{"id":5421,"date":"2023-12-14T11:50:21","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T16:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/newsletter\/archive\/the-briefing-2023-12-14\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T10:23:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:23:56","slug":"the-briefing-2023-12-14","status":"publish","type":"newsletterglue","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/newsletter\/the-briefing\/the-briefing-2023-12-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk restores Alex Jones&#8217; X account"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2600\ufe0f Happy Thursday!<\/strong>&nbsp;<em>The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. <a data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/sign-up-for-the-briefing\/\" href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/sign-up-for-the-briefing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Sign up here!<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In today<em>\u2019<\/em>s email:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Top story: <\/strong>Elon Musk restores Alex Jones&#8217; X account<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>New from Pew Research Center: <\/strong>A look at how teens use social media and the internet<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>In other news:<\/strong> Many commentators and voters use TikTok, but most politicians don\u2019t<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Looking ahead:<\/strong> A CBS journalist faces contempt of court charges if she does not reveal a source<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Chart of the week:<\/strong> Support for a TikTok ban has declined since March<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:27px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"top-story\">\ud83d\udd25&nbsp;<strong>Top story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/alex-jones-x-account-elon-musk-90cfc990631dec5e8f337167fbe16372\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has restored conspiracy theorist Alex Jones\u2019 account on X<\/a>, formerly known as Twitter, following a poll asking users if Jones\u2019 account should be reinstated. Jones and his InfoWars outlet were <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2018%2F09%2F06%2F645352618%2Ftwitter-bans-alex-jones-and-infowars-cites-abusive-behavior&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ccstaubin%40pewresearch.org%7C92b07abc019048616aff08dbfc48db11%7C95cf77fc02904b23b257df0a6fd7595d%7C0%7C0%7C638381162095660487%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=D7ux5y4c935%2FFeU%2BiZn1TYM2SE9M6Jr%2FWgd8yaxapOk%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cpermanently suspended\u201d from Twitter in 2018<\/a> due to tweets and videos that violated the platform\u2019s abusive behavior policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Musk\u2019s move comes amid <strong>significant partisan shifts among news consumers on the platform<\/strong>. In 2022, before Musk purchased Twitter, 65% of Americans who said they regularly got news on the site were Democrats or independents who leaned Democratic. <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/fact-sheet\/social-media-and-news-fact-sheet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This year<\/a>, news consumers on X are about evenly split between Democrats and Republicans (49% vs. 46%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/05\/01\/after-musks-takeover-big-shifts-in-how-republican-and-democratic-twitter-users-view-the-platform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2023 Center survey<\/a>, Democratic<strong> <\/strong>users were far more likely than Republican<strong> <\/strong>users to say <strong>inaccurate or misleading information<\/strong> (68% vs. 37%), and the <strong>tone or civility of discussions<\/strong> (50% vs. 27%) were <strong>major problems<\/strong> on the platform. In a different 2023 survey, 65% of U.S. adults said that <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/07\/20\/most-americans-favor-restrictions-on-false-information-violent-content-online\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tech companies should take steps to restrict false information online<\/a> even if it limits freedom of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:27px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"new-from-pew-research\">\ud83d\udea8 <strong>New from Pew Research Center<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new Pew Research Center <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2023\/12\/11\/teens-social-media-and-technology-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">survey of U.S. teens<\/a> focused on social media, internet use and device ownership among teens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a look at some key findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>YouTube continues to dominate.<\/strong> Roughly nine-in-ten teens say they use YouTube, making it the most widely used platform measured in our survey.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram remain popular among teens:<\/strong> Majorities of teens ages 13 to 17 say they use TikTok (63%), Snapchat (60%) and Instagram (59%). For older teens ages 15 to 17, these shares are about seven-in-ten.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Teens are less likely to be using Facebook and Twitter (recently renamed X) than they were a decade ago:<\/strong> Facebook once dominated the social media landscape among America\u2019s youth, but the share of teens who use the site has dropped from 71% in 2014-15 to 33% today. Twitter has also seen its teen user base shrink during the past decade \u2013 albeit at a less steep decline than Facebook.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also: <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/12\/11\/a-declining-share-of-adults-and-few-teens-support-a-us-tiktok-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Where teens and adults stand on banning TikTok<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:27px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"under-the-radar\">\ud83d\udccc&nbsp;<strong>In other news<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>While many <strong>political influencers and voters use TikTok<\/strong>, few <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/13\/business\/media\/tiktok-politicians.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">political candidates for the 2024 election<\/a> use the app<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tucker Carlson<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/media\/tucker-carlson-is-launching-his-own-streaming-service-5fc2f9ba\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launches a subscription streaming service<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>OpenAI and Axel Springer <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2023%2F12%2F13%2Fopenai-and-axel-springer-strike-unprecedented-deal-to-offer-news-in-chatgpt.html&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ccstaubin%40pewresearch.org%7C92b07abc019048616aff08dbfc48db11%7C95cf77fc02904b23b257df0a6fd7595d%7C0%7C0%7C638381162095816239%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=j5IGuCjSxA%2BWkBM7G2wGaM82TECh5RT%2FJkSKLrAb3SQ%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">make a deal<\/a> to <strong>offer news in ChatGPT<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/axios.com\/2023\/12\/08\/us-political-ad-market-2024-spending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New projections<\/a> suggest <strong>U.S. political ad spending<\/strong> could surge to $16 billion in 2024<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Media Matters<\/strong> sues <strong>Texas attorney general<\/strong> over <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Ftech%2Finternet%2Fmedia-matters-elon-musk-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-rcna129402&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ccstaubin%40pewresearch.org%7C92b07abc019048616aff08dbfc48db11%7C95cf77fc02904b23b257df0a6fd7595d%7C0%7C0%7C638381162095816239%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=NWZDXUettmE8k94%2B4ORph9OTwXbkV42k2cZfD8x5I74%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">investigation into the outlet\u2019s reporting<\/a> about the X app<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The impact of <a href=\"https:\/\/nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2023%2Fdec%2F12%2Fgaza-citizen-journalists-war-footage-israel&amp;data=05%7C02%7Ccstaubin%40pewresearch.org%7C92b07abc019048616aff08dbfc48db11%7C95cf77fc02904b23b257df0a6fd7595d%7C0%7C0%7C638381162095816239%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=crHTjbQLjbGy2uMWd1vneE1MiIJEjWUNdL9sMezgBDk%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">citizen journalists<\/a> in <strong>Gaza\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:27px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"looking-ahead\">\ud83d\udcc5&nbsp;<strong>Looking ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/style\/media\/2023\/12\/08\/catherine-herridge-fox-cbs-contempt-judge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CBS reporter could soon be held in contempt of court<\/a> if she <strong>does not reveal the source she used<\/strong> for a series of investigative stories she wrote at Fox News in 2017. While working there, Catherine Herridge reported on a federal probe into a Chinese American scientist, using an unnamed source. A U.S. District Court in August ruled she must reveal her source, a ruling that <strong>press advocates say is a violation of the First Amendment<\/strong> and will have a chilling effect on journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2020\/10\/09\/most-americans-see-a-place-for-anonymous-sources-in-news-stories-but-not-all-the-time\/#:~:text=A%20much%20smaller%20share%20%E2%80%93%2015,Research%20Center%20survey%20conducted%20Feb.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a 2020 Pew Research Center study<\/a> on the use of unnamed sources, a majority of U.S. adults (82%) say that there are times when it is acceptable for journalists to use anonymous sources, with 67% saying it is <strong>acceptable only in special cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:27px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" id=\"chart-of-the-week\">\ud83d\udcca&nbsp;<strong>Chart of the week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This week\u2019s chart comes from our new blog post exploring <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/12\/11\/a-declining-share-of-adults-and-few-teens-support-a-us-tiktok-ban\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">views of a TikTok ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The share of Americans who say they would support the U.S. government banning TikTok has <strong>declined from 50% in March to 38% in the new survey<\/strong>, conducted in late September and early October. The percentages who say they are opposed to a potential ban or uncertain about it have both increased.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-260-wide is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2023\/12\/11\/a-declining-share-of-adults-and-few-teens-support-a-us-tiktok-ban\/sr_23-12-11_tiktok-ban_1\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/SR_23.12.11_tiktok-ban_1.png?w=260\" alt=\"A line chart showing that support for a U.S. TikTok ban has dropped since March 2023.\" class=\"wp-image-445754\" style=\"width:260px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-gray-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-gray-background-color has-background\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\ud83d\udc4b That&#8217;s all for this week.&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Jacob Liedke, Sarah Naseer, Christopher St. Aubin, Luxuan Wang and Emily Tomasik. It is edited by Katerina Eva Matsa, Michael Lipka and Mark Jurkowitz, and copy edited by David Kent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Do you like this newsletter? Email us at&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:journalism@pewresearch.org\" target=\"_blank\">journalism@pewresearch.org<\/a> or fill out this <a href=\"https:\/\/us1.list-manage.com\/survey?u=434f5d1199912232d416897e4&amp;id=449f3c3d35&amp;attribution=false\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/us1.list-manage.com\/survey?u=434f5d1199912232d416897e4&amp;id=449f3c3d35&amp;attribution=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">two-question survey<\/a> to tell us what you think<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"author":653,"featured_media":5737,"template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_webview":"blog","subject_line":"","datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":""},"tags":[],"ngl_newsletter_cat":[2042],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"formats":[2378],"_fund_pool":[],"class_list":["post-5421","newsletterglue","type-newsletterglue","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","ngl_newsletter_cat-the-briefing","formats-newsletter"],"label":"Newsletter","post_parent":0,"word_count":772,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/newsletter\/the-briefing\/the-briefing-2023-12-14\/","_embeds":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prepublish_checks":{},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletterglue\/5421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletterglue"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletterglue"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"ngl_newsletter_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ngl_newsletter_cat?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"level_of_effort","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/level_of_effort?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"primary_audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary_audience?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"information_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/information_type?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=5421"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=5421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}