-
TikTok Scrambles to Remove Suicide Video Clips, Ban Users
TikTok says it’s working to remove videos of a man apparently taking his own life and banning users that keep trying to spread the clips on the popular social media platform.
-
Twenty One Pilots' Tyler Joseph Apologizes After Insensitive Tweet About Using His ‘Platforms'
Tyler Joseph faced criticism on Twitter after he made a joke about using his “platforms” and failing to publicly state his support of the Black Lives Matter movement on social media.
-
LA Zoo Urges Support for Endangered Species with Cute Animal Pics
The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is bringing awareness to the Endangered Species Act with cute animal pictures.
-
Tiktok Bans Political and Advocacy Advertising From Its Platform
TikTok announced Thursday that it is banning all political ads, a move that sets it apart from other social media platforms that have become destinations for political ad dollars, NBC News reports. TikTok is a smartphone app in which users can capture short videos of themselves, usually lip syncing or dancing to popular songs. The app has attracted a large...
-
Tech Firms Struggle to Police Content While Avoiding Bias
Take the post down. Put it back up. Stop policing speech. Start silencing extremists. That’s just a sampling of the intense, often contradictory demands facing tech companies and their social media platforms as they try to oversee internet content without infringing on First Amendment rights. The pendulum has swung recently toward restricting hateful speech that could spawn violence, following a...
-
GOP Freezes Twitter Spending After McConnell Account Locked
The Republican Party, the Trump campaign and other GOP organizations said Thursday that they are freezing their spending on Twitter to protest the platform’s treatment of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Twitter temporarily locked McConnell’s campaign account Wednesday after it shared a video in which some protesters spoke of violence outside his Kentucky home, where he is recovering from a...
-
UC San Diego Researchers Create AI That Catches Spoilers Before You Do
The new tool is called SpoilerNet, and it uses artificial intelligence powered by neural networks to automatically flag spoilers in online reviews of books and TV shows. Researchers said this data can potentially be used to create software that catches spoilers on social media platforms.
-
Diddy's ‘Making the Band' Officially Coming Back to TV
Diddy’s “Making the Band” is officially coming back to TV. The music mogul announced Monday that the hit series, where he discovered groups including platinum-sellers Danity Kane, would return to MTV in 2020.
-
Grumpy Cat, Internet Sensation for Her Stern Look, Dies at Age 7
Grumpy Cat, the Arizona feline who became an internet sensation for her constantly angry expression, has died at age 7, her family said Friday.
-
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Back Up After Massive Outage
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were temporarily down early Sunday. All three social media platforms, including Facebook Messenger, were affected by the outage. Downdetector.com, a site that monitors site outages, shows Facebook had been down since 6:30 a.m. EST in much of the world, with thousands of reported outages concentrated in the northeastern U.S., Europe and the Philippines.
-
Facebook, Google Face Widening Crackdown Over Online Content
Tech giants like Facebook and Google came under increasing pressure in Europe on Monday when countries proposed stricter rules to force them to block extreme material such as terrorist propaganda and child porn. Britain called for a first-of-its-kind watchdog for social media that could fine executives and even ban companies. And a European Union parliamentary committee approved a bill giving...
-
Chinese Viewers Balk at ‘Bohemian Rhapsody' Film Censorship
A huge fan of rock legends Queen, Peng Yanzi rushed to see “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the biopic about the band’s late lead singer, Freddie Mercury, while he was traveling in Britain last October....
It was a touching film that made him cry hard, Peng says. He loved it enough to watch it a second time in his home city of Guangzhou after... -
New Zealand to Probe Role of Spies, Guns in Mosque Attacks
New Zealand will hold a top-level inquiry into the massacre of 50 people at two Christchurch mosques that will examine what roles guns, social media and spy agencies played preceding the attacks. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that it would hold a Royal Commission of Inquiry, the country’s highest form of investigation. “While New Zealanders and Muslim communities around...
-
UK Lawmakers Slam Facebook, Recommend Stiffer Regulation
British lawmakers issued a scathing report Monday that accused Facebook of intentionally violating privacy and anti-competition laws in the U.K., and called for greater oversight of social media companies. The report on fake news and disinformation on social media sites followed an 18-month investigation. The parliamentary committee that prepared the report says social media sites should have to follow a...
-
Surfer Caught Carving Coast Highway Quickly Goes Viral
Video of a man surfing a flooded Oceanside street in tow behind a friend’s SUV during Thursday’s rainstorm has gone viral.
-
Documents Show Facebook Used User Data as Competitive Weapon
Internal Facebook documents released by a U.K. parliamentary committee offer the clearest evidence yet that the social network has used its enormous trove of user data as a competitive weapon, often in ways designed to keep its users in the dark. Parliament’s media committee accused Facebook on Wednesday of cutting special deals with some app developers to give them more...
-
DJ Khaled, Mayweather Settle Over Digital Coin Promotions
Federal regulators said Thursday that boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled are paying a total $750,000 to settle charges they failed to disclose payments they received for promoting investments in digital-currency securities....
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the cases are its first involving charges for violating rules on touting investments in so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs.... -
‘Participate in the War, and Spread Fear': North Side Man Charged With Supporting, Recruiting for ISIS on Social Media
A 34-year-old Chicago man was charged Friday with conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State and encouraging terror attacks on social media, the Department of Justice announced. Ashraf Al Safoo was arrested Wednesday in Chicago after his North Side home was raided by federal agents.
-
Melania Trump: Social Media Can Be ‘Distracting and Harmful'
Melania Trump said Monday that social media can be used for good but may also be “distracting and harmful when used incorrectly.” She made the comments at a cyberbullying summit in Rockville, Maryland, where she was attending a panel discussion with representatives from various social media platforms participating in the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Cyberbullying Prevention Summit. “Let’s face...
-
Melania Trump Addresses Cyberbullying Conference
First lady Melania Trump is encouraging technology and social media companies to provide more opportunities for children to share ideas on how to be good citizens online.