Social Media & Big Tech news and discussions

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

UK Class Action Lodged Against Meta Seeks $3.1 Billion Breach of Competition Law
by Mike Butcher
January 13, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/13/uk-cl ... ition-law/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) A competition legal expert, backed by a powerful litigation fund, is set to mount a multibillion-dollar class action suit against Facebook/Meta for breach of competition law on the basis that it abused its dominance of social networking in the U.K. for several years. If successful, the action would see Facebook having to pay $3.1 billion (£2.3 billion) in damages to Facebook U.K. users.

The class action lawsuit was lodged against Meta, Facebook’s parent company, yesterday with the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in London.

The unusual approach claims Facebook should pay its 44 million U.K. users compensation for the exploitation of their data between 2015 and 2019. Effectively, it’s saying Facebook took all the personal and private data of its users — who, due to Facebook’s dominance, had no other viable social platform — and in return all its users got, in effect, was the ability to post pictures of babies and kittens to their friends and families.

The action is being mounted by international competition law expert Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen (pictured above) who has made submissions before the U.K.’s Parliament regarding Facebook’s market dominance, as well as written academic legal papers about it.

Dr Lovdahl Gormsen’s case rests on the idea that Facebook (recently renamed Meta) set an “unfair price” for U.K. Facebook users.

[caltrek]

The FTC is Reportedly Investigating Meta’s VR Division for Antitrust Violations
by Adi Robertson
January 14, 2022

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/14/2288 ... -antitrust

Introduction:

(The Verge) The US Federal Trade Commission and at least three states are investigating Meta for antitrust violations in its virtual reality division, according to Bloomberg. The report says the FTC and attorneys general from New York, Tennessee, and North Carolina began speaking last year with third-party VR developers who have concerns about Meta’s business practices. It’s one of multiple probes into Meta’s dominance in the small but growing market of VR.

The Bloomberg report references well-known controversies around Meta (formerly Facebook) and its VR division (formerly Oculus). Regulators have reportedly asked developers if the Oculus app store discriminates against third-party apps whose features overlap with its own offerings, and they’ve apparently questioned Meta’s strategy of selling the Meta Quest (formerly Oculus Quest) headset at a $299 price point that heavily undercuts the price of other VR headsets. The FTC declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report.

The FTC has allegedly already opened a probe into Meta’s acquisition of Within, the company behind VR fitness app Supernatural. The US Justice Department also reportedly investigated similar claims in late 2020. German regulators publicly announced an investigation around the same time.

So far, VR has still gotten little attention compared to other Meta divisions. The FTC is currently pursuing an antitrust lawsuit against the company over its acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp; after a setback last year, a judge revived the suit earlier this week. But as Meta has begun emphasizing its role as a steward of a VR-heavy “metaverse,” the area may invite more legal scrutiny as well.

[caltrek]

Latino Lawmakers Demand Meeting with Tech CEOs on Spanish-Language Misinformation Campaigns
by Pablo Manríquez
January 24, 2022

https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/01/24 ... formation/

Introduction:

(Latino Rebels) WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last week, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) went public with letters sent on January 14 to the CEOs of Meta (formerly Facebook), Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok “respectfully requesting a meeting” to discuss Spanish-language misinformation on their platforms.

“Addressing Spanish-language misinformation Facebook must remain an urgent
priority,” said the letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed by 22 of the 38 member caucus.

“Many federal and state agencies, Members of Congress, and public health organizations rely on platforms like Facebook to communicate life-saving health information and share federal resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

A spokesperson for the caucus told Latino Rebels on Friday that the companies have acknowledged receipt of the letters, but the requested meetings have yet to be scheduled with the four CEOs: Zuckerberg of Meta, Shou Zi Chew of TikTok, Parag Agrawal of Twitter, and Susan Wojcicki of YouTube.

“When it comes to misinformation campaigns on social media, as we’ve seen in past elections, and even when it comes to COVID, those information campaigns are allowed to fester and to spread,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) told Latino Rebels on Wednesday. “That’s one of the biggest challenges we had trying to get our community to get vaccinated. We need to hold the social media companies accountable and bring them in and do it in a way that we can actually deliver some change.”

[wjfox]

Spotify share price is rapidly declining. Numerous other musicians are joining Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in boycotting the platform.

[caltrek]

^^^^More on that:

Joni Mitchell Joins Spotify Misinformation Protest
by Julia Conley
January 29, 2022

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/ ... on-protest

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Standing with hundreds of physicians and medical experts who have called on Spotify to develop a policy on misinformation to counter the Covid-19 falsehoods podcast host Joe Rogan has aired on his wildly popular show, singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell announced late Friday that she would remove her music from the streaming platform.

"I've decided to remove all my music from Spotify. Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives," Mitchell wrote in a brief message on her official website, asking her fans to read an open letter to Spotify signed by more than 270 people in the medical community earlier this month.

An Open Letter to Spotify:

On Dec. 31, 2021, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), a Spotify-exclusive podcast, uploaded a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals. JRE #1757 is not the only transgression to occur on the Spotify platform, but a relevant example of the platform’s failure to mitigate the damage it is causing.

We are a coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields such as microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and neuroscience and we are calling on Spotify to take action against the mass-misinformation events which continue to occur on its platform. With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan has repeatedly spread misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine. He has discouraged vaccination in young people and children, incorrectly claimed that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 (contrary to FDA warnings), and spread a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. In episode #1757, Rogan hosted Dr. Robert Malone, who was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Dr. Malone used the JRE platform to further promote numerous baseless claims, including several falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and an unfounded theory that societal leaders have “hypnotized” the public. Many of these statements have already been discredited. Notably, Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous.

The average age of JRE listeners is 24 years old and according to data from Washington State, unvaccinated 12-34 year olds are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated. Dr. Malone’s interview has reached many tens of millions of listeners vulnerable to predatory medical misinformation. Mass-misinformation events of this scale have extraordinarily dangerous ramifications. As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine. As physicians, we bear the arduous weight of a pandemic that has stretched our medical systems to their limits and only stands to be exacerbated by the anti-vaccination sentiment woven into this and other episodes of Rogan’s podcast.

This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform. We, the undersigned doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators thus call on Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.

[caltrek]

Spotify's Dilema
by Alex Wilhelm
January 31, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/31/joe-r ... e-the-ccp/

Extract:

(TechCrunch) Music streaming is a commodity business. This means that many platforms have mostly the same music on offer and charge a roughly similar price. This is a tricky situation for artists to be in, as they are torn between not offering their music where fans have congregated (streaming services), and accepting prices that many consider are too low for their art (Spotify streaming rates). Fair enough.

Spotify has a different issue stemming from the same roots: Because music is commoditized, it has minimal pricing leverage. That’s to say that it can’t charge $15 per month for the same thing that Apple charges $10 per month for.

This means that Spotify’s economics are largely fixed, and that it can’t have too much of an impact on its gross margins with pricing changes. This limits its profitability, which isn’t good. So, the company embarked on an investing spree in the podcasting world, buying startups and shows in hopes of owning enough unique material in time that it could perhaps charge more for its service, thus improving its revenue quality and overall economic profile.
…
As part of this podcasting push, Spotify spent a lot of money to bring Joe Rogan’s podcast to its platform in what the company called an “Exclusive Partnership.” The mountain of cash that Spotify spent on this was a wager, part (of) its larger podcasting strategy, and was an editorial choice by the platform company.
…
Sure, losing Neil Young and a few others would not constitute a platform-breaking amount of missing music, but if the trend continues, Spotify could become a bit underpopulated with music, sending its subscribers elsewhere. Apple Music, for example. Spotify needed to calm the waters, because if it lost music, no amount of Rogan fandom was going to be able to make the math pencil out — the company remains a music streaming service with a podcasting business, not the other way around.

[caltrek]

Big Tech Boycotts Tend to be Short-lived
by Sara Fischer and Neal Rothschild
February 1, 2022

https://www.axios.com/spotify-boycott-b ... 6c183.html

Introduction:

(Axios) Spotify's weekend of boycott threats may have made headlines, but recent history suggests the controversy won't dent Spotify's business.

Why it matters: Boycotts of tech services have become more frequent amid growing political polarization and frustration over misinformation. But data shows that boycotts and the press attention around them are typically fleeting.

Driving the news: Spotify's stock was up more than 13% Monday, after its most popular podcaster, Joe Rogan, said he agreed with Spotify's newly announced platform changes to label any podcast episodes with COVID-19 discussion.

• Some critics argued the streamer didn't go far enough, but by making some changes and unveiling its policies, Spotify was able to reassure investors without triggering much further backlash from mainstream artists.

Additional Extract:

Yes, but: Boycotts have also sometimes forced tech firms to make policy changes or to be more forthcoming about their content-moderation policies.

[caltrek]

Pandemic Pits Health Care Experts Against the Media
by Sarah Fischer and Caitlin Owens
February 1, 2022

https://www.axios.com/pandemic-pits-hea ... eb2f7.html

Introduction:

(Axios) Health care professionals and scientists no longer feel that they can rely on media and tech companies to effectively combat misinformation, so they're hitting the airwaves themselves.

Why it matters: The tension between the health and science industries and media and tech has been building for years, but now it's "on steroids," said Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and clinical professor at NYU.

• "We've definitely seen this with respect to vaccines for decades now, but it's on a whole other level now," she said.

Driving the news: There's been a huge spike in doctors, nurses and scientists starting their own media channels and building brands as medical news experts since the onset of the pandemic.

• "It fills a void, a gap," said Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine who has appeared on TV almost every day since the pandemic started.

The article goes on to discuss the Spotify case as an example.

[wjfox]

Facebook: Daily active users fall for first time in 18-year history

Published 4 hours ago

Social media giant Facebook has seen its daily active users (DAUs) drop for the first time in its 18-year history.

Facebook's parent company Meta Networks says DAUs fell to 1.929bn in the three months to the end of December, compared to 1.930bn in the previous quarter.

The firm also warned of slowing revenue growth in the face of competition from rivals like TikTok and YouTube, while advertisers are also cutting spending.

Meta's shares slumped by more than 20% in after-hours trading in New York.

The slide in Meta's share price wiped around $200bn (£147.5bn) off the company's stock market value.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60238565

[caltrek]

Spotify CEO Defends Joe Rogan Deal in Tense Company Town Hall
by Ashley Carman
February 3, 2022

https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/3/22915 ... rm-podcast

Introduction:

(The Verge) Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed employees about the Joe Rogan controversy in a 15-minute speech yesterday, of which The Verge obtained audio, defending the company’s choice to work with Rogan, explaining its reasoning, and defining why he believes Spotify is a combination of a platform and a publisher. Employees had been skeptically awaiting the discussion at the company’s regular town hall meeting for nearly a week: since things had escalated with Joe Rogan, the company’s star exclusive podcaster, employees had been venting inside the corporate messaging system and awaiting a response from leadership about why it chose The Joe Rogan Experience over Neil Young, setting off a domino effect of other musicians and podcasters pulling content off the service.

You can read a full transcript of CEO Daniel Ek’s at the end of the article linked above the quote box. Here are some excerpts from that transcript, along with my own comments:

That said I need to make something crystal clear, even in the face of the criticism over the last few weeks, our policies are still something we stand behind. And during this COVID-19 pandemic, these policies have resulted in the removal of over 20,000 episodes. We can’t write new or different policies based on news cycles or calls from individuals. If that was the case, what creator would ever trust us?

caltrek’s comment: So, Rogan can be allowed to spread all sorts of misinformation wherein trust is not an issue. Having made that initial mistake, the rules cannot be changed for the sake of consistency?
Right

...And that means biasing towards and standing by creators. And that means including enabling their ability to be alternative, or even controversial, because that’s usually what important creators are.

caltrek’s comment: So, spreading false information is now redefined as just being a matter of being controversial?

And we continue to gain market share in this important market and others around the world. So to be frank, had we not made some of the choices we did, I am confident that our business wouldn’t be where it is today.

caltrek’s comment: Because, of course, everything is justified by the overriding importance of profit.

We’ve long had content on our platform that gets into tough, tough [areas], like violence, misogyny, and even murder. So carefully allowing for greater expression isn’t new territory for us.

caltrek’s comment: Here, he makes a strong point. One which traces back to the question posed by critics of Plato over the centuries: Who guards the Guardians? Who should have the right and/or responsibility of deciding what is “true” and what is “false”?

Unfortunately, all too often the answer comes out sounding like “the mob” should be given preference over “the scientific community.” Partially because determining who should be considered a part of that scientific community is in fact problematic.

Donald Trump has posed one answer: Donald Trump should be the sole arbiter in these matters so long as he can continue to command the respect of the mob. Thus, we march forward toward what W. J. Fox has warned us about: the stupidity singularity.

[caltrek]

Researchers Find New Way to Amplify Trustworthy News Content on Social Media Without Shielding Bias
February 3, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/942276

Introduction:

(Eureka Alert) TAMPA, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2022) – Social media sites continue to amplify misinformation and conspiracy theories. To address this concern, an interdisciplinary team of computer scientists, physicists and social scientists led by the University of South Florida (USF) has found a solution to ensure social media users are exposed to more reliable news sources.

In their study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, the researchers focused on the recommendation algorithm that is used by social media platforms to prioritize content displayed to users. Rather than measuring engagement based on the number of users and pageviews, the researchers looked at what content gets amplified on a newsfeed, focusing on a news source’s reliability score and the political diversity of their audience.

“Low-quality content is engaging because it conforms to what we already know and like, regardless of whether it is accurate or not,” said Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at USF. “As a result, misinformation and conspiracy theories often go viral within like-minded audiences. The algorithm ends up picking the wrong signal and keeps promoting it further. To break this cycle, one should look for content that is engaging, but for a diverse audience, not for a like-minded one.”

In collaboration with researchers at Indiana University and Dartmouth College, the team created a new algorithm using data on the web traffic and self-reported partisanship of 6,890 individuals who reflect the diversity of the United States in sex, race and political affiliation. The data was provided by online polling company YouGov. They also reviewed the reliability scores of 3,765 news sources based on the NewGuard Reliability Index, which rates news sources on several journalistic criteria, such as editorial responsibility, accountability and financial transparency.

They found that incorporating the partisan diversity of a news audience can increase the reliability of recommended sources while still providing users with relevant recommendations. Since the algorithm isn’t exclusively based on engagement or popularity, it is still able to promote reliable sources, regardless of their partisanship.

[wjfox]

Facebook suffers $230bn wipeout in biggest one-day US stock plunge

Thu 3 Feb 2022 22.54 GMT

A historic plunge in the stock price of Facebook’s parent company has erased more than $230bn in its market value, easily the biggest one-day loss in history for a US company.

The 26.4% wipeout in Meta comes amid concerns about its future after the company reported its first ever drop in daily user numbers in its Wednesday earnings report. Facebook rebranded to Meta last year as part of its strategic pivot to becoming a virtual-reality based company. The company’s advertising model has also been hit hard by privacy changes at Apple, which Facebook has said it expects will cost them billions.

The slump in stock price has sent Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth tumbling by nearly $30bn.

Meta’s stock fall marked the biggest slide in market value for a US public company, according to a Reuters analysis of Refinitiv data.

It was a disappointment for a company that investors have become accustomed to delivering spectacular growth. Meta also reported a rare decline in profit due to a sharp increase in expenses as it invests in the “metaverse”.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... zuckerberg

[caltrek]

Spotify Pulls 70 Episodes of Joe Rogan’s Podcast
by Noah Kim
February 6, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... y-podcast/

Extract:

(Mother Jones) The controversy over podcast host Joe Rogan reached a new stage on Saturday when Spotify quietly removed 70-some episodes from his show’s archives.

Though the company hasn’t officially explained why the content was taken down, the move came as Rogan posted an Instagram video apologizing for repeatedly using the N-word in past episodes, as well as for once comparing a movie theatre’s all-Black audience to Planet of the Apes.
…
Joe Rogan is a politically heterodox figure whose anti-establishment views have sometimes led him to host figures from the fringes, including right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Jordan Peterson, the libertarian, carnivore, mystic self-help expert. During the coronavirus pandemic, Rogan invited anti-vaxxers like Peter McCullough and Robert Malone, who used his massive platform to spread a series of false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines. Rogan has said that he’s just interested in having conversations, and has also hosted figures more on the left. While he does occasionally fact-check his guests, conversation is usually friendly, allowing guests to elevate harmful assertions that cut against the scientific consensus.
...
Spotify’s move comes after Friday, when singer India.Arie, in explaining why she had asked Spotify to remove her music, posted an Instagram video compilation capturing Rogan saying the N-word 22 times in past episodes of the show.

In his latest apology, Rogan deemed his use of the slur as “the most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly.” The podcast host, while acknowledging that “it looks fucking horrible—even to me,” sought to minimize the clips, saying they were taken “out of context” from “12 years of conversations.”

[wjfox]

Facebook falls behind Nvidia in market cap and is now eighth most valuable U.S. company

Tue, Feb 8 2022 5:31 PM EST

Facebook parent Meta continued its slide on Tuesday and has now dropped so much in the past week that the company is worth less than chipmaker Nvidia.

Meta shares dropped 2.1% to close at $220.18. The stock is down 35% this year and is trading at its lowest since July 2020.

Not long ago Facebook was among the five most-valuable U.S. companies, alongside Big Tech peers Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet. However, Meta has since fallen to eighth, below Tesla, Berkshire Hathaway and now, for the first time, Nvidia.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/08/faceboo ... in-us.html

[caltrek]

The Spotify-Rogan Saga Highlights the Distinction Between Publishers and Platforms
by Amanda Silberling
February 9, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/09/spoti ... -platform/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) As our Equity podcast recently asked, “How many times must Spotify step on a rake?”

The streaming service is learning the hard way that it’s counterintuitive to act as both a platform and a publisher — now, in trying to reassert its status as a platform, it’s acting even more like a publisher.

Back in 2020, Spotify was celebrating its success when it signed one of the most popular podcasters, Joe Rogan, to an exclusive, multi-year podcasting deal worth $100 million for “The Joe Rogan Experience.” But the controversial host has repeatedly platformed misinformation about COVID-19, recently prompting 270 physicians and scientists to sign an open letter to Spotify demanding that it institute misinformation policies, which then led high-profile figures like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to pull their content from Spotify.

Spotify belatedly published platform rules — something that the most dominant music and podcast streaming service probably should have made public already — which prohibit the spread of false or deceptive information about COVID-19 and other illnesses.

As a result, Rogan asked Spotify to remove over 100 episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” for various reasons, including the use of racial slurs. Many of the slurs were uttered in older shows, but still, as recently as January, Rogan has made controversial comments when sharing his opinions about the use of the word “Black.”

[caltrek]

How do you solve a problem like Joe Rogan?
by Aja Romano
February 23, 2022

https://www.vox.com/culture/22945864/jo ... ontroversy

Extract:

(Vox) Like the internet itself, Rogan and whatever dangerous misinformation, conspiracy theories, jerky bigotry, or offensive views he wants to serve up today are all unstoppable and essentially answerable to no one. He has all of the audience, money, attention, and prestige of a traditional gatekeeper, but with barely any real pressure to assume responsibility for repeatedly making high-profile mistakes on the job.

The public’s growing lack of trust in traditional journalism and legacy media outlets — a wariness evinced by media throne usurpers like Rogan himself — has made it even less likely for him to be effectively held accountable or face real consequences for repeated mistakes. After all, fans who are already prone to distrust the media are hardly going to support the journalism they dislike for trying to call out the podcaster they do like — especially not for what they see as foibles rather than serious flaws.

That, too, is a unique problem: If Rogan’s audience doesn’t agree that his guests or his rhetoric are problems to begin with, or that his pattern of platforming bigotry and misinformation is an issue, then who’s to say they’re wrong?

[caltrek]

Spotify's Business Model is Killing Music
by Sonali Kolhatkar
February 16, 2022

https://otherwords.org/spotifys-busines ... ing-music/

Extract:

(Other Words) (Spotify's) business model, to put it simply, is built on the severely underpaid labor of millions of creators.

Say an independent musician spends years putting their heart and soul into their craft. Finally, they score a hit that garners millions of plays on Spotify. You might imagine this translates into a generous payout.

But in reality, Spotify’s paychecks are peanuts. One analyst estimated that band members with families would need more than 24 million plays on Spotify per year to just barely clear the federal poverty line.

Even those minuscule royalties may need to be split with a record label, collaborators, songwriters, managers, and more. The money that most of Nestel-Patt’s musician friends earn from Spotify is “so negligible that they don’t even account for it.”

In short, Spotify sells products that creators get almost no money to produce. It’s akin to theft. “Imagine any other business working that way,” says Nestel-Patt.

[caltrek]

UK Wants to Squeeze Freedom of Reach to take on Internet Trolls
by Natasha Lomas
February 24, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/24/uk-on ... -trolling/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) The UK government has announced (yet) more additions to its expansive and controversial plan to regulate online content — aka the Online Safety Bill.

It says the latest package of measures to be added to the draft are intended to protect web users from anonymous trolling.

The Bill has far broader aims as a whole, comprising a sweeping content moderation regime targeted at explicitly illegal content but also ‘legal but harmful’ stuff — with a claimed focused of protecting children from a range of online harms, from cyberbullying and pro-suicide content to exposure to pornography.

Critics, meanwhile, say the legislation will kill free speech and isolate the UK, creating splinternet Britain, while also piling major legal risk and cost on doing digital business in the UK. (Unless you happen to be part of the club of ‘safety tech’ firms offering to sell services to help platforms with their compliance of course.)

In recent months, two parliamentary committees have scrutinized the draft legislation. One called for a sharper focus on illegal content, while another warned the government’s approach is both a risk to online expression and unlikely to be robust enough to address safety concerns — so it’s fair to say that ministers are under pressure to make revisions.

Hence the bill continues to the shape-shift or, well, grow in scope.

The rest of the article (see link above quote box) is fairly long by TechCrunch standards but may be of great enough interest to certain readers to justify the time.

[weatheriscool]

Russia says it's blocking Facebook in alarming new censorship push
Source: The Verge

Russia’s communications agency Roskomnadzor announced Friday that it is blocking access to Facebook in Russia. It cited 26 cases of “discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook” since October 2020, in addition to the more-recent restrictions Facebook has placed on Russian state media outlets.

In response, Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg tweeted in response to the move, saying “Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out. We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”

The block comes after increasing domestic protests over the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russians have taken to the streets in massive numbers to protest the ongoing invasion, provoking thousands of arrests. The regime has denied any plans to institute martial law, but has issued ongoing threats to outlets that publish information critical of the ongoing war effort, including Wikipedia.

-snip-

Many tech platforms have already begun restricting services in Russia. Google-owned YouTube has blocked Russian news channels RT and Sputnik in Europe, for example, while Facebook has blocked RT and Sputnik in the EU and stopped recommending Russian state media globally. Apple has also halted product sales in the country.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/4/22960 ... or-ukraine