Tag: new york

New York Imposes Law Forcing Social Media to Justify Speech Policies to State Authorities

Social media companies operating in New York are now under fresh legal obligations as the state enforces the so-called “Stop Hiding Hate Act,” a new compelled speech law that forces platforms with annual revenues exceeding $100 million to hand over detailed reports on how they handle various forms of speech, including speech that is legally protected under the First Amendment.

The legislation went into effect on October 1 and has already triggered a constitutional showdown in court.

The law, officially Senate Bill S895B, demands biannual disclosures to the state Attorney General’s office.

These reports must outline how platforms define terms such as “hate speech,” “misinformation,” “harassment,” “disinformation,” and “extremism.”

Companies are also required to explain what moderation practices they apply to those categories and to provide specifics about actions taken against users and content.

Platforms that fail to comply face penalties of up to $15,000 per violation, per day. Injunctive action can also be taken against non-compliant entities.

Attorney General Letitia James declared that the law is about transparency and oversight.

“With violence and polarization on the rise, social media companies must ensure that their platforms don’t fuel hateful rhetoric and disinformation,” she said in a public statement, reinforcing her view that private companies should be accountable to the state for how they manage user expression.

“The Stop Hiding Hate Act requires social media companies to share their content moderation policies publicly and with my office to ensure that these companies are more transparent about how they are addressing harmful content on their platforms.”

Governor Kathy Hochul voiced similar sentiments, saying the legislation “builds on our efforts to improve safety online and marks an important step to increase transparency and accountability.”

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Zohran Mamdani plans to phase out Gifted and Talented program in NYC elementary schools

Mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani wants to phase out New York City’s Gifted and Talented program — the democratic socialist’s latest move to revert to ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio’s era.

Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, said Thursday he would eliminate the accelerated learning program at the kindergarten level, something that’s likely to anger parents, who have been passionately divided on the issue.

The gifted classes would remain active through the school year, but would no longer be available next fall, he said.

Critics have attacked the coveted learning model as racist due to the higher number of white and Asian students that gain entry through the exam.

But backers argue getting rid of the classes would eliminate opportunities for thousands of bright students from low-and-middle income families.

Mamdani’s proposal would be the first step in undoing the program across all elementary schools — a controversial change inside the Department of Education made by de Blasio on his way out the door in 2021, and reverted by Mayor Eric Adams when he took office.

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Plot to disrupt New York cell service larger than initially thought: Federal agents

A foiled plot to cripple the telecommunications system in New York was bigger than investigators first realized. Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office, Matt McCool, released a video in late September, sharing that federal agents were first tipped off about what the Secret Service says was a China-linked plot last spring.

But it was only recently uncovered during an investigation into threats to three people, including one with direct access to President Donald Trump.

The U.S. Secret Service began a protective intelligence investigation to determine the extent and impact these threats could have on protective operations,” McCool said in that September video posted on the U.S. Secret Service’s YouTube page.

Secret Service personnel, along with officers from multiple agencies, seized hundreds of servers and over 100,000 cellphone SIM cards from around New York. Enough equipment to send 30 million anonymous texts every minute, which would collapse the telecommunications system.

They found empty apartments with servers and server walls capable of making millions of phone calls in and around New York City,” said Donald Mihalek, an ABC News Contributor who was formerly with the Secret Service.

But this week, that number expanded. Law enforcement sources told ABC News that agents from Homeland Security Investigations found an additional 200,000 SIM cards in New Jersey.

These devices allowed anonymous encrypted communications between potential threat and criminal enterprises,” said McCool.

The U.S. Secret Service is still working to figure out a motive and whether or not there was a specific target. It’s also still not clear if the equipment was supposed to be triggered during the United Nations General Assembly, which took place in New York during the last full week of September.

So far, no arrests have been made but McCool did mention that forensic examination is underway. He also indicated there was cellular communication between foreign actors and individuals known to law enforcement.

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Gay Porn Star Austin Wolf Sentenced to 19 Years in Prison for Heinous Child Sex Crimes

Austin Wolf, who was once described by British GQ as “a big name in gay porn” and an OnlyFans pioneer, was sentenced to 19 years for heinous sex child sex crimes.

The 44-year-old Wolf, real name Justin Heath Smith, was convicted for various sex crimes involving minors, including the attempted rape of a 7-year-old boy. He also admitted to abusing a 15-year-old boy in court.

“Justin Heath Smith’s crimes against children are horrible,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement Monday.  “He targeted kids as young as seven, and every New Yorker wants him and those like him off our streets for as long as possible and never near our children.”

According to the New York Post, Smith admitted “he and another adult man had sex with a 15-year-old in 2023 and that he had intercourse three times with another person who Smith believed to be 15 years old, but who in fact was an adult, the SDNY stated.”

Smith also attempted to solicit rape with children.

“Just prior to being arrested in April 2024, Smith tried to meet up with the father of a 7-year-old who offered to allow the sicko to sexually abuse the child, according to the court,” noted the NY Post.

“In January 2024, the former smut star made plans with another adult man to sexually abuse a 9-year-old, but the would-be conspirator, who was caring for the child, backed out when the now-convicted was waiting downstairs,” it added.

A search warrant for Smith’s home found he had over 1,291 files containing child pornography, including 75 files showing infants and toddlers, and some videos depicting violent rape.

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New York issued driver’s license to migrant — but didn’t require first name

New York issued a driver’s license to a migrant — but didn’t require a first name.

The revelation came as Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said a man caught up in a raid that ensnared 125 illegal immigrants in his state had a New York commercial driver’s license with “No Name Given” in the place of his first and middle monikers.

“If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws,” the Republican wrote in a social media post Monday, along with a picture of the license.

The New York Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to The Post that the license, issued on April 14 and set to expire May 26, 2028, was real.

“This commercial driver’s license was issued in accordance with all proper procedures, including verification of the individual’s identity through federally issued documentation,” DMV spokesman Walter McLure said in a statement.

The spokesman said the individual in question had “lawful status” to be in the US “through a federal employment authorization and was issued a license consistent with federal guidelines.”

He did not specify which program and what “federal issued documentation” was provided to the DMV to verify the man’s identity.

“It is not uncommon for individuals from other countries to have only one name,” the statement added.

It wasn’t immediately known how many similar licenses have been issued.

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$400 Inflation Refund Checks Now Being Mailed Out to 8.2 Million NY Households

The state of New York will be mailing “inflation refund checks” to 8.2 million households, the governor’s office announced Friday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office said that up to $400 checks “will be mailed directly to eligible New Yorkers, with deliveries to continue throughout October and November” and that households do not need to apply, sign up, or take any other action to receive the checks.

According to Hochul’s office, joint tax filers with income up to $150,000 will receive a $400 payment, and joint tax filers with income between $150,001 and $300,000 will receive $300.

Single tax filers who have an income up to $75,000 will get $200, and single tax filers with incomes between $75,000 and $150,000 will get $150, the announcement said.

“Starting today, we’re sending inflation refund checks to over 8 million New Yorkers because it’s simple—this is your money and we’re putting it back in your pockets,” Hochul said in a statement about the checks.

But the check will only be sent if the person filed a New York state resident income tax return, or Form IT-201, reported income within qualifying thresholds, and was not claimed as a dependent for the tax year 2023, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance said.

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Netanyahu Meets With ‘Pro-Israel Influencers’ in New York, Describes Social Media as a ‘Weapon’ for Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with “pro-Israel influencers” after his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

Netanyahu’s office said that he spoke with the influencers “about the challenges in the new era, and the public diplomacy efforts and the influence of the social networks on the discourse for and against Israel.”

During the meeting, Netanyahu was asked what should be done about Israel potentially losing support from Evangelical Christians in the US, and he pointed to social media, which he called a “tool of battle,” and cited a plan for TikTok to be put under the control of US companies.

“What we have to do is secure that part of the base of our support in the United States, that is being challenged systematically … How do we fight back? Our influencers, I think you should also talk to them if you have the chance,” Netanyahu said. “And secondly, we’re going to have to use the tools of battle. The weapons change over time … we have to fight with the weapons that apply to the battlefield on which we’re engaged, and the most important ones are on social media.”

The Israeli leader described the TikTok plan as the “most important purchase that is going on.” Under the plan approved by President Trump, one of the companies that will have a major stake in TikTok and control the algorithm is Oracle, which is owned by Larry Ellison, an extremely pro-Israel billionaire and major private donor to the Israeli military.

“TikTok, TikTok, and I hope it goes through because it could be extremely consequential,” Netanyahu said, adding that the other major social media platform he is concerned about is X, formerly Twitter. The Israeli leader described X CEO Elon Musk as a “friend.”

“We have to talk to Elon. He’s not an enemy, he’s a friend. You should talk to him. Now, if we can get those two things, we can get a lot, and I can go on about other things, but that’s not the point right now. We have to fight the fight. Give direction to the Jewish people, and give direction to our non-Jewish friends, or those who could be our friends,” Netanyahu added.

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Mamdani pledges to spend $100 million more for free lawyers for migrants facing deportation

Taxpayers will pick up an additional $100 million tab for illegal migrants facing deportation, Democratic Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani pledges, calling it a “cornerstone” of his campaign.

“Four hundred thousand of our residents are right now in urgent risk of deportation,” the socialist lamented on MSNBC “The Weekend,” adding fewer than 200 of them received access to free lawyers last year.

The city’s 2026 budget, passed in June, already includes $54.5 million to fight deportation orders in court on the taxpayer’s dime – “more than any other major city in America,” Mayor Eric Adams has said.

Mamdani aims to blow that amount out of the water, reiterating a promise buried in his campaign platform, under his “Trump-Proofing NYC” tenet.

“A cornerstone of our campaign is to increase funding for those very legal defense services by more than $100 million so that we can ensure we’re taking every step we can to keep New Yorkers safe, to keep New Yorkers together, and to show the world that they are welcome in this city,” he said.

To do that, Mamdani vowed to beef up headcount in the city’s Law Department by 200, without providing more specifics.

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Howard Rubin, ex-NYC financier with ties to George Soros, arrested for allegedly sex-trafficking women to ‘sex dungeon’ penthouse: feds

A retired Big Apple financier with past ties to George Soros allegedly “tortured” former Playboy models and other women in a Midtown penthouse turned soundproofed BDSM “sex dungeon” for years, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Howard Rubin, 70, was arrested by federal authorities at his home in Fairfield, Ct., Friday morning on charges he sex-trafficked at least 10 women between 2009 and 2019, luring them to swanky New York City hotels and the leased luxury pad near Central Park — where he restrained, beat and electrocuted them, the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office charged.

The famed former money manager – known as “Howie” or “H” and worth at least tens of millions of dollars – even appeared to revel in the stomach-turning encounters in text messages with his personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, who is also facing sex-trafficking charges tied to the scheme.

“As alleged, the defendants used Rubin’s wealth to mislead and recruit women to engage in commercial sex acts, where Rubin then tortured women beyond their consent, causing lasting physical and/or psychological pain, in some cases physical injuries,” Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement.

One of the West 57th Street penthouse bedrooms was soundproofed and painted red, and had a device that was used to shock or electrocute the women, the feds said. The room also had a cross and bed with restraints where the women would be bound and gagged, according to the authorities.

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SHOCKING INJUSTICE: Soros-Funded DA Alvin Bragg Lets Violent Pro-Abortion Thug Walk Free After Brutal, On-Camera Assault on Pro-Life Woman

In yet another glaring example of the radical left’s two-tiered justice system, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has dismissed all charges against Brianna J. Rivers, the unhinged pro-abortion extremist who viciously assaulted pro-life activist Savannah Craven Antao on camera back in April.

What started as a felony assault charge was downgraded to a mere misdemeanor and then quietly dropped entirely, leaving victims of leftist violence without recourse while criminals roam free.

Savannah Craven Antao, a courageous advocate for the unborn with the pro-life organization Live Action, was out in the streets of Harlem on April 3, 2025, conducting peaceful street interviews for her eye-opening video project titled “What Does Planned Parenthood Do? Perception vs. Reality?”

Her mission was simple: to expose the grim truths about America’s largest abortion mill and spark honest conversations about the sanctity of life.

But in Biden’s America, where free speech is under siege from the radical left, even polite dialogue can turn deadly for conservatives. According to Savannah and her husband, Henry Antao, the encounter began innocently enough.

The assailant, later identified as 30-year-old Brianna J. Rivers, approached the couple with compliments. “Oh my gosh, I love your dress. You look so cute,” she said, even praising Henry’s skin tone and calling them “so cute.”

The conversation quickly revealed Rivers’ pro-abortion stance, but Savannah remained calm and respectful, as she always does in her videos—challenging people with thoughtful questions rather than confrontation.

Things escalated when Rivers shockingly declared that we should “kill all the kids in foster care.” Stunned, Savannah sought clarification: “Oh, that’s really violent and interesting.”

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