Meta says Mass Censorship of Iconic Trump Photo was an ‘Error’
Facebook has acknowledged censoring an iconic image of former President Donald Trump, taken right after he narrowly-survived an assassination attempt. The photo, which quickly went viral, shows Trump with a raised fist and a bloodied face, moments after the incident at a campaign rally.
Meta says the mass censorship of the image was an “error.”
The image in question was taken by an Associated Press photographer during a harrowing scene on July 13 in Butler, PA, where Trump was addressing supporters. During the speech, Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, mildly injuring Trump and fatally wounding Corey Comperatore, a bystander who was shielding his family.
This stark, emotive image became a symbol of defiance as Trump, despite his injury, stood up and rallied his supporters with a call to “Fight! Fight! Fight!” However, the photo’s journey through social media over the last day was marred by censorship.
An altered version of this photo had surfaced online, showing Secret Service agents supposedly smiling after the event, which led to its initial restriction by Facebook’s third-party fact-checkers, who cited concerns of manipulation.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, later extended this caution to the original, unaltered image, a move they now say they regret.
Dani Lever, communications director for Facebook, stated, “This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the Secret Service agents smiling, and in some cases, our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake.”
This incident highlights ongoing concerns regarding the oversight of digital speech as algorithmic changes can have major impacts on which messages get shared.
The mass censorship of the images follows a major news outlet’s photo editor criticizing the use of the widely-circulated photo. The editor argued that the dramatic image, which portrays President Trump bloodied but defiant, could inadvertently serve as “free PR” for him, glorifying his image amid a critical incident.
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National Security Breached after Hackers Break into Most Sensitive US Government Files
One of the largest IT providers servicing the U.S. military-industrial complex suffered a major cybersecurity breach last week that is raising concerns about the safety of the establishment’s most sensitive files and documents.
Leidos Holdings Inc. may not be a household name, but those who know of the company are aware of its close ties to the Pentagon, NASA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other powerful federal agencies. Leidos also works extensively with defense contractors, boasting $4 billion in services under contract in 2022 that rendered the company the largest federal IT contractor that year.
Other clients served by Leidos include the Department of Defense (DOD) and an array of private corporations. Federal contracts are the company’s bread and butter, though, representing 87 percent of its revenue.
The recent hacking incident saw the theft of internal documents, though nobody seems to know its source. Leo Hohmann believes that this is how World War III is being fought: not with World War II-style weapons, but rather digitally through the internet.
Experts say the documents that were stolen and leaked in the hack are part of two other breaches that occurred in 2022 at Diligent Corp., a platform used by Leidos.
“The nature and sensitivity of the stolen documents remain unclear, but the leak underscores vulnerabilities in the cybersecurity frameworks of companies handling critical government information,” reported Cyber Security News, as cited by Hohmann.
(Related: Earlier this month, “nearly all” AT&T customers were hacked in a data breach that never should have happened – will the company be held accountable?)
Is Leidos tied to CrowdStrike, which has servers in Ukraine to facilitate Zelensky’s theft of $1 trillion-plus U.S. taxpayer dollars?
Cyber Press put together an investigation report with one gigabyte of data files in .zip, .msg, .doc, .jpg, .png, .xls/x, and .pdf format. All of the files are associated with the technical assistance Leidos provides to its customers.
Bloomberg News claims to have reviewed some of the files, though the news outlet could not verify their authenticity due to “obscured details.”
“The exact content and nature of these documents have not been publicly disclosed,” Hohmann notes.
There has not yet been a public statement issued by Leidos addressing the nature of the hack. The company is thus far refusing to comment on the stolen information.
The person or persons responsible for the hack indicated plans to sell the data in two different formats, which experts are concerned might put national security at risk.
“This incident has prompted a broader discussion on government contractors’ security measures and protocols,” Cyber Security News reported. “The consequences of such data breaches are far-reaching, including financial losses, reputational damage, operational disruptions, and legal complications.”
Leidos first came into existence in 2013. It was later acquired by defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.’s information technology business.
“They can’t protect themselves but they want us to believe they can protect us?” wrote one of Hohmann’s subscribers about the U.S. government.
“I’m so glad every day that 98% of my life is lived in the physical world. I have no cell phone, I work in a diner where we accept cash only, I pay all my bills but my credit cards with cash and I know all my neighbor’s names. I look around at how fast everyone’s lives are changing and how much stress they face in their online worlds and am grateful I chose a different path.”
Another connected the dots from Leidos to CrowdStrike, which has servers in Ukraine where Volodymyr Zelensky “has been bribing the feckless, dementia-ridden pedophile for the past four years with a fake proxy war and draining U.S. taxpayers dry to the tune of almost one trillion dollars,” referring to Biden.
The establishment seems to be getting increasingly more prone to cyberattacks – is it a sign of an impending EMP attack that will take down the grid? Find out more at CyberWar.news.
Trump Wins In A Landslide, Says Top Economist Martin Armstrong
Election 2024: Arizona and Michigan Train Clerks to Report AI Deepfakes to Law Enforcement
The AI (and specifically, deepfakes) panic is playing a prominent role in this US election campaign, with the states of Arizona and Michigan introducing a scheme to train election clerks in identifying content branded as such.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Michigan and Minnesota counterparts Jocelyn Benson and Steve Simon, all three Democrats, are among those pushing an initiative called the Artificial Intelligence Task Force, launched by the NewDEAL Forum.
NewDEAL Forum is a Washington-based NGO whose board is populated by Democrat-associated figures, and which states it set out to “defend democracy” by developing tools and methods to help election officials and voters not only identify but also flag “malicious AI-generated activity” like deepfakes and “misinformation.”
Arizona and Michigan are considered to be swing states and there this effort is happening in the form of tabletop exercises that teach participants how to inform law enforcement and first responders about flagged content.
That’s not the only recently launched “project:” there’s liberal voting rights and media Democracy Docket platform, which is quoting Jocelyn Benson as saying that Michigan now has a law making “knowingly distributing materially-deceptive deep fakes” a felony.
But this applies only if this activity is seen as intending to harm a candidate’s reputation or chance at success, the Michigan secretary of state explained. However, it wasn’t immediately clear how transparent and precise the rules around determining the intent behind a deep fake are.
If applied arbitrarily, such legislation could catch a lot of things in its net – like satire and parody.
And it’s not an insignificant distinction when talking about AI, and deepfakes for that matter, since both have been around for a while, the latter notably in the entertainment industry.
Yet, when trying to explain why this focus on finding, flagging, and reporting content seen as harmful AI to law enforcement is an urgent problem, those promoting the policy speak about it being “nearly impossible” to distinguish authentic from generated video/audio material – as if this is something new.
The Democracy Docket notes that in addition to the three states, 15 others have also introduced legislation that deals with “election-related AI.”
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Archbishop Viganò Calls Macron’s Wife A Transvestite & Obama’s Wife ‘A Muscular Man In A Wig’
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has once again spoken out against the moral decay of contemporary society. He not only ondemned the “Satanic Olympics” over it corruption and moral ambiguity but also targetted prominent political figures […]
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CDC Report: Infant Mortality Reaches New Highs After COVID Vaccine Rollout
The infant mortality rate in the US surged following the Covid vaccine rollout, according to data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Infant mortality is one of the most important […]
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Kamala Vows To Seize Guns and Disarm Americans Within 100 Days Using Executive Action
Kamala Harris has vowed to use executive action to confiscate firearms and disarm American citizens within 100 days of taking office. “From the beginning I have said my agenda includes attempting to get Congress to […]
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