Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview he worries “about an erosion of truth” online but defended the policy that allows politicians to peddle ads containing misrepresentations and lies on his social network, a stance that has sparked an outcry during the 2020 presidential campaign. From a report: “People worry, and I worry deeply, too, about an erosion of…
Tag: politicians
Elizabeth Warren Mocks Facebook’s Ad Policy By Lying About Mark Zuckerberg
“A fresh series of Facebook ads this week by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren seeks to put the social media giant on the defensive — by telling a lie,” writes CNN. An anonymous reader quotes their report:
The ads, which began running widely on Thursday, start with a bold but obvious falsehood: That Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have endorsed…
Facebook To Exempt Opinion and Satire From Fact-Checking
According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook plans to exempt opinion pieces and satire from its fact-checking program, as the social-media giant grapples with how to stop the spread of falsehoods while maintaining its own neutrality. From the report: As part of the new rules, Facebook will allow publishers of information found to be false by outside fact-checkers to appeal to…
Politicians Can Break Our Content Rules, YouTube CEO Says
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said this week that content by politicians would stay up on the video-sharing website even if it violates the company’s standards, echoing a position staked out by Facebook this week. From a report: “When you have a political officer that is making information that is really important for their constituents to see, or for other global leaders…
Are We Really Running Out of Time to Stop Climate Change?
Activists and politicians have been criticized from the right for saying we have only 12 years to stop climate change. Scientists say the situation is in some ways worse than that. Source: https://www.livescience.com/12-years-to-stop-climate-change.html
Australia’s anti-encryption law is hurting press and personal privacy
Many politicians are calling for anti-encryption laws. Australia has already implemented one, and it is damaging tech firms, user privacy and freedom of speech Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332474-600-australias-anti-encryption-law-is-hurting-press-and-personal-privacy/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
YouTube’s Fine Criticized As Proof US Government Is ‘Not Serious’ About Big Tech Crackdown
YouTube’s $170 million fine for illegally collecting data on children “shows the US government is not serious about a Big Tech crackdown,” argues an article at CNBC: The FTC’s new settlement with YouTube over alleged violations of child privacy rules is just a fraction of the revenue its parent company generates in a single day. Shares of Google parent company Alphabet…
The Missing Piece of Amazon’s New York Debacle: It Kept a Burn Book
When Amazon scrubbed plans to build a second headquarters in New York City earlier this year, the reason appeared rooted in a debate about unions, tax subsidies and housing costs. Then there was the burn book. [Editor’s note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source.] The Wall Street Journal reports: In a private dossier kept at the time, whose existence has…
Google Workers Demand Company Not Work With Border Agencies
Some Google employees have called on the company to publicly promise not to work with U.S. immigration authorities, which they said are abusing human rights. From a report: U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently said it was looking for proposals from companies to supply it with cloud-computing services. Google is a leading cloud provider. Activists and politicians have accused the agency…
Scientists Top List of Most Trusted Professionals In US
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists have topped a survey of trusted professions, with adults in the U.S. more confident that they act in the public’s best interests than employees from any other line of work studied. The survey found that confidence in scientists has risen markedly since 2016 and more than half of American adults believe…