Social media bosses in the hot seat again

Sep 3, 2018
On Wednesday, top social media executives will testify at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on what social media platforms are doing to prevent meddling in US elections. But what have they done already? And how is the search for online security affecting their bottom lines?

What role should governments play in regulating speech online?

Aug 24, 2018
"Many people ... trust these big tech companies frankly more than they do their politicians," Politico's chief technology correspondent says.
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President Trump threatens shutdown as Congress works towards a deal

Jul 31, 2018
In tweets and in statements to the press, Trump says he’s willing to force a government shutdown over funding for a border wall. But Congress is actually making better progress than usual.
President Donald Trump.
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Tech, data, privacy and time: It's a trade-off, but are we trading too much?

Jul 23, 2018
"If I don't understand the trade-off that I'm making, how can I help make decisions for my child?" one marketer asks.
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Twitter is in a big game of "bot or not"

The proportion of fake users, or bots, on Twitter may be higher than previously thought.
This photo illustration taken on March 23, 2018 shows Twitter logos on a computer screen in Beijing.
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Monopolies can lead to terrible economic behaviors: A story of cabs and Uber

Jun 29, 2018
A Twitter thread about the rise of Uber and Lyft in New York City.
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For public good, not for profit.

China moves to tighten control of the internet

Mar 12, 2018
In China, the internet is censored. You can’t get access to Google, or Facebook or Twitter unless you have a workaround known as a virtual private network. VPN technology lets users jump over the so-called Great Firewall of China. But now those jumping days could be ending. By month’s end, Beijing plans to block all VPN […]

Twitter has a hard time with bots because it was designed to be bot-friendly

Feb 21, 2018
It’s been a hard year for social platform companies like Twitter and Facebook. After reports emerged of Russians interfering with the 2016 presidential election by using bots and fake accounts, both companies have come under pressure to clean up their user bases. And for Twitter, this may be especially tricky; as far as platforms go, […]

Black Twitter is a force for activism

Feminista Jones on what the social forum has accomplished.
Demonstrators from the Black Lives Matter movement march during a demonstration against the killing of black men by police in the U.S.
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