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Are you looking to leave the Facebook-owned private messaging app WhatsApp? You’re not alone. Following a terms of service update that now allows WhatsApp to share your data with its parent company, privacy-concerned users are looking for alternatives. Enter Telegram. Telegram has been around since 2013, but it's currently having a moment. In the wake of the WhatsApp controversy, the company, which pushes itself as a privacy-focused service that provides […]

Is a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist really buddies with the Pelosi family? The answer is no. But that hasn’t stopped an image portraying the “QAnon Shaman” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s son-in-law from going viral. The photo was taken during Wednesday's attack on the Capitol and has spread on Twitter, Parler, and numerous right-wing message boards. The image shows the QAnon figure — whose real name is Jake Angeli — […]

After a mob of Trump supporters forced their way into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, the right wing has been working overtime to spread baseless conspiracy theories about who actually stormed Congress. Many Republicans have settled on their usual scapegoat: antifa. Their proof? Evidence reportedly from a facial recognition company called XRVision that was supplied to the conservative outlet, the Washington Times. The conspiracy to blame antifa was quickly debunked, […]

So, you finally deleted your Facebook account. The misinformation, the scams, the data privacy issues, the odd company decisions (like the one giving politicians a pass to lie) — it all just became too much. Your Facebook profile is now gone, and you’ve moved on to other social media platforms like … deleting Instagram?! You probably know this, but just in case you don’t: Facebook owns Instagram. And while those […]

Time is up for YouTubers spreading conspiracy theories about the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. On Wednesday, YouTube announced that it will begin removing content that alleges fraud interfered with the results of the election in November. YouTube’s policy change comes around five weeks after election day. That gave disinformation peddlers a considerable amount of time to spread conspiracy theories about the election results and unproven claims of […]

A new, nearly 800-page report on the 2019 Christchurch shooting claims that mainstream social media platforms had a much larger role in radicalizing the shooter than fringe websites. The two platforms that had the biggest impact on the shooter’s mindset: YouTube and Facebook. Following the attack that left 51 people dead at two Christchurch mosques in March of last year, the New Zealand government launched an independent inquiry into the […]

The U.S. election season isn’t over yet. With two runoff elections in Georgia deciding which party has control of the Senate, all eyes are now on the state. Unfortunately, that includes nefarious actors and misinformation spreaders. A new study by the nonprofit activist organization Avaaz found that Facebook is currently failing at curbing the spread of falsehoods attempting to influence the outcome of these very important elections. Avaaz looked at […]

On Monday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg held a livestream with Dr. Anthony Fauci to talk about the coronavirus. The Facebook comments on the video quickly filled up with musings from conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers. The gist of these comments: "I'm not getting your fucking vaccine, you quack.” Fast forward to Thursday. Facebook has announced that it will now remove false claims about COVID-19 vaccines from its platforms. “Given […]

With the U.S. presidential election just weeks away, voter suppression efforts are in full-swing on social media. Among the prime targets for voter suppression attempts: The world’s largest social network, Facebook, and its sister platform, Instagram. In an interview published on Sunday, Facebook’s VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg said that the company had rejected 2.2 million ads across its platforms for attempting to “obstruct voting” in the […]