Social Media
Study: Short-Form Video Isn't Rotting Your Brain
A recent meta-analysis concerning short-form video, mental health, and attention spawned a lot of tech panic. Did critics even read the study?
The TRUMP AMERICA AI Act Is Every Bit As Bad As You Would Expect. Maybe Worse.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s latest is an anti-tech omnibus, combining years' worth of dangerous policy ideas into one big, bad bill.
Deplatforming Backfired
Progressive censors failed to suppress our political demons. It's finally time to confront them.
This Tennessee Man Spent 37 Days in Jail for Sharing an Anti-Trump Meme. He Says the Cops Should Pay for That.
Larry Bushart's lawyers argue that his arrest for constitutionally protected speech violated the First and Fourth amendments.
Governments Are Pushing Digital IDs. Are You Ready To Be Tracked?
Proponents say such IDs will make life easier and protect kids from dangerous content. But opponents worry they will make you much easier to target.
Reason Vs. Breaking Points: Does Big Tech Do More Good Than Harm?
Reason's Robby Soave and Elizabeth Nolan Brown go head to head with Emily Jashinsky and Ryan Grim from Breaking Points in a thought-provoking debate about Big Tech.
Even Trump's Supporters Are Slamming His Post About Rob Reiner's Murder
The president failed a not particularly challenging moral test.
Young People's Mental Health Is Improving. Tech Alarmists Take Note.
Depression and anxiety are declining, adding yet more complications to the anti-smartphone and anti–social media narratives.
Americans Need More and Better 'Third Places.' User Fees Can Help.
As traditional gathering places disappear, market-based funding could expand parks, courts, and other spaces that help people reconnect without raising taxes.
Nepal's Socialist Government Banned Social Media, So Activists Plotted a Revolution—on Discord.
The country's transition leader was selected not at the ballot box but on a 100,000-person Discord chat.
Want To Vacation In America? Trump Wants To See Your Social Media Posts First.
The move is bad for free speech and bad for American businesses that depend on tourism.
Reason Is Independent. Help Us Stay Loud. Donate!
Everyone is panicking about media consolidation. No need to worry—we have a solution.
X Gets Fined
Plus: Netflix buys Warner Bros., the tradlife really can be yours, baby slop on YouTube, gender insanity in Oklahoma, and more...
Why Are 38 Percent of Stanford Students Saying They're Disabled?
If you get into an elite college, you probably don't have a learning disability.
Lawmakers To Consider 19 Bills for Childproofing the Internet
KOSA is back, along with more than a dozen other bills that will erode free speech and privacy in the name of protecting kids.
Elon Musk's 'Account Based In' Feature Has Already Improved X
Foreign grifters are posting clickbait to make money from X's revenue-sharing program.
Tradwives Are Feminists, Too
Tradwives are fighting the cultural stigma that still remains around being a homemaker. That makes them damn good feminists.
Meta's Victory Over the Federal Trade Commission Shows the Market Moves Faster Than Antitrust Enforcement
The decision ends the witch hunt begun under the first Trump administration.
People Like Having Too Much Content, Says Swiss Study on Information Abundance
Plus: FTC loses Facebook case, building a fertility abundance agenda, ICE staffer arrested in underage sex sting, and more...
Candace Owens Can't Present Serious Evidence for Her Charlie Kirk Assassination Theories
The mainstream media have made serious errors. That doesn't mean every contrarian, fringe, or conspiratorial idea is automatically correct.
'Genes Matter,' Says Scientist Studying Social Media and Mental Health
The study found only small links between social media use and users' well-being.
Deplatforming Nick Fuentes Won't Stop Antisemitism
The Tucker Carlson interview is an apt demonstration of what to do—and what not to do.
Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Tennessee Man Over Facebook Meme
Larry Bushart was arrested on a $2 million bond for posting a meme on Facebook. He was released this week, after more than a month in jail.
Jake Tapper Called Out Obama and Biden for Free Speech Abuses. He Says Trump Is on a New Level.
"I have not seen ever before a direct infringement on the right to free speech like that," CNN's Jake Tapper says of the Trump administration's actions in the Jimmy Kimmel saga.
Congress Investigates TeaOnHer App for Letting Men Post About Women Without Their Consent
It sounds like something niche feminist bloggers might have taken up 10 years ago. But this is being led by Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
The Pentagon's New Press Policy Is Absurd
Mainstream and conservative news outlets were correct to reject it.
Meta Removes ICE-Sightings Group After DOJ Outreach
Meta is the third tech company in two weeks to succumb to DOJ pressure to remove apps and groups used to share information on immigration officer sightings.
California Wants To Punish Social Platforms for Aiding and Abetting the First Amendment
Another entry into the "algorithms are magic" school of imposing liability on tech companies.
The U.S. Military Is Helping Arab Dictatorships Run Psyops
The Pentagon spends a lot of taxpayer money on propaganda worldwide. Some of it is coordinated with Middle Eastern dictators, The Washington Post revealed.
Tennessee Man Arrested, Gets $2 Million Bond for Posting Facebook Meme
Larry Bushart posted a meme on a local Facebook page about Charlie Kirk. He now faces years in prison.
2 Controversies Over Political Rhetoric Illustrate the Perils of Blaming Gun Control Critics for Murder
That strategy, which rejects the possibility of sincere disagreement, is poisonous to rational debate.
Bari Weiss Is Powerful, Establishment Media Is Not
Media consolidations are not drying up the well of discourse; it's overflowing with takes.
British Minister: 'Just Because You Have a Freedom Doesn't Mean You Have To Use It'
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is moving to ban protests that annoy the public.
Young People Are Richer Than Boomers Were
Despite viral claims, a typical 25-year-old Gen Zer has annual household income that's 50 percent above Baby Boomers'.
Can We Please Stop Romanticizing Pre-Smartphone Life?
A lot of anti-tech—or anti-Gen Z—screeds only work by romanticizing the past while pathologizing the present and projecting damage on strangers.
TikTok's (Sorta) American Owners
Plus: James Comey indicted, some New York schools stripped of funding, NATO being tested, and more...
Google Says Biden Admin Pressured Company To Remove Content
Plus: ICE helps arrest sex workers, the SIM farm "security threat," Waymo car crashes caused by human error, and more...
These 2 Terrible Tech Bills Are on Gavin Newsom's Desk
One limits children’s access to mental health services, the other mandates a black box warning, and both undermine users’ digital privacy.
Michigan Anti-Porn Bill Would Criminalize ASMR, Written Erotica, and Even Nonsexual Depictions of Trans People
Under the law, transgender people writing about their gender identity online could face 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
TikTok Isolationism
Plus: New Yorkers favor decriminalizing prostitution. An academic inquiry into "body counts." AI chatbots everywhere. And more...
Brendan Carr and Ted Cruz Don't Think Charlie Kirk's Murder Justifies Speech Restrictions
Rand Paul, who called for "a crackdown on people" who celebrated the assassination, was less careful in distinguishing between private and government action.
To Honor Charlie Kirk, Reject Cancel Culture
Plus: Trump and governors threaten social media regulations, activists push blacklists and firings, and how to resist apocalyptic politics.
Charlie Kirk Would Not Have Wanted This
A vast cancel culture campaign is a poor way to honor his legacy.
Social Media Didn't Kill Charlie Kirk
Plus: Trump says he "may let [TikTok] die," the SoHo Forum debates paying for sex, the administration calls birth control "abortifacients," and more...
