This past weekend Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to block a number of popular accounts. Almost immediately after, Elon Musk said that free speech principles matter more than profits. And he announced plans to defy the court&#8217;s order and lift all speech restrictions in the country once his employees are in a “safe place” where they are not at risk of being arrested. Musk says he expects he will ultimately be forced to shut down X’s office in Brazil and will lose all revenue there.
On April 7, shortly after Musk’s announcement, de Moraes issued a <a href="https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/404983/moraes-inclui-elon-musk-no-inquerito-das-milicias-digitais">decision</a> adding Musk to a broader investigation. In this new inquiry, the judge accused Musk of obstruction of justice and incitement to crime. “The flagrant conduct of obstruction of Brazilian Justice, incitement to crime, public threat of disobedience to court orders and future lack of cooperation by the platform are facts that disrespect Brazil&#8217;s sovereignty and reinforce the connection of the intentional criminal instrumentalization of the activities of the former Twitter,” he wrote. Many now expect the Brazilian Supreme Court to shut off access to X at any moment.
Nor is X the only American social media company being targeted by president Lula da Silva’s government. Facebook, Google, and others have faced investigations for what the same court called “abusive practices.” Though it appears those platforms have complied with speech restrictions to some degree, Musk is the only big tech executive to have engaged in a public fight with the court.
<div id="attachment_720967" style="width: 876px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-720967" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-720967" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2144473733-866x576.jpg" alt="President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Marina Silva are participating in the launch of the Union with Municipalities Program to Reduce Deforestation and Forest Fires in the Amazon on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. (Photo by Ton Molina/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="866" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2144473733-866x576.jpg 866w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2144473733-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2144473733-768x511.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/04/GettyImages-2144473733.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 866px) 100vw, 866px" />Ton Molina/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
Brazil’s government has leaned heavily on lawfare in its attempt to squeeze American social media platforms into compliance. Before presiding over Musk&#8217;s case, de Moraes ordered investigations into big tech executives at other companies after they lobbied against a proposal to regulate Brazil’s internet. If passed, the Law on Freedom, Responsibility, and Transparency on the Internet, colloquially known as the “Fake News Bill,” will levy large fines against the tech companies if they fail to identify and report illegal content.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/morning-wire/trump-s-fundraiser-haul-brazilian-online-censorship-4-8-24" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LISTEN: Catch the full story on Morning Wire</a></h4>
Due to such legislation, the definition of illegal speech in Brazil has been rapidly expanding to potentially include anything labeled “misinformation” by the government. Independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, who is in Brazil and broke parts of this story, said it’s not an exaggeration to say that Brazil is “on the brink of dictatorship.” He <a href="https://twitter.com/shellenberger/status/1776776372351836642/video/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lambasted</a> a number of big tech companies for giving in to the demands of Brazilian authorities, saying, “I know censorship when I see it.”
“The Twitter files revealed also that Google, Facebook, Uber, WhatsApp and Instagram betrayed the people of Brazil,” Shellenberger said. “If this evidence is proven and admitted to, the executives of those companies behaved like cowards. They provided the Brazilian government with personal registration data and telephone numbers without a court order. Therefore, they violated the Brazilian laws.”
Musk has said he plans to publish on X everything the Brazilian judge has ordered, and these posts will explain how the court’s demands violate Brazilian law. “This judge has brazenly and repeatedly betrayed the constitution and people of Brazil. He should resign or be impeached,” Musk posted.
But Musk may face opposition not only from the Brazilian government, but also from the U.S. State Department, who some former officials are accusing of helping to engineer Brazil’s censorship efforts.
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy Mike Benz said the CIA and other U.S. foreign policy divisions fear rising populism in countries like Brazil. <a href="https://x.com/MikeBenzCyber/status/1776826555328549308" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Benz</a>, these State Department divisions and associated NGO’s helped President Lula da Silva secure power over his populist rival Jair Bolsonaro by funding censorship groups to suppress so-called election “misinformation.”
“When I was looking into what was behind censorship in Brazil, it turned out what was driving it appeared to be a gaggle of US State Department funded NGOs,” Benz said in a video posted to X. “National Endowment for Democracy, USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy [were] funding a bunch of domestic censorship groups in Brazil. This actually goes right back to the beginning of Bolsonaro his tenure in 2019.”
Benz added that the State Department doesn’t want to see Brazilian citizens openly criticizing their country’s government on social media any more than Da Silva does.
On April 7, after Musk promised to publish all records pertaining to Brazil’s crackdown on X, Brazil&#8217;s Attorney General Jorge Messias called for &#8220;urgent regulation&#8221; of all social media networks, saying, &#8220;We cannot live in a society in which billionaires domiciled abroad have control of social networks&#8230;”

SpaceX And T-Mobile Hold Joint Event In Texas

Brazilian Supreme Court Takes On Elon Musk And X In Social Media Crackdown

Brazil

Elon Musk

Facebook

Google

Readers Pass

Social Media

Twitter

Twitter Files

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ripped President Biden for his effort to censor his opposition, calling it “anti-American.”
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6350137083112">Appearing</a> on Fox &amp; Friends, Kennedy was asked about his previous comment that Biden was a “much worse threat to democracy” than former President Donald Trump.
“By the way, I said I could make that argument, and I think it is an argument that we ought to be having,” Kennedy began. “President Biden has done something that no other president in history has done, which is to order media, particularly the social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google, to censor his political opponents.”
“You know, I can say this because I just won a lawsuit in the federal court of appeals, now before the Supreme Court, because he began censoring me 37 hours after he took the oath of office swearing to defend the Constitution,” he recalled. “White House officials were on e-mail with Facebook, saying to them, &#8216;You have to take down his post.&#8217; Facebook actually pushed back saying, &#8216;There&#8217;s no misinformation here. Actually, what he&#8217;s saying here is accurate,&#8217; and they had to make up a new term called &#8216;malinformation,&#8217; which is information that is accurate, but nonetheless inconvenient to — you know, politically inconvenient.”
“The First Amendment was put in the Constitution —Madison, Hamilton, Adams said, &#8216;We put free expression to guarantee the First Amendment because all the other rights are dependent on it,”&#8217; he noted, adding, “If you have a president who can censor his political opponent, he is licensed for any kind of atrocity. That is a genuine threat to our democracy.”
“I think what President Trump said about questioning the election &#8230; to the extent that he engaged in an effort to overthrow that, of course that&#8217;s a threat to democracy, but it is not the worst threat undermining the First Amendment of our Constitution,” he stated, then turned back to Biden: “And then weaponizing the federal agencies to get his opponents off the ballot, and in my case, I&#8217;ll just say particularly, denying me Secret Service protection, that&#8217;s never happened in history before.”
“Does he know that your dad was assassinated?” Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade asked.
“He has a bust of my father behind him,” Kennedy answered. “It’s just not right &#8230; the use of the courts, the use of prosecutors, the use of all these federal agents to change our political landscape is wrong and we should be debating about it. You know what? What President Biden did with his censorship project is &#8230; he told the social media companies, ‘We’re going to bring anti-trust cases against you and we’re going to withdraw your Section 230 immunity — which is existential for those companies — if you don’t give us a portal to censor.’ And then who did he give access to that portal? The CIA, the FBI, CISA, the IRS, NIA. So you had all these federal agencies that were now able to silence people who were questioning their policies.”
“And that is really anti-American and anti-democratic,” he concluded.
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Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Visits “Fox & Friends”

‘Licensed For Any Kind Of Atrocity’: RFK Jr. Blasts Biden For Censorship, Calls Him ‘Anti-American’

Censorship

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Teens and kids are not the only ones glued to their social media feeds anymore — the vast majority of adults spend time scrolling too.
Data released earlier this year shows that a majority of American adults use some kind of social media, but their habits and preferred platforms are different from younger users.
YouTube and Facebook are both about two decades old now, but they remain the top two platforms among adults.
YouTube is by far the most widely used platform among adults as well as teens. About eight in 10 American adults, 83%, say they have used the video-sharing platform at some point, according to recent <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Pew Research Center, which polled more than 5,700 adults between May and September last year.
<div id="attachment_707565" style="width: 347px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-707565" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-707565" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-337x576.webp" alt="" width="337" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-337x576.webp 337w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01-175x300.webp 175w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PI_2024.01.31_Social-Media-use_00_01.webp 620w" sizes="(max-width: 337px) 100vw, 337px" />Pew Research.</div>
Facebook is not far behind with a majority of U.S. adults, 68%, saying they use it. By contrast, teens have fled Facebook over the past decade as their parents, relatives, teachers, and other adults have joined. In 2022, only 32% of teens <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/#The-social-media-landscape-has-shifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> they had ever used Facebook, down from 71% in 2015.
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has attracted about half of adults with 47% saying they use the image-based platform.
<div id="attachment_707569" style="width: 840px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-707569" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-707569" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-830x576.webp" alt="" width="830" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-830x576.webp 830w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-300x208.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08-768x533.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/PJ_2022.08.10_teens-and-tech_0-08.webp 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px" />Pew Research.</div>
About a fifth of adults say they use Twitter, which was recently renamed X and is known for fast-moving discourse especially relating to politics and pop culture. A fifth also say they use Reddit, known for its hyper-specific communities and sometimes NSFW content.
Of course, TikTok has exploded in popularity in recent years, especially among teens and kids, but a third of adults have flocked to the video-sharing platform as well.
TikTok has seen a 12-point spike in adult users since 2021, while the percentages of adults who use YouTube and Facebook, the most popular platforms, have stayed about the same since 2021.
However, about half of TikTok&#8217;s adult users are observers only, meaning they have never posted a video themselves. This includes younger adults aged 18 to 34 — only half have ever posted a video.
Because of this, the vast majority of TikTok&#8217;s content is created by a small share of users. The top 25% of adults on TikTok produce 98% of that group&#8217;s publicly available videos.
The typical adult TikTok user has also left their &#8220;bio&#8221; blank on their account.
More people are now getting their news from TikTok too. Last year, about 14% of adults said they got news regularly from TikTok, more than four times the 3% who said so in 2020.
TikTok&#8217;s pivot to a news source echoes Twitter&#8217;s evolution, which has become many people&#8217;s go-to source for up-to-the-minute news updates.
Communities geared towards adult users, such as parenting content and even X-rated content, have popped up on many of the platforms popular with adults.
Meanwhile among teens, YouTube is the most popular platform with 95% of teens <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/#The-social-media-landscape-has-shifted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a> in 2022 that they use it, followed by TikTok with 67% of teens, Instagram with 62%, and then Snapchat, an app used to send disappearing photos and messages, with 59%.
Teen girls are more likely to use Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, while teen boys are more likely to use Reddit and Twitch, a self-streaming platform often used by video gamers.
The average social media user is also not just on one platform but uses an eye-popping six or seven platforms every month.
Overall, we&#8217;re all scrolling more. Across the globe last year, about 4.9 billion people <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/social-media-statistics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> social media, and that number continues to climb.

Facebook Temporarily Disabling Some Messenger Features In Europe

Among Adults, This Is By Far The Most Popular Social Media Platform

Gen Z

Instagram

Internet

Reddit

TikTok

“Star Trek” actor and leftist activist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Wil Wheaton</a> was not amused when <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/larry-david">Larry David</a> pretended to attack the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sesame-street">Elmo</a> puppet during a “Today Show” segment on February 1.
The 51-year-old actor <a href="https://www.facebook.com/itswilwheaton/">posted</a> a lengthy rant about the incident on Facebook, calling the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator a “stupid, self-centered, tone-deaf a**hole” for the stunt.
“Holy s*** it&#8217;s even worse than I thought,” Wheaton wrote of the incident. “What the f*** is wrong with that guy? Elmo is, like, the best friend to multiple generations of children. In the Sesame Street universe, ELMO IS A CHILD, who is currently putting mental health and caring for others in the spotlight.”
“And Larry F***ing David &#8230; did &#8230; that? And thought it was going to be &#8230; funny? What? What an a**hole. What a stupid, self-centered, tone-deaf a**hole,” he continued.
The actor went on to describe abuse he experienced at the hands of his father, which he said triggered his feelings about David pretending to beat up Elmo.
“&#8230;This appalling, unforgivable, despicable act hits more than one raw nerve for me, and I&#8217;m going to say what I wish I&#8217;d been able to say when this sort of thing happened to me,” Wheaton wrote.
“Like, read the room, d***head. It isn&#8217;t always about you being the center of attention. And understand what&#8217;s happening in the moment, f***. Understand that there are larger things in the world than you and your garbage ego,” he went on. 
Elmo was appearing on the show right after a tweet from the Muppet character’s official X account <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elmo-checks-in-with-followers-on-x-tweet-goes-viral-with-messages-of-hopelessness">went viral</a>. “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” the post said. Most people responded with messages of despair and hopelessness. 
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David was appearing on “The Today Show” to promote the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/larry-david-insists-hes-not-lying-over-curb-your-enthusiasm-ending">last season</a> of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” when he jokingly assaulted the puppet. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
OMG: Larry David &#8212; whose interview was a few segments away on NBC&#39;s &#39;Today&#39; show &#8212; comes out of nowhere &amp; beats up Elmo after his sit-down to talk about the responses to his <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/emotionalwellbeing?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#emotionalwellbeing</a> post.<a href="https://twitter.com/craigmelvin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CraigMelvin</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/SavannahGuthrie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SavannahGuthrie</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hodakotb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HodaKotb</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/alroker?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlRoker</a>, &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/elmo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Elmo</a> were FLOORED. <a href="https://t.co/cW36SHYX6y">pic.twitter.com/cW36SHYX6y</a>
&mdash; Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) <a href="https://twitter.com/CurtisHouck/status/1753071728845066596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2024</a></blockquote>
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“Elmo inspired a deeply meaningful and important moment of collective support among disparate people who have been struggling through the traumas of a pandemic, daily mass shootings, the rise of fascism and everything associated with Trump&#8217;s violence and cruelty,” Wheaton insisted, adding that the joke was “appalling behavior.” 
“A man who would belittle and mock that isn&#8217;t much of a man at all. Shame on you, Larry David,” the “Star Trek” alum concluded.

Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton Rages Against Larry David Jokingly Attacking Elmo Puppet On Live TV

Celebrities

Entertainment

Larry David

Sesame Street

U.S.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unloaded on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a contentious Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday, accusing the tech founder of having blood on his hands.
Graham laid out what he believed to be the problem, arguing that social media outlets — by design — were facilitating the exploitation of children. Additionally, he noted, there was little recourse for anyone who was negatively impacted — because, as platforms rather than publishers, the outlets were protected from legal liability.
&#8220;After years of working on this issue with you and others, I’ve come to conclude the following: social media companies, as they are currently designed and operate, are dangerous products,&#8221; the South Carolina senator began, going on to tell the story of a teenager who was tricked into sending someone compromising photos of himself — and then extorted for money until he eventually took his own life, Mediaite <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/youve-got-blood-on-your-hands-lindsey-graham-assails-mark-zuckerberg-at-senate-hearing/">reported</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Make no mistake:
These social media companies and Big Tech have blood on their hands. <a href="https://t.co/WOIbOf1NoN">pic.twitter.com/WOIbOf1NoN</a>
&mdash; Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) <a href="https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1752729302020358581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us — I know you don&#8217;t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands,&#8221; Graham said to applause from the gallery. &#8220;You have a product — you have a product that&#8217;s killing people. When we had cigarettes killing people, we did something about it – maybe not enough. You&#8217;re going to talk about guns, we have the ATF.&#8221;
&#8220;Nothing here,&#8221; he continued, referring to social media in general. &#8220;There&#8217;s not a damn thing anybody can do about it, you can&#8217;t be sued. Now, Senator Blumenthal and Blackburn, who&#8217;ve been like the dynamic duo here, have found emails from your company where they warned you about this stuff — and you decided not to hire 45 people that could do a better job of policing this.&#8221;
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&#8220;So the bottom line is you can&#8217;t be sued, but you should be,&#8221; Graham said, arguing that the emails were evidence that Zuckerberg knew the risks and failed to make efforts to mitigate them. &#8220;But the courtroom&#8217;s closed to every American abused by all the companies in front of me.&#8221;
Graham then called for the repeal of Section 230, which offers protections to social media companies under the assumption that they function as platforms rather than publishers, adding, &#8220;What do you do with dangerous products? Either allow lawsuits — you have statutory protections to protect consumers — or you have a commission of sorts to regulate the industry in question, to take your license away if you have a license or to fine you.&#8221;

US-TECHNOLOGY-INTERNET-CHILD-EXPLOITATION

‘Blood On Your Hands’: Lindsey Graham Scorches Mark Zuckerberg In Contentious Hearing

Congress

Lindsey Graham

Mark Zuckerberg

Politics

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/artificial-intelligence">AI-generated</a> videos of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift&#8217;s</a> likeness promoting a fraudulent Le Creuset cookware giveaway have tricked several fans into purchasing it.
The deepfake videos feature what appears to be Swift doing a promotional pitch, per a CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-le-creuset-ai-generated-ads/">report</a>. The videos have been circulating on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook">Facebook</a>.
“Hey y&#8217;all, it&#8217;s Taylor Swift here,&#8221; the Swift replica can be heard saying in the video. &#8220;Due to a packaging error, we can&#8217;t sell 3,000 Le Creuset cookware sets. So I&#8217;m giving them away to my loyal fans for free.&#8221;
Viewers, whom the AI image addressed as “Swifties,” were then instructed by the faux Swift to click a button below the ad to complete a survey. The ad conveys a sense of urgency, saying that &#8220;supplies are running out.&#8221;
People who clicked on the ad were sent to websites that appeared to be legitimate, like The Food Network. They were next shown fake news coverage of the product and testimonials by fake customers, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/technology/taylor-swift-le-creuset-ai-deepfake.html">The New York Times</a>.
Scam victims were asked to pay a “small shipping fee of $9.96” for the cookware. They didn’t realize that paying that fee would lead to a hidden recurring charge and would not result in getting the pricey cookware at all.  
A Facebook account called &#8220;The most profitable shares&#8221; promoted the deepfake video, though CBS News noted that it’s unclear who is behind it.
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Fans were likely duped in part because Swift is known for her love of Le Creuset. In 2020, the brand shared an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lecreuset/photos/a.382013749062/10158625416799063/?type=3">image</a> on Facebook from the Grammy Award winner’s Netflix documentary &#8220;Miss Americana.” The post showed her in the kitchen using the brand&#8217;s round Dutch oven.
This is not the first deepfake ad scam featuring a celebrity to make the rounds on social media. In October, Tom Hanks warned fans that he was not promoting a dental plan and that any ads featuring his likeness were fake, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/beware-tom-hanks-warns-fans-about-ai-image-of-him-promoting-dental-plan">reported</a>. 
“BEWARE!! There’s a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it,” Hanks shared on Instagram at the time. 
CBS Mornings host Gayle King’s AI likeness was also associated with a scam. King denied any connection to the fake weight loss-related video from a company called Artipet.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift Fans Duped By AI-Generated Ads Using Pop Star’s Likeness In Fake Cookware Giveaway

Taylor Swift Fans Duped By AI-Generated Ads Using Pop Star's Likeness In Fake Cookware Giveaway

Artificial Intelligence

Business

Fraud

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mike-rowe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mike Rowe</a> updated his fans on Friday about the condition of his 91-year-old father John, who had a heart attack the day after Christmas, saying he was doing better.
The &#8220;Dirty Jobs&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-rowe-blasts-hypocrisy-of-billionaires-at-wef-blaming-everyday-guy-for-all-of-the-trouble-in-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">host</a> posted to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe">Facebook</a> about getting to spend time with his father and noting how quickly time goes by &#8212; adding that all his friends are now 70.
&#8220;As always, I&#8217;m still nine years younger, but still … don&#8217;t they go by in a blink? I&#8217;m sitting here with my 91-year-old dad this morning &#8212; who is doing better every day since his heart attack last week &#8212; and wondering how quickly the next thirty years will go, if I&#8217;m lucky enough to have them.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Speaks for itself, really.<a href="https://t.co/c9gLjCjvwM">https://t.co/c9gLjCjvwM</a>
— The Real Mike Rowe (@mikeroweworks) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikeroweworks/status/1740122996805939536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
Days earlier in his New Year&#8217;s Day post, the TV host <a href="https://mikerowe.com/2023/12/the-rowes-are-much-obliged/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>, &#8220;If you follow my mom&#8217;s page, you&#8217;ve probably heard my dad had a serious heart attack the day after Christmas.&#8221;
&#8220;Obviously, we&#8217;ve all been worried, and anxious to understand what comes next,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I&#8217;m happy to report that he&#8217;s home, and beginning what could be a long road back.&#8221;
&#8220;On the other hand, tough as he is, it&#8217;s hard to say,&#8221; Rowe continued. &#8220;Wouldn&#8217;t surprise me if he was rolling bocce balls in a week or so. I sure hope so. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers. The Rowe&#8217;s are much obliged.&#8221;
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The post contained a picture of his dad in a hospital bed with his mom standing close by, as well as a sweet family photo of Rowe, his <a href="https://people.com/tv/how-the-mom-of-dirty-jobs-host-mike-rowe-was-once-so-concerned-about-her-sons-career-that-she-sent-anonymous-letters-to-qvc/#:~:text=In%20writing%20about%20raising%20three,was%20no%20shortage%20of%20material." target="_blank" rel="noopener">two brothers</a>, Scott and Phil, and their father.
On the Discovery Channel host&#8217;s <a href="https://mikerowe.com/2023/12/the-rowes-are-much-obliged/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>, he also shared his mom Peggy&#8217;s post, who wrote about late Christmas night when her &#8220;husband awoke sweating profusely and with agonizing pain in his chest and arms.&#8221;
&#8220;I found myself screaming into the phone—then feeling terror when the EMT shouted, &#8216;Stay with me, John! Stay with me!'&#8221; she added. &#8220;Four days later, I realize our good fortune. Especially since 50% of all heart attack victims do not make it to the hospital alive.&#8221;
&#8220;Thanks to the medical professionals—especially the &#8216;interventionalist&#8217; who performed a heart catheterization and inserted three stents into arteries with as much as a 95-98% blockage,&#8221; Rowe&#8217;s mom continued. &#8220;And thanks to our kids for their support—now…and along the road to recovery. It&#8217;s nice to know they still like us.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dirty-jobs-host-mike-rowe-rolling-out-own-tennessee-whiskey-line-complete-with-memorable-sea-shanty" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8216;Dirty Jobs&#8217; Host Mike Rowe Rolling Out Own Tennessee Whiskey Line Complete With Memorable Sea Shanty</a>

Mike Rowe

Mike Rowe Shares Update With Fans Following Father’s Heart Attack

Heart Attack

According to Chaya Raichik, owner of the Libs of TikTok accounts on social media, her Facebook page was suspended on Saturday.
Raichik posted a screenshot of an email from Facebook reading, “The page Libs of Tik Tok has been suspended for going against our Community Standards. You cannot visit the Page and you won’t be able to add new people to work on the Page.”
“Libs of TikTok was suspended from @facebook today. The censorship is ramping up as we head into the 2024 elections. Buckle up!” Raichik wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Libs of TikTok was suspended from <a href="https://twitter.com/facebook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@facebook</a> today. The censorship is ramping up as we head into the 2024 elections. Buckle up!<a href="https://t.co/oHId1vjzne">https://t.co/oHId1vjzne</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1741322773207863361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-suspends-chaya-raichikslibs-of-tiktok-for-violating-standards?ref=scroll">reported</a> that the account was restored after Raichik appealed the suspension. But on Sunday morning, the Facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/libsoftiktok/">displayed a message</a> that read, &#8220;This content isn&#8217;t available right now.&#8221;
In December 2022, journalist Bari Weiss revealed how Libs of TikTok was placed on a &#8220;Trends Blacklist&#8221; by Twitter and that a special note was placed on the account that said action could not be taken on the account &#8220;without consulting with SIP-PES.&#8221;
&#8220;The account—which Chaya Raichik began in November 2020 and now boasts over 1.4 million followers—was subjected to six suspensions in 2022 alone, Raichik says. Each time, Raichik was blocked from posting for as long as a week,&#8221; Weiss said. &#8220;Twitter repeatedly informed Raichik that she had been suspended for violating Twitter’s policy against &#8216;hateful conduct.’”
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However, those at the highest level at Twitter secretly admitted that they knew Libs of TikTok did not violate any of the site&#8217;s rules, yet they wanted the account suspended.
In October 2022, Libs of TikTok was reportedly thrown off the social media platform Tribel just 20 minutes after joining. Libs of TikTok reported that Raichik had posted messages such as &#8220;Men cannot get pregnant&#8221; and &#8220;men cannot become women and women cannot become men.&#8221;
&#8220;GREAT NEWS! Tribel just successfully fought off a wave of trolls that came over from the notoriously racist and homophobic &#8216;LibsofTikTok&#8217; page. Our algorithms identified their bigotry and suppressed their posts — exactly as intended,&#8221; Tribel Support posted, adding, &#8220;As you all can see, none of their hatred was able to trend on Tribel, confirming Tribel as America’s premiere social network for kind, intelligent individuals. LibsofTikTok and their army of trolls were given a lifetime ban.&#8221;
 Virginia Kruta and Ryan Saavedra contributed to this article.
RELATED: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/libs-of-tiktok-reportedly-gets-thrown-off-of-liberal-social-media-site-after-20-minutes-for-posting-men-cannot-get-pregnant">Libs Of TikTok Reportedly Gets Thrown Off Of Liberal Social Media Site After 20 Minutes For Posting &#8216;Men Cannot Get Pregnant&#8217;</a></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitters-underhanded-actions-targeting-libs-of-tiktok-revealed-in-new-twitter-files-release">Twitter’s Underhanded Actions Targeting ‘Libs Of TikTok’ Revealed In New ‘Twitter Files’ Release</a></li>
</ul>

BF1A14CB-1DDC-4F23-9D61-80EFD77DD435_1_201_a

‘The Censorship Is Ramping Up’: Libs Of TikTok Says Account Was Suspended From Facebook

Libs of Tik Tok

Media

A former Facebook global diversity strategist pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company through an &#8220;elaborate scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fictitious charges, and cash kickbacks,&#8221; federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.323491/gov.uscourts.gand.323491.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pled</a> guilty to wire fraud related to the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/former-global-diversity-executive-facebook-pleads-guilty-defrauding-company-out-more-4?te=1&amp;nl=dealbook&amp;emc=edit_dk_20231213" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement.
Furlow-Smiles led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at Facebook between January, 2017 and September, 2021. As Facebook&#8217;s lead strategist and global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement, Furlow-Smiles was responsible for developing and executing DEI initiatives, operations, and engagement programs, prosecutors said.
She had access to company credit cards and was able to approve invoices and used her position to &#8220;cheat and defraud the company,&#8221; prosecutors said.
Furlow-Smiles linked PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to her Facebook credit cards and used those accounts to pay friends, relatives, and others for goods and services that were never provided to Facebook, prosecutors said.
She then submitted fraudulent expense reports to hide those charges, falsely claiming that her friends had performed work for Facebook, such as providing swag or marketing.
Those people then paid kickbacks to Furlow-Smiles, sometimes through accounts in her husband&#8217;s and other people&#8217;s names, prosecutors said. Sometimes the kickbacks were paid in cash in person and sometimes through the mail. Cash was even hidden in a t-shirt at one point, prosecutors said. Furlow-Smiles also sometimes told her friends to pay one another to hide the scheme, prosecutors said.
Furlow-Smiles also had Facebook hire vendors operated by her friends, prosecutors said, and she approved fraudulent and inflated invoices to pay the vendors, who then paid her kickbacks.
People who were part of the scheme included friends, relatives, former interns from a prior job, nannies and babysitters, a hair stylist, and her university tutor. She even had Facebook pay for several expenses of other people, including $10,000 to an artist for specialty portraits and more than $18,000 for preschool tuition, according to prosecutors.
&#8220;She used the money to live a luxury lifestyle in California and Georgia,&#8221; prosecutors said.
Her sentencing is scheduled for March 19.
It is not clear whether any of the other people involved in the scheme will be charged. Prosecutors said most of the people were not aware that the money was coming from Facebook.
Meta, Facebook&#8217;s parent company, cooperated with the investigation, which is being investigated by the FBI.
“This defendant abused a position of a trust as a global diversity executive for Facebook to defraud the company of millions of dollars, ignoring the insidious consequences of undermining the importance of her DEI mission,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan.
“Motivated by greed, she used her time to orchestrate an elaborate criminal scheme in which fraudulent vendors paid her kickbacks in cash. She even involved relatives, friends, and other associates in her crimes, all to fund a lavish lifestyle through fraud rather than hard and honest work,” Buchanan said.

In this photo illustration a Facebook logo seen displayed on

Former Facebook Diversity Manager Pleads Guilty To Stealing More Than $4 Million From Company

Crime

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Money

New Mexico officials accused Facebook and Instagram of creating a breeding ground for predators who target children for human trafficking — while enabling the distribution of child pornography — according to a lawsuit filed against Meta Platforms and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
According to the 288-page civil <a href="https://www.nmag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-12-05-NM-v.-Meta-et-al.-COMPLAINT-REDACTED.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed Tuesday in a New Mexico state court, the social media giant allegedly exposed young users to sexual content, opened the door for adult strangers to contact them, and subjected children to the risk of abuse or exploitation.
“Meta’s business model of profit over child safety and business practices of misrepresenting the amount of dangerous material and conduct to which its platforms expose children violates New Mexico law,” the complaint says. “Meta should be held accountable for the harms it has inflicted on New Mexico’s children.”
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said his office conducted an “undercover investigation” into the social media platforms that found Facebook and Instagram have certain child exploitative content more than ten times the amount shared on Pornhub and OnlyFans.
“Our investigation into Meta’s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,” Torrez <a href="https://www.nmag.gov/attorney-general-raul-torrez-files-lawsuit-against-meta-platforms-and-mark-zuckerberg-to-protect-children-from-sexual-abuse-and-human-trafficking/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a news release.
Torrez, who specializes in prosecuting internet crimes against children, further accused Zuckerberg and Meta executives of failing to implement changes to prevent the sexual exploitation of children on their products while being aware of the severe harm it can cause to users struggling with addiction or other mental health issues.
“Despite repeated assurances to Congress and the public that they can be trusted to police themselves, it is clear that Meta’s executives continue to prioritize engagement and ad revenue over the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society,” Torrez said.
Meta responded to the allegations, stating that the platforms do take precautionary measures to “help root out predators.”
“Child exploitation is a horrific crime and online predators are determined criminals,” Meta told CNBC in a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/06/facebook-content-enabled-child-sexual-abuse-new-mexico-lawsuit.html?taid=65709b7af1c780000124071c&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter%7Cmain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, adding the social media company uses “sophisticated technology, hires child safety experts, reports content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and share information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general.”
Meta reportedly said the company disabled more than half a million accounts for violating policies in connection to child sexual exploitation.
New Mexico officials seek civil penalties, $5,000 for each alleged violation of New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, and an order urging the company from “engaging in unfair, unconscionable, or deceptive practices.”
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State officials reportedly also want Meta to apply effective age verification tools to the platforms, improve systems that detect and remove child sexual abuse material, and address the issues that allegedly amplify the material.
The latest filing against the social media giant comes after the attorney generals of 33 U.S. states <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33-states-sue-meta-alleging-social-media-platforms-fueled-youth-mental-health-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a lawsuit against Meta and its Instagram social media platform in October, accusing the multinational technology conglomerate of contributing to the mental health crisis in American youth by making them addicted to its products and violated federal children’s online privacy and state consumer protection laws.
Eight other states and Washington, D.C., filed similar lawsuits.
Meta said in a statement to outlets that it shares “the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.”
“We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path,” the company added.
If the states succeed, Meta could be forced to pay massive fines and change how it advertises and designs its platforms to the public.

GERMANY-US-EU-TECH-INTERNET-FACEBOOK-META

New Mexico Lawsuit Accuses Meta Platforms Of Enabling Child Sexual Abuse Material, Human Trafficking

New Mexico Lawsuit Accuses Meta Of Enabling Child Sexual Abuse Material, Human Trafficking

Child Sex Abuse

New Mexico

As the Biden administration pressured Big Tech companies to censor Americans’ speech during the COVID vaccine rollout, Google&#8217;s YouTube went along with the White House’s requests before Facebook was pressured to follow suit, according to documents shared with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and obtained by The Daily Wire.
In an April 18, 2021, email, Facebook President for Global Affairs Nick Clegg expressed concern after Andy Slavitt, a senior White House advisor, told him that Facebook was “lagging behind” as YouTube “made significant advances to remove content leading to vaccine hesitancy.”
“Just got off hour long call with Andy Slavitt,” Clegg, the United Kingdom&#8217;s former deputy prime minister, wrote in the email. “There are some pretty serious — and sensitive … issues we need to address. A summary: He was appreciative of the data we sent thru on Friday, and confirmed that Rob F had said that they had never received so much so much data from us before.” 
Clegg, who appears to referring to Rob Flaherty, Biden&#8217;s censorship czar, said it was the White House&#8217;s view that Facebook was lagging behind the other tech companies.
“Andy attended a meeting of misinfo researchers (didn’t provide names) organized by Rob F on Friday in which the consensus was that FB is a ‘disinformation factory,’ and that YT has made significant advances to remove content leading to vaccine hesitancy whilst we have lagged behind,” Clegg continued. 
<div id="attachment_661071" style="width: 504px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-661071" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-661071" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.02-PM-300x141.png" alt="" width="494" height="232" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.02-PM-300x141.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.02-PM-1024x482.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.02-PM-768x362.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.02-PM.png 1278w" sizes="(max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px" />Facebook Email</div>
Earlier this year, Jordan began releasing the “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-releases-new-facebook-files-highlights-how-biden-admin-sought-to-suppress-daily-wire-content" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook Files</a>,” showing that the Biden administration pressured the social media giant to stifle speech the White House didn’t like, including limiting outlets such as The Daily Wire’s reach on the platform and boosting the reach of legacy media outlets. 
Flaherty in emails released by Jordan earlier this year, suggested that Facebook to &#8220;change the algorithm so that people were more likely to see [New York Times], [Wall Street Journal], any authoritative news source over The Daily Wire.&#8221;
The latest batch of emails exhibits how closely the White House was working with Big Tech companies, and how concerned the companies were with satisfying demands from administration officials. The Biden administration set specific goals for Facebook to reach in its censorship of anti-vaccine content “in the coming weeks,” such as reaching the “‘hardest to reach’ people who have a propensity to consume vaccine hesitant related content and who are not swayed by official/authoritative sources of content,” according to the emails obtained by The Daily Wire.
“Our systems, he believes — as confirmed by the researchers — feed vaccine hesitant related content to pockets of the population and that’s the problem he wants our help to resolve,” the email continues. 
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Clegg adds that Slavitt became enraged that Facebook didn’t remove a post critical of the COVID vaccine that was the “third most highly ranked post in the data set” provided to him by Facebook. 
Clegg said he told the White House advisor that removing such posts would put Facebook in a tough spot because of First Amendment protections of speech. Slavitt shot down Clegg’s concern, saying the post “demonstrably inhibits confidence in COVID vaccines amongst those the Biden administration is trying to reach,” according to the email. 
Slavitt went on to say that YouTube would never allow such content, the emails show.
<div id="attachment_661073" style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-661073" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-661073" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.24-PM-300x105.png" alt="" width="500" height="175" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.24-PM-300x105.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.24-PM-1024x357.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.24-PM-768x268.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.24-PM.png 1318w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" />Facebook Email</div>
Around ten days later, Google appears to confirm it was following the Biden administration’s requests closely. 
In an email from April 29, 2021, the Google/YouTube government affairs team said that over the past few weeks, it “had conversations with the White House staff on YouTube’s policies and all the great work that is being done to raise authoritative information and fight harmful misinformation related to COVID-19 misinformation.” 
“The discussions have been good and the information has been well received,” the email added.  
<div id="attachment_661075" style="width: 511px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-661075" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-661075" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.51-PM-300x140.png" alt="" width="501" height="234" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.51-PM-300x140.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.51-PM-1024x479.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.51-PM-768x359.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-01-at-12.30.51-PM.png 1300w" sizes="(max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px" />Google Email</div>
Following the release of the “Twitter Files” and the Judiciary Committee’s findings on Facebook, the American public has seen first-hand how the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech companies to censor speech and silence voices it didn’t approve of. 
The “Facebook Files” were modeled after the “Twitter Files,” a series of reports from investigative journalists, who were given access to internal communications at Twitter after Elon Musk took over. The “Twitter Files” revealed how the tech giant communicated directly with the Biden administration and the FBI, discussing tweets and even accounts of people who expressed concern about the COVID vaccine.

Google/YouTube/Facebook/Joe Biden

EXCLUSIVE: Biden Admin Praised YouTube’s Censorship, Used It To Pressure Facebook To Intensify Suppression Of Vaccine Stories

Biden Administration

COVID-19 Vaccine

Jim Jordan

YouTube

Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is part of a closed Facebook group that glorified Hamas in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist group’s attack on Israel last month.
The congresswoman, who was censured by the U.S. House last week for espousing anti-Semitic views, is a member of the Facebook group Palestinian American Congress/USA, Fox News <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rashida-tlaib-member-secret-facebook-group-where-hamas-terrorists-glorified?intcmp=tw_fnc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The outlet gained access to the hidden group of more than 15,000 members and found that it featured pro-Hamas posts after the terrorist group murdered more than <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-revises-death-toll-from-oct-7-hamas-assault-dropping-it-from-1400-to-1200/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1,200</a> people on October 7, including dozens of Americans. 
Just five days after the terrorist attack, one person in the Palestinian American Congress group posted a photo of a Hamas fighter posing with an elderly woman who appeared to be one of the Israeli hostages taken into the Gaza Strip. Along with posting the photo, the group member wrote, “We don&#8217;t want to throw you in the sea &#8230; we want you to ride it back from where you came.&#8221; 
On October 19, another person in the group posted a list of “achievements” of Hamas which celebrated the terrorists’ slaying of Israeli soldiers. 
When The Daily Wire conducted a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/groups/?q=Palestinian%20American%20Congress%2Fusa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">search</a> for the group on Facebook, nothing showed up under &#8220;Palestinian American Congress/USA,&#8221; meaning the group is likely set to Facebook&#8217;s private and hidden <a href="https://www.facebook.com/community/getting-started-with-groups/facebook-privacy-settings-for-groups/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">setting</a> that group administrators use if they &#8220;want to have the most restrictions over group visibility and want membership to be by invitation only.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Rashida Tlaib was just exposed as a member of a secret Facebook group that glorifies Hamas terrorists.
The group called ‘Palestinian American Congress’ shares photos of Israelis held hostage, Hamas fighters, and posts from Tlaib herself.
It’s time to expel Tlaib from Congress! <a href="https://t.co/OLQm0B2pt9">pic.twitter.com/OLQm0B2pt9</a>
&mdash; Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bubblebathgirl/status/1724779094082986300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Tlaib’s membership in the Facebook group was previously exposed in 2019 when <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/28/rashida-tlaib-anti-semitism-ties/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Caller</a> reported that she had posted there, attempting to boost her congressional campaign. The Facebook group’s founder, Maher Abdel-qader, has posted anti-Semitic conspiracies in the group, including videos questioning the Holocaust and calling Jews “satanic.” 
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Abdel-qader has deep ties to Tlaib and was one of her key fundraisers during her 2018 campaign — when the “Squad” member was first elected, according to The Daily Caller. The anti-Semitic political operative has also supported Tlaib’s fellow “Squad” member Cori Bush, who joined the chorus of those on the far-Left who condemned Israel after Hamas’ attack. 
Earlier this month, Tlaib <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rashida-tlaib-shares-video-promoting-israels-destruction-claims-biden-is-the-one-supporting-genocide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a> a video that featured pro-Palestinian demonstrators and called for the destruction of Israel. Part of the video showed protesters from Michigan chanting, “From the river to the sea” — meaning from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea — which would require the total destruction of Israel as a Jewish State. 
At the end of the video, the Democratic congresswoman called for a ceasefire and warned President Joe Biden before a message appeared on screen blaming Biden for the “genocide of the Palestinian people.” Tlaib’s post featuring the <a href="https://twitter.com/RashidaTlaib/status/1720520713226908144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1720520713226908144%7Ctwgr%5E347f968111281f9147c701f4270248b798f0f976%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Frashida-tlaib-shares-video-promoting-israels-destruction-claims-biden-is-the-one-supporting-genocide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> is still up on X, even after being <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-house-votes-to-censure-democrat-rashida-tlaib-for-supporting-genocide-of-israel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">censured</a> by her colleagues, including 22 Democrats and 212 Republicans. 
Tlaib’s office has not responded to a Daily Wire request for comment. 
Virginia Kruta contributed to this report.

Rashida Tlaib

Rashida Tlaib Is A Member Of Facebook Group That Praised Hamas After Its Attack On Israel: Report

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