The Up First Podcast: Mixing Social Media and Phones in the Early Stages of the Israeli-Palestinian War on Reconciliation
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In order for an exchange of captive Israelis and Palestinians to happen, there needs to be a temporary cease-fire in Gaza. Representatives of Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar agreed on the “basic contours” of a deal this past week in Paris, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan. The negotiations will be held in the Middle East. Despite US objections, Benjamin Netanyahu will not stop the military offensive in Gaza because it is in the interest of the Palestinian people.
The justices will have to decide between different conceptions of what social media is. Are these platforms similar to old-time phone companies?
Tech Love Story: Conversation with Kara. Swisher during a Tech Tech News Rescheduled Talk on Gaza, Supreme Court, Social Media Censorship
Congress is facing a partial government shutdown yet again. Lawmakers are supposed to pass a law funding the government at the end of September. They have been stuck renewing their spending plan. Federal funding for several departments, including the Transportation, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, runs out at the end of the week. President Joe Biden is expected to host the top four Congressional lawmakers tomorrow to negotiate ahead of Friday’s deadline.
A portion of our long conversation was broadcast on Morning Edition. A few minutes didn’t capture the full flavor. So we have also published a longer version. She details her views on the tech world, and her disappointment with it, as the full Kara.
Swisher’s memoir Burn Book: A Tech Love Story recounts more than three decades covering the tech industry as a beat reporter, analyst, columnist, podcaster and TV personality. She writes that she went from asking tech leaders what they were thinking to telling them what she thought of their business. Today, she’s disillusioned with many of them.
Artifacts from the trash: a case study on the freedom of speech under attack in the U.S. Capitol after the 2021 Capitol siege
The Himalayan mountains are plagued by waste left by mountaineering activities over the years. Nepal’s Department of Tourism reckons that there is over 135,000 tons of waste on Mt. Everest. The government is attempting to clean up the mountains. Some of the material collected from the mountains has found its way to indigenous craftswomen of the Tharu community, who are using their traditional skills to transform the garbage into something entirely new.
Look at photos of how Sunita Kumari Chaudhary and her colleagues make art from the trash and learn more about their effort to use the mountain waste for opportunity in their community.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a trade group for the social media companies that are involved in the litigation, said that the government was trying to dictate what viewpoints were distributed in the name of free expression. “And that’s what’s at issue in this case.”
The dispute intensified after the violent siege on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, when social media sites booted former President Donald Trump from their platforms, fearing his posts could provoke more unrest.
“Freedom of speech is under attack in Texas,” declared Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott at the bill signing. Conservatives are being silenced by a movement by some social media companies. This is wrong and we will not allow it in Texas.”
“It is necessary to have guidelines and terms of use to make sure that a community isn’t polluted,” Schruers said. A lot of the things that are posted in the cat forum, barbeque in the vegan forum, and more serious things like trying to groom children in a children’s site can be found in the same area.
The First Amendment is Important, but Do You Really Need It? On the Supreme Court to Hear Challenges to Texas, Florida Social Media Laws
John Whitehead runs the Rutherford Institute, a conservative-leaning nonprofit group. Whitehead, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the cases, said the big social media sites have become the center of people’s lives and they should not be engaging in any censorship.
“It’s out there to try to get people to think,” he said. “In other words, you can disagree. People should start a debate if someone puts something foolish on Facebook. Not eliminating is the key.
Other allies of Texas and Florida argue the sites are merely hosting content, not making editorial judgments that deserve lots of First Amendment protection.
Everyone should be in favor of opposing government control of speech. “Because as it may be your person in the White House today, we know that that will not be forever. And that’s why the First Amendment is so important and so paramount.”
Or, are they more like like bookstores and newspapers, places that edit and curate information, that get the highest level of First Amendment protection?
This Supreme Court case is why the social media giants rely on it. Florida tried to force the newspaper to carry op-eds it didn’t want to publish. The high court sided with the Herald back then.
Today, the social media sites said, Florida is trying to make the big social media platforms print every single letter to the editor. Users don’t want that and neither do advertisers, they said.
Source: Supreme Court to hear challenges to Texas, Florida social media laws
The Rise and Fall of the Christchurch Mosque Shooter: A Case Study on Social Media and the Laws of Online Content Moderation and a Special Master
The two trade associations — Netchoice and CCIA — are backed by groups across the political spectrum, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Americans For Prosperity, which is linked to Charles Koch, to the American Civil Liberties Union.
A bipartisan group of national security experts weighed in, too. The September 11th victim compensation fund has a special master named, Rupa Bhattacharyya. She now works at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center.
Content moderation on social media is an important part of keeping the internet free of hate and violence.
Home-grown extremists like the Proud Boys and foreign groups like the Islamic State have deployed social media to attract converts and broadcast violence. The Christchurch mosque shooter in New Zealand live-streamed his activities, to try to inspire others, she added.
Bhattacharyya said social media platforms should face common-sense regulations, including consumer protection and anti-fraud laws. And the current content moderation policies of some of the big sites have real flaws.
They cited threats against the justices in their court papers. Those things are deleted now, according to the moderator. But under the state laws, they might face lawsuits for yanking “trolls” who flood their chats with vulgar and racist posts.