Misleading Virus Video, Pushed By the Trumps, Spreads Online (nytimes.com) 566
The video did not appear to be anything special. But within six hours, President Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. had tweeted versions of it, and the right-wing news site Breitbart had shared it. It went viral, shared largely through Facebook groups dedicated to anti-vaccination movements and conspiracy theories such as QAnon, racking up tens of millions of views. Multiple versions of the video were uploaded to YouTube, and links were shared through Twitter. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter worked feverishly to remove it, but by the time they had, the video had already become the latest example of misinformation about the virus that has spread widely. That was because the video had been designed specifically to appeal to internet conspiracists and conservatives eager to see the economy reopen, with a setting and characters to lend authenticity. It showed that even as social media companies have sped up response time to remove dangerous virus misinformation within hours of its posting, people have continued to find new ways around the platforms' safeguards. [...] At least one version of the video, viewed by The Times on Facebook, was watched over 16 million times.
Comment Sigh (Score 1) 335
Comment Re:Wait, wut? (Score 1) 483
Comment Re:Julian Assange has already repeatedly claimed t (Score 1) 510
Donald Trump 'Offered Julian Assange a Pardon if He Denied Russia Link To Hack' (theguardian.com) 510
A series of emails that were highly embarrassing for the Democrats and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign were hacked before being published by WikiLeaks in 2016. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who is hearing the case at Westminster, said the evidence is admissible. Assange is wanted in America to face 18 charges, including conspiring to commit computer intrusion, over the publication of US cables a decade ago. He could face up to 175 years in jail if found guilty. He is accused of working with the former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
Comment Re:Android without Google (Score 1) 245
Comment Re:Android without Google (Score 1) 245
Comment Re:Android without Google (Score 1) 245
Are you stating as fact that Google is preventing your bank from publishing their app to the Amazon store (or any other android app stores)? Isn't it more likely the case that your Bank chose to only publish to the Play store?
Are you stating as fact that Microsoft is preventing your OEM from selling a computer with Linux (or any other non-Microsoft operating systems)? Isn't it more likely the case that your OEM chose to only sell and support computers running Microsoft operating systems?
Are you stating as fact that Microsoft/Apple is preventing companies from writing software for Linux (or any other non-Microsoft/Apple operating system)? Isn't it more likely the case that those companies chose to only write software for Windows/OSX?