Elon’s Oversell & A Parliamentary Outbreak of Fisticuffs

December 5, 2022

Twitter Files, Or Twitter Misfires?

Last Friday, Twitter’s chief executive Elon Musk promised that he’d be dropping a bombshell about how the social media giant engaged in “free speech suppression” in the leadup to the 2020 presidential election. He promised that the release would be “awesome 🍿.” However, the actual findings, posted in a 40-tweet thread titled the “Twitter Files” by Substack writer Matt Taibbi, did not reveal that the platform had bent in any meaningful way to the will of the left.

According to the “Twitter Files”, the tech company independently acted to block the spread of a controversial New York Post story about Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The thread did not, however, show any communications from any Democratic politicians, the Biden presidential campaign, or the FBI exerting their influence over the platform. The only sitting politician who actually communicated with Twitter on the issue was Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who encouraged the platform to allow the distribution of the Biden story, regardless of the repercussions.

While the “bombshell” did not actually explode to reveal any political meddling by Democrats, it did blow up in the face of Twitter employees. Musk’s leak to Taibbi included the names and contact information of multiple Twitter employees, as well as Representative Khanna’s personal email address. “Publicly posting the names and identities of front-line employees involved in content moderation puts them in harm’s way and is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do,” said former Twitter Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth. On Saturday after the thread dropped, Musk acknowledged that there were “a few cases where I think we should have excluded some email addresses.”

Musk has increasingly turned to the political right recently, encouraging his millions of followers to vote Republican during the midterm elections and announcing that he would be supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, should he run for president. (WaPo. $)

Some Good News

Bot And Paid For

According to U.S. cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, China has used networks of bot accounts to drown out coverage of lockdown protests in major cities across the country. The firm says that the attempt to overwhelm coverage of the major protests on non-Chinese social media platforms was most likely perpetrated by the Chinese government.
“These spambot networks are resilient, well-resourced and agile. The rate at which they are posting content and spinning up new accounts tells us that they have automation tools to flood the information space. Very few influence operations are capable of this level of activity,” said Charity Wright, a senior analyst at Recorded Future.
The analysis is based on evidence collected last week showing that Twitter was overwhelmed by nuisance posts. Many of the posts were ads for escorts targeting Mandarin-speaking users, posted by accounts that were clearly bots. Much of the bot-noise has been isolated to Twitter, with minimal impacts on Facebook and Instagram or footage of the protests making the rounds on Chinese-owned TikTok. (Guardian)

No Mo’ Morality Policing

According to Iran’s attorney general, his country is set to disband its morality police, a controversial law enforcement division that sparked widespread protests following the death of Mahsa Amini in their custody. Iran has had some form of morality police since the country was established in 1979, but the current version was established in 2006 to regulate the country’s Islamic code of conduct, especially what clothes Iranian women wear.
Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the country’s attorney general, was asked about the morality police disbanding at a religious conference. “The morality police had nothing to do with the judiciary and have been shut down from where they were set up,” he answered. The move has yet to be confirmed by the interior ministry, the branch of government that runs the morality police. Montazeri also told the Iranian parliament on Saturday that the law requiring women to wear hijabs would be looked at in the future.
Is this enough to stop Iran’s nationwide protests? Maybe not. “Just because the government has decided to dismantle morality police it doesn’t mean the protests are ending,” one Iranian woman told the BBC. “A revolution is what we have. Hijab was the start of it and we don’t want anything, anything less, but death for the dictator and a regime change,” said another. (BBC)

Additional World News

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” – Edgar Allan Poe

Wild Unconstitutional Statements

On Saturday, current presidential candidate and former President Trump took to his Truth Social platform to call for a suspension of the Constitution – you know, something we all hope to hear from the man running for president. “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
Understandably, the post garnered a good deal of concern from fellow lawmakers – but frankly, not enough. On Sunday, Republican Ohio Representative Dave Joyce was asked by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos to respond to the post, and Joyce first tried to dodge the question, saying he didn’t know what Trump had said and arguing that Americans aren’t “interested in looking backwards.”
Stephanopoulos wasn’t easily distracted, however, and Joyce eventually said the social media post wouldn’t prevent him from supporting Trump’s run. “It’s early. I think there’s going to be a lot of people in the primary … [but] I will support whoever the Republican nominee is,” he said, before explaining that “he says a lot of things,” and he “can’t be really chasing every one of these crazy statements that come from any of these candidates.” (ABC)

No Moore Power

Several communities across Moore County, North Carolina began experiencing power outages just after 7 p.m. Saturday, with over 40,000 people affected. The power outage is now being investigated as a “criminal occurrence” after crews found signs of potential vandalism at several locations. A state of emergency was declared at 4 p.m. Sunday, as well as a mandatory curfew.
Mike Cameron of the Southern Pines Fire and Rescue Department said on Sunday that a gate at one of the locations appears to have been taken off its hinges, and two power substations were damaged by gunfire. Auto accidents have increased with traffic lights being out, and those who rely on oxygen are having to call emergency services.
Initial estimates said power should be restored by Sunday evening, but the equipment damaged is more specialized than originally thought, delaying restoration until Monday. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are getting involved, but the motive for the vandalism remains unknown. (CNN)

Additional USA News

Not-So-Distinguished Colleagues

While the U.K.’s parliament is known for bizarre behavior and raucous debates, Senegal’s parliament seems to have it beat – at least for now. Last week, one male opposition lawmaker literally slapped a female colleague in the face on live television, starting a brawl between the opposition and ruling parties as political tensions continue to rise between the two groups.
During a budget presentation on Thursday, opposition party member Massata Samb walked up to and slapped ruling Benno Bokk Yakaar (BBY) coalition member Amy Ndiaye Gniby in the face. In response, Gniby threw a chair at Samb before another MP tackled her. Other lawmakers joined in on the fight, sending blows, insults, and accusations flying.
Since Senegal’s July legislative election, conflicts between the ruling coalition and its opposition have been rising, made worse by concerns that current President Macky Sall will go for a third term in office during the 2024 presidential elections. While Senegal has a term limit of two terms, Sall’s supporters say that a recent constitutional reform reset the clock, legally allowing him to take office again. (Reuters)

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