Tag: social media

Taxpayers WHACKED with $66k legal bill for E-Karen’s failure

The eSafety Commissioner’s failed legal battle against Elon Musk’s social media platform X and Canadian activist Chris Elston — better known as Billboard Chris — will cost Australian taxpayers approximately $66,000.

The Administrative Review Tribunal on Tuesday threw out a takedown order issued by Commissioner Julie Inman Grant in response to a controversial post by Elston criticising the World Health Organisation’s inclusion of radical transgender activist Teddy Cook on a policy panel.

In February 2024, Elston shared a post on X stating: “This woman (yes, she’s female) is part of a panel of 20 ‘experts’ hired by the WHO to draft their policy on caring for ‘trans people’. People who belong in psychiatric wards are writing the guidelines for people who belong in psychiatric wards.”

Inman Grant deemed the post “degrading” and issued a takedown notice to X on March 22, threatening the company with a $782,500 fine if it failed to remove the post. X blocked the content, but subsequently challenged the decision alongside Elston.

On Tuesday, the Tribunal sided with X and Elston, ruling the takedown order invalid. Deputy president Damien O’Donovan stated that there was no evidence Elston intended for Cook to see the post.

“In the absence of any evidence that Mr Elston intended that Mr Cook would receive and read the post, and in light of the broader explanation as to why Mr Elston made the post, I am satisfied that an ordinary reasonable person would not conclude that it is likely that the post was intended to have an effect of causing serious harm to Mr Cook,” the ruling read.

An eSafety spokesperson confirmed the legal challenge had so far cost “approximately $66,000”, and acknowledged the Tribunal’s guidance.

eSafety said it would continue an agenda to “protect Australians from online abuse” while taking the Tribunal’s findings into account.

Keep reading

Social Media Especially Harms Girls’ Sleep & Mental Health

June 30 was World Social Media Day.

In a survey conducted between September and October 2025, 50 percent of 13- to 17-year-old girls said that social media has hurt their sleep, versus 40 percent of boys the same age.

As Statista’ Anna Fleck reports, teenage girls are more likely than boys to report negative impacts from social media on their sleep, self confidence, levels of productivity and mental health, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.

You will find more infographics at Statista

A similar gap occurs for the issue of mental health (25 percent of girls, 14 percent of boys).

However, the biggest share of respondents said social media sites neither helped nor hurt their mental health.

Around one in five of both sexes said that social media had negative impacts on school grades.

Teens were more positive when it came to the question of friendships.

Keep reading

EU Turns Voluntary “Disinformation” Code Into Mandatory Rule Under New Censorship Law, Risking US Trade Tensions

On July 1, 2025, the European Union’s Code of Conduct on Disinformation became something else entirely. What was once pitched as a voluntary effort by tech companies to clean up their platforms is now an official requirement under the EU censorship law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The biggest online platforms and search engines will need to meet strict transparency standards, undergo audits, and show that they can keep what Brussels calls “disinformation” in check. The message is clear enough: fall short during an audit, and expect to hear from the regulators.

Brussels couldn’t have picked a more delicate moment for this move. Trade negotiations with the United States are on a tight deadline, and the mood between the two is already tense.

This type of regulatory hardball has not gone unnoticed in Washington. American officials remember what happened when Canada tried something similar with its digital services tax.

President Donald Trump labeled the move as “obviously copying the European Union.”

Meta’s Joel Kaplan took to his podium to thank Trump for “standing up for American tech companies in the face of unprecedented attacks from other governments.” The result was that trade talks between the US and Canada hit a wall until Ottawa quietly shelved its tax plans.

Now the EU seems determined to test how far it can push its digital agenda without suffering the same fate. US politicians, mostly Republicans, have wasted no time calling out censorship disguised as risk management.

European officials are doing their best to dodge the charge.

The EU’s line is that the rules target systemic risks in algorithms and advertising rather than individual content.

Under the new system, platforms labeled as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) will face yearly audits.

These audits are supposed to assess how well companies manage the risks linked to disinformation.

Keep reading

Thumbs Up Lands Woman in Hot Water as Germany Cracks Down on Emoji Speech

A German woman is at the center of the latest controversy over the country’s tightening grip on online speech, as prosecutors seek to fine her €1,800 ($2,110) for reacting with emojis to a social media post.

The case highlights how even the most minimal forms of digital expression are now being scrutinized under Germany’s expansive interpretation of criminal law.

The 64-year-old from Lohfelden, Hesse, found herself under investigation after responding with three thumbs-up emojis beneath a post on X.

The original post reported on a 15-year-old Swedish girl who had killed the migrant man who raped her, and included the comment, “Does he now have 77 virgins?”

According to the Kassel public prosecutor’s office, the woman’s emoji reaction amounted to endorsing the killing and expressing satisfaction that it had targeted a migrant.

Months after her October 26 interaction, she received a formal penalty notice, ordering her to pay 60 daily rates of €30 each.

The fine, totaling €1,800, was confirmed by the prosecution when contacted by Apollo News.

The penalty order, parts of which the woman has shared publicly, alleges: “You agreed with this post as a user (…) by clicking ‘thumbs up’ three times. You were aware that in this way you publicly approved of an intentional killing by way of unauthorized vigilantism, and you were particularly pleased that this vigilantism was perpetrated against a migrant.”

Authorities also claim she adopted the “77 virgins” remark to ridicule the dead rapist.

This interpretation of her emoji use, entirely shaped by the prosecutor’s reading of intent, reflects a growing trend of criminalizing expressions of opinion online.

The woman retains the right to appeal, and if she does, the case will proceed to a full trial.

Germany’s crackdown on digital speech has seen several such incidents in recent years.

Keep reading

Denmark Plans Sweeping Ban on Online Deepfakes to Combat “Misinformation”

Denmark is preparing legislation that would outlaw the sharing of deepfake content online, a move that could open the door to unprecedented restrictions on digital expression.

Deepfakes, which can involve photos, videos, or audio recordings manipulated by artificial intelligence, are designed to convincingly fabricate actions or statements that never occurred.

While governments cite misinformation concerns, broad bans risk stifling creativity, political commentary, and legitimate speech.

The Danish Ministry of Culture announced Thursday that lawmakers from many parties are backing the effort to clamp down on the distribution of AI-generated imitations of people’s appearances or voices.

The forthcoming proposal, according to officials, aims to block the spread of deepfakes by making it illegal to share such material. Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt argued that “it was high time that we now create a safeguard against the spread of misinformation and at the same time send a clear signal to the tech giants.”

But these assurances do little to address the chilling effect such measures could have on free expression.

Authorities describe the planned rules as among the most comprehensive attempts yet to confront deepfakes and their potential to mislead the public.

The United States last year introduced legislation criminalizing the non-consensual sharing of intimate deepfakes, while South Korea has imposed tougher punishments for similar offenses and tightened regulations on social media platforms.

Keep reading

Nigerian Woman Breaks Down After Being Detained and Denied Entry at U.S. Airport Over Social Media Posts That Revealed Her True Reason for Visiting the Country

Another wake-up call in the era of law and order: Biden may have thrown open the borders, but under Trump-era immigration policies still on the books, fraud doesn’t fly — no matter how many tears are shed.

A Nigerian businesswoman, Chinelo Ejianwu, learned the hard way that U.S. immigration doesn’t play around when it comes to visa fraud — especially not under rules put in place during President Donald Trump’s administration.

As of June 18, 2025, the Trump administration’s policy requires F‑, M‑, and J‑visa applicants to make all social media accounts public and disclose usernames from the last five years for enhanced vetting.

This policy targets student, vocational, and exchange programs — not tourist, business, or temporary visit categories.

However, U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers can search phones or computers and review digital content during entry inspections, regardless of visa type.

If they find posts or content flagged as politically sensitive, extremist, or related to national-security concerns, you may face denial of entry or detainment—even with a valid visa.

Ejianwu, the owner of “Onyx Hair by Nelly,” sobbed in a viral video after being detained for 24 hours and ultimately denied entry into the United States upon arrival for what she claimed was a “business meeting” trip.

She was heading to Houston to participate as an exhibiting vendor at a major Nigerian-backed trade fair — a violation of her B1/B2 visa.

A B1/B2 visa is a nonimmigrant visa issued by the United States to foreign nationals for temporary stays, typically for business (B1) or tourism (B2) purposes, or a combination of both.

This visa allows individuals to enter the U.S. for a limited period to engage in activities like attending business meetings, visiting family, or sightseeing.

“This has to be one of the hardest posts I have made . But I told myself I was always going to tell my story no matter how bad or ugly it is. I know social media life doesn’t really show the messy side, but here is one of mine,” Chinelo wrote on her Facebook.

“I really don’t even know how I feel at the moment. I have dealt with different emotions anger, anxiety,rejection,regret ,you name it. I wish there was a way I can clear the image of how I Was handled like a criminal literally, detained for more than 26 hours, my phones and passport taken from me and escorted back to the plane like a fugitive off my head or all the funds in thousands of dollars that went down the drain but this won’t break me.”

According to her, U.S. officials scanned her Instagram messages and posts, uncovering clear-cut evidence that she was promoting her presence at the “Naija Brand Chick Trade Exhibition” in Houston, scheduled for June 27–29.

Her role? Officially listed as an exhibiting vendor — the type of commercial activity that squarely violates the terms of a tourist/business visa.

Keep reading

Muslim Immigrant Recruited For Jihad in Chicago

According to CBS News, A Chicago-based Muslim has been “convicted of using social media to recruit ISIS operatives and try to spread violent jihad and encourage people to carry out attacks on behalf of the terrorist group.”

Fortunately, President Trump has defeated ISIS. Unfortunately, Islamic radicalism still exists and Biden’s open border allowed potential jihadists into the country. Sadly, some in the West remain asleep at the wheel.

Per CBS:

Following a bench trial in federal court in Chicago, Ashraf Al Safoo, 41, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate commerce, one count of conspiracy to intentionally access a protected computer without authorization, four counts of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization, and four counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Al Safoo was arrested in October 2018, following a raid at his home in the Budlong Woods neighborhood.

Federal prosecutors said he is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Iraq, and moved to the U.S. in 2008.

He was accused of working with ISIS to various social media accounts to spread propaganda supporting violent jihad and recruit operatives to carry out terrorist attacks for the Islamic State.

This convicted jihadist was born in Iraq and was accused of working with ISIS to spread propaganda and recruit jihadis.

Among the evil he promoted were violent attacks during Christmas, as well as celebrations of terrorist attacks and mass shootings.

Al Safoo encouraged jihadis to “cause confusion and spread terror within the hearts of those who disbelieved.”

The ideology of Islamic jihadists remains a threat to Western Civilization. Fortunately, President Trump has made it harder for them to come into the country and cause harm in America, although there are likely already sleeper cells in America from Islamic countries who came in under Biden.

Keep reading

Dead Democrats Keep Posting Online From Beyond the Grave — and No One Knows Who’s Behind It

It appears that even death cannot stop Democratic lawmakers from social media posting.

According to a report from Politico, many prominent accounts of deceased members of Congress remain active on social media.

This phenomenon has become increasingly widespread over the past year, as lawmakers who have passed away continue to like, comment, and even change their profile pictures months or even years after their passing.

Social media users have picked up on the activity of numerous individuals. The most recent example is that of Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly, who died of esophageal cancer last month.

Among the activity Connolly’s accounts have engaged in include urging people to go out and vote. That post has since been deleted.

Those with access to his accounts have also continued to take advantage of his mailing list, using it to solicit donations for the campaign of his replacement.

Meanwhile, the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas liked an Instagram post congratulating the communist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on his win in the Democratic primary.

Keep reading

South Korean YouTube and “X” aggressively block access to alternative views on South Korean Election

While “X” has been largely liberated by Elon Musk inside the United States and Mark Zuckerberg has lifted his totalitarian thumb on YouTube inside of America a bit, South Korean variants have missed the memo on this topic.  The “Fact Checkers” and Global Elite Dis-Information cult is alive and well in South Korea – largely funded and directed by the Chinese Communist Party.

On June 24, 2025, a Press Conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. while tens of thousands of South Koreans gathered in Seoul and other locations in South Korea at midnight Korea Standard Time to publicly watch the simulcast.

South Korean YouTube and “X” have blocked and removed replays of this Press Conference, while key persons like rising star and former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has had his “X” account shut down.

Even the display of South Korea’s flag – well known throughout the world is being censored.  Just like the American Democrat Party, the South Korean Democrat Party despises their own National Flag.

Keep reading

Student Visa Applicants Will Now Be Forced To Make Their Social Media Accounts Public

In a Monday announcement, several U.S. embassies stated that student visa applicants will be required to turn the settings on their social media accounts to “public” in order to facilitate scrutiny of their posts, presumably for ideological screening. The change is part of a recent string of crackdowns on international students, which has targeted many who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests or expressed anti-Israel views.

In a social media post, the U.S. Embassy in London wrote that “every visa adjudication is a national security decision,” adding that applicants for several kinds of student visas would be required to “adjust the privacy settings on all of their personal social media accounts to ‘public’ to facilitate vetting necessary to establish their identity and admissibility to the United States.” Several other embassy social media accounts also posted the statement.

The directive comes after months of ramped-up efforts to ideologically filter prospective international students. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio began canceling the visas of some college students who participated in anti-Israel protests—or, in one student’s case, simply wrote an op-ed. In one March press conference, he estimated that his office had canceled more than 300 visas.

“Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa.” Rubio said. “At some point, I hope we run out because we’ve gotten rid of all of them, but, we’re looking every day for these lunatics that are tearing things up.”

A domestic cable sent to embassy officials in May telegraphed this latest development, ordering officials to scour social media posts from prospective Harvard students, noting that the order “will also serve as a pilot for expanded screening and vetting of visa applicants” and “will be expanded over time.” Last week, additional policy updates directed embassy officials to review F, M, and J visas (which are common student visas) for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions or founding principles of the United States.”

This latest move in the Trump administration’s mission to prevent students with disfavored views from studying in the U.S. is nothing less than outright viewpoint discrimination. While the U.S. has a national security interest in vetting visa applicants for affiliations with outright terrorist groups, merely opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza hardly approaches that line. And, as many free speech advocates have pointed out, this precedent can easily be utilized to punish many other viewpoints.

“There is nothing stopping this or another administration from using that authority tomorrow against critics of other countries, whether they’re protesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s oppression of Uyghurs,” reads a recent statement from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment group. “That’s wrong. Requiring foreign students and faculty to self-censor their views about American foreign policy in order to stay in the country violates American principles of free speech and the First Amendment.”

Keep reading