Neowin News Feed for: Politics

Tech giants and civil rights groups warn UK's age-verification plan threatens the open web

Paul Hill — Tue, 05 May 2026 14:32:02 +0000

A massive expansion of online ID systems is looming in the UK. Discover why experts say these new laws could entrench Big Tech and forever change how you access the global internet. Read more...

Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, and Larry Ellison join Trump's science and technology council

Ivan Jenic — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 18:12:01 +0000

Big Tech CEOs are joining Trump's PCAST council to advise the government on AI policies and how to beat China in the tech race. Read more...

Microsoft now lets employees raise concerns anonymously

Paul Hill — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 07:02:01 +0000

Microsoft has told employees that they can now raise issues anonymously without facing retaliation. It was announced by Microsoft President Brad Smith internally. Read more...

Microsoft working on deepfake detection tool ahead of US elections

Omer Dursun — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:08:01 +0000

Microsoft has announced a new tool to help political candidates verify that campaign materials have not been tampered with by deepfakes. The tool allows images and videos to be watermarked. Read more...

Google shares its concerns regarding tougher rules for political advertising in the EU

Usama Jawad — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 08:50:01 +0000

With the European Union (EU) working on tougher rules for political content and advertising on digital platforms, Google has shared five concerns that should be addressed for fairer laws. Read more...

Telegram bans “ultra-right-wing” German nationalist among others

Paul Hill — Fri, 11 Feb 2022 21:44:01 +0000

German authorities have successfully pressured Telegram to remove the channels of 64 users that were spreading hate and conspiracy theories. Among those getting a channel ban was Attila Hildmann. Read more...

Twitter's new hidden downvote could turbocharge echo chambers

Paul Hill — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 15:34:01 +0000

Twitter will more widely deploy a test that lets people vote on content they want to see less of. Such a system may also be negative as it could turbocharge political echo chambers. Read more...

Meta to nudge more highly targeted people to join Facebook Protect

Paul Hill — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 15:44:01 +0000

Meta has said that it hopes to make Facebook Protect available to highly targeted users in 50 countries by the end of the year. Facebook Protect adds extra security layers such as 2FA. Read more...

Facebook ramps up anti-extremism efforts with new content warnings

Paul Hill — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 22:36:01 +0000

Facebook is testing a new anti-extremism pop-up among a group of users in the United States. Following the trial, users around the world may begin seeing this message if they've seen extreme posts. Read more...

Twitter is making it easier to identify personal accounts of heads of state

Usama Jawad — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 05:30:01 +0000

Twitter has announced that it will be adding more labels to state official from G7 countries as well as others which have participated in "information operations" such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Read more...

Facebook will soon show less political content on your News Feed

João Carrasqueira — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 14:46:01 +0000

Facebook has announced that it's embarking on a journey to reduce the amount of politics-related content users see in their News Feed. Tests will begin in select countries this week. Read more...

Microsoft confirms it has halted PAC donations

Usama Jawad — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 10:38:01 +0000

Microsoft has publicly announced that it is suspending PAC donations, because 20% of its donations in the past four years went to Congress members who voted against the Electoral College. Read more...

Airbnb is canceling all Washington DC metro area reservations throughout inauguration week

Usman Khan Lodhi — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 19:02:02 +0000

In response to officials asking people not to travel to Washington DC, Airbnb is canceling all bookings in the metro area throughout the inauguration week. Those who made bookings will be refunded. Read more...

Google joins Microsoft and Facebook in suspending political donations

Jay Bonggolto — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 01:50:01 +0000

Following decisions by Microsoft and Facebook to halt donations to political action committees in the wake of the Capitol siege, Google has also announced that it has decided to make a similar move. Read more...

Facebook is halting contributions to PACs in Q1 2021

Usman Khan Lodhi — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 19:38:01 +0000

Facebook stated that it is pausing contributions to political action committees after last week's violent events in Washington DC. Microsoft also said that it's freezing its political spending. Read more...

Facebook News will exclude U.S. publishers with ties to political entities

Jay Bonggolto — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 21:50:01 +0000

Ahead of the U.S. elections scheduled later this year, Facebook has introduced new limitations for publishers that are linked to political entities, including exclusion from the News tab. Read more...

Twitter will label accounts of government officials and state media groups

Jefferson Mangubat — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 19:16:01 +0000

Twitter will add labels to accounts tied to key government officials, starting with China, France, Russia, UK, and the U.S. The labels will also apply to state-controlled media entities. Read more...

Facebook removes multiple white supremacist accounts, groups, and pages

Ather Fawaz — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 07:52:01 +0000

Cumulatively, the firm removed 36 Facebook accounts, 10 Instagram accounts, nine Pages, and nine private groups associated with the white-supremacist Northwest Front (NF) group in the U.S.. Read more...

Court: YouTube not bound by U.S. First Amendment

Paul Hill — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 16:20:01 +0000

YouTube has won its case against PragerU in a U.S. court after the latter alleged that its first amendment rights were being infringed by YouTube's censorship of its right-wing videos. Read more...

Facebook has announced expanded user controls for political ads

Paul Hill — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:08:01 +0000

Facebook has announced that Ad Library will gain several new transparency and control features over the course of the year. One of the features will allow users to reduce the political ads they see. Read more...

Facebook takes down Russian accounts targeting African countries

Namerah Saud Fatmi — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 19:30:01 +0000

Social media giant Facebook removed a network of accounts, pages and groups from the platform today. These accounts were run by Russians who hid their identities and meddled in African politics. Read more...

BBC turns to the dark web in a bid to fight censorship

Ather Fawaz — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 14:32:01 +0000

The BBC is launching the international version of its website on the dark web in a bid to fight censorship and spread news in areas where it has faced blockages. The website can be accessed via Tor. Read more...

California bill identifies gig economy workers as employees

Namerah Saud Fatmi — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 16:18:01 +0000

The California State Assembly is one step closer to passing a new bill which will make it legally obligatory for companies in the gig economy to recognize their workers as employees. Read more...

Apple News launches Democratic candidate guide ahead of debates

Paul Hill — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 19:58:01 +0000

Apple News has launched a feature today which gives readers detailed information about the U.S. Democratic candidates before the TV debates. It's the latest move by tech firms to fight fake news. Read more...

Facebook rolls out ad transparency tools globally, albeit with caveats

Paul Hill — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 19:30:01 +0000

Facebook has announced the global roll out of its Ad Library and Ad Library API. While it wants political advertisers to sign up, it won't be proactively checking ads in many countries. Read more...

Google CEO to confer with lawmakers regarding plans for China and bias against conservatives

Muhammad Jarir Kanji — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 02:56:01 +0000

Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, is set to meet with Republican lawmakers later this week to discuss the company's future plans for China. Also on the agenda are allegations of bias against conservatives. Read more...

Google employees proposed changes to search function to foil Trump's travel ban

Jay Bonggolto — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 04:24:02 +0000

At the height of the U.S. travel ban signed last year, Google employees apparently considered making tweaks to search functions in order to counter President Donald Trump's immigration order. Read more...

Twitter digs deeper into toxic political discourse, partners with academic researchers

Sharath Ravishankar — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 22:16:01 +0000

Twitter has partnered up with researchers from Leiden University, Oxford University and the University of Amsterdam to better understand political discourse and hostility on the social media platform. Read more...

Net Neutrality is dead, but politicians have begun resuscitation efforts

John Keefer — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 01:24:01 +0000

Today's repeal of net neutrality by the FCC was not a real shocker. Neither is the response, which has consumer groups and politicians rushing to the aid of the beleaguered Title II provision. Read more...

Google to de-rank RT and Sputnik news outlets

Paul Hill — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 16:20:01 +0000

Google News will alter its algorithms in order to de-rank RT and Sputnik, according to Eric Schmidt. The company will not completely block the news sources but the move will limit traffic. Read more...

IAB wants tech giants to regulate their own ads

Paul Hill — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 05:20:01 +0000

The Interactive Advertising Bureau representing Google, Facebook, and Twitter will propose to a House subcommittee that companies self-regulate their ad supply chains, policing them for bad actors. Read more...

Apple sells products worth $4.2 billion in New Zealand, faces backlash for diverting taxes

Muhammad Zaid Tariq — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 07:58:01 +0000

Apple has recently come under fire from authorities, as well as the public in New Zealand, for selling products worth $4.2 billion NZD in the country, and yet paying no local taxes. Read more...

Bitcoin consultants form Flux political party in Australia

Boyd Chan — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 03:02:01 +0000

In a bid to shake up Aussie politics, Nathan Spataro and Max Kaye create a new party whose voting would be directly influenced by its participants and potentially supported by blockchain technology. Read more...

Chaos Communication Congress begins 32nd conference

Paul Hill — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 05:50:01 +0000

The four day 32C3 security and technology in politics event is about to begin. Here's your one-stop article containing important links for enjoying the event. Read more...

FCC caves to ongoing pressure and will propose strong net neutrality rules

Jerry Grey — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:52:01 +0000

FCC has caved to ongoing pressure and will propose strong net neutrality rules that will not allow ISPs to block, throttle or sell prioritization, reclassifying them as a public utility. Read more...

Sony hack was not an act of war, Obama says

Jerry Grey — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:16:01 +0000

Obama said the Sony hack was not an act of war by North Korea, but was a "very costly, very expensive" case of cybervandalism. Read more...

Obama says Sony made a mistake yanking The Interview [Update]

Jerry Grey — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 07:12:01 +0000

President Obama thinks Sony yanking the movie was a mistake and sets a bad precedent, saying "We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here." Read more...

eBay distances itself from group that denies climate change

Jerry Grey — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 14:52:01 +0000

Following in the footsteps of Google, Facebook and Yahoo, eBay has left the controversial ALEC, which is known for denying climate change and opposing Internet neutrality and workers' rights. Read more...

Bing gets political, builds a hub and makes a few predictions

Brad Sams — Mon, 13 Oct 2014 14:40:01 +0000

The team behind Bing has built a new political hub for the upcoming election that aims to help you keep abreast of the election cycle - and it will also put its prediction engine to work too. Read more...

Microsoft trying to get politicians to pay for campaign ads on Xbox Live and Skype

John Callaham — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 22:49:48 +0000

Microsoft is reportedly trying to get more politicians to pay for campaign ads that would be shown on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 dashboard via Xbox Live, along with Skype and MSN. Read more...