There wasn’t a No Kings protest in the remote Oregon campground where we’re staying, but there was a flag at half mast because some innocent children were slaughtered in an elementary school. And we all know that social media had something to do with it. Yet, this:
We’re not the only country where Meta is messing with elections:
Employees at Meta have acknowledged in internal communications that the Instagram accounts of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were negatively affected by restrictions during the country’s election, media reports say.
The messages, reported on Friday by Brazilian daily Folha de S Paulo, also acknowledged the platform recommended the profile of Lula challenger Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, as well as his WhatsApp channel. Folha, the Sao Paulo-based paper, cited messages it had reviewed.
Meta is going to claim that the No Kings suspension was a “technical issue” just as it did about the Lula restrictions. That’s because Silicon Valley is all-in on Trump, and he knows it:
As usual, the “backwards” Mexicans are ahead of us on this one:
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signed a presidential decree requiring digital platforms, including TikTok, Meta and X, to protect children from violent, sexual and other harmful content online.
The decree establishes that digital platforms must, by design, restrict exposure to content involving violence, harassment or sexual abuse, as well as immediately remove any risky material from the profiles of minors.
Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that the government would back legislation to penalise companies that fail to implement the decree.
“If no progress is made, it would become a law,” she told a news conference on Tuesday.
“The goal is for digital platforms to take on some of the responsibility and refrain from disseminating, promoting, or spreading content related to this type of information — including criminal acts or violent behaviour,” Sheinbaum had said earlier when she indicated she would introduce the decree.
The decree comes after an attack by two 18-year-olds on their former high school in the northern state of Coahuila in early October that killed one and wounded three others.
This is what a civilized country does when they have a problem with technology. Unfortunately, the banana republic that we live in won’t do what Mexico is doing.
