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Facebook Bans Alex Jones, Yiannopoulos, Other Far-Right Figures (bloomberg.com) 974

Facebook said it's banning a number of controversial far-right figures, including Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer, for violating the social-media company's policies on hate speech and promoting violence. From a report: The company is also blocking religious leader Louis Farrakhan, who is known for sharing anti-Semitic views; Paul Nehlen, a white nationalist who ran for Congress in 2018; and conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson. All of these individuals and accounts that represent them are also banned from photo-sharing app Instagram. "We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology," a Facebook representative said Thursday in a statement. "The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today." Facebook is often chided for failing to stop the spread of harmful speech and misinformation on its platform, and Thursday's bans show that the company is taking a firmer hand in enforcing its own service terms.

Comment Re:The Betting Pool is Open... (Score 1) 145

Don't generalise. It destroys your argument. There is still an imbalance in power between an employer and employee, so unions are still terribly important. If one looks at countries with functioning unions (Germany, for example), you'd see they work and work well. They're not going to magically fix shitty business cultures, but they give the employees more of a chance to fix them.

Comment Re:Yeah - they'll be asleep. (Score 1) 122

You really don't seem to understand what the EU is or does. Seriously. You're embarrassing yourself.

Yes, the UK bankrupted itself fighting Nazis - many countries did. The money from the EU to other countries is paid by all members, and all receive benefits from it. Reducing it to a simple "they're spending our money!" shows a staggering ingorance of what's actually happening.

And the ECB is not the EU.

You're not really helping dispel the notion that leavers aren't well informed.

Comment Re:Yeah - they'll be asleep. (Score 1) 122

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, the United Kingdom was frequently called the "sick man of Europe", first by foreign commentators, and later at home by critics of the third Wilson/Callaghan ministry, because of industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries.

It wasn't doing fine. It was doing terribly, actually. Membership of the EEC (and later EU) helped massively. That's why Britain repeatedly tried to join.

Social Networks

Facebook Begins Hiding Anti-Vaccine Misinformation (usatoday.com) 239

America now has 206 confirmed cases of measles, its highest year-to-date number in over 25 years . Now USA Today reports on how Facebook is responding: In mid-February, Facebook told USA TODAY it had "taken steps" to reduce fake health news and anti-vaxx posts and said it was considering making anti-vaccination content on its site less visible amid a measles outbreak that has reignited a conversation about preventative shots. At the time, Facebook said, "we know we have more to do...." Revealed Thursday: The social network says it will reduce distribution and provide users with "authoritative information" on the topic.

Facebook is following the lead of Pinterest, which has blocked all searches using terms related to vaccines or vaccinations as part of a plan to stop the spread of misinformation related to anti-vaxx posts.... It will reduce the ranking of Facebook groups and Pages that spread misinformation about vaccinations in News Feed and Search. "These groups and Pages will not be included in recommendations or in predictions when you type into Search," Facebook said. When it discovers ads with misinformation about vaccinations, "we will reject them." Facebook said it has removed related targeting options, like "vaccine controversies," in ads.... Additionally, Facebook said it wouldn't show or recommend content that contains misinformation about vaccinations on the Explore section of Facebook-owned Instagram or on its hashtag pages.

Comment Re:UK (Score 5, Insightful) 206

You don't seem to be aware of the massive benefits to business (and therefor the government via taxes) from being in the EU. It's not just a matter of working out if payments to the EU are greater than payments from the EU. And that doesn't even factor in the number of EU workers propping up vital institutions like the NHS, or the EU immigrants who are paying more taxes than they get from the government, etc. etc. etc.

You're proving their point - people who don't understand the EU being angry about the EU.

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