Tag: media

Washington Post Slapped with Class Action Over Secret ‘Surveillance Pricing’ Scheme That Charged Readers Different Rates

The Washington Post has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging the newspaper secretly used readers’ personal data to charge different subscription prices.

CourtHouse News reports that the lawsuit accuses the Bezos-owned outlet of creating “pricing profiles” based on subscribers’ reading habits, demographics, browsing activity, and other personal information.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of Washington, D.C., states:

The Post has been monitoring usage and implementing this pricing practice, often referred to as ‘surveillance pricing’ since at least December 2024, at which point not a single subscriber was aware of The Post’s surveillance pricing or secret harvesting of subscriber data.

The law does not allow this conduct. State attorneys general across the country along with the Federal Trade Commission have begun investigating companies that engage in ‘surveillance pricing’ (also referred to as ‘algorithmic pricing’) using consumer personal information instead of market forces to set individualized prices.

According to the plaintiffs, the practice only became public after New York required companies to disclose when algorithms use consumer data to set individualized prices.

Subscribers reportedly discovered they were being offered dramatically different rates for the same product.

One reader claimed a renewal jumped from $170 to $260, while another obtained a subscription for just $60.

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How US Media Gaslights Everyone Without You Even Knowing It

The most useful aspect of US media propaganda is how it acts like even recent history doesn’t exist. It’s a wonderful form of gaslighting. Even the slightly less pro-war, less pro-death-spiral articles vomited forth by Western media act like history started yesterday.

They run with headlines like “US Strikes Iran In Response To Downing of Apache Helicopter” or “Iran, US Exchange Fire As Ceasefire Seems To Be Breaking Down.” Those types of headlines. It’s nearly every article in the US media about Iran. For examples just look here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And that’s just the past TWO DAYS.

None of the articles acknowledge that the US war machine went thousands of miles around the fucking world to fucking attack Iran in the first place despite Iran attacking no one. Despite the US and Israel having nuclear weapons and Iran having none. Despite the US and Israel committing genocide in Gaza while Iran commits none. Despite the US surrounding Iran with dozens of military bases while Iran has none outside their own country.

Leaving any and all of this out (or putting some of it in the last sentence that 95% of readers don’t get to), means that even a seemingly, somewhat, possibly, kinda“unbiased” article still serves US imperial propaganda.

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MINISTRY OF TRUTH: Government To BLOCK ‘False Information’ During ‘Crisis Events’

Vague new rules will allow UK regulators to pressure platforms over “legal but harmful” content whenever government ministers declare a crisis, while the same government ploughs ahead with mandatory phone scanning, digital ID lockdowns, and jail threats for tech bosses who refuse to spy on every device.

The latest move from Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn makes explicit what privacy campaigners have long warned: the Online Safety Act is being weaponised far beyond any child-protection claim.

Benn confirmed that the internet regulator will now wield enhanced powers to tackle “false information” online during “times of crisis,” directly tying the recent Belfast unrest to this framework. The regulator has already contacted platforms, with ministers asserting that violence “appears to have been incited online.”

Benn stated that if people put online ‘false information,’ “it is not acceptable and it may well be a criminal offence depending on the circumstances as the chief constable made clear yesterday.”

When asked how a “time of crisis” would be defined, Benn said it “will be set out in due course.”

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Western Media Normalize Ethnic Cleansing of Lebanon by Viewing It Through Israel’s Eyes

In October 2024, one year into Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and attendant assault on Lebanon, the Israeli army did a thing. It invited journalists from major Western corporate media outlets on an incursion into Lebanon’s ravaged south, accompanied by Israeli military personnel who would interpret the wreckage in Israel’s favor—not that the Western media have ever required much assistance in this regard.

Reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, Fox News and a handful of other special guests signed up for the cross-border sortie. It was, as Habib Battah and Christina Cavalcanti note in an investigation for the Public Source (8/27/25), an “awkward hybrid between a traditional embed and the kind of all-expense-paid publicity trip that journalists refer to as junkets, freebies and dog-and-pony shows.”

Never mind that it is entirely illegal for journalists or anyone else to enter Lebanon from Israel—what’s one more illegal invasion from a country that has been invading Lebanon pretty much since its founding? As Battah and Cavalcanti emphasize, these media professionals were also embedding themselves “within a national project of extraordinary transnational violence,” hosted by an “extrajudicial occupying military power—a critical point that all of them would fail to mention in their coverage.”

The Israelis certainly hit the jackpot with the coverage, as reporters excitedly discovered boots and helmets allegedly belonging to Hezbollah—clear proof that the group had been plotting a nefarious attack on Israel. New York Times Jerusalem correspondent Isabel Kershner, an old pro at conducting preemptive journalistic strikes on Lebanon, did not disappoint with her dispatch (10/13/24), “Just Over the Border From Israel, a Hezbollah Cache of Explosives and Mines.”

And in report after embedded report, Israel’s chosen journalists faithfully transmitted the tiresome and counter-logical notion that Hezbollah was somehow the aggressor in the arrangement—as opposed to the army that was busily slaughtering thousands of people in Lebanon while implementing a scorched-earth strategy.

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Ukraine Is Back to Its Car-Bombing Terror Campaign – And the MSM Is Cheering Them on

Fake News Globalists love their terrorists.

After Volodymyr Zelensky wasted everyone’s time with an offensive public letter ostensibly meant to demand for direct peace talks – but in truth calculated to make a splash in the press during Russia’s SPIEF forum – Ukraine is back to their ‘Asymmetric warfare’, a.k.a. terrorism.

On Monday (8), a Russian military official in charge of ammunition supplies was assassinated with a car bomb near Moscow.

Dozens of MSM news outlets reported the attack, but NOT ONE of them condemned the attack – or even attributed it to the Kiev regime.

We see them using their dirty, old, and trusted linguistic tricks to say that ‘a car bomb’ killed the Colonel.

The Telegraph reported:

“Surveillance footage caught the moment a car exploded in the middle of the street early on Tuesday in Balashikha, an industrial satellite town around six miles east of Moscow known for housing senior military personnel.

The victim was Col Damir Davydov, who headed the Russian defense ministry’s missile and artillery wing, according to The Insider, a Russian investigative outlet.”

Watch: car bomb explosion in Balashikha targeting the head of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Damir Davydov.

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Why Do US Media Still Treat ADL as a Credible Source on Antisemitism?

More than a decade ago, a video (Mondoweiss, 8/7/14) showed Jodi Rudoren, then the New York Times‘ Jerusalem bureau chief, having a casual and friendly meeting with Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League. The cozy relationship in the video was telling enough, but when the video captured Foxman complaining that the “Arabs” had taken over a famous New York City hotel, and Rudoren shrugging it off, many skeptics viewed this as a window into the Times’ pro-Israel bias.

The recently deceased Foxman (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 5/12/26), famous for promoting the pro-Israel viewpoint and insinuating that critics of Israel were antisemitic, wasn’t Rudoren’s source in this video; they were pals.

Emmaia Gelman’s new book, The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, is a history of the group, framing it not as a racial justice organization but as a deputy sheriff for the US empire. Gelman shows how the ADL crafts a narrative for the public that pushes Western imperialism rather than equality. In recent years, the ADL’s main focus has been smearing criticism of Israel or support for Palestinian human rights as Jew hatred. As the group (4/4/23) says, “anti-Zionism is indeed antisemitism.”

The book is loosely part of the #DropTheADL campaign, which encourages both progressives and schools to stop citing the group as a source on political extremism, because of its “racist and right-wing” track record. The movement has had limited success: The delegates of the nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association, voted to sever ties with the ADL, a move that was overruled by the union’s governing board (Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 7/21/25).

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MSNOW CLOWN SHOW: Mika Blasts Trump for Questioning LA Mayor Race, Panel Then Floats Conspiracy Theories About Republicans Stealing the Midterms

MSNBC may have changed their name to MSNOW, but it’s still the same downright ridiculous network it has always been.

This morning, host Mika Brzezinski tore into President Trump for questioning the Los Angeles mayor race, implying that Trump is pushing conspiracy theories, even though millions of Americans agree with him and think the process has been completely mired in voter fraud.

Then, moments later, her panel launched into an entire segment speculating about how Republicans are going to try to steal the midterm elections.

You see how that works? Raising questions about something that is actually happening in front of our eyes is dangerous misinformation. Yet they are free to speculate about fantasy fraud that hasn’t happened.

Heads they win, tails you lose. Every single time.

Transcript via NewsBusters:

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: President Trump amplifying baseless claims of election fraud in California. This continues as vote counts show his endorsed candidate, Spencer Pratt, has been defeated in the Los Angeles mayoral race. Trump took to social media yesterday, writing in part, quote, “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the LA runoffs after the big lead he had. Rigged elections.” Here we go again…

That’s how California counts its ballots every year. I’ll speak slowly for those who are confused…

But I think the bigger picture is, there seems to be some sort of preparation going on here. That’s just my analysis. But it doesn’t feel good looking ahead to the midterms, the way these Republicans are behaving.

WILLIE GEIST: You’re not alone in that thought, by the way, Mika…

JIM VANDEHEI: Yeah, I mean, it really sucks for democracy. This is the stuff you see happen in a broken country, in a Third World country, where they’ve not been able to govern effectively. Every time you call into question whether or not our elections are valid, you weaken the soul of the country…

JONATHAN LEMIRE: What they’re doing is laying the groundwork.

MIKA: Yeah, what’s really going on?

LEMIRE: Two different plays they could take while claiming conspiracies as we look towards November’s midterms. They could claim irregularities, they can claim conspiracies and actively take measures to interfere with the vote.

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Politico Folds Its Climate News Website After Trump EPA Axed Nearly $500K Annual Subscription

Politico is shutting down its E&E News brand just over a year after the Trump administration ended a taxpayer-funded subscription worth nearly half a million dollars per year.

The outlet announced Monday that E&E News will cease operating as a standalone brand and will instead be folded into Politico’s broader energy and environmental coverage.

The move follows a decision by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin in February 2025 to cancel the agency’s subscription to Politico and E&E News, saving taxpayers $458,919 annually.

“Best $458,919 we ever saved on behalf of taxpayers,” an EPA spokesperson told The Daily Caller.

“The government shouldn’t subsidize poor journalism, and it’s a stinging indictment of the previous administration that they wasted so many hard-earned American tax dollars keeping this outlet afloat.”

At the time, Zeldin announced on social media that the EPA would not renew its membership with Politico and Politico E&E, citing the nearly half-million-dollar annual cost.

Politico says the closure is part of a broader restructuring of its energy and environmental coverage.

According to an announcement from CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Global Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Greenberger, the company plans to launch two new energy-focused newsletters later this year.

“Beginning in September, we are modernizing how we deliver our energy and environmental policy journalism and launching a more focused, high-impact portfolio of daily news and intelligence products,” the executives told Semafor.

“As part of this shift, E&E News will no longer operate as a separate brand.”

“Its journalism and expertise will be fully integrated into POLITICO’s energy and environment portfolio of stories, briefs, analysis and newsletters.”

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FOX News Contributor Guy Benson Responds to Sunny Hostin’s Claim That it’s ‘Not Possible’ for California to Count All the Votes in One Night: ‘WHAT?’ 

Sunny Hostin of ‘The View’ is one of the latest media figures to defend California for taking days or even weeks to count all of the votes in their elections. During a recent broadcast of the show, Hostin said that it’s just ‘not possible’ to count all of the votes in one night.

Her comments are absolutely absurd.

California used to count all of the votes in one night all the time. It only takes a long time now because California has completely changed the rules and allows the counting of mail-in ballots for days after an election, a process that makes it possible for the Democrats to win almost every single time.

Transcript via NewsBusters:

FARAH GRIFFIN: Florida has a lot of mail-in and they get their results the same night. It makes people feel like, ‘oh, there’s something off,’ but it’s not. It’s how their rules are, they’re dumb rules.

[Crosstalk]

HOSTIN: I feel the exact opposite. I think if someone is taking their time to count the votes, I think if someone is looking at every single thing, because in California, it’s the most populous state. We all know that. (…) And so, it does take a long time to be right, to do it well.

FARAH GRIFFIN: Why can Florida do it right in one night though?

HOSTIN: I don’t think you can do it when you have 23 million registered voters! It’s just not possible!

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Trump clashes with ‘Meet the Press’ interviewer, calls outlet ‘crooked’ before ending segment

An exchange between President Donald Trump and NBC’s Kristin Welker became heated in a “Meet the Press” interview.

During a Sunday segment focused on a proposed “anti-weaponization” fund, which is meant to provide compensation to Americans who were politically or ideologically targeted under the administration of former President Joe Biden, the discussion quickly became tense.

“You had a bunch of dirty cops, and frankly what they did was weaponization of our government,” Trump said, the conversation specifically focused on the January 6th protesters.

“There’s no evidence of that,” Welker said.

“Try looking at the tapes one time,” Trump replied.

In support of her assertion, Welker brought up the number of people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers.

“They plead guilty because they were frightened,” Trump claimed, purporting people had been told they would be jailed for significant periods of time.

He noted that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche recently announced the Department of Justice (DOJ) would no longer be pursuing, would have been applied on an “individual case basis,” rather than blanket allocations.

As the interview continued to heat up, the discussion turned to the topic of election fraud, including about the 2020 presidential election, as well as Trump calling out the lengthy vote counting process in California. Registered voters are automatically mailed ballots before elections in California, leading to long ballot counting times and concerns by some of the opportunity for fraud.

“Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later they’re nowhere close to picking a winner,” Trump said of the Golden State.

“State and local officials acknowledge they are slow…” Welker said.

“No, they’re crooked,” Trump said. “They’re crooked just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked, and ‘Meet the Press’ is crooked.”

“You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they are rigged,” he continued, accusing the press of lacking credibility due to unbalanced reporting.

Besides NBC, Trump accused several media outlets of being “crooked,” naming ABC, CBS and CNN.

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