CfA's June 25, 2021 Newsletter

Our Recent Work:

• TTP Director Katie Paul on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper: On Wednesday, Katie Paul, Director of CfA's Tech Transparency Project (TTP), appeared on CNN to highlight Facebook's continuing failure to address the spread of political disinformation and violent content on its platform.
  • "What Facebook should be doing right now is the exact same thing it should have been doing a year ago and two years before that—ensuring this content is not easily accessible on the platform," she said.

• Blog: The Downfall of Local News: CfA's recent blog post details how the conservative media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group's dominance over local news outlets threatens independent, nonpartisan journalism across the United States. (Blog Post)
  • "Ultimately, independent local news coverage is a necessity for keeping local officials and businesses accountable... In order to ensure that the public maintains access to accurate, localized information, these local stations must see their independence restored."

What We're Reading:

• Provision in House Antitrust Package Would Undermine the Fight Against Online Hate and Disinformation: "On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee passed the last of six antitrust bills intended to rein in the nation’s largest technology platforms. One of these six bills, the American Choice and Innovation Online Act, imposes a nondiscrimination rule on these covered platforms. It’s an attempt to prevent the biggest platforms from engaging in harmful practices. But as reported out of the Committee, this flat ban could in fact make it difficult or impossible for covered companies to deplatform and remove from their sites any business that traffics in hateful, racist, violent or otherwise harmful content." (Free Press, June 24)

• Michigan Republicans Debunk Voter Fraud Claims in Unsparing Report:  "A committee led by Michigan Republicans on Wednesday published an extraordinary debunking of voter fraud claims in the state, delivering a comprehensive rebuke to a litany of accusations about improprieties in the 2020 election and its aftermath. The 55-page report, produced by a Michigan State Senate committee of three Republicans and one Democrat, is a systematic rebuttal to an array of false claims about the election from supporters of former President Donald J. Trump." (New York Times, June 23)

• Pelosi announces a select committee will investigate Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Thursday that the House will form a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, one month after Senate Republicans blocked an effort to form an independent, bipartisan commission." (Washington Post, June 24)

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