EU Investigates Meta in Crackdown on Alleged “Rabbit Hole” Effects, Wants it to Push Digital ID
There was a lot of talk about the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA)while it was drafted and during the typical-of-the-bloc tortuous process of adoption, but now that it’s been here for a while, we’ve been getting a sense of how it is being put to use.
Utilizing the European digital ID wallet to carry out age verification is just one of the fever pitch ideas here. And EU bureaucrats are trying to make sure that these controversial policies are presented as perfectly in line with how DSA was originally pitched.
Related: The 2024 Digital ID and Online Age Verification Agenda
The regulation was slammed by opponents as in reality a sweeping online censorship law hiding behind focused, and noble, declarations that its goal was to protect children’s well-being, fight disinformation, etc.
The cold hard reality is that trying to (further) turn the screw – any which way they can – on platforms with the most reach and most influence ahead of an election is simply something that those in power, whether it’s the US or the EU, don’t seem to be able to resist.
Here’s the European Commission (who’s current president is actively campaigning to get reappointed in the wake of next month’s European Parliament elections) opening an investigation into Meta on suspicion its flagship platforms, Facebook and Instagram, create “addictive behavior among children and damage mental health.”
After all, exerting a bit more pressure on social media just before an election never hurt anybody. /s
Thierry Breton, an EU commissioner who made a name for himself as a proponent of all sorts of online speech restrictions during the current, soon to expire European Commission mandate, reared his head again here:
“We open formal proceedings against Meta. We are not convinced that it has done enough to comply with the DSA obligations to mitigate the risks of negative effects to the physical and mental health of young Europeans on its platforms Facebook and Instagram,” Breton said in a press release.
And as the EU investigates “potential addictive impacts of the platforms (…) such as on unrealistic body image” – something not potential, but very concrete will also be under scrutiny: how effective Meta’s age verification tools are.
The grounds for these suspicions lie in the (DSA). With this pro-censorship legislation, which was instituted last summer, even major tech firms can now be held liable for online malevolence from “misinformation” to shopping swindles, all the way to child endangerment.
Even though pushing age verification pushes digital ID and affects everybody’s privacy on the internet, due to the nature of the technology necessary to achieve such a result – like providing your copies of government-issued identification documents – Breton made sure to appear this was purely a “think of the children” moment:
“We are sparing no effort to protect our children,” Breton said.
The investigation aims to substantiate the so-called “rabbit hole” effects that these platforms could have, in which they reportedly expose the youth to potentially damaging content about unrealistic physical appearances, amongst other things. The probe also aims to determine the levels of efficacy of Meta’s age-validation processes and child privacy safeguards. “We are sparing no effort to protect our children,” reinforced Breton.
The “rabbit hole” narrative, which suggests that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram can lead users down paths of addictive and potentially harmful content, brings to light significant questions, especially regarding how Meta is using algorithms to control what people see.
While the European Commission’s investigation into Meta on the surface seeks to protect the mental health of minors, it also raises the problem of increased censorship on these platforms.
If the commission substantiates the claims of the “rabbit hole” effect, it may prompt stringent regulatory measures aimed at curbing the exposure of harmful content to young users, but that could also bring about several behind-the-scenes algorithmic changes that suppress controversial content.
In the past, popular content producers such as Joe Rogan, have been maligned as being a gateway to such “rabbit hole” content, and arguments similar to what the EU is making have been used to call for online censorship.
Meta has firmly defended its position, with a spokesperson stating, “We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission.”
84% of Measles Cases in Chicago Outbreak Linked to Venezuelan Migrants
Around 84% of measles cases in a large-scale outbreak in Chicago earlier this year are linked to Venezuelan migrants, according to a new report from the CDC.
The 57 cases of measles that occurred at the Pilsen migrant center in February can be traced back to a single child.
The first case was reported on February 27. The child arrived in the US less than five months before he became ill.
Anybody who had been present at the shelter between 22 February and 27 February was considered to have been exposed to the disease. Overcrowding at the center is identified as one of the principal reasons for the disease’s rapid spread, with over 500 people staying in just one room. The center is home to over 2000 migrants.
Between 26 February and 13 May, 57 cases linked to the shelter were confirmed, including 52 among migrants living at the shelter and three among staff.
???BREAKING: 8 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS SQUATTERS ARRESTED WITH GUNS AND DRUGS – CHILD IN BASEMENT
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 2, 2024
In Chicago, 8 armed Venezuelan migrants squatting in a house across from a school were arrested with illegal drugs and weapons.
When authorities searched the home, a 7-year-old child… pic.twitter.com/xDjTtNHKu1
The media age of infected migrants was just three years old, and the majority were Venezuelan.
Since August 2022, over 40,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago, almost 90% of whom are from Venezuela.
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WARNING — Viewer Discretion Advised — VIDEO: There Are Now More Slaves in Africa Than Ever Existed in The West
On Sunday Alex Jones played video of black slaves in Africa on his show and explained how it’s a much bigger problem for our time than the slavery in America hundreds of years ago.
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DNA Contamination in Pfizer COVID Shot 500 Times Permissible Level: New Study
Genetic impurities in the Pfizer mRNA COVID vaccine could be as high as 500 times the permissible limit, according to a new study.
In the study, published in Methods and Protocols, two German researchers raise worrying questions about the reliability of the quantitative PCR technique used by Pfizer-BioNTech to measure DNA contamination in the vaccine.
Using their own tests on the vaccine’s lipid nanoparticles, they discovered levels that were between 360 and 534 times higher than the 10 nanogram per dose limit set by regulators.
The researchers argued that the methods used by Pfizer-BioNTech test for only 1% of the original DNA template used to make the vaccine, meaning that 99% of the genetical material from the template therefore goes untested and potentially undetected.
Similar concerns have been raised by other researchers.
DNA contamination could have a wide range of harmful effects. DNA fragments could be taken up into the genome and disrupt normal gene sequences, leading to mutations and cancer, otherwise known as “insertional mutagenesis.”
The possibility of insertional mutagenesis is acknowledged in the patent for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The patent states DNA contamination could cause cancer: “The DNA template used in the mRNA manufacturing process must be removed to ensure the efficacy of therapeutics and safety, because residual DNA in drug products may induce activation of the innate response and has the potential to be oncogenic in patient populations.”
It had already been discovered that DNA in the mRNA COVID vaccines includes a variety of leftover genetic material, including the simian virus 40 cancer-promoting gene and plasmid DNA sequences from E.coli.
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University of Colorado Vaccine Mandate “Motivated by Religious Animus” and “Unconstitutional”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a ruling that the University of Colorado Anschutz School Medicine’s refusal to allow religious exemptions to its COVID-19 vaccine mandate was “motivated by religious animus” and unconstitutional under the First Amendment’s Religious Clauses.
The Court ruled that the University’s vaccine mandates granted “exemptions for some religions, but not others, because of differences in their religious doctrines” and granted “secular exemptions on more favorable terms than religious exemptions.” Both of these things were illegal.
The Court reaffirmed the First Amendment principle that government cannot test the sincerity of employees’ religious beliefs.
The University’s mandates violated “clearly established” constitutional rights, the court held.
The 55-page ruling, issued on 7 May, was a reversal of a previous lower-court decision.
The appeal was filed in March 2022 by the Thomas More Society on behalf of 17 faculty and students who claimed that the university refused to respect their religious objections to taking the vaccine.
In September 2021, the University mandated that all students, employees, and other people “who currently or may in the future access any CU Anschutz facility or participate in any CU Anschutz program” or interact with members of the Anschutz community in any other way “regardless of location” must “become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with a vaccine that has been approved by the World Health Organization.”
The University stated that it would only allow exceptions for individuals whose religions strictly prohibited all vaccines.
“The University of Colorado ran roughshod overstaff and students of faith during COVID,” said Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation.
“The Court of Appeals has now declared plainly what we’ve fought to establish for almost three years: the University acted with ‘religious animus’ and flagrantly violated the fundamental religious liberties of these brave healthcare providers and students. These medical providers were hailed as heroes, as they served bravely on the front lines through the worst of the pandemic, but when their religious principles conflicted with the beliefs of University of Colorado bureaucrats, these heroes were callously tossed aside.”
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Iran’s President and Foreign Secretary Die In Helicopter Crash
Iranian President brahim Raisi has died in a helicopter crash alongside foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Last night it was reported that a helicopter carrying the 63 year old Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and the Foreign […]
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