Politics

In the coming days, Instagram and Facebook users within the bloc will be given the choice to receive “less personalized ads” that are full-screen and temporarily unskippable, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The offering, which Meta says is likely to negatively impact its business, follows pressure from European Union regulators who opposed users having to pay to avoid targeted ads.

He joins Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and other big names in tech congratulating Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris delivered the final speech of her presidential campaign at Howard University Wednesday, emphasizing both the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and continued organizing. Harris sought to comfort young voters disappointed in the outcome. “Sometimes the fight takes a while. but that doesn’t mean we won’t win,” Harris said.

The Vice President will speak to a crowd at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, DC. She reportedly called former President Donald Trump earlier on Wednesday.

Bernie Moreno, an Ohio car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, unseated Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) with a little help from his friends.

Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and other crypto firms poured more than $40 million into Moreno’s campaign — and their bet paid off. Moreno flipped the seat, getting Republicans even closer to controlling the Senate.

Like everyone else who survived the pandemic, my brain has sealed away the year 2020 in a mental Yucca Mountain. But as a reminder, some vote tabulations may stretch out for quite a while.

The Washington Post has a helpful graphic about the “red mirage” of 2020 and how vote tallies shifted dramatically over a five day period. The circumstances aren’t the same this year but still: it might be a while before we find out who won.

As the vote count increasingly points toward Trump, who courted the crypto industry throughout his campaign, the price of Bitcoin has hit a new all-time high of over $74,000.

We’re aggressively refreshing live blogs from The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and NBC News.

A majority of voters supported Florida’s amendments 3 and 4, ballot initiatives that would have legalized recreational marijuana and allowed abortions up to 24 weeks.

But neither ballot initiative garnered 60 percent of the vote — the threshold needed to fulfill Florida’s supermajority requirement. Ironically enough, the 60 percent requirement was enacted after a 2006 referendum... by just 57 percent of voters.

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes — who’s been prepping for everything from AI-fueled phishing attacks to physical security risks — says four polling locations received “unsubstantiated bomb threats,” similar to Georgia. Fontes said there’s “no reason to believe” these sites are “in jeopardy,” the local ABC affiliate reported. He said the threats came from an email with a Russian domain, though not necessarily directly from Russia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation called out efforts to impersonate the agency while promoting false claims about the election. One fake statement warned media against writing about violence at polls, claiming it could “provoke a spontaneous increase” in incidents. Separate videos falsely warned of “malfunctioning voting machines,” and another urged schools to close through November 11th due to an increased risk in shootings because of the election.

The New York Times managed to get its election results needle up despite the fact that its tech workers are on strike. The Times’ Nate Cohn called this “Good news,” but that probably depends on your anxiety level.

Beloved MSNBC reporter and political analyst Steve Kornacki is so popular that the network has a live feed all night called the Kornacki Cam — and Vulture is keeping track of his every move. So far I’ve watched him shuffle papers, take a sip from his mug, bite his pen, and do stuff on his huge touchscreen.

In a post on X, City Commissioner Seth Bluestein rejects Donald Trump’s claim that there is “cheating” in Philadelphia, saying there is “absolutely no truth to this allegation.” In a follow-up post he said Philadelphia officials “have been in regular contact with the RNC” as part of monitoring potential irregularities.

The Verge’s Lauren Feiner previously interviewed Bluestein, a Republican, about how Philadelphia officials prepared for the election while braced for an onslaught of misinformation.

Previous threats were linked to Russia and deemed non-credible, but they temporarily shut down polling locations, which have since had their hours extended. Officials are seeking a similar extension for the new sites.

Young voters in Nevada may need to brush up on their handwriting, because the Secretary of State says a relatively high number of ballots set aside to be cured in Clark and Washoe counties might be because their signatures don’t match their licenses’ closely enough. Fortunately, they still have until November 12th to fix the problem and ensure their votes are counted.

Elon Musk, a man who had to be sued in the Delaware Court of Chancery to buy Twitter after signing a deal to buy Twitter, is now promising that his super PAC will remain active in American politics after this election. The New York Times reports:

Elon Musk just confirmed on X Spaces for the first time that he is going to keep being a big player in American politics after today, saying his super PAC would “weigh in heavily” in the next midterms and judicial elections. “America PAC is going to keep going after this election — and preparing for the midterms and any intermediate elections, as well as looking at elections at the district attorney and sort of judicial levels.”

Five polling locations in Fulton County will have their hours extended, per a judicial order.

Earlier today the FBI issued a statement that “polling locations in several states” had received bomb threats, “many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains.”

An hour ago, with neither reason or justification, Trump claimed there was “cheating” in Philadelphia. Apparently unwilling to settle for merely undermining faith in the electoral process, the former president is now saying on Truth Social that “Heavy Law Enforcement” is in Philadelphia and Detroit.

No, I don’t know what he’s talking about either.

Verge staffers review election.omg.lol: “Both horrifying and kinda helpful.” “This is a hell site.” “This rules.”

After an election observer in Milwaukee, WI noticed an issue with the tabulators, officials decided to recount all 30,000 of the absentee and early ballots that had already been tabulated.

The doors of one tabulating machine hadn’t been closed properly, CNN reports.

Former president Donald Trump is already alleging election irregularities in Pennsylvania, a swing state where he previously disputed election results in 2020. On Truth Social, he claims that “Law Enforcement coming!!!” — something he does not at present have authority over.

On X, Philadelphia City Commission Seth Bluestein says there is “absolutely no truth to this allegation.”

Trump’s unwillingness to accept valid election results definitely did not result in anything weird or bad in early January 2021.

After two arrests today, the FBI’s Detroit field office really wants you to know they’ll hunt you down:

The threat read in part: “I shall carry out an attack against conservative christan, (sic) filth in the event trump wins the election. ... Without a specific victim or ability to find the place I hid the gun, there’s not a thing the FBI can do until I complete the attack.”

Sissel was arrested by the FBI this morning and will be making an appearance in federal court this afternoon.

Young people are turning out in record numbers in Nevada — but the state has had to set aside a large number of ballots for “curing,” since the signatures on them don’t match what’s in the state’s voter database.

Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar told the New York Times:

“It’s mostly the fact that young people don’t have signatures these days,” he said. “And when they did register to vote through the automatic voter registration process, they signed a digital pad at D.M.V., and that became their license signature.”