US President Joe Biden has called on Americans to speak out against racism, saying he would ask Congress to do more to hold social media companies accountable for spreading hate. "White supremacists will not have the last word," Biden said on Thursday at the United We Stand Summit of local leaders, experts and survivors. Biden said the United States had long experienced a "through line of hate" against minority groups, one that had been given "too much oxygen" by politics and the media in recent years. The event also recognised communities that suffered hate-based attacks, including mass shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando in 2016 and at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket earlier this year, in which 10 Black people were gunned down by an avowed racist. Hate crimes in the US hit a 12-year high in 2020, the last available data, the FBI said last year.

Lawmakers in the U.S., Europe propose age-verification tools, sparking debate over digital rights

California parents whose children become addicted to social media apps would be able to sue for damages under a bill advanced Tuesday in the state Assembly by a bipartisan pair of lawmakers. Assembly Bill 2408, or the Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act, was introduced by Republican Jordan Cunningham of Paso Robles and Democrat Buffy Wicks of Oakland with support from the University of San Diego School of Law Children's Advocacy Institute. It's the latest in a string of legislative and political efforts to crack down on social media platforms' exploitation of their youngest users. "I don't know why all of us -- society and the kids -- have to pay the cost" of the "the social media addiction epidemic that we've got going on with our teenagers," Cunningham told Politico. "It seems like that cost should be borne at least in part by the companies that profit from the behavior."

Lena Gjokaj takes a cellphone photo of the stage for the presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., Monday, Sept. 26, 2016. The presidential debates are expected to set records when it comes to television audiences. From streaming on Twitter to Instagram, there are a few ways to stream at least parts of the debate, and get behind-the-scenes content and commentary.

Legislation proposed by Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota would require social media companies to keep public files of election ads and meet the same disclaimer requirements as political broadcast and print advertising. Both Facebook and Twitter have said they will provide more information to the public about political ads, including who is funding them.