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Former Facebook Analyst Warns of Social Media’s Dangerous Impacts: It’s ‘Purposefully Poisoning’ Young Children
Former Facebook analyst Kara Frederick joined “Mornings with Maria” Wednesday to discuss the harmful impacts social media companies have on young children and adolescents.
While “fact-checkers” have been accused of censoring political content on various platforms, the world of social media remains largely unchecked for young consumers. Suicidal content and other harmful material are at their fingertips, with little to no measures in place to protect their developing minds.
“So, we need to understand that these platforms know the deleterious effects that they have on kids, and yet they’re proceeding with creating platforms for younger and younger users anyway. So, Facebook called pre-teens an ‘untapped’ but ‘valuable’ audience, and they are purposely poisoning the next generation with highly addictive content, and they know exactly what they’re doing,” Frederick told FOX Business host Maria Bartiromo, who also hosts a new four-part series on Fox Nation called ‘Killer Apps.’
Air Force Officers Sue Over Religious Exemption Denials
A dozen U.S. Air Force officers have filed a lawsuit against the federal government after the military denied their religious exemptions to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine.
The officers, mostly from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, along with a handful of airmen and reservists, accused the Air Force of using a double standard when approving the requests.
The Air Force, according to the lawsuit filed last week, had allowed more than 3,000 medical and administrative exemptions but only 9 religious exemptions.
Combined, the services have received more than 14,000 requests for religious accommodations. The Marine Corps had allowed three as of last week while the Army and Navy had not approved any.
Trudeau Revokes Emergencies Act, Saying Existing Laws Are Enough to Deal With Protesters
The Canadian government announced Wednesday it will lift the Emergencies Act, nine days after it was invoked, saying police have the tools they need to continue to deal with unlawful protesters.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday that the sweeping powers were put in place to deal with an “acute” emergency, saying it was meant to be proportional and time-limited. Small pockets of protests remain across the country, including just outside Ottawa, where some protesters have been gathering on private or rural properties.
As late as Wednesday afternoon there was a heavy police presence in Ottawa’s downtown core, with several police checkpoints. But Trudeau said national security experts have advised him that current laws already in place are enough to deal with enforcement issues.
Google Relaxes Mandates, Opens Amenities as It Prepares for Workers to Return
Google is dropping some COVID-related mandates for employees and restoring perks back to its headquarters as it prepares to bring workers back to the office.
Google Real Estate and Workplace Services VP David Radcliffe wrote an email to San Francisco Bay Area employees this week explaining that the company is relaxing some rules around vaccines, testing, social distancing and masks.
Separately, a Google spokesperson told CNBC that the company has reversed course and will not require vaccinations as a condition of employment for U.S. workers, but declined to offer further details.
Arbitrator Upholds Chicago’s Vaccine Mandate for Police
An arbitrator has upheld the city of Chicago’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for police officers, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Wednesday, saying she hopes it is a call to action for those who aren’t yet vaccinated.
The Fraternal Order of Police had vigorously fought the city’s rules, which resulted in lawsuits, and urged members not to comply. The union wanted the matter heard before an arbitrator.
The arbitrator’s ruling said officers must get their first dose of the shot by Mar. 13 and the second dose a month later.
Los Angeles County Eases COVID Indoor Mask Mandate
Los Angeles County will begin allowing people to remove their masks while indoors if they are vaccinated as the Omicron winter surge continues to ease, officials announced Thursday.
California’s most populous county will relax its public health order on Friday to allow unmasking indoors at restaurants, bars and other businesses for people who show proof of vaccination. Employers also can permit their workers to remove their masks if they are vaccinated.
All customers must still prove either that they are vaccinated or have a recent negative COVID-19 test. Following a statewide rule, unvaccinated customers must continue to wear masks indoors unless they are actively eating or drinking.
Denver to Lift Vaccine Mandate for City Workers, Teachers and Others in High-Risk Settings on Mar. 5
City of Denver employees, teachers, contractors and workers in high-risk settings will no longer be required to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus starting Mar. 5, according to the latest guidance from the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE).
“During the pandemic we have made data-informed decisions to protect residents and Denver is now at a place where it makes sense to lift the vaccine mandate,” said Bob McDonald, executive director of the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment and Denver’s Public Health Administrator.
Florida Surgeon General Confirmed Despite Controversy
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo was confirmed to his position Wednesday, as Senate Republicans approved the nomination of the state’s top doctor over criticism that his opposition to coronavirus mandates is too aligned to the politics of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ladapo, who was appointed by DeSantis in September, has drawn intense scrutiny over his shared resistance with the governor to COVID-19 mandates for vaccines and masks and other health policies endorsed by the federal government.
Facebook Crypto Scammers Pose as Tesla, Amazon and Even Facebook
Meta’s rules for advertisers on Facebook place strict limits on how ads sell cryptocurrency, but The Markup identified several pages that recently placed ads for nonexistent “tokens” using the logos of large tech companies and even the faces of some of Big Tech’s most prominent people, including Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
While scams in Facebook ads aren’t a new phenomenon and cryptocurrency scams have plagued platforms well beyond Facebook, these ads are particularly brazen: a network of scammers imitating the tech industry’s biggest players, on the tech industry’s largest social media platform, to shake down its users.
Meet the Secretive Surveillance Wizards Helping the FBI and ICE Wiretap Facebook and Google Users
PenLink, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based company, is often the first choice of law enforcement looking to keep tabs on the communications of criminal suspects.
Nowadays the company has been helping cops keep tabs on suspected wrongdoing by users of Google, Facebook and WhatsApp — whatever web tool that law enforcement requests.
Sometimes it takes a spy to get transparency from a surveillance company. Jack Poulson, founder of technology watchdog Tech Inquiry, went incognito at the National Sheriffs’ Association’s winter conference in Washington. He recorded a longtime PenLink employee showing off what the company could do for law enforcement and discussing the scale of its operations.
Not only does the recording lift the lid on how deeply involved PenLink is in wiretapping operations across the U.S., it also reveals in granular detail just how tech providers such as Apple, Facebook and Google provide information to police when they’re confronted with a valid warrant or subpoena.
