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Facebook Considering Ending Restrictions on COVID Misinformation
Facebook is turning to its “supreme court” to decide whether to end restrictions on COVID misinformation, more than two years after the company first started to take special action on posts promoting falsehoods about the disease.
The social network is considering changing the way it deals with such misinformation by, for example, labeling it as false or demoting it in algorithmic ranking, rather than simply removing it from the site. It wants to make the change now, according to the head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, “as many, though not all, countries around the world seek to return to more normal life.”
But in order to avoid making the wrong choice when “resolving the inherent tensions between free expression and safety,” Facebook will turn to its oversight board, the arms-length self-regulator set up in May 2020, to decide on what the future moderation policy should be.
Fauci: We Should Have Had ‘Much, Much More Stringent Restrictions’ for Asymptomatic COVID at Start of Pandemic
Dr. Anthony Fauci argued on The Hill’s “Rising” show that there should have been “more stringent restrictions” for asymptomatic people in 2020.
On Monday, Fauci appeared on the program to discuss the approach to the BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus. The conversation quickly turned to the past approaches to COVID-19 and whether he would have acted differently. Among other things, he also said that there should have been further restrictions and mask requirements to counter the coronavirus in 2020.
“We know now, two and a half years later, that anywhere from 50 to 60% of the transmission occurs from someone without symptoms, either someone who never will get symptoms or someone who is in the pre-symptomatic stage,” Fauci said.
He later insisted that data has proven that masking prevents the transmission of COVID-19, despite conflicting statements in the past.
Instagram Lawsuits Claim Platform Fuels Eating Disorders, Mental Health Issues for Young Users
The families of two girls who suffered from eating disorders are suing Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Instagram, accusing the social media website of fueling such behavior and other mental health problems in teenage users.
The lawsuits were filed by the families, both of which are represented by Laura Marquez-Garrett of the Social Media Victims Law Center, in San Francisco on Monday.
The lawsuit alleges Instagram, a platform where users post pictures and videos, caused the girls to become addicted to the service and develop depression, anxiety and anorexia, Reuters reported.
Both girls attempted suicide and were hospitalized several times, the lawsuit said. One had to have a feeding tube after she refused to eat.
More Cities May Bring Back Mask Mandates as COVID Cases Rise
Cities and counties throughout the United States are considering reinstating mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise.
“We are not closing anything down. We are not asking people not to gather with the people they love,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said.
“We’re asking you to take a sensible step, when there’s this much transmission with a highly transmissible variant, to go ahead and put back on a well-fitting high-filtration mask when you’re indoors around others.”
Lockdown Drinking Increase Could Cause 25,000 Excess Deaths in England
Up to 25,000 more people than usual could die over the next 20 years in England as a result of heavy drinking habits that began during the COVID lockdowns, two studies have found. They could also result in almost one million more hospital admissions and cost the NHS more than £5bn.
People who already drank moderately when the U.K. went into its first lockdown in March 2020 generally reduced their intake of alcohol while government-ordered restrictions on social mixing were in place.
However, many of those who already drank heavily consumed even more at a time when pubs, restaurants and other places that sell alcohol were closed, leading to a sudden spike in deaths.
Austria Ends COVID Quarantine for Those With No Symptoms
People infected with COVID-19 will no longer have to quarantine themselves in Austria if they don’t exhibit any symptoms, the country’s health minister announced Tuesday.
The alpine country is scrapping mandatory quarantine for people who have tested positive but don’t feel ill, Austrian news agency APA reported. The new regulations will apply next month.
However, infected people still need to wear masks if they leave their homes unless they are outside or can keep a distance of at least two meters (six feet) from others. They are also not allowed to enter places catering to especially vulnerable people such as hospitals nursing homes or facilities for the disabled.
Eric Schmidt Thinks AI Is as Powerful as Nukes
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt compared artificial intelligence (AI) to nuclear weapons and called for a deterrence regime similar to the mutually-assured destruction that keeps the world’s most powerful countries from destroying each other.
Schmidt talked about the dangers of AI at the Aspen Security Forum at a panel on national security and artificial intelligence on July 22. While fielding a question about the value of morality in tech, Schmidt explained that he, himself, had been naive about the power of information in the early days of Google.
He then called for tech to be better in line with the ethics and morals of the people it serves and made a bizarre comparison between AI and nuclear weapons.
Schmidt imagined a near future where China and the U.S. needed to cement a treaty around AI.
Senate Panel Turns to Kids’ Online Safety
Two bills that would revamp how tech companies cater to and obtain data from young users will be in the spotlight Wednesday as a Senate panel debates how to update laws designed before the rise of social media.
The markup has been long awaited by critics who say the existing regulations are no longer adequate for a generation raised on the internet. Support for the issue has snowballed since a Facebook whistleblower leaked bombshell internal documents last year.
The Senate Commerce Committee is slated to discuss two bipartisan pieces of legislation that, taken together, would provide stricter regulations for how online platforms operate for children and teens. In part, the proposals would bring the U.S. closer to the standards put in place by other countries.
The bills before the committee are the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, also known as COPPA 2.0, and the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
T-Mobile to Pay $500M for One of the Largest Data Breaches in U.S. History
When T-Mobile compromised the sensitive personal information of more than 76 million current, former and prospective customers in 2021, plaintiffs involved in a class action lawsuit complained that the company continued profiting off their data while attempting to cover up “one of the largest and most consequential data breaches in U.S. history.”
Now, T-Mobile has admitted no guilt but has agreed to pay a $500 million settlement (pending a judge’s approval), out of which $350 million will go to the settlement fund and “at least $150 million” will go toward enhancing its data security measures through 2023.
‘Orwellian’ Facial Recognition Cameras in U.K. Stores Challenged by Rights Group
Shoppers at a supermarket chain in southern England are being tracked by facial recognition cameras, prompting a legal complaint by a privacy rights group.
Big Brother Watch said Southern Co-operative’s use of biometric scans in 35 stores across Portsmouth, Bournemouth, Bristol, Brighton and Hove, Chichester, Southampton and London was “Orwellian in the extreme” and urged Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to investigate whether it breaches data protection legislation.
The complaint outlines how the facial recognition system, sold by surveillance company Facewatch, creates a biometric profile of every visitor to stores where the cameras are installed, enabling Southern Co-operative to create a “blacklist” of customers. If a customer on the list enters the store, staff are alerted.
Company Called META That Claims Facebook Stole Its Name Is Suing for Infringement
Imagine waking up to find that the name of the business you created more than a decade ago has been suddenly hijacked by one of the most powerful companies in the world.
That’s what Justin Bolognino says happened to him when Facebook rebranded itself as Meta last year. His small business is called META — its full name is METAx LLC.
“This is not a scenario I ever wanted to have. This is not a scenario I would wish on my worst enemy,” said Bolognino, who’s now suing Facebook’s parent company, Meta Platforms, for trademark infringement and unfair competition. “When Facebook stole the Meta brand from us, it just completely decimated our business.”
Bolognino says he started his small business 12 years ago to create multi-sensory live experiences using virtual and augmented reality for events like Coachella. But business came to a screeching halt, Bolognino said, after Facebook’s announcement last year.
