Politics
Jimmy Fallon annihilates the NRA with a sadly perfect joke
In case you missed the news, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is in some hot water at the moment. Specifically with New York’s attorney general Letitia James, who is attempting to dissolve the organisation over allegations of financial mismanagement. And during his Thursday night monologue, Jimmy Fallon had the perfect response. “Wow, the NRA as […]
Automated fact-checking won't stop the social media infodemic
The coronavirus pandemic, protests over police killings and systemic racism, and a contentious election have created the perfect storm for misinformation on social media. But don’t expect AI to save us. Twitter’s recent decision to red-flag President Donald Trump’s false claims about mail-in ballots has reinvigorated the debate on whether social media platforms should fact-check […]
Big Tech CEOs will face 'anti-conservative bias' claims at hearing. They're BS—and dangerous.
When the CEOs of Big Tech testify in Congress on Wednesday, they’ll almost certainly be hit with a dubious and regular Republican talking point: censorship of conservative voices on social media. President Donald Trump and other politicians and pundits on the right love to complain that social media companies “censor conservatives.” There is no evidence […]
Snapchat hungry for political ads as Twitter, Facebook shy away
In case you were wondering where cute, Bitmoji-filled Snapchat stands on advertisements from politicians these days, it’s hungry for ’em. “Yes, it’s a segment that we are actively going after,” Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s chief business officer, said in response to a question during the company’s Q2 earnings call Tuesday. Citing the amount of young people […]
We read Mary Trump's book about Donald Trump so you don't have to
As a keen student of the shitshow formerly known as the daily news, you may have noticed the president’s niece has a book out this weekToo Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man is the first tell-all written by one of Donald Trump’s relatives. The fact that Mary Trump […]
Google, Facebook, other big tech companies back lawsuit against I.C.E.
Tech companies including Google, Facebook and others just lent their legal might to a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On July 9, Harvard and M.I.Tfiled a legal complaint against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security challenging the legality of the government’s July 6 policy update that would require international students to […]
The last-minute Facebook political ad ban could end up suppressing votes
Facebook’s latest test balloon has popped. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Facebook is considering a blackout of political ads in the “days” before the November 2020 election. That alarmed democratic campaign staff and experts, who warned that it could lead to voter suppression. “Under this proposal the President could use organic posts to suppress voting […]
Amazon fined $135,000 in sanctions violations for letting blacklisted entities shop
Drug dealers and weapons of mass destruction manufacturers like to shop on Amazon as much as the next guy. But that doesn’t mean they’re allowed to. On Wednesday, the Department of the Treasury announced it had reached a settlement with Amazon for trade sanctions violations. Amazon voluntarily disclosed to the government that between 2011 and […]
ICE to foreign students: If you’re just taking online classes, you can’t stay in the U.S.
The coronavirus pandemic has made education hard enough with the abrupt shift to online learning that schools, teachers, and students have had to suddenly make these past few months. Now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would like to make that move even harder for foreign students. On Monday, ICE posted an update to its Student […]
Bird says it didn't apply for a PPP loan. The government's response is…confusing.
A trove of juicy financial data just became public, but it could have some major errors. The Small Business Administration released a massive spreadsheet listing the companies that received a forgivable loan of $150,000 or more as a component of the coronavirus relief plan called the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). While most notable tech companies […]