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Tactical voting and targeted ads - what I learned while undercover online for the election Getty Images Social media played a big role in how parties got their messages out to voters After dramatically losing her seat in Welsh Labour's worst-ever Senedd election result, Eluned Morgan gave a concession speech mentioning – of all things – social media. The former first minister said it had "changed the way we do our politics" and now "sets the political narrative". One message, she said, cut through to voters: "If you want to stop Reform, then vote Plaid." It was far from the only factor she cited as contributing to her party's electoral collapse but, as it warranted a mention, it's worth asking: What role did social media play in the election, and how much of it was down to that message from Plaid Cymru? PA Media Eluned Morgan resigned as leader of the Labour Party in Wales on 8 May,  » Read More

“Why would you be sorry? Why would you be sorry, Patience?” Patience Rousseau, then 26, was shivering on the doorstep of the house she was living in with her two children as the sheriff’s deputy repeated her question. The Humboldt County, Nevada, sheriff’s deputy was questioning Rousseau about a Facebook post she had made a few weeks earlier that expressed grief about her stillbirth and mentioned the name she gave her baby posthumously, body camera footage shows. “I’m so sorry, Abel,” Rousseau had written in the post. The mother was in shock that day in May 2018 as several law enforcement officers, some in tactical gear, stood outside the rural Winnemucca home to serve a search warrant. “I had a miscarriage, OK? A miscarriage. Why are you guys here over a f**king miscarriage?” Rousseau responded to the deputy. The single mother, who was already struggling to afford care for her two young boys, was dealing with complicated feelings of ambivalence and guilt about her unplanned pregnancy and stillbirth,  » Read More

Fact check: Did Chud The Builder post racist Facebook updates after courthouse shooting? Viral screenshot debunked (Image via Getty) Dalton “ChudTheBuilder” Eatherly is facing attempted murder charges after a shooting outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, Tennessee. Soon after his arrest, a screenshot claiming to show a Facebook post from the streamer started spreading online. The viral image included racist language and claimed Eatherly acted in self-defense. But there is no proof the Facebook post was real. Authorities confirmed that the 28-year-old streamer was taken into custody on Wednesday after a fight turned into gunfire outside the courthouse. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said both men involved suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to hospitals in Clarksville and Nashville.At the same time, social media users began sharing a screenshot posted by X user @QuickGetTheSig. The image claimed Eatherly wrote on Facebook that the man he shot had “chimped around and found out.” However, there is no public Facebook account linked to ChudTheBuilder, and no verified evidence shows he made that post after his arrest.  » Read More

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office on Thursday took to its social media Facebook page, highlighting how an expired tag could be a record find.  » Read More

Inquiry examined whether a councillor’s personal Facebook activity fell under the city’s conduct code North Bay’s integrity commissioner has dismissed a complaint against Councillor Tanya Vrebosch over a Facebook post, concluding the post fell outside the city’s code of conduct. But the 20-page report also goes beyond the individual complaint, drawing a line between municipal accountability and councillors’ private lives while cautioning against expanding integrity oversight into personal disputes unrelated to city business. In the report from May 5, Integrity Commissioner Guy Giorno found Vrebosch’s Dec. 1, 2025, Facebook post was made in a personal capacity and was not sufficiently connected to her role as a city councillor to trigger the code. “Councillor Vrebosch’s Facebook post is not subject to the Code,” Giorno wrote. “Alternatively, I find that the post did not contravene the Code.” The complaint centred on a Facebook post involving a private co-parenting dispute. The complainant argued the post “disclosed private family information” and that using a platform also used for municipal communication risked “undermining public trust in Council generally.” But Giorno repeatedly distinguished between conduct tied to public office and conduct tied to private life.  » Read More

Brussels – The internet and freedom of thought: an issue that has gripped the political debate and has now become a major talking point in Italy, where the campaign for the referendum on judicial reform and the proposed separation of judicial careers, which voters rejected, has seen social media platforms take a stance that is considered controversial. Members of the Five Star Movement in the European Parliament, Gaetano Pedullà, Carolina Morace, Mario Furore, and Danilo Della Valle, with the support of Dario Tamburrano, have raised the issue of a video in which the historian Alessandro Barbero expresses his opinion that, they allege in the parliamentary question, “had its visibility limited and been put behind a screen on which the words ‘False information: checked by independent fact-checkers’.”  In essence, “fact-checking should not amount to censorship” on the internet, the Five Star Movement claims, arguing that the Barbero incident raises “concerns about the role platforms play in moderating content concerning matters of public interest.” Meta is the company that controls Facebook and Instagram and is already at the centre of numerous disputes with the European Commission over its failure to comply with EU rules on digital services,   » Read More

KwaZulu-Natal has seen an increase in the number of Zulu-language Facebook-based publishers, which have become a useful platform for the growing anti-immigrant movement in the province. They will likely be used in campaigns ahead of the forthcoming local government elections. Some of the publishers have shown double-digit growth in followers since the beginning of this year, with one growing followers by 34% between mid-February and May. Based on electoral experiences elsewhere in the world, the US in particular, the growth of these alternative sources of information could have serious implications for South African politics and the democratic project. Political parties that focus solely on the mainstream media to convey their messages will likely miss an important constituency that relies on Facebook-based publishers for information. KwaZulu-Natal is ripe for populist rhetoric. The 2026 voter participation survey conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) found only 6% of adults in the province had confidence in democracy, down from 54% in 2004. This compares with a national decline from 65% to 36%. Trust in the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal was the lowest of all provinces at 20% (versus the national average of 36%).  » Read More

Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. Please try your request again later. Why did this happen? IP address: 185.181.255.246Time: 2026-05-13T14:40:14ZURL: https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D1QU_0r_3_Zk  » Read More

CALIFORNIA'S Santa Clara County has sued Meta Platforms, alleging it has profited from Facebook and Instagram scam ads.  » Read More

May 12, 2026, 4:04 a.m. ET The state POST Commission has closed its review of an investigation conducted by the city of Fall River. The investigation found that FRPD acted within the law when officers obtained a search warrant that unmasked an alleged leaker on Facebook. The City Council had been unsatisfied with the status of the investigation. POST apparently closed the investigation with no action taken. FALL RIVER — The state commission overseeing police standards has finished its review of an investigation into the Fall River Police Department’s use of a search warrant to unmask an anonymous Facebook poster, and apparently found no evidence of wrongdoing. According to documents received by The Herald News as part of a public records request, the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission received a complaint about the issue and the city’s investigation in late March. POST reviewed all evidence and “closed this matter” as of April 30. POST apparently took no further action.  » Read More