Technology

Twitter’s Least-Bad Option for Dealing With Donald Trump

Every plausible configuration of social media in 2020 is unpalatable.

• Jonathan Zittrain
• June 26, 2020

The Boom in Fireworks Conspiracy Theories

Paranoia about secret government plots thrives in times of uncertainty, when strange things happen, and when people are bored. This summer is a trifecta.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 24, 2020

Do Protests Even Work?

It sometimes takes decades to find out.

• Zeynep Tufekci
• June 24, 2020

My Little Pony Fans Are Ready to Admit They Have a Nazi Problem

Even a niche subculture built around magical cartoon horses is reckoning with racism.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 23, 2020

Revenge of the Suburbs

Suburbia was never as bad as anyone said it was. Now it’s looking even better.

• Ian Bogost
• June 19, 2020

Reddit Is Finally Facing Its Legacy of Racism

Social-media platforms can’t evade the scrutiny that so many other institutions in America are currently under.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 12, 2020

The Silence of the Never Facebookers

Even fed-up tech workers are paralyzed by Silicon Valley’s culture.

• Ian Bogost
• June 10, 2020

It Was Supposed to Detect Fraud. It Wrongfully Accused Thousands Instead.

How Michigan’s attempt to automate its unemployment system went horribly wrong

• Stephanie Wykstra and Undark
• June 7, 2020

Why K-pop Fans Are No Longer Posting About K-pop

Twitter fan accounts are organizing to support the protests, often before the celebrities they love say a word.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 6, 2020

The Facebook Groups Where People Pretend the Pandemic Isn’t Happening

Online role-playing has taken a turn for the downright mundane.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• June 4, 2020

Trump Is Doing All of This for Zuckerberg

The new executive order targeting social-media companies isn’t really about Twitter.

• Zeynep Tufekci
• May 29, 2020

This Social-Media Mob Was Good

The online rage at Amy Cooper could prove to be a powerful deterrent.

• Zeynep Tufekci
• May 28, 2020

Pandemic Organizers Are Co-opting Productivity Software

Mutual-aid groups are distributing groceries and spare air conditioners via tools designed to turn labor into money as efficiently as possible.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• May 28, 2020

The Secret Lives of Perfect Social Distancers

Someone who looks like they’re always staying inside on Instagram may actually have a double life they’re hiding to avoid judgment.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• May 19, 2020

Something in the Air

The coronavirus pandemic is sparking baseless theories about the dangers of 5G. But the fear that wireless technology is slowly killing us isn’t new—and it doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• May 13, 2020

How Hong Kong Did It

With the government flailing, the city’s citizens decided to organize their own coronavirus response.

• Zeynep Tufekci
• May 12, 2020

It’s Cool to Look Terrifying on Pandemic Instagram

Life is just four walls for many of us right now, but bizarre augmented-reality filters give us the illusion that it’s not.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• May 11, 2020

How ‘Karen’ Became a Coronavirus Villain

A popular joke about entitled white women is now a big pandemic meme.

• Kaitlyn Tiffany
• May 6, 2020

The Easy Questions That Stump Computers

What happens when you stack logs in a fireplace and drop a match? Some of the smartest machines have no idea.

• John Pavlus and Quanta
• May 3, 2020