Social Media

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, started calling itself ‘MechaHitler’

On Sunday, the chatbot was updated to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated." By Tuesday, it was praising Hitler.

Trump will toss TikTok another lifeline, pushing back its sell-by date for a third time

Last year, Congress banned the app in the U.S., citing national security concerns and demanding it spin off from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. Trump said he'll once again pause enforcement of the ban.

Elon Musk says some of his social media posts about Trump ‘went too far’

Musk has quietly deleted some of his inflammatory tweets about Trump since last week. In a podcast episode released Wednesday, Trump said he was disappointed in Musk but had "no hard feelings."

How Elon Musk’s favorite news influencer is capitalizing on his clout

The Australian crypto entrepreneur now hosts chats with world leaders. "If [he] is sharing a story, there's a good chance that U.S. policymakers are reading it — and acting on it," said one analyst.

Mark Zuckerberg defends Meta in court against monopoly claims

In Zuckerberg's second day of testifying in the federal antitrust trial, he defended Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The U.S. government wants Meta to bust up the two companies.

Alabama lawmakers target social media

Social media is under fire nowadays, especially when it comes to use by children. Several bills in the Alabama Legislature would restrict how kids could use social media. We hear more about that and other happenings in Montgomery from Todd Stacy, host of Capitol Journal on Alabama Public Television.

Ban social media for kids? Fed-up parents in Senate say yes

Sen. Katie Britt says she hears about it constantly when she is at home in Alabama. “Parent after parent” come up to her wanting to discuss the way social media was harming their kids.

Widening Rifts and Unfriending in Politically Tense Times

Thirteen percent of people, according to one survey say they blocked, unfriended, or stopped following someone on social media because of what they posted about politics. Haden Holmes Brown takes a look at tensions over politics three months into President Donald Trump's time in office.

Sen. Cam Ward On Bill to Thwart Inappropriate Teacher-Student Contact

Recent reports have referred to Alabama as "ground zero" for incidents of teacher-student sex. Whether that's fair or not, most agree there's a serious problem. So state senator Cam Ward of Alabaster has sponsored a bill to mandate an hour of training for educators on appropriate teacher-student interaction in the age of social media.

Crime in Greater Birmingham: Impact of Social Media

Elizabeth Sanfelippo is an energy consultant who lives in Birmingham’s upscale Highland Park neighborhood. She grew up outside of Birmingham, and lived in Vermont and New York before coming back to her beloved hometown. When she wants to know what’s happening in the area, she picks up her smartphone and presses a green icon with a white house on it, opening the Nextdoor app.