clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Help keep Vox free Reader support helps keep our explainers free for all. Support our mission by making a gift today.
Open Sourced

Open Sourced

The hidden consequences of tech, revealed

Online scammers are rushing to exploit people desperate to get the Covid-19 vaccine

By Rebecca Heilweil

How the Covid-19 pandemic broke Nextdoor

By Rebecca Heilweil

Facebook is finally banning vaccine misinformation

By Rebecca Heilweil

Senate Democrats call on FCC to help lower-income students immediately

By Sara Morrison

Why Facebook and Apple are fighting over your privacy

By Sara Morrison

Democrats finally have a chance to pass stronger pandemic-related privacy laws

By Sara Morrison

Why you should care about data privacy even if you have “nothing to hide”

By Sara Morrison

A big hurdle for older Americans trying to get vaccinated: Using the internet

By Rebecca Heilweil

Biden picks his new acting FCC chair

By Sara Morrison

Platforms are cracking down hard on political misinformation, but it’s still easy to find

By Rebecca Heilweil

Facebook and Twitter made special world leader rules for Trump. What happens now?

By Sara Morrison

Parler begins to come back online with the help of a Russian tech company 

By Rebecca Heilweil

Google Assistant’s new Guest Mode is more private, but there’s a trade-off

By Sara Morrison

What you need to know about Facebook’s latest privacy tool

By Sara Morrison

How the Capitol riot revived calls to reform Section 230

By Sara Morrison

Parler, the “free speech” social network, explained

By Rebecca Heilweil

How Trump’s internet built and broadcast the Capitol insurrection

By Rebecca Heilweil and Shirin Ghaffary

Justice Department now says its email accounts were “potentially accessed” in Russia hack

By Sara Morrison
Play

The real cost of smart speakers

By Sam Ellis

Why we’re posting about misinformation more than ever

By Rebecca Heilweil

The year we gave up on privacy

By Sara Morrison

Social media companies are already losing the vaccine misinformation fight

By Rebecca Heilweil

Teachers are sacrificing student privacy to stop cheating

By Sara Morrison and Rebecca Heilweil

Twitter joins Facebook and YouTube in banning Covid-19 vaccine misinformation

By Rebecca Heilweil

Facebook is lifting its political ad ban — in Georgia only

By Rebecca Heilweil

How influencers are being recruited to promote the Covid-19 vaccine

By Rebecca Heilweil

Why the US government wants Facebook to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp

By Rebecca Heilweil

How to keep the smart speaker you got for the holidays and still keep some of your privacy, too

By Sara Morrison

How quickly can the US distribute a Covid-19 vaccine? Here are the four biggest logistical challenges.

By Rebecca Heilweil

How retailers track your every move in exchange for coupons and convenience

By Sara Morrison

A surprising number of government agencies buy cellphone location data. Lawmakers want to know why.

By Sara Morrison

Ajit Pai, Trump’s FCC chair who repealed net neutrality, is leaving on January 20

By Sara Morrison

Twitter announces Fleets and audio spaces, two new things Twitter didn’t really invent

By Rebecca Heilweil

Social media is making a bad political situation worse

By Rani Molla

Is social media ready for a Covid-19 vaccine?

By Rebecca Heilweil

YouTube is awash with election misinformation — and it isn’t taking it down

By Rebecca Heilweil

No, Joe Biden did not mysteriously gain 138,000 Michigan votes all at once

By Rebecca Heilweil

Technical glitches on Election Day are annoying, but they are not unusual

By Sara Morrison

Why the Trump campaign is going all-in on YouTube 

By Rebecca Heilweil

Facebook glitch blocks certain political ads, raising new questions about transparency

By Rebecca Heilweil