Lawn signs are one of the most reliable and impactful staples of an election. Over the years in presidential elections, there have been some iconic designs that political junkies associate with specific candidates. In a new campaign, echoing one of the most crucial issues of our time, the names of those killed through police brutality…
The bald eagle has always been a complicated icon of the United States. Ben Franklin famously referred to it as a “bird of bad moral character” due to its nature as a scavenger that would take food from other predators because the eagle is “too lazy to fish for himself.” But Franklin’s judgmental anthropomorphizing aside,…
After tonight’s vice presidential debate ends, Starz will be making a political statement of its own. The premium cable network has purchased its first-ever debate ad, to promote its limited series, The Spanish Princess, with a charged message aimed at viewers: “Fight Like a Woman.” That’s the name of the spot and the tagline for…
President Donald Trump is back at the White House, plans to hit the campaign trail again soon and fully intends to participate in the second presidential debate set for next Thursday, two weeks after he was diagnosed with Covid-19. The president’s diagnosis and how Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign continues to respond to it, will…
If you wrote a script about this year’s catastrophes–a global pandemic, murder hornet invasion in Washington and California, Oregon’s wildfire devastation–no one would believe it. But if you turn those unprecedented events into a hair-raising remake of the iconic slasher flick Scream, now you have people’s attention. That’s what sports journalist and TV host Rachel…
Antitrust watchdogs in the U.S. House of Representatives issued a report today proclaiming that Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook have abused their market power and called for government intervention. While these companies have delivered “clear benefits to society,” it has “come at a price,” legislators wrote. “To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy,…
YouTube debuted YouChoose 2020, a series of interactive videos related to the 2020 U.S. election. The YouTube Originals series allows viewers to start with a single introductory video, and then watch separate videos focused on different elements of the voting process. These extra videos have different YouTube meme themes (like cooking, dancing, and auto repair),…
Snapchat is helping its users learn about voting in the 2020 U.S. election via its Elections 2020 hub. This hub includes a Voter Guide, which features information about voting by mail, voting early and more. Our guide will show you how to access the Voter Guide in the Snapchat application. Note: These screenshots were captured…
With Election Day almost a month away and major platforms like Facebook not accepting political ads in the days leading up to Nov. 3, marketers are looking to take messaging outside. Adomni, the digital out-of-home (OOH) ad-tech company, is welcoming political marketers with open arms, offering them a chance to display ads in more than…
Snapchat shared a milestone Thursday, saying that it has helped over 1 million of its users register to vote for the 2020 presidential election, doubling the total from its similar efforts for the 2018 midterm elections in the U.S. Based on data from TurboVote, Snap Inc.’s partner for its nonpartisan, in-application voter registration tools, Snap…
Twitter removed roughly 130 accounts that appeared to originate in Iran for attempting to disrupt the public conversation during the first presidential candidates’ debate Tuesday night. The social network said in a Twitter Safety tweet that it took action based on intelligence provided by the FBI. The accounts were identified and removed, and full details…
Ahead of the November elections, Facebook is continuing to tweak its advertising policies. The social media company announced Wednesday evening that it will ban ads that executives believe “delegitimize the outcome of an election” and will formally ban ads that promote QAnon conspiracy theories. Ads on Facebook and Instagram that call voting methods “inherently fraudulent…
Within hours of the year’s first nationally televised presidential debate on Tuesday night, T-shirts with the words, “Stand back, stand by,” and the Proud Boys logo were selling on Amazon. President Donald Trump coined the phrase during his heated, 100-minute exchange with Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Asked by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News whether…
After a summer of extra attention on how social media platforms handle moderating content, Facebook revealed new details about how it will operate its oversight board as criticism continues to pour in. The board is expected to begin hearing cases of whether the company should reverse decisions to remove organic posts in “mid-to-late October” and…
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…
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