Oct 26 Watch 9:03 Kids' mental health, safety in the spotlight as social media execs face Congress By William Brangham, Courtney Norris, Claire Mufson A Senate committee is widening its investigation into the impact social media platforms have on children, teens and young adults, with more apps facing congressional scrutiny. William Brangham reports with Jean Twenge, a psychology professor and author of "iGen: Why… Continue watching
Oct 26 WATCH: Sen. Blumenthal tells TikTok, Snap, YouTube execs this 'is a moment of reckoning' for platforms and kids' safety online By Marcy Gordon, Associated Press YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are offering only "tweaks and minor changes" in their operations to ensure young users' safety amid rising concern over the platforms' potential harm to children, the head of a Senate panel told the companies' executives. Continue reading
Oct 26 WATCH: TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube executives testify in Senate hearing about kids' safety online By Marcy Gordon, Matt O'Brien, Associated Press Senators put executives from YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat on the defensive Tuesday, questioning them about what they’re doing to ensure young users’ safety on their platforms. Continue reading
Oct 25 Facebook has struggled to curb divisive content in India By Sheikh Saaliq, Krutika Pathi, Associated Press Internal company documents on India highlight Facebook's constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in the world's biggest democracy. Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence. Continue reading
Oct 25 Facebook's language gaps allow terrorist content and hate speech to thrive By Isabel Debre, Fares Akram, Associated Press Internal company documents show the problems are far more systemic than just a few innocent mistakes, and that Facebook has understood the depth of these failings for years while doing little about it. Continue reading
Oct 25 Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over human trafficking By Jon Gambrell, Jim Gomez, Associated Press Two years ago, Apple threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from its app store over concerns about the platform being used as a tool to trade and sell maids in the Mideast. Continue reading
Oct 25 'Facebook Papers' reveal company is hesitant to act on serious issues By Barbara Ortutay, Associated Press Thousands of pages of internal documents provided to Congress by a former employee depict an internally conflicted company where data on the harms it causes is abundant, but solutions, much less the will to act on them, are halting at… Continue reading
Oct 21 Trump says he's launching a new media company with its own social media platform By Jill Colvin, Associated Press Trump says his goal in launching the Trump Media & Technology Group and its "Truth Social" app is to create a rival to the Big Tech companies that have shut him out and denied him the megaphone that was paramount… Continue reading
Oct 10 Facebook unveils new controls for kids using its platforms By Associated Press Facebook, in the aftermath of damning testimony that its platforms harm children, will be introducing several features including prompting teens to take a break using its photo sharing app Instagram, and “nudging” teens if they are repeatedly looking at the… Continue reading
Oct 08 Americans agree misinformation is a problem, poll shows By Amanda Seitz, Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press Nearly all Americans agree that the rampant spread of misinformation is a problem. Most also think individual users, along with social media companies, bear a good deal of blame for the situation. Continue reading