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Elon Musk Has ‘Huge Responsibility’ to Tackle Vaccine Misinformation on Twitter, WHO Official Says + More
Elon Musk Has a ‘Huge Responsibility’ to Tackle Vaccine Misinformation on Twitter, WHO Official Says
Elon Musk will have a “huge influence” over the curbing and potential spreading of vaccine misinformation on Twitter, a World Health Organization official (WHO) said.
Musk is buying Twitter for $44 billion, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. He has said one of his aims is to promote “free speech” on the platform, and looks set to relax Twitter’s rules around content moderation.
During a virtual conference Tuesday, a reporter asked WHO officials whether having Musk in charge of Twitter could hinder its efforts to curb vaccine misinformation online. It’s not just Twitter but all social media platforms that need to address misinformation, according to Dr. Mike Ryan, executive of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme.
Appeals Court Tosses Vaccine Mandate for California Prison Guards
Los Angeles Daily News reported:
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has halted a mandate that would have required everyone working in California’s prisons to be vaccinated against coronavirus.
A panel of three judges sided with the state’s prison system, the union representing its guards and Gov. Gavin Newsom in striking down the rule on Monday, April 25. It would have made the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for all of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s over 66,000 employees.
A lower court had ruled that prison officials were failing to provide adequate medical care and potentially endangering inmates by not requiring staff to be vaccinated. All CDCR employees had been ordered to receive the jab by early January, but that plan was put on hold in November.
SAG-AFTRA Members to Rally Against Industry’s COVID Vaccination Mandate
A group of SAG-AFTRA members opposed to the film and TV industry’s vaccination mandate says they will stage a protest Thursday outside the union’s headquarters in Los Angeles. Oscar-nominated actress Sally Kirkland, a former Screen Actors Guild national board member, will be one of the speakers. As COVID restrictions are being lifted nationwide, the protesters say it’s time for Hollywood to scrap the mandate.
The film and TV industry’s COVID-19 safety protocols, which include a narrowly defined “Mandatory Vaccination” provision, are set to expire Saturday but could be extended, as they have been several times since the protocols were first issued in September 2020, enabling jobs and productions to rebound during the darkest days of the pandemic.
“I don’t think they should have a mandate requiring this vaccine,” Kirkland told Deadline. “I’m against the vaccination mandate because when I took the second shot last year, I became chronically ill for seven-and-a-half months. I ended up in the hospital and thought I was dying three times.”
ESPN Anchor Sage Steele Sues, Alleging Retaliation Over Vaccine Mandate, Obama Race Comments
ESPN anchor Sage Steele is suing the sports network for allegedly retaliating against her after she blasted the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate as “sick,” questioned former President Obama’s race and said female sports reporters sometimes invite inappropriate comments from athletes.
The lawsuit, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, accuses ESPN of pulling her from prime assignments, allowing co-workers to bully her and applying selective enforcement of rules barring employees from speaking out on political issues.
Steele told Cutler she reluctantly got the vaccine under orders from ESPN parent company Disney. “I didn’t want to do it,” she told Cutler. “But I work for a company that mandates it and I had until September 30 to get it done or I’m out.”
“I respect everyone’s decision, I really do, but to mandate it is, um, sick,” Steele continued. “And it’s scary to me in many ways. But I have a job, a job that I love, and frankly, a job that I need, but again, I love it. I’m not surprised it got to this point, especially with Disney, a global company… but it was actually emotional.”
165 Million People Impacted by China’s COVID Lockdowns. Here’s What You Need to Know
China has introduced lockdown measures in its two biggest cities, Beijing and Shanghai — the twin engines that power much of the nation’s economy — in an uncompromising bid to stamp out COVID-19 outbreaks.
Shanghai is at the center of the latest outbreak, reporting upwards of 10,000 new cases a day. Authorities have responded with a city-wide lockdown that has lasted weeks, confining nearly all 25 million residents of the once-bustling financial hub to their homes or neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, Beijing officials have launched mass testing exercises, shut schools and imposed targeted lockdowns on some residential buildings in a bid to rein in infections. Those actions have sparked fears of a wider lockdown similar to Shanghai’s.
Authorities are now enforcing full or partial lockdowns in at least 27 cities across the country, with these restrictions affecting up to 165 million people, according to CNN’s calculations.
Latin American Nations Ease Restrictions as COVID Cases Drop
Colombians will soon be going to movie theaters without having to wear face masks. Chile opens its borders next week for the first time in two years. Mexico’s president has declared the pandemic over. And in Rio de Janeiro, tens of thousands attended Carnival parades just two months after the world-famous spectacle was postponed to prevent COVID-19 infections.
Even as coronavirus cases rise half a world away in China and authorities there impose new lockdowns, plummeting infection rates in Latin America have countries eliminating restrictions on mass gatherings, lifting some travel requirements and scrapping mask mandates that have been in place for two years.
Elon Musk and the Rise of Elite Dissidents
Elon Musk’s successful bid to buy Twitter has sent shockwaves throughout the world. The news is hitting especially close to home, since I was recently suspended from Twitter for “dead-naming” HHS Assistant Secretary Admiral Levine.
I refused to delete the tweet because I said nothing hateful or wrong — nor was the tweet inaccurate in any way. Before Musk’s purchase, I was locked out of my account for weeks, unable to communicate with my 1.7 million followers, making my suspension one of the most high-profile to date on the platform.
While the impending good or ill of Musk’s takeover is debated on Twitter and beyond, the entire saga points to an emerging trend across all corners of our chaotic media and institutional landscape — I call it the rise of elite dissidents.
Shadowbanning Is Big Tech’s Big Problem
Sometimes, it feels like everyone on the internet thinks they’ve been shadowbanned. But for almost everyone who believes they have been shadowbanned, they have no way of knowing for sure — and that’s a problem not just for users, but for the platforms.
Shadowbanning is the “unknown unknown” of content moderation. It’s an epistemological rat’s nest: By definition, users often have no way of telling for sure whether they have been shadowbanned or whether their content is simply not popular, particularly when recommendation algorithms are involved. Social media companies only make disambiguation harder by denying shadowbanning outright. As the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said in 2020, “Shadowbanning is not a thing.”
But shadowbanning is a thing, and while it can be hard to prove, it is not impossible.
What’s more, many social media users believe they are in fact being shadowbanned. According to new research I conducted at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), nearly one in 10 U.S. social media users believes they have been shadowbanned, and most often they believe it is for their political beliefs or their views on social issues.
Google Now Lets You Request the Removal of Personal Contact Information From Search Results
Google announced this week that it’s expanding the types of personal information that users can request to be removed from search results. Under the new policy expansion, people can request the removal of personal contact information, such as a phone number, email address or physical address. Prior to this expansion, the policy mainly covered information that would let other people steal your identity or money, such as banking and credit card details.
The expanded policy now also allows people to request the removal of additional information from search results that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials.
As part of the removal process, you need to submit all the web and image URLs that you want Google to review for removal. For Google to consider the content for removal, it must include your contact info and there must be the presence of “explicit or implicit threats” or “explicit or implicit calls to action for others to harm or harass.”
Facebook Parent Meta Soars 16% After Q1 Results Show User-Growth Recovery, and Mark Zuckerberg Reins in Metaverse Spending
Facebook parent Meta soared as much as 16% in regular trading Thursday after its first-quarter results showed a rise in daily active users, and after CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to reassure investors about metaverse-related expenses.
The social-media giant reported earnings per share of $2.72, above expectations for $2.56, in its financial update released after the market close Wednesday. Quarterly revenue came in at $27.91 billion, missing analysts’ average estimate for $28.20 billion.
It reported that daily active users rose by 3 million from the last quarter to 1.96 billion, beating analyst expectations of 1.95 billion.
Musk’s Twitter Ambitions to Collide With Europe’s Tech Rules
A hands-off approach to moderating content at Elon Musk’s Twitter could clash with ambitious new laws in Europe meant to protect users from disinformation, hate speech and other harmful material.
“If his approach will be ‘just stop moderating it,’ he will likely find himself in a lot of legal trouble in the EU,” said Jan Penfrat, senior policy adviser at digital rights group EDRi.
Musk will soon be confronted with Europe’s Digital Services Act, which will require big tech companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook parent Meta to police their platforms more strictly or face billions in fines.
American Teens Are Really Depressed. I Asked My Friends to Help Explain Why + More
American Teens Are Really Depressed. I Asked My Friends to Help Explain Why.
American teens are in trouble. There is a growing mountain of evidence that teens like me are experiencing record levels of anxiety, depression, and even suicide. New research from JAMA Pediatrics published this week added to that mountain, finding that the number of adolescent suicides increased in five states throughout the pandemic.
These statistics are a horrifying reflection of poor policy decisions made throughout the pandemic, and their long-lasting ramifications. But while Americans may be familiar with the statistics, they don’t often get to hear from teenagers themselves about why they are so engulfed with despair.
I spoke to my friend Ella, a senior and fellow student at the selective New York City public high school I attend. Like most of our peers at school, Ella was always a disciplined student, well aware of the value of the education she was getting. Well, she was before the spring of 2020, when what was supposed to be a two-week lockdown to “slow the spread” of COVID-19 dragged into a two-year nightmare.
Tough COVID Measures Were Tough on Mental Health
U.S. News & World Report reported:
As the pandemic unfolded, nations adopted diverse methods to contain COVID-19. Some sought to eliminate the virus, targeting zero community transmission. Others tried to slow transmission through a mix of intermittent lockdowns, workplace, business and school closings, social distancing, the wearing of face masks, and the cancellation of public gatherings and public transport.
Efforts to slow transmission, rather than eliminate the virus, were associated with poorer mental health, according to two new studies published in The Lancet Public Health.
In this study, researchers compared 15 countries that either tried to eliminate or control the virus. Eliminator countries implemented early and targeted actions such as strong international travel restrictions, testing and contact tracing. That led to lower rates of COVID-19 and enabled them to have looser domestic restrictions.
Other countries (mitigators) chose weaker international travel restrictions and aimed to control, rather than eliminate, the virus through strict and lengthy measures including physical distancing and lockdowns.
California Lawmakers Retreat From Vaccine Fight
California lawmakers were on the front lines of the vaccination wars long before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Democrats pushed through laws that closed off commonly used exemptions for shots required to attend school and cracked down on doctors who gave out questionable exemptions. Now, they are backing away.
In recent weeks, lawmakers have shelved a proposed private employer mandate and a bill to eliminate personal belief exemptions at schools for COVID shots. Another contentious measure — to let children 12 and over get vaccinated without a parent’s consent — is yet to be scheduled for a hearing despite looming deadlines to advance bills this session.
Until recently, the Golden State looked ready to reprise its role as vaccine champion and enforcer. Last summer, Newsom made California the first state to order healthcare workers, teachers and school staff to get COVID shots. He later announced a mandate for K-12 students. And in January, as Omicron-driven cases exploded, lawmakers unveiled the most ambitious vaccine legislation in the nation.
But instead of inspiring a wave of similar policies across the country, as some advocates had hoped, California’s vaccine agenda has begun to fall apart.
Denmark Becomes World’s First Country to Suspend COVID Vaccination Campaign
Denmark has become the first country in the world to suspend its COVID vaccination program. The country has cited its high vaccination rate and a reduction in the number of new infections and stable hospitalization rates as the reason for the move.
The decision means that invitations for vaccinations will no longer be issued after May 15, but health officials in the country expect that vaccinations will resume after the summer.
As Newsweek previously reported Denmark made headlines in February when it became the first country in the European Union to lift all of its COVID restrictions.
China’s COVID Lockdowns Will Create a New Supply Chain Crisis
In 2020, China’s draconian lockdowns created massive supply chain shortages that rippled throughout the globe almost as fast as COVID-19. For months, Americans faced empty shelves and enormous shipping delays. Two years later, we’re still dealing with the problem, with a new round of Chinese lockdowns threatening to produce yet another wave of disruptions.
Shanghai is the largest container port in the world and processes a massive 20% of Chinese exports. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) measures have put almost every one of the city’s warehouses, plants and trucks out of commission, and the port and airport are only functioning in a limited capacity. Cargo is piling up, and it will continue to do so for as long as the lockdown remains in effect.
When Shanghai’s lockdown lifts — which experts predict will occur in June at the earliest — the global supply chain will be overwhelmed by a tidal wave of freight. Industry insiders are saying that the situation is “worse than Wuhan” and may create “the most significant logistics disruption since the start of the pandemic.” Americans will doubtlessly feel the impact, which is bad news for working families already struggling with inflation, rising fuel prices and food shortages.
Victoria Stands Down 420 Public School Teachers Over Vaccine Mandates
About 420 public school teachers across Victoria have been stood down for failing to meet COVID vaccination requirements — with the majority of them not working because they haven’t received the third dose.
Despite previous fears of staff shortages in schools, Guardian Australia understands there are 420 full-time-equivalent teachers across Victoria’s public school system who are unable to work as they have not met the state’s vaccination mandate. This means they have been placed on leave without pay and unable to work since the third dose deadline came into effect on March 25.
Of this figure, Guardian Australia understands that about 240 teachers — or 57% — have not met the requirement because they haven’t received a booster shot. This is in addition to about 180 teachers who were stood down after failing to receive a first or second dose of a vaccine last year.
Google to Pay $100 Million Class-Action Settlement in Illinois Biometric Privacy Lawsuit
Chicago Tribune via MSN reported:
Illinois residents who have appeared in a photograph on the Google Photos app within the last seven years may be eligible for a cut of a $100 million class-action privacy settlement reached by Google this month.
The lawsuit alleges Google’s face grouping tool, which sorts faces in the Google Photos app by similarity, runs afoul of Illinois’ biometric privacy law. The law requires companies to get user consent for the use of such technologies.
The settlement was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on April 14, and Judge Anna M. Loftus issued an order granting preliminary approval of the agreement Monday.
Report: Hackers Have Been Sexually Extorting Kids With Data Stolen From Tech Giants
Cybercriminals have been sexually extorting children and women using data stolen from large tech companies, according to a new report.
Apple, Twitter, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Discord, Meta and Snap Inc. have all recently handed over sensitive user information to criminals, which has frequently been used to hack into victims’ accounts or to initiate sextortion schemes against them, Bloomberg reports, citing federal law enforcement and industry investigators. The data — which includes names, email addresses and IP and physical addresses — has been stolen using fake legal requests filed by the hackers.
Joe Rogan Caused Some Artists to Leave Spotify. But Not Paying Customers.
Earlier this year, Spotify found itself embroiled in a controversy sparked by one of its most notable podcast hosts, Joe Rogan. The comedian’s frequent and sometimes inaccurate claims about Covid-19 and vaccines on his very popular, “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast led some artists to leave the site in protest.
Spotify’s paying customers apparently couldn’t care less.
Despite the backlash, Spotify (SPOT) saw its paid memberships increase, and the platform now has 182 million premium subscribers — up from 180 million in the previous quarter and 15% higher year over year, the company said in its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday. Total revenue was up 24% over last year.
Online Privacy Protections Gain Traction With Lawmakers, Tech Industry
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Congressional leaders are negotiating in earnest on long-stalled consumer-privacy legislation, raising the prospect that a bipartisan bill could become reality after years of false starts.
Congress is under pressure to act following recent disclosures of content potentially harmful to young people on social media sites including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
And tech companies themselves, after years of resisting privacy legislation in many instances, have begun to push hard for a federal privacy standard — which to many is preferable to a jumble of state laws, and might ease demands for antitrust legislation that could hit the companies even harder.
The policy negotiations involve Democratic and Republican leaders on both the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. They are seeking to put guardrails on tech giants’ collection, storage and use of consumers’ personal information, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Musk’s Contentious History on Twitter, in Tweets
Elon Musk has been a Twitter antagonist since long before he had the power to do anything about it.
The Tesla CEO is known for his candid, bizarre use of the social media platform. And this free tweeting has landed Musk in hot water a few too many times to count — from Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuits to trouble with his Tesla board to COVID-19 controversies.
Here’s a list of Musk’s tweets that have caused him the most trouble — giving a sense of how he views the site and what it could mean for the future of social media platforms. This list is not exhaustive.
‘Bossware Is Coming for Almost Every Worker’: The Software You Might Not Realize Is Watching You
Can a company really use computer monitoring tools — known as “bossware” to critics — to tell if you’re productive at work? Or if you’re about to run away to a competitor with proprietary knowledge? Or even, simply, if you’re happy?
Many companies in the U.S. and Europe now appear — controversially — to want to try, spurred on by the enormous shifts in working habits during the pandemic, in which countless office jobs moved home and seem set to either stay there or become hybrid. This is colliding with another trend among employers towards the quantification of work — whether physical or digital — in the hope of driving efficiency.
The number and array of tools now on offer to continuously monitor employees’ digital activity and provide feedback to managers is remarkable. Tracking technology can also log keystrokes, take screenshots, record mouse movements, activate webcams and microphones or periodically snap pictures without employees knowing. And a growing subset incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and complex algorithms to make sense of the data being collected.
Leaked Document Indicates Facebook Has Little Insight Into How User Data Is Handled
Facebook is reportedly unable to account for much of the personal user data under its ownership, including what it is being used for and where it’s located, according to an internal report leaked to Motherboard.
Privacy engineers on Facebook’s Ad and Business Product team wrote the report last year, intending it to be read by the company’s leadership. It detailed how Facebook could address a growing number of data usage regulations, including new privacy laws in India, South Africa and elsewhere. The report’s authors described a platform often in the dark about the personal data of its estimated 1.9 billion users.
Ivermectin Thrust Back Into Spotlight on Twitter After Elon Musk Takeover + More
Ivermectin Thrust Back Into Spotlight on Twitter After Elon Musk Takeover
Just hours after the news broke of billionaire Elon Musk‘s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, ivermectin, the anti-parasitic drug touted as a possible treatment for COVID-19, is once again trending on the social media platform.
Ivermectin was the sixth most popular topic on Twitter in the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon, with more than 46,000 tweets, suggesting that many users were under the impression that the term had been previously censored on the platform.
In fact, the name of the treatment has never been banned, although it has been just one of a number of popularly cited treatments for COVID-19 that has remained controversial throughout the global pandemic.
California’s Schools Don’t Need a Vaccine Mandate — at Least, Not Right Now
California schools are operating safely; children are less likely to develop serious cases of COVID-19; and the vaccine is still being given under emergency use authorization for kids 5 to 15, rather than under final approval, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers more data.
And there’s still debate about how effective vaccines are at stopping infections among children. A large, but not yet peer-reviewed, study conducted by the New York State Department of Health found that, in the lower dose given to children ages 5 to 11, protection from infection dropped from 68% to 12% within about a month. Still, CDC data show that the vaccine offers protection for those children against serious illness at a higher rate and for longer.
While this situation could change drastically with infection rates again increasing because of a new subvariant, state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) made a sensible move earlier this month to hold off on his vaccine mandate bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom also postponed a requirement that students be immunized against COVID-19 before the start of the next school year.
Novak Djokovic Cleared to Defend Title at Wimbledon, COVID Vaccine Not Required to Compete
Novak Djokovic, the 2021 Wimbledon champion in men’s singles, will get the opportunity to defend his title in 2022.
The All-England Club announced on Tuesday that players competing at Wimbledon in late June do not need to be vaccinated, and unvaccinated players will not need to quarantine before competing.
Until the All-England Club’s announcement on Tuesday, it wasn’t certain that Djokovic, who is unvaccinated against COVID-19, would be able to compete at Wimbledon — especially in light of what happened at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Biden Administration From Ending Title 42 COVID Border Restrictions for Migrants
A federal judge in Louisiana temporarily blocked the Biden administration from ending a Trump-era pandemic restriction on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Biden administration had been on track to end the public health authority, known as Title 42, on May 23, a decision that has been criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike. The measure allows border authorities to turn migrants back to Mexico or their home countries because of the public health crisis.
Monday’s order from Judge Robert Summerhays is unlikely to change the situation on the ground, given that the public health authority remains in place, but it may throw a wrench in the administration’s plans moving forward.
Philadelphia Releases Updated Deadline for City Police Officers to Get COVID Vaccine, Request Exemption
On Monday, the City of Philadelphia announced the new timeline for the implementation of the workforce vaccine mandate. According to an arbitration panel governing the mandate for employees represented by the Fraternal Order of Police, this is the final update on the matter.
Under the new timeline, employees who do not provide proof of at least a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or a request for exemption by May 31 will be placed on Unvaccinated Leave beginning June 6.
Employees who are currently on leave must comply with the mandate by May 31. Unvaccinated employees will be required to follow additional protocols including, double-masking, wearing an N95 mask or submitting to routine COVID-19 testing.
Chicago Teachers Union Tells Labor Board CPS Violated COVID Safety Agreement
Officials with the Chicago Teachers Union argued Monday that the halting of the universal masking requirement at Chicago Public Schools last month violated their COVID-19 safety agreement by rescinding a key tenet of the plan without reopening collective bargaining.
The hearing before Nick Gutierrez, administrative law judge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, was prompted by the union’s filing of an unfair labor practice charge shortly after CPS announced masks would be optional for staff, students and visitors to schools beginning March 14.
‘Live Callers and Door Knocks’: New York Official Suggests Door-to-Door Campaign to Get People Boosted
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine has called on officials to mount a door-knocking campaign to get New Yorkers to follow through on getting their booster shots for COVID-19.
Levine began by pointing out that the percentage of New York City residents who had gotten their booster shots already was not really increasing over time — and argued that a “citywide campaign to reach them” was the next logical step.
Noting that the city had access to personal information about anyone who had at least begun the vaccine process, Levine went on to argue that the proposed campaign could include anything from making appointments for people, calling them at home and even sending people out to knock on doors.
Most of Beijing to Be Tested for COVID Amid Lockdown Worry
Beijing will conduct mass testing of most of its 21 million people, authorities announced Monday, as a new COVID-19 outbreak sparked stockpiling of food by residents worried about the possibility of a Shanghai-style lockdown.
The Chinese capital began mass testing people in one of its 16 districts where most of the new cases have been found. The city also imposed lockdowns on individual residential buildings and one section of the city. Late in the day, health officials said the testing would be expanded Tuesday to all but five outlying districts.
While only 70 cases have been found since the outbreak surfaced Friday, authorities have rolled out strict measures under China’s “zero-COVID” approach to try to prevent a further spread of the virus.
With the Clock Running out, Humans Need to Rethink Time Itself
Just take a look around: The mega-droughts, wildfires and category-busting hurricanes we see today are the result of emissions past — a hauntological quirk of the carbon cycle. The acute stress of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed time for some, while for others things sped up — both natural responses, psychologists say, to the immense stress of lockdown.
News of the war in Ukraine, which once might have arrived in a morning paper or nightly program, is transmitted through our screens 24/7. And TikTok trends move at the speed of a micro-video, pulling fast fashion and even fast furniture along with it. Everywhere, the past, present and future appear to be collapsing into each other.
How Elon Musk Will Change Twitter, According to Those Close to Him
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter will improve the platform with his promises to increase transparency on decision making while still implementing some sort of moderation, according to an ally of the billionaire.
Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, and an investor in Tesla and Twitter believes that Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter will ultimately benefit the company and its users, amid concerns about how the world’s richest man will oversee the social media site.
“This is really about control of a critically important asset for society,” Gerber said. “Twitter has become the mouthpiece for the news in real-time, all day every day. And the manipulation of social media was one of the most detrimental things that happened to society in the last five or seven years.”
Jack Dorsey in Line for $978 Million Payday From Elon Musk Twitter Takeover
Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter who stepped down as CEO last year, stands to pocket $978 million once Tesla CEO Elon Musk completes his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
Parag Agrawal, the current chief executive of the San Francisco-based tech giant, will go home with a $42 million payday as a result of the transaction, Reuters is reporting.
Twitter’s board of directors accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company at $54.20 per share.
Agrawal, the former chief technology officer who succeeded Dorsey as CEO late last year, would be due to receive a payout of $42 million while another Twitter executive, CFO Ned Segal, would go home with a $25.5 million pay package.
Musk’s Twitter Takeover May Boost Facebook, Google and Snap Ad Revenues
Elon Musk’s private takeover of Twitter may boost ad revenue for YouTube, Snap, Facebook parent Meta and TikTok, analysts from several Wall Street firms said in recent notes to investors.
Twitter, which announced it accepted Musk’s bid on Monday, has heavily relied on ad sales, which accounted for $1.41 billion, the lion’s share of its revenue, in the most recent quarter.
“With ~85% of Twitter’s revenue generated through brand advertising and as free speech is a priority for Mr. Musk, advertisers may shift budgets to other channels given brand safety concerns,” JMP analysts wrote. That could help YouTube, Snap, Meta and TikTok, the firm said.
Bill Gates Jokes About Tracking People With Vaccines + More
Bill Gates Jokes About Tracking People With Vaccines
Bill Gates made a dry joke about tracking people using COVID vaccines while giving a talk about pandemic prevention.
The billionaire, the co-founder and former CEO of tech giant Microsoft, has been a global health advocate for years, warning about impending pandemics years before COVID emerged and committing billions in funding for the development of vaccines.
Since 2020, however, Gates has been at the center of some COVID conspiracy theories, including one that claims vaccination against the virus is actually an excuse to implant people with tracking microchips.
At the end, Gates was asked by TED official Helen Walters how he deals with criticism from vaccine skeptics.
Elon Musk Taking Twitter Private in $44 Billion Deal
Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) for $44 billion cash on Monday in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world’s richest person.
It is a seminal moment for the 16-year-old company that emerged as one of the world’s most influential public squares and now faces a string of challenges.
Discussions over the deal, which last week appeared uncertain, accelerated over the weekend after Musk wooed Twitter shareholders with financing details of his offer.
Dozens Rally Against Bill That Would Fine Unvaccinated Rhode Islanders
Dozens of protesters gathered on Putnam Pike in Smithfield on Saturday afternoon against a proposal to fine unvaccinated residents $50 a month. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Sam Bell, would apply to all Rhode Islanders who are eligible for the vaccine.
“Forcing someone to get a vaccine or fining them $50 a month and doubling the amount that they owe on income tax, it’s just unconstitutional and it’s just plain wrong,” Nicholas Morrell said.
Earlier this week, 12 News spoke with Bell about his proposed legislation. He said on top of that monthly fine, unvaccinated Rhode Islanders would also be required to pay twice the amount of their personal income taxes.
The fine would apply to all unvaccinated Rhode Islanders over the age of 16. The fine for unvaccinated Rhode Islanders under the age of 16 would fall on the parent or guardian.
New Mississippi Law Bans COVID Vaccine Mandates
Mississippi is enacting a new law that says state and local government agencies cannot withhold services or refuse jobs to people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The ban applies to state agencies, city and county governments and schools, community colleges and universities. COVID-19 vaccination mandates have not been widespread in Mississippi, but some lawmakers said they were acting against the possibility of government overreach.
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves said Friday that he had signed House Bill 1509, and it became law immediately. “Government shouldn’t be in the business of forcing Americans to choose between the COVID-19 vaccine & putting food on their tables, sending their kids to school, or visiting a small business,” Reeves said on Twitter.
COVID Proved Our Schools Weren’t Working. Here’s What Should Come Next.
As most corners of America ease their COVID-19 restrictions, children everywhere are returning to something close to normal, attending school full time without masks or social distancing. Not everyone, however, is relieved. With Zoom classes giving parents a glimpse of what goes on in their kids’ classrooms, many came to the same stark conclusion: our educational system is irreparably broken.
We’re now knee-deep in the Information Age, which calls for innovation, disruption, initiative and unorthodox thinking — virtues that are richly rewarded in the marketplace but still frowned upon in your average high school classroom. Parents seem to realize this instinctively, which is why so many are pulling their kids from schools designed to fail them.
Mask Mandates Return to U.S. College Campuses as Cases Rise
The final weeks of the college school year have been disrupted yet again by COVID-19 as universities bring back mask mandates, switch to online classes and scale back large gatherings in response to upticks in coronavirus infections.
Colleges in Washington, DC, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Texas have reimposed a range of virus measures, with Howard University moving to remote learning amid a surge in cases in the nation’s capital.
This is the third straight academic year that has been upended by COVID-19, meaning soon-to-be seniors have yet to experience a normal college year.
Vaccination Issues Could Start Costing the Red Sox Games, and Other Thoughts
The Boston Globe via MSN reported:
Are the Red Sox just unlucky when it comes to COVID-19, or are they paying the price for being MLB’s anti-vax poster boys?
The Sox were the only one of 10 playoff teams that did not reach 85%. In September, a dozen Red Sox players and staff got COVID. Chris Sale and first base coach Tom Goodwin made it known they were not vaccinated, and we subsequently learned that Xander Bogaerts, Christian Arroyo, Josh Taylor and Kevin Plawecki were unvaccinated.
Bogaerts, Arroyo, and Plawecki informed us this spring that they’d gotten the shots, but the Sox had another surge this past week (catchers Plawecki and Christian Vázquez — both vaccinated — came down with COVID) and had to recall Connor Wong to be an emergency catcher for Tuesday’s game against the Blue Jays.
The Sox front office has been respectful (some would say fearful) about players’ privacy, but the “Who is and who isn’t?” parlor game ends this coming week when the team goes to Toronto, where a national mandate bars any unvaccinated player.
American Airlines Disputes $100K Fine for Flying Passengers Without Negative COVID Tests Into Canada
American Airlines is disputing a $100,000 fine assessed by Transport Canada for allowing passengers who didn’t produce negative COVID-19 tests to board a flight to Calgary last summer.
The airline received the maximum penalty for contraventions of Transport Canada’s COVID-19 regulations — fines of $25,000 for each each of the four travellers who boarded Flight 4291 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Transport Canada says two other airlines have also been fined under COVID rules, but declined to name them. Neither appear to have filed appeals.
Canada’s COVID Entry Rules Are Changing (Again) Today
As summer approaches, countries continue to lower the barrier of entry for travelers. Last Friday, the Canadian government announced changes to its COVID-19 policy taking effect today.
The two most important changes apply to vaccinated adults and unvaccinated children. Fully vaccinated travelers are no longer required to make a quarantine plan in the event they test positive while in Canada. Also, children under 11 can skip the pre-arrival COVID test as long as they are accompanied by fully vaccinated adults.
Here’s what traveling to Canada looks like today:
Shanghai Erects Metal Barriers in Fight Against COVID
Volunteers and government workers in Shanghai erected metal barriers in multiple districts to block off small streets and entrances to apartment complexes, as China hardens its strict “zero-COVID” approach in its largest city despite growing complaints from residents.
In the city’s financial district, Pudong, the barriers — thin metal sheets or mesh fences — were put up in several neighborhoods under a local government directive, according to Caixin, a Chinese business media outlet. Buildings where cases have been found sealed up their main entrances, with a small opening for pandemic prevention workers to pass through.
In Beijing, authorities announced a mass testing starting Monday of Chaoyang district, home to more than 3 million people in the Chinese capital. The announcement set off panic buying Sunday evening, with vegetables, eggs, soy sauce and other items wiped off grocery shelves.
Google, Meta and the Rest Will Be Forced to Explain Their Mysterious Algorithms
The European Commission is moving ahead with the Digital Services Act, an attempt by the regulatory and legislative body to police the actions of America’s large tech giants.
The EU finalized the DSA on Friday, after 16 hours of negotiations, revealing how the piece of legislation would work in practice and which companies it would target. “The time of big online platforms behaving like they are ‘too big to care’ is coming to an end,” said Thierry Breton, the commissioner for the internal market.
While the EU hasn’t yet released the final text of the DSA, the details released show that Meta, Google, and others will need to open up their recommendations algorithms — i.e. the mechanism whereby content feeds are tailored to the individual user — to all for inspection.
Platforms will also need to offer users alternatives to algorithmic feeds, which would likely mean the reintroduction of chronological feeds, as Instagram recently announced. The goal of the DSA is, basically, to regulate huge tech giants that are headquartered in America, which has historically put them just beyond reach of the EU, despite many, many attempts to impose fines and restrict their activities.
Some of Tech’s Biggest Names Want a Future Without Passwords — Here’s What That Would Look Like
Creating the sort of long, complicated passwords that best deter cyber-thieves — especially for dozens of different online accounts — can be tedious. But it’s necessary, considering the record number of data breaches in the U.S. last year.
That’s why it’s so enticing to dream about a future where nobody has to constantly update and change online passwords to stay ahead of hackers and keep data secure. Here’s the good news: Some of the biggest names in tech are already saying that the dream of a password-less internet is close to becoming a reality. Apple, Google and Microsoft are among those trying to pave the way.