This year’s presidential campaign has been divisive, partly due to the polarizing nature of candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The social media site, Facebook, has been a popular platform for political conversation in past election years, but has surged this year. There have been over 4 billion posts, comments and reactions about this presidential election. As people take to Facebook to express their views, contentious political posts have been driving people apart, often leading to unfriending. Listen to hear how Facebook users are reacting to political posts.
Story Length: 6:47
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October 18, 2021
3:50
A former Facebook employee testified before Congress about the harm caused by the tech giant. She said executives at the company knew that Facebook intensified certain social problems, but they chose to prioritize profits and growth over addressing those concerns. She urged Congress to regulate the company and force greater transparency around its algorithms. Listen to hear more about the claims of a Facebook whistleblower, and learn why removing the secrecy around high tech could make it safer.
Read MoreNovember 22, 2019
4:26
Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook disagree on what to do with political ads. Twitter recently banned all political advertising, saying it could not fact-check the claims made by politicians and did not want to spread misinformation. But defining what counts as a political ad is tricky. Facebook continues to run political ads without fact-checking them, citing free speech. Critics claim that political ads on social media can be particularly misleading. Listen to hear an expert discuss these issues and then debate: Should political ads be allowed on social media?
Read MoreSeptember 16, 2016
2:56
Social media has an interesting effect on teenagers and the way they think. This study used social media and tested how teens responded to various photos online. Teens were shown an image that was deemed to have lots of "likes." The teens tended to like the image also. They found that teens responded strongly to the more popular pictures, regardless of which ones they were. Seeing popular pictures also produced greater activation in the reward centers of the brain. Listen to hear more about the effect of social media on the way teens think.
Read MoreJune 25, 2014
4:20
The Supreme Court is weighing in on threats posted on Facebook. So far courts have ruled threatening statements made on Facebook, including death threats, are true threats and punishable. Facebook says that they’re looking for conflict resolution strategies instead of always going straight to the authorities when they spot threats. Listen to this audio story to learn about threat made on social media.
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