According to a 41-page complaint filed Thursday, the Chicago Police Department has refused to share information about its social media monitoring task force, including the reason for its expansion, which accounts are tracked and what is done with that information.
Social Media
When U.S. law enforcement officials need to cast a wide net for information, they’re increasingly turning to the vast digital ponds of personal data created by Big Tech companies via the devices and online services that have hooked billions of people around the world.
A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an “evidence-based” analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China.
Facebook says it will suspend former President Donald Trump’s accounts for two years following its finding that he stoked violence ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection.
Roughly 50 social media influencers are using their platforms to encourage people to get vaccinated by sharing their own experiences with the shots. “I want to do my part to get back to normal,” said McKinley Nelson of Project sWish.
Facebook says it will no longer remove claims that COVID-19 is human-made or manufactured “in light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts.”
Ald. David Moore (17th Ward) is one of three Chicago elected officials running for secretary of state in 2022.
Former President Donald Trump won’t return to Facebook — at least not yet. Four months after Facebook suspended Trump’s accounts for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the bans.
The Chicago Police Department has taken to social media to criticize a “synthetic and manipulated image” that went viral and claimed to show the CPD had expressed support for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer convicted of killing George Floyd.
Unfounded rumors erupted on social media over the weekend about the alleged resignation of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. We talk about how rumors spread on social media and how journalists should cover them.
A Black football player at a northwest Illinois high school is seen on video sitting down in a locker littered with banana peels after a teammate threatens to break his knees if he doesn’t comply.
Steve Waithe, 28, of Chicago, is accused of creating fake social media accounts to contact track and field athletes and offering to help get rid of compromising photos of them he claimed to have found online.
A House subcommittee is investigating YouTube Kids, saying the Google-owned video service feeds children inappropriate material in “a wasteland of vapid, consumerist content” so it can serve them ads.
The flow of misinformation has only intensified since Election Day, researchers and political analysts say, stoking Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen and false narratives. More recently, it has morphed into efforts to undermine vaccination efforts against the coronavirus.
Acknowledging the overwhelming amount of information — good and bad — circulating about the coronavirus pandemic, a team of women launched an effort last year to answer questions big and small, using language that’s relatable — and sometimes snarky. A year later, they’re still going strong.
A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users.