Reddit blocks links to Russian government propaganda “media” web sites
Reddit blocks all links to Russian-state propaganda media outlets. Other social media platforms have put in place other restrictions.
RT America shuts down
RT America is shutting down. RT was a Russian government funded television propaganda operation. I feel uncomfortable that I had occasionally watched their programming years ago. I have also unfollowed all Russia-based social media content creators – how can I know they were not part of an elaborate propaganda campaign to encourage us to view the violent Putin regime in a positive light?
UK government used propaganda based on fear to control the public
The UK government is accused of deliberately using scare tactics to force the population into compliance with its public health Orders and mandates (which they elite themselves ignore). Fear is one of the most powerful of propaganda motivators and has long been a tool of tyrants.
Twitter and Youtube appear to have banned the sharing of images of people in public settings
Twitter, and Youtube a week ago, appear to banning the use of photos or videos that may include anyone for which you do not have a signed release form. This would appear to ban the posting of photos or videos you have taken in public settings, such as a public parade, outdoor sports activity, showing other people while hiking on a trail, and other examples.
Data broker gave phone location records to government, for Covid tracking
Government has used third-party services to track the locations of all smart phones in a given area. This is made possible by apps that collect location data (but may not make this clear to users) and sell it to data brokers. Data brokers, in turn, have then provided this information to the police and other government agencies, and the example here, gave it to public health authorities. Your smart phone is a literal 24×7 surveillance device to track you in real time.
Bill Gates opposes democracy?
Bill Gates blames changing political parties in control of governments for lack of climate change solutions. His words are bizarre as he appears to be opposing democracy itself.
WSJ: Facebook routinely exempts the elite from its content moderation
Facebook completely controls public discourse in a totalitarian fashion. The WSJ reveals internal FB documents showing that FB “white lists” up to 6 million accounts world wide to get exemptions or special treatment from content moderation. The FB system applies to both FB and Instagram, and tends to include politicians (even down to the local city council level), actors, news media, sports personalities, academics – even those with very large followings on social media.
Because the FB content moderation system makes frequent errors, FB wanted to avoid the publicity that happens when a prominent person was censored by FB – thus, they excluded elite people from the system.
Through this system, Facebook controls public discourse – everyone can speak equally except some can speak “more equally than others” (to paraphrase Animal Farm).
The company has lied to the public about this system in the past, claiming that everyone was treated equally. But they are not. When public speech is censored by Facebook, Facebook becomes the arbiter of all information. In this case, FB has decided that elite members of society are more important than you or I and are given special speech privileges. Imagine the impact this has when some can promote (propagandize) their views but others are denied that option.
Facebook is a true menace to society.
Teen blocked from business after facial recognition system falsely flags her
Automated facial recognition has a high false positive rate and amounts to automated racism.
Wow: FBI demands list of who read a USA Today news article
WASHINGTON — USA TODAY is fighting a subpoena from the FBI demanding records that would identify readers of a February story about a southern Florida shooting that killed two agents and wounded three others. Source: USA TODAY fights FBI subpoena demanding records that would identify readers of Florida shooting story
When billionaires control our public discourse
Facebook, Twitter and Google outrageously censored scientists and doctors for asking questions about challenging issues in the pandemic. Today, we are recognizing that these discussions were important – but silenced by the unethical billionaires of social media.