The Profound, Unforgiving Stupidity of Donald Trump’s Social Media Summit
Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka yells at journalist Brian Karem in the Rose Garden at the White House following the President’s social media summit.Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images Consider a few important, but seemingly unrelated moments from history: The creation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; the rise of Twitter and social…
The Neo-Fascist Proud Boys Organized a “Free Speech” Rally in DC. It Flopped.
A demonstrator on his phone at the the Alt-Right “Demand Free Speech” rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., on July 6, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Gavin McInnes, founder of the neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, was struggling to break apart toy handcuffs he had brought onstage. He planned to use them as a metaphor…
The Neo-Fascist Proud Boys Organized a “Free Speech” Rally in DC Today. It Flopped.
A demonstrator on his phone at the the Alt-Right “Demand Free Speech” rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., on July 6, 2019. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images Gavin McInnes, founder of the neo-fascist group the Proud Boys, was struggling to break apart toy handcuffs he had brought onstage. He planned to use them as a metaphor…
Reddit Finally Cracks Down on Its Infamous r/The_Donald Forum
This is the message users see when they visit the r/The_Donald subreddit.Reddit screenshot Reddit on Wednesday took steps to limit the reach of its infamous r/The_Donald subreddit, a far-right hub for many of President Donald Trump’s most extreme and hateful supporters. The social media platform “quarantined” the forum for making “threats of violence against police…
Want to See How Disinformation Could Play out in 2020? Just Look Overseas.
Employees from Facebook, Google, and Twitter are sworn in at a 2017 Senate hearing on Russian disinformation.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images After the 2016 election, Mark Zuckerberg notoriously dismissed the idea that Facebook had any role in the outcome as “crazy.” Experts were skeptical of his denial, and Zuckerberg officially ate his words the next year when…
The Suspicious Twitter Network Trolling for Regime Change in Iran
National Security Advisor John Bolton and a little-understood Twitter network have both boosted MEK, an armed Iranian opposition group.Douglas Christian/ZUMA As the Trump administration has ramped up economic sanctions against Iran and aimed increasingly threatening rhetoric at the country, an influence network has popped up on Twitter pushing similar messages. Networks comprising over four hundred…