Category Archives: New Media

X (formerly Twitter) sues Minnesota over state law that bans AI-generated “deepfakes” to influence an election

Posted on by
Reply

Reuters reports…

Elon Musk’s social media platform X sued Minnesota on Wednesday over a state law that bans people from using AI-generated “deepfakes” to influence an election, which the company said violated protections of free speech.
The law replaces social media platforms’ judgment about the content with the judgment of the state and threatens criminal liability if the platforms get it wrong, according to the lawsuit that was filed in Minnesota federal court.
“This system will inevitably result in the censorship of wide swaths of valuable political speech and commentary,” X said in its complaint. Musk has described himself as a free speech absolutist and he did away with Twitter’s content moderation policy when he bought the company in 2022 and renamed it X.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the named defendant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Minnesota’s law bans the use of deepfakes – videos, pictures or audio clips made with AI to look real – to influence an election. At least 22 states have enacted some form of prohibition on the use of deepfakes in elections, according to data compiled by Public Citizen, which says that AI can be used to manipulate voters.

Digital Footprint: Who knows what about you online – and how can you manage that.

Posted on by
Reply

I ran across an article a week ago entitled, What Does DOGE Know About You?. It includes a quiz; it’s interesting to check it out. If you answer a few broad questions, it will tell you what DOGE is likely to know about you. The article reminded me of a TED Talk I saw in Edinburgh in 2012 about how your phone company is watching from Malte Spitz. He sued his phone company to get the data they had on him and his interactions based on cell phone use. He created visual tools to help the audience understand not only how much data this was, but what it meant when you tracked interactions among users in aggregate in terms of what was happening in a community.

In 2022, PC Mag published an article on how much data social media and tech companies gather on users. (They used research from Security Baron, a privacy company, which I think is worth mentioning. You always want to know who paid for and wrote the report.) I like the article for our purposes now because the results are shared in an easy graphic. (At right.) As you read through the explanations, you get a feel for what these companies know. (Click to get a larger version of the image.)

What is a Digital Footprint?

All these interactions, purchases, clicks, pings from your phone to the cell tower, are things that make up your digital footprint. I think it’s important to recognize that you leave a footprint wherever you go. Important to share with your young people around you. And just like footprints in real life, they are helpful and hurtful. Footprints can help you find your way back to the cabin on a snowy day, but it means people can use them to find you. Even being found is a double edge sword. The more you know about it, the more you can make your digital footprint a positive.

How can I manage my Digital Footprint?

The Internet Society is an international nonprofit focused on empowering people to keep the Internet a force for good. They have a Top 10 list for ways to manage your digital footprint, followed by a link to videos for more information.

  1. Get a better understanding of the issues.
    There’s a lot of information about privacy to take in. Think about the implications of what you’re sharing when you sign up for new services, or install new apps.
  2. Develop your ‘basic hygiene” habits.
    Privacy is about context. If you use one email address for home and another for work, or one credit card for online shopping and another for everything else – it will help keep different parts of your digital footprint separate.
    Be mindful about what you share via social sites and elsewhere, because every selfie, retweet, or like is probably more public, and more persistent than you think.
  3. Become a sophisticated user of your online tools and services.
    Browsers, devices and apps are often set to share your personal data out of the box. Take a look at the privacy settings and see if you’re comfortable with what the default settings are.
    When an application asks for “permission to send you push notifications and use your location data”, think about if that’s really what you want. Your camera and smartphone usually record your time and location in each photo you take, and when you share those photos, you could be sharing that data.
  4. Find and use specific online privacy tools.
    There are many helpful online privacy tools. Use them to protect your online privacy, and to keep track of what information you’re sharing as you surf.
  5. Manage cookies.
    Check what settings your browser(s) have for cookies; find your browser’s “cookie store” and spend some time looking through it. Notice how many of the cookies in there have been set by sites you weren’t even aware of visiting… and then see whether your browser allows you to block third-party cookies. Some browsers offer this as an easy option, but there are also a lot of plug-ins you can use to help control tracking cookies.
  6. Check your privacy settings
    Erasing cookies only goes so far. You should also know your rights when it comes to information that you share on websites, especially open services such as social networks, blogs, and photo sharing sites. It’s a lot easier to prevent your data from being shared than it is trying to remove it from an advertiser database later. Check what permissions apply to content you upload.
  7. Understand the realities of sharing your stuff.
    When you post something on the internet, it’s out there forever. Deleting online content often only removes it from public view, it can be stored in archives and databases forever. Even deleting your account isn’t a guarantee that your content will be deleted. It may still be accessible through other means
  8. Think about the trade-off between convenience and privacy.
    OK, one is instant gratification and the other is a long-term intangible… but the choice is still up to you. Maybe a little inconvenience is worth it, to regain some control over your digital footprint.
  9. Understand the “bargain” you make with online service providers.
    “Free” doesn’t mean “free”: it usually means you pay through the monetization of data about you. “Freemium” doesn’t mean your data isn’t monetized: it usually means you don’t see advertisements in that service, app or game.
  10. “There is no app for this”.
    That’s the bottom line. We can inform you and suggest some privacy tools, but the reality is that there’s no one-click answer: in the long term, the best way to improve your privacy is to change your online habits. We’re here to help, but you hold the key.

Want to know more? Watch our got tutorials on managing your digital footprint.

Minnesota House is looking at taking social media companies for collecting customer data

Posted on by
Reply

The Minnesota House of Representatives reports…

When looking at the business model for companies specializing in social media, it might be helpful to steer away from the idea that you’re a “customer” in any conventional sense. Actually, you are more the product.

Such companies make most of their money not by serving you, but rather by serving you up to others, selling what information they can collect on you.

Should the state get a piece of such transactions? Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Mpls) thinks so. That’s why she’s sponsoring HF3117 that would create an excise tax on some businesses that operate social media platforms. The idea is that such companies would have to pay a tax to the state based upon how many Minnesotans use their social media sites.

On Wednesday, the House Taxes Committee laid the bill over, as amended, for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

What would that look like…

The excise tax would be based on the number of Minnesota resident consumers on which a company collects consumer data. The tax would be imposed at graduated rates between 10 and 50 cents per consumer per month based on the number of state users in a month the company collects data.

The Revenue Department estimates that the bill’s tax changes would increase the state’s General Fund by $45.5 million in fiscal year 2026, climbing to $92.7 million in fiscal year 2027. It also estimates that, for fiscal year 2026, 14 social media platforms would be subject to the tax.

New bill SF3056 would change tax social media companies for collecting data on MN consumers

Posted on by
Reply

Law 360 reports...

Minnesota would impose a tax on consumer data collection done by social media platforms based on the number of Minnesota consumers, if the platform has more than 100,000 consumers, under a bill introduced in the state Senate.
S.F. 3065, which Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-Hennepin County, introduced Thursday, would impose a tax on social media companies that collect data from Minnesota consumers. The monthly tax would be 10 cents per Minnesota consumer on more than 100,000 consumers and up to 500,000 consumers; 25 cents per Minnesota consumer on more than 500,000 consumers and up to 1 million consumers; and 50 cents per consumer on more than 1 million consumers.
The bill would define a consumer as someone with an account on the social media application or website.

MN HF1289: bill requiring mental health warning labels Social media to be discussed March 20, 2025

Posted on by
Reply

The MN House reports on

HF1289 (Stephenson); Social media platforms required to post a mental health warning label and timer notifications.

To be discussed next week…

Commerce Committee

Co-Chairs: Rep. Kaohly Her and Rep. Tim O’Driscoll

Thursday, March 20, 2025 – 8:15AM

Room 120, Capitol Building

 

Co-Chair Her holds the gavel

 

AGENDA

Call to Order

Approval of the Minutes – March 19, 2025

 

  • HF1392 (Lee, K.); Consumer protection restitution account established, report required, and money appropriated
  • HF2233 (Niska); Uniform Special Deposits Act adopted.
  • HF695 (Finke); Places of entertainment required to provide access to potable water at events.
  • HF2228 (Elkins); Task force on homeowners and commercial property insurance established, report required, and money appropriated.
  • HF1289 (Stephenson); Social media platforms required to post a mental health warning label and timer notifications.
  • Adjournment

Bills may be added, removed, or taken up in any order at the discretion of the Co-Chairs

If you would like to testify or provide handouts to the committee please email simon.brown@house.mn.gov and jonathan.cotter@house.mn.gov no later than March 19, at 1:00pm.

Please note that this list serv notification email is not monitored.  If you wish to reply, please email me directly at: simon.brown@house.mn.gov

EVENT Mar 6: MN House has discussion and presentation on AI, Deepfake Technology, and Social Media Algorithms

Posted on by
Reply

I think this will be an interesting both for learning about new media and AI but also for learning what the Legislature knows about technology…

Commerce Finance and Policy
Chair: Rep. Tim O’Driscoll
Location: Capitol 120
Agenda:

I. Call to Order
II. Approval of the Minutes
III. Discussion and Presentation on Social Districts
IV. Discussion and Presentation on AI, Deepfake Technology, and Social Media Algorithms
V. Adjournment

Attachments:

Schedule.

A look at social media use and tools by teens

Posted on by
Reply

Pew Research Center reports…

Amid national concerns about technology’s impact on youth, many teens are as digitally connected as ever. Most teens use social media and have a smartphone, and nearly half say they’re online almost constantly, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 conducted Sept. 18-Oct. 10, 2024.

A line chart showing that YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat top the list for teens

YouTube tops the list of the online platforms we asked about in our survey. Nine-in-ten teens report using the site, slightly down from 95% in 2022.

TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat remain widely used among teens. Roughly six-in-ten teens say they use TikTok and Instagram, and 55% say the same for Snapchat.

Facebook and X use have steeply declined over the past decade. Today, 32% of teens say they use Facebook. This is down from 71% in 2014-15, though the share of teens who use the site has remained stable in recent years. And 17% of teens say they use X (formerly Twitter) – about half the share who said this a decade ago (33%), and down from 23% in 2022.

Roughly one-quarter of teens (23%) say they use WhatsApp, up 6 percentage points since 2022.

And 14% of teens use Reddit, a share that has remained stable over the past few years.

We asked about Threads, launched by parent company Meta in 2023, for the first time this year. Only 6% of teens report using it.

MN schools and teachers using online translation services to communicate with families

Posted on by
Reply

Gov Tech reports…

Some Minnesota educators have signed onto apps and platforms that use machine-learning algorithms to help translate websites, newsletters and even texts to parents into multiple languages.

The article reports on some high points and low points. It is a way to get information into many languages but without some quality control, you can’t be sure that the correct and full information is being shared. Ther are some plans for improvement…

After winter break, the district plans to roll out an app that will connect teachers to a live interpreter to help interpret conferences, or parent meetings, for example.

“That’s going to be such a resource for us,” said Danilo McCarthy , an English language support specialist for South Washington County schools. He also holds workshops for families on using those new technologies to best communicate with their child’s teacher.

Kourajian, the Mounds View middle school teacher, offered similar training for her fellow teachers on the translation app — called TalkingPoints — that allows her to translate quick messages to and from parents. The district first offered TalkingPoints to its staff in the 2022-23 school year, but it wasn’t immediately embraced by all, Kourajian said.

Usage has jumped this year and more than 23,000 messages have gone to families, most commonly in Spanish, Somali and Arabic. Still, only about 40 percent of staff are using the app.

Many years ago, I taught English in Catalonia, Spain. Lack of translation tools meant teacher, students and parents all learned quickly to communicate when necessary but some help would have been a gift. The old school version of AI was the boss writing down a dozen phrases in Catalan that I could use on report cards.

From St Paul to Chicago in a driverless car: firsthand observations through a rural broadband lens

Posted on by
Reply

Driverless cars are here. I know because my brother recently bought a 2025 Model Y and we “drove” it from St Paul to Chicago. So many people asked me about the drive, so I thought I’d share here.

The car is driverless, but not autonomous, which means he has to pay attention the whole time, but he doesn’t have to touch the steering wheel or accelerator – unless he wants to. I’ll tell you the coolest part first – then the mundane details. You can get the car to pick you up with no one in the car. It’s short distance (maybe 250 feet), but you could park at the grocery store and have the car pick you up at the door. Just push a button. (Videos below.)

To have the car “take the wheel” you type in an address and go. You can set parameters such as top speed or choose a setting chill, aggressive or Mad Max. (My brother may have made up those terms, but you get it.) At any time, you can take over the steering wheel or accelerate/deaccelerate. In practice you don’t have to grab the wheel but just touch the indicator and it will change lane or move over.

Highway driving seems very easy. Even off and on ramps are smooth. My brother took control once when a semi turned right into our lane to avoid a slow car. Residential driving is slow. I live on a St Paul street with on street parking and lots of family homes. Cars parked on either side of the narrow street make the car much slower. But the odds of a toddler chasing a ball are higher here than other areas. Driving on rural county roads was trickiest.

 

I could compare the driverless car to me driving down a winding county road – except I might put on the brake for turns. The car doesn’t appear to see the yellow warning sides, such as suggested speeds for curves and turns. Also, it doesn’t read the yellow dividing lines well if one side is solid and one is broken. It will only read the side its on. But the car gets smarter every day with AI. So I imagine this would get smoothed out the more you drove a country road; also, the cars collectively get smarter so the more you drove the road, the smarter all Teslas get.

Bringing it around to broadband, the question I had was the impact of slower or spotty broadband. The car will still be “drivable” but won’t know where to go because broadband facilitates the following:

  • The car collects data to report back to the collective Tesla brain (AI); without broadband, date will not be uploaded.
  • The car downloads regular updates with broadband; without broadband updates don’t happen.
  • The car uses Google maps for directions, without broadband it won’t be able to go to an address. The car won’t stop and the 8 cameras around the car help the car not go through a red light or hit anything.

Looking at the economic impact of electric cars in rural areas I noticed two things:

  • Again, the map reads Google maps. Make sure your business is on online maps if you want to be seen. (I couldn’t actually see businesses along the way but that can’t be far behind – and might even just be a setting we didn’t use.)
  • Electric cars need charging stations. We stopped twice. It’s about 20 minutes for a full charge. Proximity to the charging station was the only criteria for where we had lunch and could have had snacks.
  • And based on the observation above – recognize that yellow signs are not seen.

If you get a chance to ride in a driverless car – take it. It’s fun. If/when it snows and slushes, I’ll try again and report back. I’m curious to see how that cameras handle that!

Senators Klobuchar and Warner ask tech companies to address election-related misinformation

Posted on by
Reply

Senator Klobuchar reports…

 U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration with oversight over federal elections, along with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a letter to the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg; CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino; CEO of Alphabet, Sundar Pichai;  CEO of Twitch, Daniel Clancy; and CEO of Discord, Jason Citron to highlight the risks of election-related disinformation on their platforms, and to urge the companies to take decisive action, including bolstering content moderation resources, to combat deceptive content intended to mislead voters or sow violence.

“Your companies are on the frontlines of the risks to our democracy posed by online disinformation and technology-enabled election influence, and it is for these reasons that we urge you to prioritize taking action to ensure that you have the policies, procedures, and staff in place to counter and respond promptly to these threats,” said the lawmakers.

As Chair of the Rules Committee, Senator Klobuchar has worked on a bipartisan basis to safeguard our elections and strengthen democracy.

In May 2024, the Senate Rules Committee passed three Klobuchar-led bipartisan bills to address the impact of AI on our elections. The bills include the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act with Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Susan Collins (R-ME) joined by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), the AI Transparency in Elections Act with Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and the Preparing Election Administrators for AI Act with Senator Collins.

In January 2024, Klobuchar and Collins called on the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to assist state and local election officials in combating the spread of AI-generated disinformation about our elections. Their letter followed the reports of AI-generated deepfake robocalls using President Biden’s voice to discourage voting in the New Hampshire primary election. In February, the EAC voted unanimously to allow election officials to use federal election funds to counter disinformation in our elections caused by AI.

Klobuchar is a lead sponsor of the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2023. The NO FAKES Act is a bipartisan proposal that would protect the voice and visual likeness of all individuals from unauthorized recreations from generative AI.

The full text of the letter is available HERE

The UN provides recommendations for Governing AI for Humanity

Posted on by
Reply

The United Nations has released a report on Governing AI for Humanity. It’s daunting because the topic is daunting, but the report is easy to read. They start by recognizing that one of the tasks is getting everyone to the table. AI has the power to make our jobs easier and harder, to create and eliminate jobs, to bring us together and push us apart. It fascinating and it can feel like science fiction but it’s no longer on the doorstep, it’s in our living rooms. What we can do to prepare our communities is to learn as much as we can and start conversations with diverse communities. Holding classes on understanding or implementing AI might be just as popular in senior living spaces as the schools.

 

I’ve pulled out the UN’s recommendations to get folks thinking about AI and perhaps thinking about what needs to happen at the local level to help your community benefit from the powers of AI…

Recommendation 1 An international scientific panel on AI
We recommend the creation of an independent international scientific panel on AI, made up of diverse multidisciplinary experts in the field serving in their personal capacity on a voluntary basis.

Recommendation 2 Policy dialogue on AI governance
We recommend the launch of a twice-yearly intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder policy dialogue on AI governance on the margins of existing meetings at the United Nations.

Recommendation 3 AI standards exchange
We recommend the creation of an AI standards exchange, bringing together representatives from national and international standard-development organizations, technology companies, civil society and representatives from the international scientific panel.

Recommendation 4 Capacity development network
We recommend the creation of an AI capacity development network to link up a set of collaborating, United Nations-affiliated capacity development centres making available expertise, compute and AI training data to key actors.

Recommendation 5 Global fund for AI
We recommend the creation of a global fund for AI to put a floor under the AI divide.

Recommendation 6 Global AI data framework
We recommend the creation of a global AI data framework, developed through a process initiated by a relevant agency such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and informed by the work of other international organizations

Recommendation 7 AI office within the Secretariat
We recommend the creation of an AI office within the Secretariat, reporting to the Secretary[1]General. It should be light and agile in organization, drawing, wherever possible, on relevant existing United Nations entities. Acting as the “glue” that supports and catalyzes the proposals in this report, partnering and interfacing with other processes and institutions

I also chose a graphic that piqued my interest…

Senator Klobuchar and others urge Justice Department and FTC to investigate generative AI potential antitrust violations

Posted on by
Reply

Senator Klobuchar and others ask the powers that be to look into generative AI…

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chairwoman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, along with Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Tina Smith (D-MN) sent a letter to Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan to highlight the risks that new generative artificial intelligence (AI) features pose to competition and innovation in digital content, including journalism, and to urge both agencies to investigate whether the design of these features violates the antitrust laws.
“Recently, multiple dominant online platforms have introduced new generative AI features that answer user queries by summarizing, or, in some cases, merely regurgitating online content from other sources or platforms. The introduction of these new generative AI features further threatens the ability of journalists and other content creators to earn compensation for their vital work. While a traditional search result or news feed links may lead users to the publisher’s website, an AI-generated summary keeps the users on the original search platform, where that platform alone can profit from the user’s attention through advertising and data collection,” wrote the lawmakers. “Moreover, some generative AI features misappropriate third-party content and pass it off as novel content generated by the platform’s AI.”
“For the reasons outlined above, we urge the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the design of some generative AI features, introduced by already dominant platforms, are a form of exclusionary conduct or an unfair method of competition in violation of the antitrust laws,” concluded the lawmakers.

Congresswoman Angie Craig working on bill to make selling illicit drugs on social media illegal

Posted on by
Reply

MinnPost tells the story of how one bereaved mom got Congresswoman Angie Craig interested and involved with getting rid of illicit drug sales on social media platforms…

Devin was Bridgette Norring’s middle child and oldest son. Beyond his interest in music, she said, “He was very athletic. He was into football, BMX, skateboarding. He was really good at math. He could rattle off the answers to the most complicated equations.” The Hastings teen also had a light-hearted side, she added: “He had a really quick-witted sense of humor. He was always trying to make someone laugh.”

On April 3, 2020, struggling with debilitating pain from blackout migraines and a cracked molar, Devin, desperate for relief after his doctor and dentist appointments had been canceled due to the pandemic, purchased a pill he thought was the pain reliever Percocet from a pair of local dealers who sold drugs on the social media platform Snapchat. It turned out that the pressed pill Devin took was not Percocet. It was actually 100% Fentanyl. He overdosed and was found dead in his bedroom the next morning. He was 19.

Norring connected with Craig…

Eventually, Craig invited Norring to join her Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Advisory Council. “Of course I accepted,” Norring said. “It is a wonderful way to get our voices heard.”

This year, inspired by Devin’s story, Craig, with the support of Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, began work on the Cooper Davis and Devin Norring Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that would require social media companies and other communication service providers to alert federal law enforcement when illicit drug dealing and distribution occurs on their platforms. The act is named for Devin, and for Cooper Davis, a Shawnee, Kansas, teen who died of fentanyl poisoning after purchasing a counterfeit Percocet pill on Snapchat.

Craig said that, if passed, the legislation would hold social media companies accountable for the illegal sale of drugs on their platforms.

“Social media platforms are required to inform law enforcement in incidents of child sexual abuse on their platforms, but there are no consequences when they learn of these illicit drugs being sold on their platforms,” she said. “It’s surprising that there isn’t already the requirement.”

New law will give Minnesotans more privacy protection online

Posted on by
Reply

MinnPost reports…

State Rep. Steve Elkins admits to some irritation when he would see a privacy notice pop up on his computer screen only to be told that his home state doesn’t have the same privacy rights as California, Virginia or Colorado.

Those states are part of a national trend toward explicitly requiring websites to give users enhanced privacy rights and tell them what those rights are.

After five years of trying, Elkins succeeded in May in adding Minnesota to that list with bill language that matches other states and in some instances exceeds them. Starting next July, Minnesota users can prevent personal data from being sold to data brokers, to block that data from being used to target advertising at them. In the case of sensitive personal data such as precise location and biometric data, users would have to give permission before it can be used.

More information on the law…

“Currently, tech companies can collect and sell data such as names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, payment information, social security numbers, and so much more,” Westlin said before the bill passed. “When Minnesotans engage with tech platforms, they deserve to know what data is being collected, where it is being stored, whether it is secure, and whether their data is being sold.

“The Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act gives Minnesotans rights over their data: the right to access the data, to correct the data … to delete their personal data, to obtain a copy of their data and to opt out of the sale of the data,” she said.

Fines can result from failing to comply.

 

Social Media and News: who uses which channels and why

Posted on by
Reply

Pew Research Center reports…

Social media platforms are an important part of the American news diet: Half of U.S. adults say they get news at least sometimes from social media in general. But specific platforms differ widely in structure, content and culture. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that the ways in which Americans encounter news on four major platforms – TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram – vary widely.

Key findings from this study include:

  • Majorities of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok users say keeping up with news is not a reason they use the sites. X (formerly Twitter) is the exception to this pattern: Most X users say that keeping up with news is either a major or minor reason they use the platform, and about half say they regularly get news there.
  • Still, people are seeing news on all four platforms, especially through opinion- or humor-based content. Majorities of users on all four sites say they see people expressing opinions about current events and funny posts that reference current events. On the whole, more people see these types of posts than news articles or breaking news, although many also see that type of content (particularly on X and Facebook).
  • News on each platform comes from a variety of sources. Those who regularly get news on Facebook and Instagram are more likely than those on TikTok and X to get news from friends, family and acquaintances. More news consumers get news from influencers or other people they don’t know personally on TikTok than on other platforms. And news outlets or journalists are a more common source of news on X than on any other site.
  • Most news consumers on each of the platforms studied say they at least sometimes see news on the platform that seems inaccurate. This includes roughly a quarter or more on each site who say they extremely or fairly often see inaccurate news.
  • In general, Democrats tend to be more skeptical than Republicans of the news they see on X, while the reverse is true on Facebook. Among those who regularly get news on X, for example, 42% of Democrats and independents who lean toward the Democratic Party say they often see news there that seems inaccurate, compared with 31% of Republicans and GOP leaners.