Digital Government

Lawmaker Calls for Outside Investigation of Secret Border Patrol Facebook Group

The Homeland Security Department has condemned derogatory comments posted within the group and promised a review of its own.

Artificial Intelligence

Mark Zuckerberg Is Rethinking Deepfakes

In an interview, the Facebook CEO hinted that the company is trying a new approach to misleading videos created through artificial intelligence.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is Too Dumb to Fully Police Online Extremism, Experts Say

Algorithms excel at routine tasks, but understanding a post’s context requires a human touch, former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos told lawmakers.

Digital Government

New bill takes aim at social media data goldmine

Two senators have introduced legislation that would require social media companies to calculate the value of the data they collect and provide clear options for users not to share it.

Emerging Tech

Feds Snooping in Travelers' Social Media Feeds is Not the Answer

New State Department rules give the government increased authority to review travelers' social feeds. Will it actually make us safer?

Emerging Tech

The ‘Platform’ Excuse Is Dying

For years, tech companies have relied on a rhetorical sleight of hand. It’s not working anymore.

Ideas

To Fight Online Disinformation, Reinvigorate Media Policy

Disinformation, toxic speech, and polarization online are a result opaque digital information systems. The fix? We can start by updating the approach of media policy for the new environment.

Ideas

The Coalition Out to Kill Tech as We Know It

With enemies like these, the industry is going to need some friends.

Ideas

There’s Too Little Outcry When a Government Blocks the Internet

For its own citizens’ safety, and for grand strategy’s sake, the U.S. government needs to up the pressure.

Ideas

Facebook’s Dystopian Definition of ‘Fake’

For the social-media platform, a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi is content, not a phony.

Cybersecurity

Can the IC police foreign disinformation on social media?

The latest Intelligence Authorization bill includes $30 million for a new research center where social media companies, researchers and journalists work together to study and expose online disinformation campaigns.

Emerging Tech

The Groups Bringing Forum Culture to Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for communities on his platform is very different from how users are gathering together there organically.

Digital Government

President Trump Is Collecting Social-Media Grievances

The sitting president just released a new tool in his war of words with tech companies.

Artificial Intelligence

The AI Supply Chain Runs on Ignorance

Tech companies often fail to tell users how their data will be employed. Sometimes, the firms can’t even anticipate it themselves.

Artificial Intelligence

How I Tried to Defy the Facebook Algorithm

The social network is predictable and dreary. My quest to make it random and fun.

Ideas

What Facebook Could Have Been

A shareable online diary was an obvious idea in the early 2000s. What if a college student’s version hadn’t won out?

Policy

Instagram and Facebook Ban Far-Right Extremists

Alex Jones, Infowars, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, and Louis Farrakhan have all been removed from the platforms.

Ideas

The End of Cyberspace

Internet theorists and companies once declared themselves free of nations and governance, but that’s all over now.

Emerging Tech

Instagram Is the New Mall

The platform is allowing influencers to sell things to users directly through their posts.