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Biden Threatens Big Tech Over Its ‘National Experiment’ on Children
President Joe Biden believes America, and especially its young people, are experiencing a mental health crisis — and according to his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, social media is one of the root causes.
In his speech, Biden promised to “hold social media platforms accountable for the national experiment they’re conducting on our children for profit.” To make his point, he referred to a special guest in the audience, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, who shared internal company documents with the press and Congress last fall that showed Facebook had publicly downplayed its own research that found a connection between its products and mental health issues in some teenagers.
One of the downplayed studies found that Instagram made body image issues worse in one out of three teenage girls.
COVID Vaccine Requirement to End for 40,000 State of Oregon Employees, Governor’s Office Says
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will rescind an order that has required nearly 40,000 state employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 since last fall, explaining that “extraordinary emergency” orders are no longer necessary as “we learn to live with this virus.”
That means newly hired executive branch employees won’t need to get vaccinated, existing executive branch employees won’t need to stay up to date on their vaccinations with boosters and the tiny portion of these employees who were fired for non-compliance might be eligible to reapply for their old jobs once again.
The governor will now let her vaccination mandate expire Apr. 1, amid a growing push locally and nationally to return to normalcy and proceed unfettered by COVID-19 precautions, as Omicron cases and hospitalizations plummet.
DC Drops Outdoor Mask Mandate at Schools; Indoor Requirement Remains
The District will no longer require public school students and staff to wear masks while outside on school grounds, the school system’s chancellor informed families in a letter Tuesday. The new rule goes into effect immediately.
Charter schools, which educate nearly 50% of the city’s public school students, will be allowed to choose whether or not to keep the outdoor mask mandate. KIPP, the city’s largest charter network, did not have plans to drop its outdoor mandate, a spokesman said Tuesday.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) announced that much of the citywide indoor mask mandate would be lifted on Mar. 1, but students and school staff would still be required to wear face coverings in school buildings. The mayor has not indicated when the indoor school mask mandate would be lifted.
Hawaii to Lift COVID Travel Quarantine Rules This Month
Hawaii plans to lift its COVID-19 quarantine requirement for travelers this month, meaning that starting on Mar. 26 those arriving from other places in the U.S. won’t have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test to avoid sequestering themselves for 5 days.
Hawaii is the only U.S. state to implement a coronavirus quarantine program of this kind.
The quarantine period for travelers lasted 14 days when Hawaii first imposed it in March 2020. The state later created testing and vaccination exemptions.
Long Island Elementary Students Shed Their Masks for First Time in Years: ‘It’s Very Exciting’
New York’s statewide school mandate is officially over, meaning local school officials will now set masking policies.
CBS2’s Elijah Westbrook caught up with families outside John P. McKenna Elementary School in Massapequa Park, where students were greeted with the option to not wear a face covering. One 6-year-old named Kellan said it was like a breath of fresh air.
Gov. Kathy Hochul decided to lift the mandate after COVID numbers dropped significantly. Over the weekend, she said she’s leaving it up to local municipalities to decide whether or not to keep their mask policies.
Philadelphia Lifts Indoor Mask Mandate for Most Settings
Philadelphia health officials announced Wednesday that the city was lifting its indoor mask mandate, and officials expect to lift the school masking rules on Mar. 9.
The change comes as city health officials moved the city into the “all clear” category of its COVID-19 pandemic response metric. If infections, hospitalizations and the positive test rates continue to drop, Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole said the city plans to drop the masking rules for schools on Mar. 9, with the caveat that masks will be mandatory for the week after students return from Spring Break.
New Zealand Police Move in Again on Protest Against COVID Vaccine Mandate
New Zealand police launched a renewed push on Wednesday to end an anti-vaccine mandate protest that has disrupted the country’s capital for the past 3 weeks, dismantling an encampment set up outside Parliament and towing away vehicles.
A fire broke out among some tents, sending smoke billowing over the site before it was doused by police, a Reuters witness said, as officers worked to completely clear the grounds.
Apple Halts Sales of All Products in Russia
Apple is doing more in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine beyond cutting off services. As BuzzFeed News’ John Paczkowski notes, the tech firm has halted “all product sales” in Russia after cutting off exports last week. Visit the company’s Russian online store and every product is listed as unavailable. In a statement, Apple made clear this was in response to the invasion — the iPhone maker “stand[s] with all of the people” hurt by the incursion, and is joining those “calling for peace.”
The company stressed that it had taken multiple actions beyond the sales freeze. It limited Apple Pay, and pulled the apps for the state-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik from the App Store.
Apple also mirrored Google‘s decision to disable traffic data for Maps users in Ukraine (including live incidents) to avoid revealing info that could put Ukraine residents in danger. Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had called on Apple to stop sales and block the entire App Store.
Snapchat Joins Other Big Tech Companies in Banning Ad Sales to Russia — and Will Donate $15 Million in Humanitarian Aid to Support Ukraine
Snapchat is the latest in a string of tech giants to impose sanctions on Russia by halting ad sales in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
The social networking app announced Tuesday in a blog post that it has stopped all advertising running in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and that it will “not accept revenue from Russian state-owned entities.”
Nick Clegg Has the Power Now to Right Facebook’s Wrongs. This Is How He Should Do It.
Last month, Facebook — now renamed Meta — CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the promotion of Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister, to lead Meta on all policy and public relations matters globally.
In 2020, Clegg claimed Facebook merely “holds up a mirror to society,” while ignoring that Meta designs its algorithm to reward the most extreme and polarising content.
My disclosures validated years of alarms raised by advocates — that the Facebook algorithm harms children, stokes division and weakens our democracies. And as we enter the “fog of war” with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we are seeing in real-time how Russia is weaponizing Facebook to spread its outrageous propaganda.
