance with promises it made to the US government, and to enable independent research of the information campaigns. Read more…
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View More Twitter releases trove of 10 million tweets by foreign bad actorsTake ten seconds now to make sure you’re registered to vote
Fellow citizens! An important election is approaching, and you should vote in it. But are you registered? Are you sure? Why don’t you take ten seconds now to check?
View More Take ten seconds now to make sure you’re registered to voteStudy: Twitter isn’t doing enough to combat ‘fake news’
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Almost two years since the 2016 presidential election, misinformation campaigns are still running rampant on social media. Now, a new study claims that things are looking especially grim on Twitter.
A study by the Knight Foundation published Thursday found that “more than 80 percent” of Twitter accounts that were involved in spreading disinformation and falsehoods during the 2016 election campaign are still active on the platform.
The report found 6.6 million tweets linking to misinformation and fake news publishers just one month ahead of the 2016 election. In addition, from mid-March to mid-April 2017, the study estimates 4 million tweets linked to fake news websites. Fast forward to today, the report finds that “these top fake and conspiracy news outlets on Twitter are largely stable.” Read more…
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View More Study: Twitter isn’t doing enough to combat ‘fake news’Uber will offer a ‘Get to the Polls’ button on Election Day
Uber can take you to the polls.
In the lead-up to the upcoming midterm elections, the ride-hailing app is helping passengers and drivers get registered to vote. Then they’re making sure registered voters have a way to get to the polls.
SEE ALSO…
Snapchat’s voter registration initiative might actually reach new voters
Snapchat is the latest social network to roll out a voter registration initiative in the run up to the 2018 midterm elections. But with its engaged and youthful user base, and the registration tool’s deeply integrated design, it may actually have the…
View More Snapchat’s voter registration initiative might actually reach new votersSnapchat’s users are surprisingly old and it’s telling them to vote
Snapchat is a college favorite more than high school phenomenon. Only 20 percent of Snapchat’s US users are under 18, down from 22 percent in 2016 as some of its early adopters have now aged up and headed to college. Appealing to older users was a big motive for its otherwise-disastrous redesign that do a […]
View More Snapchat’s users are surprisingly old and it’s telling them to voteFacebook plans voter drive, partners with Democratic/Republican Institutes
Facebook will push users to register to vote through a partnership with TurboVote, has partnered with the International Republican Institute and International Democratic Institute non-profits to monitor foreign election interference, and will publish a weekly report of trends and issues emerging from its new political ads archive. Facebook has also confirmed that its election integrity […]
View More Facebook plans voter drive, partners with Democratic/Republican InstitutesInstagram will promote mid-term voting with stickers, registration info
Facebook is getting ready to purposefully influence the U.S. mid-term elections after spending two years trying to safeguard against foreign interference. Instagram plans to run ads in Stories and feed powered by TurboVote that will target all US users over 18 and point them towards information on how to get properly registered and abide by […]
View More Instagram will promote mid-term voting with stickers, registration infoIt’s Reddit’s turn: The ‘front page of the internet’ should be next to face Congress
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Earlier this month, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s fourth hearing on social media as it pertains to foreign influence in our elections took place on Capitol Hill. Representatives from Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube have sat before Congress to answer questions regarding online interference from countries like Russia, and the spread of misinformation and fake news on their social media platforms.
Missing from these hearings, however, is the fifth most popular site in the United States: Reddit.
It’s time Congress invites Reddit to its next hearing.
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