Snapchat is taking to the airwaves, airing a spot on national television and across select markets in the U.S. during the first presidential candidates’ debate Tuesday night. The spot is part of nonpartisan, multi-week public awareness effort Show Up, which also featured public-service announcements starring former President Barack Obama earlier this month. The campaign is…
TikTok began rolling out its in-application 2020 Elections Guide to users in the U.S. Tuesday. The guide is available in English, Spanish and dozens of other languages, and it can be accessed via TikTok’s Discover page and in election-related search results. It includes information about candidates at the federal, state and local levels, powered by…
Facebook said over 1.7 million people clicked on the notification atop News Feed in its flagship mobile application to see information on volunteering as poll workers with their respective state authorities, estimating that this activity resulted in roughly 100,000 people signing up. Facebook Vice president of product and social impact Naomi Gleit shared state-specific information…
A voting rights group is broadcasting a warning about the state of American democracy by using a technology often feared for its own potential to subvert democracy. A new campaign from nonprofit RepresentUs and agency Mischief features deepfakes of authoritarian leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un issuing ominous pronouncements about the dangers of voter suppression…
Last fall, a full year before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, major social media platforms were already debating whether they should take political ad dollars. The platforms split into two groups: those that have banned political ads from their channels, such as Twitter, and those that allow political ads with restrictions, such as Facebook. If…
The first presidential candidates’ debate between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden will take place Tuesday night, and Twitter already has several initiatives in place. The debate will be livestreamed free-of-charge on Twitter at 9 p.m. ET Tuesday, featured atop the timelines of many users and accessible…
Pew Research Center Monday shared a study on U.S. adults who turn to YouTube for news and the channels they are turning to on the Google-owned website. The think tank surveyed 12,638 U.S. adults from Jan. 6 through 20, as well as conducting an analysis of the 377 most popular YouTube news channels as of…
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., today halted the Trump administration’s ban on new downloads of TikTok, hours before a midnight deadline would have compelled Apple and Google to drop the popular social media app from their marketplaces. Carl Nichols, a judge for the U.S. District Court for D.C., granted an injunction, allowing new app…
The Nov. 3 election is only weeks away and tech platforms are still tinkering with their policies on taking political ad dollars. Google told advertisers Friday that it will not allow election-related ads to run on any of its platforms after the polls close nationwide. Google spokesperson Charlotte Smith confirmed the decision to Adweek after…
A new study from Pew Research Center found that 54% of adults in the U.S. believe social media companies should not allow political ads, while 77% believe those platforms’ use of data about their online activities to show them political ads is not very or not at all acceptable. On the flip side, 45% of…
As social justice protests continue across the U.S., some people cannot or choose not to participate because of Covid-19. While there many ways to contribute to movements like Black Lives Matter, those who literally want their voice to be heard on the streets can make use of Say It With Me, a tool that lets…
YouTube rolled out additional information panels to be displayed when people search for information related to the 2020 presidential election. Users searching for 2020 presidential or federal congressional candidates will see an information panel with details about those candidates above their search results. Searches for specific queries related to voter registration will see an information…
The general election in Myanmar is set for Sunday, Nov. 8, and Facebook provided details this week on extra steps it is taking to ensure the integrity of the election on its platform. Content identified as potential hate speech by the social network’s proactive detection technology will see its distribution significantly reduced, and it will…
The hovering dread of a presidential comment about your brand isn’t something that really existed before 2017, but it’s certainly been a common concern for marketing managers ever since. From Amazon and Boeing to Nordstrom and Toyota, Trump has often targeted brands via his tweets or public comments when he’s unhappy with their leadership, corporate…
Amid the clutter of news, advertising and communication about the upcoming election, there is one crucial step that isn’t necessarily being explicitly addressed: One must be registered to vote in the first place. Sure, it’s nice to talk about voting, but without taking care of that piece of business, the messages are rendered moot. Down…
Twitter has big plans for National Voter Registration Day Tuesday. Public policy director Bridget Coyne said in a blog post, “Today, we’re rolling out new tools and in-application experiences that will put voter registration resources at the public’s fingertips and support the essential voter registration efforts happening across the country.” Every U.S. Twitter user will…
Facebook added a Voting Information Center to Instagram and the flagship Facebook mobile application in August. Users can visit this menu to check their voter registration status, learn about registering to vote and more. Our guide will show you how to access the Voting Information Center in the Facebook app. Note: These screenshots were captured…
Roughly 3.6 million Hispanics in the U.S. will turn 18 during this election season and become eligible to vote, and Telemundo is marking National Voter Registration Day Tuesday with a national, multiplatform campaign aimed at giving them all the necessary information and motivation to do so. Telemundo said 2020 marks the first general election in…
On Friday, TikTok and WeChat stared down a frightening future in the United States. After Sunday, their respective apps would could no longer be downloaded in major app marketplaces. Even worse for WeChat, a messaging and social media app with a relatively small user base in America that’s seen as an invaluable link to mainland…
Facebook rolled out a Voting Information Center in the flagship Facebook application and Instagram in August. Users can visit this menu to learn how to register to vote, learn about voting by mail and more. Our guide will show you how to access the Voting Information Center in the Instagram app. Note: These screenshots were…
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