Last week, the House of Representatives voted 352-65 on a bill that could ban TikTok in the US. This bill has been advanced under the guise of national security, when in fact the law represents a serious threat to freedom of speech. If the bill ends up passing the Senate, ByteDance, the Chinese-owned parent company …
Tag Archives: Media
Julian Assange Closer to US Extradition
On 16 June, 2023, Daniel Ellsberg died at the age of 92. Ellsberg was a military analyst and political activist who released the Pentagon Papers, a set of documents demonstrating the US’ war crimes in Vietnam. Ellsberg was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 but was able to escape a 115-year prison sentence due …
American Journalist Threatened with Imprisonment & other Censorship News
Journalist Matt Taibbi was one of the individuals involved in publishing Twitter Files, which detailed information of Twitter’s involvement with government officials to censor news stories or public figures. For instance, these files revealed that Twitter employees had willfully censored the Hunter Biden laptop story because it would be inconvenient for voters to know about …
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Meta Fined $414 Million by EU Regulator for Privacy Violations
For online services, a general maxim to keep in mind is that if you don’t have to pay a fee for the service, then you are the product. Facebook certainly follows this rule, as the site makes most of its money by selling user information to companies that will then use it for targeted consumer …
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Twitter Files Demonstrate Blatant Politically Motivated Censorship, Press Largely Silent
Earlier this month, Elon Musk released revelations about Twitter’s aggressive efforts to censor a true story from the New York Post about Hunter Biden’s laptop. Subsequently, journalist and author Matt Taibbi published Musk’s findings in the form of a long thread on Twitter in order for the story to get a lot of exposure. Despite …
Small Free Speech Victory In 5th Circuit Court Ruling
The 5th Circuit Court of the US has ruled that a Texas law banning social media companies from censoring users’ viewpoints is constitutional. Although small progress in combating social media censorship, this ruling is undoubtedly a victory for those who value free speech in the digital age. Trade groups NetChoice (Orwellian name there) and the …
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Reflections on the World’s First City to Ban Meat Advertising
Globally, food companies spend billions of dollars each year on advertising, and they don’t expend this cash just for the sake of it. The ads from these companies are meant to shape people’s desires for and perceptions of various types of food. Children in particular may be especially sensitive to food advertising, since they are …
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Chevron Starts News Site in Texas News Desert: The Third Level of Power at Work
The past few decades have seen the closure of many local news operations across the US. Political science studies suggest that the loss of local news outlets results in more polarization amid the local population as well as reliance on less reliable sources of news. Sometimes, the dearth of local news does not remain. Sometimes, …
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YouTube Takes Away Public Dislikes: Why This is Bad
A trivial complaint? Perhaps, perhaps not. Let me try to convince you that it is at least deserving of some consideration. Almost two weeks ago, YouTube announced in a blog that it would be taking away the public dislike count for all videos, and the rollout of this policy has now begun. YouTube users will …
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What is the Index Theory of Journalism?
In the ideal world, the press is the guardian of democracy and continuously challenges those in power. This ideal press would represent the voices of the powerless and champion the narratives of those who dare to go against the political machine. Yet in reality, this paradigm of journalism is rarely found. The views of regular …
Green Humanist 