Facebook said Thursday it will begin blocking state-controlled media outlets from buying advertising in the U.S. this summer. It’s also rolling out a new set of labels to provide users with transparency around ads and posts from state-controlled outlets. Outlets that feel wrongly labeled can appeal the process. Axios reports: Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of security policy, says the company hasn’t…
Tag: 2020 election
The Atlantic Warns About 2020 Election Security Holes and Possible Russian Interference
Slashdot reader DevNull127 writes: A staff writer at The Atlantic published a 7,800-word warning about election security considering the possibility of everything from ransomware to meddling with voter-registration databases — and of course, online disinformation. But it starts with Jack Cable, a Stanford student who discovered security holes in Chicago’s Board of Elections website — then spent months trying to find…
Andrew Yang Launches Nonprofit Aimed At Promoting Universal Basic Income
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Nearly a month after ending his long shot Democratic presidential campaign, Andrew Yang launched on Thursday a nonprofit group focused on making the central ideas of his campaign a reality. The group, called Humanity Forward, will “endorse and provide resources to political candidates who embrace Universal Basic Income, human-centered capitalism and other aligned…
Learn and take action with three new Teach-Outs from JHU, Emory, and the University of Michigan
A guest post written by: Benjamin Morse, Design Manager University of Michigan Stephanie Parisi, Associate Director of Instructional Design Emory University @snparisi Rebecca G. Williams, Research Program Manager Johns Hopkins University @rebecca_gwen Our world is evolving rapidly and the need to understand complex societal issues and engage in productive and civil discourse has never been […]
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Pinterest Bans Misinformation About Voting and the Census
An anonymous reader shares a report: Pinterest is ramping up its efforts to crack down on political misinformation ahead of the 2020 election — a sign that the platform best known for lighthearted fare such as recipes, wedding planning and beauty tips is not immune from the challenges facing other major social media sites. The company tells The Technology 202 that…
‘Fox News Is Now a Threat to National Security’
The network’s furthering of lies from foreign adversaries and flagrant disregard for the truth have gotten downright dangerous. Garrett M. Graff, writing for Wired earlier this month: Monday’s split-screen drama, as the House Judiciary Committee weighed impeachment charges against President Trump and as the Justice Department’s inspector general released a 476-page report on the FBI’s handling of its 2016 investigation into…
US Begins Formal Withdrawal From Paris Climate Accord
The Trump administration is formally withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, “the first step in a year-long process to leave the landmark agreement to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases,” reports CNN. President Trump first announced the intent to officially withdraw from the agreement in June 2017. From the report: “Today the United States began the process to withdraw from…
Facebook Shuts Down New Accounts From Iran and Russia Spreading Disinformation
Facebook on Monday removed nearly 200 newly discovered fake accounts linked separately to Iran and to Russia’s Internet Research Agency. The takedowns demonstrate that foreign influence operations are already targeting the 2020 election, but provide evidence that Russia’s notorious troll farm is struggling to regain anything close to the influence in held in 2016. The Daily Beast reports: The new wave…
New Facebook Features Fight Election Lies Everywhere But Ads
Heaven forbid a political candidate’s Facebook account gets hacked. They might spread disinformation … like they’re already allowed to do in Facebook ads … From a report: Today Facebook made a slew of announcements designed to stop 2020 election interference. “The bottom line here is that elections have changed significantly since 2016” and so has Facebook in response, CEO Mark Zuckerberg…
Researchers Easily Breached Voting Machines For the 2020 Election
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: The voting machines that the U.S. will use in the 2020 election are still vulnerable to hacks. A group of ethical hackers tested a bunch of those voting machines and election systems (most of which they bought on eBay). They were able to crack into every machine, The Washington Post reports. Their tests…