Mediagazer: Twitter issues statement saying its tools and rules are apolitical, after a number of conservative Twitter users lost thousands of followers during bot purge (Matt Novak/Gizmodo)

3:30 PM ET, February 22, 2018

Top News:

How lies about Parkland student David Hogg have spread online, fueled by forums like 4chan, media distrust, and YouTube's algorithms to increase watch time — David Hogg, 17, went from Florida high school student to mass shooting survivor to telegenic advocate for gun-control laws in a few days.

Discussion: Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Mediaite, @jwherrman, USA Today, New York Times, Business Insider, @hilzoy, @mateagold, @markberman, @markberman, @markberman, New York Times, @briangocial, Recode and Recode

Columbia Journalism Review:

At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, student journalists are in a unique position to report on the events as they toe the line between journalism and activism — Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School can be see on February 17, 2018 in Parkland, Florida. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Discussion: Hollywood Life and Business Insider

Steve Kovach / Business Insider:

YouTube, Facebook remove some of the conspiracy videos claiming Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg was an actor but, in many cases, only after promoting them — - YouTube promoted a video featuring a conspiracy theory claiming that one of the survivors of the school shooting last week in Parkland, Florida, is a paid actor.

Cristiano Lima / Politico:
Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft was pulled from social media censorship panel at CPAC after Gateway Pundit shared theories without evidence about shooting survivors

Discussion: The Week, New York Post and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

Analysis finds algorithms designed by Facebook, Google, and others often struggle to detect doctored images and videos, a key tool for misinformation efforts — The tech company's filters can't adequately detect misinformation distributed through altered images

Discussion: @wsj, @dseetharaman, @mantzarlis, @paulwsj, @mattnavarra and @mims, more at Techmeme »

Daniel Funke / Poynter:

Facebook's tool for fact-checking partners only lets them flag links, not videos or memes; Facebook says it's working on a way to add images to the tool — On social media, fake memes are everywhere. And on Facebook, they're not being met with the full force of the tools available for other dubious content.

Discussion: @dseetharaman, @anxiaostudio, @dpfunke, @mantzarlis, @dseetharaman and @dpfunke, more at Techmeme »

Matt Novak / Gizmodo:

Twitter issues statement saying its tools and rules are apolitical, after a number of conservative Twitter users lost thousands of followers during bot purge — Twitter suspended thousands of accounts overnight and conservatives on the platform aren't happy about it.

Discussion: Washington Post, Slate, The Outline, Fortune, CNET, @vijaya, Politico, Mashable, @jack, The Next Web, Vanity Fair, Engadget, New York Magazine, The Wrap and The Hill, more at Techmeme »

Yoel Roth / Twitter:

Twitter's updated API will limit users from performing simultaneous actions across multiple accounts and using automation; gives developers until 3/23 to comply — Keeping Twitter safe and free from spam is a top priority for us. One of the most common spam violations we see is the use …

Discussion: Adweek, @bringitdark, The Week, Reporters Without Borders, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, MediaNama, Mashable, The Hill, Engadget, The Daily Beast, @tweetdeck, BuzzFeed, CNNMoney, @thegrugq, BBC, @davidsrudin, @twitterapi, @dangillmor, @mattnavarra, Fast Company and The Verge

Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:

FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom order, which repeals 2015 Net Neutrality rules, officially takes effect today, signalling beginning of various legal challenges — The FCC's “Restoring Internet Freedom” order, which vastly curtails the agency's 2015 net neutrality rules …

Discussion: Federal Register, Multichannel News, The Wrap, BuzzFeed, NPR, The Verge, @linuxjournal, @gadgetdon, Engadget, MacRumors, BGR, 9to5Google, Mashable, The Next Web and Gizmodo, more at Techmeme »

Agence France-Presse:

Media and human rights groups call Philippine President Duterte's move to ban Rappler journalists from his palace a threat to press freedom — Since taking power in 2016, Duterte has publicly attacked media outlets which have criticised his policies — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's move …

Discussion: Reuters, RAPPLER, Committee to Protect … and Al Jazeera English

Steven Hsieh / The Stranger:

Newsweek retracts a story based on a blog called Unhack the Vote that blamed Senator Al Franken's resignation on an alt-right bot network — On Monday, Newsweek published a story titled, “How An Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken.” Relying heavily on a blog called Unhack the Vote …

Discussion: Newsweek, The Wrap and Mediaite

Knight First Amendment Institute:

Knight First Amendment Institute announces it's receiving $6.5M in grants over five years from Democracy Fund, First Look Media, and the Charles Koch Foundation — The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University announced today that Democracy Fund, First Look Media …

Discussion: @shanegoldmacher, @firstlookmedia, @ckinstitute, @democracyfund and @daviduberti

Daniel Funke / Poynter:

Doctored screenshots of a Miami Herald story about a school shooting threat appeared to circulate via Snapchat, which has previously seen virtually no fake news — First, it was imposter tweets. Now, someone is making fake screenshots of a Miami Herald story about school threats following last week's mass shooting.

Discussion: @sdkstl

David Uberti / Splinter:

Intellectually dishonest critiques of media by some conservatives show that purveyors know how to get attention and want to destroy other media, not reform them — The Conservative Political Action Conference is a purposefully weird gathering that pairs leading “thinkers” …

Discussion: @daviduberti

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: Spotify co-founders plan to retain control after direct stock listing through super voting shares, following Google-Facebook IPO playbook — Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon said to own super voting shares — Facebook, Alphabet founders keep control with similar setups