IT & Technology News
Reporting on information technology, cybersecurity, and tech policy. The Daily Signal includes analysis, commentary, and opinion on technology’s impact.
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- News
Fed Up With Tech Platforms’ Censorship? Here Are 3 Free Speech Upstarts
Traditional social media networks are experiencing a backlash from users as they continue to “cancel” or otherwise censor conservative views. As a result, alternative “free speech” social media providers such as MeWe and Parler are seeing a surge of new users to their platforms. Here are three of those social media Davids challenging the tech…Nathalie Voit -
- News
6 Takeaways as Facebook, Twitter CEOs Testify at Senate Hearing
The CEOs of Twitter and Facebook returned Tuesday to Capitol Hill, this time to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. While focused on Twitter’s blocking of a New York Post story about the Biden family’s business dealings overseas and the social media giants’ immunity from lawsuit under the Communications Decency Act, the hearing veered into…Fred Lucas -
- News
Liberal Media Suggest Biden Should Take Aggressive Approach to Censoring Conservative Media
Liberal media figures and outlets are suggesting that Joe Biden should take an aggressive approach to conservative media when he becomes president of the United States. “There is no question that Democrats are gearing up to use their new power to apply far more pressure than ever on Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. to censor any…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
GoFundMe Censors Billboard Fundraising Campaign
GoFundMe, the private fundraising website, has halted the ability of a group of parents to raise money for a giant billboard that would expose transgender disinformation. GoFundMe claims the fundraising efforts violated its user rules. Parents wanted to erect a billboard that says, “Puberty is not a medical condition,” along with a graphic of Abigail Shrier’s book, “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.” …Nicole Russell -
- News
Email Marketing Firm Warns It May Censor Content
In what might be the latest example of censorship by a large tech company, the email marketing company Mailchimp adopted a new policy this week to remove certain content. Mailchimp determined it will use its “sole discretion” to determine whether messages are misleading and can be removed. In a customer message obtained by The Daily…Fred Lucas -
- Opinion
Meet the Climate Scientists That Social Media Censors Don’t Want You to Know About
Before the Hunter Biden/New York Post/Twitter imbroglio blew up a little more than one week ago, one of the primary targets of social media censors and left-leaning activists was a small nonprofit operating out of Arlington, Virginia. That group is the CO2 Coalition, formed in 2015 to educate policymakers and the public about climate change and…Gregory Wrightstone -
- Opinion
Tech Censorship Is on a Dangerous Path
The Big Tech censorship by Jack Dorsey’s Twitter of the New York Post story on Hunter Biden and Joe Biden is so egregious that I have to speak up. If there were any doubt, it is now clear that Twitter’s censorship system is set up to survey, capture, control, and manipulate the political narrative within…Armstrong Williams -
- Opinion
Social Media’s Preemptive Spiking of New York Post Story Shows Bias Against Conservatives Continues
Twitter and Facebook are quickly backpedaling after suppressing a New York Post story damaging to former Vice President Joe Biden, but that doesn’t erase the fact that just weeks before an election, the social media platforms continue to enforce their rules differently for those with whom they disagree politically. When the Post published a story…Kay C. James -
- Opinion
Twitter’s Censorship of the New York Post Is Un-American
Less than three weeks from a presidential election, perhaps the most vital platform for political news and debate, Twitter, has locked down the accounts of a presidential candidate’s press secretary and of his official campaign, among others, at the behest of activists pretending to be journalists. This is unsurprising to anyone who has been paying…David Harsanyi -
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Twitter Reverses Censorship of House GOP Committee Webpage, Says It Was Blocked ‘in Error’
Twitter said it erroneously blocked a link to the official government website for House Judiciary Committee Republicans that republished a censored New York Post story about Hunter Biden. “The link referenced was blocked in error. That decision has been reversed and the link is now unblocked,” a Twitter spokesman, who insisted on anonymity as a…Peter Hasson -
- Opinion
Watch Out for the New Censors
Until the Trump era, there was a pretty broad consensus in America around free speech. If you didn’t like something someone said, you could debate them and prove their point was not worthy. The solution to bad arguments was to use our free speech rights to win an argument. The notion of censoring political debate…Neil Patel -
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Facebook Says Ban on Conversion Therapy to Strike ‘Right Balance’ on Speech, Safety
In response to activists, Instagram and parent company Facebook plan to ban information about “conversion therapy” available for gays and lesbians—but haven’t fully defined the term. In yet another debate over free speech on social media platforms, Instagram and Facebook may end up picking winners and losers in a hotly debated topic. A Facebook representative…Fred Lucas -
- News
Trump Administration Weighs Banning TikTok, Other Chinese Apps
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the Trump administration is strongly considering banning TikTok and other Chinese apps. “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it,” Pompeo told Fox News after being asked about whether President Donald Trump is making a move against the company. His comments come as national security…Chris White -
- Opinion
The New Censors
Do you say what you think? That’s risky! You may get fired! You’ve probably heard about a New York Times editor resigning after approving an opinion piece by Sen. Tom Cotton that suggested the military to step in to end riots. Many Times reporters tweeted out the same alarmist wording, “Running this puts Black NY…John Stossel -
- Opinion
YouTube Weaponizes ‘Hate Speech’ Policy to Censor Heritage Foundation Video
On Oct. 9, Walt Heyer took the stage at a Heritage Foundation event called the Summit on Protecting Children from Sexualization. His powerful testimony captivated the audience. It was so powerful, in fact, that YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, is now censoring his words. The event, co-sponsored with the Family Policy Alliance, was a half-day…Robert B. Bluey -
- Opinion
What You Need to Know About Trump’s Social Media Executive Order
President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on social media Thursday. Klon Kitchen, director of the Center for Technology Policy at The Heritage Foundation, joins the podcast to discuss what the order does, how it affects tech companies, and the future of free political speech online. Read the lightly edited transcript, pasted below, or…Katrina Trinko -
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Ukraine Extends Quarantine on Russian Social Media
KYIV, Ukraine—Although Ukraine began to ease off its national coronavirus lockdown last week, the country’s ongoing quarantine against Russian disinformation remains in full force. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a measure Friday extending for another three years a national ban on Russian social media sites, email services, and internet search engines. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna…Nolan Peterson -
- Opinion
What Does Facebook’s New Oversight Board Mean for Conservative Posts?
Facebook recently announced the first 20 members of its new oversight board. The role of the board is to guide Facebook through decisions on what controversial content should be allowed to stay up or be deleted. Michael McConnell, professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and a co-chair of Facebook’s…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Sen. Cruz Seeks to Flip the SCRIPT on Hollywood’s Kowtowing to Chinese Censors
A bill proposed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that seeks to dissuade Hollywood studios from submitting their movies to the censorship of the People’s Republic of China seems to strike the right policy balance. It would limit government interference in businesses decisions, but exposes an outrage that most Americans likely are unaware of. The Stopping…Helle Dale -
- Opinion
Liberal Media’s Double Standard: Censor Trump’s Briefings, Air China’s Propaganda
The lack of regular White House press briefings used to be decried as the end of democracy. Now it’s daily White House briefings that represent the end of democracy. Actress Jane Lynch demanded on Twitter on Monday that President Donald Trump end his daily press briefings and that the media stop covering them. Lest one…Jarrett Stepman