#BREAKING: Shocking internal @Facebook documents revealed by @WSJ show that the company has built a system which exempts high-profile users from some or all of its rules, allowing them to post potentially harmful content without consequence. google.co.uk/amp/s/www.wsj.…
“These allegations show how Facebook’s platform fuels the spread of harmful & abusive content. The fact these internal documents seem to contradict assurances they've given calls into question how much we can trust what they say" @amnesty's @AgnesCallamardamnesty.org/en/latest/news…
"If we prioritize truth over lies, tolerance over prejudice, empathy over indifference & experts over ignoramuses - maybe we can stop the greatest propaganda machine in history, save democracy, & still have a place for free speech" @SachaBaronCohen@adladl.org/news/article/s…
In 2018, Facebook suspended AggregateIQ from its platform due to concerns over its possible affiliation with SCL, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica
Did they swing the Brexit vote?
According to #CambridgeAnalytica whistleblower, @chrisinsilico, he was tasked by Steve Bannon in 2015 to build a psychological warfare tool designed to use big data & social media to drive open cracks in societies & hollow out democracies
It worked!
"According to the UN, @Facebook played a 'determining role' in the genocide in Myanmar which led to the exodus of more than 800,000 Rohingya"
In 2018, Facebook vowed to work with investigators
Our privacy has been chipped away leaving us in a situation where we either submit to this pervasive surveillance machinery or forego the benefits of the digital world
We know Big Tech firms mine our data for commercial purposes, but the new frontier lies not in our consumer behaviour, but in our biological selves
Population-wide genomic data would offer unprecedented power Peter Thiel, a member of Facebook's board of directors, runs Palantir
"As the clouds of tear gas lift, a clearer picture has emerged which shows police used excessive force against largely peaceful protesters, journalists & even children."
#Macron’s announcement that he plans to set up an independent body to investigate complaints against the police is something @amnesty have long been calling for
But amid the rest of his announcements at #BeauvauDeLaSecurite, it feels like window dressing
1/. “Today’s hearing didn’t focus at all about the allegations against #PrinceAndrew”
His lawyer - a man who defended Armie Hammer & several high profile #MeToo defendants - argued Andrew hadn’t been served with the papers...despite evidence that he had.
2/. “He’s clearly just making Virginia’s lawyers jump through every possible hoop."
In a sign that his delaying tactics are not likely to work, the judge told #PrinceAndrew’s lawyer: “I think we’re making this a lot more complicated than it really is”.
“Down the stream the swans all glide;
It's quite the cheapest way to ride.
Their legs get wet,
Their tummies wetter:
I think after all
The bus is better”
These two cygnets riding on their mothers’ back stay warm & dry.
2/. The two cygnets riding on their mother’s back (‘Uber Swan’ 😂) were part of a ‘litter’ of nine that hatched in May
Mute swans - the white swans most commonly seen in the UK - will hatch up to 10 eggs but not all cygnets will survive to adulthood.
3/. This video shows the same swan family on Hampstead Heath in June
Only 6 cygnets had survived their first six weeks
They may have been lost to crows, herons, magpies, gulls, foxes etc
One fishermen told me that he’d seen one of them “taken by a pike”
“What really alarms me about the 'War on Terrorism' is the grammar. How do you wage war on an abstract noun? How is 'Terrorism' going to surrender? It's well known, in philological circles, that it's very hard for abstract nouns to surrender”#TerryJones #911Anniversary#911attack
Since 2011, 6.6 million Syrian have fled violence & repression, seeking refuge abroad
Tmw, @amnesty are publishing a major new report detailing the brutal reception awaiting refugees when they arrive back in #Syria
For a copy press@amnesty.org
“I had nightmares, hallucinations. I’d wake up crying. The nerves of my right hand are damaged as are some of the discs of my back” (Karim, tortured by Syrian forces on his return)