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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- Opinion
Meet the California Lawyer Defending Covington Teens, Former Google Employee
What’s it like to be a conservative lawyer in a liberal bastion like San Francisco? That’s exactly what Harmeet Dhillon does every day, and her clients include a dozen of the Covington High School teens, pro-life activist David Daleiden, and many others. Listen to the interview in the podcast or read the transcript below. Plus:…Katrina Trinko -
- Opinion
Why the Military Is Losing the Battle for the Best, Brightest Cybersecurity Talent
What do GPS satellites, F-35s, and the new Department of Veterans Affairs health care records management system have in common? The latest Defense Department annual assessment of cyberthreats has found disturbing weaknesses in each of these systems. Furthermore, Robert Behler, director of the Defense Department’s Operational Test and Evaluation, claimed that the Pentagon’s cybertesting was…Elias Gavilan -
- Opinion
‘Attention Engineering’: Why We Suffer in the Social Media Economy
By now, many people are aware of the fascinating experiment conducted by Microsoft to track and interpret human attention spans. They are, of course, shortening on average. Microsoft estimated that between the years 2000 and 2016, the human attention span shortened from roughly 20 seconds to eight seconds on average. As it stands, the average…Armstrong Williams -
- Opinion
The Covington Fiasco Is a Perfect Example of Why the Founders Distrusted Democracy
In the shallow world of modernity, we throw around a word like “democracy” as a stand-in for “things that I like.” Many in popular culture and elite institutions promote democracy as a cure for all that ails us—an unquestioned and unqualified blessing. Still others turn on a dime and hope for its demise as soon…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
Democrat Senator Calls for Investigation Into Liberals’ Facebook Tricks During Senate Race
Democratic Alabama Sen. Doug Jones asked the Federal Election Commission Wednesday night to investigate a false flag operation that was designed to suppress conservative votes ahead of the midterm election. Jones made his request less than a month after reports from The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Daily Caller News Foundation fleshed out the extent of…Chris White -
- News
PragerU Brings New Suit Against Google in California State Court
Conservative nonprofit PragerU filed suit against Google in California court on Tuesday for allegedly violating state law in restricting access to Prager’s educational videos on YouTube, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. The suit claims that YouTube’s restrictions on many of Prager’s videos violate California law in four…Peter Hasson -
- News
Google Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media in Search Results
Google employees debated whether to bury conservative media outlets in search results as a response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, internal Google communications obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal. The Daily Caller and Breitbart were specifically singled out as outlets to potentially bury in search results, the communications reveal. Trump’s election…Peter Hasson -
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- Opinion
Twitter’s Initial Classification of ‘Illegal Alien,’ ‘Criminal Alien’ as Hateful Shows Social Media’s Censorship Potential
Twitter made headlines recently when it denied the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan group, the ability to promote four tweets that—according to Twitter—contained “hateful content.” What was that hateful content? The legally correct phrases “illegal alien” and “criminal alien.” To be clear, those who follow the Center for Immigration Studies on Twitter were able…Hans von Spakovsky -
- News
6 Key Moments From Social Media Hearings
On Capitol Hill Wednesday, Facebook’s chief operating officer and Twitter’s CEO testified about foreign entities and the use of social media platforms to influence the United States’ elections. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey answered questions from the Senate intelligence committee on topics including foreign influences and “fake news.” Dorsey also appeared before the…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Why Government Shouldn’t Tell Facebook, Google, and Twitter What to Do
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has summoned the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google for a hearing Wednesday about online political mischief by foreign governments. As was the case in a hearing several months ago, committee members will question the executives on their efforts (or lack thereof) to stop Russia and other countries from…Diane Katz -
- Opinion
Media Misses: Trump Takes on CNN, Google
We break down the top media moments this week—and plenty of misses. President Donald Trump isn’t just taking on the mainstream media—this week he’s also dueling it out with tech conglomerate Google. It all started with a tweet when Trump called out Google for allegedly prioritizing search results for “national left-wing media.” Trump isn’t just going…Ginny Montalbano -
- Opinion
Google’s Plan for a Censoring App for China Makes a Mockery of Its Mission of Information Access
Google plans to launch a pre-censored search engine app in China, tailored to fit China’s strict censorship laws, according to a report in The Intercept. A Google spokesperson declined to confirm the report regarding the tech titan’s plans, but if the app is developed, it would set a dangerous precedent. Access to China’s massive internet…Spencer McCloy -
- Opinion
Social Media Giants Shouldn’t Be Arbiters of Appropriate Speech
Of course, Facebook, YouTube, and other media are free to ban conspiracy-mongers such as Alex Jones from their platforms. They have a right to dictate the contours of permissible speech on their sites and to enforce those standards dutifully or hypocritically or ideologically, using any method they see fit. No one seriously disputes this. Twitter…David Harsanyi -
- Opinion
Censorship of Infowars Exposes Larger Problem of Silicon Valley Bias
This week, the conspiracy website Infowars, which is run by Alex Jones, was either “banned” or had content stripped from most social media platforms. YouTube cited “hate speech and harassment” as reasons to remove Infowars from the platform, Apple explained that “hate speech” wouldn’t be tolerated, and Facebook announced: “Upon review, we have taken it down…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
Founder of Congress’ Media Fairness Caucus Has a Prescription for Curing Media Bias
The Daily Signal spoke last week with Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, about media bias. Smith discussed the House Media Fairness Caucus, which he founded, how Americans can combat media bias, and a new term he coined: mediacrats. This transcript of the interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Rob Bluey: Congressman, how bad…Rob Bluey -
- News
Facebook Says It Has Identified a Political Influence Campaign Aimed at Creating Left-Wing ‘Resistance’
Facebook announced Tuesday that it has removed 32 inauthentic Instagram and Facebook profiles and pages because the company believes they were part of a coordinated disinformation campaign. “We’re still in the very early stages of our investigation and don’t have all the facts—including who may be behind this. But we are sharing what we know…Joe Simonson -
- Opinion
How Censorship by Facebook Reinforces This Writer’s Point on Liberals’ Intolerance
Less than a third of the way into his upcoming book on nationalism, Israeli philosopher and scholar Yoram Hazony warns about the growing censorship constricting debate in Western societies when the opinion in question runs counter to the views of politically correct liberalism. Facebook wasted no time in making his case for him. “There is…Mike Gonzalez -
- Opinion
Facebook Recently Banned Dozens of Accounts in Brazil, and Conservatives Are Crying Foul
Conservative groups in Brazil are protesting against Facebook after it banned 196 pages and 87 individual profiles, many of them on the right side of the ideological spectrum. The Facebook purge has raised concerns that the platform may be pursuing a political agenda in the run-up to the Oct. 7 elections for a new president,…James M. Roberts -
- News
Facebook Removes Death Threats Toward Republicans After Lawmaker Calls It Out
Facebook removed a page Tuesday that posted incitements to violence and implied death threats after a Republican lawmaker called the company out. During a hearing Tuesday with representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida asked Facebook’s head of global policy management, Monika Bickert, why the social media giant hasn’t removed…Kyle Perisic