The most talked-about moments during this year's Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention can be found on Twitter. But you won't find political ads.
"We had a long conversation and the decision was that political reach should really be earned," Twitter's vice president of policy and philanthropy in the Americas Jessica Herrera-Flanigan told Cheddar. "It shouldn't be bought."
In October 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced Twitter would ban all political ads. In several tweets, Dorsey explained machine-learned targeting, message optimization, misleading information, and manipulated media made it too easy to sway elections — not to mention the fact the candidates with the most money were often the most heard online.
"We wanted to level the playing field, and not make it about who was able to buy the most ads, especially when we know that Internet advertising was especially effective, and political ads, they present entirely new challenges to civil discourse around the elections," Herrera-Flanigan explained.
Though Twitter often hosts spirited political debates, it actually made very little of its revenue from political ads. Twitter's CFO Ned Segal said it made about $3 million from political ads during the 2018 midterm election cycle. For comparison, it made $683 million last quarter in total advertising revenue.
The decision to take a stand by blocking political dollars has put the company in the spotlight. President Donald Trump's campaign, which has been critical of the decision in the past, said it's a bad business decision and will "silence conservatives."
Herrera-Flanigan pointed out you can still talk about politicians on Twitter, but it's the natural conversations, that aren't paid for, that you'll see. The most tweeted about people during the DNC were Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, and Bernie Sanders, while the RNC's most tweeted about speakers were Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley. The most tweeted moment during the DNC came about as Michelle Obama ended her speech, while the RNC's occurred during Donald Trump Jr.'s address.
"You have individuals now who can get on and speak, and provide their voices," she said. "There are so many different voices out there and rather than being a platform where only those people who could afford political ads can get on it, Twitter's a place where people who have something to say — politicians who have something to say — can get on the service and say it."
Further stepping into controversial territory, Twitter is also urging people to register to vote early, as well as file absentee ballots. It has been working with local election officials to address their needs, Herrera-Flanigan said President Trump has fought such moves by claiming mail-in ballots have high levels of fraud, which includes his accusation during the RNC that ballots could be sent to Democratic areas and not Republican areas. The FBI has stated there is no evidence of plans to manipulate election results through the mail this cycle.
"We are taking a strong stance on just trying to get everyone who's eligible to vote to register and vote, whatever mechanism that is and in a way that's safe," Herrera-Flanigan said.
Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for clean air strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, joined Cheddar to discuss the Biden Administration's unveiling of stricter fuel-efficiency standards for new automobiles. "The administration estimated that these rules will reduce about 2.5 billion tons of climate pollution by 2050, and using less fuel also means that we have to go to the gas pump less often. And so it means we save money, thousands of dollars in avoided fuel costs each year for consumers," he noted.
The relatively robust March jobs report showed that despite the low unemployment rate, Black, Hispanic, and women job seekers are still having difficulty finding work. William M. Rodgers III, the vice president and director of the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis noted that participation rates in the labor force ticked up for minorities, adding to other positive signs of growth. He also spoke to Cheddar News to discuss further the jobs figures, the state of the labor market, and rising inflation.
U.S. markets opened higher to kick off the second quarter, despite a miss on the March Jobs Report. The economy added $431,000 in the month, slightly lower than the $490,000 analysts had expected. The unemployment rate also ticked down to 3.6% from 3.8%. Kevin Simpson, Founder & Chief Investment Officer, Capital Wealth Planning joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
President Biden is going after billionaires in his 2023 budget request to congress. The proposal would establish a 20% minimum tax rate on all households worth more than $100 million, as well as raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Rhett Buttle, Small Business for America's Future Senior Advisor, Business Policy Expert & Biden Campaign Business Advisor, breaks down the proposal, what it aims to accomplish, and how small businesses might feel about it.
The Biden administration has announced the U.S. will accept up to 100,000 refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and provide more than 1 billion dollars in new funding for the growing humanitarian crisis. The move comes as President Biden meets with his western counterparts in Europe to demonstrate a united front against Russia and show support for Ukraine. Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, Immigration Attorney for Outerbridge Law, explains how this is going to work.
The DOJ has endorsed an antitrust bill targeting tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Meta, and Google. The legislation would ban the companies from favoring their own products and services over their competitor's, making it more difficult them to dominate the marketplace. Greg Day, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Georgia, breaks down the bill and its potential impact on anti-competition in the tech sector.
Catching you up with what you need to know on Apr 1, 2022, with Ukrainians hoping to flee the besieged city of Mariupol with a ceasefire is in place, President Biden orders the release of oil from U.S.reserves, LGBT activists suing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the "Don't Say Gay" Law, U.S. passports offering an "x" option for gender, and more.
America’s employers extended a streak of robust hiring in March, adding 431,000 jobs in a sign of the economy’s resilience in the face of a still-destructive pandemic and the highest inflation in 40 years.
