Tag: social media

60 Minutes Gets Dragged on Twitter/X Over Story Praising Gun Control Policies in Mexico

Over the weekend, 60 Minutes did a story about gun control in Mexico, pointing out that the country has only one gun store and that it’s located on a military base.

Twitter/X users were quick to point out that Mexico is basically run by violent, murderous drug cartels which are armed to the teeth.

60 Minutes went out of their way to push a narrative about illegal guns in Mexico coming from the U.S., as if the violence south of the border is somehow America’s fault. Have they heard of a program called Fast and Furious that happened under Obama?

From CBS News:

Like the U.S., Mexico’s constitution grants citizens the right to bear arms…. but unlike the U.S., that right comes with a long list of restrictions.

There’s only one gun store in Mexico…in the middle of a heavily guarded military base in Mexico City…we were allowed in.

But before customers can enter, they have to show proof they’ve passed psychological tests, drug screens and extensive background checks.

The store sells about a thousand guns a month. Mostly, shotguns, small caliber rifles, and handguns… what civilians can’t buy here are the weapons the cartel favors. Those are not legally sold anywhere in Mexico.

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Elon Musk’s AfD Endorsement Triggers EU Push for Stricter Censorship Under Digital Services Act

Elon Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has sparked significant controversy, particularly among European political figures concerned about the potential for what they call “foreign interference” in Germany’s upcoming elections.

Musk, the CEO of X, voiced his support for some of AfD’s policies following a deadly terror attack in Germany. His comments have raised alarm among EU officials, prompting calls for increased scrutiny of the X app and its compliance with the EU’s stringent censorship laws.

Thierry Breton, the European Union’s former Commissioner, took to X to express his outrage over Musk’s support for AfD. In a tweet posted on December 21, Breton accused Musk of being involved in “foreign interference” in Germany’s electoral process, especially given the timing of his comments around the tragic attack in Magdeburg.

Breton, who has been an advocate for strict censorship of social media platforms, and even threatened Elon Musk for over his interview with President Donald Trump, also called for the immediate application of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) to combat what he described as “double standards” when it comes to regulating speech online.

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Police Arrest TikTok ‘Prankster’ For Spraying Poison All Over Food in Walmart, Causing $1 Million in Damage, and Posting Video of Crime to Social Media

A so-called TikTok ‘prankster’ known for wreaking havoc on the public for social media views, was arrested for spraying poison all over food in a Mesa, Arizona, Walmart.

The suspect, 27-year-old Charles Smith, was stupid enough to video his face while committing the crime. He then uploaded the video of himself committing the felony to social media.

According to court documents, Smith went back inside Walmart 10 minutes after he committed the crime and “attempted to collect the items he sprayed.”

Smith wheeled some of the poisoned items to the back of Walmart.

Walmart was forced to remove nearly $1 million in damaged food/suspected damaged food after Charles Smith ran through the store and sprayed poison all over the place.

Mesa police arrested Charles Smith on Saturday and charged him with Introducing Poison (felony), Criminal Damage (misdemeanor), Endangerment (misdemeanor), Theft (misdemeanor).

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WHO Expands “Misinformation Management” Efforts with “Social Listening”

The UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) is not the only entity engaging globally (the Gates Foundation comes to mind as another) that likes to turn to developing, or small and often functionally dependent states to “test” or “check” some of the key elements of its policies.

The pandemic put the WHO center-stage, and in many ways influenced the UN’s clear change of trajectory from its true purpose to assisting governments globally in policing speech and surveilling their populations.

The WHO is comfortable in conflating health-focused issues (its actual mandate), with what it presents as threats linked to “disinformation” and “AI.”

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Parade Of Leftist Influencers Meet And Fangirl Over Hunter Biden

A parade of pathetic paid lefty influencers were invited to the White House Tuesday for a Christmas gathering featuring the grinch that some say helped steal the 2020 election, none other than freshly pardoned reformed drug addict turned part time artist Hunter Biden.

This line up of losers all launched themselves at Hunter for pictures to share with their Facebook friends, fangirling out about what a “great guy” he is.

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CPS Is Investigating an Influencer Because Her Son Flinched in a Video

Social media influencers who post their children online often face their share of criticism. But now, if their audience disapproves of their parenting decisions, they could also find themselves being investigated by child protective services (CPS).

The latest parent to face a CPS investigation for showing innocuous footage of her children is Hannah Hiatt, an influencer who has built an audience of half a million followers for videos detailing her life as a nurse with two young children. Last month, Hiatt posted a video in which her toddler-aged son appeared to flinch slightly as his father walked toward him to hand him a box of ice cream mochi. While most wouldn’t think much of the clip, many viewers seized on the moment, arguing that it was proof that Hiatt and her husband were abusing their children.

The now-deleted video went viral, with many users making videos of their own debating the meaning of the clip. Angry internet users also found another video of Hiatt, in which her husband flicked her son’s hand away from some french fries, again claiming that this too was evidence of physical abuse. 

“The flinch breaks my heart,” one TikTok user commented.

“Why are people like this allowed to procreate,” posted another.

An Ogden, Utah Police Department spokesperson told People that an investigation had been opened against Hiatt and her family following “numerous reports through Child Protective Service and police.”

While the investigation is ongoing, and it remains unclear whether Hiatt will be found guilty of any wrongdoing, she is far from the first person to face a CPS investigation after upsetting an internet mob. In April, influencers J.D. and Britney Lott faced a child welfare investigation after Reddit users became convinced that the newborn was being medically neglected—though a medical examination confirmed that the child was healthy. And in 2021, a father who tweeted jokes about his daughter’s struggles to use a can opener ended up getting a visit from CPS after an enraged internet mob reported him for alleged child abuse.

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TikTok Battles Canada’s Crackdown, Pitching Itself as a “Misinformation” Censorship Ally

In Canada, TikTok is attempting to get the authorities to reverse the decision to shut down its business operations by going to court – but also by recommending itself as a proven and reliable ally in combating “harmful content” and “misinformation.”

Canada last month moved to shut down TikTok’s operations, without banning the app itself. All this is happening ahead of federal elections amid the government’s efforts to control social media narratives, always citing fears of “misinformation” and “foreign interference” as the reasons.

TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, was accused of – via its parent company – representing “specific national security risks” when the decision regarding its corporate presence was made in November; no details have been made public regarding those alleged risks, however.

Now the TikTok Canada director of public policy and government affairs, Steve de Eyre, is telling the local press that the newly created circumstances are making it difficult for the company to work with election regulators and “civil society” to ensure election integrity – something Eyre said was previously successfully done.

In 2021, he noted, TikTok initiated collaboration with Elections Canada (the agency that organizes elections and has the power to flag social media content) which included TikTok adding links to all election-related videos that directed users toward “verified information.”

And the following year, TikTok was invested in monitoring its platform for “potentially violent” content, during the Freedom Convoy protests against Covid mandates.

More recently, TikTok was also on its toes for “foreign interference and hateful content” related to Brampton clashes between Sikhs and Hindus.

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Meta’s Re-Education Era Begins

Like law enforcement in some repressive virtual regimes, Meta is introducing the concept of re-education of “citizens” (users), as an alternative to eventually sending them to “jail” (imposing account restrictions).

But this only applies to “first-time offenders,” that is, those who have violated Meta’s community standards for the first time, and if that violation is not considered to be “most severe.”

The community standards now apply across Meta’s platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads – while the new rule means that instead of collecting a strike for a first policy violation, users who go through “an educational program” can have it deleted.

There’s also “probation” – those who receive no strike for a year after that will again be eligible to participate in the “remove your warning” course. This applies to Facebook profiles, pages, and Instagram profiles.

Meta first introduced the option for creators last summer and is now expanding it to everyone. In announcing the change of the policy, the tech giant refers to “research” that showed most of those violating its rules for the first time “may not be aware they are doing so.”

This is where the “short educational program” comes in, as a way to reduce the risk of receiving that first strike, and Meta says the program is designed to help “better explain” its policies.

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EU Pushes for TikTok Clampdown After Romanian Election Upset

When the EU doesn’t like the outcome of an election or a government in a member country, it alarmingly tends to look for explanations in almost every place, except the one that makes sense – the free, democratic will of the voters.

It’s Romania’s turn. Namely, ahead of the second round of presidential elections in that country, the European Parliament (EP) appears to be going the roundabout way in an attempt to delegitimize the first-round victory of independent candidate Calin Georgescu.

And the roundabout way is what looks like a frontal rhetorical assault on TikTok, which some EP members (MEPs) are accusing of failing to live up to the Digital Services Act (DSA) – EU’s censorship law. Specifically now, where it now concerns the Romanian vote and spread of “disinformation” on an alleged scale capable of influencing the result.

A hearing was organized on Tuesday to put pressure on the social platform’s executives, with corporate media describing the MEP’s behavior as “hostile” and “furious” – while Georgescu is casually referred to as an “ultranationalist.”

The Internal Market Committee hearing came after TikTok was blamed by the European Commission for running algorithms that supposedly “disproportionally” promoted content favorable to Georgescu.

TikTok’s representatives told the panel that they are in fact working hard to censor, aka, moderate content in Romania in particular, a market which is said to have the largest number of moderators.

And, in the run-up to elections, a number of “influence campaigns” had been removed from the platform, they told the MEPs. But that’s not what the MEPs wanted to hear.

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D.C. Circuit Court Upholds TikTok Ban, Prioritizing ‘National Security’ Over Free Speech

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the federal government can tell a foreign-owned website that it must either sell itself to an American owner or be banned.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media sites on the planet, with more than a billion monthly active users worldwide and 170 million in the United States. Both Democrats and Republicans have long complained that the app—owned by ByteDance, a company based in China—is a potential vector for Chinese propaganda.

Much of the controversy stems from the level of control that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) demands over the private companies operating within its borders. The theory goes that Beijing could force ByteDance to turn over TikTok user data, or manipulate user algorithms to promote content favorable to the Chinese Communist Party.

Given China’s well-earned reputation as a repressive state, those could conceivably happen—though the key word there is conceivably. While many lawmakers have insisted that TikTok is an active national security threat, they have presented no evidence for this, at most claiming to have seen classified information that affirms their warnings.

During his first term, President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok outright unless it were purchased and operated by an American company. (Trump has reversed course since leaving office, now promising to “save” the app.) And this year President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Singling out TikTok and ByteDance by name, the law made it functionally illegal for “a foreign adversary controlled application” to operate within the United States, or for any other entity to provide “internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating” of the app.

The law defined the term “controlled by a foreign adversary” to include not only companies owned wholly by Chinese entities but also one in which a citizen of an adversarial nation “directly or indirectly own[s] at least a 20 percent stake.” In other words, even if the overwhelming majority of a company’s shares were owned by Americans, it could be banned or forced to divest so long as the remaining shares were held by Chinese, Russian, or Iranian citizens.

In order to continue operating within the United States, the only recourse would be to sell TikTok to an American company by January 19, 2025—Joe Biden’s last full day in office.

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