Social Media

Utah outlaws kids' social media addiction, sets digital curfew

Age verification, a private right to sue Big Tech ... thinking of the children or political points?

Personal Tech24 Mar 2023 | 73

Requiem for Google Reader, dead for a decade but not forgotten

Special report RSS pioneer Dave Winer sees Mastodon as a positive sign

Networks14 Mar 2023 | 50

Meta confirms decentralized Twitter rival in the works

Where there's disaffected twits there's potential revenue, and Facebook parent smells blood – er, profit

Personal Tech11 Mar 2023 | 28

'Brittle' Twitter suffers bad case of the Mondays: Links, pics, vids fail

Once again, the status page is oblivious

Personal Tech06 Mar 2023 | 62

Happy Lunar New Year: Beijing warns of enhanced surveillance during celebrations

Censors are on the lookout for showering under a waterfall of money, overeating, and more conventional sins

Security20 Jan 2023 | 8

UK Online Safety law threatens Big Tech bosses with jail

Two years in the clink proposed for not thinking of the children

Personal Tech18 Jan 2023 | 85

You can't handle the truth! Indian government suggests its own fact checkers judge what's right on social media

Classy: slips obviously conflicted idea in alongside changed gaming rules on last day of consultation period

Personal Tech18 Jan 2023 | 2

Third-party Twitter apps stopped dead with no explanation from El Musko

Sorry, when exactly are you going to sod off to Mars, mate?

Software14 Jan 2023 | 123

Russian meddling in 2016 US presidential election was weak sauce

Boffins find Twitter foreign influence campaign didn't have much pull

Security10 Jan 2023 | 60

US schools sue Meta, Google and friends over 'youth mental health crisis'

Updated Social media as public nuisance? Seattle may be on to something

Personal Tech10 Jan 2023 | 50

More pre-Musk Twitter 1.0 execs leave the building

Last one out turn off the lights

Personal Tech05 Jan 2023 | 25

US House boots TikTok from government phones

ByteDance ban for federal devices awaits Biden’s signature

Security28 Dec 2022 | 13

Elon Musk starts poll with one question: Should I step down as head of Twitter?

Updated The ayes have it: You said 'YES'

Personal Tech19 Dec 2022 | 134

TikTok could be banned from America, thanks to proposed bipartisan bill

If you listen really closely, you can hear Mark Zuckerberg's excitement

Security14 Dec 2022 | 27

Twitter dismantles its Trust and Safety Council moments before meeting

Comment Plus: Elon Musk is now a number 2

Personal Tech13 Dec 2022 | 109

UK lawmakers look to enforce blocking tools for legal but harmful content

The latest idea in the long gestation of the online harms legislation

Security09 Dec 2022 | 143

Twitter gives up fight against COVID-19 misinformation

Ex-moderation lead says he does not feel the platform is 'safe' under Musk

Personal Tech30 Nov 2022 | 211

Meta scores $200k default win against alleged peddler of Instagram Likes

Manipulating users' feelings on a social media platform? That's our job!

Legal28 Nov 2022 | 3

Meta links US military to fake social media influence campaigns

Didn't say they were good, though – covert ops apparently got 'little to no engagement' from targets

Research24 Nov 2022 | 20

Twitter set for more layoffs as Musk mulls next move

Plus: He ran a poll 51.8% in favor of overturning Donald Trump's ban... but some must be bots, right Elon?

Networks21 Nov 2022 | 131

World's richest man posts memes as $44b Twitter acquisition veers off course

Staff locked out as hundreds appear to say no to Musk's 'hardcore' ultimatum

Offbeat18 Nov 2022 | 210

Twitter refugees seek asylum in an unusual place: The Matt Hancock app

Move over, Mastodon – bungling UK politician's platform finds thousands of new users amid Elon Musk chaos

Bootnotes17 Nov 2022 | 32

Twitter, Musk, and a week of bad decisions

Lost among the chaos? We'll try to sort it out for you, so far

Personal Tech11 Nov 2022 | 106

Musk sows more Twitter chaos, now with Official policy snafu

Today's messes: a possible crypto venture; blue tick blackflips; advertiser assurances; and a promise to try dumb things

Personal Tech10 Nov 2022 | 31

Tumblr says nudes are back on the menu – within reason

But old 'go nuts, show nuts' attitude is dead for good

Offbeat03 Nov 2022 | 27

Meta fined record-breaking $24.6m for deliberately ignoring political ad law

Pocket change for troubled Facebook giant, plus more US election news

Personal Tech28 Oct 2022 | 30

Pro-China crew ramps up disinfo ahead of US midterms. Not that anyone's falling for it

Hey, Xi, 滚开

Cyber-crime27 Oct 2022 | 16

Twitter's most valuable users are ghosting the platform

Fly, little birds: Damning internal research emerges just before Elon Musk buy

Offbeat26 Oct 2022 | 122

Artist formerly known as Kanye reveals Parler trick: Buying the far-right haven

Used to tweeting? Get ready for Yeeting

Bootnotes17 Oct 2022 | 77

Elon Musk tells Twitter: My takeover deal is back on

Updated World's richest man wants to kill trial – and presumably end more text message embarrassment

Personal Tech04 Oct 2022 | 84

FYI: TikTok tracking pixels can be found all over the web – just like Meta, Google

Updated Don't have a TT account? Doesn't matter!

Personal Tech03 Oct 2022 | 24

Florida asks Supreme Court if it's OK to ban content moderation it doesn't like

Nothing screams Land of the Free like the government ordering you to host awful but lawful content

Personal Tech23 Sep 2022 | 99

Afghanistan’s Taliban government bans TikTok

First-person shooter PUBG also barred for corrupting the young

Personal Tech21 Sep 2022 | 9

Appeals court already under fire for upholding Texas no-content-moderation law

Big Tech forbidden from taking down 'viewpoint-based' posts no matter how awful but lawful

Personal Tech16 Sep 2022 | 112

To preserve Earth's treasures, digital silence is golden

Column There are beautiful, undisturbed places in the world. You do not have to catch 'em all

Software14 Sep 2022 | 56

Indian tech minister picks a fight with Wikipedia over cricketer's dropped catch

Also separatism, nationalism, and whether Big Tech does enough to police user-generated content

Bootnotes06 Sep 2022 | 17

Twitter edit button coming later this month ... for some

Looks like the bird site didn't need Musk's money to get the feature added, after all

Personal Tech01 Sep 2022 | 8

Snap to lay off one in five employees as losses mount

Original shows, games, the company's other apps, and more also being axed

Applications31 Aug 2022 | 9

Musk tries to stall Twitter takeover trial following whistleblower claims

And throws a copy of Mudge's allegations to the SEC, too, just in case it hasn't read them yet

Personal Tech31 Aug 2022 | 58

Twitter, Meta kill hundreds of pro-Western troll accounts

It turns out online chicanery aiming to destabilize foreign nations is a two-way street

Research25 Aug 2022 | 38

Twitter savaged by former security boss Mudge in whistleblower complaint

Loose access to production systems, out of date software, and more claimed

CSO23 Aug 2022 | 36

David Holz, founder of AI art generator Midjourney, on the future of imaging

Interview Optimizing for beauty while trying to suppress sensationalism

AI + ML01 Aug 2022 | 10

Elon Musk considering 'drastic action' as Twitter takeover in 'jeopardy'

Updated Though it's not clear what tech mogul might do seeing that he has committed to completing the transaction

Networks08 Jul 2022 | 135

Taiwan creates new challenge for tech industry: stern content regulation laws

Big tech asked to be more transparent by logging what it took down and why

Legal30 Jun 2022 | 10

LGBTQ+ folks warned of dating app extortion scams

Uncle Sam tells of crooks exploiting Pride Month

Cyber-crime27 Jun 2022 | 6

Japan makes online insults a crime that can earn a year in jail

Law will be reviewed after three years amid debate on free speech vs civility

Legal16 Jun 2022 | 94

Twitter shareholders to vote on Elon Musk's acquisition

Mogul's team sprayed with 'firehose' of data as unending saga continues

Networks09 Jun 2022 | 49

Another VPN quits India, as government proposes social media censorship powers

New Delhi now fighting criticism of eroding free speech and privacy with two proposed regulations

Legal08 Jun 2022 | 13

US Supreme Court puts Texas social media law on hold

Justices Roberts, Kavanaugh, Barrett help halt enforcement of HB 20

Personal Tech31 May 2022 | 37

Florida's content-moderation law kept on ice, likely unconstitutional, court says

So cool you're into free speech because that includes taking down misinformation

Personal Tech23 May 2022 | 51

Supreme Court urged to halt 'unconstitutional' Texas content-no-moderation law

Everyone's entitled to a viewpoint but what's your viewpoint on what exactly is and isn't a viewpoint?

Personal Tech18 May 2022 | 84

Appeals court unleashes Texas's anti-Big-Tech content-no-moderation law

That bit in Ghostbusters when they shut off the containment unit? That, but with social networks

Personal Tech12 May 2022 | 59

Did you know Twitter has an open-source arm? This is what it's been up to

Bluesky thinking includes blueprints for distributed social network

Applications05 May 2022 | 17

Eggheads demo how to fool share-trading bots with carefully crafted retweets

Good thing no one's buying or selling stock from Twitter posts, right? Um, right?

AI + ML05 May 2022 | 17

Sina Weibo, China's Twitter analog, reveals users' locations and IP addresses

Sssshhhh! Nobody tell Elon Musk

Security29 Apr 2022 | 9

Twitter preps poison pill to preclude Elon Musk's purchase plan

Comment Populist provocateur ponders partners to pay for platform prize

Personal Tech16 Apr 2022 | 118