Social Media News
From content moderation to political bias, The Daily Signal covers how Big Tech platforms like Facebook, X, and TikTok impact free speech and public discourse.
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- News
Jury Finds Meta and Google Liable in Social Media Addiction Trial
REUTERS—A Los Angeles jury found Alphabet’s Google and Meta liable for $3 million in damages on Wednesday in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit that will influence thousands of similar cases against the tech companies. Punitive damages for the companies will be decided next. The Los Angeles case involves a 20-year-old woman who said she…Reuters -
- News
Mamdani’s Wife Cheered Palestinian Terrorists on Social Media
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, reportedly glorified terrorism in a series of social media posts when she was in her late teens and early 20s. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the first lady of New York City celebrated the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, designated by the State…Jarrett Stepman -
- News
EXCLUSIVE: Drug Czar and Social Media Platforms Join Forces to Combat Illicit Drugs
The White House is hosting a roundtable Wednesday with representatives of social media companies working to end the sale of illicit drugs on platforms like Meta, X, YouTube, and TikTok. Sara Carter, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, will lead the discussion on ways to keep children and youth safe from drug traffickers who may target…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
Bad Bunny vs. Turning Point USA Super Bowl Halftime Shows Still Sparking Viral Reactions, Highlighting Cultural Divide
Four days later, the Super Bowl halftime debate appears to be outlasting memories of the game itself. Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show”—staged in response to the NFL’s selection of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime act—triggered viral reactions, celebrity criticism, and extreme online responses—exposing deep cultural divides. The Final Numbers Bad Bunny’s performance drew over 128 million viewers, according to audience measurement firm Nielsen. That’s 5.3 million…Reagan Campbell -
- Opinion
Why Children Under 13 Should Be Banned From Social Media
The debate over children and social media is often framed as a question of parental control or technological inevitability. It should not be. At its core, this is a moral question about what kind of society we are shaping, what we choose to protect, and what we are willing to sacrifice in the name of…Armstrong Williams -
Supreme Court to Decide Future of Section 230 Protection for Social Media Platforms
Social media companies might have to make significant changes to their platforms, depending on the outcomes of two Supreme Court cases. This week, the justices hear arguments in two cases that involve a federal law referred to as Section 230, which protects social media platforms from being held liable for the content users post. The…Virginia Allen -
Social Media Gave Me the Idea ‘I Could Be a Boy.’ Chloe Cole’s Journey Into and Out of Transgenderism.
“Social media introduced this idea that I could be a boy,” Chloe Cole says. Cole began telling her friends and family that she was a boy when she was 12 years old after she was introduced to gender-identity ideology through social media. She started taking testosterone and puberty blockers at 13 and had a double…Virginia Allen -
Entertainment Industry, Social Media Normalize Transgender Content That Could Harm Kids
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected and updated. An earlier version of this article misidentified some YouTubers as transgender who are not. This article has also been updated to clarify the timing of the Taylor Swift video. Our society loves to consume entertainment in all its forms. Whether it’s streaming films and TV shows…Nicole Russell -
Justices’ Home Addresses Blasted on Social Media With Zero Consequences
Following the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade, at least two social media sites hosted content revealing the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices. Some posts directly called for people to go to the home addresses and protest, an act that is illegal according to federal law. Popular social media…Douglas Blair -
Social Media Is Hurting Kids, but a Fix May Be on Horizon
The Big Tech problem is a moral crisis first. As Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts wrote last month: Big Tech is the enemy of the people not merely because they have taken advantage of our free-market principles. They have earned this untoward distinction because of what Big Tech does to us in our relationships with…Kara Frederick -
Beijing Pays US Social Media Influencers to Hype Olympics, Downplay Boycotts
China’s government is paying social media influencers in the U.S. to promote the Beijing Olympics and distract from diplomatic boycotts over its human rights violations, according to disclosures filed with the Department of Justice. The Chinese Consulate is paying Vippi, a New Jersey-based public relations firm, $300,000 to have influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch…Laurel Duggan -
Chinese Bots on Social Media Encouraged Asian Americans to Protest, Researchers Find
Thousands of fake pro-China accounts used dozens of social media platforms to mobilize Asian American protesters in the United States, according to a report by U.S. cybersecurity researchers. A coordinated network of pro-China bot accounts spanning 30 social media platforms and over 40 additional websites and forums have made posts in at least seven different…Ailan Evans -
Democrats’ Bill Would Hold Facebook, Other Social Media Liable for ‘Health Misinformation’
Senate Democrats introduced legislation Thursday removing liability protections from online platforms that promote content deemed health misinformation. The bill, proposed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Ben Ray Lujan, seeks to carve out an exception from Section 230 liability shields enjoyed by online platforms, such as Facebook or YouTube, if those platforms boost content classified as health…Ailan Evans -
Even Without Social Media, Trump Finds a Way to Shape the News
Tim Murtaugh served as communications director for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign last year, witnessing firsthand how a single tweet could dominate the news cycle. Now, with Trump banished from social media platforms, the former president is still finding a way to wield his influence. Through daily postings on current events and political issues, Trump…Rob Bluey -
With the Return of Parler, Social Media Users Have More Choices
Parler’s social media service restarted on Sunday after being offline for over a month due to Amazon, Google, and Apple removing Parler from their platforms and app stores. Parler now has a new interim CEO, a new logo, new servers, and a renewed commitment to provide a place where users can speak freely. Parler calls…Lora Ries -
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 -
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 -
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 -
Trump’s Social Media Summit Spotlights Anti-Conservative Bias by Tech Giants
Donald Trump is America’s first true social media president, so it was only natural that he would convene the first-ever social media summit at the White House. I was honored to attend Thursday. With few details made public before the event, many national news outlets sharply criticized the meeting—just as you might expect virulent anti-Trump…Rob Bluey -
Social Media Companies Need to Stand Up Against Left
This week, The New York Times ran a massive piece detailing the supposed radicalization of one Caleb Cain. Cain moved from political liberalism toward self-ascribed “tradcon” status from watching YouTube videos. The New York Times charted this nefarious move by following those videos. The suggestion by the Times was simple: If you watch typical conservative…Ben Shapiro