Free Speech

The New York Times sees YouTube purges as a start, but still not good enough. “YouTube’s efforts to curb conspiracy theories pose a major test of Silicon Valley’s ability to combat misinformation,” The Times wrote in its March 2 coverage. It cited the findings from a University of California Berkeley study which concluded YouTube spreads fewer conspiracy theories than before, but still has a long…

YouTube has been overhauling its policies, and one result is clear: chances to successfully appeal your content once it has been removed are slim. In YouTube’s latest Community Guidelines enforcement report spanning from Oct. to Dec. 2019, the platform revealed that after 108,779 videos were appealed after taken down, a mere 23,471 were reinstated. In short, creators are being put on notice that…

Facebook covers posts and news stories that have been fact-checked and found false. While this policy has affected conservative media outlets, it hasn’t appeared to affect the liberal media as much. Until now. A Politico post about the coronavirus was fact-checked by the Daily Caller’s fact-checker organization, Check Your Fact.   

Google critic Dr. Robert Epstein warned of Big Tech’s potential for abuse in elections -- and apparently Americans are beginning to heed his concerns. Both Republicans and Democrats appear to agree that Big Tech will be unable to prevent their platforms from being misused during the 2020 election. “[N]early three-quarters of Americans (74%) express little or no confidence” that Big Tech companies…

Conservative leaders spoke at a game-changing panel about how the movement will take on Big Tech censorship. Donald Trump, Jr., House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) blasted Bich Tech bias at a Feb 28 CPAC panel “What’s the Right Path Forward on Big Tech?”  This panel represented just how rapidly the conservative movement has largely overhauled its approach to…

Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey is not popular with a wealthy investor, who is allegedly seeking to make changes at the company. Elliott Management Corp., an investment company run by prominent Republican billionaire Paul Singer, has taken a stake in Twitter, in a story published by Bloomberg News on Feb. 28.

After a brief controversy where the viral video app TikTok censored and reinstated a pro-life organization, the platform has allowed a viral video showing  young women seemingly giddy about abortion. Live Action founder Lila Rose blasted TikTok via tweet Feb. 27 at 10:15 a.m. when she discovered an “Unbelievable” viral video she said has 4 million views, which “shows girls cheerfully walking into…

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that YouTube may censor whomever it chooses, and is not bound by the First Amendment. The ruling in Prager University v. Google dealt a blow to PragerU’s cause this past Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage. The decision upheld the district court’s dismissal of an action brought by PragerU against YouTube and its parent company…

Worried about the rise of socialism? The Big Tech oligarchs over at Twitter don’t appear to be. Despite a Twitter rule which states that the platform will censor accounts for using “hateful symbol[s],” a Twitter spokesperson defended the use of the communist hammer and sickle -- a symbol that Hillsdale College professor Dr. Charles N. Steele said is associated with the deaths of millions -- on…

Twitter censored an account known for sharing videos from Wuhan showing scenes of a city on lockdown during the coronavirus. Harry Chen PhD, whose now-suspended account had 35,000 followers and claimed to live in China on his bio, had been cited in news outlets like Business Insider for his video showing lines of people buying masks “instead of the state providing them.”

Prominent liberal Google critic Dr. Robert Epstein wrote an op-ed warning that Big Tech companies can rig the 2020 election and “make the Russians look like rank amateurs.” “President Donald Trump can’t win the 2020 election,” wrote Dr. Robert Epstein, a senior researcher at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and former Editor-in-chief of “Psychology Today.” In a Feb.…

Google in collaboration with Jigsaw is developing tools to measure subjective content online and rate it on a value scale. And scientists are taking it seriously. A study done by eight academics from various universities together in the iDrama Lab, found that online communities, particularly in the “Manosphere,” have “been orchestrating harassment campaigns and spreading extremist ideologies on…

A trillion-dollar company could be in trouble for copyright infringement, according to a lawsuit from tech company Oracle. Oracle, a technology company known for its database management systems, has been embroiled in a legal battle with Google since 2010. The company, which recently made headlines for a fundraiser held by founder and chairman Larry Ellison for President Donald Trump, maintains in…

For the second time, tech companies Apple and TikTok have declined to testify -- this time at a March 4 Senate hearing. “This is a troubling pattern,” wrote Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Twitter. “What are they hiding? Don’t they think these questions matter--and deserve answers?” The Washington Post wrote that Apple did not respond to any comment. TikTok, a Chinese video-sharing platform,…