Tag: Social Media

Social Media Imposing Modern-Day Hays Code on Political Speech

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Social Media Imposing Modern-Day Hays Code on Political Speech

Nearly a century later, lawmakers are once again awakening to the power of centralized speech controls by turning to social media companies to impose constraints traditionally prohibited under the First Amendment. Twenty state attorneys general demanded this week that Facebook considerably narrow its speech rules to outlaw anything the government sees as “hate speech.” While the government itself cannot ban most speech, this novel approach suggests it may be legal for the government to instead ask private companies to ban speech it dislikes, nominally complying with the First Amendment by outsourcing the banning process.

Facebook as an American geopolitical weapon

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Facebook as an American geopolitical weapon

What made this so obvious was the glaring double standard that’s guiding Facebook’s takedown of Maffick. On prodding from a U.S. government-funded thinktank, it suddenly demanded transparency for Pages run by a media company funded by Russia (and then shut them down with no warning). Yet Facebook continues to allow the U.S. government and powerful U.S. corporations to operate their Pages without hinderance — even when these Pages are obviously set up by lobby groups and government initiatives to covertly manipulate people and influence democracy. 

Which Pages? Well, just from the ones that I’ve come across in my reporting over the years, they include those run by old spook-spinoffs like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Tor Project, as well as corporate propaganda groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Cato Institute — just to name two out of many similar outfits trying to influence Americans on behalf of their donors. 

Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Tampa teen accused of being ‘mastermind’ behind Twitter hack that targeted high-profile accounts

A Tampa teenager is in jail, accused of being the “mastermind” behind a hack on the social media website Twitter that caused limited access to the site and high-profile accounts, according to jail records and the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.