Social Media
Articles involving social media businesses and their products, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram), X Corp (Twitter), Mastodon, LinkedIn and others.

Twitter “permanently suspends” Trump after Capitol siege
Donald Trump's preferred online megaphone has been taken away from him.

Twitter will allow anyone to apply for verification next year
But that doesn't mean just anyone will get the coveted blue badge of recognition.

BuzzFeed begins search for HuffPost chief editor
Viral content website BuzzFeed has started searching for a new editor-in-chief to take over HuffPost.

Reddit offers content moderators free Calm app subscription
Reddit is offering its volunteer content moderators an opportunity to unwind from the stress of 2020 with premium access to the meditation app Calm.

Twitter contractors allowed to snoop on user accounts, report says
In an article detailing this month's massive Twitter Bitcoin scam, Bloomberg said contractors were allowed broad access to user accounts.

Viewpoint: Social media companies are too big to police themselves
Financial loss was the goal of last week's attack — but bad actors could have more-nefarious intentions when conducting social media hacks in the future.
By:
Kobi Leins

Twitter Bitcoin scam reveals broader threat to security, democracy
Twitter mediates so much in the public sphere that weak points — like last week's compromise of several dozen verified accounts — expose weaker points in society.
By:
Dr. Laura DeNardis

Disney pulls back on Facebook spending; analysts say company can weather storm
After securing the spot as Facebook's top advertiser in the first half of 2020, Disney is pulling back on its social media advertisement spending.

Algorithm change catapults Fox News to top spot on YouTube
The Google-owned company tweaked its recommendations formula to reduce the introduction of conspiracy theories to its audience. In doing so, it gave Fox News a big boost.

Viewpoint: Twitter and the way of the hashtag
From its beginnings as a geeky tool designed to help individual users deal with an increasingly fragmented information stream, Twitter made the hashtag a new and powerful part of the world’s cultural, social and political vocabulary.
By:
Jean Burgess

Twitter hints at future subscription service in job listing
The forthcoming subscription product is expected to be incorporated into Twitter's video services, a source said.

Viewpoint: TikTok teens punked Donald Trump — and may have threatened democracy, too
Social media has enabled protests and meaningful political action by capturing public attention, but it can also make the electoral process vulnerable to misinformation and manipulation.
By:
Anjana Susarla