Community Notes, the crowdsourced fact-checking program launched a year ago to tackle disinformation on X (formerly Twitter), has flown under the radar for much of its existence. But in the past week it has been heralded by Elon Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino as a key tool in tackling …
Read More »Rumors of a ‘Global Day of Jihad’ Have Unleashed a Dangerous Wave of Disinformation
Far-right figures in the United States are making violent threats against Muslims in response to what they believe is a planned “global day of jihad” today. The violent rhetoric comes in response to comments made in a statement by Khaled Meshaal, the founder and former leader of Hamas, to Reuters …
Read More »A Graphic Hamas Video Donald Trump Jr. Shared on X Is Actually Real, Research Confirms
Yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump Jr. posted a graphic video to X (formerly Twitter) that purported to show Hamas fighters murdering Israeli citizens during the attack last Saturday morning. “You don’t negotiate with this,” Trump Jr. wrote. “There’s only one way to handle this.” The son of former US president Donald …
Read More »The UN Risks Normalizing Internet Censorship
The United Nations’ main internet governance body will host its next international forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In 2025, the UN may take its discussions on the future of an open internet to Russia. Holding the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), back to back, in authoritarian countries notorious for their surveillance …
Read More »Elon Musk Is Shitposting His Way Through the Israel-Hamas War
yesterday night, what’s left of the Trust and Safety team at X (formerly Twitter) announced the measures it was taking to try and curb the virulent spread of disinformation around the Israel-Hamas war on its platform. The statement, issued three days after the conflict began, reads: “As the events continue …
Read More »Activist Hackers Are Racing Into the Israel-Hamas War—for Both Sides
After an attack on Israel by Hamas on Saturday, Israel declared war and fighting escalated throughout the weekend. As the death toll mounts on both sides and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) prepares an offensive, hacktivists in the region and around the world have joined the fight. Within hours of …
Read More »The Israel-Hamas War Is Drowning X in Disinformation
In the wake of Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel this weekend—and the Israeli military’s response—journalists, researchers, open source intelligence (OSINT) experts, and fact-checkers rushed to verify the deluge of raw video footage and images being shared online by people on the ground. But users of X (formerly Twitter) seeking information …
Read More »Israel’s Failure to Stop the Hamas Attack Shows the Danger of Too Much Surveillance
The Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. It’s also one of the most heavily locked down, surveilled, and suppressed. Israel has evolved an entire intelligence apparatus and aggressive digital espionage industry around advancing its geopolitical interests, particularly its interminable conflict in the Gaza …
Read More »Chinese Hackers Are Hiding in Routers in the US and Japan
WIRED broke the news on Wednesday that SoundThinking, the company behind the gunshot-detection system ShotSpotter, is acquiring some assets—including patents, customers, and employees—from the firm Geolitica, which developed the notorious predictive policing software PredPol. WIRED also exclusively reported this week that the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center is calling on …
Read More »US Justice Department Urged to Investigate Gunshot Detector Purchases
The United States Justice Department (DOJ) is being asked to investigate whether a gunshot-detection system widely in use across the US is being selectively deployed to justify the over-policing of mainly Black neighborhoods, as critics of the technology claim. Attorneys for the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center—a leading US-based civil …
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