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
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… -
opinion
The Bias Problem Plaguing America’s Social Media Platforms
Americans deserve the facts, objectively reported. They know media bias is pervasive. A recent Morning Consult poll found that only a quarter of voters now trust the media to tell them the truth, a record low. The media savages President Donald Trump and portrays his administration in the worst possible light. Over 90 percent of… -
opinion
Facebook Censored a Post With the Declaration of Independence Text, Now Says Sorry
Facebook recently removed a post that featured the text from the Declaration of Independence, either showing that its algorithms are flawed, or its human content moderators find America’s founding document to be too politically incorrect for users. The tech giant reportedly apologized Tuesday. A small Texas newspaper called The Liberty County Vindicator was posting excerpts of the… -
news
Exclusive Interview: Mercedes Schlapp on Trump’s Expectations and ‘Fighting’ Media Bias
Mercedes Schlapp, assistant to the president and senior adviser for strategic communications at the White House, spoke exclusively to The Daily Signal’s Ginny Montalbano on Friday during the Young Women’s Leadership Summit organized by Turning Point USA in Dallas. Schlapp described the Trump administration’s successes, what the president expects from his team, and how the media… -
news
Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Twitter All Work With Left-Wing SPLC
Four of the world’s biggest tech platforms have working partnerships with a left-wing nonprofit that has a track record of inaccuracies and routinely labels conservative organizations as “hate groups.” Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Twitter all work with or consult the Southern Poverty Law Center in policing their platforms for “hate speech” or “hate groups,” a Daily… -
news
Google Changes ‘Couple in Love’ Emoji to Gender Neutral
Google temporarily changed its “couple in love” emoji to a gender-neutral default for Android phones, which is being tested Thursday. Users of Android’s newest update, Android P, will get a temporary change to their phones with the new emoji featuring a gender-neutral couple as the keyboard default, the Daily Mail reported. Google’s latest move to be more inclusive… -
news
Law Professor Alan Dershowitz Tells Mainstream Media to Stop Slamming Trump for Pardons
Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz criticized the media’s reaction to President Donald Trump’s recent pardons and accused them of blowing the story out of proportion. “It’s the most ridiculous thing to constantly say the president is saying is he’s above the law,” Dershowitz said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “The president’s spokesmen have said over… -
opinion
Here’s the Actual Slogan Google Should Adopt
The original slogan of Google was “Don’t be evil.” When Google changed its corporate name to Alphabet in 2015, it changed the slogan to “Do the right thing.” If it were to be true to its values, Google should have changed its slogan from “Don’t be evil” to “Don’t fight evil.” Here is The New… -
news
Google Blames Wikipedia for Listing Nazism as One of California Republican Party’s Ideologies
Google reportedly identified one of the ideologies of the California Republican Party as “Nazism” on its highly popular search platform. The piece of inaccurate information, which is hyperlinked to presumably take web browsers to more information about the hateful, fascist persuasion, is found in the “knowledge panel,” a sidebar widget that presents further, more immediate… -
opinion
How Google Put Pro-Lifers at Disadvantage in Ireland’s Upcoming Referendum
Ireland is currently engaged in a contentious fight over the right to life of the unborn—and it’s hardly being fought on an even playing field. Ireland is set to vote Friday on a measure that would either remove or retain the eighth amendment to its constitution, which recognizes the right to life of the unborn… -
opinion
Google Is Fighting for Criminal Justice Reform. Here’s Where It’s Going Astray.
This week, Google hosted an event at its Washington headquarters to announce a new corporate policy: Bail bond services will no longer be allowed to post ads on the company’s ubiquitous search platform. Starting in July, Google will begin to phase out ads for bail bond services. Google’s head of global product policy, David Graff,… -
opinion
Must-See Moments: Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Withering Response to Mainstream Media
The Daily Signal’s Facebook Live show “Top 10” features the top news stories of the week—many of which went misreported by the mainstream media and some weren’t reported at all. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had a withering response to CNN’s April Ryan during a heated press conference earlier this week. After discussing… -
opinion
Will Facebook Stop Being Free? The Potential Downsides of a New Bill About Social Media Regulation
In congressional testimony last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he would support regulation of his own company. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Kennedy, R-La., have now taken him up on the offer, introducing a bill, S. 2728, to impose broad new restrictions on how Facebook and other social media companies can collect and… -
news
Conservative Leaders: ‘Social Media Censorship’ Has ‘Reached a Crisis Level’
More than 60 conservative leaders, some more prominent than others, published a joint statement Tuesday arguing big tech companies need to do more to ensure people aren’t being unduly silenced for their ideological viewpoints. “Social media censorship and online restriction of conservatives and their organizations have reached a crisis level,” the message reads. “Conservative leaders now… -
news
6 of the Best Exchanges in Social Media Hearing With Diamond and Silk
Conservative social media personalities Diamond and Silk, who say Facebook has censored their page, were front and center at a congressional hearing Thursday on the content-filtering practices of social media platforms. “Shame on the ones that don’t even see that we have been censored, yet when the Black Lives Matter people complain about it—oh, everybody… -
opinion
The Zuckerberg Hearings Prove Government Shouldn’t Regulate Facebook
In the year 2018, at the height of the Russia Scare, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hauled in front of a tribunal of tech-illiterate politicians and asked to explain himself. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” Zuckerberg told senators who are upset about the company’s exploitation (and fumbling) of user data—which, unbeknownst to them,… -
opinion
Podcast: What Facebook Does With Your Data
With over 2 billion users, Facebook is a roaring enterprise—but that success has not come without scrutiny. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress this week and faced tough questions over his company’s handling of user data as well as its censorship practices. Klon Kitchen, a Heritage Foundation technology expert, joins the podcast… -
opinion
I Questioned Mark Zuckerberg. What Concerns Me Most About Facebook’s Handling of Personal Data.
The history and growth of Facebook mirrors that of many of our technology giants. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, Facebook has exploded over the past 14 years. Facebook currently has 2.13 billion monthly active users across the world, more than 25,000 employees, and offices in 13 U.S. cities and various other countries. Like its… -
news
Diamond and Silk Respond to Facebook Calling Them Dangerous: ‘A Violation of Our Civil Rights’
Pro-Trump social media personalities Diamond and Silk said they were censored by Facebook for their conservatives beliefs on “Fox & Friends” Monday and believe it has something to do with the upcoming midterm elections. The duo, Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, claimed their videos were deemed “unsafe to the community” by Facebook and said they were told the… -
opinion
Must-See Moments: Why Mainstream Media Ignores the YouTube Shooting
The Daily Signal’s Facebook Live show “Top 10” features the top news stories of the week—many of which went misreported by the mainstream media, some not reported at all. Why is the shooting at YouTube headquarters in San Bruno, California, going underreported by the mainstream media? If the shooter were an NRA activist, conservative commentator Ben…