Social Media
What We Learned From Bloomberg’s Online Campaign
Bridget Barrett Fri, Mar 6, 2020, 2:08 PM
Bullish digital campaigning can’t change hearts and minds at the polls—but it can change Facebook.
Latest in Social Media
Foreign Policy Essay
Terrorists and Technological Innovation
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Colin P. Clarke, Matt Shear Sun, Feb 2, 2020, 10:00 AM
Botched terrorist attacks aren't failures for terrorist groups. They're a learning process.
Disinformation
Livestream: House Hears Testimony About Digital Manipulation
Hadley Baker Wed, Jan 8, 2020, 11:28 AM
On Jan. 8 at 10:30am, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on “Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age.” The committee will hear from Monika Bickert from Facebook, Joan Donovan of the Harvard Kennedy School, Tristan Harris from the Center for Humane Technology and Justin Hurwitz from the University of Nebraska College of Law. The livestream of the hearing is available here and below.
Social Media
Are Facebook and Google State Actors? A Reply to Alan Rozenshtein
Jed Rubenfeld Tue, Dec 10, 2019, 8:00 AM
Section 230 deliberately seeks to induce private parties to take action that would violate constitutional rights if governmental actors did it directly.
Social Media
Two Massachusetts Men Charged with Cybercrimes
Gordon Ahl Thu, Nov 14, 2019, 3:27 PM
On Nov. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Eric Meiggs and Declan Harrington were charged with wire fraud, computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, among other charges. The indictment alleges an extensive nationwide scheme to steal victims' social media accounts and cryptocurrency. The full indictment is available here and below.
Social Media
New U.N. Report on Online Hate Speech
Evelyn Douek Fri, Oct 25, 2019, 1:28 PM
David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the freedom of opinion and expression, recommended in June 2018 that social media companies adopt international human rights law as the authoritative standard for their content moderation. Before Kaye’s report, the idea was fairly out of the mainstream. But the ground has shifted.
China
China and the Hypocrisy of American Speech Imperialism
Andrew Keane Woods Fri, Oct 18, 2019, 2:19 PM
Should American companies—the National Basketball Association (NBA), Apple, Facebook—be doing business in China? Many people appear to have strong feelings about this question, particularly after a series of controversies have erupted in the past two weeks.
Social Media
Livestream: House Hearing on ‘Fostering a Healthier Internet to Protect Consumers’
Gordon Ahl Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 10:20 AM
On Oct. 16, two subcommittees of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing focusing on protecting consumers on the Internet and content moderation. The livestream and hearing memorandum are available below.
Counterterrorism
Lawfare Resources on Right-Wing Extremism, Domestic Terrorism and De-platforming
Quinta Jurecic Mon, Aug 5, 2019, 4:38 PM
On Aug. 4, in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman opened fire and killed nine people. The day before, another shooter killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas, apparently after posting a racist message to the anonymous online forum 8chan decrying an ostensible “Hispanic invasion of Texas.” Though there is no indication so far that the Dayton shooting was motivated by extremist political beliefs, the violence in El Paso is the third mass shooting in 2019 to be linked to 8chan and to some form of far-right extremism.
Counterterrorism
How to Create a Terrorism Designation Process Useful to Technology Companies
Daniel Byman Mon, Aug 5, 2019, 1:50 PM
On August 3, a shooter opened fire at a crowded Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. Shortly beforehand, it seems that he posted a screed on the online messageboard 8chan, framing the shooting as an act of terrorism against what he saw as the increasing Latino population of Texas.