Tag Meta

Content creators ask Meta to reverse politics limits on Instagram, Threads

The letter was organized by Accountable Tech, a nonprofit that says its mission is “to curb the societal harms driven by Big Tech’s toxic business practices,” and GLAAD, an LGBTQ rights organization. LGBTQ creators have been particularly concerned by the limitations because they were imposed as some states were placing restrictions on medical treatments for transgender youths.

Giliann Karon

Tech execs prepare to defend child-safety records

Accountable Tech and Design it for Us will hold a rally outside the Capitol following the hearing. Design it for Us is more focused on the harms it says are posed by Meta, Snap and TikTok. But it added in a statement, "That certainly doesn't excuse Discord and X."

Zach Praiss

Statement on Latest Meta Whistleblower Report

As long as Big Tech chooses to operate under their toxic business model, we should expect more of these disturbing reports to come to light.

Zach Praiss

State Attorneys General Sue Meta Over Harms to Children and Teens

Various civil society groups issued statements in support of the bipartisan lawsuit against Meta. Accountable Tech executive director Nicole Gill applauded the state attorneys general’s effort to “curb Big Tech’s unchecked power over our daily lives” as Meta operates “without any regard for their role in the youth mental health crisis, focusing solely on maximizing their profits by creating addictive design features.”

Zach Praiss

Statement on Lawsuit by States Against Meta’s Role in Youth Mental Health Crisis

We applaud today’s bipartisan lawsuit by state attorneys general to curb Big Tech’s unchecked power over our daily lives and protect young people from the online harms they face every day.

Zach Praiss

Nicole Gill on Meta’s News Blockade in Canada

This is a company that spent more than a decade integrating itself into the news production and dissemination system. Like it or not, they're a part of how news is shared across the globe.

Zach Praiss

Maybe Facebook’s Ruthless Ascent Didn’t Make the World More Depressed, Study Says

Accountable Tech Co-Founder Jesse Lehrich who’s previously led campings calling on Meta to do more to remove harmful content from its platforms, echoed those concerns, calling the OII research as almost comically overbroad.

Victoria Vinall

New studies: Facebook doesn’t make people more partisan

Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, an advocacy group focused on information controls for social media, said it was “a little bit absurd” to draw conclusions from studies that altered a single facet of a user’s social media experience over a three-month period.

Victoria Vinall

Score one for ‘the algorithm’

Social media critics — many of whom have spent years sounding the alarm about the ways it has changed American politics — suggested the studies were too limited, and too close to Meta itself, to be persuasive, including Frances Haugen, the former Facebook executive who leaked internal company files in 2021, and Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, an advocacy group focused on information controls for social media.

Victoria Vinall

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to build a new agency to police Big Tech

“An independent regulatory commission tasked with challenging the monopolistic power of Big Tech companies will not only provide the additional oversight needed to keep the industry in check, but also complement the work of our existing regulatory bodies,” Nicole Gill, Accountable Tech executive director and co-founder, said in a statement to The Verge on Wednesday.

Victoria Vinall

Mark Zuckerberg needs to better moderate Threads or it’ll ‘become as toxic as Twitter,’ civil rights groups warn

The letter — led by Free Press, Accountable Tech, and Media Matters for America — says the groups have already seen indications that "new users have been testing the boundaries of the platform's moderation and enforcement."

Victoria Vinall

Trump charges will test social media rules on violent rhetoric

Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of the left-leaning advocacy group Accountable Tech and a former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, said that tech companies are “much more comfortable inviting widespread societal unrest than pissing off conservatives.”

Victoria Vinall

Instagram Bans, Unbans Facebook Critic, and It Won’t Say Why

Accountable Tech Co-Founder and Executive Director Nicole Gill agreed with that sentiment and told Gizmodo Meta’s “willingness to silence” its critics reinforced the critics of abuse and monopoly power lodged against them in the first place.

Victoria Vinall

Statement on Meta’s Decision to Block News Content in Canada

Today’s decision demonstrates how much power Big Tech has over our communication systems and the distribution of news, and how little they care about anything other than profits.

Zach Praiss

Accountable Tech on Meta’s $1.3 Billion EU Fine: “One of The Worst Violators of Privacy Laws”

This is a consistent issue we’ve seen with Meta over the last decade plus, where their business model is premised on collecting enormous amounts of personal data and weaponizing it to do surveillance advertising for colossal profits.

Zach Praiss

Jesse Lehrich Responds to $1.3 Billion Fines Against Meta by EU regulators

I think they're being singled out for good reason. Meta is one of the worst privacy violators of all time.

Zach Praiss

Donald Trump is back on social media, and nobody knows what happens next

The companies that punished Trump for his prior antics have little reason to believe his behavior will change. His Truth Social posts are littered with examples to the contrary. Advocacy group Accountable Tech wrote in a recent report that it found over 350 Trump posts on Truth Social that would violate Facebook’s safety rules.

Victoria Vinall

Statement on Trump’s Dangerous Online Rhetoric, as Law Enforcement Readies for Violent Protests

In January, while giving Trump the keys to his Facebook account, Meta claimed the threat he posed to public safety had ‘subsided.’ On Friday, YouTube followed suit, citing a ‘careful’ evaluation of the risk of violence.

Zach Praiss

Donald Trump is back on YouTube and using Facebook again

"The very same day Trump released a video calling the 2020 election ‘stolen’ and [demanded] January 6th insurrectionists be released from prison, YouTube decided to let him back on their platform," Nicole Gill, executive director of the advocacy group Accountable Tech said in a statement provided to Mashable.

Victoria Vinall

Trump returns to Facebook

More than 350 of his Truth Social posts would have violated Facebook's rules, including posts amplifying the conspiracy theory QAnon and pushing false claims of election fraud, liberal advocacy group Accountable Tech said in a December report.

Victoria Vinall

‘I’M BACK!’ Trump posts on Facebook, YouTube for first time in two years

Advocacy group Accountable Tech found that hundreds of Trump's posts on Truth Social would violate most social media companies' community standards. The group said Trump released a video on the site on Friday that falsely alleges the 2020 election was stolen and that the Jan. 6 insurrectionists should be released from prison.

Victoria Vinall

Meta allows Trump back on Facebook and Instagram

"Today, Meta chose to put its own profits above American democracy and the real-world safety of its users," said Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of the advocacy nonprofit Accountable Tech in a statement provided to Mashable. "I want to be very clear: there is absolutely no justification for allowing Donald Trump back on Facebook...This is a man who used the platform to incite a deadly insurrection against the United States – and whose behavior has only gotten more dangerous in the years since. Trump has repeatedly used Truth Social to fuel violence, spread election lies, and promote domestic terrorist organizations like QAnon."

Victoria Vinall

It’s official. Trump is back on Facebook and Instagram.

If and when Trump starts posting again on Facebook and Instagram, prepare to see more of what he’s been sharing on Truth Social: From April 28 through October 8, Trump shared 116 posts amplifying “followers and sympathizers of QAnon,” and 239 posts containing “harmful election-related disinformation,” according to the tech watchdog group Accountable Tech. He’s also made comments promoting election fraud conspiracy theories that critics say encouraged harassment of election workers, such as threats of hanging, firing squads, torture, and bomb blasts.

Victoria Vinall

Accountable Tech Statement on Meta’s Decision to Reinstate Donald Trump

Today, Meta chose to put its own profits above American democracy and the real-world safety of its users.

Zach Praiss

Meta says it won’t punish Trump for attacking the 2020 election results. But the 2024 vote is a different story

It’s nothing unusual for Trump. A research report published earlier this month by the watchdog group Accountable Tech found that Trump had written more than 200 posts containing “harmful election-related disinformation” since he was banished from Meta’s platforms.

Victoria Vinall

Facebook and Instagram to end Trump’s suspension from platforms

A mobile billboard, deployed by Accountable Tech, outside the Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., on Jan. 17.

Victoria Vinall

Meta to reinstate Donald Trump’s Facebook account

Watchdog group Accountable Tech criticized Facebook for prioritizing its bottom line. “Today, Meta chose to put its own profits above American democracy and the real-world safety of its users,” said Nicole Gill, the group’s executive director, in a statement.

Victoria Vinall

Meta to Reinstate Trump on Facebook and Instagram ‘In the Coming Weeks’

“I want to be very clear: there is absolutely no justification for allowing Donald Trump back on Facebook,” said Nicole Gill, co-founder of the tech-focused advocacy group Accountable Tech. “Two years ago, Meta said it would only reinstate Trump if his presence on the platform no longer carried a threat of violence. Today’s decision reveals that promise for what it was: another empty publicity stunt by a company more concerned with making money than with democracy, safety, or even internal consistency.”

Victoria Vinall

Meta allows Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram

The advocacy groups Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America estimated last month that more than 350 of Trump's Truth Social posts would directly violate Facebook's rules against QAnon content, false election claims and harassment of marginalized groups.

Victoria Vinall

Accountable Tech Demands Meta “Keep Trump Off Facebook” with Mobile Billboards Outside Meta Offices in San Francisco, DC, and New York

Mobile billboards from Accountable Tech are circling the national mall and Meta offices in Menlo Park, New York City, and Washington, DC today urging Facebook to uphold its ban of former President Donald Trump.

Zach Praiss

Meta weighing decision on Trump ban

Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America last month launched a “Keep Trump off Facebook” ad campaign along with a report highlighting hundreds of Trump’s posts on Truth Social they said would violate Facebook’s rules. The posts amplified followers and sympathizers of the QAnon conspiracy theory and contained “harmful” election-related disinformation.

Victoria Vinall

Trump Campaign Urges Facebook To Remove Block On His Account As He Gears Up For Presidential Run

The tech watchdog nonprofit Accountable Tech is advocating for Meta to continue its ban on Trump’s accounts and has launched a billboard campaign outside of Facebook offices in Washington, Menlo Park, Calif., and New York City. "If Facebook looks at what Trump has been putting out publicly in the past few years, it is clear he is not a reduced threat to safety, If anything, he has gotten more emboldened,” Executive Director Nicole Gill told The Financial Times.

Victoria Vinall

Meta expected to decide soon on fate of Trump accounts

Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America released a six-figure digital and TV ad buy last month for a "Keep Trump Off Facebook" campaign.

Victoria Vinall

Meta Weighs Reinstating Trump’s Facebook Account After 2-Year Ban—Here’s How It Will Work

A study published last month by left-wing free speech advocacy group Accountable Tech suggested that more than 350 of Trump’s posts on Truth Social would have violated Facebook’s policies, including his baseless election denial allegations, his promotion of far-right conspiracy group QAnon, as well as posts that would violate Facebook’s harassment against marginalized groups policy.

Victoria Vinall

Pressure builds to keep Donald Trump off Facebook ahead of his possible reinstatement

Nearly half of Trump's posts and reposts on Truth Social in the week after the 2022 midterm elections pushed claims of election fraud and amplified QAnon accounts or content, according to December research from Media Matters. Another study by Accountable Tech found more than 350 of Trump's Truth Social posts would violate Facebook's safety guidelines.

Victoria Vinall

Meta would be making a mistake handing Trump back the keys to Facebook

As the leaders of two tech and media watchdog groups, we’ve closely tracked Trump’s online behavior since he incited that deadly insurrection, and we can unequivocally say: There is no justification for allowing Trump back on Facebook.

Zach Praiss

AT + MMFA Release New Research, TV Ad in Push to Keep Trump Off Facebook

Accountable Tech released new research finding that more than 350 posts from Donald Trump’s “Truth Social” account – the equivalent of two posts per day – would directly violate Facebook’s Community Standards.

Zach Praiss

On the Heels of Landmark California Kids and Teens Online Safety Bill, Meta Announces Updated Safety and Privacy Measures

These updates show why passing laws that change the incentive structure for Big Tech is imperative. The California Age Appropriate Design Code is already pushing companies like Meta to proactively enhance their existing limited privacy and safety measures for children and teens.

Zach Praiss

New Six-Figure TV Ad Buy Slams Facebook for Gutting Election Integrity Safeguards Ahead of Midterms

Big Tech watchdog Accountable Tech announced a $250,000 national TV and digital ad buy slamming Facebook for rolling back election integrity safeguards ahead of the upcoming midterms.

Zach Praiss

Statement on News that Meta is Considering Replatforming Trump

Meta’s indication that Donald Trump will be allowed back on the platform – despite his increasingly dangerous behavior since – would be equivalent to handing a flamethrower to an arsonist.

Zach Praiss

To Fight Election Falsehoods, Social Media Companies Ready a Familiar Playbook

“I think they’ve just come to the conclusion that this is not really a problem that they can tackle at this point,” said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, a nonprofit focused on technology and democracy.

Victoria Vinall

Facebook gave teen’s private messages about alleged abortion to Nebraska police

“These tech giants have accumulated an unfathomable amount of sensitive data on each and every one of us,” Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, told The Post. “They are going to dutifully comply with subpoena requests like this in a post-Roe world.”

Victoria Vinall

Senate Democrats urge Facebook CEO to bolster gun sales ban

Earlier this week, the advocacy groups Accountable Tech and Giffords urged Zuckerberg to replace the policy with a “more decisive two-strike policy” instead, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

Victoria Vinall

Student Defense, Accountable Tech Worry FAFSA Student Data Sent to Facebook Could be Used for Predatory, Discriminatory Advertising

Student Defense and Accountable Tech today called for a full investigation into reports that the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) released personally identifiable information from an unknown number of federal aid applicants to Facebook.

Zach Praiss

Advocates urge Congress to pass online kids’ safety reforms

The letter is signed by 60 advocacy organizations, including Fairplay, the Center for Digital Democracy, Accountable Tech and the American Academy of Pediatrics. It was addressed to the top lawmakers of both parties in the House and Senate.

Victoria Vinall

Jesse Lehrich on How Congress Can Rein in Big Tech

There's been a lot of talk for years on Capitol Hill, but Congress has the chance now to rein in Big Tech's harms.

Zach Praiss

It Appears Facebook Spent More Money on the ‘Meta’ Name Than on Funding the Metaverse

This sharp contrast between the naming rights and the amount of funding dedicated to the metaverse was pointed out by @Accountabletech on Twitter. Accountable Tech is a not-for-profit and is all about taking on big companies like Facebook and Twitter, basically, holding big tech accountable.

Victoria Vinall

Zach Praiss on Adam Mosseri’s Testimony

It's pretty rich for a company to roll out new protections and proposals to protect kids online just hours before a congressional hearing, when they've known about these harms for years according to their own internal research.

Zach Praiss

Nicole Gill on Adam Mosseri’s Congressional Testimony

Facebook is the top spender on lobbying in D.C. They do exactly the opposite of what Mark Zuckerberg says he supports in public when Facebook says they support government regulation.

Zach Praiss

Lawmakers fighting ‘Big Tech’ flock to Oracle’s townhouse

"Accountable Tech has launched a database that compiles news outlets’ coverage of the Facebook Papers leaked by Haugen."

Kenya Juarez

Facebook looking for its voice at a ‘watershed moment’

“I do think they’ve burnt a lot of bridges,” said Jesse Lehrich, the co-founder of advocacy group Accountable Tech.

Kenya Juarez

Instagram Is Bad for Teen Mental Health — We Want to Know All the Data

"In this op-ed, Gen-Z for Change and Accountable Tech calls on Facebook to release all of its internal research on the effects of Instagram on teen mental health."

Kenya Juarez

Rishi Bharwani on Congressional Hearings with Big Tech CEOs

We're seeing growing momentum in Congress for legislation to rein in Big Tech's harms.

Zach Praiss

Rishi Bharwani on the Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on Big Tech

Each of these platforms use so many of the same design tactics as Instagram, which have been shown to negatively harm kids according to even their own internal research.

Zach Praiss

Instagram Is Bad for Teen Mental Health — We Want to Know All the Data

It’s time for Facebook to release the remainder of its internal research on the effects Instagram has on young people. We stand ready to support all efforts to build a safer space for all of us.

Zach Praiss

A ‘lobbyist who has to make the president happy’ is part of Facebook’s content moderation, employees complain: report

"Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of advocacy group called Accountable Tech, told POLITICO that "it is a fatal flaw of Facebook as a company that their team in charge of lobbying governments clearly is empowered to intervene on product and content decisions in ways that make it impossible to do good work."

Kenya Juarez

Facebook staff complained for years about their lobbyists’ power

"'It is a fatal flaw of Facebook as a company that their team in charge of lobbying governments clearly is empowered to intervene on product and content decisions in ways that make it impossible to do good work,' said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of advocacy group Accountable Tech and former spokesperson for Hillary Clinton."

Kenya Juarez

Will tech provisions make the cut in Democrats’ spending bill?

"Accountable Tech is launching Main Street Against Big Tech, a project aimed at highlighting the impacts of major tech companies on small business owners."

Kenya Juarez

Tech watchdog campaign challenges big tech for hiding behind small business

"But counter to the warm and fuzzy anecdotes that Big Tech has rolled out over the years, some business owners struggle with relying so heavily on massive, opaque corporations and often have little recourse if things go wrong. Those struggles are the kind of thing that tech watchdog group Accountable Tech wants to draw attention to with its new awareness push, 'Main Street Against Big Tech.'”

Kenya Juarez

Rishi Bharwani on the Need to Regulate Big Tech

Congress can pass a historic bipartisan package of antitrust bills to rein in Big Tech's abuses of monopoly power.

Zach Praiss

Rishi Bharwani on Meta’s New Name

This is what damage control looks like. This is exactly what Philip Morris did in the past and oil companies have done the same in the past.

Zach Praiss

How to Fix Facebook, Instagram and Social Media? Change the Defaults

"I’d be shocked if this Congress manages to pass a sweeping federal privacy law,” said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, a progressive-leaning nonprofit dedicated to reigning in social-media giants. “But I do think bills like the KIDS Act that take direct aim at those manipulative features are suddenly in play.”The Wall Street Journal: "I’d be shocked if this Congress manages to pass a sweeping federal privacy law,” said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, a progressive-leaning nonprofit dedicated to reigning in social-media giants. “But I do think bills like the KIDS Act that take direct aim at those manipulative features are suddenly in play.”

Kenya Juarez

Senators unveil long-awaited antitrust bill

"More than 40 human rights organizations have launched HowToStopFacebook.org, a campaign calling on legislators to investigate the company using subpoena power...Members include Fight for the Future, Accountable Tech, the Center for Digital Democracy and Fairplay."

Kenya Juarez

Rishi Bharwani on the Growing Internal Evidence on Facebook’s Harms

There are a lot of similarities between Big Tech and Big Tobacco, but Big Tech's harms are more pervasive and far-reaching.

Zach Praiss

Rishi Bharwani on Facebook’s New Safety Features for Kids

I think this is Facebook's attempt to stave off regulation. This rollout from Facebook is a PR play. If they were really interested in helping kids, they would have done these changes years ago.

Zach Praiss

Facebook’s facial recognition rollback shows limits of self-regulation, officials say

Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of the left-leaning advocacy group Accountable Tech, said he’s not banking on lawmakers advancing new facial recognition and biometric rules this Congress."

Kenya Juarez

Facebook Whistle-Blower to Share ‘Frightening Truth’ With Senate

Bloomberg: "According to Rishi Bharwani, policy director for Accountable Tech, a group that advocates for reforms to social media, 'these companies are so large that no single legislative intervention will fully mitigate their societal harms.'”

Kenya Juarez

The whistleblower hearing hits Facebook where the company is weakest

“It’s the focus on the business model at the crux of this, because that is what ties all of these scandals together,” Rishi Bharwani, director of partnership and policy at Accountable Tech, told The Verge in an interview Monday. “It’s why Facebook is profiting off of and playing a determining role in the Rohingya genocide. It’s why Facebook is allowing the continued spread of COVID mis- and disinformation. It’s because they’re profiting off of it.”

Kenya Juarez

Rishi Bharwani on Meta’s Unprecedented Outage

For the first time since Facebook's inception, during Facebook's outage there was no dangerous disinformation being spread on the platform.

Zach Praiss

Rishi Bharwani Responds to Latest Documents from Frances Haugen

We can no longer rely on Facebook to be forthcoming with the information that they have, we need to demand it.

Zach Praiss

Facebook Whistle-Blower to Share ‘Frightening Truth’ With Senate

"Forcing Facebook to be a better steward of its immense power will take a combination of all these legislative strategies, according to Rishi Bharwani, policy director for Accountable Tech, a group that advocates for reforms to social media."

Kenya Juarez

Senators vs. Facebook, Round 2

"Accountable Tech launching a six-figure national TV ad buy this morning and planning a post-hearing rally with other groups, including Fairplay and the so-called Real Facebook Oversight Board."

Kenya Juarez

House Judiciary mulls how to juice tech competition

"Dozens of civil society groups, including Accountable Tech...urged leaders of the House Science Committee in a letter dated Monday to take action against Facebook over its decision to revoke access to the NYU researchers."

Kenya Juarez

Statement on Facebook’s Cover-Up of Teen Trauma

There is nothing more chilling than turning one’s back on a child who’s in harm’s way. Yet, this is what Facebook and Instagram executives do every day.

Zach Praiss

The limits to Facebook’s transparency

"They are constantly finding new ways to slice and dice data to advance their preferred narratives about their products," Accountable Tech's Jesse Lehrich told Axios. "But quarterly reports showing YouTube and Amazon were the most-viewed domains do nothing to help us understand the fast-changing threat landscapes on vaccine disinformation, political extremism or anything else meaningful."

Zach Praiss

Statement on Facebook’s Latest Claims about Tackling Vaccine Misinformation

Facebook is teeming with deadly vaccine misinformation. You don’t have to take my word for it – just spend a few hours on the platform.

Zach Praiss

Facebook says it sees signs that COVID vaccine hesitancy is declining

The other side: Critics blasted Facebook, with Accountable Tech executive director Nicole Gill saying that "Facebook is teeming with deadly vaccine misinformation."

Victoria Vinall

Instagram’s privacy changes: Will they actually keep creepy adults away from young users?

"These long overdue changes are an important acknowledgment from Facebook of the many harms kids and teens face on their platforms, from manipulative product designs and pervasive surveillance advertising to unwanted contact from predators," said Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit. "It should not take years of tireless advocacy from child safety and tech accountability NGOs to earn bare minimum protections for platforms' most vulnerable users, but it nonetheless speaks to the unprecedented pressure Big Tech is facing over their exploitative business practices."

Victoria Vinall

Tech groups urge Congress to ‘dig deeper’ on Facebook role in Capitol riot

The renewed push from the groups, Accountable Tech, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), Media Matters and the Tech Transparency Project, comes the day before the House select committee holds its first hearing and as the federal government continues to clamp down on the spread of misinformation on social media platforms.

Victoria Vinall

‘Superspreader’ Facebook accounts spewing dangerous vaccine misinformation

According to the social media watchdog Accountable Tech, 11 out of the 15 top results on Facebook regarding vaccines last week were disinformation or anti-vaccine content.

Victoria Vinall

Accountable Tech Launches FOIA Investigation into Facebook’s Coordination with Trump Administration

Today, Accountable Tech launched an investigation into Facebook’s coordination with the Trump Administration by filing a series of FOIA requests with agencies across the federal government.

Zach Praiss

Frustration and bewilderment: Emails show tension between Facebook and Biden campaign

“They make cosmetic tweaks, whatever they think is enough to signal that they are taking things seriously. But they don’t actually care,” said Jesse Lehrich, the co-founder of Accountable Tech, an outside political organization that pressures social media giants to make structural changes. “I have zero expectation that they’ll make any meaningful changes to prevent another catastrophe.”

Victoria Vinall

Zuckerberg’s Decline In Popularity Has Important Lessons For Business Leaders

Last July, Forbes.com reported that only 20% of registered voters had a favorable view of Zuckerberg, according to a survey conducted by Accountable Tech and GQR Research. Forbes reported, “Zuckerberg’s favorable rating has dropped by 28% since 2016, and he is viewed unfavorably by both[political] parties—leading GQR Research to note that while President Donald Trump is also viewed unfavorably by 56% (favorably by 39%), Zuckerberg is less popular, as he does not have any strong base of support.”

Victoria Vinall

Advocacy groups target Facebook employees in push to keep Trump off platform

The ad featured a letter signed by the groups, including Media Matters for America, Accountable Tech, the Anti-Defamation League, Avaaz and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling it “unconscionable” to even consider giving Trump a chance to return.

Victoria Vinall

The Technology 202: Advocacy groups target employees in fight to keep Trump off Facebook

Media Matters for America, a left-leaning nonprofit organization, and Accountable Tech are running online ads with quotes from Facebook employees criticizing the company’s announcement that it would allow Trump to return to the platform in 2023, after the company banned him in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The advocacy groups are directing the ads to people who list Facebook as an employer or are located near the company’s offices.

Victoria Vinall

SCOTUS decision fuels calls to update anti-hacking law

To mark the occasion, the groups Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America are running a full-page ad in today’s New York Times, as well as digital ads, calling on Facebook to keep the former president off its platform permanently. Mobile billboards paid for by those two groups will also circle Facebook’s D.C. office and Capitol Hill — a sign that progressive groups are concerned the social media company could allow Trump back on as soon as today.

Victoria Vinall

Exclusive: New campaign urges Facebook not to reinstate Trump

The new $200,000 campaign by nonprofits Accountable Tech and Media Matters for America urges Facebook not to reinstate Trump's accounts. The two groups say they're prepared to spend more on future campaigns depending on what Facebook does.

Victoria Vinall

Facebook’s Oversight Board upholds Trump’s suspension

"When a company establishes its own quasi-judicial global ‘supreme court’ for self-regulation, that’s not a constraint on its power – it’s an absurd embodiment of it," said Accountable Tech co-founder Jesse Lehrich in a statement provided to Mashable yesterday. "The Facebook Oversight Board is a corporate PR tool designed to shirk responsibility and stave off actual regulation."

Victoria Vinall

Trump Isn’t Getting Back on Facebook Any Time Soon

“It is a corporate PR tool designed to shirk responsibility and stave off actual regulation,” Jesse Lehrich, the co-founder of activist group Accountable Tech, said in a statement.

Victoria Vinall

Statement on Tomorrow’s Facebook Oversight Board Ruling

First, let’s be absolutely clear: When a company establishes its own quasi-judicial global ‘supreme court’ for self-regulation, that’s not a constraint on its power – it’s an absurd embodiment of it.

Zach Praiss

Takeaways from tech giants’ latest lobbying disclosures

Nonprofit group Accountable Tech is running a new ad campaign urging users to opt out of Facebook tracking their activity across the internet. The ads, which will run on Facebook and target iPhone users in D.C. and the Bay Area, are timed to coincide with a new Apple software update that will prompt users to opt out of cross-app tracking.

Victoria Vinall

Big Tech’s critics have organized for years. Now, some are speaking with one voice.

The new coalition of 38 advocacy groups and nonprofits signed a letter calling for a ban on what it called “surveillance advertising.” It said that online ads powered by personal data and behavioral history have enabled radicalization and given tech platforms a dominant advantage over traditional ads bundled with journalism

Victoria Vinall

This Group Wants to ‘Ban Surveillance Advertising’

“I was frankly shocked by how much appetite there was for this, and by how receptive folks were to the pitch,” said Jesse Lehrich, a cofounder of the advocacy group Accountable Tech. According to a January poll commissioned by Accountable Tech, 81 percent of respondents said they would be in favor of reforms to “ban companies from collecting people's personal data and using it to target them with ads.” By contrast, only 63 percent said they supported breaking up companies like Facebook and Google, another idea that has been proposed by lawmakers like Elizabeth Warren.

Victoria Vinall

Now Social Media Grows a Conscience?

“Without any impetus to serve the public good, these companies are going to keep amplifying extremist positions,” said Jesse Lehrich, a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Accountable Tech.

Victoria Vinall

Biden coronavirus appointee has cut ties with Facebook, transition team says

On Thursday, Accountable Tech co-founder Jesse Lehrich called Zients a “talented problem-solver” but said Facebook’s role in spreading anti-vaccine misinformation could not be ignored. “Facebook must be held accountable for amplifying misinformation that has undermined our pandemic response and sown baseless distrust in vaccines,” Lehrich said. “In order to guard against conflicts of interest, Mr. Zients should immediately divest of the significant equity he earned in Facebook from his service on the Board and commit to hiring an online misinformation expert to handle his team’s engagement with major social media platforms.”

Victoria Vinall

Statement on Jeff Zients Being Tapped as COVID Czar

While Jeff Zients is rightfully renowned as a talented problem-solver, his recent service on Facebook’s Board of Directors raises serious concerns about how he’ll navigate his role as the incoming administration’s COVID-19 czar.

Zach Praiss

Facebook extends political ad ban another month as Trump refuses to concede

“If Facebook and Google are truly incapable of reviewing and safely running Georgia Senate ads without opening the floodgates of paid disinformation across their platforms, it’s a damning indictment of their own business model,” said Nicole Gill, executive director of tech policy advocacy group Accountable Tech, said in a statement. “These companies are already failing to curb the viral spread of conspiracy theories designed to delegitimize our elections. As has always been the case, deceptive organic content — boosted by toxic algorithms – continues to drive social media’s disinformation crisis; not paid content. Preventing campaigns from running ads to inform Georgians about how and why to participate in these critical runoff elections is actively harmful to democracy.”

Victoria Vinall

Statement on Facebook and Google’s Ad Moratorium

If Facebook and Google are truly incapable of reviewing and safely running Georgia Senate ads without opening the floodgates of paid disinformation across their platforms, it’s a damning indictment of their own business model.

Zach Praiss

Statement on Facebook’s Political Advertising Debacle

It’s infuriating to see Facebook’s ineptitude and aversion to transparency once again inflict avoidable damage during the final stretch of an election.

Zach Praiss

Facebook Staff Urged to Snitch on Zuckerberg Over Election Disinformation

And the trend is set to continue: Accountable Tech, which as its name suggests is trying to hold Big Tech companies accountable, will broadcast an ad slamming Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It will air during the final presidential debate on Thursday night.

Victoria Vinall

New ad asks Mark Zuckerberg if Facebook makes his kids proud

A new video is set to air on TV that night targeting the Facebook founder. The organization behind the clip, Accountable Tech, is spending $250,000 on the ad buy. The ad starts with a clip of Zuckerberg talking to CNN Money. "I really just care about building something that my girls are going to grow up and be proud of me for," he says.

Victoria Vinall

Accountable Tech Launches New TV Ad: “Proud Of”

Today, Accountable Tech is launching a new $250,000 ad buy calling out Facebook for facilitating the spread of misinformation and hate with real-world consequences.

Zach Praiss

Watch the anti-Facebook ad set to run during the VP debate

Accountable Tech, a nonprofit run by a former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesperson and the former executive director of Tax March, hopes to focus that attention with an ad spot during Wednesday's debate on, according to CNN. The ad, embedded above, focuses on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg's noted failures to live up to its and his stated goals.

Victoria Vinall

Ad attacking Mark Zuckerberg to air during VP debate

A television ad attacking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for his company’s handling of hate and misinformation will air during Wednesday’s vice presidential debate coverage, the group behind the ad — Accountable Tech — tells CNN Business.

Victoria Vinall

Facebook bans QAnon (again)

“Their announcement acknowledged several important truths — that enforcement at the individual post level cannot counter hate and disinformation; that content need not explicitly support violence to bring about real-world harms; and that without aggressive deterrence, these platforms will continue to serve as critical organizing and recruitment tools for extremist movements,” said Accountable Tech’s co-founder Jesse Lehrich in a statement.

Victoria Vinall

Biden Campaign Slams Zuckerberg For Letting Trump ‘Sow Distrust In Our Democracy’

79%. That’s the percentage of respondents who said social media companies should do more to protect democracy, according to a recent Accountable Tech/GQR Research poll. The poll also found that 62% of respondents are not confident in social media companies’ ability to prevent election misinformation from influencing the November election, with 42% saying they have no confidence in Facebook specifically.

Victoria Vinall

Broad Coalition Urges Facebook To #StopGroupRecs Until Election Results Are Certified

Facebook Groups pose a singular threat to this election season. They’ve become hidden breeding grounds for disinformation campaigns and organizing platforms for extremists. And Facebook’s AI actively grows these dangerous networks by promoting them to vulnerable users.

Zach Praiss

Statement on Facebook Oversight Board’s Press Offensive

Nearly three years after Mark Zuckerberg set into motion plans for a so-called ‘Supreme Court’ – and after months of sustained pressure for the Oversight Board to grapple with urgent Facebook debacles around the globe – board members have embarked on a press tour about their impending launch.

Zach Praiss

Statement on Chan and Zuckerberg Election Investment

Zach Praiss

New Report Shows How Facebook’s Algorithms Boosted Hate and Misinformation at Inflection Points

Today, Accountable Tech released a new report examining how Facebook’s algorithms operated during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of George Floyd’s killing – and found they played a toxic role at each of these inflection points.

Zach Praiss

Facebook is a hate-for-profit machine. Here’s a quick fix

Facebook says it brings the world closer together, but its own research shows it divides us.

Zach Praiss

Facebook and Twitter Must Act on Election Disinformation

President Trump’s posts this morning should be a blaring red siren for social media platforms, whose woefully inadequate election misinformation policies continue to undermine the integrity of our democracy.

Zach Praiss

Why Facebook and Twitter won’t fact-check Trump’s latest false claims about voting

Jesse Lehrich, the co-founder of the nonprofit Accountable Tech, which is pushing Facebook to tighten its rules on harmful speech, warned that by doing nothing social media companies could exacerbate the problem of misinformation online.

Zach Praiss

Antitrust Hearing Advances Case for Serious Reforms | Zuckerberg Emails Reveal Anti-Competitive Acquisition of Instagram

Big Tech companies serve as information and market gatekeepers, but they have consistently abused that status to maximize profits at the expense of the public good. As today’s hearing made clear, their monopoly-like power begets more anti-competitive behavior and removes the incentives to act responsibly.

Zach Praiss

Can Brett Kavanaugh be impartial about Facebook?

On July 24th, a coalition of nine progressive groups, including Demand Justice, Freedom From Facebook and Google, and Accountable Tech, released a statement calling on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to recuse himself from a case involving Facebook due to his close friendship with the company’s vice president of public policy, Joel Kaplan.

Zach Praiss

New Polling Highlights America’s Views on Big Tech, Facebook Boycott, Mark Zuckerberg

According to new exclusive polling conducted by GQR, Americans overwhelmingly agree that social media companies should do more to combat online hate and misinformation, that Big Tech companies have too much power, and that the Stop Hate For Profit campaign is demanding much-need reforms.

Zach Praiss

Mark Zuckerberg Is Even Less Popular Than Donald Trump, Poll Finds

As Facebook faces sharp scrutiny and a growing advertising boycott amid the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice movement and impending November election, a new poll of 1,000 registered voters nationwide from Accountable Tech and GQR Research conducted July 15-19 finds that American voters have turned against Facebook, believing the company does more harm than good and broadly disapproving of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the power he wields.

Zach Praiss

Coronavirus scams (back) in the spotlight

“A new policy-focused nonprofit that emerged from the recent wave of big tech scrutiny is calling for members of Facebook’s Oversight Board to either step up or step down,” TechCrunch reports on the group Accountable Tech.

Zach Praiss

Advocacy Groups Release Open Letter Urging Facebook Oversight Board Members To Take A Stand

A broad coalition of civil rights, free press, environmental, and tech accountability groups has released an open letter to the U.S.-based members of the Facebook Oversight Board urging them to resign in protest unless they are empowered to swiftly address the platform’s facilitation of voter suppression and climate denialism.

Zach Praiss

Accountable Tech Launches Campaign, Ads Targeting Facebook’s Faux ‘Supreme Court’

Amid growing outrage over Facebook’s refusal to crack down on hate and disinformation, Accountable Tech launched a multi-pronged campaign Tuesday targeting their toothless Oversight Board.

Zach Praiss

Pressure grows on Alan Rusbridger and other members of Facebook’s oversight board to speak up

An American non-profit has started an online ad campaign to try to force the Oversight Board to speak up.

Zach Praiss

Months before it starts, Facebook’s oversight board is already under fire

Accountable Tech, a progressive nonprofit, launched a campaign Tuesday to persuade the members of Facebook's independent oversight board to demand more authority over content decisions.

Zach Praiss

What’s Facebook’s Deal With Donald Trump?

Jesse Lehrich, the co-founder of Accountable Tech, a new nonprofit group pushing Facebook to tighten controls on its platform, suggested that the two men have a tacit nonaggression pact. “Trump can rage at Big Tech and Mark can say he’s disgusted by Trump’s posts, but at the end of the day the status quo serves both of their interests,” Mr. Lehrich said.

Zach Praiss

Statement on Zuckerberg Voting Announcement

On the one hand, it’s encouraging to see Mark Zuckerberg preview a seemingly robust effort to help Americans vote in November – and that progress is a testament to the relentless advocacy from Facebook employees, civil rights activists, and many others who have made their voices difficult to ignore in recent weeks.

Zach Praiss

Accountable Tech Launches Facebook Ads Targeting Facebook Employees As More Stand Up To Zuckerberg

Accountable Tech launched a five-figure ad buy Tuesday aimed specifically at reaching Facebook employees on their own platform, as more and more boldly express their outrage over the path being charted by the company’s leadership.

Zach Praiss

Nonprofit targets Facebook employees in new ad campaign

The targeted ads went live today on Facebook and come from newly launched Accountable Tech, which is spending "five figures" on the effort, Axios has learned. The campaign follows yesterday's employee walkout and rising internal dissent over Facebook's handling of President Trump's tweets.

Zach Praiss