“Content creators ask Meta to reverse politics limits on Instagram, Threads”

April 10, 2024, 7:47 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Taylor Lorenz for WaPo: Hundreds of political and news content creators, along with activists, meme account administrators and journalists, have signed an open letter to Meta asking the company to reverse its decision to limit the reach of accounts posting… Continue reading

“How a Former Democratic Operative Is Testing the Limits of What a Newsroom Can Be”

March 25, 2024, 6:42 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Maggie Severns for Notus: Thousands of North Carolinians — mostly women — were targeted with Facebook and Instagram ads shortly before the last midterm elections that shared a dire message: A little-watched race could determine whether abortion would remain legal… Continue reading

“Supreme Court to Decide How the First Amendment Applies to Social Media”

February 25, 2024, 7:50 amcheap speech, Supreme CourtRick Hasen

Adam Liptak for the NYT: The most important First Amendment cases of the internet era, to be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, may turn on a single question: Do platforms like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and X most closely… Continue reading

“Meta turns its back on politics again, angering some news creators”

February 11, 2024, 7:48 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WaPo: Meta announced on Friday it would stop proactively recommending political content on Instagram or its upstart text-based app Threads, alarming news and politics-focused creators and journalists gearing up for a crucial election year. While users will still be allowed… Continue reading

“Pro-Biden PAC launches $1 million campaign to pay social media influencers”

January 23, 2024, 7:54 amcampaigns, cheap speechRick Hasen

Politico: LaToi Storr, a 42-year-old content creator and lifestyle blogger based in Philadelphia, normally posts Instagram and TikTok videos of local restaurants and skincare tips, mingled with some community-focused material on Black mental health care. Last fall, she started posting… Continue reading

“Meta Allows Ads Claiming Rigged 2020 Election on Facebook, Instagram”

November 15, 2023, 6:43 amcheap speech, fraudulent fraud squadRick Hasen

WSJ: Meta Platforms will let political ads on Facebook and Instagram question the legitimacy of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, one of several changes the social-media company and other platforms have made to loosen constraints on campaign advertising for… Continue reading

“Meta will require campaigns to disclose use of AI in political ads”

November 8, 2023, 7:45 amcheap speechRick Hasen

WaPo: Meta will require political campaigns to disclose their use of artificial intelligence in political ads, a new policy that could shape how the new technology is used in the 2024 elections. The Wednesday announcement, first reported by Reuters… Continue reading

“Changing Facebook’s algorithm won’t fix polarization, new study finds”

July 28, 2023, 4:45 amcheap speech, political polarizationDan Tokaji

WaPo: For years, regulators and activists have worried that social media companies’ algorithms were dividing the United States with politically toxic posts and conspiracies. The concern was so widespread that in 2020, Meta flung open troves of internal data… Continue reading

“YouTube Restores Donald Trump’s Account Privileges”

March 18, 2023, 7:20 amcheap speechRick Hasen

NYT: YouTube suspended former President Donald J. Trump’s account on the platform six days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The video platform said it was concerned that Mr. Trump’s lies about the 2020 election could lead to… Continue reading

“Combating Disinformation Wanes at Social Media Giants”

February 14, 2023, 7:27 amcheap speechRick Hasen

NYT: YouTube, like other social media platforms, spent years expanding its efforts to tackle misinformation after the 2016 election. It hired policy experts and content moderators and invested in more technology to limit the reach of false narratives. Not anymore.… Continue reading

“Meta says it won’t punish Trump for attacking the 2020 election results. But the 2024 vote is a different story”

January 29, 2023, 9:17 amcheap speechRick Hasen

Oliver Darcy of CNN confirms the point I raised in my Slate piece: Trump can say whatever he wants about the last election without sanction: Nine minutes after Meta announced that it will allow Donald Trump back on its… Continue reading

“Trump’s Evolution in Social-Media Exile: More QAnon, More Extremes”

January 29, 2023, 9:08 amcheap speechRick Hasen

NYT: In September, former President Donald J. Trump went on Truth Social, his social network, and shared an image of himself wearing a lapel pin in the form of the letter Q, along with a phrase closely associated with the… Continue reading

“The Incoherence of Facebook’s Trump Decision”

January 27, 2023, 7:02 amUncategorizedRick Hasen

David Graham for The Atlantic: Whatever one thinks of Meta’s decision to allow Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram, how the company is doing so is already shambolic. This is a man who tried to stay in office despite… Continue reading