Katie Strang, The New York Times ; ESPN’s Pat McAfee and others amplified a false rumor. A teenager’s life was ‘destroyed’
"Cornett engaged legal representation and said she intends to take action against McAfee and ESPN, which airs his show, and potentially others involved in spreading the rumor. “I would like people to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” she said."
Noah Shachtman , The New York Times; Foreign Spies to Team Trump: 👊🇺🇸🔥
"The people at the center of Signalgate — the national security adviser, Michael Waltz; the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; to name a few — all know this. They all served in the military. They no doubt heard innumerable lectures from counterintelligence experts about all the different ways an adversary can make off with sensitive data. But this is an administration that actively, proudly rejects expertise. It casts those who have it as the corrupt old guard, the real enemy, the “deep state,” and it touts its own refusal to heed them as proof of its legitimacy and righteousness. By that view, the security establishment must be bent to the White House’s will, and if the people at the top don’t have the traditional qualifications for their positions, all the better. This is an administration that makes a weekend Fox News host the leader of the world’s largest military, puts a conspiracy-minded podcaster in charge of the F.B.I., and has at its pinnacle a reality star turned president. Blunders like this are an inevitable consequence."
Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris , The Atlantic; Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal
"On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
At a Senate hearing yesterday, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, John Ratcliffe, were both asked about the Signal chat, to which Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, was inadvertently invited by National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. “There was no classified material that was shared in that Signal group,” Gabbard told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Ratcliffe said much the same: “My communications, to be clear, in the Signal message group were entirely permissible and lawful and did not include classified information.”
President Donald Trump, asked yesterday afternoon about the same matter, said, “It wasn’t classified information.”
These statements presented us with a dilemma. In The Atlantic’s initial story about the Signal chat—the “Houthi PC small group,” as it was named by Waltz—we withheld specific information related to weapons and to the timing of attacks that we found in certain texts. As a general rule, we do not publish information about military operations if that information could possibly jeopardize the lives of U.S. personnel. That is why we chose to characterize the nature of the information being shared, not specific details about the attacks.
The statements by Hegseth, Gabbard, Ratcliffe, and Trump—combined with the assertions made by numerous administration officials that we are lying about the content of the Signal texts—have led us to believe that people should see the texts in order to reach their own conclusions. There is a clear public interest in disclosing the sort of information that Trump advisers included in nonsecure communications channels, especially because senior administration figures are attempting to downplay the significance of the messages that were shared."
Eva Corlett , The Guardian; How a New Zealander working from her mum’s kitchen started a news service read by Madonna
"Blakiston is the founder of the online media platform Shit You Should Care About, a company that says it “cuts through the bullshit” to make global issues and news accessible for broader and younger audiences.
She trawls news websites to pull together easy-to-read stories on everything from celebrity culture to news on conflicts, which she then boils down to digestible snippets to share on Instagram, X and TikTok. Fans can also subscribe to a free newsletter and tune into podcasts, while paying subscribers fund the business.
What began as a blog with her friends Ruby Edwards and Olivia Mercer in 2018, Shit You Should Care About has since amassed nearly four million followers on social media, including celebrities Bella Hadid, Madonna and, to Blakiston’s surprise, Joe Rogan. It has more than 80,000 newsletter subscribers, and has spawned a podcast series and book titled Make It Make Sense. Nearly half of the platform’s followers are based in the US, with another roughly 30% in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The company’s success lies in meeting Blakiston’s generation where they are: social media."
, Forbes; Musk Retweets ‘Hitler Didn’t Murder Millions’ Message Amid Ongoing Nazi Controversy
"Tesla chief and presidential adviser Elon Musk shared a post Thursday that said public sector workers, not Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, murdered millions of people, marking the billionaire’s latest Nazi-related post as he and his electric vehicle company face continued backlash and boycotts as critics say his embrace of right-wing politics is veering more extreme."
Robert Reich, The Guardian; Three billionaires: America’s oligarchy is now fully exposed
"One of the unacknowledged advantages of the horrendous era we’ve entered is that it is revealing the putrid connections between great wealth and great power for all to see.
Oligarchs are fully exposed and they are defiant. It’s like hitting the “reveal codes” key on older computers that let you see everything.
On Wednesday, Jeff Bezos, the third-richest person in America, who bought the Washington Post in 2013, announced that the paper’s opinion section would henceforth focus on defending “personal liberties and free markets”.
Anything inconsistent with this view would not be published, according to his statement. “Viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
The Post’s opinion editor, David Shipley, promptly resigned, as he should have...
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, bought Twitter in 2022, laid off everyone who was filtering out hateful crap on the platform, renamed it X and turned it into a cesspool of lies in support of Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg, the second-richest person, has followed suit, allowing Facebook to emit lies, hate and bigotry in support of Trump’s lies, hate and bigotry.
All three of these men were in the first row at Trump’s inauguration. They, and other billionaires, have now exposed themselves for what they are.
They are the oligarchy. They continue to siphon off the wealth of the nation. They are supporting a tyrant who is promising them tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks that will make them even richer.
They are destroying democracy so they won’t have to worry about “parasites” (as Musk calls people who depend on government assistance) demanding anything more from them.
When billionaires take control of our communication channels, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for their billionaire babble."
Task & Purpose; After soldier turns to social media, Army fixes barracks issue
"A soldier in Hawaii who posted online that the air conditioning in his barracks had not worked since January told Task & Purpose that the problem was finally resolved on Tuesday...
The soldier posted on Hots & Cots on Saturday that the air conditioning in Building 356 in Schofield Barracks C Quad, which houses about 150 soldiers, had stopped working on Jan. 30 following a power outage.
This is the latest episode in a growing trend of soldiers turning to online message boards and other services after long waits for service or other quality-of-life issues...
Although the Army has urged soldiers to go through their chain of command and submit work orders to resolve barracks issues, time and time again such problems have not been fixed until soldiers have raised their concerns on online forums such as Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, or other platforms."
Timothy Pratt, The Guardian; #AltGov: the secret network of federal workers resisting Doge from the inside
"Calling itself #AltGov, the network has developed a visible, public-facing presence in recent weeks through Bluesky accounts, most of which bear the names or initials of federal agencies, aimed at getting information out to the public – and correcting disinformation – about the chaos being unleashed by the Trump administration."
Pranshu Verma, The Washington Post ; Elon Musk ridiculed a blind person on X. Then a mob went to work
[Kip Currier: Elon Musk repeatedly shows us exactly who and what he is: the richest person on the planet and a man who is to be pitied for the severe impoverishment of character, decency, and ethical principles from which he suffers.
We can't easily counter the hate speech, disinformation, and chaos that are the democracy-damaging byproducts of this wannabe-Bond-villain's amoral philosophical approach to life. But we can support the brave souls whom Musk and his minions ruthlessly target with their cyberbullying and scare tactics.
Thanks to all those willing to stand up for the rule of law, fairness, accountability, truth, service to those in need, and human dignity.]
[Excerpt]
"Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette works at the Project on Government Oversight,a nonpartisan watchdog group focused on reducing bureaucratic waste. He also happens to be blind. So when he criticized Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service in testimony on Capitol Hill last week, Musk unleashed an online attack Hedtler-Gaudette described as “surreal” in its juvenile bigotry.
First, Musk retweeted a post on X noting that the “blind director of watchdog group funded by George Soros testifies that he does not see widespread evidence of government waste” and added two laughing/crying emojis. The tweet garnered more than 21 million views, and sparked dozens of hateful messages to Hedtler-Gaudette’s account...
Digital rights experts say the situation has created an unprecedented imbalance in power. Musk’s massive online following, his ownership of a social media platform where he can dictate content moderation rules, and his position heading a government entity with access to private data, give him a unique ability to threaten those who question him and chill dissenting speech."
Joshua McElwee, Reuters ; Vatican says AI has 'shadow of evil,' calls for close oversight
"The Vatican on Tuesday called for governments to keep a close eye on the development of artificial intelligence, warning the technology contained "the shadow of evil" in its ability to spread misinformation.
"AI generated fake media can gradually undermine the foundations of society," said a new text on the ethics of AI, written by two Vatican departments and approved by Pope Francis.
"This issue requires careful regulation, as misinformation—especially through AI-controlled or influenced media—can spread unintentionally, fuelling political polarization and social unrest," it said."
Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, senior director of policy and advocacy at Interfaith Alliance , MSNBC; Trump’s angry response to a viral sermon should worry all Christians
"Neither Budde nor her church should apologize for following Jesus. Despite President Trump and his allies attacking Budde, it’s important to recognize that her compassionate sermon does not represent some left-wing fringe of American Christianity. Budde’s words reflect the values held by a majority of American Christians — a fact that Trump’s divisive rhetoric seeks to obscure.
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country,” Budde proclaimed. “And we’re scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families — some who fear for their lives.”
Trump and Vance might have been surprised to hear such a strong embrace of LGBTQ rights by a bishop, because the far-right evangelical and Catholic leaders who surround them are the chief purveyors of anti-LGBTQ hate. Yet they’re far from the norm. A strong majority of U.S. Christians — including Catholics and evangelicals — support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.
Bishop Budde’s Episcopal Church has been a leader within American Christianity and the worldwide Anglican Communion in advancing LGBTQ rights. Bishop Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay bishop of a major U.S. denomination in 2003. Robinson’s election must not have rankled Trump too much, because in 2005 he married Melania in an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, and his son Barron attended a private Episcopal school during the first Trump administration.
Bishop Budde also called attention to Trump’s executive actions targeting immigrants.
“The people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals,” she said. “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues and temples.”...
Budde’s message was a reflection of Jesus’ call to love our neighbors, to care for the oppressed, and to seek justice for the marginalized. The fact that it’s gone viral across social media is proof that mainstream Christians are hungry for truth-telling, justice-seeking Christian leaders to step up at this critical moment for our democracy and our faith.
Followers of Jesus are going to have to endure the president labeling us the “Radical Left.” Denigrating and attacking the Gospel is necessary for him to push his authoritarian agenda forward. Yes, he will continue to surround himself with court clerics and wave the banner of Christian nationalism. But Trump’s outrage is evidence that, far from being a champion of “religious freedom,” he will treat any attempt to confront his policies in the name of Jesus as a challenge to his authority."
, The New York Times; Meta’s Decision to End Fact-Checking Could Have Disastrous Consequences
"What happens on Meta’s platforms is more than just a matter of company policy. The prevalence of false information on social media and the ease with which it can proliferate have helped fuel division and violence in the United States and abroad. The company’s addictive algorithms were so effective in supercharging posts encouraging ethnic cleansing in Myanmar that Amnesty International called upon Meta to pay reparations to the Rohingya people. (The company said “we have been too slow to prevent misinformation and hate on Facebook” in Myanmar, and eventually took steps to proactively identify and remove posts.)
I first learned the importance of fact-checking while working as a reporter in Sri Lanka in 2018, when an episode of violence tied to Meta’s platforms rocked the country."
Eric Lipton, The New York Times; Trump Begins Selling New Crypto Token, Raising Ethical Concerns
"President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Mr. Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.
Disclosed just days before his second inauguration, the venture is the latest in a series of moves by Mr. Trump that blur the line between his government role and the continued effort by his family to profit from his power and global fame. It is yet another sign that the Trump family will be much less hesitant in this second term to bend or breach traditional ethical boundaries.
Mr. Trump himself announced the launch of his new business on Friday night on his social media platform, in between announcements about filling key federal government posts. He is calling the token $Trump, selling it with the slogan, “Join the Trump Community. This is History in the Making!”...
The move by Mr. Trump and his family was immediately condemned by ethics lawyers who said they could not recall a more explicit profiteering effort by an incoming president."
Blake Montgomery, The Guardian ; TikTok goes dark in the US ahead of ban
"TikTok stopped working in the US late on Saturday, shortly before a federal ban on the Chinese-owned short-video app was due to take effect.
The app was no longer available on Apple’s iOS App Store or Google’s Play Store. The US Congress passed a law in April mandating that parent company ByteDance either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese owner or face a total shutdown. It chose the latter."
ZACH SCHONFELD AND JULIA SHAPERO , The Hill; Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban
"The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company to divest from the app, teeing up a ban set to take effect Sunday.
The justices sided with the Biden administration, finding the divest-or-ban law does not violate the First Amendment just three days before President-elect Trump is set to take office. Trump had urged the justices to delay the deadline so he could negotiate a deal, but the court instead acted with breakneck speed."
David Smith in Washington , The Guardian; Biden bids farewell with dark warning for America: the oligarchs are coming
"The primetime speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning about something wider and deeper of which Trump is a symptom.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
The word “oligarchy” comes from the Greek words meaning rule (arche) by the few (oligos). Some have argued that the dominant political divide in America is no longer between left and right, but between democracy and oligarchy, as power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few. The wealthiest 1% of Americans now has more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
The trend did not start with Trump but he is set to accelerate it. The self-styled working-class hero has picked the richest cabinet in history, including 13 billionaires, surrounding himself with the very elite he claims to oppose. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has become a key adviser. Tech titans Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – collectively worth a trillion dollars – will be sitting at his inauguration on Monday.
Invoking former president Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address in January 1961 that warned against the rise of a military-industrial complex, Biden said: “Six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex. It could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.”
In an acknowledgement of news deserts and layoffs at venerable institutions such as the Washington Post, Biden added starkly: “The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking. Truth is smothered by lies, told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable, to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power.”
Zuckerberg’s recent decision to abandon factcheckers on Facebook, and Musk’s weaponisation of X in favour of far-right movements including Maga, was surely uppermost in Biden’s mind. Trust in the old media is breaking down as people turn to a fragmented new ecosystem. It has all happened with disorienting speed."
"At a time when social media, podcasts and partisan outlets are displacing the mainstream media as news sources, the battle over NewsGuard’s future is symptomatic of a broader societal struggle over who gets to arbitrate the truth."
Rhianne Campbell, City News ; Toronto Public Library apologizes after refusing to let a lost girl use their phone
"The Toronto Public Library has apologized after refusing to let a lost girl use a phone at one of their branches.
Megan Kinch posted on social media Friday evening after her lost 11-year-old daughter went to the library looking for help."
, and , NBC News; Australia passes landmark social media ban for children under 16
"Australian lawmakers on Thursday approved a landmark ban on social media for children under 16, in some of the world’s toughest such controls.
The ban, which aims to address the impact of excessive social media use on children’s physical and mental health, affects social media platforms including X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Reddit, but not YouTube.
The platforms, which bear sole responsibility for enforcement, have one year to figure out how to implement the age limit, which is the highest set by any country. If there are systemic failures to keep children from having accounts, the platforms are liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million).
Senators debated the legislation late into the night on the last day of their parliamentary session, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor government had targeted as the deadline for it to pass. The bill, which is also largely supported by the opposition Liberal party, passed the Australian House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 102 to 13.
Supporters of the ban have cited the effect of harmful depictions of body image on girls and the effect of misogynistic content on boys. Its passage comes after a series of Australian teenagers died by suicide over what their families said was online bullying."
JAVIER SALAS, EL PAÍS ; From Bannon to Musk: The decade that made misinformation the new normal
"The key insight came from researcher Kate Starbird of the University of Washington, who explained: “Misinformation is not a piece of content. It is a strategy.”"
