Tag: social media

TikTok censors posts about AIPAC’s influence after ownership change

TikTok has begun censoring posts that discuss the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in the United States. This change follows a recent ownership transition to billionaires aligned with Israeli interests.

The decision to censor content related to AIPAC has raised concerns among users regarding freedom of expression on the platform. The specific nature of the posts being targeted has not been detailed, but the move has sparked discussions about the implications of ownership on social media content moderation.

This development comes amid ongoing political tensions and discussions surrounding AIPAC”s role in U.S. politics. Similar situations have been observed in other contexts, including recent developments in Madagascar, where protests have erupted over political issues, as reported in recent coverage.

No further information has been provided by TikTok regarding the criteria for censorship or the potential impact on user engagement. The situation continues to evolve as users and observers monitor the platform”s policies.

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Discord Support Data Breach Exposes User IDs, Personal Data

A data breach affecting a third-party customer service provider used by Discord has exposed personal information from users who had contacted the platform’s support teams and among the data accessed were some images of government-issued IDs submitted by users.

The incident will amplify growing concerns around online ID verification, a practice increasingly mandated by governments as a way to enforce age restrictions online.

While Discord confirmed that the attacker did not breach its internal systems, the compromise of a vendor handling sensitive user data shows how collecting official identification, even in limited cases, creates serious and lasting privacy risks.

The compromised vendor had supported Discord’s Customer Support and Trust & Safety teams, and the attacker targeted it in an effort to extort money.

While the breach did not involve Discord’s internal systems, sensitive user data was exposed.

The company stated that the attacker accessed information from a “limited number of users” who had interacted with support staff.

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Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Slams French Investigation, Warns of Global Crackdown on Privacy and Free Speech

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov made no attempt to hide his frustration with French authorities during a wide-ranging conversation on The Lex Fridman Podcast, describing the French government’s investigation into him and his company as “Kafkaesque,” “absurd,” and deeply damaging.

He warned that efforts to undermine digital privacy are accelerating not just in France, but across Europe and beyond, using pretexts like child protection and election integrity to justify surveillance and censorship.

Throughout the interview, Durov painted a grim picture of what he sees as growing authoritarianism disguised as public safety.

“Every dictator in the world justifies taking away your rights with very reasonable-sounding justifications,” he said, warning that citizens often don’t realize the gravity of their loss until it’s too late. “Every message they send is monitored. They can’t assemble. It’s over.”

Durov flatly rejected the idea that any government, including France’s, could force Telegram to grant access to users’ private conversations.

“Nothing,” he responded when asked if there was any scenario in which French intelligence could gain a backdoor.

He emphasized that Telegram does not and will not use personal data to power ad targeting, saying, “We would never use…your personal messaging data or your context data or your metadata or your activity data to target ads.”

Despite facing legal pressure and travel restrictions stemming from the French case, Durov said Telegram remains firm in its refusal to censor political content or violate users’ privacy.

“The more pressure I get, the more resilient and defiant I become,” he said, accusing French authorities of trying to “humiliate” him and millions of Telegram users through coercive tactics.

Durov described encounters with French intelligence officials who allegedly tried to pressure him into shutting down Telegram channels during elections in Romania and Moldova, actions he said would have amounted to “political censorship.”

He recounted being approached while detained in France and asked to disable channels that criticized preferred candidates of Western-aligned governments. “If you think that, because I’m stuck here, you can tell me what to do, you are very wrong,” Durov said he told one official.

He made it clear that Telegram had only taken down content in Moldova that actually violated platform rules, refusing broader demands that lacked justification.

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MTG Demands Israel-Linked Influencers Register as Foreign Agents Amid $7,000 Per Post Scandal

The “Esther Project,” as detailed in Cleveland-Stout’s investigation, was coordinated through US-based PR firm Bridge Partners and managed in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It reportedly allocated more than half a million dollars for influencer payments between June and September 2025, all with the goal of quietly shaping American public opinion and policy using paid social content—without transparent disclosure of foreign sponsorship.

Cleveland-Stout reports:

“In a meeting dedicated to harnessing pro-Israel media energy on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to a cohort of Israel’s influencers. ‘We have to fight back. How do we fight back? Our influencers. I think you should also talk to them if you have a chance, to that community, they are very important.’
Being paid by Israel to post on social media is also very lucrative. According to previously unreported recent documents, these influencers are likely being paid around $7,000 per post on social media such as TikTok and Instagram on behalf of Israel.”

Citing the legal backbone behind her demand, MTG quoted the Foreign Agents Registration Act:

“Foreign governments routinely engage in efforts to influence our domestic and foreign policies, legislation, democratic processes, and public opinion. These governments sometimes exert this influence by employing lobbyists, public relations professionals, prominent businesspeople, or former U.S. government officials on their behalf. Such efforts are legal—if they are transparent. Originally enacted in 1938, the Foreign Agents Registration Act—known as FARA—helps the American people and their elected officials understand who is really behind such influence activity. The statute requires persons working on behalf of foreign governments or other foreign principals (including Americans) to disclose their relationships to foreign principals and information about their activities. Agents who fail to register are violating federal law, and they can be prosecuted if their failure is deliberate.”

Greene emphasized that her position is not directed at any particular group, but is strictly about legal compliance and transparency for foreign-influenced political messaging in the United States.

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OpenAI Readies TikTok-Style App Powered Only By AI Videos

OpenAI is preparing a standalone social app powered by its Sora 2 video model, according to Wired. The app “closely resembles” TikTok with a vertical video feed and swipe-to-scroll, but only features AI-generated clips — users can’t upload from their camera roll.

Wired reported that Sora 2 will generate clips of 10 seconds or less inside the app, though limits outside the app are unclear. TikTok, which started with a 15-second cap, now allows 10-minute uploads. The app will also offer identity verification, letting Sora 2 use a person’s likeness in generated videos. Others can tag or remix that likeness, but OpenAI will notify users whenever it’s used — even if the video isn’t posted.

Wired adds the software will refuse some videos due to copyright, but protections may be weak. The Wall Street Journal reports rights holders must opt out to keep their content from appearing in Sora 2’s outputs.

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Israel Paying US Social Media Influencers $7,000 Per Post As Right-Wing Support Craters

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in New York on Friday with a group of pro-Israel influencers, we learn that Israel is likely paying them a whopping $7,000 per pro-Israel social-media post in a desperate drive to bolster plummeting support of Israel among America’s young conservatives. 

That’s the conclusion of Responsible Statecraft’s Nick Cleveland-Stout, based on analysis of a disclosure filed with the US Department of Justice as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). While pro-Israel lobbying heavyweight AIPAC is notoriously exempt from FARA registration, the social media operation comes under the transparency law’s provisions because Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is paying for it. 

The influence campaign is being facilitated by Bridge Partners, a DC-based firm owned by founders Yair Levi and Uri Steinberg. “[Bridge Partners] has also enlisted the help of a former major in the IDF spokesperson unit, Nadav Shtrauchler,” writes Cleveland-Stout. “For legal counsel, Levi and Steinberg have turned to Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, a firm that previously worked for controversial Israeli spyware company NSO Group.”

The current phase of the campaign runs from June to November, with a $900,000 budget for a stable of 14 to 17 influencers turning out pro-Israel content. Taking into account disclosed administrative costs and the campaign’s expectation that the group will produce 75-90 posts, Responsible Statecraft estimates each post will earn the influencers somewhere between $6,143 and $7,373. The individual influencers are not identified in the filings. However, given they are being paid by a foreign government to engage in political activity, the influencers seemingly have a duty to register as individual agents of the State of Israel. 

Netanyahu candid public statements to influencers last week raised eyebrows, as they laid bare Israel’s drive to control social media discourse in the United States in a bid to shore up American support. “We’re going to have to use the tools of battle,” said Netanyahu. “Weapons change over time…the most important ones are in social media. And the most important purchase that is going on right now is…TikTok.”

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Netanyahu hails TikTok takeover as Israel’s new ‘weapon’ in information war

Benjamin Netanyahu described the expected purchase of the social media platform TikTok by allies of Israel as the acquisition of a “weapon” that is “most important” to “fight the fight.” And he believes this development “could be extremely consequential.”

The Israeli prime minister was speaking to a group of “pro-Israel influencers” in a meeting after his address at the United Nations General Assembly last Friday were an overwhelming majority of national delegations walked out in apparent protest to what is widely considered a genocidal war he and his nation are inflicting against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

A media release from Netanyahu’s office reported the prime minister spoke with this group of “pro-Israel American influencers” about “challenges in the new era, as well as the public diplomacy efforts and the influence of the social networks on the discourse for and against Israel.”

Asked about how to combat dangers to the Zionist cause due to a potential loss of Evangelical support in the United States, which is also impacted by popular Israel-critics Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, Netanyahu directed his listeners to considering social media as “tools for battle” and then emphasized the expected purchase of TikTok to be “most important” in serving Israel’s interests in this regard.

“What we have to do is we have to 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 a chance,” the prime minister 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 battlefields within which we’re engaged. And the most important ones are on social media.”

Netanyahu then celebrated “the most important purchase that is going on right now” that he identified as being TikTok. “And I hope it goes through because it can be consequential.”

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Swiss Man Chooses Jail Over Fine After Conviction for LGBT Comments Online

A Swiss man is choosing prison over paying a fine after courts punished him for comments on social media about biological sex.

Emanuel Brünisholz, who repairs wind instruments in Burgdorf, announced that he will serve 10 days behind bars beginning in December rather than hand over hundreds of francs to the state.

The case began nearly three years ago when Brünisholz replied to a Facebook post by Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner.

In his response, he wrote: “If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons. Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.”

That remark was quickly flagged by activists, who reported it to police as incitement to hatred under Article 261bis, the country’s anti-discrimination law.

What was once a narrowly tailored rule to stop racist propaganda has, since 2020, been extended to cover “sexual identities.”

According to local media, this expansion opened the door for Brünisholz’s prosecution. On August 15, 2023, local police interrogated him, demanding to know his intent.

When asked what he meant by his post, he answered: “Well, that those who think there’s not just man and woman, I want to tell them that there’s only man and woman.”

As reported by Reduxx, asked about his opinion of the “LGBTQI” community, he said: “Nothing, absolutely nothing. It’s an extremist bunch. They want to silence me.”

Authorities concluded his statement demeaned LGBT individuals and thus violated human dignity.

He was fined 500 Swiss francs, with the penalty convertible into jail time if unpaid. After he contested the order, the Regional Court of Emmental Oberaargau reaffirmed the guilty verdict in December 2023 and added another 600 francs in court fees.

Instead of complying, Brünisholz declared he would not pay. On September 19, 2025, he posted an image of his summons from the Bernese Office of Justice Execution alongside the words: “It’s happening. On December 2, I’m going to prison for 10 days!”

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Report: EU to Charge Meta Under Censorship Law for Failing to Remove “Harmful” Content

Meta Platforms is bracing for formal charges from the European Union, accused of not doing enough to police online speech on Facebook and Instagram.

The problem is the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a law that gives regulators the power to decide what counts as “illegal” or “harmful” content (a definition that includes “illegal hate speech”) and punish companies that fail to take it down.

The commission’s move could lead to a fine of up to 6% of Meta’s worldwide revenue, though the company will be allowed to respond before any penalty is finalized.

Officials in Brussels argue that Meta lacks an adequate “notice and action mechanism” for users to flag posts for removal.

The charge sheet, expected within weeks, according to Bloomberg, builds on an investigation launched in April 2024.

What the EU describes as a duty to protect users is, in fact, a mandate that forces platforms to censor more aggressively or face ruinous fines.

The commission would not comment on its plans, but Meta spokesperson Ben Walters rejected the accusations outright, saying the company disagreed “with any suggestion we have breached the DSA” and confirmed that talks are ongoing.

The DSA covers every major platform with more than 45 million active users in the EU.

Meta is currently facing two separate probes under the law: one focused on disinformation and illegal content, the other on protections for minors.

Supporters of the DSA insist it protects citizens, but the law essentially hands governments the authority to decide what speech is acceptable online.

No fines have yet been issued, but the pressure to comply has already chilled open debate.

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YouTube Bows to Trump in Censorship Lawsuit, Will Pay Millions to Avoid Court

And then there were none.

YouTube, a Google subsidiary, became the last of three tech titans to settle a lawsuit brought forth by President Donald Trump, according to a blistering report from The Wall Street Journal.

The video sharing platform agreed to pay a hefty $24.5 million to settle lawsuits brought forth by Trump in 2021.

At the time, the president’s YouTube account had been banned following the Jan. 6 incursion at the U.S. Capitol.

YouTube claimed that they had gone to those extraordinary lengths to remove Trump’s channel to nix potential videos that may incite violence.

(The channel was reinstated in March 2023.)

The YouTube settlement is the second-biggest of the lawsuits brought against various tech titans by Trump — and that appears to be intentional.

The biggest settlement Trump had was with Facebook parent company Meta Platforms, which was for $25 million.

“Google executives were eager to keep their settlement smaller than the one paid by rival Meta, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

While $24.5 million does come in lower than the $25 million Meta paid, it’s more than double what X, formerly Twitter, paid Trump for a similar lawsuit, as the now-Elon Musk owned platform paid $10 million.

Interestingly, while Trump will “keep” most of this settlement money — $22 million — none of it will actually be going to him.

The Wall Street Journal noted that the money will be immediately rerouted to the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall, tasked with building a grand ballroom near the White House.

The other $2.5 million will be dispersed among various other plaintiffs. There is no mention of attorney fees.

This decision comes months after YouTube was apparently having “productive conversations” with the Trump administration in June, per The Hill.

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