Late last week, the FEC unanimously (!) approved an advisory opinion allowing Microsoft to “offer a package of enhanced online account security services at no additional charge on a nonpartisan basis to its election-sensitive customers, including federal candidates and national party committees.Source: FEC Approves Microsoft Giving Free Security Package to Candidates...

Sometimes an empty chair can speak volumes. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence intentionally set up a unoccupied seat to shame Alphabet at Wednesday's hearing on foreign meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Source: Senators blast Google executives for not showing up to hearings on election meddling...

President Trump is speaking forcefully about fixing a growing problem affecting our national discourse. He says we may need to regulate the giant tech companies that control vast swaths of our information landscape, due to their bias.Source: Hey, Google, Facebook, Twitter – Trump's got a point. You need to do a better job of self-regulating...

Thousands of dark ads ran on Facebook around the 2016 presidential election in the United States and the British referendum on leaving the European Union. Some ads delivered divisive messages aimed at specific audiences. Some ads circulated misinformation — or told people not to vote.Source: What’s wrong with Facebook, Google and Twitter’s measures to make political ads more transparent...

To subscribe to the monthly C&E email newsletter and event announcements click here. As lawmakers across the country move to regulate online advertising at the state level, strategists are increasingly concerned about the impact such laws will have on digital advertising campaigns.Source: As States Move to Regulate Digital Ads, Consultants Warn of Unintended Consequences...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Left-leaning political activists accused Facebook of suppressing free speech when the social media giant removed an event listing this week that it said was part of a new disinformation campaign with ties to Russia.Source: The moment when Facebook’s removal of alleged Russian disinformation became a free speech issue...

Once upon a time, there was a fringe news outlet with a loud and dissenting opinion. A fatal shooting, it claimed, was not at all what it seemed to be: It was a hoax, orchestrated by some shadowy force—probably Communists—bent on replacing freedom with dictatorship.Source: Win or Lose, the Alex Jones Lawsuit Will Redefine Free Speech...