Taylor Hatmaker
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Texas leads ten states in lawsuit over Google’s ad business
The state of Texas announced Wednesday that it will sue Google, accusing the search giant of maintaining an illegal monopoly in online advertising. Texas will be joined by Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky,
FTC orders ByteDance, Facebook, Snap and others to explain what they do with user data
The FTC is ordering the companies behind many of the largest social and video platforms to explain how they use the treasure troves of data they harvest from users. Amazon, TikTok owner ByteDance, Fac
Gift Guide: Fun photography gear to brighten up the holidays
It's a difficult time to be a photographer. Getting creative feels impossible when every day is the same and the most exotic locale you visit is the living room. Travel is out this year, vacations are
Google will let you turn off YouTube ads for alcohol and gambling
If you’ve ever had a Father’s Day ad offering great deals for your dead dad sail into your inbox, you know that online advertising can be disturbing sometimes. Children’s gifts for p
Facebook hit with massive antitrust lawsuit from 46 states
A huge collection of states filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook of suppressing its competition through monopolistic business practices. Forty-eight attorneys general across 46 state
YouTube declares war on US election misinformation… a month late
As Twitter and Facebook scrambled to institute new policies for the 2020 election, YouTube was… mostly quiet. The platform didn’t make any flashy announcements about a crackdown on electio
Palantir will soon help the FDA evaluate drugs, including COVID-19 treatments
Palantir’s push into federal health work continues. The data analytics company just picked up a new U.S. Food and Drug Administration contract which will span three years for a total of $44.4 mi
Trump’s odd new attack on Section 230 is probably doomed
Trump’s crusade against a key internet law known as Section 230 tends to pop up in unlikely places. His Twitter feed on Thanksgiving, for one. Or at times you’d think the nation would be h
Massachusetts lawmakers vote to pass a statewide police ban on facial recognition
Massachusetts lawmakers have voted to pass a new police reform bill that will ban police departments and public agencies from using facial recognition technology across the state. The bill was passed
EveryAction acquires Mobilize, the Democratic volunteering platform
Nonprofit donor management platform EveryAction is buying Mobilize, a company that connects Democratic campaigns to volunteers and helps marshal activists toward progressive causes. Mobilize, formerly
Noise-canceling headphones that pair big sound with sweet silence
I never thought I’d need a pair of serious noise-canceling headphones. I don’t mind hours of droning white noise on international flights and generally don’t like feeling like my head’s been l
Trump didn’t concede, but he will move Biden’s transition forward
With an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots, election results took a bit longer this year than usual. But if Americans were expecting an election week, November stretched on into a month of electi
Tech in the Biden era
President-elect Joe Biden may have spent eight years in an administration that doted on the tech industry, but that long honeymoon, punctuated by four years of Trump, looks to be over. Tech is on noti
Twitter and Facebook’s diverging philosophies were on display in the latest tech hearing
The latest tech hearing was a study in contrasts. Contrasts between lawmakers who made an effort to stay on topic in a hearing ostensibly about social media and the 2020 election and those who…
Facebook and Twitter CEOs testify about election efforts
After giving in to the looming threat of subpoenas, two of tech’s most high profile CEOs will again be grilled by Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee will host Twitter’s J
Facebook extends its temporary ban on political ads for another month
The election is settled, but the nation is far from it. Before Election Day in the U.S., Facebook hit pause on all political and social issue ads. At the time, the company made it clear that the preca
‘Free speech’ social network Parler tops app store rankings following Biden’s election win
Chafing at new misinformation safeguards and a lost election, dejected Trump supporters flocked to the alternative social network Parler over the weekend. Parler’s homepage promises that users c
Joe Biden wins the 2020 US presidential election
Following a tense week of vote tallying, Joe Biden won the state of Pennsylvania and vaulted ahead in the race to become the next president of the United States. Biden’s win in the critical stat
Facebook blocks hashtags for #sharpiegate, #stopthesteal election conspiracies
Facebook today began to block select hashtags that were being used to share misinformation related to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Now, searches for the hashtags #sharpiegate are being blocked
Close US election results plunge social media into nightmare misinformation scenario
When Trump spoke early Wednesday morning, it became clear which long-dreaded election scenario an anxious nation was on the cusp of. “This is a fraud on the American public,” Trump said in