Icons for the smartphone apps TikTok and WeChat are seen on a smartphone screen in Beijing, in a Friday, Aug. 7, 2020 file photo. (AP Photo / Mark Schiefelbein, File)

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. 

The Facebook app is shown on a smart phone, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee)

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.

McKinley Nelson, 24, founder of Project sWish, is part of a public education campaign to provide COVID-19 vaccine information and address vaccine hesitancy. (Credit: Cook County Health / YouTube)

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. 

The Facebook app is shown on a smart phone, Friday, April 23, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee)

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) appears on “Chicago Tonight” on Sept. 4, 2018. (WTTW News)

Ald. David Moore (17th Ward) is one of three Chicago elected officials running for secretary of state in 2022.

President Donald Trump speaks to crowd before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., in this Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, file photo. (AP Photo / Luis M. Alvarez, File)

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.

(WTTW News)

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.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson addressed students returning to Walter Payton College Prep for the first time in 13 months, April 20, 2021. (WTTW News via NBC)

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.

Moline High School, 3600 Avenue of the Cities. (Google Maps)

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.

In this Jan. 31, 2019 file photo, pedestrians walk near a Northeastern University sign on the school’s campus in Boston. (AP Photo / Rodrique Ngowi, File)

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. 

In a letter sent Tuesday, April 6, 2021, to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy says YouTube isn't doing enough to protect kids from material that could harm them. (AP Photo / Jenny Kane, File)

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.

In this Sept. 14, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump arrives for a Latinos for Trump Coalition roundtable at Arizona Grand Resort & Spa in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Andrew Harnik, File)

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. 

(Photo by Daniel Bosse on Unsplash)

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.

This March 29, 2018 file photo shows the Facebook logo on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York’s Times Square. (AP Photo / Richard Drew, File)

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.

(Free-Photos / Pixabay)

We expect love to have an emotional impact on us, but a new report released by the Federal Trade Commission revealed it’s also hurting wallets. A record $304 million was reported lost to romance scams in 2020.

Sea shanties were sung by sailors while performing certain tasks on board ship. (Bernhard Staerck / Pixabay)

Sea shanties are suddenly all the rage thanks to TikTok but Chicago’s long been a hub for shanty singing. We explore the city’s connection to the musical tradition — and its undeniable staying power.