Freedom: Judge rules that anything the CDC recommends may not be challenged by citizens
Judge rules that “anything CDC recommends is per se rational and cannot be challenged in court”.
Social: Social media influencers charged in “pump and dump” stock trading scheme
Group of social media influencers charged with running a “pump and ump” stock trading scam where they acquired stocks and then used their platforms to promote demand, driving up the price – and then selling the shares. The SEC, DoJ say it was a $100 million financial fraud.
Thought police: Facebook said to have spied on private messages and reported anyone questioning the 2020 election to the FBI
According to the Department of Justice (unnamed sources), the FB rummaged through everyone’s private messages and determined if they expressed anti-government ideas or questioned the 2020 election results, and if so, turned them over to the FBI. Facebook has been spying on the private messages and data of American users and reporting them to the FBI if they express anti-government or anti-authority sentiments — or question the 2020 election — according to sources within the Department of Justice. Under the FBI collaboration operation, somebody…
NBER paper: Why Is All COVID-19 News Bad News?
91% of US news about Covid topics was negative – even when reporting on positive vaccine developments or low case counts in schools. The media learned that consumers demand negativity – I postulate this is because consumers who are suffering from hysteria and anxiety seek out news that confirms their anxiety, and that being anxious is okay.
Social media companies investigated after mass shooting
New York will investigate social media companies related to Buffalo mass shooting. The suspect was previously involuntarily hospitalized by the state police for a psychiatric evaluation; they found nothing. But social media companies should be able to evaluate you from your online postings? Hmmmm.
Russia: Its reputation is destroyed for years or decades to come
A Russian athlete appears at a sports competition wearing the “Z” symbol and flaunts it in front of a Ukrainian athlete. While many of us want to believe Russia’s cruel invasion of Ukraine is due to Putin alone, this behavior implies the Russian people themselves are awful. Behaviors like this have long term repercussions. It will be years – decades – if ever – for Russia to restore the rest of the world’s perspective to where it had been just weeks ago.
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?
Oh: School district compiled dossiers on parents and their children if they complained about district policies
An Arizona school district is accused of maintaining extensive dossiers on 47 parents – and their children – for having merely spoken out against district policies. The data was kept in a private but shared Google Drive folder and is said to have included names, photos, personal information, vehicle license plates, photos of children, screen captures of social media posts, and copies of legal documents such as mortgage and divorce papers.
Facebook implicated in distribution of stolen content, plagiarism
The most viewed items on Facebook are actually content stolen from other social media and web sites.
Facebook Settles with U.S. government over discrimination against U.S. workers
Facebook settles with the U.S. government over reserving 2,600 jobs for temporary imported H-1B visa workers, excluding all U.S. residents from consideration for those jobs.