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Category: Social media

  • The Electronic Intifada: Bringing Israeli genocide perpetrators to justice

    This article was written before The Electronic Intifada’s founding editor Ali Abunimah was arrested in Switzerland on Saturday afternoon for “speaking up for Palestine”. He has since been released and deported.

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Ali AbunimahIsrael smuggled one of its soldiers out of Cyprus, apparently fearing his detention on charges related to the genocide in Gaza, according to Dyab Abou Jahjah, the co-founder of The Hind Rajab Foundation.

    Abou Jahjah, a Belgian-Lebanese political activist and writer, told The Electronic Intifada livestream last week that his organisation was stepping up efforts all over the world to bring to justice Israeli soldiers implicated in the slaughter of tens of thousands of men, women and children over the last 15 months.

    You can watch the interview with Abou Jahjah and all of this week’s programme in the video above.


    Gaza Ceasefire Day 5. Video: The Electronic Intifada

    Speaking from Gaza, Electronic Intifada contributor Donya Abu Sitta told us how people there are coping following the ceasefire, especially those returning to devastated homes and finding the remains of loved ones.

    She shared a poem inspired by the hopes and fears of the young children she continued to teach throughout the genocide.

    Despite the ceasefire, Israel has continued to attack Palestinians in some parts of Gaza. That was among developments covered in the news brief from associate editor Nora Barrows-Friedman, along with the efforts to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation.

    Israel’s genocidal war has orphaned some 40,000 children in Gaza.

    Contributing editor Jon Elmer covered the latest ceasefire developments and the resistance operations in the period leading up to it.

    We also discussed whether US President Donald Trump will force Israel to uphold the ceasefire and what the latest indications of his approach are.

    And this writer took a critical look at Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Edgar Budde.

    She has been hailed as a hero for urging Donald Trump to respect the rights of marginalised groups, as the new president sat listening to her sermon at Washington’s National Cathedral.

    But over the last 15 months, Budde has parroted Israeli atrocity propaganda justifying genocide, and has repeatedly failed to condemn former President Joe Biden’s key role in the mass slaughter and did not call on him to stop sending weapons to Israel.

    Pursuing war criminals
    In the case of the soldier in Cyprus, The Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint, and after initial hesitation, judicial authorities in the European Union state opened an investigation of the soldier.

    “When that was opened, the Israelis smuggled the soldier out of Cyprus,” Abou Jahjah said, calling the incident the first of its kind.

    “And when I say smuggling, I’m not exaggerating, because we have information that he was even taken by a private jet,” Abou Jahjah added.

    The foundation is named after Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl who was in a car with members of her family, trying to escape the Israeli onslaught in Gaza City, when they were attacked.

    The story of Hind, trapped all alone in a car, surrounded by dead relatives, pleading over the phone for rescue, a conversation that was recorded by the Palestinian Red Crescent, is among the most poignant and brazen crimes committed during Israel’s genocide.

    According to Abou Jahjah, lawyers and activists determined to seek justice for Palestinians identified a gap in the efforts to hold Israel accountable that they could fill: pursuing individual soldiers who have in many cases posted evidence of their own crimes in Gaza on social media.

    The organisation and its growing global network of volunteers and legal professionals has been able to collect evidence on approximately 1000 Israeli soldiers which has been handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    In addition to filing cases against Israeli soldiers traveling abroad, such as the one in Cyprus, and other recent examples in Brazil, Thailand and Italy, a main focus of the foundation is individuals who hold both Israeli and another nationality.

    “Regarding the dual nationals, we are not under any restraint of time,” Abou Jahjah explained. “For example, if you’re Belgian, Belgium has jurisdiction over you.”

    Renouncing their second nationality cannot shield these soldiers, according to Abou Jahjah, because courts will take into account their citizenship at the time the alleged crime was committed.

    Abou Jahjah feels confident that with time, war criminals will be brought to justice. The organisation is also discussing expanding its work to the United States, where it may use civil litigation to hold perpetrators accountable.

    Unsurprisingly, Israel and friendly governments are pushing back against The Hind Rajab Foundation’s work, and Abou Jahjah is now living under police protection.

    “Things are kind of heavy on that level, but this will not disrupt our work,” Abou Jahjah said. “It’s kind of naive of them to think that the work of the foundation depends on a person.”

    “We have legal teams across the planet, very capable people. Our data is spread across the planet,” Abou Jahjah added. “There’s nothing they can do. This is happening.”

    Resistance report
    In his resistance report, Elmer analysed videos of operations that took place before the ceasefire, but which were only released by the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, after it took effect.

    He also previewed Saturday, 25 January, when nearly 200 Palestinian prisoners were released in exchange for four Israeli female soldiers.

    Will Trump keep Israel to the ceasefire?
    Pressure from President Trump was key to getting Israel to agree to a ceasefire deal it had rejected for almost a year. But will his administration keep up the pressure to see it through?

    There have been mixed messages, with Trump recently telling reporters he was not sure it would hold, but also intriguingly distancing himself from Israel. “That’s not our war, it’s their war.”

    We took a look at what these comments, as well as a renewed commitment to implementing the deal expressed by Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy, tell us about what to expect.

    As associate editor Asa Winstanley noted, “this ceasefire is not nothing.” It came about because the resistance wore down the Israeli army, and statements from Witkoff hinting that the US may even be open to talking to Hamas deserve close attention.

    ‘Largely silent’
    By her own admission, Bishop Mariann Budde has remained “largely silent” about the genocide in Gaza, except when she was pushing Israeli propaganda or engaging in vague, liberal hand-wringing about “peace” and “love” without ever clearly condemning the perpetrators of mass slaughter and starvation of Palestinians, demanding that the US stop the flow of weapons making it possible, or calling for accountability.

    This type of evasion serves no one.

    You can watch the programme on YouTube, Rumble or Twitter/X, or you can listen to it on your preferred podcast platform.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Trump’s ‘free speech’ vision comes at expense of press freedom

    Pacific Media Watch

    Among his first official acts on returning to the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order “restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship”.

    Implicit in this vaguely written document: the United States is done fighting mis- and disinformation online, reports the Paris-based global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

    Meanwhile, far from living up to the letter or spirit of his own order, Trump is fighting battles against the American news media on multiple fronts and has pardoned at least 13 individuals convicted or charged for attacking journalists in the 6 January 2021 insurrection.

    An RSF statement strongly refutes Trump’s “distorted vision of free speech, which is inherently detrimental to press freedom”.

    Trump has long been one of social media’s most prevalent spreaders of false information, and his executive order, “Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship,” is the latest in a series of victories for the propagators of disinformation online.

    Bowing to pressure from Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta platforms are already hostile to journalism, did away with fact-checking on Facebook, which the tech mogul falsely equated to censorship while throwing fact-checking journalists under the bus.

    Trump ally Elon Musk also dismantled the meagre trust and safety safeguards in place when he took over Twitter and proceeded to arbitrarily ban journalists who were critical of him from the site.

    ‘Free speech’ isn’t ‘free of facts’
    “Free speech doesn’t mean public discourse has to be free of facts. Donald Trump and his Big Tech cronies like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg are dismantling what few guardrails the internet had to protect the integrity of information,” said RSF’s USA executive director Clayton Weimers.

    “We cannot ignore the irony of Trump appointing himself the chief crusader for ‘free speech’ while he continues to personally attack press freedom — a pillar of the First Amendment — and has vowed to weaponise the federal government against expression he doesn’t like.

    “If Trump means what he says in his own executive order, he could start by dropping his lawsuits against news organisations.”

    Trump recently settled a lawsuit out of court with ABC News parent company Disney, but is still suing the Des Moines Register and its parent company Gannett for publishing a poll unfavourable to his campaign, and the Pulitzer Center board for awarding coverage of his 2016 campaign’s alleged ties with Russia.

    Trump should immediately drop both lawsuits and refrain from launching others while in office.

    After a campaign where he attacked the press on a daily basis, Trump has continued to berate the media and dismissed its legitimacy to critique him.

    During a press conference the day after he took office, Trump reproached NBC reporter Peter Alexander for questions about Trump’s blanket pardons of the January 6th riot participants, saying, “Just look at the numbers on the election.

    “We won this election in a landslide, because the American public is tired of people like you that are just one-sided, horrible people, in terms of crime.”

    An incoherent press freedom policy
    The executive order also flies in the face of his violent rhetoric against journalists.

    The order asserts that during the Biden administration, “the Federal government infringed on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advanced the government’s preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.”

    It goes on to state, “It is the policy of the United States to ensure that no Federal Government officer, employee, or agent engages in or facilitates any conduct that would unconstitutionally abridge the free speech of any American citizen.”

    This stated policy, laudable in a vacuum, even if made redundant by the First Amendment, is rendered meaningless by Trump’s explicit threats to weaponise the government against the media, which have recently included threats to revoke broadcast licenses in political retaliation, investigate news organizations that criticise him, and jail journalists who refuse to expose confidential sources.

    Instead, the policy appears designed to amplify disinformation, which benefits a President of the United States who has proven willing to spread disinformation that furthered his political interests on matters small and large.

    “If Trump is serious about his stated commitment to free speech, RSF suggests he begin by ensuring his own actions serve to protect the free press, rather than censoring or punishing media outlets,” the watchdog said.

    “The United States has seen a steady decline in its press freedom ranking in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index over the past decade to a current ranking of 55th out of 180 countries, with presidents from both parties presiding over this backslide.

    “While Trump is not entirely responsible for the present situation, his frequent attacks on the news media have no doubt contributed to the decline in trust in the media, which has been driven partly by partisan attitudes towards journalism.

    “Trump’s violent rhetoric can also contribute to real-life violence — assaults on journalists nearly doubled in 2024, when his campaign was at its apex, compared to 2023.”

    Pacific Media Watch collaborates with RSF.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • News Corp lies to Australian Parliament in lobbying putsch to change media laws

    Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has misled the Australian Parliament and is liable to prosecution — not that government will lift a finger to enforce the law, reports Michael West Media.

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Michael West

    Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has misled the Australian Parliament. In a submission to the Senate, the company claimed, “Foxtel also pays millions of dollars in income tax, GST and payroll tax, unlike many of our large international digital competitors”.

    However, an MWM investigation into the financial affairs of Foxtel has shown Foxtel was paying zero income tax when it told the Senate it was paying “millions”. The penalty for lying to the Senate is potential imprisonment, although “contempt of Parliament” laws are never enforced.

    The investigation found that NXE, the entity that controls Foxtel, paid no income tax in any of the five years from 2019 to 2023. During this time it generated $14 billion of total income.

    The total tax payable across this period is $0. The average total income is $2.8 billion per year.

    Foxtel Submission to the Senate Environment and Communications LegislationCommittee Inquiry into The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No.1) Bill
    Foxtel Submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Inquiry into The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No.1) Bill. Image: MWM screenshot

    Why did News Corporation mislead the Parliament? The plausible answers are in its Foxtel Submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Inquiry into The Broadcasting Legislation Amendment.

    In May 2021 — which is also where the transgression occurred — the media executives for the American tycoon were lobbying a Parliamentary committee to change the laws in their favour.

    By this time, Netflix had leap-frogged Foxtel Pay TV subscriptions in Australia and Foxtel was complaining it had to spend too much money on producing local Australian content under the laws of the time. Also that Netflix paid almost no tax.

    Big-league tax dodger
    They were correct in this. Netflix, which is a big-league tax dodger itself, was by then making bucketloads of money in Australia but with zero local content requirements.

    Making television drama and so forth is expensive. It is far cheaper to pipe foreign content through your channels online. As Netflix does.

    The misleading of Parliament by corporations is rife, and contempt laws need to be enforced, as demonstrated routinely by the PwC inquiry last year. Corporations and their representatives routinely lie in their pursuit of corporate objectives.

    If democracy is to function better, the information provided to Parliament needs to be clarified, beyond doubt, as reliable. Former senator Rex Patrick has made the point in these pages.

    Even in this short statement to the committee of inquiry (published above), there are other misleading statements. Like many companies defending their failure to pay adequate income tax, Foxtel claims that it “paid millions” in GST and payroll tax.

    Companies don’t “pay” GST or payroll tax. They collect these taxes on behalf of governments.

    Little regard for laws
    Further to the contempt of Parliament, so little regard for the laws of Australia is shown by corporations that the local American boss of a small gas fracking company, Tamboran Resources, controlled by a US oil billionaire, didn’t even bother turning up to give evidence when asked.

    This despite being rewarded with millions in public grant money.

    Politicians need to muscle up, as Greens Senator Nick McKim did when grilling former Woolies boss Brad Banducci for prevaricating over providing evidence to the supermarket inquiry.

    Michael West established Michael West Media in 2016 to focus on journalism of high public interest, particularly the rising power of corporations over democracy. West was formerly a journalist and editor with Fairfax newspapers, a columnist for News Corp and even, once, a stockbroker. This article was first published by Michael West Media and is reopublished with permission.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Mars, watch out — President Trump’s coming for you too

    COMMENTARY: By Belén Fernández

    It was a cold day in Washington, DC, on Tuesday when Donald Trump was sworn in for his second stint as President of the United States of America.

    On account of freezing temperatures, the inauguration ceremony was moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, and the weather became a primary focus of much pre-inauguration media commentary.

    The Reuters news agency reported that this was “one of the coldest inauguration days the US has experienced in the past few decades”, while also providing other crucial ceremony updates such as that “Mike Tyson snacked on a banana in the overflow room”.

    I, myself, watched the event on my computer in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, where it is precisely the opposite of cold and where I have spent the past several days battling the scorpion population that has taken up residence in my house.

    By the end of Trump’s swearing-in, however, I was undecided as to what was less pleasant: killing scorpions or watching the next episode of American dystopia unfold.

    I tuned in at 11am, meaning I had a full hour before Trump took centre stage; for much of this time, the audience in the rotunda was treated to musical selections befitting a carousel or a circus.

    The frigid weather outside was, meanwhile, at least probably good practice for life on Mars, a territory Trump would soon claim for the United States during his inaugural speech: “And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”

    Not the only territorial conquest
    This, to be sure, was not the only territorial conquest Trump promised. He also reiterated his determination to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” as well as to seize control of the Panama Canal because “American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form”.

    President Donald Trump
    President Donald Trump . . . “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”. Image: The Conversation

    But the Mars comments earned a maniacal grin from one person in the audience: the gazillionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, known for such ideas as that the “next really big thing is to build a self-sustaining city on Mars and bring the animals and creatures of Earth there”.

    Musk was one of various representatives of the earthly super-elite who — unlike poor Mike Tyson — made the cut for a spot in the rotunda. Also present were Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok.

    As Al Jazeera noted the day prior to the inauguration, Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly donated $1 million to the ceremony, while “Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have said they would donate $1 million, along with Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, who donated $1 million”.

    As of January 8, Trump’s inauguration fund had already racked up a record $170 million.

    Anyway, what better way to “Make America Great Again” than by supercharging the plutocracy?

    Declaring at the start of his speech that “the golden age of America begins right now”, Trump went on to express numerous other hallucinations, including that “national unity is now returning to America”. Never mind that the tyranny of an astronomically wealthy minority is not exactly, um, unifying.

    Luckily on Planet Trump, reality is whatever he says it is. And Trump says that “sunlight is pouring over the entire world”.

    ‘Historic executive orders’
    In his speech, Trump announced a “series of historic executive orders” that according to him, will jumpstart the “complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense”.

    Among these executive orders was the declaration of “a national emergency at our southern border”, paving the way for the deportation of “millions and millions of criminal aliens” and entailing the deployment of the US military “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country”.

    Under Trump’s command, the US “will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organisations”. Then there’s the new “official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female”.

    And of course, the more emergencies, the better: “[T]oday I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.”

    Recoiling at the very thought of environmentalism, Trump proclaimed: “We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it.”

    And if we happen to destroy Earth in the process, well, there’s always Mars.

    As usual, the continuous invocation of God during the inauguration ceremony made a fine mockery of the ostensible separation of church and state in the US, and Trump revealed the reason he had survived a July assassination attempt in the state of Pennsylvania: “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

    Overlap with Martin Luther King Jr Day
    Last but not least, Trump took advantage of the overlap of his inauguration with Martin Luther King Jr Day, celebrated annually in the US on the third Monday of January, to pledge that “we will make his dream come true” — which would probably be easier if Trump himself weren’t a bona fide racist.

    Indeed, Trump’s notion that “our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable” would seem to be distinctly at odds with King’s assessment of the US as the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world”.

    None of this is to imply that the Democrats have not done their part in terms of purveying global violence or upholding plutocracy, perpetuating brutal inequality, terrorising refuge seekers, and so on.

    But Tuesday’s inaugural charade was an exercise in nihilism — and, as I return to my scorpions and Trump goes about making dystopia great again, I think I’ll take Mars over the “golden age of America” any day.

    Belén Fernández is the author of Inside Siglo XXI: Locked Up in Mexico’s Largest Immigration Detention Center (OR Books, 2022), Checkpoint Zipolite: Quarantine in a Small Place (OR Books, 2021), and Martyrs Never Die: Travels through South Lebanon (Warscapes, 2016). She writes for numerous publications and this article was first published by Al Jazeera.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Standing for decency: The sermon the President didn’t want to hear

    COMMENTARY: By Nick Rockel

    People get ready
    There’s a train a-coming
    You don’t need no baggage
    You just get on board
    All you need is faith
    To hear the diesels humming
    Don’t need no ticket
    You just thank the Lord

    Songwriter: Curtis Mayfield

    You might have seen Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s speech at the National Prayer Service in the United States following Trump’s elevation to the highest worldly position, or perhaps read about it in the news.

    It’s well worth watching this short clip of her sermon if you haven’t, as the rest of this newsletter is about that and the reaction to it:


    ‘May I ask you to have mercy Mr President.’       Video: C-Span

    I found the sermon courageous, heartfelt, and, above all, decent. It felt like there was finally an adult in the room again. Predictably, Trump and his vile little Vice-President responded like naughty little boys being reprimanded, reacting with anger at being told off in front of all their little mates.

    That response will not have surprised the Bishop. As she prepared to deliver the end of her sermon, you could see her pause to collect her thoughts. She knew she would be criticised for what she was about to say, yet she had the courage to speak it regardless.

    What followed was heartfelt and compelling, as the Bishop talked of the fears of LGBT people and immigrants.

    Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
    Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s speaking at the National Prayer Service. Image: C-Span screenshot

    She spoke of them as if they were human beings like the rest of us, saying they pay their taxes, are not criminals, and are good neighbours.

    The president did not want to hear her message. His anger was building as his snivelling sidekick looked toward him to see how the big chief would respond.

    The President didn't want to hear her message
    The President didn’t want to hear her message. Image: C-Span screenshot

    Vented on social media
    So, how did the leader of the free world react? Did he take it on the chin, appreciating that he now needed to show leadership for all, or did he call the person asking him to show compassion — “nasty”?

    That’s right, it was the second one. I’m afraid there’s no prize for that as you’re all excluded due to inside knowledge of that kind of behaviour from observing David Seymour. The ACT leader responds in pretty much the same way when someone more intelligent and human points out the flaws in his soul.

    Donald then went on his own Truth social media platform, which he set up before he’d tamed the Tech Oligarchs, and vented, “The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a radical left hard-line Trump hater”.

    Which isn’t very polite, but when you think about it, his response should be seen as a badge of honour. Especially for someone of the Christian faith because all those who follow the teachings of Christ ought to be “radical left hard-line Trump haters”, or else they’ve rather missed the point. Don’t you think?

    Certainly, pastor and activist John Pavlovitz thought so, saying, “Christians who voted for him, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Of course, if you were capable of shame, you’d never have voted for him to begin with.”

    Pastor and activist John Pavlovitz responds.
    Pastor and activist John Pavlovitz responds.
    “She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” continued the President, like a schoolyard bully.

    I thought it was a bit rich for a man who has used the church and the bible in order to sell himself to false Christians who worship money, who has even claimed divine intervention from God, to then complain about the Bishop not staying in her lane.

    Speaking out against bigotry
    If religious leaders don’t speak out against bigotry, hatred, and threats to peaceful, decent human beings — then what’s the point?


    I admired Budde’s bravery. Just quietly, the church hasn’t always had the best record of speaking out against those who’ve said the sort of things that Trump is saying.

    If you’re unclear what I mean, I’m talking about Hitler, and it’s nice to see the church, or at least the Bishop, taking the other side this time around. Rather than offering compliance and collaboration, as they did then and as the political establishment in America is doing now.

    Aside from all that, it feels like a weird, topsy-turvy world when the church is asking the government to be more compassionate towards the LGBT community.

    El Douche hadn’t finished and said, “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job! She and her church owe the public an apology!”

    It’s like he just says the opposite of what is happening, and people are so stupid or full of hate that they accept it, even though it’s obviously false.

    So, the Bishop is derided as “nasty” when she is considerate and kind. She is called “Not Smart” when you only have to listen to her to know she is an intelligent, well-spoken person. She is called “Ungracious” when she is polite and respectful.

    Willing wretches
    As is the case with bullies, there are always wretches willing to support them and act similarly to win favour, even as many see them for what they are.

    Mike Collins, a Republican House representative, tweeted, “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.”

    Isn’t that disgusting? An elected politician saying that someone should be deported for daring to challenge the person at the top, even when it is so clearly needed.

    Fox News host Sean Hannity said, “Instead of offering a benediction for our country, for our president, she goes on the far-left, woke tirade in front of Donald Trump and JD Vance, their families, their young children. She made the service about her very own deranged political beliefs with a disgraceful prayer full of fear-mongering and division.”

    Perhaps most despicably, Robert Jeffress, the pastor of Dallas’s First Baptist Church, tweeted this sycophantic garbage:


    Those cronies of Trump seem weak and dishonest to me compared to the words of Bishop Budde herself, who said the following after her sermon:

    “I wanted to say there is room for mercy, there’s room for a broader compassion. We don’t need to portray with a broadcloth in the harshest of terms some of the most vulnerable people in our society, who are, in fact, our neighbours, our friends, our children, our friends, children, and so forth.”

    Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
    Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde a courageous stand. Image: https://cathedral.org/about/leadership/the-rt-rev-mariann-edgar-budde/
    Speaking up or silent?
    Over the next four years, many Americans will have to choose between speaking up on issues they believe in or remaining silent and nodding in agreement.

    The Republican party has made its pact with the Donald, and the Tech Bros have fallen over each other in their desire to kiss his ass; it will be a dark time for many regular people, no doubt, to stand up for what they believe in even as those with power and privilege fall in line behind the tyrant.

    Decoding symbolism in Lord of the Flies
    Decoding symbolism in Lord of the Flies. Image: https://wr1ter.com/decoding-symbolism-in-lord-of-the-flies
    So, although I am not Christian, I am glad to see the Church stand up for those under attack, show courage in the face of the bully, and be the adult in the room when so many bow at the feet of the child with the conch shell.

    In my view Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is a hero, and she does herself great credit with this courageous, compassionate, Christian stand

    First published by Nick’s Kōrero and republished with permission. For more of Nick Rockel’s articles or to subscribe to his blog, click here.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • TikTok Shouldn’t Be Banned, But It Still Values Profit Over Privacy

    The shutdown only lasted a few hours, but it generated no shortage of content. “Fascist countries ban apps. Fascist countries ban websites,” one TikTok user said in a video with more than 12 million views. “TikTok was never just an app. It was a battleground and a sanctuary,” another creator wrote in a viral Instagram post. Similar sentiments proliferated across social media in the days…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The US elite’s battle against TikTok is just the start, suggests pro-Israel lobbyist

    According to a prominent pro-Israel lobbyist, the US elite’s battle against TikTok should just be the start. Because “the next war” will be just as much about controlling the narrative online as it is about the physical fighting.

    “How Israel and its allies perform online” matters

    Political content on TikTok played an important part in the US establishment losing control of the narrative on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It couldn’t use TV or newspapers to manufacture consent for war crimes as it had in the past. So political elites decided to take on TikTok, the only social-media giant not under the control of the US-based super-rich. They could trust the billionaire-owned US media and Facebook owner Meta to follow their pro-Israel lead, but TikTok reflected the overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian sentiment of its millions of younger users instead.

    Prominent pro-Israel lobbyists like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) played an important role in pushing TikTok up the political agenda. And it’s ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt who highlighted the importance of the propaganda war in a recent comment in Israel’s parliament. Drop Site shared a video where Greenblatt says:

    Capturing TikTok might seem less meaningful than holding on to Mount Hermon… but this is urgent, because the next war will be decided based on how Israel and its allies perform online as much as offline.

    In a leaked audio recording, Greenblatt had previously said:

    The issue of United States support for Israel is not left and right. It is young and old.

    And referring to TikTok’s immense popularity among younger demographics, he insisted:

    We really have a TikTok problem, a Gen Z problem

    He’s not alone when it comes to TikTok

    Common Dreams wrote in May 2024, meanwhile, about the role Israel’s genocide played in pushing US politicians to act. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, for example, asserted:

    Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down, potentially, TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts.

    It added that:

    Right-wing lawmakers and commentators have suggested students have been indoctrinated by content shared on social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram, and wouldn’t be protesting otherwise.

    Another key pro-Israel lobby group is the the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has massive power in US politics. And as Truthout reported:

    Vocal proponents of a TikTok ban are among the top recipients of donations from the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC.

    So while Israel is not the only issue in the battle against TikTok, it certainly is a key issue.

    The propaganda war is raging. Which side are you on?

    Israel stopped journalists going into Gaza for a reason. It had to try and control the narrative as it decimated the occupied territory and murdered thousands upon thousands of civilians, including 18,000 children. But brave Palestinian journalists on the ground risked their lives to get the story out. And while Israel reportedly killed over 200 media workers, independent journalists and anti-genocide citizens around the world spread the news far and wide with the help of social media. They were on the frontline of the propaganda battle, on the side of truth and humanity.

    Media control is essential for the corrupt political establishment to keep its power in the US (and elsewhere). The overwhelming majority of the US political establishment is pro-Israel, largely because Israel has always been an outpost, a proxy, a tool, and a defender of the US empire’s interests in the Middle East. In particular, it helped to separate Arab territories that may well have united if there hadn’t been a powerful, divisive force between them. And this helped to ensure that the region’s precious natural resources either remained in friendly hands or could be obtained via covert or overt hostility.

    A change in people’s perceptions of Israel, then, is dangerous for US elites. It makes them very uncomfortable. So although it was initially Republicans pushing for a TikTok ban during Donald Trump’s first administration, it was the Gaza genocide that really brought Democrats along for the ride too. Both wings of the corporate duopoly in the US knew they needed to defend the imperial mission, and thus rushed to Israel’s defence.

    Attacking TikTok was one way to do that. But as Greenblatt suggests, the battle is far from over. And everyone must choose a side. Support the independent journalists fighting back, or submit to a future of mind control and oppression.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Can the Internet Wage Peace? Amidst a Push for War, Chinese and American Citizens Connect Online

    With the Tiktok ban just days away, American youth have started flooding the Chinese social media app RedNote, pushing it into #1 position on the app store. Labeled “Tiktok refugees” by Chinese netizens, the newcomers have been welcomed by app users with open arms, curiosity, and a fair bit of humor.

    Though initially confused at the sudden influx of English speakers, long-dwelling app users quickly connected the dots and were quick to poke fun at the US government’s accusations of China spying on your typical American citizen.

    The app “Xiaohongshu” directly translates to ‘Little Red Book,” but it has been dubbed RedNote in the United States. Many are quick to think of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s famous Little Red Book, though app officials say it isn’t a direct reference. Still, the comedic composition is something to celebrate.

    The Tiktok ban is quite evidently backfiring on the US government. As users snub the ban and move to a real Chinese social media app, spontaneous interactions between US and Chinese citizens are naturally sorting through years and years of anti-China propaganda.

    WAIT! The social credit thing isn’t real??? One user commented, after locals revealed that there is no such thing as a social credit score in China — just one of the many stories the media has falsely fed us.

    The app has ushered in a new wave of cross-cultural learning. Americans have been posting questions like, “How does China feel about Palestine?” and “What does the US government tell us about China that isn’t true?” There’s been comparisons between the US and China health systems (of which China’s is undoubtedly superior) and tours of China’s incredible EVs. The vast number of Americans agree: the US has fallen way behind.

    Not only that, but American citizens cite a new appreciation for China, and the number of people learning Mandarin has grown. Duolingo has already seen a 216% spike. While Chinese citizens have taken it upon themselves to start teaching newcomers common Chinese phrases, Americans simultaneously help local users with their English homework.

    It is more than just cultural exchange, however. This is an unprecedented people-to-people moment, allowing two communities to come together and realize they are more alike than not. Such a realization is desperately needed, and undercuts a rapidly escalating war climate between the US and China.

    Recently, the US approved a $2 billion arms sale to Taiwan, citing potential war with China. In response, China sanctioned numerous US weapons companies for violating the one-China principle and destabilizing the region. War talk isn’t new — the US government has been pushing and planning for it ever since China rose to power in the early 2000s. A natural threat to US global hegemony, our politicians have been plotting the fall of China for decades, spending billions and billions of dollars to militarize the region around China and pushing a narrative of hatred and fear in the media.

    Just this week, China hawk Marco Rubio underwent his Secretary of State confirmation hearing. Due to his push for war against China, he has been travel-sanctioned by the Chinese government for years. Our nation’s top “diplomat” is going to have some trouble conducting diplomacy when he’s unable to even travel to the nation where we need it most. Not that anything Rubio does could ever be considered diplomacy.

    But despite the constant anti-China rhetoric plaguing our politicians and media, new RedNote users appear to be taking a different path:

    The internet is a modern tool not previously available to the people during the great power wars of previous decades. It provides a fresh avenue that can circumvent the weaponization of the media and allow people to easily connect from different sides of the globe.

    Perhaps an app like RedNote is exactly what we need to continue diffusing all the anti-China propaganda attempting to manufacture consent for the next great war. It’s about time the people decide for themselves who they should and shouldn’t be calling “enemy” rather than adhering to the whims of a war-obsessed government.

    The post Can the Internet Wage Peace? Amidst a Push for War, Chinese and American Citizens Connect Online first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • How Fossil Fuel Sectors Create A Climate Denial Echo Chamber

    From 2008 to 2023, nine of the nation’s largest oil, agrichemical, and plastics trade groups and corporations posted thousands of tweets on the social media platform X, and their messaging on environmental issues was strikingly “obstructive” for climate policy and action, a study published today in the journal PLOS Climate concludes.

    The study found that all of the organizations, including the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), were mentioned by at least four of the other groups – helping to essentially create an echo chamber for similar messages.

    The post How Fossil Fuel Sectors Create A Climate Denial Echo Chamber appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Young People Flock To Chinese App RedNote Ahead Of TikTok Ban

    With a potential TikTok ban on January 19 looming over the United States, American TikTok users are moving en masse to RedNote, a Chinese social media app. Known in China as Xianhongshu, which literally translates to “little red book” (yes, the allegory isn’t lost here), the app is currently sitting at the top of the social media charts in the App store, gaining over half a million new users over the last few days.

    In a display of camaraderie, users — monikered “TikTok refugees” on the platform — flocked to RedNote, and Chinese and American users have taken to using the shared platform as an opportunity of a rare and (as of yet) fraternal cultural exchange.

    The post Young People Flock To Chinese App RedNote Ahead Of TikTok Ban appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Vanuatu election: Preparation almost complete for snap ballot

    By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Port Vila

    The electoral commission in Vanuatu is trying its best to clear up some confusion with the voting process for tomorrow’s snap election.

    Principal Electoral Officer Guilain Malessas said this is due to the tight turnaround to deliver this election after Parliament was dissolved last year.

    The Vanuatu Electoral Office has confirmed that 52 seats, across 18 constituencies, will be contested by 217 candidates, seven of whom are women.

    But Malessas said against all odds, preparations were almost complete.

    The final ballot boxes are being deployed to the farthest polling stations in the country and final checks are being carried out.

    He said the premature dissolution of parliament last year forced them to have to deliver an election a year early, and within a two-month timeframe, as required in the constitution.

    Worked around the clock
    Then last month’s 7.3 magnitude quake struck and he said they had worked around the clock.

    “The final challenge that remains is for us to make sure all the ballot boxes that we have deployed have reached all the polling stations safely,” he said.

    “Also, there is the challenge of a new ballot structure which we have not had enough awareness on.”

    He said they had not had enough time to conduct community awareness about the new system, and there was also new electoral legislation, which was passed in preparation for 2026 — the original date for the next election.

    “With the new ballot structure you just have a single page with all the candidates and their symbols on it and you just have to tick the one you want,” Malessas said.

    “We have not had enough awareness.

    “We have used all existing social media platforms but lots of people in rural areas do not have access to these things.”

    Extra training
    Malessas said they had had extra training for polling station officials to help voters on Thursday, and had printed lots of informational material to be posted up at polling stations.

    He said election candidates had also been conducting awareness during their political campaigns.

    With the December 17 earthquake forcing the relocation of many polling stations, they were also anticipating people turning up with national ID cards at the wrong polling stations.

    To manage this, they plan to verify that the person is a resident of the constituency and that their ID card was issued before the close of voter registrations for this election on 3 December 2024.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The US government wants TikTok banned because it’s lost control of the narrative

    The US government’s threat to ban TikTok is a massive attempt at censorship. For the country’s corrupt political establishment to keep its power, media control is essential. And amid the social-media livestreaming of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, it was clear the establishment had lost control of the narrative. It couldn’t manufacture mass public support for its ally’s atrocious war crimes. So something had to change. That’s why it targeted TikTok, the only social-media giant not under the control of the US-based super-rich.

    The US media on the whole carried water for Israel as its genocide developed in late 2023. Facebook owner Meta, meanwhile, loyally helped to manufacture consent for the genocide. But TikTok reflected the sentiment of its millions of users. As Vox reported:

     It is an app dominated by young people, and young people happen to sympathize with Palestine.

    The overwhelming majority of the US political establishment, however, is pro-Israel. And it’s felt very uncomfortable about people sympathising with the Palestinian people during Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. It was initially Republicans pushing for a TikTok ban during Donald Trump’s first administration. But it was the Gaza genocide that really brought Democrats along for the ride too.

    TikTok was already a target. But Israel’s genocide was the gamechanger.

    Award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald made it clear just how important the US losing control of the narrative over Israel was in the battle against TikTok, saying:

    Every serious news account of how this “ban TikTok bill” suddenly gained momentum – seemingly out of nowhere – emphasizes Oct. 7, when Bipartisan DC became enraged so many Americans were allowed to criticize Israel.

    He also highlighted the role that prominent pro-Israel lobbyists like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) played in pushing TikTok up the agenda. ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has long conflated opposition to Israel’s settler-colonial violence with antisemitism. This is wrong and dangerous, but a common strategy of the pro-Israel lobby. And Greenwald highlighted how Greenblatt’s comments about TikTok marked a change in pace in the political establishment’s battle against the social-media giant.

    In leaked audio, Greenblatt said:

    The issue of United States support for Israel is not left and right. It is young and old.

    And referring to TikTok’s immense popularity among younger demographics, he insisted:

    We really have a TikTok problem, a Gen Z problem

    Another key pro-Israel lobby group is the the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which has massive power in US politics. And as Truthout reported:

    Vocal proponents of a TikTok ban are among the top recipients of donations from the pro-Israeli lobby group AIPAC.

    Israel isn’t the only reason the US political establishment wants to counter TikTok’s power. But its loss of control of the narrative amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza was, without a doubt, a significant catalyst in pushing it to act.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Child sexual abuse is not about ethnicity or politics. It’s about toxic men.

    Canary writer Ed Sykes outlines our position on child sexual abuse and its current weaponisation by the far-right. Some readers may find this content distressing.

    Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a stain on humanity. And experts have already told Conservative and Labour governments what to do to deal with it. But the political will hasn’t been there. This has allowed the far right to weaponise the issue, spreading lies to further their racist, corporate agenda while diverting people’s justifiable anger away from the true causes of the crisis. To push for a meaningful solution to the problem, here’s the context we all need to be aware of, in seven key points.

    1) Child sexual abuse must not become a political football

    CSA is a complex issue, but it’s nothing to do with ethnicity or religion. Statistics consistently show this. Nonetheless, billionaire Elon Musk and other far-right figures have been acting like this is somehow Labour’s fault. And former Blairite MP Ivor Caplin facing a paedophilia scandal certainly doesn’t paint the party in a good light.

    Caplin was a prominent supporter of the disastrous invasion of Iraq, before going on to work with the arms trade lobby and other companies that stood to benefit from the aftermath. He also chaired a pro-Israel lobby group, the Jewish Labour Movement, at a time when it was playing a leading role in smearing Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. As late as November 2024, he was defending Keir Starmer’s Labour despite the party suspending him earlier in the year.

    However, the CSA scandal is not about one political group. Because the far right – including Musk himself – has long faced its own allegations of sexual offences. So before anything else, it’s important to remember that sexual violence is everywhere. It’s not about a particular social group or institution. It’s about abuse of power, misogyny, and chronic institutional failures.

    And the facts are tragic. Around half a million children face sexual abuse every year in Britain. Yet studies suggest only 15% report it, while only a tiny fraction of these cases lead to convictions. One report said “at least one in 10 children in England and Wales are sexually abused before the age of 16”. Abusers, meanwhile, come from all communities in the UK, in proportion to the population. The overwhelming majority, however, are men.

    2) Stop misinformation. Implement the recommendations.

    On 6 January, the Survivors Trust insisted that the “troubling trend of misinformation” we have seen in recent days “undermines the true scale of the crisis and the pressing need for reform”. And it highlighted that:

    The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), which heard from over 7,500 victims and survivors, provided a clear roadmap for action. Yet, two years later, none of its recommendations have been fully implemented.

    It called “for the establishment of a Child Protection Authority (CPA)”, which “would ensure the implementation of IICSA’s key recommendations”.

    The Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre (RASASC), meanwhile, has stressed that:

    Abusers come from every stratum of society, every ethnicity, every socio-economic group. There are no exceptions. Wherever there are children, abusers will be sure to work, play or live nearby.

    Hierarchical institutions where a power dynamic is at play (like in religion, care homes, politics, or showbusiness) are often a perfect environment for abusers to work. But as RASASC stressed, CSA can happen in any environment or profession.

    Far-right attempts to convince us that a certain section of the population is responsible for CSA or that the establishment has covered such a situation up is demonstrably false. In reality, the only clear statistical conclusion is that we have a problem with misogyny and patriarchy. Because males are overwhelmingly the abusers and females are the ones they usually abuse. And giving attention to people trying to racialise CSA only serves, as academics Ella Cockbain and Waqas Tufail wrote in 2020, to:

    obscure from view institutional failures, contemptible attitudes towards victims, many of them working-class girls and young women, and a reluctance to acknowledge that austerity-related cuts have decimated services dedicated to tackling sexual abuse and violence.

    3) We all need to talk about child sexual abuse more clearly

    CSA is not a new phenomenon. And unfortunately, the way people have discussed the issue has long been inappropriate.

    Back in 2001, for example, the BBC was talking about the “child prostitution crisis”. And it wasn’t alone. Rather than clearly talking about abuse and exploitation, commentators made it sound like children were consciously choosing to submit themselves to CSA. But even then, the BBC was clear that the care system had failed countless children, partly because it was “too difficult and too expensive” to help them.

    The way the media and others often frame CSA from different social groups is also dangerous. By talking about white abusers as a “paedophile ring”, for example, and Asian or Muslim abusers as a “grooming gang”, they’re creating an artificial distinction. As a former prosecutor in such cases, Nazir Afzal said:

    One day I was prosecuting a ‘grooming gang’, the next a ‘paedophile ring’. … For me they were all child sex abusers

    But by using the highly emotive word “gang” in one case, and the much less menacing “ring” in another, commentators create a subconscious emotional hierarchy that generates different levels of outrage.

    This is organised child exploitation. It is child rape. It is child sexual assault. It’s child sexual abuse.

    We mustn’t pick and choose which cases to talk about. All CSA is terrible. All of it must end.

    4) The longstanding tradition of institutional inaction against abusers

    Around the UK, children’s homes have long been a key site of CSA:

    • In Rochdale, institutional complacency, complicity, inaction, and victim blaming allowed former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith and others to continue abusing children for years. Smith even got a knighthood, despite political leaders (including Margaret Thatcher) being aware of allegations against him.
    • In Lambeth, there was a “culture of cover-up” at the council that allowed the abuse of children in care homes in south London for decades. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse said the children had become “pawns in a toxic power game within Lambeth Council and between the council and central government”.
    • In Belfast, police admitted failing to look into allegations of sexual abuse at Kincora Boys’ Home, amid “systemic failings”. British governments, meanwhile, allegedly tried to stop a full inquiry for intelligence reasons. MI5 was apparently aware of abuse but because of Kincora’s links to far-right informer William McGrath, it sought to cover matters up in part by destroying files.
    • Regarding Jimmy Savile’s infamous abuse, the BBC reportedly ‘missed opportunities’, while official reports on him “marginalised the proactive, enabling role of the BBC, the NHS and the British establishment”. As academics Chris Greer and Eugene McLaughlin insist, this “multi-institutional masking… co-produced his ‘untouchable’ status and enabled him for decades to deflect and discredit rumour, gossip and allegations about his sexually predatory behaviour.” These core institutions played a “pivotal role”, becoming ‘interdependent’ on Savile for financial reasons, but have not really faced justice “for enabling, covering up or failing properly to investigate what he did”. This pattern has repeated itself in the cases of numerous powerful celebrities who, thanks to their money and influence, have been able “to manipulate the media, neutralise allegations, silence victims and abuse with impunity”.

    5) Institutions shamefully blamed victims for their abuse

    Partly because of the risk of far-right figures jumping on minority abusers guilty of CSA – which has helped to fuel racist attacks on innocent people – there have been cases (like in Telford) where institutions have expressed concern over “race relations”, and where it may have contributed to inaction. But as Ella Cockbain has insisted:

    ‘political correctness’ has never been the sole or even the main explanatory factor for inaction

    As she highlighted:

    Focusing on that detracts from major issues, such as derisory attitudes to victims and survivors of child sexual abuse – who were all too often ignored, blamed and even criminalised.

    Campaigner Julie Bindel has backed this up, stressing in 2024 that:

    In many cases, girls subjected to such abuse, no matter the racial and religious background of their abusers, are not believed by the police, and at times they are even blamed for what happened to them.

    When Rochdale emerged as one of the CSA scandals involving ethnic minority abusers, the council and police invested insufficient resources in helping the victims. As the BBC reported:

    Girls as young as 13 who were horrifically abused were branded “child prostitutes” – judged, blamed and disbelieved. Sometimes they were even arrested themselves.

    There were similar failures in places like Oldham and Oxford. And amid the care system’s “blatant” failures in Rotherham, “police failed to act… because working-class girls were treated with utter contempt by those in power”. As journalist Taj Ali pointed out:

    This is a pattern of neglect, with numerous instances of victim-blaming.

    6) Dealing with toxic masculinity is key

    Men are overwhelmingly responsible for CSA, and for violent crime in general. It’s not men from specific ethnic or religious groups we need to worry about. It’s men who have certain ways of viewing their own power and how that relates to people they perceive to be less powerful than them. In some cases, there may be personality disorders at play. In others, it’s more about the circumstances they’ve grown up in.

    As the Guardian‘s Sonia Sodha has written, stereotypes and expectations abound when kids are growing up. This includes “the idea that girls are sweet and boys are tough”, that they watch different programmes, behave differently, and play with different toys (think dolls and guns). And studies have shown that some boys who’ve had “adverse childhood experiences” may have a “greater propensity to violence”. The fact that we’ve had years of cuts to children’s support services, meanwhile, just adds to an already massive problem.

    Australia’s Our Watch, which aims to prevent violence against women, says:

    While there isn’t one way of being a man, there are more dominant forms of masculinity that many men feel pressure to conform to and uphold. And rigid adherence to dominant forms of masculinity is a driver of violence against women.

    The Pathfinders organisation, seeking to advance “peace, justice, inclusion, and equality”, highlights the impact of negative masculinities. For example:

    The idea that being tough, violent, or physically dominant is a male trait has its roots in specific concepts of masculinity that have spread from some military to state institutions and then to society at large—and can be exploited to drive boys and men to use violence to assert their social status.

    It adds that:

    Media, advertising, video games, and movies reinforce the connection between gun ownership and masculinity, promoting and misconstruing violence as an accepted aspect of male identity.

    The dominance of misogynistic pornography is undoubtedly another key factor. In particular, studies have suggested that the younger boys first see porn, the more sexist their attitudes tend to be as adults.

    There has been some interesting research proposing the promotion of positive masculinities in order to reduce violence. And Pathfinders provides some examples of where this may be working.

    7) Increasing investment in preventing child sexual abuse is essential

    Leading politicians have long failed to treat CSA as the appalling scandal it is. Indeed, one inquiry said Westminster institutions have “regularly put their own reputations or political interests before child protection”, with behaviour ranging “from turning a blind eye to actively shielding abusers” in the political system.

    Far-right agitators who focus on CSA only tend to do so when they think they can exploit people’s justifiable anger to further their racist, divisive agenda. They don’t care that it’s the “availability and vulnerability” of victims that often pushes abusers into action rather than religion or ethnicity. Men of all communities opportunistically seize chances when they arise, which is often when politicians, institutions, and police officers don’t have the will or resources to tackle what is a complex issue to resolve.

    The government must implement the IICSA’s recommendations. It must also invest sufficient resources in systems to prevent CSA and to ensure that abusers face justice. And it must take steps to ensure that cynical racists are unable spread dangerous disinformation that diverts attention and anger away from the true drivers of the ongoing CSA crisis.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Meta’s Allowance of Hate Speech Is Another Side Effect of Big Tech Monopoly

    The latest “free speech” proclamation from a Big Tech billionaire has caused both alarm and a collective eyeroll. Digital rights activists say the debate over freedom of speech and content moderation has devolved into a partisan food fight without challenging the virtual monopolies that a few wealthy companies hold over our data and online experience. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s announced on…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Jeremy Corbyn takes merciless aim at Elon Musk in spicy subtweet

    With billionaire Elon Musk weighing into UK politics, Jeremy Corbyn made a critical point about super-rich ownership of our media. And it went viral:


    Not only does Elon Musk own X (formerly Twitter), but fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg (worth £167bn) has a controlling stake in Meta. That’s of course the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads. These websites are the digital infrastructure that facilitate everybody’s communication, expression and even act as marketplaces.

    It makes no sense for a billionaire to control such infrastructure, just as it makes no sense for billionaires to control the roads that everyone with a car drives on, or the water everyone drinks or the energy everyone uses. But of course, in the UK, rich shareholders do and Tony Blair’s thinktank has even recommended the charging of rent on our roads.

    “Mechanisms for people to participate” in social media organisation

    James Muldoon is author of Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim Our Digital Future from Big Tech. In Jacobin, he writes:

    Platforms like Google and Facebook are public utilities that are fast becoming essential for living in our hyper-connected societies. We need a fundamental reorientation of the ownership and governance structures of platforms, so they are run for the people and not for profit.

    Muldoon argues that we should approach the issue differently to prescribing more government regulation. He continues:

    The greater the power and public role of certain digital platforms, the greater the need not simply to regulate them as public utilities, but to bring the service they offer back under public ownership and democratic control. We need to build open and inclusive platforms and provide mechanisms for people to participate in them and decide on how they are organised.

    Shareholder models necessitate the extraction of as much monetary value as possible from the infrastructure. Muldoon points out that this can lead to owners fostering misinformation and a lack of privacy; exactly what Elon Musk is currently doing. That’s in order to “maximise the amount of time individuals spend on the platform”.

    Of course, what’s most concerning is that individual, corporate control of social media can lead to the throttling of posts that are politically sensitive. In December 2023, Human Rights Watch called out Meta for what it calls “systematic censorship” of content related to Palestinians on Facebook and Instagram. This includes the banning of activists from Instagram, who had up to six million followers.

    Elon Musk: the game should be up

    That said, the government could also censor content, which is why Muldoon argues we need to move “beyond nationalisation”. He continues:

    Calls for the democratization of the platform economy need not involve an overly centralized model of twentieth-century state socialism. There are a number of current publicly owned utilities, such as Scottish Water, that are operated by independent statutory organisations that are nevertheless accountable to the public through the government.

    We can also turn to new forms of democratic and public ownership that could be dispersed across the local, regional, national, and international levels.

    Featured image via TED – YouTube and Vice News – YouTube

    By James Wright

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Exposing Big Tech’s Complicity In Genocide

    The vast censorship and suppression campaign launched by American tech companies since October 7, 2023 has been both systemic and deliberate. Instagram, Facebook, X as well as other tech platforms and companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple have actively worked to stifle information regarding the genocide in Gaza. Dissent against policies or individuals who enable these decisions is often met with swift reprimand in the form of job loss.

    Joining host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report are three courageous individuals who chose to put their careers on the line to fight against Big Tech suppression of voices fighting for Palestinian lives.

    The post Exposing Big Tech’s Complicity In Genocide appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • In 2025, We Must Show Up for Each Other and Our Movements

    A new, intimidating year is upon us. Catastrophes abound and the threat of autocracy looms large. As we prepare ourselves for the struggles ahead, many people are feeling discouraged or confused about how to move forward. As I have made my own preparations for the new year, I have talked with some of my brilliant friends — people like Mariame Kaba, Shane Burley, Dean Spade…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Calls For A Migrant Labor Strike Grow On Social Media

    Since the xenophobia-fueled presidential re-election of Donald Trump, calls have been growing on social media for a pro-immigrant labor strike beginning on January 11, days before Trump is to take office. The emerging movement’s goal is to highlight the social, cultural, and economic importance of immigrants in the United States. The Trump campaign’s racist rhetoric — targeted at Latin Americans and Caribbean Islanders — is an urgent threat driving the need to speak out against his proposed immigration policies — such as the plan to conduct mass deportations.

    The post Calls For A Migrant Labor Strike Grow On Social Media appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Lawmakers and Free Speech Groups Urge SCOTUS to Overturn Impending TikTok Ban

    On Friday evening, President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief with the Supreme Court that took no position on whether a ban on TikTok would violate First Amendment rights. Instead, he wrote that he has “consummate deal-making expertise,” and as president would be able to “negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government.”…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • New reports prove Facebook owner Meta has manufactured consent for Israel’s genocide

    Billionaire corporation Meta – the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – has received two massive blows to its reputation this week. Because on 18 December, two separate reports showed how the company has helped to manufacture consent for Israel’s genocide in Gaza by systematically targeting and silencing Palestinian voices.

    On one hand, BBC News Arabic carried out a “comprehensive analysis of Facebook data” and revealed that “Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience” since October 2023. It also saw “leaked documents showing that Instagram” made its algorithm “more aggressive” in that month to increase its “moderation of Palestinian user comments”.

    On the other hand, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media (7amleh) released a report on how Meta has systematically “erased and suppressed” Palestinian voices since October 2023. Within a year, “out of 1551 censorship-related digital rights violations documented through the Palestine Observatory of Digital Rights Violations (7or), 69% of those violations were reported to have occurred on Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram”.

    Palestinian engagement slashed, Israeli engagement increased

    BBC News Arabic analysed “engagement data on the Facebook pages of 20 prominent Palestinian-based news organisations”, comparing the year up to 7 October 2023 with the year that followed. Engagement, it explained, means things like the “comments, reactions and shares” that posts receive. And it pointed out that it would be normal for engagement to increase “during a period of war”.

    The results presented a stark picture of bias. Because while the engagement of the Palestinian organisations plummeted by a whopping 77%, “data analysis on the Facebook pages of 20 Israeli news organisations” showed an increase in engagement of about 37%. “The same analysis on Facebook pages for 30 prominent Arabic-language news sources” outside Palestine also showed a surge in engagement. So it was just Palestinian engagement that fell significantly, while engagement outside Palestine grew. Clear as day.

    This difference matters all the more because social media has stepped in to fill the vacuum that Israel has created with its tight control of which journalists can enter Gaza during its genocidal campaign there. It also matters because media workers are risking their lives in occupied Gaza to document what’s happening there. Since October 2023, Israeli occupation forces have reportedly murdered 196 media workers. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that, of the journalists who were killed in 2024, “Israel is responsible for two-thirds of those deaths and yet continues to act with total impunity”.

    In December 2023, Human Rights Watch had already spoken of “systemic online censorship” at Meta, with the corporation “silencing voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook in a wave of heightened censorship of social media”.

    Meta ‘complicit in injustice via its collective silencing of Palestinian voices’

    7amleh, meanwhile, explained in its report that:

    Over the years, Meta’s content moderation policies have demonstrated a troubling and consistent pattern of suppressing Palestinian voices while allowing harmful and inflammatory content targeting Palestinians to remain, particularly during critical moments of conflict

    Via “testimonies from Palestinian journalists, influencers, and media organizations who are active users of Meta platforms”, the group documented “the systematic censorship and digital rights violations that they have experienced”.

    For example, Meta lowered its “automated moderation system’s confidence threshold for content by “users in Palestinian territories” to 25%, down from 80% previously”. This led to “the removal of significantly more content”. And as 7amleh stressed:

    This is a disproportionate and discriminatory measure. Palestinian journalists, influencers, and media organizations faced severe restrictions that limited the reach of their content and affected their ability to share vital information, organize, or advocate for their rights.

    It added:

    The disproportionate over-moderation measures implemented by Meta had a wide-reaching impact in silencing Palestinian voices collectively. Meta’s policies not only suppressed Palestinian voices but also allowed rampant hate speech and incitement against Palestinians. The company’s AI-driven systems exhibited bias, such as flagging Palestinian content as harmful while failing to act against incitement to violence in Hebrew.

    Meta’s policies, it asserted, forced Palestinians to face “discrimination, economic deprivation, and psychological harm”. And as it emphasised:

    The silencing of Palestinian journalists and human rights defenders strips them of their ability to inform the world about the realities on the ground, turning Meta’s platforms into accomplices of suppression

    It also “led to a widespread erosion of trust in Meta’s platforms”, the group argued. As it concluded:

    Meta’s actions have profound real-world consequences, and its role in dehumanizing Palestinians and silencing their stories makes it complicit in perpetuating injustice

    Meta has shown once and for all – it is part of the descent into dystopia

    The billionaire corporation has, of course, denied showing bias in its silencing of content. But the evidence speaks for itself. Meta has sided with settler-colonial genocide and the imperialist project that has armed, funded, and supported it.

    As civil society network APC (the Association for Progressive Communications) said in October:

    Over one year into the war on Gaza, we continue to see escalations in human rights violations through the use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI). Tech companies have been facilitating Israel’s atrocities against civilians through censorship, surveillance, cyber attacks, disruption of services, mis/disinformation and weaponisation of communication technologies, enjoying full impunity and a shocking lack of accountability.

    We now know more clearly than ever which are the forces that are happy with our descent into dystopia and which aren’t. And if we’re going to stop that trend, we need to unite behind the forces that aren’t.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Whiny baby Nigel Farage is mad his milkshake assassin avoided jail

    Nigel Farage has repeated a popular right wing conspiracy theory, claiming that there is a “two-tier justice system”:

    Victoria Thomas Bowen, after following an impulse many of us have had, threw a milkshake at Farage and “given a 13-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months” and:

    ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work, 15 days of rehabilitation and pay the Clacton MP £150 in compensation.

    She hardly got off scot-free, but Farage still isn’t satisfied. That’s in spite of the fact that Thomas Bowen has also had to pay £17.50 to Farage’s security guard for “criminal damage” to his jacket. It’s always good to see justice prevail, isn’t it?

    Nigel Farage: pussio writ large

    The reaction on social media was scathing, to say the least:

    Of course, #FarageRiots is a reference to Farage’s stoking of rhetoric during the race riots earlier this year:

    In fact, a poll earlier this year found that half of voters believed Farage to be responsible for the riots. Just as tensions were simmering, Farage posted a video that “repeated misinformation which claimed the suspect was under surveillance by security services.”

    At the time, Green Party councillor Amanda Onwuemene said:

    Nigel Farage has whipped up violence and incited hatred by consistently making totally inaccurate claims.

    He has spent years encouraging racism and toxifying our public debate and has significant responsibility for the horrific violence we’ve seen over the past week.

    Double standards

    As usual, slimy toad (sorry to toads) Farage hasn’t really thought things through:

    Nigel Farage has long blighted British public life with his barely veiled racist opinions. While he’s busy cosying up to Musk and Trump, the rest of us have to live with the consequences of him stoking up racism every time he needs a few clicks and headlines.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/On Demand News

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Enforcing the social media age ban will cost $50m

    The federal government will spend more than $50 million enforcing Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s over the next four years, as it steps up its oversight of Big Tech giants. The new funding, revealed in the 2024-24 Mid-Year-Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) on Wednesday, will be used for regulatory oversight of the new…

    The post Enforcing the social media age ban will cost $50m appeared first on InnovationAus.com.

    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • RNZ Mediawatch: Under the sinking lid from offshore tech companies

    By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter

    This week, Minister of Racing Winston Peters announced the end of greyhound racing in the interests of animal welfare.

    Soon after, a law to criminalise killing of redundant racing dogs was passed under urgency in Parliament.

    The next day, the minister introduced the Racing Industry Amendment Bill to preserve the TAB’s lucrative monopoly on sports betting which provides 90 percent of the racing industry’s revenue.

    “Offshore operators are consolidating a significant market share of New Zealand betting — and the revenue which New Zealand’s racing industry relies on is certainly not guaranteed,” Peters told Parliament in support of the Bill.

    But offshore tech companies have also been pulling the revenue rug out from under local news media companies for years, and there has been no such speedy response to that.

    Digital platforms offer cheap and easy access to unlimited overseas content — and tech companies’ dominance of the digital advertising systems and the resulting revenue is intensifying.

    Profits from online ads shown to New Zealanders go offshore — and very little tax is paid on the money made here by the likes of Google and Facebook.

    On Tuesday, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith did introduce legislation to repeal advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays.

    “As the government we must ensure regulatory settings are enabling the best chance of success,” he said in a statement.

    The media have been crying out for this low-hanging fruit for years — but the estimated $6 million boost is a drop in the bucket for broadcasters, and little help for other media.

    The big bucks are in tech platforms paying for the local news they carry.

    Squeezing the tech titans
    In Australia, the government did it three years ago with a bargaining code that is funnelling significant sums to news media there. It also signalled the willingness of successive governments to confront the market dominance of ‘big tech’.

    When Goldsmith took over here in May he said the media industry’s problems were both urgent and acute – likewise the need to “level the playing field”.

    The government then picked up the former government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, modelled on Australia’s move.

    But it languishes low down on Parliament’s order paper, following threats from Google to cut news out of its platforms in New Zealand – or even cut and run from New Zealand altogether.

    Six years after his Labour predecessor Kris Faafoi first pledged to follow in Australia’s footsteps in support of local media, Goldsmith said this week he now wants to wait and see how Australia’s latest tough measures pan out.

    (The News Bargaining Incentive announced on Thursday could allow the Australian government to tax big digital platforms if they do not pay local news publishers there)

    Meanwhile, news media cuts and closures here roll on.

    The lid keeps sinking in 2024

    Duncan Greive
    The Spinoff’s Duncan Greive . . . “The members’ bucket is pretty solid. The commercial bucket was going quite well, and then we just ran into a brick wall.” Image: RNZ Mediawatch

    “I’ve worked in the industry for 30 years and never seen a year like it,” RNZ’s Guyon Espiner wrote in The Listener this week, admitting to “a sense of survivor’s guilt”.

    Just this month, 14 NZME local papers will close and more TVNZ news employees will be told they will lose jobs in what Espiner described as “destroy the village to save the village” strategy.

    Whakaata Māori announced 27 job losses earlier this month and the end of Te Ao Māori News every weekday on TV. Its te reo channel will go online-only.

    Digital start-ups with lower overheads than established news publishers and broadcasters are now struggling too.

    “The Spinoff had just celebrated its 10th birthday when a fiscal hole opened up. Staff numbers are being culled, projects put on ice and a mayday was sent out calling for donations to keep the site afloat,” Espiner also wrote in his bleak survey for The Listener.

    Spinoff founder Duncan Grieve has charted the economic erosion of the media all year at The Spinoff and on its weekly podcast The Fold.

    In a recent edition, he said he could not carry on “pretending things would be fine” and did not want The Spinoff to go down without giving people the chance to save it.

    “We get some (revenue) direct from our audience through members, some commercial revenue and we get funding for various New Zealand on Air projects typically,” Greive told RNZ Mediawatch this week.

    “The members’ bucket is pretty solid. The commercial bucket was going quite well, and then we just ran into a brick wall. There has been a real system-wide shock to commercial revenues.

    “But the thing that we didn’t predict which caused us to have to publish that open letter was New Zealand on Air. We’ve been able to rely on getting one or two projects up, but we’ve missed out two rounds in a row. Maybe our projects . . .  weren’t good enough, but it certainly had this immediate, near-existential challenge for us.”

    Critics complained The Spinoff has had millions of dollars in public money in its first decade.

    “While the state is under no obligation to fund our work, it’s hard to watch as other platforms continue to be heavily backed while your own funding stops dead,” Greive said in the open letter.

    The open letter said Creative NZ funding had been halved this year, and the Public Interest Journalism Fund support for two of The Spinoff’s team of 31 was due to run out next year.

    “I absolutely take on the chin the idea that we shouldn’t be reliant on that funding. Once you experience something year after year, you do build your business around that . . .  for the coming year. When a hard-to-predict event like that comes along, you are in a situation where you have to scramble,” Grieve told Mediawatch.

    “We shot a flare up that our audience has responded to. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re really pleased with the strength of support and an influx of members.”

    Paddy Gower outside the Newshub studio after news of its closure. Image: RNZ/Marika Khabazi

    Newshub shutdown
    A recent addition to The Spinoff’s board — Glen Kyne — has already felt the force of the media’s economic headwinds in 2024.

    He was the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery NZ and oversaw the biggest and most comprehensive news closure of the year — the culling of the entire Newshub operation.

    “It was heart-wrenching because we had looked at and tried everything leading into that announcement. I go back to July 2022, when we started to see money coming out of the market and the cost of living crisis starting to appear,” Kyne told Mediawatch this week.

    “We started taking steps immediately and were incredibly prudent with cost management. We would get to a point where we felt reasonably confident that we had a path, but the floor beneath our feet — in terms of the commercial market — kept falling. You’re seeing this with TVNZ right now.”

    Warner Brothers Discovery is a multinational player in broadcast media. Did they respond to requests for help?

    “They were empathetic. But Warner Brothers Discovery had lost 60-70 percent of its share price because of the issues around global media companies as well. They were very determined that we got the company to a position of profitability as quickly as we possibly could. But ultimately the economics were such that we had to make the decision.”

    Smaller but sustainable in 2025? Or managed decline?

    WBD Boss Glen Kyne
    Glen Kyne is a recent addition to the Spinoff’s board . . . “It’s slightly terrifying because the downward pressures are going to continue into next year.” Image: RNZ/Nick Monro

    Kyne did a deal with Stuff to supply a 6pm news bulletin to TV channel Three after the demise of Newshub in July.

    He is one of a handful of people who know the sums, but Stuff is certainly producing ThreeNews now with a fraction of the former budget for Newshub.

    Can media outlets settle on a shape that will be sustainable, but smaller — and carry on in 2025 and beyond? Or does Kyne fear media are merely managing decline if revenue continues to slump?

    “It’s slightly terrifying because the downward pressures are going to continue into next year. Three created a sustainable model for the 6pm bulletin to continue.

    “Stuff is an enormous newsgathering organisation, so they were able to make it work and good luck to them. I can see that bulletin continuing to improve as the team get more experience.”

    No news is really bad news
    If news can’t be sustained at scale in commercial media companies even on reduced budgets, what then?

    Some are already pondering a “post-journalism” future in which social media takes over as the memes of sharing news and information.

    How would that pan out?

    “We might be about to find out,” Greive told Mediawatch.

    “Journalism doesn’t have a monopoly on information, and there are all kinds of different institutions that now have channels. A lot of what is created . . .  has a factual basis. Whether it’s a TikTok-er or a YouTuber, they are themselves consumers of news.

    “A lot of people are replacing a habit of reading the newspaper and listening to ZB or RNZ with a new habit — consuming social media. Some of it has a news-like quality but it doesn’t have vetting of the information and membership of the Media Council . . .  as a way of restraining behaviour.

    “We’ve got a big question facing us as a society. Either news becomes this esoteric, elite habit that is either pay-walled or alternatively there’s public media. If we [lose] freely-accessible, mass-audience channels, then we’ll find out what democracy, the business sector, the cultural sector looks like without that.

    “In communities where there isn’t a single journalist, a story can break or someone can put something out . . .  and if there’s no restraint on that and no check on it, things are going to happen.

    “In other countries, most notably Australia, they’ve recognised this looming problem, and there’s a quite muscular and joined-up regulator and legislator to wrestle with the challenges that represents. And we’re just not seeing that here.”

    They are in Australia.

    In addition to the News Bargaining Code and the just-signalled News Bargaining Incentive, the Albanese government is banning social media for under-16s. Meta has responded to pressure to combat financial scam advertising on Facebook.

    Here, the media policy paralysis makes the government’s ferries plan look decisive. What should it do in 2025?

    To-do in 2025
    “There are fairly obvious things that could be done that are being done in other jurisdictions, even if it’s as simple as having a system of fines and giving the Commerce Commission the power to sort of scrutinise large technology platforms,” Greive told Mediawatch.

    “You’ve got this general sense of malaise over the country and a government that’s looking for a narrative. It’s shocking when you see Australia, where it’s arguably the biggest political story — but here we’re just doing nothing.”

    Not quite. There was the holiday ad reform legislation this week.

    “Allowing broadcasting Christmas Day and Easter is a drop in the ocean that’s not going to materially change the outcome for any company here,” Kyne told Mediawatch.

    “The Fair Digital News Bargaining bill was conceived three years ago and the world has changed immeasurably.

    “You’ve seen Australia also put some really thoughtful white papers together on media regulation that really does bring a level of equality between the global platforms and the local media and to have them regulated under common legislation — a bit like an Ofcom operates in the UK, where both publishers and platforms, together are overseen and managed accordingly.

    “That’s the type of thing we’re desperate for in New Zealand. If we don’t get reform over the next couple of years you are going to see more community newspapers or radio stations or other things no longer able to operate.”

    Grieve was one of the media execs who pushed for Commerce Commission approval for media to bargain collectively with Google and Meta for news payments.

    Backing the Bill – or starting again?
    Local media executives, including Grieve, recently met behind closed doors to re-assess their strategy.

    “Some major industry participants are still quite gung-ho with the legislation and think that Google is bluffing when it says that it will turn news off and break its agreements. And then you’ve got another group that think that they’re not bluffing, and that events have since overtaken [the legislation],” he said.

    “The technology platforms have products that are always in motion. What they’re essentially saying — particularly to smaller countries like New Zealand — is: ‘You don’t really get to make laws. We decide what can and can’t be done’.

    “And that’s quite a confronting thing for legislators. It takes quite a backbone and quite a lot of confidence to sort of stand up to that kind of pressure.”

    The government just appointed a minister of rail to take charge of the current Cook Strait ferry crisis. Do we need a minister of social media or tech to take charge of policy on this part of the country’s infrastructure?

    “We’ve had successive governments that want to be open to technology, and high growth businesses starting here.

    “But so much of the internet is controlled by a small handful of platforms that can have an anti-competitive relationship with innovation in any kind of business that seeks to build on land that they consider theirs,” Greive said.

    “A lot of what’s happened in Australia has come because the ACCC, their version of the Commerce Commission, has got a a unit which scrutinises digital platforms in much the same way that we do with telecommunications, the energy market and so on.

    “Here there is just no one really paying attention. And as a result, we’re getting radically different products than they do in Australia.”

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Social media comes through after murder of US healthcare CEO Brian Thompson

    On Thursday 5 December, a masked shooter killed Brian Thompson, CEO of United Healthcare, in New York. Unsurprisingly, but to social media’s amusement, many people across the US have been discovering that condolences are very much an out-of-network benefit.

    One TikTok user commented:

    I’m sorry, prior authorization is required for thoughts and prayers

    My personal favourite was a song written by Philip Labes:

    @philiplabesAnd medical violence is always wrong, but only when it flows one way♬ original sound – Philip Labes

    Brian Thompson: CEOrial killer?

    During Brian Thompson’s time as CEO, United implemented AI with a 90% error rate. Obviously, they knew about it:

    Currently, 25% of Americans delay getting healthcare because of the ridiculous costs. Doctors could have treated many of these people quickly, and easily. Instead, some will end up dead:

    Meanwhile, across the US legal teams are hitting United Healthcare for denying mental healthcare to people who need it, citing them having too many sessions as the reason. This is despite them not actually mentioning session limits in their insurance plans:

    Message received

    In the wake of Brian Thompson’s shooting, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield decided to halt their plans to limit reimbursements for anaesthesia during surgery and medical procedures. Clearly, someone got the message – or their eyes on a hit list:

    Other insurance companies have decided to delete information about their leadership teams from their websites:

    Despite calls from law enforcement to try and track down the shooter, New Yorkers are not playing ball:

    With one person even suggesting a lookalike competition for the shooter, in his bedroom:

    Maybe someone should have checked the bullet wasn’t already in his head? If so, that sounds an awful lot like a pre-existing condition to me:

    @chaosrat The bullet was already in Brian Thompson’s head. His head just did that. #thoughtsandpriorauths #denydeposedefend #anotheronebitesthedust ♬ original sound – ☆乁༼☯‿☯✿༽ㄏ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ

    Hopefully Mr Thompsons family know grief counselling isn’t considered medically necessary, or covered by their insurance plans.

    In all seriousness, I, or the Canary do not condone murder, or violence of any kind.

    However, it shouldn’t take  someone murdering a CEO for another insurance company to reverse their shitty policy. Similarly, we are watching thousands of people die in Palestine, Sudan, and the DRC, but where are the mainstream media?

    Someone shoots one CEO billionaire muppet and suddenly murder is bad and ‘help us bring a criminal to justice’. Meanwhile, you have as accused rapist heading for the presidency.

    Make it make sense.

    Feature image via 

    By HG

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • AOC Becomes First Bluesky User to Reach 1 Million Followers

    Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive representing parts of the Queens and Bronx boroughs of New York City, became the first user on the social media site Bluesky to reach 1 million followers earlier this week. Bluesky has been around since the fall of 2021. However, it wasn’t until last month that the site gained popularity as an alternative to X, formerly known as Twitter.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Social media platforms are throttling access to news

    Just days out from the United States presidential election last month, X (formerly Twitter) suddenly crippled the ability of many major media and political organisations to reach audiences on the social media platform. Without warning, the platform, under tech billionaire Elon Musk’s stewardship, announced major changes to the main pathway these organisations use to disseminate…

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    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • New course planned to help Pacific media professionals counter disinformation

    Pacific Media Watch

    An Aotearoa New Zealand-based community education provider is preparing a new course aimed to help media professionals in the Pacific region understand and respond to the complex issue of disinformation.

    The eight-week course “A Bit Sus (Pacific)”, developed by the Dark Times Academy, will be offered free to journalists, editors, programme directors and others involved in running media organisations across the Pacific, beginning in February 2025.

    “Our course will help participants recognise common tactics used by disinformation agents and support them to deploy proven educational and communications techniques including lateral reading and ‘pre-bunking’,” says Dark Times Academy co-founder Mandy Henk.

    DARK TIMES ACADEMY

    As well as teaching participants how to recognise and respond to disinformation, the course offers an understanding of how technology, including generative AI, influences the spread of disinformation.

    The course is an expanded and regionalised adaption of the “A Bit Sus” education programme which was developed by Henk in her former role as CEO of Tohatoha Aotearoa Commons.

    “As the Pacific Islands have experienced accelerated growth in digital connectivity over the past few years — thanks to new submarine cable networks and satellite technology — the region has also seen a surge in harmful rumours and disinformation that is increasingly disrupting the ability to share accurate and truthful information across Pacific communities,” Henk says.

    “By taking a skills-based approach to countering disinformation, our programme can help to spread the techniques needed to mitigate the risks posed by digital technologies.”

    Evidence-based counter disinformation
    Henk says delivering evidence-based counter disinformation education to Pacific Island media professionals requires a depth of expertise in both counter-disinformation programming and the range of Pacific cultures and political contexts.

    “We are delighted to have several renowned academics advising the programme, including Asia Pacific Media Network’s Dr David Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and founder of the Pacific Media Centre, and Professor Chad Briggs from the Asian Institute of Management.

    “Their expertise will help us to deliver a world class programme informed by the best evidence available.”

    Dark Times Academy's Mandy Henk
    Dark Times Academy’s Mandy Henk . . . “The region has seen a surge in harmful rumours and disinformation that is increasingly disrupting the ability to share accurate and truthful information across Pacific communities.” Image: Newsroom

    The programme will be co-taught by Henk, as well as American journalist and counter disinformation expert Brooke Binkowski, and New Zealand-based extremism expert Byron Clark, who is also a co-founder of the Dark Times Academy.

    “Countering disinformation and preventing the harm it causes in the Pacific Islands is crucially important to communities who wish to maintain and strengthen existing democratic institutions and expand their reach,” says Clark.

    Binkowski says: “With disinformation narratives on the rise globally, this course is a timely and eye-opening look at its existence, its purveyors and their goals, and how to effectively combat it.

    “I look forward to sharing what I have learned in my years in the field during this course.”

    The course is being offered by Dark Times Academy using funds awarded in a public competitive grant offered by the US Embassy in New Zealand.

    While it is funded by the US, it is a completely independent programme overseen by Dark Times Academy and its academic consultants.

  • Black Friday SCAM: motor insurance is the latest target of fraudsters

    Shoppers are being urged to watch out for a Black Friday scam: too-good-to-be-true motor insurance deals on social media. The warning comes as new insights show more people than ever before are at risk.

    Black Friday scam alert: ‘ghost broking’

    Ghost broking scams are a top threat reported by insurers to the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), representing the biggest percentage of IFB’s investigations. So far this year, IFB has uncovered over 41,000 fraudulent motor insurance policies, of which thousands are suspected of being linked to Ghost Broking.

    ‘Ghost Brokers’ who are fraudsters pretending to be real brokers, sell fake motor insurance online, often on social media, including on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat, and TikTok. Most victims are young drivers who ordinarily struggle to afford insurance, lured in by what they think is a great deal, only to be left out of pocket and breaking the law by driving uninsured.

    As the scam surges, the public is being warned that Ghost Brokers may take advantage of the sales to target even more people. As a result, IFB is revealing the red flags to look out for to avoid being scammed.

    Jon Radford, Head of Intelligence, Investigations & Data Services at IFB, said:

    It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of online sales, but when it comes to buying motor insurance, it can really cost you if you’re not savvy. Fraudsters exploit sales events to offer unrealistic bogus motor insurance deals and the consequences for victims are devastating, as they’re left driving uninsured and their vehicle can be seized.

    We’re encouraging all drivers to know the signs of Ghost Broking scams and to use legitimate tactics when shopping around for an affordable motor insurance deal.

    Paul Farley, National Law Enforcement Manager at MIB (Motor Insurers’ Bureau), said:

    We know that times are tough for many people right now, with increased cost-of-living pressures potentially causing motorists to be tempted by insurance offers that seem too good to be true. Whilst there are ways to legally reduce premiums, it’s important to remain cautious of any deals that may be fraudulent.

    We understand the challenges many people are facing, but our message is that taking out an insurance policy via social media is never worth the risk.

    Wide-ranging consequences

    Ghost Broking scams have a wide range of consequences. Not only are victims left out of pocket, but in reality, they are driving without valid insurance which means they’re not covered in the event they cause a collision, which could cost them thousands of pounds in liability.

    Victims that fall foul of the scam can face criminal charges for driving without insurance, which comes with an on-the-spot fine, six points on their driving licence, and the vehicle in question can be seized. One in three seized uninsured vehicles are consequently crushed. An uninsured driver can also be referred to court where they may receive an unlimited fine and a driving ban.

    Fake insurance policies sold by Ghost Brokers, may simply be a photoshopped piece of paper, or they may be more complex and have been taken out using stolen information, before being doctored and sold on at a cheaper rate.

    In other instances, Ghost Brokers have also provided victims with genuine insurance policies which do use their details, but then the scammer has secretly cancelled the policy to reclaim the funds while the victim unknowingly continues to drive without any insurance in place.

    The IFB is a not-for-profit organisation that collaborates with the police and insurance industry to help protect victims of insurance scams and bring fraudsters to justice.

    Application fraud costs the insurance industry over £1 billion a year. Therefore, tackling the issue, which includes awareness raising, is key in helping to keep premiums down.

    What are the red flags of a ghost broking Black Friday scam?

    • The policy is unrealistically cheap.
    • There may be an upfront cost for the policy, even though insurance is meant to be priced based on the risk of the individual.
    • The seller is vague about how they’re getting you such a good price.
    • The advert looks unprofessional and is poorly spelt.
    • The seller only wants to communicate via social media or a messaging app (e.g. WhatsApp or SnapChat).
    • The seller doesn’t have a legitimate website, UK landline number or address.

    What checks can I do?

    • Check the seller is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
    • If buying through a broker, check they’re registered with the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA).
    • If buying through an insurer, check they’re a member of Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB).

    Anyone with evidence of a Ghost Broking scam is encouraged to report it to IFB’s confidential CheatLine service online, or via its phoneline (powered by CrimeStoppers) on 0800 422 0421.

    Black Friday scam Ghost Broking motor insurance

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Australia gets world-first social media age ban

    Australia has become the first country to ban social media for children under the age of 16, with the bill passing in the last hour of Parliament for the year despite opposition from the crossbench and some Coalition senators. The controversial Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill passed into law by 34 votes…

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    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.

  • Social media age ban set to pass as govt agrees to changes

    The federal government’s controversial social media ban for under-16s has been given the green light by a Senate committee, paving the way for it to pass into law before the end of this week. In a report late on Tuesday, the Labor-led committee reviewing the controversial bill recommended it pass with several amendments to address…

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    This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.