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Trump's Ban On TikTok Suffers Another Legal Setback A federal judge put the brakes on yet another aspect of Trump's push to ban the app TikTok, but the future of the viral video app in the U.S. remains clouded by uncertainty. Read more on NPR

Joy Buolamwini: How Do Biased Algorithms Damage Marginalized Communities? Data, numbers, algorithms are supposed to be neutral ... right? Computer scientist Joy Buolamwini discusses the way biased algorithms can lead to real-world inequality. Read more on NPR

Andrew Marantz: What Happens When Fringe Conspiracy Theories Become Mainstream? For the past few years, journalist Andrew Marantz has been embedded in the world of far-right extremists online. He explains how once-fringe conspiracy theories migrated into the national discourse. Read more on NPR

Danielle Citron: What Happens In A World Where Fake Becomes Real? Deep fakes are taking over the Internet—distorting our perception of what's real. Law professor Danielle Citron explains how deception online not only harms people, but also our democracy. Read more on NPR

Black And Latino Voters Flooded With Disinformation In Election's Final Days Hoaxes and misleading posts aimed at depressing turnout have spread on social media. Experts say it outpaces 2016, when Black voters were the top target of Russian-backed disinformation. Read more on NPR

Black And Latino Voters Flooded With Disinformation In Final Days Before Election In 2016, Black voters were the top target of foreign disinformation campaigns. In 2020, there are both foreign and domestic efforts to dissuade Black and Latino voters from casting ballots. Read more on NPR

'If Found...' Brings A Sincere Story — And Brilliant Visuals — To The Nintendo Switch An excellent new visual novel, about a transgender woman returning to her hometown in Ireland, is out now on the Nintendo Switch. Read more on NPR

U.S. Hospitals Warned Of Increasing Ransomware Attacks NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Charles Carmakal of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant about hackers deploying malware to shut down institutions' computers in order to demand millions of dollars in ransom. Read more on NPR

U.S. Hospitals Targeted In Rising Wave Of Ransomware Attacks, Federal Agencies Say An alert warns hospitals and healthcare providers that there is "credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat." Read more on NPR

By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By Unknown Author from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY MIKE ISAAC, KATE CONGER AND DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By Unknown Author from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By Unknown Author from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY MIKE ISAAC, KATE CONGER AND DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology via New York Times

Facebook, Twitter, Google CEOs Testify To Senate: What To Watch For Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter's Jack Dorsey and Google's Sundar Pichai go before the Senate Commerce Committee to defend Section 230, a law that protects them from lawsuits over users' posts. Read more on NPR

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY DAVID MCCABE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY ERIN GRIFFITH AND NATHANIEL POPPER from NYT Technology via New York Times

Tech CEOs To Testify Before Senate Panel On Platforms' Legal Shield The CEOs of Twitter, Facebook and Google are set to appear before the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday. Lawmakers are revisiting the legal shield that has long protected the tech industry. Read more on NPR

News Brief: Tech Shield Hearing, Voting Days Dwindle, Philadelphia Unrest Senate reconsiders legal shield protecting tech industry. Presidential campaign schedules reveal who's on offense; who's on defense. And, more protests in Philadelphia after police killed a Black man. Read more on NPR

News Brief: Trump-Biden Campaigns, Facebook Ads, COVID-19 Surge Presidential campaigns are in high gear with Election Day a week away. At the same time, Facebook stops political ads. And, European countries reinstate curfews and closures as COVID-19 cases spike. Read more on NPR

Facebook Stops New Political Ads To Try To Limit Misinformation Facebook's ban on new political and issue ads starts Tuesday, a week before Election Day. But that won't stop groups intent on reaching voters through the platform. Read more on NPR

Uber Fires Drivers Based On 'Racially Biased' Star Rating System, Lawsuit Claims The suit claims Uber's rating system, which is based on passenger reviews, discriminates against drivers who are not white or who have accents. Uber says the claim is untrue. Read more on NPR

Life Kit: Tips To Strengthen Your Digital Privacy As we spend more of our lives in the digital world, our personal information can be compromised. NPR's Life Kit spoke to experts on how to protect your digital privacy. Read more on NPR

A Bilingual Tool That Fights Misinformation On WhatsApp NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Cristina Tardáguila of the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network about disinformation targeting Spanish-speaking voters in the United States. Read more on NPR

15 Years On, The Lonely Legacy Of 'Shadow Of The Colossus' Fumito Ueda's moody video game about a young hero wandering a landscape empty of everything except for 16 towering giants originally came out in 2005 — but its loneliness speaks to today's gamers. Read more on NPR

Uber And Lyft Must Make Drivers Employees, California Court Rules The ruling is a blow to Uber and Lyft, which have argued they are not subject to state labor law. But the court's order could still be upended by a ballot measure backed by the ride-hailing companies. Read more on NPR

What Happens When TikTok Looks To The Avant-Garde For A Challenge? This past week The Caretaker, an artist who has long leaned into challenging sounds, began emerging as an increasingly popular "challenge" on the youth-led platform. Read more on NPR

Security Gaps Persist, Report Warns, After U.S. Blames Iran In Election Scheme A report published on Thursday described how many government and political domains don't observe a security practice that makes it more difficult for attackers to run spoof email scams. Read more on NPR

Google Paid Apple Billions To Dominate Search On iPhones, Justice Department Says An agreement worth up to $12 billion made Google the de facto choice for online search on millions of iPhones. Justice officials say the deal may anticompetitive under U.S. law. Read more on NPR

Voter Websites In California And Florida Could Be Vulnerable To Hacks, Report Finds Cyber experts told the Department of Homeland Security in July that voter registration systems in California and Florida could be vulnerable to a hack, a closely-held report obtained by NPR reveals. Read more on NPR

Iran Blamed For Threatening Election Emails, U.S. Intelligence Officials Say Top national security officials announced Wednesday that Iran and Russia have obtained voter registration data and are trying to influence the U.S. presidential election. Read more on NPR

GM Reintroduces Hummer As Fully Electric Truck, 1st Model Will Sell For $112,595 The Hummer EV will go on sale in fall 2021. Known previously for its gas inefficiency, the new Hummer will now run completely on electricity. Read more on NPR

GM Reintroduces Hummer As Fully Electric Truck, First Model Will Sell For $112,595 The Hummer EV will go on sale in fall 2021. Known previously for its gas inefficiency, the new Hummer will now run completely on electricity. Read more on NPR

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez And Ilhan Omar Play On Twitch To Engage Young Voters Looking to engage younger and future voters, Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar took to Twitch, the streaming platform for gamers. They played the popular game Among Us. Read more on NPR

Google Lawsuit Marks End Of Washington's Love Affair With Big Tech The Justice Department's lawsuit against Google is the clearest sign yet of the 'Techlash' that has politicians on both sides of the aisle bristling at the power of Silicon Valley. Read more on NPR

By BY J. D. BIERSDORFER from NYT Technology via New York Times

Antitrust Suit Accuses Google Of Abusing Its Dominance Over Rivals NPR's Noel King talks to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge about the antitrust lawsuit against Google filed by the Justice Department and 11 state attorneys general. Read more on NPR

Antitrust Lawsuits: Google 2020 Vs. Microsoft 1998 NPR's Tonya Mosley talks with Timothy Wu, a law professor at Columbia University, about similarities between the 2020 antitrust lawsuit against Google and the Microsoft antitrust case in the 1990s. Read more on NPR

U.S. Files Antitrust Suit Against Google The U.S. Justice Department and 11 states are suing Google, accusing it of maintaining a monopoly in search and in search advertising in violation of antitrust laws. Read more on NPR

Google Abuses Its Monopoly Power Over Search, Justice Department Says In Lawsuit The antitrust lawsuit against Google is the most significant action the federal government has taken against a technology company in two decades. Google calls the lawsuit "deeply flawed." Read more on NPR

News Brief: Presidential Debate, Hackers Indicted, TikTok Fights Disinformation Highlights of political news leading up to Election Day. The Justice Department charges six Russian intelligence officers in connection with global computer hacks. And, a look into TikTok's dark side. Read more on NPR

If This NASA Spacecraft Can Avoid 'Mount Doom,' It Might Nab A Bit of Asteroid NASA is getting ready to collect its first sample from an asteroid ever. The rocks and dust could help us understand potentially dangerous space rocks and the history of the solar system. Read more on NPR

6 Russian Intelligence Officers Charged In High-Profile Cyberattacks The Justice Department charged six Russian intelligence officers in a globe-spanning campaign of cyberattacks, ranging from damaging Ukraine's power grid to targeting the 2018 Olympics and more. Read more on NPR

DOJ Unveils More Sweeping Cyber-Charges Against Russian Intelligence Officers Prosecutors linked the men with a globe-hopping campaign of sabotage, espionage and election interference. They work for the same spy agency that targeted the U.S. in 2016. Read more on NPR

For Fans Hungry For Baseball, Taiwanese Announcer Made Right Call In Unusual Season Since 2014, Richard Wang has called Major League Baseball games in Chinese for fans in Taiwan. When COVID-19 delayed the MLB season, he had a chance to bring Taiwan baseball to the world in English. Read more on NPR

TikTok Tightens Crackdown On QAnon, Will Ban Accounts That Promote Disinformation The action hardens the video-sharing app's previous enforcement against QAnon that targeted specific hashtags on the app but let the videos remain. Read more on NPR

Troll Watch: How Tech Is Cracking Down On Election Disinformation NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Camille Francois, chief innovation officer for the research firm Graphika, about trends in disinformation this election season and how tech companies are responding. Read more on NPR

Make Love, Not War: Five Years Of 'Undertale' Undertale, the quirky, pixelated adventure game, became a smash hit when it came out because of its unique mechanism: You can talk to its monsters and show them mercy, rather than killing them. Read more on NPR

Judge Finds U.S. Agency for Global Media CEO Broke Law In Seizing Control Of Fund Judge rules against USAGM CEO Michael Pack's moves to dismiss top executives and board of a fund that helps people who live under repressive regimes to access the Web and to communicate securely. Read more on NPR

Don't Censor! Stop The Hoaxes! Facebook, Twitter Face A Catch-22 While Republicans accuse Facebook and Twitter of censoring free speech, one expert says the platforms should do more because U.S. voters are 'more vulnerable to online disinformation' than ever. Read more on NPR

By Unknown Author from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology via New York Times

Twitter And Facebook Limit Access To A 'New York Post' Story On Biden's Son Twitter and Facebook limited the reach of an article with unconfirmed claims about Hunter Biden. Meanwhile, experts warn that social media platforms are full of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Read more on NPR

Facebook Bans Ads Discouraging Vaccines, In Latest Misinformation Crackdown The move is a reversal of Facebook's longstanding reluctance to block problematic content. Critics say public health misinformation has flourished on the social network. Read more on NPR

Facebook Bans Ads Discouraging Vaccines, In Latest Misinformation Crackdown The move is a reversal of Facebook's longstanding reluctance to block problematic content. Critics say public health misinformation has flourished on the social network. Read more on NPR

By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

TikTok Sensation: Meet The Idaho Potato Worker Who Sent Fleetwood Mac Sales Soaring Nathan Apodaca, 37, of Idaho Falls, recorded a laid-back video while riding a skateboard downhill and drinking Cran-Raspberry juice. The Internet went wild and streamed Fleetwood Mac. Read more on NPR

By BY ERIN GRIFFITH from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATE CONGER from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATHERINE J. WU from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATHERINE J. WU from NYT Technology via New York Times

Twitter Expands Warning Labels To Slow Spread of Election Misinformation The social media company wants users to slow down and think before they share tweets, in an effort to slow down the amplification of false claims. Read more on NPR

Tiny Changes Let False Claims About COVID-19, Voting Evade Facebook Fact Checks A new report highlights how easy it is to spread hoaxes on Facebook, despite the tech giant's increasing efforts to stop misinformation about the coronavirus and the election. Read more on NPR

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATHERINE J. WU from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY STEVE LOHR from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology via New York Times

VIDEO: Australian Surfer Narrowly Escapes Shark After He Was Alerted By Drone Drone footage captured the moment an over six-foot shark circled an Australian surfer, coming only inches away from him. It's possible that the drone noise scared away the animal. Read more on NPR

By BY KAREN WEISE from NYT Technology via New York Times

Judge Orders Twitter To Unmask FBI Impersonator Who Set Off Seth Rich Conspiracy A federal judge has ordered Twitter to reveal the identity of an anonymous user who allegedly forged an FBI document to spread a conspiracy theory about the killing of DNC staffer Seth Rich in 2016. Read more on NPR

Facebook Vows To Crack Down On Voter Intimidation In Election The social network announced new measures to prevent misinformation, threats and confusion surrounding the election, but said it would let Donald Trump Jr's call for an 'army of poll watchers' stand. Read more on NPR

By BY MIKE ISAAC from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By Unknown Author from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY SHEERA FRENKEL from NYT Technology via New York Times

McAfee Founder Accused Of Evading Taxes While Allegedly Earning Millions John McAfee was arrested in Spain and now faces extradition to the U.S. Prosecutors say he didn't file tax returns from 2014 to 2018, and concealed millions of dollars through various methods. Read more on NPR

By BY SHIRA OVIDE from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATHERINE J. WU from NYT Technology via New York Times

By BY KATHERINE J. WU from NYT Technology via New York Times

2 Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize In Chemistry For Genome Editing Research The 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded for research into "rewriting the code of life." Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the U.S. are the laureates. Read more on NPR

Getting Lots Of Political Messages On Your Phone? Welcome To 'The Texting Election' Texting has become a cheap and easy way for political campaigns to reach out to voters. But not everyone's happy about it. Read more on NPR

Google And Oracle's Decade-Long Copyright Battle Reaches Supreme Court Oracle accuses Google of illegally copying its software. Google contends the kind of code it used cannot be owned by anyone. Read more on NPR

How Are Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google Monopolies? House Report Counts The Ways House Democrats recommend Congress look at ways to force the companies to split off some of their businesses, saying the tech giants have exploited their power to benefit themselves and hurt rivals. Read more on NPR

Facebook, Twitter Take Action After Trump Falsely Claims Flu Deadlier Than COVID-19 The president, who is being treated for COVID-19, has been downplaying the severity of the disease. He said falsely that, compared with the flu, COVID-19 is "in most populations far less lethal." Read more on NPR

Pandemic Relief Money To Help Narrow Digital Divide On Native American Reservations The federal government has given Native American tribes an opportunity to narrow the digital divide on reservations. Now they can use federal pandemic relief money to access high-speed Internet. Read more on NPR

'Super Mario 35' Evokes Nintendo's Strained Relationship With Fan Developers A new battle royale Super Mario Bros. game — released on October 1st — has re-ignited a conversation about Nintendo's relationship with its most passionate fans. Read more on NPR

Facebook Keeps Data Secret, Letting Conservative Bias Claims Persist Conservatives accuse Facebook of being biased against right-wing views, but engagement data tells a different story. The most popular content on Facebook, though, remains a secret. Read more on NPR

Facebook, Twitter And TikTok Say Wishing Trump's Death From COVID-19 Is Not Allowed All three tech companies confirmed that posts expressing the hope that the president does not recover from COVID-19 will be removed for violating each platform's content policies. Read more on NPR

Twitter Announces Changes To Image Cropping Amid Bias Concern In a blog post, the social media giant said it would review how preview images are cropped after some users recently posted examples white faces being selected over Black faces. Read more on NPR