ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

Disgusting Video Shows Children Being Paraded Around Drag Queen Show Taking Cash Tips

Chet Hanks’ ‘White Boy Summer’ meme, which is essentially just a silly marketing ploy, is causing concern amongst leftists, many of whom are now claiming that the entire thing is a racist dog whistle that will embolden white supremacists.
The meme was launched last month by Chet Hanks, son of the Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, who told his Instagram followers in a video, “I just got this feeling man… it’s about to be a white boy summer.”
The meme is a twist of the Megan Thee Stallion song from 2019 Hot Girl Summer and Hanks immediately clarified that it has nothing to do with ethnicity.
“I’m not talking about Trump, Nascar-type white. I’m talking about me, (rappers) Jon B. Jack Harlow-type white boys, you know what I mean?” said Hanks.
[embedded content]
He subsequently emphasized that he was trying to spread an anti-racist message, stating, “You know what’s not White Boy Summer… is having any ill will or prejudice towards anybody from a different background, race, walk of life than you.”
The rapper also laid out the “rules” for white boy summer, which included not harassing women, trying to stay sober and not getting in people’s faces with booze breath.
Despite his many clarifications, the usual suspects accused Hanks of racism anyway.
After he launched a line of merchandise featuring the words ‘White Boy Summer’, Hanks was accused of mimicking white supremacists because he used a Gothic-style font (yes in case you missed the memo, <a href="https://summit.news/2021/04/09/cnn-says-chinese-style-fonts-are-racist/">fonts are now racist</a> too).
The claims were made despite Hanks wearing a ‘Stop Hate’ version of the merchandise in his official ‘White Boy Summer’ video (which primarily consists of the rapper dancing with twerking women, half of whom are black).
[embedded content]
Left-wing newspaper the Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/31/tom-hanks-son-chet-criticized-racist-font-white-boy-summer">said</a> the typography was “similar to the Fraktur fonts, which were used in Nazi Germany most prominently on the cover of Hitler’s Mein Kampf book.”
“Hmm unfortunately the merch looks aggressively racist,” said one Twitter user.
“Jesus. When I think of typefaces white people should avoid, anything remotely calligraphic/blackletter looking pops immediately to mind, especially if it’s going to include the word ‘White’,” added another.
Others said Hanks would attract support from the Proud Boys, a right-wing group that the media denounced as white supremacists despite it being led by a non-white person for years.
Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi is also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/14/chet-hanks-keeps-calling-for-a-white-boy-summer-and-he-really-needs-to-stop">worried</a> that Hanks’ largely dopey exploits will fuel racial strife.
<img alt="null" src="https://cdn.summit.news/2021/04/Ey7YfrTW8AQG-ra.jpg" />
“After four years of Donald Trump emboldening white supremacists, I don’t think now is the time to be calling for a white boy summer,” she whined.
In reality, the fact that these people are so rattled by what is ostensibly a silly vacuous meme deployed to bolster a marketing gimmick tells you everything about the institutional anti-white hatred that now poisons the media and popular culture.
The people responsible for this divisive attitude are the actual racists.
Hanks can’t even refer to his own ethnicity in any other context than self-loathing and guilt without being accused of fueling racism.
Merely displaying a hint of relaxed confidence that he should be comfortable in his own skin while encouraging other races to feel the same is strictly forbidden by a society that mandates white people constantly engage themselves in moral self-flaggelation to atone for their supposed sins.
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:
Follow on Twitter: <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" data-show-count="false">Follow @PrisonPlanet</a>
———————————————————————————————————————
Brand new merch now available! Get it at <a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/">https://www.pjwshop.com/</a>
<a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><img alt="PJW Shop" border="0" height="600" src="https://cdn.summit.news/2021/03/merch.jpg" width="348" /></a>
ALERT!
In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.
I need you to sign up for my free newsletter <a href="https://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.
Support my sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.
Also, I urgently need your financial support <a href="https://www.subscribestar.com/paul-joseph-watson">here</a>.
———————————————————————————————————————
 
 
source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/04/19/disgusting-video-shows-children-being-paraded-around-drag-queen-show-taking-cash-tips/">https://summit.news/2021/04/19/disgusting-video-shows-children-being-paraded-around-drag-queen-show-taking-cash-tips/</a>

revolution summit Disgusting Video Shows Children Being Paraded Around Drag Queen Show Taking Cash Tips

Chet Hanks’ ‘White Boy Summer’ meme, which is essentially just a silly marketing ploy, is causing concern amongst leftists, many of whom are...

UK: Labour Leader Kicked Out of Pub by Anti-Lockdown Landlord

A senior government minister refused to rule out Australians being forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets, even if they are fully vaccinated, to make sure they are complying with home quarantine orders.
The astounding suggestion was made by journalist David Speers during an interview with Employment Minister Stuart Robert about how authorities would ensure returning travelers stayed at home.
“What sort of ideas would there be for this? Regular visits, inspections to make sure they’re home, ankle bracelets, some sort of monitoring, how do you do it?” Speers asked.
“Mr Robert did not rule out those prospects,” reports NCA NewsWire.
“All of that will need to be worked through before a policy prescription goes live,” said Robert.
The minister also mentioned the authoritarian methods that were already in place to enforce the policy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true" readability="8.3771929824561">
This is insane!
‘Fully-vaccinated’ Australian’s May be able to avoid hotel quarantine and serve out ‘home quarantine’, with an ankle bracelet.<a href="https://t.co/MwOJweMNL5">https://t.co/MwOJweMNL5</a>
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/1383821051767918594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 18, 2021</a>
</blockquote>
“The police would turn up at random times to our house, they would call. The Department of Health from various jurisdictions would call,” he stated.
The discussion surrounding how to enforce quarantine is taking place in anticipation of Australia, which has overseen one of the most draconian lockdowns in the developed world, opening up its borders once again.
Home quarantines will remain mandatory on return even for those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
However, this is not the first time that the idea of using electronic ankle bracelets, which are normally used to keep track of suspected criminals, has been raised in a major country.
Back in January, Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt called for the government to use GPS tracking technology to ensure Brits are complying with COVID quarantine measures.
“Daily contact with those asked to self-isolate – using GPS tracking to monitor compliance if necessary as happens in Taiwan and Poland,” said Hunt.
SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:
Follow on Twitter: <a class="twitter-follow-button" href="https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet" data-show-count="false">Follow @PrisonPlanet</a>
———————————————————————————————————————
Brand new merch now available! Get it at <a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/">https://www.pjwshop.com/</a>
<a href="https://www.pjwshop.com/"><img alt="PJW Shop" border="0" height="600" src="https://cdn.summit.news/2021/03/merch.jpg" width="348" /></a>
ALERT!
In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.
I need you to sign up for my free newsletter <a href="https://summit.news/newsletter">here</a>.
Support my sponsor – <a href="https://bit.ly/TURBOFORCE">Turbo Force</a> – a supercharged boost of clean energy without the comedown.
Also, I urgently need your financial support <a href="https://www.subscribestar.com/paul-joseph-watson">here</a>.
———————————————————————————————————————
 
 
source <a href="https://summit.news/2021/04/19/uk-labour-leader-kicked-out-of-pub-by-anti-lockdown-landlord/">https://summit.news/2021/04/19/uk-labour-leader-kicked-out-of-pub-by-anti-lockdown-landlord/</a>

revolution summit UK: Labour Leader Kicked Out of Pub by Anti-Lockdown Landlord

A senior government minister refused to rule out Australians being forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets, even if they are fully vaccina...

Mark Zuckerberg says he’s standing up for you. Yes, you.

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0P5V7e5mSlBSnLc7dOuBkNZEtz0=/0x0:5315x2783/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/21708952/1178141587.jpg.jpg" /></div>
What does the man who singlehandedly controls the world’s most important tech platform think about that platform’s role in the world?
He thinks it’s making the world a better place. Even if it causes some damage — mostly to people and institutions that are threatened by its rise.
The first part, of course, is what you would expect the CEO of Facebook to say in public. But the second part, which Mark Zuckerberg also said today in an interview where he rolled out <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/18/22390742/facebook-podcasts-clubhouse-audio-launch-spotify-zuckerberg-apple">plans to build a set of audio tools</a>, is a sort of new and important idea.
Sort of, because it’s what Zuckerberg and many of his employees — and, in fact, lots of Silicon Valley folks — have thought and said to each other for a long time: That the stuff they were making was a benefit for society, even if it also created serious problems along the way. That if you weighed it all out, they were doing more good than bad.
“<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/growth-at-any-cost-top-facebook-executive-defended-data#.eeggDmkA3">De facto good</a>,” as Facebook exec Andrew Bosworth put it in a memo to his coworkers in June 2016.
But Zuckerberg and crew haven’t talked like that in public for a long time — specifically, since Donald Trump’s election in 2016, followed by a series of damning and embarrassing scandals and disclosures.
Since then, they’ve been in a defensive crouch, allowing — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/12/sheryl-sandberg-facebook-owes-us-an-apology-over-russian-meddling">over</a> and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/25/17161398/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-apology-cambridge-analytica-full-page-newspapers-ads">over</a> — that they have a lot of responsibility and a lot of work to do. And, not coincidentally, telling government regulators around the world that <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/31/18289375/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-regulation-washington-post-op-ed">they look forward to more regulation</a> so they could be even more responsible.
That public posture makes plenty of sense in a world where Facebook (along with other big tech companies) faces increased scrutiny from lawmakers, and where its users who once celebrated Facebook now <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/poll-americans-give-social-media-clear-thumbs-down-n991086">often resent Facebook</a>.
But even though many of his top lieutenants have left in recent years, and even though his rank-and-file <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-employee-leaks-show-they-feel-betrayed">employees often question whether they’re harming the world</a>, it would be weird if the guy who built Facebook and very much still runs Facebook thought Facebook was Fundamentally Bad.
Zuckerberg doesn’t think that. And today we got to hear him make his case for Facebook out loud, in an interview with tech journalist (and Vox Media contributor) <a href="https://www.platformer.news/">Casey Newton</a>.
Specifically, Zuckerberg argued, Facebook, and tech like Facebook, is good because while it can undermine the old, it helps people — individual people, as opposed to Big Faceless Authorities — create the new. And, crucially, that a lot of people complaining about Facebook and tech like Facebook are afraid of losing power.
It’s a way of thinking about the world that used to be common, and praised, in Silicon Valley and among technologists. It’s a mindset that melds the <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com/?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fnews%2Fletter-from-silicon-valley%2Fthe-complicated-legacy-of-stewart-brands-whole-earth-catalog&referrer=vox.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Frecode%2F2021%2F4%2F19%2F22392635%2Fmark-zuckerberg-case-for-facebook-audio-products-clubhouse-podcasts" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank" has-subtag="true" data-cdata='{"subtag_max_length":50,"subtag_delim_length":3,"subtag_key":"xcust","subtag_query_data":{"id":"66960X1516588","xs":"1","url":"https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/the-complicated-legacy-of-stewart-brands-whole-earth-catalog","referrer":"vox.com","sref":"https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/19/22392635/mark-zuckerberg-case-for-facebook-audio-products-clubhouse-podcasts","xcust":"___vx__p_22156676__m_m-placeholder__s_s-placeholder__t_w__c_c-placeholder__r_r-placeholder__d_d-placeholder"},"encode_subtag":false}'>Whole Earth Catalog</a> with <a href="https://aynrand.org/novels/the-fountainhead/">The Fountainhead</a> and a healthy dose of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_destruction">creative destruction</a>.
We have heard a lot less of that lately as the world reckons with some of the unintended consequences Silicon Valley has brought us in the last couple decades — like giant platforms that can quickly and effectively <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-the-capitol-riot-tells-us-about-online-power/id1080467174?i=1000505283254">mislead huge swaths of the population</a> about objective reality. But Zuckerberg, it’s clear, is still a believer.
Here’s the transcript of this part of the exchange between Zuckerberg and Newton:
<blockquote>
Casey Newton: You know that you run a very polarizing company. Some folks, I think, have maybe given up on the idea that Facebook can be a net positive in the world. So what is the case that you make to yourself every day that it is?
Mark Zuckerberg: I think that this is about enabling people. Right, so the question for me is, ‘Do you believe, at some basic level, that if you empower individuals that that leads to more good?’
And, you know, I think that we’re in a very tumultuous time, and a lot of institutions and the things that have been around for decades — people are losing faith in. And I think some for good reasons and some for not, but that dynamic is really shifting,
And I think a lot of the people in those institutions, or who are primarily sympathetic to it, look at a shift in the world, as a vision of the future where there’s more individuals who have more power and can kind of do what they want, rather than going through those channels — that that’s not a good future.
And you know, we tell stories about things like, you know how without traditional gatekeepers on information you have things like misinformation, running rampant — and look, I’m not trying to downplay that, right? I think misinformation is a real issue and I think that there should be things that [we] are focused on, on the basic stuff from spreading. We invest a lot in that.
But I think if you look at the grand arc here, what’s really happening is individuals are getting more power and more opportunity to create the lives and the jobs that they want. And to connect with people they want. And to connect to the ideas that they want and to share the ideas that they want. And I just think that that will lead to a better world. It will be different from the world that we had before. I think it will be more diverse, I think more different ideas and models will be able to exist. And I think it inevitably means that some of the people who kind of had control over that world in the past will lose it, and I could see why those folks will lament the direction that it’s going in.
But my concern is that we’re too frequently telling the negative sides of it, from the perspective of the institutions that may be not on on the winning side of these changes. Where I think the people who are on the winning side of these changes are individuals, you know, whether that’s the people who are going to use these tools and share how to connect to the people that want to have all kinds of new experiences. Or this whole new set of people in the creator economy who are now going to be able to participate in a whole new set of jobs that didn’t exist in the past, but allow fundamentally more creativity in the world.
So, I mean I’ve learned over the last several years not to be too pollyannish about this. There are real issues that need to be dealt with. But my own sense is that the narrative is a little too biased or maybe a lot too biased towards telling the negative side of the issues rather than all the value and opportunity that is being created.
</blockquote>
Zuckerberg is at least partially correct — there are lots of upsides to technology. And Facebook provides lots of value to me, and presumably to most of the 2.8 billion people who use it worldwide. I also believe he believes that he’s helping people make choices about what they want to do and how they want to do it.
The problem is that Facebook, Inc. isn’t just a tool that individuals can use. It’s a mammoth network, run largely without any oversight at all from the world’s citizens and governments. And even if you never use it, it can be enormously consequential. See, for instance, the evolution of the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/11/5/21551437/stop-the-steal-facebook-group-takedown-members-violence-election-fraud-trump">stop the steal” movement</a> from Facebook-enabled chat groups to a <a href="https://www.vox.com/22215120/trump-stop-the-steal-protests-downtown-washington-dc-electoral-college">force</a> behind the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22221285/trump-online-capitol-riot-far-right-parler-twitter-facebook">Capitol riot</a>.
My hunch is that this won’t be the last time we hear Zuckerberg play up the notion that Facebook stands for individual liberty and choice. For one thing, Zuckerberg doesn’t do a lot of improv in public settings, and this isn’t the kind of messaging he just blurts out. More to the point: When you’re facing <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21505027/congress-big-tech-antitrust-report-facebook-google-amazon-apple-mark-zuckerberg-jeff-bezos-tim-cook">public pressure to shrink yourself</a>, somehow, because you’re Too Big and Too Unaccountable, telling the world that you’re simply helping people make their own choices may seem like a good retort. Especially if you believe it.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/19/22392635/mark-zuckerberg-case-for-facebook-audio-products-clubhouse-podcasts">https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/19/22392635/mark-zuckerberg-case-for-facebook-audio-products-clubhouse-podcasts</a>

vox Mark Zuckerberg says he’s standing up for you. Yes, you.

What does the man who singlehandedly controls the world’s most important tech platform think about that platform’s role in the world? He t...

Half of US adults will soon be fully vaccinated. Convincing everyone else will be more difficult.

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Vz4Tdc2vxLrY1CM7G18VmeSBb0M=/0x0:4753x2488/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22455686/1313338139.jpg" /></div>
More than half of US adults have received their <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">first Covid-19 vaccine dose</a>, a remarkable achievement for a country that only began ramping up vaccine distribution at the beginning of 2021.
That comes as the United States is celebrating another important milestone. As of Monday, adults across every state are now eligible to book a vaccine appointment. Mass availability of vaccines ought to bring life closer to normal; and indeed, there are <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/15/22385989/april-unemployment-numbers-economy-improving-pandemic">signs of the economy being in recovery</a>. But what is less clear is whether everyone eligible for a vaccine will get one.
A national <a href="https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/reports/monmouthpoll_us_041421/">Monmouth University Poll</a> released last week, but taken before the federal government paused distribution of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/13/22381844/johnson-vaccine-pause-covid-19-clot-cerebral-venous-thrombosis">Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine</a>, found that 21 percent of all US adults “claim they will never get the vaccine if they can avoid it,” a number relatively unchanged from previous months, indicating that President Joe Biden’s messaging around vaccine safety and importance isn’t resonating with the desired populations.
The pollsters found that age is a factor: Adults under 65 are consistently less likely to say they want the vaccine. But the partisan split is greater. The Monmouth poll found 43 percent of Republicans opposed to getting the vaccine, alongside just 5 percent of Democrats.
An <a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-alabama-georgia-savannah-941ef2bf9b60ee39d6b9fd5e2ce861f7">Associated Press</a> analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data found similar numbers: The six states with the most people having received at least one shot (in terms of percentage of the population) were all states Biden won in the 2020 election. The five states with the fewest vaccinated people — where less than 40 percent of the population had received a shot as of last Wednesday — have historically all leaned Republican. The implication being: Republican states and supporters of former President Donald Trump are less likely to get the shot for political reasons.
The president’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, called that idea “disturbing.”
“It’s very disturbing that on the basis of political persuasion, people are not willing to get vaccinated,” <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/dr-fauci-on-politics-driven-vaccine-hesitancy-johnson-johnson-pause/#x">Fauci said Monday on CBS This Morning</a>. “I find that really extraordinary because those are the ones that keep saying you’re encroaching on our liberties by asking us to wear masks and to do the kinds of restrictions that are public health issues. The easiest way to get out of that is to get vaccinated. It’s almost paradoxical.”
This comes even after Trump last month <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/16/politics/donald-trump-covid-19-vaccine/index.html">publicly encouraged his supporters</a> to get vaccinated, telling Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that the vaccines were ”great” and “safe.” In a study conducted by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/many-trump-voters-are-skeptical-covid-19-vaccines-may-be-n1262073">surveyed Republicans were found to be more likely</a> to be open to vaccination when reminded that all available vaccines were created while Trump was in the Oval Office and that the former president himself is vaccinated.
But the partisan split isn’t all that it seems. Luntz also found that, while Trump’s messaging helped convince certain participants, far more were convinced when given information of the shots’ safety and efficacy from medical professionals. And residents of the GOP-led southern states that have lagged behind in vaccine inoculation are, in some cases, struggling to access shots. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told <a href="https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-vaccine-hesitancy-politics-trump-biden-31b9eebb-8a6f-4b44-82d5-425dd966d5ef.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top">Axios</a> that conflating political affiliation with vaccination likelihood is often “not correct” and “really harmful.”
When looking at the state level — as the AP did — <a href="https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-vaccine-hesitancy-politics-trump-biden-31b9eebb-8a6f-4b44-82d5-425dd966d5ef.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top">Axios’s Caitlin Owens</a> noted Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, the states doing the worst in terms of vaccine distribution, all have sizable Black populations, a group that has for several months been more likely to say they want to “wait and see” before getting vaccinated (<a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/poll-finding/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-march-2021/">although this seems to be changing</a>).
There’s a pressing need to ensure nearly everyone is vaccinated. Ending the pandemic is likely incumbent on the <a href="https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/2020/12/15/22176555/anthony-fauci-covid-19-vaccine-herd-immunity-goal">US reaching herd immunity</a> (generally seen as when 70 to 85 percent of the public has some immunity to Covid-19). If the number needed is closer to 85 percent, 21 percent of the public refusing to get a shot could become a problem, causing the pandemic to stretch on and potentially creating more opportunities for <a href="https://www.popsci.com/story/health/covid-19-variants-end-pandemic/">dangerous variants to arise</a>.
Because of this pressing need, the Biden administration has signaled its plans to place a renewed focus on vaccine accessibility as it works to convince all Americans that being vaccinated is a good idea.
At the moment, vaccinations are proceeding at a really encouraging pace. The United States now administers roughly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/world/adults-eligible-covid-vaccine.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share">3.2 million of them a day, up from 2.5 million a day</a> in March. That rate may soon be bolstered by the reintroduction of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, whose distribution was put on hold last week by the CDC and FDA after six women had severe blood-clotting reactions.
“Hopefully, by Friday, we’ll get back on track one way or the other,” Fauci said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
There is some concern that halting distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may have an effect on the level of trust the public has in it. Fauci said Sunday that the federal government is preparing a campaign to explain federal experts’ findings about the shot, and why it is safe, should it be deemed so.
A similar but broader campaign is being prepared to convince those still hesitant to be inoculated, <a href="https://www.axios.com/biden-vaccine-eligibility-push-e438587b-9b34-4b75-9132-7395c2768ed7.html">Axios</a> first reported Sunday. As part of that effort, the White House is expected to give educational resources to thousands of community leaders, including information and materials to distribute that will encourage people to get their shots and show them the places to go.
The Biden administration also plans to partner with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to send users push notifications informing them of vaccine eligibility and getting doctors in television studios for interviews. Biden is also expected to film a new public service announcement that will continue to promote vaccine uptake.
Overall, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent by the federal government on a public relations push to get Americans into pharmacies and doctor’s offices.
That’s important, not only so the US can eventually reach herd immunity, but because Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise throughout the country in what experts fear could lead to a fourth wave of cases. The country currently averages 71,000 new cases per day, up from 55,000 last month, according to the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage">New York Times</a>. For the Biden administration and the rest of the country, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22370323/biden-vaccine-eligibility-covid-adults-april-19?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter">it’s a</a> <a href="https://www.vox.com/22370323/biden-vaccine-eligibility-covid-adults-april-19">race against the clock</a>.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/19/22392234/fauci-biden-covid-vaccines-herd-immunity">https://www.vox.com/2021/4/19/22392234/fauci-biden-covid-vaccines-herd-immunity</a>

vox Half of US adults will soon be fully vaccinated. Convincing everyone else will be more difficult.

More than half of US adults have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose , a remarkable achievement for a country that only began rampin...

It’s time for a moratorium on police shooting videos

George Floyd cried out for his mother in his final moments. Adam Toledo did not have time to.
Two deaths at the hands of police. One prolonged. The other sudden. Both tragic. These are the haunting bookends that modern footage of police brutality gave us in just the last week.
The <a href="https://www.vox.com/22385183/derek-chauvin-defense-murder-trial">final week of testimony</a> in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin began last Monday. To make their respective cases, both the defense and the prosecution looped traumatic videos of Floyd’s 2020 death in Minneapolis.
That same day, national news outlets began to report on <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/22384104/daunte-wright-police-shooting-black-lives-matter-traffic-stops">Daunte Wright</a>, a 20-year-old Black motorist whom Brooklyn Center police shot fatally on April 11 — just 10 miles from where Floyd took his last breaths. By Wednesday, I watched in horror as police pepper-sprayed <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/12/22380429/black-army-lieutenant-traffic-stop-pepper-sprayed-gunpoint">2nd Lt. Caron Nazario</a>, who is Black and Latino, in his military uniform during a Virginia traffic stop. His video played repeatedly on all of the major cable networks.
And by Thursday, 13-year-old <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/us/adam-toledo-chicago-shooting-video.html">Adam Toledo</a>, who is Latino, appeared on my TV and smartphone screen, holding his hands up to surrender to a Chicago police officer who shot him fatally in less than two seconds on March 29, tuning the scales of trauma to an unbearable pitch for so many.
What are we to gain, I asked myself, from the continued viewing of these videos? I’m a social scientist, so I think about this perhaps more often than most people. For the last 10 years, I have studied how African Americans use mobile and social media to document police brutality. Like many, I hoped initially that the rise in this documentation would lead to widespread policy changes across the country.
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang">
<aside><q>This system of American policing has created a diabolical cycle of citizen witnessing</q></aside>
</div>
I thought that if people finally could see the true horror that many Black and brown people faced daily in their own communities, then change would come swiftly. In the same way that the civil rights movement gained steam because of the horrific <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till">Emmett Till</a> photographs, I knew that there was power in having visual proof — or even a visual counternarrative <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/aoc-says-prosecutor-lied-about-police-killing-child-adam-toledo-case-1584070">when police lie</a>, as they did with Toledo’s death and Laquan McDonald’s.
Last year was a breaking point for me, though. Seeing George Floyd dying on primetime television, over and over again, was too much. It felt voyeuristic — not valiant — because I realized that Black deaths were the only ones that the news media aired on TV.
Amid the global Black Lives Matter uprisings last year, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/08/the-problem-with-police-shooting-videos-jacob-blake/615880/">I voiced concern</a> for how news organizations were handling Floyd’s video. In magazines, on TV, and on the radio, I pleaded with journalists to consider the trauma that African Americans face when they see their loved one’s demise instant-replayed on TV, like sports highlights. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-cellphone-videos-of-black-peoples-deaths-should-be-considered-sacred-like-lynching-photographs-139252">I urged the public</a> to think before posting Black death to their social media timelines. I suggested that people equate these fatal police encounter videos to modern-day lynching photographs, which deserve somber respect instead of casual viewing.
This message went viral. Journalists from around the world called and emailed me for advice about how to report on police brutality without showing these images. Many reporters asked me if a freeze-frame before the moment of death would be more respectful than showing the whole video. I remember offering a reluctant “yes.” But seeing the still frame of Daunte Wright terrified in his car, or witnessing Adam Toledo’s hands up in surrender, has changed my mind. Even the abridged videos have been traumatizing.
Last week, I realized that we have been asking the wrong questions all along. The questions never should have been, “Do we have a video of this police killing?” or, “Was the officer’s body cam on?” Instead, we should have been asking ourselves why we ever demanded that marginalized communities produce this kind of visual “proof” in the first place. Why were Black and brown people forced to pre-litigate their own murder trials in this way? Why was it necessary to form a counternarrative to the old stereotype of Black and brown folks’ criminality? Why did we ever need to produce a parallel storyline to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/04/16/adam-toledo-police-shooting-how-chicagos-narrative-changed/7260911002/">an official police report</a>?
This system of American policing has created a diabolical cycle of citizen witnessing. First, the cycle demands that a victim’s family share their loved one’s tragic last moments with the public. Then, it invites those moments to be picked apart, first by the news media and eventually a jury — and that’s if the case ever goes to trial. Finally, it leaves the slain to be entombed online, often without the family’s consent. Then, the cycle repeats with a new person, a new family, a new headline, and a new hashtag.
The center cannot hold. The same Black and brown communities that are being asked to remain calm, stay compliant, and endure stoically are the same groups who watched the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/1/8/22221078/us-capitol-trump-riot-insurrection">January 6 siege on the Capitol</a> unfold. They watched as white insurrectionists broke into a federal building — with the aid of many police who opened doors for them — and lived to tell about it. They watched, also, as another child — 17-year-old <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/8/26/21402951/kyle-rittenhouse-jacob-blake-kenosha">Kyle Rittenhouse</a>, who is white — crossed state lines from Illinois to Wisconsin with the intent to shoot anti-police brutality protesters in August 2020. When Rittenhouse approached police, wearing an assault rifle and having killed two people, police <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/29/fact-check-video-police-thanked-kyle-rittenhouse-gave-him-water/5661804002/">gave him bottled water</a> and later sent him <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-other-civil-servants-donate-kyle-rittenhouse-defense-fund-n1264343">financial donations</a> for his legal fees.
For all of these reasons, I now believe that circulating videos of Black and brown death at the hands of police reinforces white supremacy. It does not deter it. These videos are no longer exposing a corrupt police system. They are a reminder of a social hierarchy that privileges police with qualified immunity, rewards racist vigilantes with internet fame and money, and punishes communities of color with death if they question that order.
I am calling for a moratorium on broadcasting these videos on television and online unless the victim’s family consents to such publicity. In the same way that an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01973762.2012.678812">amendment to the Comstock Act of 1873</a> banned the circulation of lynching postcards in the US postal system, legislators can use the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/310">Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005</a> (BDEA) to fine TV news outlets and social media platforms that continue to profit from these traumatic images.
President George Bush passed BDEA to <a href="https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/djclpp_sidebar/15/">increase the indecency fines tenfold</a> after the infamous <a href="https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/nipplegate-exposed-our-deep-fear-of-black-womens-sexuality">Nipplegate</a> incident at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. It is bewildering to think that Justin Timberlake popping a piece off Janet Jackson’s corset — to reveal her bare breast on TV — was considered obscene enough to inspire new legislation, while airing fatal police footage continues to be allowed.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1618881546_2353_60082" data-cdata='{"asset_id":22454958,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bzhZZJopXqQfBDHXt5xUGA6UUbw=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Sp85eV729b33BwiIS_qW1ZYSmCw=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mH6kznW9hK_8rtRjw8hlqKigC8E=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/a24NBBAR8MW7Ub1ZRHTCPhXFX-M=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p8FEy7QeHp8pVIxRVQV5D1j9X38=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j1NIwPtZXq4BPxUJ_IJ_xC2iPOg=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0A0YFCLZTTGc2FqcFdLUe_xNQFU=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HOtWeCQ3-Nxk8-gllgNJdBjno5w=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BZb7-NEQXlcp-0MgBvG3SsK5m-4=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="3000" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7UljzMvUdv4CSvZ7ZeipcHUorfw=/0x0:3000x2000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/O8QVSzQS4ZxHSIgA39BEJIlFTfc=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Is79ziFHDsVX7VL31tKG0PXPBzk=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ScFyGo58zkJ9S38SDkNMiA4JwwY=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CvpZW1D54cKJQet1SrPKgEV-KfM=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7pm1EXiQZrcq2kX8X1MTkVAbNUU=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/F-AmuYQVVATtydCnaPd63EWBU1M=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Dwx-8rm84KUpphDHP26y445OEb0=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Z-RG9aFd3jLZQK2YDJReufVX2uw=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nf4h9W5n4V2AOkN0WVTu2GPL5VA=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22454958/GettyImages_1232213810.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>“Seeing George Floyd dying on primetime television, over and over again, was too much. It felt voyeuristic — not valiant — because I realized that Black deaths were the only ones that the news media aired on TV,” writes Allissa V. Richardson.</figcaption>
<cite>Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</cite></figure>
Removing the financial incentive for news media to air these ghastly videos may force journalists to engage in more reparative storytelling. This kind of journalism would not play the Toledo video in slow motion in search of a gun. It would ask, instead, what kind of systemic failures led to a 13-year-old being outside at 2 in the morning in the first place? What kind of endemic biases led Virginia police to disregard Lt. Nazario’s military uniform, to regard instead his other uniform, his Blackness? What kind of systemic cruelty led Chauvin to believe that George Floyd’s pleas for his life did not matter? These are the hard questions that policy, not more police footage, can answer. This is where journalism must go next.
The road to dismantling deadly policing will be long. I believe news media can help jumpstart the process though, by doing away with the false idea that African American and Latinx communities need to play this game of video empathy before justice. It is time to simply start believing communities of color. We have enough proof. We have enough pain. What we don’t have is reform. And we owe that to so many people, especially to those who have called out for their mothers from the pavement, and to those who expired even before they had that chance.
Allissa V. Richardson, PhD, is the author of Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism. She is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/22391964/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-adam-toledo-police-violence">https://www.vox.com/first-person/22391964/george-floyd-derek-chauvin-adam-toledo-police-violence</a>

vox It’s time for a moratorium on police shooting videos

George Floyd cried out for his mother in his final moments. Adam Toledo did not have time to. Two deaths at the hands of police. One prolon...

Amy Klobuchar takes aim at 12 vaccine misinformation influencers

<div class="c-float-left">
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1618882023_1775_66297" data-cdata='{"asset_id":19433750,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TuT0QLbr3Ev0se9v6mTleNSsrYQ=/0x0:840x214/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rmxmnKBnlfU5h86Wnu1mnFzBRd4=/0x0:840x214/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sHt-wGMNVoHDOqP6wSiEJ9JINNs=/0x0:840x214/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/hITirzaU6GMPrOobhXhFm3nxa7o=/0x0:840x214/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Zz-6LOuM8kFJpE1w--HBsyko0vs=/0x0:840x214/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uDCeRWXZA9NVuNXmeB0vEiNFdR0=/0x0:840x214/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/sKGkEMFjRgxqPrjKg-vktXBVL6k=/0x0:840x214/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jkUvXTW4fQOLHN8zFyEsICN7F8g=/0x0:840x214/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ja0zKqPqO_kOmbVYH-BheK8LDSo=/0x0:840x214/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="Open Sourced logo" data-upload-width="840" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9indh3vUqeOVX6_RpyVYHqtr2tE=/0x0:840x214/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6wfj5r7x_PzmkizGIIBaNJ9QhZ4=/0x0:840x214/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zo7IA05WcPqiet8eRAEqVg7uDLY=/0x0:840x214/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4qLRQ8PPHsa98KZSiqivHKgNaGw=/0x0:840x214/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pQCwf5gGIEeFkMEy_zNh6rA9Jpk=/0x0:840x214/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rnyRIV-v_2lMw_dLqcmEayj__lk=/0x0:840x214/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rfzpn72Dv504LsYEMn6fyKLLv2U=/0x0:840x214/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/674czWvVLcYvd3V1hJucJX7M_Vc=/0x0:840x214/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wqEhpUGEfNJmOwIt1jVwele8l4M=/0x0:840x214/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8OMsyfRtzq9gLLWcX6LZKKVfsys=/0x0:840x214/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:840x214):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19433750/open_sourced_story_logo.png 1920w" /></picture></figure>
</div>
As the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues across the US, some lawmakers are concerned that ongoing misinformation and disinformation campaigns are exacerbating <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22330018/covid-vaccine-hesitancy-misinformation-carnegie-mellon-facebook-survey">vaccine hesitancy</a>. Now, two senators are turning their attention to the vaccine misinformation superspreaders that push the bulk of conspiracy theories and lies on social media — and asking the social media giants to take more aggressive action.
“For too long, social media platforms have failed to adequately protect Americans by not taking sufficient action to prevent the spread of vaccine disinformation online,” wrote Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) in a Friday letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, which was viewed by Recode. “Despite your policies intended to prevent vaccine disinformation, many of these accounts continue to post content that reach millions of users, repeatedly violating your policies with impunity.”
In particular, the senators urged the companies to take action against 12 anti-vaccine influencers — 11 individuals and one couple — who spread anti-vaccine content on the internet. These accounts include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/08/robert-kennedy-jr-measles-vaccines-226798/">pushed distrust in vaccines</a>, and Joseph Mercola, an online alternative medicine proponent who was recently flagged by the Food and Drug Administration for <a href="https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/mercolacom-llc-607133-02182021">promoting fake Covid-19 cures</a>, including through his <a href="https://twitter.com/mercola/status/1247540121919827970">still-active Twitter account</a>.
These 12 entities were identified in <a href="https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_b7cedc0553604720b7137f8663366ee5.pdf">a report</a> published last month by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit focused on online hate and misinformation. To find these 12 influencers, researchers identified 10 private and 20 public anti-vaccine Facebook groups, whose sizes ranged between 2,500 and 235,000 members. The researchers then analyzed links posted in these groups and tracked the sources of their links.
They found that up to 73 percent of that content, including posts sharing it across Facebook, came from websites affiliated with these 12 superspreaders, who have built reputations in the anti-vaccine online world through multiple accounts on various social media services. More broadly, up to 65 percent of anti-vaccine content on both Facebook and Twitter identified by the researchers seemed to come from these entities. At the time of the report’s publication in March, nine of these superspreaders were active on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
In their Friday letter, the senators asked for more details on the platforms’ approach to content moderation, and for explanations of why the content shared by these 12 superspreaders does or does not violate Facebook’s and Twitter’s rules. The senators also sought more information on the companies’ investment in content moderation for communities of color, rural communities, and non-English speaking communities, pointing out that some of the content posted by the 12 superspreaders “targets Black and Latino communities with tailored anti-vaccine messages.”
In response to the pandemic and the vaccine rollout, Facebook and Twitter have altered their approach to content moderation and health misinformation. Facebook, which also owns Instagram, has banned <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22319681/vaccine-misinformation-facebook-instagram-spreading">anti-vaccine misinformation</a> and misinformation about Covid-19 that could lead to “imminent physical harm,” and the company says it has removed more than <a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/03/how-were-tackling-misinformation-across-our-apps/">12 million pieces of content</a> that violate this threshold. Facebook has also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/14/facebook-vaccine-hesistancy-qanon/">conducted</a> research into vaccine-hesitant comments on its service.
“Working with leading health organizations, we’ve updated our policies to take action against accounts that break our Covid-19 and vaccine rules — including by reducing their distribution or removing them from our platform — and have already taken action against some of the groups in this report,” Facebook spokesperson Dani Lever told Recode. She added that the company had connected 2 billion people to resources from health authorities.
Twitter has taken a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/updates-to-our-work-on-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation.html">two-pronged approach</a> of removing the most harmful vaccine misinformation and labeling other misleading tweets.
Generally, these approaches have focused on individual pieces of content, not the broader behavior of particular influencers across the internet. That means that vaccine misinformation superspreaders have more leeway to spread distrust without necessarily outright sharing false claims about vaccines. Instead, they can promote “health freedom” to encourage people to not get vaccinated, present vaccine news in a misleading light, use social media to link to misleading claims on their own websites, and simply raise questions in order to sow doubt.
Update, April 19, 2021, 2:10 pm ET: This piece was updated to include a comment from a Facebook spokesperson.
<a href="http://www.vox.com/open-sourced">Open Sourced</a> is made possible by Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/19/22388231/amy-klobuchar-vaccine-misinformation-facebook-twitter-superspreaders">https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/4/19/22388231/amy-klobuchar-vaccine-misinformation-facebook-twitter-superspreaders</a>

vox Amy Klobuchar takes aim at 12 vaccine misinformation influencers

As the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continues across the US, some lawmakers are concerned that ongoing misinformation and disinformation cam...