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Republicans attack Biden with a fully AI-generated ad
The RNC's latest attack ad features AI-generated depictions of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with far too many teeth.
Google will once again apply Gmail spam detection to political campaign emails
Google plans to end a pilot that let political ad campaigns dodge Gmail's spam filters.
House Republicans form panel to shape crypto policy
House Republicans have created a panel to oversee crypto policy, including rules.
GOP attorneys general warn Google not to suppress anti-abortion centers in search results
The 17 AGs suggested that doing so could lead to investigations and legal action.
Hackers allegedly stole $2.3 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party
The party's chairman says the FBI is investigating the attack.
Senators ask FTC to investigate how social networks curate content
Republican politicians are taking their allegations of tech industry bias to regulators. Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley have sent a letter to the FTC asking it to investigate how companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter curate content. These firms have "enormous influence," the senators wrote, and have the potential for "alarming and endless" abuses of power. Their ability to amplify or downplay content makes them powerful enough to "sway elections," according to the politicians, but they're reportedly not accountable to customers or voters due to a lack of transparency in their curation processes.
House of Representatives passes bill to restore net neutrality
The House of Representatives has passed a bill which would restore net neutrality rules the Federal Communications Commission repealed in 2017. Representatives approved the bill by 232-190 (with a sole Republican voting in favor), but the legislation still seems doomed.
FBI investigates fake texts sent to House Republicans
Law enforcement is looking into one of the stranger digital attacks against US politicians in recent memory. The Wall Street Journal has learned that the FBI is investigating fake text messages sent to "several" Republicans in the House of Representatives, including Illinois' Adam Kinzinger. The currently mysterious perpetrator posed as VP Mike Pence's press secretary, Alyssa Farah, and asked representatives for both their availability for meetings and the whereabouts of other politicians.
Facebook suspends accounts for pushing false info in Alabama election
Facebook's attempt to thwart disinformation campaigns has typically focused on Russia and other hostile countries, but it's now grappling with that problem on its home soil. The site has confirmed to the Washington Post that it suspended five accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior" during the 2017 Alabama special election for the Senate, including the CEO of social media research company New Knowledge.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai will meet US officials to discuss censorship
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, will appear at a private meeting with Republican lawmakers on the Capitol Hill on Friday, September 28th, following recent allegations that the company had previously censored search results. In addition to that, Pichai is scheduled to attend a public hearing at a House Judiciary Committee in November after the midterm elections.
Why are Trump and sex workers angry about shadow banning?
On Thursday morning, United States President Donald Trump tweeted about how Twitter was "shadow banning" prominent republicans, presumably after reading reports that it wasn't auto-suggesting the names of members of his party when people searched for them on its app. "Not good," Trump said. "We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints." But, while some people may appreciate what Twitter is doing, the company says this wasn't done on purpose -- it was simply a side effect of a change it made back in May aimed at cleaning up the platform.
Facebook and Twitter met with GOP leaders over tech’s liberal bias
Since the 2016 election, Trump and right-wing lawmakers have claimed that the tech industry's liberal bias has led to suppressing and even censoring conservative speech online. That led to a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee back in April on the matter, which Facebook, Twitter and Google didn't attend despite invitations. But in efforts to quell suspicion, executives from the former two have reportedly met secretly with GOP leaders and conservative commentators in the last couple weeks.
Google search showed ‘Nazism’ as a California Republican Party ideology
As California gears up for its primary, many of the state's Republicans are fuming over how Google described their party in its search results. Those searching for "California Republicans" or "California Republican Party" would have found a result that listed "Nazism" as one of the party's ideologies along with "Conservatism," "Market liberalism," "Fiscal conservatism" and "Green conservatism." Vice News spotted the listing and Google removed the label following a query from the publication.
Trump's former digital advisor will manage his re-election bid
Today, Trump announced he will run for re-election in 2020. But we also learned who will be managing his next campaign: Brad Parscale, the digital advisor for Trump's 2016 run. He lead the then-Presidential candidate's social media strategy, which massively influenced the campaign's fundraising and online presence, as Wired reported days after the election. Parscale won't be idle in the run-up to 2020 -- he'll be helping Republican candidates in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections.
Twitter bans Congressional candidate after racist image
Twitter is continuing to act on its promise to fight hate speech, however imperfectly. The site has banned Wisconsin Congressional candidate Paul Nehlen after he posted a racist image that placed the face of Cheddar Man (a dark-skinned British ancestor) over actress and soon-to-be-royal Meghan Markle, who's mixed race. The company said it didn't normally comment on individual accounts, but said the permanent suspension was due to "repeated violations" of its terms of service.
Russian hackers had hundreds of US targets in addition to the DNC
Various US agencies continue to look into the role Russia played in last year's presidential election, and targets of those investigations include interactions between Trump advisors and Russian officials, ads purchased by Russian agents through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and whether the Kremlin was involved in the DNC email hacks of last year. In regards to the latter, Russia has been suspected of being behind the hacks for quite some time and just this week, reports have surfaced that the US Department of Justice has pinpointed six Russian officials it believes to have been involved in the hacks. However, a report released today by the Associated Press suggests that the group behind the DNC email breaches actually had a much wider range of targets.
Republicans call for investigation into EPA use of encrypted chats
Earlier in February, Politico reported that US government workers (particularly at the EPA) were using encrypted chat apps like Signal to express dissent against President Trump's policies without the threat of retaliation. Well, House Republicans Darin LaHood and Lamar Smith aren't happy about that secrecy... and they're demanding action. The two have sent a letter to the EPA's independent overseer, the Inspector General, asking for an investigation into the claims. They're concerned that the encrypted conversations "run afoul" of government record-keeping rules and prevent the government from monitoring their on-the-job communications.
Republicans propose banning livestreams on the House floor
Remember when House Democrats staged a sit-in to insist on a vote for gun control legislation, and relied on livestreams and social networks to keep their message alive when TV cameras weren't running? Republicans weren't happy about that... and now, they're hoping to prevent a similar protest from happening again. The party has proposed measures that would fine members of Congress up to $2,500 ($500 for the first offense) if they record or livestream images and audio on the House floor. According to Paul Ryan spokeswoman Ashlee Strong, it's meant to "ensure that order and decorum are preserved" so that politicians can "do the people's work."
FCC Republicans promise to limit net neutrality when 'possible'
If you're worried that the US government will stomp on net neutrality the moment Trump becomes President, your concerns are well-founded. The FCC's two Republican Commissioners, Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly, have sent a letter to carrier lobbying groups promising to "revisit" net neutrality rules "as soon as possible" -- that is, once Chairman Tom Wheeler leaves and the right wing gets majority control of the agency. They write that the requirements for traffic fairness and transparency create "unjustified burdens" for providers, and previously said that they intended to "undo" net neutrality and other policies opposed by their party.
Election take on 'The Oregon Trail' is almost too realistic
You may have no problem voting in the US election, but others won't have it so easy... and a web game is making that point all too clear. GOP Arcade and the New York Times' opinion section have posted The Voter Suppression Trail, a spin on the classic The Oregon Trail that draws attention to Republican-backed tactics making it difficult for minorities to vote, such as fewer polling places and intimidation. As you might guess, where you live and who you are makes the game either trivially easy or a serious challenge.
