The Tech Transparency Project released a new study revealing the National Rifle Association (NRA) dramatically increases its online advertising on Facebook and Google in the weeks following mass shootings. The report details how these ad buys profit the major tech companies, despite public comments from their executives calling for gun control measures the NRA has sought to block. The report comes at a time when the NRA has used the coronavirus pandemic to promote gun sales.

“Anti-abortion ideologues are fighting the development of a vaccine created by scientists using donated fetal tissue, even if it could save hundreds of thousands of lives,” said Alice Huling, Counsel at Campaign for Accountability.

The investigation revealed that YouTube has been running ads on several videos that contain misleading information about COVID-19. TTP’s investigation uncovered monetized videos touting “cures” and “protections,” including fruit-based home remedies and meditative music, among others, despite the platform’s insistence that videos containing misleading information about the virus are ineligible for monetization. Notably, the ads found alongside these videos were sponsored by well-known entities including President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, Facebook, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and streaming startup Quibi.

The Tech Transparency Project released the results of an independent investigation, revealing a large number of Facebook, Google, and Instagram users continue to advertise the sale of medical face masks on these platforms amidst the COVID-19 crisis, despite the tech giants’ insistence that the promotion of such products is prohibited on their platforms. In conjunction with the report, CfA has sent a letter to the Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division at the U.S. Department of Justice calling for an investigation into these sales.

Tech Transparency Project (TTP) released a report identifying eight videos of the gruesome Christchurch, New Zealand, massacre that are still on Facebook despite the company’s promises to remove them.

On March 4, TTP released a new report, Broken Promises: Sexual Exploitation of Children on Facebook, revealing that pedophiles are widely using Facebook to sexually exploit children, despite Facebook’s promises to address the problem. The report is based on an analysis of federal criminal cases announced by the U.S. Department of Justice from 2013 to 2019, including guilty pleas, sentencings, and convictions.

On February 27, 2020, CfA filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seeking documents responsive to two FOIA requests regarding the anti-choice Obria Group and its affiliate Obria Medical Clinics (collectively “Obria”) concerning their administration of funds they received through the Title X family planning program.

On February 20, 2020, CfA filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seeking documents responsive to four FOIA requests regarding the Title X Family Planning program and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention program.

On January 15, 2020, CfA released a new report, "Fake Feminists for Hire," revealing how the anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ group Concerned Women for America (CWA) has been declining over the past decade, while simultaneously partnering with well-funded dark money groups to amplify conservative causes that appear to be unrelated to its mission.

On January 13, 2020, CfA joined a coalition of 21 organizations and individuals, led by Campaign Legal Center, calling for the restoration of a voting quorum at the Federal Election Commission to protect the transparency and fairness of our elections.