Election Day is less than six months away, and Democrats are scrambling to patch the digital deficits of their presumptive nominee. And behind the scenes, Silicon Valley’s billionaire Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars on their own sweeping plans to catch up to President Donald Trump’s lead on digital campaigning — plans that are poised to make them some of the country’s most influential people when it comes to shaping the November results.
Category: Technology
Twitter flags Trump, White House for ‘glorifying violence’
Twitter has flagged a tweet from the official White House Twitter account which reposted the text of a tweet President Donald Trump sent early Friday morning, saying “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” claiming the tweets violated its rules about “glorifying violence.”
Regulating social media as a public utility
To begin with, there is a profound and growing lack of privacy online. Cambridge Analytica was able to use a quiz app to harvest the data of users and their Facebook friends without them knowing. If social media companies such as Facebook cannot prevent these occurrences from happening, then the right to privacy online is nonexistent. The second way social media negatively affects American life is that it has degraded the news cycle.
You Tube censors video in which medical doctors said hydroxychlooquine might help treat COVID-19
YouTube on Wednesday reinstated a video it has previously censored in which several medical doctors suggested that the drug hydroxychloroquine might be useful in treating coronavirus, with the company reportedly claiming at the time of censorship that the presentation was “dangerous.”
21 million fewer cellphone users in China
The number of Chinese cellphone users dropped by 21 million in the past three months, Beijing authorities announced on March 19. Deaths due to the CCP virus may have contributed to the high number of account closings.
Social media companies team up with WHO to censor Wuhan virus information
The Chinese government is already censoring what gets out about the Wuhan virus.
Now, social media titans in the U.S. think they know what’s best for Americans and want to make sure they receive the “right” information.
Censored.tv banned from Instagram and Facebook
Censored.tv, formerly FreeSpeech.tv, founded by Vice co-founder and Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes, has been banned across all Facebook-owned platforms, namely Facebook and Instagram.
The platform, which has roughly 15,000 monthly subscribers, is popular for its hosts, who have mostly been banned from popular platforms like Twitter and YouTube—including Gavin McInnes, Milo Yiannopolous, Joe Biggs, Laura Loomer, and Soph.
YouTube pledges to remove ‘manipulated’ election-related videos
Youtube announced this week that it will begin removing election-related videos that are “manipulated or doctored” with the aim of influencing voters.
The move is part of an effort by the Google owned company to be a “more reliable source” for news and to promote a “healthy political discourse”.
Mizzou students required to install location tracking app so college can ‘pinpoint’ them
New students at the University of Missouri will be required to participate in a tracking program designed to measure and enforce class attendance, according to a new report from The Kansas City Star.
Despite privacy concerns, officials defended the decision as one to the benefit of students, as the school’s athletics department has already been using the same app, SpotterEdu, to track certain student-athletes.
Google removes 300 Trump ads for ‘violating community policy’ but won’t explain violations or policy
An investigation by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” found that “over 300 video ads were taken down by Google and YouTube, mostly over the summer, for violating company policy.”
