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Twitter’s failings long preceded its ownership by Elon Musk

Twitter’s failings long preceded its ownership by Elon Musk

Yair Rosenberg writes: [M]ost of Twitter’s pathologies that people are pinning on Musk predate his ownership. I know this from personal experience. During the 2016 presidential-election campaign, I was inundated with anti-Semitic invective on Twitter over my critical commentary on Donald Trump’s candidacy. An Anti-Defamation League study found that I received the second-most abuse of Jewish commentators on the site during that cycle. Twitter subsequently vowed to clean up its act, but though some strides were made, most anti-Semitic bigotry…

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Musk’s Twitter: ‘This is exactly what many of us were worried about’

Musk’s Twitter: ‘This is exactly what many of us were worried about’

Politico reports: A day after Elon Musk seemed to confirm critics’ worst fears about his ownership of Twitter by tweeting out right-wing misinformation from his personal account, political leaders and operatives wrestled with a loaded question: Would the most important social-media platform in the political world survive his ownership? And if it did, should they stay on it? “This is exactly what many of us were worried about,” said Mark Jablonowski, the managing partner of Democratic digital advertising firm DSPolitical….

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The science of color perception

The science of color perception

Nicola Jones writes: What color is a tree, or the sky, or a sunset? At first glance, the answers seem obvious. But it turns out there is plenty of variation in how people see the world — both between individuals and between different cultural groups. A lot of factors feed into how people perceive and talk about color, from the biology of our eyes to how our brains process that information, to the words our languages use to talk about…

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Alt-tech social media platform, Rumble, backed by J.D. Vance, promotes Russian propaganda

Alt-tech social media platform, Rumble, backed by J.D. Vance, promotes Russian propaganda

The New York Times reports: In June, two American veterans fighting as volunteers in Ukraine, Alex Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, were captured by Russian forces. They were taken to a black site where they were beaten, run into walls with bags over their heads and hooked up to a car battery and “electrocuted,” the men said after being freed in late September. Between beatings, they told the New York Times, they were interviewed on Russian media outlets, including…

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What if Rumble is the future of the social web?

What if Rumble is the future of the social web?

Kaitlyn Tiffany writes: When Donald Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021, it was obvious that he would have to find somewhere else to post. His own platform, Truth Social, was still a distant dream, so he had to choose one of the “alt-tech” platforms hosting professed free-speech absolutists, vaccine skeptics, Hunter Biden obsessives, and MAGA shitposters. He could have gone to Parler, where much of the pregaming for the January 6 riot took place, or Gab, where an…

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Like Trump, Elon Musk reveals a vapid mind super-charged by wealth and ego

Like Trump, Elon Musk reveals a vapid mind super-charged by wealth and ego

Siva Vaidhyanathan writes: It took less than 48 hours for Elon Musk to reveal just how dangerous his new toy can be to this world. Replying to a tweet from former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the man worth more than $210bn with more than 112 million Twitter followers spread a dangerous conspiracy theory intended to distract people from an attempted political assassination just one week before a major US election. Clinton had warned that “the Republican party and…

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Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault

Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault

Politico reports: Even as Republican leaders condemn the brutal assault on Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s husband, other GOP figures are broadcasting a much different message on social media — at turns downplaying, mocking and trading in disinformation about the attack. Former Republican President Donald Trump has so far remained silent online about the Pelosi home invasion, but his son Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a proposed “Paul Pelosi” Halloween costume featuring men’s underwear and a hammer, saying “The Internet remains undefeated.” Rep….

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Why Bolsonaro’s stunning loss should give humanity a glimmer of hope

Why Bolsonaro’s stunning loss should give humanity a glimmer of hope

Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman write: One of the ugliest pathologies in global politics at the moment is the bizarre connection between climate denialism and right-wing authoritarianism. With some exceptions, authoritarian politicians are the ones most prone to spinning conspiracy theories and lies about climate change while resisting the transition to a green energy future. This is why Jair Bolsonaro’s stunning defeat in Brazil’s presidential race is a major global event. It should afford us a moment of hopefulness that,…

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China’s high-tech surveillance drives oppression of Uyghurs

China’s high-tech surveillance drives oppression of Uyghurs

Steven Feldstein writes: On August 31, 2022, in the final hours of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s term, after months of delays and postponements, her department released a comprehensive report detailing China’s oppression in Xinjiang Province. The circumstances of China’s repression are well documented. Academics and human rights organizations estimate that 10 to 20 percent (with an upper limit calculated at 1.8 million) of adult Uyghurs in Xinjiang have been subjected to detention by Chinese authorities. Officials…

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Want to save the bees? Pay attention to pathogens and flowers

Want to save the bees? Pay attention to pathogens and flowers

University of Massachusetts Amherst: New research published in the journal Ecology conclusively shows that certain physical traits of flowers affect the health of bumblebees by modulating the transmission of a harmful pathogen called Crithidia bombi. In particular, the research, conducted by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, shows that the length of a flower’s corolla, or the flower’s petals, affects how this pathogen gets transferred between bees because shorter corollas mean that fewer bee feces wind up inside the…

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Stochastic terrorism: Hate speech, online extremism fed Pelosi attack, terror experts believe

Stochastic terrorism: Hate speech, online extremism fed Pelosi attack, terror experts believe

Reuters reports: The frequent targeting of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi by online extremists and political opponents likely contributed to the violent attack on her husband Paul, terrorism and extremism experts said. The intruder at the Pelosis’ home yelled “Where’s Nancy?” before assaulting Paul Pelosi with a hammer, according to a person briefed on the incident. An internet user with the same name as the man arrested at the scene, David Depape, expressed support for former President Donald Trump and…

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Russia’s security service works to subvert Moldova’s pro-Western government

Russia’s security service works to subvert Moldova’s pro-Western government

The Washington Post reports: When thousands of protesters gathered last month outside Moldova’s presidential palace calling for the country’s pro-Western leader to step down, the man behind the demonstration — an opposition party leader in exile in Israel — soon received plaudits from Moscow. One senior Russian politician praised the protest organizer, Ilan Shor, as “a worthy long-term partner” and even offered the Moldovan region led by Shor’s party a cheap Russian gas deal, according to Shor’s press service. Referred…

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A role for diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia

A role for diplomacy between the U.S. and Russia

David Ignatius writes: The need for more diplomacy between Russia and the United States is screamingly obvious. But it should focus on preventing a catastrophic conflict between the two countries, rather than a fruitless effort to halt the Ukraine war. The Ukraine conflict, for all its horror, simply isn’t ripe for a diplomatic settlement. Ukraine is advancing on the battlefield, and Russia, for all its nuclear saber-rattling, is in disarray. A defiant Ukraine wants to regain all its territory, while…

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Students defy Iran protest ultimatum, unrest enters more dangerous phase

Students defy Iran protest ultimatum, unrest enters more dangerous phase

Reuters reports: Weeks of protest in Iran entered a more violent phase on Sunday as students defied an ultimatum by the Revolutionary Guards and were met with tear gas, beatings and gunfire from riot police and militia, social media videos showed. The confrontations at dozens of universities prompted a threat of a tougher crackdown in the seventh week of demonstrations since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died after she was arrested by the morality police for attire deemed inappropriate. Iranians from all…

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