Biden Appeals Judge’s Ban on Government Asking for Social Media Takedowns

Biden Appeals Judge’s Ban on Government Asking for Social Media Takedowns

State Department officials, according to a Facebook employee speaking with The Washington Post, told the company all future monthly meetings to discuss content takedowns were “canceled pending further guidance.” The reported cancellation means government officials and trust and safety representatives at Facebook will no longer meet to discuss brewing political misinformation or foreign influence operations. It’s unclear whether other agencies have taken similar measures following the ruling or if Google or Twitter have canceled meetings. The State Department, Meta, and Google did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comment. Twitter sent us a 💩 . …

Judge compares Biden’s admin’s meeting with tech companies to Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth’

The Justice Department appealed Trump-appointed federal Judge Terry A. Doughty’s preliminary injunction hours after it landed, according to court documents filed Wednesday evening. Doughty’s preliminary injunction bars numerous government agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) from contacting or asking social media companies about posts he said are protected by the First Amendment. The ruling does offer some exceptions for government communications with tech firms intended to warn them of national security threats, criminal activity, and voter suppression. Government officials maintain their content recommendations to social networks were merely suggestions, not legal demands. Doughty said numerous uncovered communications show Biden administration officials wielded threats of increased regulations or a stripping of Section 230 immunity protections to get its way.

Related:

State Dept. cancels Facebook meetings after judge’s ‘censorship’ ruling

When tech companies and State Department officials meet, “they talk about foreign influence, they compare notes. It gives them the opportunity to ask questions about foreign influence they are seeing,” this person said. “State will share Russian narratives, things they are seeing in state media in Russia about U.S. topics. They will ask whether Facebook is seeing things from known entities, such as the Chinese Communist Party or the Internet Research Agency,” the Russian entity thought responsible for much of the interference in the 2016 election. …

“The really tough question is when does the government cross the line from responding to speech — which it can and should do — to coercing platforms to censor constitutionally protected speech?” Kosseff said. “The judge here believes that line was crossed, and he certainly cited some persuasive examples,” such as administration officials suggesting antitrust actions against tech firms or changes to their liability protections while criticizing their content moderation efforts.

US Court Victory Against Online Censorship

Elizabeth Gilbert Delayed Her Novel After Protests. Some Worry It Sets a Dangerous Precedent

On Monday morning, author Elizabeth Gilbert posted a video to her social media accounts announcing that she was pulling her newest book, The Snow Forest, from the publishing calendar. The historical novel, which centers around a family in the 1930s that finds refuge from the Soviet government in the woods of Siberia, received backlash online from Ukrainian readers who criticized her for publishing a book set in Russia amid the Russian war in Ukraine.

Elizabeth Gilbert Delayed Her Novel After Protests. Some Worry It Sets a Dangerous Precedent

Should’ve just put a trigger warning, on it, for the Snowflakes! 🙄

Instagram Connects Vast Pedophile Network

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

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

The New York Times and the use of Nazi imagery by Ukrainian troops

This article was originally posted as a thread on Twitter.

The New York Times palms off the deep historical and present-day links of Ukrainian nationalism to Nazism and genocide as merely “thorny issues,” i.e., a public relations problem for media propagandists, who are trying to sell NATO’s proxy war as a struggle for democracy.

The New York Times and the use of Nazi imagery by Ukrainian troops

Related:

Nazi Symbols on Ukraine’s Front Lines Highlight Thorny Issues of History (archived)

Toilets are racist [parody]

Toilets are racist [parody]

I got parody vibes when I watched it, but one can no longer really be certain. Poe’s Law is more applicable than it has ever been.

When in doubt, check the person’s profile, as this will sometimes clarify things.

For example, according to her Twitter bio, anything in which she wears a mask or uses a filter is intended as parody.

Related:

Fact check: Story of teacher redistributing white students’ lunches is satire

The CIA launched a Telegram channel to get Russians to spy for them, with one former spook saying now is ‘probably the best period of recruiting Russians that we’ve had’

The CIA has begun posting recruitment videos to a newly-created Telegram account in Russian to try to attract potential agents.

The CIA launched a Telegram channel to get Russians to spy for them, with one former spook saying now is ‘probably the best period of recruiting Russians that we’ve had’

Video via Independent.ie

Related:

CIA creates own Telegram channel aimed at recruiting Russians to spy for US