Robinhood faces lawsuit over customer comms, how Americans are using social media, and South Africa reacts to bad vaccine news

Good morning, communicators:

The second impeachment trial for Donald Trump is set to start in Washington, D.C.

The charges revolve around the events of Jan. 6, and whether President Trump incited a mob to violence to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

The media circus around the proceedings once again threaten to devour consumer attention and the resources of media outlets, so PR pros planning to pitch news and product releases should beware. If your news can wait, or your product rollout can be delayed a week or two, it might be wise to hit the pause button.

Here are today’s top stories:

The stock trading app made headlines for days, as scrappy retail traders took hedge funds to the cleaners by driving up the price of $GME artificially in a “short squeeze.”

However, a new storyline is emerging as the family of Alex Kearns, who died by suicide last summer, is suing the company. The family says that the company sent erroneous messages to their son, a sophomore at the University of Nebraska, claiming he owed $730,000 to cover trading losses and demanding an immediate payment of $178,000.