All Episodes

May 29, 2020 35 mins

A political firestorm erupted this week when Twitter flagged two of President Trump’s tweets about mail-in voting, calling them potentially misleading, and amending them with some timid attempts at fact-checking. This action caused the President to lash out at the social media platform by signing an executive order demanding a legal review of the protections it enjoys under the Communications Decency Act. The order doesn’t just affect Twitter, but also Facebook, YouTube, and any platform that allows users to post their own content.

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED politics writer Gilad Edelman joins us to talk about Twitter's foray into fact-checking, why it enraged the President, and what potential fallout we could see from the White House’s actions. We also discuss the November vote—the very topic Trump was tweeting about when this whole mess started.

Show Notes: 

Read about President Trump’s executive order targeting social media platforms here. Read Gilad’s stories about in-person voting and Twitter’s fact-checking efforts. 

Recommendations: 

Gilad recommends using a sleep mask and putting mayonnaise on your egg and cheese sandwiches. Mike recommends The Midnight Gospel on Netflix. Lauren recommends Bookshop.org.

Gilad Edelman can be found on Twitter @GiladEdelman. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our executive producer is Alex Kapelman (@alexkapelman). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

If you have feedback about the show, or just want to enter to win a $50 gift card, take our brief listener survey here.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

United States of Kennedy
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.