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Joe Biden’s Disinformation Board Likened to Orwell’s ‘Ministry of Truth’
Conservative politicians and commentators are criticizing the Biden administration for creating a new bureau to fight the spread of disinformation online. Several of these critics have compared it unfavorably to the Ministry of Truth, a fictional department in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
During a Thursday press briefing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged the Disinformation Governance Board‘s existence and noted that President Joe Biden supported it. Psaki said she couldn’t provide many details other than saying the bureau would monitor misinformation on topics such as COVID-19 and elections.
Critics say the bureau is another example of the government trying to police free speech on the internet. This has led to some comparisons to 1984’s Ministry of Truth.
“The Federal Government has no business creating a Ministry of Truth,” Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas wrote. “The Department of Homeland Security‘s ‘Disinformation Board’ is unconstitutional and unAmerican, and I’ll be introducing a bill to defund it.”
LAUSD Superintendent Recommends Delaying Student COVID Vaccine Mandate Until July 2023
CBS News Los Angeles reported:
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho is recommending that the district aligns with the state and delay requiring eligible students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 until at least July 1, 2023.
Carvalho said the move comes after the district consulted with health experts and its medical director.
The vaccination requirement for LAUSD employees remains in place, and all employees who are assigned to schools are vaccinated.
The LAUSD Board of Education is expected to discuss and vote on this recommendation at the board meeting on May 10.
Hawaii Students Face Strict COVID Rules for Year-End Events
Hawaii public schools are enforcing pandemic restrictions that go beyond recommendations from state and federal health officials.
Hawaii is the only state in the nation that still requires universal indoor masks for all public school students and staff. Despite coronavirus rules lifting across the state and nation, some schools are going even further for end-of-year gatherings and celebrations. Principals have the flexibility to add restrictions for proms and graduations.
For example, when Oahu’s Kaiser High School holds its prom in Waikiki this weekend, students will be required to wear masks, show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, and comply with a “no physical contact while dancing” rule, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday. Only a handful of students will be allowed on the dance floor at a time.
All attendees were required to sign a contract that says failure to comply with the rules could cause the event to be shut down.
Hollywood’s COVID Safety Measures Aren’t Going Away Anytime Soon. Here’s Why.
Even with nearly 80% of Californians at least partially vaccinated, hospitalizations down from their highs and eased mask mandates, COVID-19 safety protocols on Hollywood film and TV sets are unlikely to go away soon.
An alliance of major studios and entertainment industry unions are once again at the bargaining table to renegotiate the so-called return-to-work agreement — the terms for working during the pandemic — that expires April 30.
Some people close to talks say they are expecting current measures that have suppressed outbreaks and shutdowns to remain. Moreover, most production insurance still excludes coverage for COVID-19-related losses and the vast majority of filming is going ahead regardless, said John Hamby, National Entertainment Practice Leader at Risk Strategies.
San Francisco Reinstates Mask Mandate for Public Transportation
Officials in San Francisco voted to approve a mask mandate on Thursday for people using its public transportation system.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors approved the mask mandate during a board of directors meeting, and it comes just over a week after a federal judge tossed out the national mask mandate for public transportation that was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Fox affiliate KTVU in San Francisco.
Riders and employees are now required to wear masks in paid areas within the system and limited exceptions are in place. The mandate will not apply to people who are unable to wear a face mask due to a disability or medical condition, and to children 2 and under.
The renewed mask mandate will be in place until at least July 18.
Correspondents’ Dinner COVID Precautions Don’t Apply to All
Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ dinner will have some of the strictest COVID requirements for attendees of major DC events, but the safety plan doesn’t extend to staff working the event at the Washington Hilton, the venue for the soirée.
An estimated 2,600 attendees are expected at the dinner, which returns as COVID jitters resurface amid local case increases and an outbreak among official Washington after the recent Gridiron dinner.
The correspondents’ association bolstered the dinner’s entry requirements earlier this month. All guests must show proof of vaccination and a negative same-day test. But the communications director for Unite Here Local 25, the union representing the Washington Hilton’s hospitality workers, tells Axios that the hotel hasn’t approached the union about testing or vaccination requirements for staff working the event.
COVID-Inspired Rewrite of Public Health Laws Passes Kansas Legislature, Despite Tuberculosis Outbreak Concern
The Topeka Capital-Journal reported:
The Kansas House voted late Thursday night and the Senate earlier Friday morning to advance a major rewrite of the state’s public health laws, largely inspired by the coronavirus, despite concerns from members of both parties that its provisions went too far.
The bill was pieced together just hours earlier after weeks of efforts, led by the Kansas Senate, to advance a legislative response to government actions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new legislation primarily targets mask mandates and quarantine orders. It also has a watered-down anti-vaccine provision. There is no provision on ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as off-label drugs.
Shanghai Residents ‘Caged in’ With Green Fencing to Prevent Them From Leaving Their Homes
In continuing with China’s completely rational and totally not suspect “COVID Zero” policy, reports are now coming in that Chinese authorities are building “cages” around some homes.
This week, people living in Shanghai woke up to “green fences that had been installed by authorities overnight to restrict people’s movement,” according to a new report by The Mirror.
People with fences around their homes are not permitted to leave their properties, the report says.
Shanghai has had its 25 million citizens on lockdown for weeks due to a spike in COVID cases in the country. Thirty-nine people in the city died of COVID on Sunday, April 24, when the lockdowns began in full force.
Meta Found Snooping on Student Aid Applicants
If you’re one of the millions of students applying for student aid every year, then chances are Facebook — and Facebook’s parent company Meta — know about it.
That’s the main takeaway from a new investigation by The Markup, which found a tiny, invisible piece of code called the “Meta Pixel” lurking on the website where students apply for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA.
The FAFSA folks have a pretty robust presence on both Facebook and Instagram and they run an equally robust number of ads across both. Presumably, someone at the Department of Education plopped the pixel on the page in order to better target those ads, using the Pixel to better know who was visiting, and when.
Data points like students’ first and last names, email addresses, and the fact that they applied for aid were all sent back to the company, according to code that the Markup posted for anyone to peruse.
TikTok Looms Large in Tech Earnings Reports as Digital Ad Giants Struggle to Keep Up
As the heart of tech earnings season wraps up, one persistent theme has been a weakness in the digital ad market.
The war in Ukraine, rising inflation, Apple’s privacy changes and an overall pullback in ad spending help explain why Facebook, Google, Amazon and Twitter all reported disappointing revenue numbers this week, and Snap last week.
But there’s another threat that’s looming larger by the day: TikTok. The app for short viral videos has soared in popularity, becoming the world’s third-largest social network last year, behind Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, according to Insider Intelligence.
If Big Tech Can Take Down Parler, It Can Handle Elon Musk
The reaction to Elon Musk “buying” Twitter has been, in a word, manic. His ability to bring more political equity to social media platforms may be overstated. At the same time, the claim that he will turn Twitter into a Trumpian cesspool is simply ignorant of both Elon Musk’s libertarian-leaning views and, candidly, how corporations work. There is one thing both views have in common: a complete misunderstanding of Big Tech‘s power over content.
There’s one undeniable reason Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover won’t bring such dramatic changes — a gaggle of Big Tech companies, not Twitter, control the flow of information at every network layer. Worse, those companies are more than willing to use their market dominance to silence those who don’t share their worldview.
Apple is by far the most prone to exercise its authority against Elon Musk’s Twitter revolution. Apple frequently positions itself as a moral arbiter. And sadly, it possesses the market power to shape the internet into its own self-righteous image.
Amazon Stock Plunges as Growth Slows
Amazon‘s stock plummeted after the company reported on Thursday slowing growth and higher costs in its latest quarter and offered a disappointing revenue outlook.
The tech giant said revenue grew 7% from the same period last year to $116.4 billion, slightly beating analyst forecasts but slower than the 9% growth in the final months of last year. The company forecast that revenue growth would slow further next quarter, anticipating a growth rate of between 3% and 7%.
Amazon reported a net loss of $3.8 billion for the quarter ended March 31, a sharp drop from the same period last year, when it made an $8.1 billion profit. It was also a big miss from the $4.4 billion profit that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv had forecast.
Amazon (AMZN) shares sank more than 12% on Friday. “The pandemic and subsequent war in Ukraine have brought unusual growth and challenges,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement.
The Winners and Losers of Apple’s Anti-Tracking Feature
When Apple rolled out its long-awaited, much-hyped privacy update one year ago this week, it was accompanied by an ad that attempted to visualize what the new feature did. In it, there’s a man going about his day, and every time he interacts with a business, an employee latches on and starts following him everywhere he goes, collecting and broadcasting the man’s personal information.
A prompt shows up on the man’s iPhone, giving him the option to “Ask App Not to Track.” He taps it, and all of his unwelcome guests pop like balloons, disappearing into clouds of dust.
While evocative, the ad isn’t entirely accurate. The feature, called App Tracking Transparency, doesn’t stop all the ways companies follow you around the internet and in your mobile apps because Apple can’t stop all tracking. Nor does it want to. Your data is still being collected, but what’s being collected and how may have changed. The end result, however, is roughly the same: You’re being targeted with ads.
