Trump Takes Aim at Twitter

After Twitter added fact-checking labels to two of President Donald Trump's tweets about mail-in ballots, the president responded with an executive order seeking to alter Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which enables online platforms to regulate content and removes most liability for user-generated content.

The thing is, he can't really do that, according to legal experts. Trump doesn't have the power to remove or change Section 230 without congressional approval, which he is unlikely to get, and tech companies are already drawing up lawsuits to fight the order.

An escalating conflict: The “techlash” in Washington has ramped up in recent years over issues including content moderation, misinformation and more.

Amid the crisis, publishers have suffered double-digit revenue losses not only due to a reduction in ad spending, but also thanks to keyword blocking, or blacklisting, which refers to the ability of ad buyers able to automatically prevent ads from being served next to certain content—notably, content related to the pandemic. But advertisers look to be softening their stance on blocking, with media agencies from major holding groups recommending programmatic buys against news items as an opportunity. This comes as good news for publishers, as one study found that cost per impressions (CPMs) were down 16% on average.

For Adweek Pro Members: We talked to experts who say that the experience of the Covid-19 crisis has given buyers an opportunity to rethink brand safety. Learn what that means for publishers.

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Thanks to its legacy credit card system and large network of banks, the U.S. has been slower than the rest of the world in embracing contactless payment technology, but now contactless is catching on, growing by a "staggering" 150% between March 2019 and March 2020. That's no surprise: In the age of Covid-19, no-touch payment is a ready-made solution to concerns around hygiene and social distancing. “Innovation takes off when it’s tackling or addressing a point of friction,” said Visa's Chris Curtin.

Implementing the solution: Adweek's Diana Pearl explores the factors that have kept the U.S. from advancing into this territory into the past, and what it will take to accelerate its adoption now.

This has been a big week for diversity and inclusion at Adweek. We had a special-edition crossover episode of Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad in conjunction with our new audio magazine D&I TBD, in which we talked to industry leaders about their experiences and what needs to be done going forward.

Earlier this week, we held our first Diversity and Inclusion Summit, with nearly 4,500 attendees and a dozen leaders from today's top brands and organizations sharing key insights into the state of D&I in the industry—from Reckitt Benckiser's Cynthia Chen and Petco's Tariq Hassan to ADCOLOR and Omnicom's Tiffany R. Warren.

From the discussion, several major themes emerged about the pandemic and the challenges ahead for D&I:

Dig Deeper: Explore more key takeaways from the summit.

Experience the entire summit: You can watch all of the sessions from the Adweek Diversity and Inclusion Summit here.

Diversity and Inclusion Action Items

More of Today's Top News and Highlights

Chicago’s Goose Island Beer Company is unveiling Shea Coul-Alé, a limited-run Pride Month brew in partnership with drag queen Shea Couleé. Without parades and parties, this effort promises to be one of many branded stunts and efforts to celebrate Pride 2020.

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Castello and Mother London explore the interplay of senses.

The organizations want to steer advertisers in a more inclusive direction.

Cox surprises with a powerful spot about isolation.

Artists of all sorts are encouraged to apply to be on the Social Club Seltzer team.

The campaign highlights those who created the brand and how the pandemic hurts women.

What to do post-graduation to get ready for the next step.