Social Media

The popular app can feed young users a stream of intense, polarized and hard-to-verify videos about the Israel-Hamas war Learn more in our story here.

The web of shell companies and middlemen managed by services firm Bridgewaters makes it hard for authorities to track assets and enforce sanctions. The company has connections to now-blacklisted oligarchs including Alisher Usmanov, Andrei Skoch and Sergei Chemezov. Read the full story here.

When TikTok users start to feel that the videos being shown to them are harmful to their well-being, how easy is it to disengage? And what responsibility do authorities, from parents to governments to TikTok itself, have in keeping the platform safe? Read the full story here.

When it comes to TikTok videos that discuss mental health, eating disorders and self-harm, deciphering what is helpful and what is harmful can be hard for TikTok’s algorithm. And even when users share videos of their recovery, their posts can send others into spirals. So how do TikTokers try to help each other in this gray area? Read the full story here.

TikTok’s powerful algorithm is exceptionally good at engaging users. But what happens when the endless scroll on the app turns into a stream of potentially harmful content, including on starvation diets, self-harm and suicide? And why do users who say they didn’t go looking for this type of content still see so much of it? Read the full story here.

The app’s algorithm can send users down rabbit holes of narrow interest, resulting in potentially dangerous content such as emaciated images, purging techniques, hazardous diets and body shaming. Read the full story here.

The popular app can quickly drive young users into endless spools of adult content, including videos touting drug use and promoting pornography sites, a Wall Street Journal investigation finds. Read the full story here.

The Wall Street Journal created dozens of automated accounts that watched hundreds of thousands of videos to reveal how the social network knows you so well. Watch the video here.

Several Twitter accounts posed as U.S. news organizations to falsely declare election victories for Democrat Joe Biden, in what appeared to be a coordinated campaign to inject disinformation into conversation about the presidential contest. Read the full story here.

After 2016, social-media companies tried to limit the reach of RT, as it is now known. Instead, the outlet has been boosted by a news aggregator dominated by conservative publishers, including National Review, The Daily Caller and Newsmax. Read the full story here.

The Russian operation to influence Americans through social media included an effort to persuade business owners to buy into a marketing campaign and turn over private information. Read the full story here.

Everybody knows Russian trolls love U.S. politics. But did you know they also really like the canceled Comedy Central game show @midnight with Chris Hardwick? Read the full story here.

Newly identified Twitter accounts were until recently still tweeting out politically divisive messages as midterm elections approach. Read the full story here.

The extent of Russian trolls’ social-media activity remains unknown. “We know something happened, but the public doesn’t know exactly what,” one expert said. Read the full story here.

The federal government’s troubles combating Russian trolls spreading fake news isn’t its only problem on social media. It is also struggling to keep track of which accounts are its own. Read the full story here.

Weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, Russia-backed online “trolls” flooded social media to try to block Mitt Romney from securing a top job in the incoming administration, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. Read the full story here.

Russian operators used social media to pitch fake business directories and petitions in return for information. Read the full story here.

An analysis of 221,641 tweets shows Russian trolls tried to incite chaos, fear and outrage about fake events before their election activity, as if they were testing to see how much they could get Americans to believe. Read the full story here.

Russian Twitter accounts began heaping praise on Donald Trump and ripping his rivals earlier than previously thought–within weeks after he announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015. Read the full story here.

Political consultant Aaron Nevins received documents from hacker ‘Guccifer 2.0’ and posted some on his blog. Read the full story here.

Some terrorist financiers blacklisted by the U.S. government continue to raise money and attract followers on U.S.-based social media, a new report says. Read the full story here.