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Social Media Should Censor Itself, Without Government Intervention, Most Americans Say

New polling from the firm Ipsos finds that most Americans worry about bad behavior on social media, and want companies to act.

Social media is getting under our skin, and new polling data shows that Americans want tech companies to fix it.

Surveys released by polling firm Ipsos on Monday show that a majority of Americans support content moderation on social networks, including putting warning labels on misinformation, deleting incitements to violence and suspending or banning offending accounts. Only 19% of Americans believe tech companies should do nothing and allow incitements to violence to be posted. Even fewer people, just 17%, believe social media companies should do nothing and allow posts containing misinformation or bullying.

«Basically, public opinion is giving license to tech companies to curate themselves,» said Cliff Young, president of US Public Affairs at Ipsos. He added that another Ipsos poll found that Americans don’t support government intervention with social media content. «What we see across the board is support for self-action» by tech companies, he said.

The Ipsos data, based on about 200 questions asked in eight polls over the past year and made available to the wider public Monday, offers an unusually clear indication of what Americans want social media companies to do about bad behavior on their platforms.

For much of the last decade, politicians, tech executives and people using the internet have argued about how much social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google’s YouTube and TikTok should moderate their platforms. Companies that track hate groups say the companies aren’t aggressively pulling down enough posts, while many politicians, including former President Donald Trump, say tech companies have gone too far.

In some cases, conservative politicians, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have signed new laws aimed at punishing social media companies for «wrongful censorship» on their platforms. Though many of those efforts have struggled amid constitutional arguments in the courts, some of the loudest voices in American politics have made clear they believe big tech companies shouldn’t moderate potentially hateful, bullying or incendiary political speech.

Shortly after the US Capitol riots on Jan. 6 last year, tech companies including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube removed Trump and some of his most vocal advocates from their platforms. They cited concerns that Trump’s months long campaign of bullying, threats and lies about his election loss had sparked the carnage that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer. Trump has since released many statements denying his culpability, arguing instead that tech companies had acted wrongly. Trump’s actions related to the Jan. 6 riot led to his second impeachment by the US House of Representatives, and they’re a focal point for a bipartisan congressional commission investigating the event.

Young, at Ipsos, said the Capitol riots were a key moment when many Americans began to reexamine social media’s role in their lives.

Indeed, older polls from the Pew Research Center showed that before the 2020 election and 2021 riot, Americans were much more split about how to treat tech. A 2019 study by Pew found that 77% of Democrats thought social mediacompanies «have a responsibility to remove offensive content from theirplatforms.» By comparison, about 52% of Republicans had the sameview back then.

Fast-forward to 2021, when Ipsos polling performed in the months after the Capitol riots indicated that more Americans in both parties want tech companies to curb bad behavior online. «This was an inflection point for decision makers wanting to better understand the relationship between society and tech,» Young said.

Nuanced but similar views

Tech companies are among the most profitable, most valuable and most powerful businesses in the world. They’re also front of mind for many Americans, who rate disinformation, conspiracy theories, social media-driven radicalization and hacking above other big issues, like racism and the climate crisis. More than 79% of respondents to one Ipsos poll, in September, said they were concerned with at least one of those tech issues, roughly tying with «crime and public safety» and «the economy and jobs.»

Ipsos data also found that Republicans, Democrats and independents largely agreed on the importance of these issues, with hacking, malware and data breaches scoring among the top three concerns from all three groups.

Additionally, Ipsos surveys found that Americans largely understand the difference between social media companies and other tech giants, with 88% saying search engines and the ability to find things on the internet improved their lives, while only 45% felt the same about social media. When discussing specific companies, respondents saying they’re Republican or independent overall had a negative view of Facebook and Twitter, while less than 15% of Democrats viewed either company favorably. Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple were all viewed more favorably, Ipsos data showed.

Technologies

I Watched a $30,000, 116-Inch TV. Now I Need a Bigger Living Room

I spent a couple of hours with the Hisense 116UX TV, which has an RGB mini-LED backlight and a superfast 165Hz panel. Also, it’s big.

The whole TV industry is moving towards bigger and bigger screens, and the new Hisense 116UX takes the concept to a room-filling extreme. This is a 116-inch 4K TV that costs as much as a decent new car. But it’s not just any 116-inch, $30,000 TV. Hisense built some sophisticated tech under the hood, and I got some hands-on time with it. 

I can confirm that this is a truly massive screen. Like, absolutely huge. A real unit. To give you an idea of how big it is, I’m 6 feet tall and I could not touch one end and the other at the same time. I can also confirm that I kinda want one. 

Read more: Best TVs of 2025

Unique tech, meet gigantic TV

First announced at CES, this Hisense 116UX is a different type of TV than the $20,000, 115-inch TCL we looked at last year. That was a «hang out with your buddies and watch the game» kind of TV. This Hisense is not just an inch larger diagonally and 10 grand more expensive, it’s squarely aimed at the (very) well-heeled video quality aficionado.

The LCD-based Hisense 116UX uses the company’s proprietary RGB, mini-LED backlight combined with quantum dots and 3,584 local dimming zones. As the name «RGB» suggests, each individual backlight is broken up into a trio of red, green and blue mini-LEDs. Representatives for the company said these zones can also be divided further through software, and that at full pelt the screen is capable of 8,000 nits peak brightness.

The TV is set for gaming on with a native 165Hz Panel and support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Auto Low Latency Mode.

Though it lacks the level of anti-glare tech found on high-end Samsungs like the S95F I reviewed recently, Hisense’s TV has the company’s own Anti-Reflection Pro to ward off (though not completely obscure) reflected light.

Like most TVs from companies not called LG or Samsung, the 116UX runs on the Google TV operating system. If you have a Google smart home or Android phone it should integrate really well as a result. 

And similar to recent Samsung remotes, 116UX comes with a suitably large remote control with a little photoelectric panel for charging with your overhead lights. Maybe it also charges from reflected light of the huge panel? It’s certainly bright enough.

The TV was the room

I spent a couple of hours with the Hisense 116UX, in Hisense’s New York demo room, which was only just big enough to fit the TV. I was reminded of Magritte’s painting of a massive apple in a small room. I watched some movie scenes, including scenes from Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and Oppenheimer.

Apart from the size, I came away with the impression that this TV is great for HDR movies, as exemplified by its surprisingly deft handling of Oppenheimer. In the test scene I used, the Hisense was able to both bring out bright pinpricks of light while also able to show the hills and sky without banding.

Spider-Man showed how bright and colorful this TV could get. The huge screen was also able to keep up with the movie’s frenetic action scenes without smearing. 

I tested its light output using a Konica Minolta LS-100 light meter, which registered an impressive 7,923 nits — pretty much exactly what Hinsense claimed. It’s also double the 65-inch Hisense U8Q, the brightest TV I’ve ever measured at CNET, and roughly four times brighter than the 65-inch LG G5, the brightest OLED TV.

While I didn’t test the TV’s gaming prowess, I have no doubt it would be a real blast to rid Mars of a new demonic scourge on a screen that truly is larger than life.  

I listened to the 116UX for a little bit but it sounded disappointedly «like a TV,» with boomy lower mids and a vocal forwardness. If you can afford a TV like this, you can afford a sound system to go with it, and I will (maybe) come with you to help you buy it.

A big price tag to match

Is this the holy grail of TVs? For some, perhaps. Would I have one in my home? Yes, but only if I could find a rich benefactor to buy it for me — along with a bigger apartment. For its $30,000 price tag you could buy a hell of a lot of a lot of movie tickets instead. Like around 2,000 of them. But that’s hardly the point. This is currently the best (and only) 116-inch TV available, and if you really want to make your living room seem small, the Hisense 116UX is more practical and fun than a monster-sized piece of fruit.

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Technologies

Preorder Pages for Donkey Kong Bananza Just Went Live at Best Buy

This highly anticipated Switch 2 exclusive hits shelves on July 17, and you can order the physical or digital edition for $70 right now.

He’s the leader of the bunch, you know him well and he’s (finally) back to kick some tail. Over 10 years since the release of the last game, we’re finally due to get a new title in the iconic Donkey Kong franchise. Donkey Kong Bananza is set to hit shelves on Thursday this week (July 17), and the Best Buy preorder page just went live. If you’re serious about playing this highly anticipated title on release day, now’s your chance to order your copy.

Donkey Kong Bananza is exclusively playable on the new Nintendo Switch 2, so you’re out of luck if you haven’t upgraded from the original console. The tech retailer has both the physical game and the digital edition available for $70, along with a Donkey Kong and Pauline Amiibo that you can preorder for $30.

The game itself is a 3D platformer that promises fun and chaotic «smash-everything gameplay» as you hunt for treasures across a massive, multitiered world. It’s primarily single-player, but there is a local co-op mode where a second player rides on Kong’s back and launches projectiles made of solid words.

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Why this matters

One of two Switch 2 exclusives announced alongside the console, Donkey Kong Bananza promises chaotic fun in a massive and vibrant 3D world. The digital edition won’t sell out, but if you’re hoping to grab a physical copy, we’d definitely recommend getting your order in soon. There’s a fair chance it will sell out quickly after release day.

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Technologies

What Tariffs? Smartphone Market Grows 1% as More Devices Incorporate AI

Midrange devices like Samsung’s Galaxy A36 are driving sales by letting people try AI without busting their budgets.

Looks like curiosity about AI may be boosting smartphone sales. Shipments of smartphones increased 1% year over year in the second quarter of 2025, despite tariff volatility and worldwide economic instability, according to new data released from the International Data Corporation

Much of the increase in sales is attributed to midrange devices like Samsung’s Galaxy A36 and other smartphones that have started incorporating AI.

The report blamed a drop in demand for lower-end devices, including those built around Android OS, for weighing down the smartphone market. However, devices that incorporate AI-enabled features have sparked a curiosity that’s lured customers back — for the right price. 

«Samsung was able to consolidate its market leadership and outperform the overall market achieving strong growth in the quarter driven by the sales of its new Galaxy A36 and A56 products,» said Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for client devices at IDC. «These new products introduce AI-enabled features to mid-range devices, which has been effectively used in retail stores to drive sales.»  

Starting at $400, the Galaxy A36 potentially offers a more affordable entry into AI for many people, including AI-powered photo editing tools and Google’s Circle to Search. 

A recent CNET survey found that just 11% of people upgrade their phone for AI features. However, the survey also found that price is the biggest driver (62%), meaning a midrange phone with new features could prove to be alluring enough to make the leap.

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