Between growing public health concerns, the onslaught of anti-trans and queerphobic legislations and an international war, let’s face it: there’s a lot for concerned citizens to worry about these days. With each pressing social issue, we’re urged to hop on the phone with our local and state politicians. Unfortunately, it can be incredibly difficult to…
In the last 12 hours, EU officials have agreed on two landmark rules: the Digital Markets Act and the revival of the transatlantic deal with the U.S. Thursday night, EU negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council finished legislation that aims to rein in the global digital market dominance by the world’s largest tech…
The U.K. government announced additional amendments to the scope of the Online Safety Bill this week, this time drawing measures to protect people from advertising scams. Top line The bill mandates that social media companies including Instagram, Facebook and Twitter–as well as search engines like Google–protect people from both prepaid fraudulent ads and user-generated scams….
It was a mixed Presidents’ Day weekend debut for Truth Social, the new social platform from former President Donald Trump. While the application soared to the top spot among free apps on Apple’s App Store (it is not yet available for Android), the process was littered with roadblocks to entry including error messages and placing…
According to the Dove 2021 CROWN Research Study for Girls, 53% of Black mothers in the U.S. who have daughters who have experienced hair discrimination endured it as early as five years old. The same study suggests that approximately 86% of Black teens who have experienced it did so by the age of twelve. In…
LinkedIn is testing a feature that will allow users to stop seeing political content in their feed, The Wall Street Journal reported. Our guide will show you how to check whether you have this feature available and, if so, how to activate it. Note: These screenshots were captured in the LinkedIn application on iOS. Step…
To support the Lebanese election taking place, daily newspaper AnNahar chose not to print one issue for the first time in its 88-year history, donating its paper and ink to print ballots instead. With the election scheduled for May 15, government officials have begun to highlight a lack of supplies which could have threatened Lebanon’s…
Prominent members of the U.S. Congress–from Democrats Chuck Schumer and Cory Booker to Republicans Nancy Mace and David Joyce–are vocal supporters of the cannabis industry. And some lawmakers–Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, for one–have made broader cannabis legalization a central focus of their platforms. But Gary Chambers Jr., an ordained minister running for state senate in Louisiana,…
After the pandemic forced Protocol to lay off nearly one-third of its workforce just two months into operations, its reporting at the intersection of technology and policy has since proven fruitful. The advertising-supported publisher saw its 2021 revenue grow 150% from its 2020 figures, though it declined to share specific numbers. Protocol plans to add…
Meta detailed some changes to the process advertisers must go through in certain cases when they are looking to run ads about social issues, elections or politics. The company said in a blog post that advertisers will no longer be required to complete the authorization process for these types of ads or include “paid for…
Despite a constant stream of rhetoric asserting otherwise, a new study conducted by Twitter found that right-leaning news outlets see greater algorithmic amplification on its platform compared with left-leaning news outlets, and tweets posted by accounts from the political right receive more algorithmic amplification than the political left when studied as a group. The social…
Former President Donald Trump is trying to get back into the social media game again, this time with Truth Social, an application set to debut in beta for “invited guests” next month. Information about the app and other initiatives were shared within the details of a definitive merger agreement between Trump Media & Technology Group…
Facebook expanded its test of reducing distribution of political content in News Feed to roughly 75 countries around the globe Wednesday. The test kicked off with “a small percentage” of people in Brazil, Canada and Indonesia in February, with the U.S. added shortly thereafter. Facebook expanded the test to Costa Rica, Ireland, Spain and Sweden…
The newest Snap Mini is aimed at encouraging its younger users in the U.S. to consider running for local office. The Run for Office Mini is powered with information from BallotReady on more than 75,000 upcoming elections on the federal, state and local levels, and Snapchatters can search for potential opportunities to become candidates based…
It appears that Gettr didn’t quite satisfy former President Donald Trump’s thirst for a social media platform, as he filed a request for preliminary injunction against Twitter in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida last Friday, seeking the reinstatement of his @realDonaldTrump account. Twitter permanently banned Trump Jan. 8 in the…
Members of Congress were much more active on social media in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election in the U.S. than they were in 2016, and their posts and tweets drew much more engagement from users of those platforms, according to a new study from Pew Research Center. Pew found that lawmakers produced 315,818…
Twitter rolled out its official hashtag-triggered emojis for the 2021 elections in the U.S., with Election Day set for Nov. 2. The social network shared the emojis in a @TwitterGov tweet, and the following hashtags will add them to tweets: #IVoted, #IVotedEarly and #YoVot?. The 2021 United States election season is right around the corner….
The rise of misinformation on social platforms has led to a shift in thinking among adults in the U.S. on whether the government should get involved, or whether the burden falls on the big tech companies behind those platforms. Pew Research Center released the results of a recent survey, which found that 48% of the…
Snapchat added new options that allow users to change their advertising preferences in order to see fewer ads related to sensitive topics, like politics. If you want to see fewer “Political and Advocacy” ads on Snapchat, our guide will show you how to change this setting. Note: These screenshots were captured in the Snapchat application…
Ad creatives almost never wish for their campaign ideas to be unnecessary, but that’s certainly the case with this poster series drafted by TBWAChiatDay New York. Inspired after learning from a Nashville-based staffer about Tennessee’s Bill 1182, which would require signage on any bathroom that allows “use of restrooms by either biological sex,” the agency…
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