AITA? How a Reddit forum posed the defining question of our age

Posted on October 22, 2020 by Admin

Every day, people leave their quandaries on the Reddit website – asking others to judge whether they were in the wrong. As religion wanes, are we crowdsourcing our ethics?

First of all, you need to picture the sandwich.

This was a 6ft-long party sub from a local deli, with loaves of bread braided together to make one super-sandwich – nearly twice the standard width, and loaded with fillings. It would have comfortably fed 20 to 25 people, and there were far fewer coming over to watch the fight.

Anti-lockdown advocate appears on radio show that has featured Holocaust deniers

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Admin

Dr Martin Kulldorff discussed ‘Great Barrington declaration’ letter on Richie Allen Show

One of the three co-authors of a letter that calls for lockdowns to be abandoned in favour of herd immunity has appeared on a radio broadcast that previously featured multiple Holocaust deniers and antisemites.

Dr Martin Kulldorff of Harvard medical school appeared on the Richie Allen Show on 6 October to discuss the letter, described as the Great Barrington declaration, after the Massachusetts town where it was drawn up.

Biden article row shows how US election is testing Facebook and Twitter

Posted on October 15, 2020 by Admin

Online giants felt forced to take unprecedented action as they struggle with role during divisive presidential battle

Mere hours after the publication of a controversial New York Post article critical of Joe Biden, both Twitter and Facebook took unprecedented action to restrict distribution of the post.

Facebook, a company spokesman revealed, had immediately begun to “reduce its distribution on our platform”, altering how the company’s recommendation algorithm would normally react to such a viral story in order to buy its third-party fact checkers time to come to a conclusion about its veracity.

Most girls and young women have experienced abuse online, report finds

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Admin

Cyberstalking, body shaming and being sent explicit content among issues highlighted by Plan International

Most girls and young women using social media have experienced abuse that has driven them offline and left them traumatised, according to a new global survey.

More than half of the 14,000 15- to 25-year-olds interviewed by Plan International said they had been cyberstalked, sent explicit messages and images, or abused online.

Russia spreading lies about Covid vaccines, says UK military chief

Posted on September 30, 2020 by Admin

Head of armed forces says both China and Russia trying to undermine cohesion in west

Russia is seeking to destabilise countries around the world by sowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines that is shared rapidly across social media, the head of the armed forces has warned.

Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of defence staff, said the propaganda tactic reflected a strategy of “political warfare” aggressively undertaken by Beijing as well as Moscow “designed to undermine cohesion” across the west.

Trump says he approves TikTok Oracle deal which may include Walmart

Posted on September 19, 2020 by Admin

President says he will allow Chinese-owned app in US
Walmart could acquire stake and seat on global board

Donald Trump has said he “approves a deal in concept” that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US, after threatening to ban the Chinese-owned app.

BBC boss Tim Davie to crack down on staff airing views on social media

Posted on September 3, 2020 by Admin

New director general says he wants to focus on impartiality after accusations of bias

Tim Davie is to crack down on staff posting their views on social media in a move to restore the view of the BBC as impartial, and raised the question of slashing the corporation’s output by a fifth, cutting more jobs and potentially shutting TV channels.

The new director general said the BBC had to focus on impartiality to address accusations of bias from politicians on both sides of the political divide.

Your data is not destined for China, assures TikTok’s UK boss

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Admin

The controversial app’s users are ignoring geopolitical battle over its digital security, says Richard Waterworth

TikTok’s UK chief has strenuously denied the video-sharing app, which Donald Trump has threatened to ban, shares data with China.

Richard Waterworth told the Observer that the UK and European arm of TikTok was growing quickly, despite the “turbulent” geopolitical battle in which the Chinese-born app has found itself.

Microsoft’s TikTok deal: bargain of the decade or a $50bn blunder?

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Admin

Jury is out on whether video-sharing site could make Microsoft a social media giant

As the clock ticks on Microsoft’s fast-track talks to buy TikTok the jury is out on whether it marks a unique opportunity to become a global social media giant overnight, or a $50bn (£38bn) geopolitically fuelled business blunder.

Donald Trump’s trade war with China has forced ByteDance, the privately owned Beijing-based parent of the video-sharing site TikTok, to pursue a sale of its US business after the president signed an executive order last week that could shut it down on 15 September.