Tag: Algorithms

What State Action Doctrine? Biden Administration Renews Push For Deal With TikTok, Where US Government Would Oversee Content Moderation On TikTok

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

What State Action Doctrine? Biden Administration Renews Push For Deal With TikTok, Where US Government Would Oversee Content Moderation On TikTok

For all the (mostly misleading) talk of the US government having too much say in content moderation decisions, this move would literally put US government officials effectively in control of content moderation decisions for TikTok. Apparently the thinking is “welp, it’s better than the Chinese government.” But… that doesn’t mean it’s good. Or constitutional.

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Honestly, what this reads as is the moral panic over China and TikTok so eating the brains of US officials that rather than saying “hey, we should have privacy laws that block this,” they thought instead “hey, that would be cool if we could just do all the things we accuse China of doing, but where we pull the strings.”

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So, look, if we’re going to talk about US government influence over content moderation choices, why aren’t we talking much more about this?

Related:

TikTok and U.S. rekindle negotiations, boosting app’s hopes for survival

CFIUS monitoring agencies, including the departments of Justice, Treasury and Defense, would have the right to access TikTok facilities at any time and overrule its policies or contracting decisions. CFIUS would also set the rules for all new company hires, including that they must be U.S. citizens, must consent to additional background checks and could be denied the job at any time.

A Draft Of TikTok’s Plan To Avoid A Ban Gives The U.S. Government Unprecedented Oversight Power

U.S. Government Seeks Extensive Oversight over TikTok

The Protecting Kids On Social Media Act Is A Terrible Alternative To KOSA

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

We have covered the Protecting Kids On Social Media Act a few times, when it was first introduced back in April, where we highlighted how it was both unconstitutional and the rationale behind it was not supported by any actual evidence, and then again just recently when Senator Chris Murphy (one of the bill’s co-sponsors) wrote a ridiculously confused op-ed for the NY Times, claiming it was necessary because kids these days get too many music recommendations and no longer could discover new music on their own.

The Protecting Kids On Social Media Act Is A Terrible Alternative To KOSA

Related:

Stop the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act

Cyberattack on Strategic Culture Foundation… Proving Truth Is the First Casualty of War

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Truth may be an early casualty of war. But that casualty can be repaired with more supportive truth and time.

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The Strategic Culture Foundation’s online journal was this week hit by a massive cyberattack. The assault resulted in the forum being shut down on its regular internet site. Readers who normally access the journal were informed that the site was no longer available.

Cyberattack on This Journal… Proving Truth Is the First Casualty of War

H/T: News Forensics

U.S. Government Seeks Extensive Oversight over TikTok

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Source.

The U.S. government, through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), proposed a draft agreement last summer that would grant it extensive access and control over TikTok‘s operations. This move comes as an attempt to address national security concerns related to the Chinese-owned app. A draft agreement, sourced from Forbes, outlines the following potential powers for the U.S. government:

U.S. Government Seeks Extensive Oversight over TikTok

Wisconsin Pushing Bill That Requires Websites To Treat All Users As If They’re Children

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

I’ve talked before about the utter stupidity (and danger) of trying to turn the internet into Disneyland: a safe space for little kids, where they’ll never encounter any content that makes them upset, but plenty of states (and many people in Congress) are trying to do it anyway.

Wisconsin Pushing Bill That Requires Websites To Treat All Users As If They’re Children

Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The Meta unit’s systems for fostering communities have guided users to child-sex content; company says it is improving internal controls

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Among other platforms popular with young people, Snapchat is used mainly for its direct messaging, so it doesn’t help create networks. And TikTok’s platform is one where “this type of content does not appear to proliferate,” the Stanford report said.

Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network

NYT hypes China threat: They’re reading the internet

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

NYT hypes China threat: They’re reading the internet

That Beijing is mining publicly available information is not new or surprising but fear mongering about it in Washington is good for business.

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The Times was passing on findings from an analysis by threat intelligence company Recorded Future, which says a Chinese open-source intel company has been mining publicly available information from the Office of Net Assessment, a Pentagon think tank, and the U.S. Naval War College.

Related:

Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring

The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships between people, […]

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Criticizing George Soros is antisemitic … according to organization receiving money from Soros!

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Yesterday, @KanekoaTheGreat turned us on to a story demolishing the credibility of Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll, and today he helps take a sledgehammer to someone else’s credibility:

Criticizing George Soros is antisemitic … according to organization receiving money from Soros!

Related:

Wikipedia.

Institute for Strategic Dialogue

Analysis of the activities of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue