<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/instagram">Instagram</a> will start automatically blurring nude photos sent via private messaging for account holders younger than 18, per an<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2024/04/new-tools-to-help-protect-against-sextortion-and-intimate-image-abuse/"> announcement</a> from its parent company, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta">Meta</a>.
In addition to blurring images containing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nudity">nudity</a>, the popular social media platform will prompt users “to think twice before sending nude images.” The app will also show a notification to adult users, encouraging them to turn the feature on for their accounts.
The new feature is likely a response to increased public pressure from critics who say social media companies should be doing more to protect children from online harm. Meta also said the feature would help protect minors from “sextortion,” or the practice of scammers sending nude images to children in an effort to get them to send photos back.
“While people overwhelmingly use DMs to share what they love with their friends, family or favorite creators, sextortion scammers may also use private messages to share or ask for intimate images,” Meta shared Thursday in a blog post.
The new feature will make it so any images containing nudity will be automatically blurred, and a prompt will ask the user if they’d like to view it. 
“We’ll also show them a message encouraging them not to feel pressure to respond, with an option to block the sender and report the chat,” Meta said.
The company also said “severe action” is taken against any platform users who are determined to be engaging in sextortion. The users have their accounts removed and steps are taken to prevent them from making new profiles, Meta said. If warranted, the user may also be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and local authorities.
Meta also said it has increased the data it shares with Lantern, an online child safety program. 
“Meta’s proposed device-side safety measures within its encrypted environment is encouraging,” John Shehan, SVP at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said in a statement provided by Meta. “We are hopeful these new measures will increase reporting by minors and curb the circulation of online child exploitation.”
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The move comes after Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg attended Senate hearings in January, which included testimonies from families of victims who experienced abuse online. 
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through. Nobody should have to go through what your families have suffered,” Zuckerberg said at the time, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-sorry-for-everything-mark-zuckerberg-faces-families-harmed-by-social-media">reported</a>. “This is why we have invested so much and are going to continue industry-leading efforts to make sure that no one has to go through the types of things your families have suffered.”

Instagram

Instagram Will Blur Nude Images Sent To Teens To Curb Sextortion

Instagram Will Blur Nude Images Sent To Teens In Effort To Curb Sextortion

Business

Nudity

Social Media

Technology

Teenagers

Big Tech CEOs Testify At Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

The Best Way To Protect Your Kids From Being Harmed By A Smartphone Is To Not Give Them A Smartphone

Children

Josh Hawley

Mark Zuckerberg

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Readers Pass

Smartphones

Ted Cruz

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

Facebook

Lindsey Graham

Politics

Today, five CEOs of Big Tech companies — Meta, X, TikTok, Snap, and Discord — will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee and make excuses for the failure of their platforms to protect children online from harmful content, dangerous algorithms, and child predators.
One thing is certain: These CEOs have a lot to answer for.
Every day, new evidence comes to light showing just how far Big Tech is willing to go to put profit over safety.
Just this month, newly released <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/children-on-instagram-and-facebook-were-frequent-targets-of-sexual-harassment-state-says-68401b07" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internal documents</a> about Meta’s child safety policies revealed that in 2021 an estimated 100,000 minors received sexually abusive content from adults on Facebook and Instagram — each day. Although employees warned top executives that Meta’s algorithm connected minors with potential child predators, the company ignored their warnings and did nothing about the abuse on their platforms.
The new information, revealed through a lawsuit brought by the New Mexico Attorney General against the tech giant, corroborates testimony from Facebook whistleblower Arturo Bejar, who testified before the Judiciary Committee last November.
Bejar, a former engineering director at Facebook, told us that Meta executives knew that millions of teens face bullying, eating disorder content, and sexual exploitation on their platforms. Yet Meta <a href="https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2023/11/blackburn-blumenthal-statement-on-facebook-whistleblower-disclosures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">withheld this information</a> from congressional oversight, rolled back safety tools, and dismantled teams responsible for children’s safety.
Unfortunately, Meta isn’t the only tech giant that is endangering children.
Across the board we’ve seen social media platforms — including Snapchat, Chinese-owned TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook — become <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/health/pills-fentanyl-social-media.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open drug markets</a> where dealers connect with children and selling them illicit drugs, including fentanyl. Just as dealers and drug traffickers have built their distribution networks through these sites, fentanyl has become the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, claiming the lives of <a href="https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates#:~:text=Overall%2C%20drug%20overdose%20deaths%20rose,overdose%20deaths%20reported%20in%202021." target="_blank" rel="noopener">70,000</a> people each year.
Perhaps most disturbing, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-vast-pedophile-network-4ab7189" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> continue to emerge showing how human traffickers and predators exploit Big Tech platforms to lure underage victims, entice American youth to participate in their smuggling operations, and traffick women and children.
As hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants enter our country each month, cartels are reportedly offering <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/10/13/cartels-using-tiktok-snapchat-to-recruit-human-smugglers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thousands of dollars</a> in cash payments on TikTok and Snapchat to recruit Americans to come to the Southern border and traffick migrants into the United States.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, users have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/musk-twitter-elon-child-abuse-material-rcna63621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertised</a> the sale of child sexual abuse material.
And on Discord, a messaging platform popular among minors, predators have exchanged child sexual abuse material, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/discord-child-safety-social-platform-challenges-rcna89769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">groomed</a> children for abduction, and extorted children after enticing them to share sexual images of themselves. In one case just last year, a predator <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/discord-child-safety-social-platform-challenges-rcna89769" target="_blank" rel="noopener">abducted</a> a 13-year-old girl from Texas, raped her, and left her locked in a backyard shed after connecting with her on the messaging site.
This is every parent’s worst nightmare. And for years, my colleagues and I on the Senate Judiciary Committee have heard similar stories from countless parents who lost their children after they connected with a drug dealer, sex trafficker, or pedophile on a social media site.
In response, Big Tech executives have made excuse after excuse over their failure to stop the rampant abuse, malicious content, and criminality on their platforms. But nothing has changed.
If Big Tech won’t act, Congress must step in.
That’s why Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) and I have introduced the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1409/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kids Online Safety Act</a>, which would provide parents and children with the tools, safeguards, and transparency they need to protect against online harms.
This bipartisan legislation includes crucial provisions to hold Big Tech companies accountable: requirements that platforms give minors the option to protect their personal information and opt out of algorithmic recommendations by default; new controls for parents to identify harmful behavior and report abuse directly to social media sites; and mandatory audits to ensure that platforms are mitigating harms to children.
Alongside Senator Ossoff (D-GA), I’ve also led the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">REPORT Act</a>, which would provide the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and law enforcement with the tools they need to crack down on online child sex abuse material and child trafficking.
Along with many other important measures, the bill, which unanimously passed the Senate last month, would make the reporting of child trafficking and enticement mandatory for online platforms, incurring fines of up to $1 million for each offense.
Without real and enforceable reforms, social media companies will only continue to pay lip service to the issue of protecting children — while putting profits over their safety. These important pieces of legislation will help bring this charade to an end.
* * *
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn represents the state of Tennessee and serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

GOP Senate Judiciary Members Hold Press Conference On The Supreme Court

Big Tech Is Putting Profit Over The Safety Of Kids Online. It’s Time to Hold Them Accountable.

Big Tech

Marsha Blackburn

Tennessee

TikTok

Twitter

U.S. Senate

The international reputation of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/canada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canada</a> as the politically laid-back, unpretentious neighbor state to the polarized United States has become laughably anachronistic over the past few years. From passing bills to <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/trudeau-s-party-passes-bill-to-regulate-social-media-streaming-1.1620141" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulate</a> the internet, <a href="https://greenwald.substack.com/p/letter-from-a-young-canadian-authoritarianism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">freezing</a> bank accounts of those who donated to the trucker convoy, to <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/21/how-canada-went-from-liberal-democracy-to-authoritarian-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">barring</a> unvaccinated citizens from boarding an airplane (or otherwise leaving the country) — Canada has descended into a spiraling authoritarian state that has caught many by surprise.
In 2023, this shift took a sharp turn towards even more free speech attacks and legislative disasters.
Just before the end of the year, Canada hit a new low for freedom of political expression as an Ottawa judge <a href="https://www.westernstandard.news/news/ottawa-judge-rules-book-critical-of-trudeau-illegal/51330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> that the conservative commentator Ezra Levant’s anti-Trudeau book promotion during a previous federal election was illegal. “I am the only person in history they are targeting for writing an election book during an election,” Levant writes. Levant is now fined $13,000 and threatened with potential criminal prosecution should he write and promote another political book in the next election.
Yes, this is Canada — not Cambodia (where the police <a href="https://maajidnawaz.substack.com/p/journalists-arrested-around-the-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrest</a> reporters for quoting politicians).
<div id="attachment_684167" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-684167" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-684167 size-medium" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/bd4a2405-d38e-4c96-92cb-2cce36afa098_1390x940-300x203.webp" alt="Screenshot: Radical Media - by Maajid Nawaz. Substack." width="300" height="203" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/bd4a2405-d38e-4c96-92cb-2cce36afa098_1390x940-300x203.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/bd4a2405-d38e-4c96-92cb-2cce36afa098_1390x940-852x576.webp 852w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/bd4a2405-d38e-4c96-92cb-2cce36afa098_1390x940-768x519.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/bd4a2405-d38e-4c96-92cb-2cce36afa098_1390x940.webp 1390w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Screenshot: Radical Media &#8211; by Maajid Nawaz. Substack.</div>
From prosecuting lockdown-violating pastors to rejecting employment to unvaccinated nurses, this is the new norm in Canada’s social justice kangaroo courts.
The most dramatic shift in Canadians’ lives in 2023 as a result of government failure comes from <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/understanding-bill-c-18-canada-s-online-news-act-and-its-proposed-rules-explained-1.6488532" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bill C-18</a>, which mandated social media companies compensate Canadian media outlets for distributing their content. Twitter and Facebook warned beforehand they would not be able to comply with a <a href="https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2023/09/a-4-link-tax-why-the-governments-draft-bill-c-18-regulations-just-increased-the-chances-of-no-news-on-meta-and-google-in-canada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4% link fee</a> for a number of technical, pragmatic reasons — also stating that their platforms helped generate traffic to these sites — but the Trudeau government pushed it anyway. The unsettling result: Canadians can <a href="https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2023/08/why-is-meta-blocking-all-news-links-because-bill-c-18-covers-all-news-outlets/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no longer access</a> any news articles, videos, or event accounts of media outlets and newspapers on Meta.
<div id="attachment_684169" style="width: 522px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-684169" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-684169" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/image-black-meta.png" alt="Screenshot: Meta" width="512" height="335" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/image-black-meta.png 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/01/image-black-meta-300x196.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" />Screenshot: Meta</div>
This has been a complete disaster leading to independent media outlets losing significant traffic and millions of dollars in revenue. On the consumer side, many users, especially my peer Zoomers, stay at least minimally informed with local and international affairs by scrolling through their Instagram feed, but that is now all gone.
What implications will this have for future voting outcomes and the political climate, more broadly?
All of this could have been averted if the government hadn’t spread its tentacles far and wide across online sectors, attempting to regulate and engineer a more “equitable” online world (though one where CBC profits the most).
Worst yet, the government <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/09/crtc-takes-major-step-forward-to-modernize-canadas-broadcasting-framework.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a new mandate requiring podcast platforms to officially register with the federal government. The motivation of “promoting Canadian content” for the expansion of online regulation may fool the naive, but the <a href="https://www.illusionconsensus.com/p/why-canadas-new-regulations-for-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guidelines</a> of the anointed government agency (the CRTC) include the preferential boosting of “racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds.” It’s easy to imagine what that may look like. Minorities who abide by the regime may be government-boosted but what about black, vaccine-hesitant Covid dissidents? Or Muslim parents vocally opposed to the imposition of gender ideology in kindergarten class?
<h4>Indigenous Graves</h4>
This year has also revealed the biggest media scandal in recent Canadian history. After two years of fear-mongering about <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/canadas-mass-graves-narrative-that-sparked-church-burnings-crumbles-amid-dearth-of-evidence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mass graves of Indigenous children</a> at a number of residential schools, nothing has been found in a recent <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/31/still-no-evidence-of-mass-graves-of-indigenous-children-in-canada/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">formalized excavation</a>. The claim originated from a First Nations group’s <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tk-eml%C3%BAps-te-secw%C3%A9pemc-215-children-former-kamloops-indian-residential-school-1.6043778?ref=quillette.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discovery</a> of “anomalies” in the soil at residential schools using “ground-penetrating radar.” Some independent voices at the time expressed caution, but leading media channels rushed to judgment and wrongly asserted dispositive evidence of human remains. The New York Times published multiple pieces with outright falsehoods, such as an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/07/world/canada/mass-graves-residential-schools.html?ref=quillette.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> by veteran reporter Ian Austen stating, “the remains of more than 1,000 people, mostly children, have been discovered on the grounds of three former residential schools in two Canadian provinces since May.” This was false then and it is embarrassingly false now. The Times has yet to correct its many factual errors in its coverage of this issue.
Liberal media outlets have a way in which to completely detract from real issues such as the generational poverty, mental health crisis, and neglect in Canadian Aboriginal communities. Instead, we are now focusing on the non-existence of media-hyped Indigenous children’s human remains. Really?
On the culture-war front, this past month we saw a few disorienting clashes on Canadian grounds between “minority” groups who — surprise, surprise — often have diametrically opposing views on fundamental ethical issues. One incident in particular is enough to make an intersectional, blue-haired resistance liberal faint from cognitive paralysis. At a Muslim-led <a href="https://millionmarch4children.squarespace.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1 Million March 4 Children protest</a> — aimed at pushing back against radical gender ideology being taught in schools — one Muslim boy gets up on stage and <a href="https://x.com/MourraMahmoud/status/1706805729473273866?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>, gay people are “disgusting” and “psychopaths.”
This video contains multitudes. On one level, this clip exposes everything wrong with social media soundbites used to advance political narratives. The full video <a href="https://twitter.com/MourraMahmoud/status/1706805729473273866?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">segment</a> includes the boy’s father correcting him, saying gay people are human too and deserve our love and respect, but the <a href="https://x.com/atRachelGilmore/status/1706770791541436443?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">viral clip</a> used by leading progressive journalists conveniently didn’t include that portion. Much more interestingly, you saw the <a href="https://www.macnet.ca/2023/official-statements/joint-statement-sept18/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Muslim Association of Canada</a> supporting the national anti-2SLGBTQ+ protests and calling out the prime minister’s attacks against the movement as hateful. This is amusingly ironic as Trudeau’s messaging a few years ago — before the school indoctrination tensions kicked into full gear — was clearly catered to win the sympathies of Muslim migrants. Now, many of those people are calling out his bulls***. As it turns out, appeasing all identity groups — many of whom have nothing in common except for how elite white people perceive them — is practically impossible and Canada is learning that the hard way.
<h4>Racial Segregation</h4>
Lastly, is another hot culture-war story — now pertaining to race — of controversial <a href="https://twitter.com/RobFai/status/1706097713698464133/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posters</a> found in Metro Vancouver advertising a mom-and-toddler group for “whites-only.” &#8220;It seeks to provide “proud parents of European children” a place to “escape forced ‘diversity’” where their “kids can feel like they belong. The controversy prompted a national outcry and law enforcement has now <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/poster-advertising-whites-only-children-s-playtime-sparks-outrage-in-b-c-community-1.6576911" target="_blank" rel="noopener">launched</a> an investigation to see if there is any “criminality involved.” Needless to say, there is no defense for congregating white children and their mothers as an escape from ethnic minorities. Anyone who publicly says otherwise will have their career and livelihood destroyed in the blink of an eye. Yes, it’s 2023 — not 1985. But, here’s a revealing question: replace the “whites-only” label in the poster to “people-of-color-only” and ask yourself, would that generate even one crumble of controversy?
I’m sorry, but the city mayor Brad West would not <a href="https://bc.ctvnews.ca/poster-advertising-whites-only-children-s-playtime-sparks-outrage-in-b-c-community-1.6576911" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemn</a> it as “vile garbage” which &#8216;“isn’t welcome in our community, or anywhere else.” Ethnic-exclusive spaces exist in every liberal, metropolitan city, from <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/mcmaster-university-black-graduation-1.6490211" target="_blank" rel="noopener">black graduation ceremonies</a>, <a href="https://www.dharma.org/retreats/519" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“people of color” meditation retreats</a>, <a href="https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2019/11/women-of-color-club-makes-waves-on-campus" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“women of color” clubs on campus</a>, and — wait for it — yes, <a href="https://www.meetup.com/black-moms-social-club/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mom and child groups</a> for black Canadians only.
If you search “people of color” followed by the first activity or event that (cooking, sports, education, music) enters your mind, there’s a good chance it exists — and nakedly thrives at a powerful liberal institution near you. This is where our society is: racial segregation for all minority groups is loudly celebrated, but the same action by European “white” groups is a monstrous evil. Hopefully, this all goes into extinction when “people of color” turn into the majority in a couple of decades, thereby shattering any progressive justifications for “oppressed” ethnic groups needing their own sheltered islands in notoriously alt-right havens such as downtown Toronto or North Vancouver.
The social fabric of Canada has deteriorated as much as its constitutional commitment to freedom. COVID lockdowns and vaccine mandates were the most striking infringements on civil liberties, but the media-supported normalization and political justifications of such measures paved the way for further censorious attacks in 2023. As the culture war embroiled, Canadians’ access to online information radically changed with much uncertainty about the future of the last remaining pillars of our “free” media: podcasts.
In its sustained paradoxical outlook, the more chill, less politically polarized caricature of Canadian life continues to shatter to the point of absurdity. Immigrants from Canada like myself (Indian-born) now seriously begin to wonder whether the unparalleled freedom we were once promised was just an imminently combustible illusion we fell victim to.
Oh, Canada.
* * *
Rav Arora is a 22-year-old journalist based in Vancouver covering free speech, Big Pharma, Covid mandates, and totalitarianism. His work has appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, and The Ben Shapiro Show, among other major platforms. Follow his Substack newsletter with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya: <a href="https://www.illusionconsensus.com/">The Illusion Of Consensus.</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

canada flag waving in ottawa

The Spiraling Authoritarian State Of Canada

Books

Canada

indigenous

Justin Trudeau

Leftism

Racial Discrimination

Daily Wire&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-bentkey-a-new-adventure-in-kids-entertainment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bentkey</a> has landed on the Parents Television Council&#8217;s (PTC&#8217;s) annual Nice list, while HBO and Meta are on the group&#8217;s Naughty list for &#8220;targeting youth&#8221; with content that is often overtly and explicitly sexual and graphic.
&#8220;In a screen saturated world, children, teens, and their parents have a lot to navigate,&#8221; Melissa Henson, PTC vice president told <a href="https://tvnewscheck.com/programming/article/meta-hbo-make-ptcs-naughty-list-appletv-bentkey-on-nice-list/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TVNewsCheck</a>. &#8220;Meta and HBO aren&#8217;t making this any easier for families by targeting youth with explicit sexual and other harmful content.&#8221;
&#8220;Our Naughty &amp; Nice List seeks to highlight some of the companies that prioritize children and families, and those who prioritize profit over child safety,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We are grateful to highlight AppleTV+ and Bentkey for offering more family entertainment. These companies serve as models that the entertainment business can emulate.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Meta, HBO Make PTC’s Naughty List, AppleTV+, Bentkey On Nice List<a href="https://t.co/wABNOOWDVv">https://t.co/wABNOOWDVv</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TVNewsCheck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TVNewsCheck</a> <a href="https://t.co/7dn1CNcLRi">pic.twitter.com/7dn1CNcLRi</a>
— Parents Television and Media Council (@ThePTC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThePTC/status/1733153840961102243?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
The Daily Wire launched <a href="https://www.bentkey.com/launch/?utm_campaign=bentkey&amp;utm_medium=paid&amp;utm_source=googlesearch&amp;utm_content=na_subscriptions&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAmsurBhBvEiwA6e-WPCGlBVVkbo8NacgZ_zwvz42eLyQ8Iv22mJqNzBwMS86J8qdsgD4CyxoCVEgQAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bentkey</a> earlier this year which offers children programming free of woke indoctrination, sexual content, politics and more. It follows companies like Angel Studios, Pure Flix, and the Great American Family network to offer faith-based and family-friendly programming, something that is getting harder and harder for families to find.
In the PTC &#8220;Families Need Not Subscribe&#8221; 2023 <a href="https://www.parentstv.org/resources/Families-Need-Not-Subcribe-2023-OTT-Report-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, the group said &#8220;every major streaming platform has substantially failed to deliver content for families – the one audience segment that would most guarantee their success.&#8221;
The group analyzed the popular streaming services to see which ones offered the &#8220;best opportunity for family viewing&#8221; and found AppleTV+ offered &#8220;the largest number of TV-G rated original programming. Surveys indicate families want to watch TV together, and AppleTV+ is giving families more options than most streaming platforms, which heavily produce and distribute TV-MA-rated programming,&#8221; the report noted.
However HBO &#8220;led the charge towards marketing explicit, adult content to children and teens, introducing the sexually explicit &#8216;The Idol&#8217; to viewers this past summer, quietly adding &#8216;Naked Attraction&#8217; featuring uncensored fully naked contestants, and extending teen-targeted &#8216;Euphoria&#8217; for another season of drugs and depravity,&#8221; the report added
&#8220;PTC research has found that HBO&#8217;s streaming platform Max has mediocre parental controls, enabling children to access to the aforementioned programs and more of the most explicit streaming content on the market,&#8221; the report continued.
Meta — the parent company of Instagram and Facebook — also made the report because, according to the FTC, the social media group &#8220;continues to be revealed by media outlets, whistleblowers and lawsuits as fueling child sexual exploitation, providing a platform for pedophiles, and enabling sexually explicit and other harmful content that targets teens, especially teen girls.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-daily-wire-releases-new-kids-app-bentkey-with-full-slate-in-surprise-drop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire Releases New Kids App, Bentkey, With Full Slate In Surprise Drop</a>

Bentkey Logo

Bentkey Makes The Parent TV Council Nice List; HBO, Meta: Naughty

Bentkey

Celebrities

Disney

Entertainment

kids

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

Dozens of U.S. states filed a lawsuit against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Meta</a> and its Instagram social media platform on Tuesday, accusing the multinational technology conglomerate of contributing to the mental health crisis in American youth by making them addicted to its products.
Attorneys general from 33 states, including California and New York, filed the complaint in the Northern District of California federal court, claiming Meta violated federal children&#8217;s online privacy and state consumer protection laws.
&#8220;Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,&#8221; according to the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24080215-meta-lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">233-page complaint</a>. &#8220;Its motive is profit.&#8221;
The lawsuit alleges that Meta has misled the public about the &#8220;substantial dangers&#8221; of its social media platforms by concealing its practices to make its &#8220;most vulnerable&#8221; consumers — teenagers and children — into addictive and compulsive social media users.
The states cited research that shows children&#8217;s use of Meta platforms is associated with &#8220;depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.&#8221;
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tennessee-school-district-sues-social-media-companies-over-growing-mental-health-crisis-among-students" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> an advisory in May, citing a link between spending time on social media and the nation&#8217;s mental health crisis among the youth.
&#8220;I&#8217;m issuing this advisory because we&#8217;re in the middle of a youth mental health crisis, and I&#8217;m concerned that social media is contributing to the harms that kids are experiencing,&#8221; Murthy told The Hill.
According to a 2019 study, adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 who spent over three hours on social media per day had double the risk of developing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the blame should not be placed entirely on parents who attempt to manage a healthy dose of social media for their children.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
&#8220;It&#8217;s an unreasonable expectation because prior generations never had to experience and manage the rapidly evolving technology that fundamentally changed how kids thought about themselves, how they thought about their friendships, and how they saw the world,&#8221; said Murthy.
Meta said in a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/instagram-facebook-children-teens-harms-lawsuit-attorney-general-1805492a38f7cee111cbb865cc786c28" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> to outlets that it shares &#8220;the attorneys general&#8217;s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced over 30 tools to support teens and their families.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;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,&#8221; the company added.
Eight other attorneys general and the District of Columbia <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/24/states-sue-meta-addictive-features-kids-00123217" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> are filing separate lawsuits against Meta for allegedly violating state consumer protection laws, bringing the total number of states to 42.
If the states succeed, Meta could be forced to pay massive fines and change how it advertises and designs its platforms to the public.

In this photo illustration the Meta Platforms logo seen in

33 States Sue Meta Alleging Social Media Platforms Fueled Youth Mental Health Crisis

33 States Sue Meta Alleging Social Media Platforms Harm Children's Mental Health

Mental Illness

U.S.

A 19-year-old woman named Chloe Cole, who was medically transitioned as a minor and has since detransitioned, was censored by Instagram over the weekend.
It&#8217;s unclear why Cole was censored, but the teen captioned a photo of her bio on the social media platform, wherein she identifies herself as a detranstioner.
Cole’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw-sbWtuEze/?img_index=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bio</a> notes that she’s “female” with two X chromosomes and a “former trans kid.” It also says that she was started on testosterone and puberty blockers at age 13, underwent a double mastectomy at 15, and finally detranstioned at 16. 
&#8220;The big tech overlords think I’m too cute to be on here,&#8221; Cole quipped, captioning messages from Instagram, which is owned by Meta.
&#8220;Your account cannot be shown to non-followers,&#8221; the social media platform said, according to the screenshots. &#8220;Your account activity may not follow our Recommendations Guidelines.&#8221;
&#8220;What this means: Your account and content won’t appear in places like Explore, Search, Suggested Users, Reels, and Feed Recommendations,&#8221; the message continued.
Under Instagrams&#8217;s &#8220;guidelines on violence,&#8221; it reads as follows: &#8220;Our Recommendations Guidelines help promote content that fosters a safe community on Instagram. We try not to recommend content or accounts that show violence, such as people fighting. This includes: All accompanying text or imagery that encourage violence, include hashtags, terms, and bio.&#8221;  
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<a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cw-sbWtuEze/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Chloe Cole 🩵 (@chooocole)</a>
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Cole is notably <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-03-02/transgender-patients-chloe-cole-lawsuit-against-kaiser-lgbtq-rights#:~:text=Cole's%20legal%20complaint%2C%20filed%20Feb,distrust%20of%20the%20medical%20system.%E2%80%9D">suing</a> the Kaiser Permanente healthcare system for her transgender treatment. Recently testifying before Congress, the teenager pleaded with lawmakers to let her story by the &#8220;final warning.&#8221; 
&#8220;Doctors are human, too, and sometimes they are wrong,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5079802/chloe-cole-opening-statement-transitioning-detransitioning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> before Congress. &#8220;My childhood was ruined – along with thousands of de-transitioners that I know through our networks – this needs to stop. You alone can stop it. Enough children have already been victimized by this barbaric pseudoscience; please let me be your final warning.&#8221;
Cole is certainly not alone in taking on medical professionals who perform irreversible transgender treatments on young people. A now-21-year-old Texas woman named <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-one-has-a-right-to-sterilize-a-child-two-detransitioners-sue-doctors-over-medical-interventions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Soren Aldaco</a> is suing her doctors in excess of $1 million over transgender medical interventions she received as a teenager.
Soren and her lawyer, Ron Miller, are not only searching for accountability and justice in Soren’s particular case, but want to send a message to medical insurers. “It’s about catching the attention of insurance companies, that they might want to stop insuring this kind of practice,” Miller told The Daily Wire. “And if they stop insuring this kind of practice, practitioners tend to not like to take that risk on themselves, so they stop doing it.”
In the lawsuit, Soren claims that medical professionals in Texas were guided by their ideology and irresponsibly facilitated treatments and surgeries that have led to Soren’s “permanent disfigurement” and have caused “profound psychological scarring.”
“What happened to me was preventable,” Soren told The Daily Wire. “I wanna hold my providers accountable for what they did, and I feel very strongly that ideology was prioritized over my long-term mental and physical wellbeing.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-one-has-a-right-to-sterilize-a-child-two-detransitioners-sue-doctors-over-medical-interventions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘No One Has A Right To Sterilize A Child’: Two Detransitioners Sue Doctors Over Medical Interventions</a>

Screen Shot 2023-07-27 at 12.50.17 PM

Detransitioned Teen Chloe Cole Censored By Instagram

Transgender

transgender surgery

Canadians’ access to news on Facebook and Instagram will be cut off in the coming weeks after Meta said Tuesday that a “fundamentally flawed” law is forcing the company to make the tough decision. 
Canada’s Online News Act, passed by its leftist legislature earlier this summer, requires Big Tech companies to negotiate agreements with Canadian news outlets and pay them for news content shared on social media platforms, Reuters <a href="https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/meta-starts-process-end-news-164645853.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Meta spokesman Andy Stone slammed the law in a tweet on Tuesday and said ending access to news on its platforms was the only option. 
“Today we&#8217;ve begun the process of ending news availability in Canada. Changes will roll out over a few weeks,” Stone said. “As we&#8217;ve always said, the law is based on a fundamentally flawed premise. And, regrettably, the only way we can reasonably comply is to end news availability in Canada.”
Both Meta and Google said in June that they would fight the law by blocking access to news in Canada. The country’s move is part of a global trend to force Big Tech companies to pay for news shared on their platforms, according to Reuters. Australia passed a similar law in 2021, while <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/deeply-irresponsible-canada-pm-justin-trudeau-slams-facebooks-flawed-argument-against-paying-for-news-380681-2023-05-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">France and Spain</a> also have social media news laws on the books.
The trend is making its way to the U.S. as well, as lawmakers in California have advanced a bill with bipartisan support mirroring Canada’s Online News Act. Meta has also <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/meta-says-it-will-block-news-in-california-if-bill-becomes-law.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> to block news in California if the bill, dubbed the “Journalism Preservation Act,” passes the state Senate and gets signed into law by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.  
“If the Journalism Preservation Act passes, we will be forced to remove news from Facebook and Instagram, rather than pay into a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers,” Stone said in a statement in May. “The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves and that substantial consolidation in California’s local news industry came over 15 years ago, well before Facebook was widely used.”
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In Canada, Meta argued that news articles made up less than 3% of the content in users’ feeds and said news lacks economic value, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shot back, <a href="https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/deeply-irresponsible-canada-pm-justin-trudeau-slams-facebooks-flawed-argument-against-paying-for-news-380681-2023-05-10">saying</a> that Meta’s argument was “not just flawed, but dangerous to our democracy, to our economy.” Trudeau also accused the social media giant of being “deeply irresponsible and out of touch.” 
Google said that Canada’s law is even broader than those passed in Australia and Europe, as it also can apply to outlets that do not produce news. In June, the tech company <a href="https://blog.google/intl/en-ca/company-news/outreach-initiatives/an-update-on-canadas-bill-c-18-and-our-search-and-news-products/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it “informed the Government that we have made the difficult decision that when the law takes effect we will be removing links to Canadian news from our Search, News, and Discover products and will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada.”

Canada/Facebook

Meta Begins Removing Canadians’ Access To All News On Facebook, Instagram

Meta Begins Removing Canadians' Access To All News On Facebook, Instagram

News

World

House Judiciary Committee Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jim-jordan">Jim Jordan</a> (R-OH) released internal <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/meta">Meta</a> documents on Thursday that he said were evidence of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/white-house">White House</a> improperly pressuring <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook">Facebook</a> and Instagram into censoring posts.
The congressman said in a thread posted to X that he was unveiling &#8220;Part 1&#8221; of &#8220;The Facebook Files&#8221; — which appears to be a nod to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-twitter-files-twitter-and-the-fbi-belly-button">&#8220;Twitter Files&#8221;</a> — obtained by his panel only after he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-committee-moves-forward-with-plan-to-hold-meta-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-in-contempt">threatened to move forward</a> with holding Meta CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mark-zuckerberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg</a> in contempt of Congress. Jordan said that plan is being placed on hold unless the Big Tech giant stops cooperating with his investigation.
Jordan&#8217;s thread, which he said involved &#8220;smoking-gun&#8221; documents that &#8220;prove Facebook censored Americans because of Biden White House pressure,&#8221; contained some screenshots of the documents, but not the full correspondence.
&#8220;Never-before-released internal documents subpoenaed by the Judiciary Committee PROVE that Facebook and Instagram censored posts and changed their content moderation policies because of unconstitutional pressure from the Biden White House,&#8221; Jordan <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1684595375875760128">began</a>.
&#8220;During the first half of 2021, social media companies like Facebook faced tremendous pressure from the Biden White House — both publicly and privately — to crack down on alleged &#8216;misinformation,'&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;In April 2021, a Facebook employee circulated an email for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg, writing: &#8216;We are facing continued pressure from external stakeholders, including the [Biden] White House&#8217; to remove posts,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;In another April 2021 email, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s president for global affairs, informed his team at Facebook that Andy Slavitt, a Senior Advisor to President Biden, was &#8216;outraged . . . that [Facebook] did not remove&#8217; a particular post,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;What did the Biden White House want removed? A meme,&#8221; Jordan said, posting a screenshot of a meme concerning COVID vaccines. &#8220;That’s right, even memes weren’t spared from the Biden White House’s censorship efforts.&#8221;
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What did the Biden White House want removed?
A meme.
That’s right, even memes weren’t spared from the Biden White House’s censorship efforts. <a href="https://t.co/6BhDxTHsUi">pic.twitter.com/6BhDxTHsUi</a>
&mdash; Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1684595385199734784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;When Clegg &#8216;countered that removing content like that would represent a significant incursion into traditional boundaries of free expression in the US,&#8217; Slavitt disregarded the warning and the First Amendment,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;What happened next? Facebook panicked. In another April 2021 email, Brian Rice, Facebook’s VP of public policy, raised the concern that Slavitt&#8217;s challenge felt &#8216;very much like a crossroads for us with the [Biden] White House in these early days,'&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;But Facebook wanted to repair its relationship with the White House to avoid adverse action: &#8216;Given what is at stake here, it would also be a good idea if we could regroup and take stock of where we are in our relations with the [White House], and our internal methods too,'&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;This wasn’t the first time that the Biden White House was angry that Facebook didn’t censor more,&#8221; Jordan said. &#8220;According to these documents, the Biden White House demanded to know why Facebook had not censored a video from [journalist Tucker Carlson]. So, Facebook prepped its response.&#8221;
&#8220;To appease the Biden White House, talking points were drafted for Clegg. Facebook was ready to tell the White House that it had demoted a video posted by Tucker Carlson by 50% in response to the White House’s demands, even though the post didn’t violate any policies,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;Public pressure mounted as well,&#8221; Jordan said, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/white-house-says-facebooks-steps-stop-vaccine-misinformation-are-inadequate-2021-07-16/">linking to a Reuters article</a>. &#8220;In July 2021, President Biden publicly denounced Facebook and other social media platforms, claiming they were &#8216;killing people&#8217; by not censoring alleged &#8216;misinformation.'&#8221;
&#8220;On August 2, 2021, Facebook admitted it was going to change its policies because of pressure from the Biden White House,&#8221; Jordan said. &#8220;August 2, 2021: &#8216;[Facebook’s] Leadership asked Misinfo Policy . . . to brainstorm some additional policy levers we can pull to be more aggressive against . . . misinformation. This is stemming from the continued criticism of our approach from the [Biden] administration.'&#8221;
&#8220;But it wasn&#8217;t just the White House. Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden&#8217;s Surgeon General, censoring members of the &#8216;disinformation dozen,'&#8221; Jordan said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
But it wasn&#39;t just the White House.
Facebook also changed its policies in direct response to pressure from Biden&#39;s Surgeon General, censoring members of the “disinformation dozen.” <a href="https://t.co/FvGuoqUlns">pic.twitter.com/FvGuoqUlns</a>
&mdash; Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/status/1684595401863614464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;These documents, AND OTHERS that were just produced to the Committee, prove that the Biden Admin abused its powers to coerce Facebook into censoring Americans, preventing free and open discourse on issues of critical public importance,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;Only after the Committee announced its intention to hold Mark Zuckerberg in contempt did Facebook produce ANY internal documents to the Committee, including these documents, which PROVE that government pressure was directly responsible for censorship on Facebook,&#8221; Jordan said.
&#8220;Based on Facebook’s newfound commitment to fully cooperate with the Committee’s investigation, the Committee has decided to hold contempt in abeyance. For now. To be clear, contempt is still on the table and WILL be used if Facebook fails to cooperate in FULL,&#8221; Jordan said.
The chairman concluded his thread by stating, &#8220;To be continued…&#8221;
Elon Musk, who just rebranded Twitter to &#8220;X,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1684606168113815552">commented</a> on the thread by saying, &#8220;Extremely concerning!&#8221;
The Daily Wire reached out to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, seeking comment on the new thread.
Earlier in the week, a spokesperson for Meta <a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1683904883194200067">said the company delivered</a> over 53,000 pages of documents — &#8220;both internal and external&#8221; — and made current and former employees available to talk with the committee. &#8220;Meta will continue to comply, as we have thus far, with good faith requests from the committee,&#8221; the spokesperson added.
Jordan posted &#8220;The Facebook Files&#8221; amid an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-scores-victory-against-order-blocking-contact-with-social-media-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ongoing lawsuit</a> brought by GOP state attorneys general over alleged collusion between the federal government and social media companies to censor speech in violation of the First Amendment.
Pushing back against the claims, a White House official <a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-protected-speech-lawsuit-injunction-148c1cd43f88a0284d5a3c53fd333727">told the Associated Press</a> that the Biden administration &#8220;has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections.&#8221;

Jim Jordan

Jim Jordan Unleashes ‘The Facebook Files’: Social Media Giant ‘Censored Americans Because Of Biden White House Pressure’

Jim Jordan Unleashes 'The Facebook Files'

Censorship

Months after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jim-jordan-subpoenas-big-tech-executives-in-collusion-investigation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">subpoenaing</a> Meta CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mark-zuckerberg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Zuckerberg</a> as part of a censorship investigation, a GOP-led House panel announced on Tuesday a plan to move forward with trying to punish the Big Tech executive for allegedly not complying with its demands.
The Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jim-jordan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jim Jordan</a> (R-OH), said a markup session is <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/markups/markup-report-recommending-us-house-cite-mark-zuckerberg-contempt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled</a> for Thursday afternoon during which members will consider a report recommending the full House chamber vote on citing Zuckerberg for contempt of Congress.
&#8220;The Committee’s subpoena to Meta, issued on February 15, 2023, requires, among other things, that Meta produce material concerning its engagement with the Executive Branch and Meta’s decisions and policies regarding content moderation,&#8221; the <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/zuckerberg-contempt-report_ans.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">panel&#8217;s report said</a>. &#8220;Although directly responsive to the Committee’s subpoena, Meta has failed to produce nearly all of the relevant documents internal to the company.&#8221;
In a <a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1683904883194200067" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> posted to social media, Meta claimed to have operated in &#8220;good faith&#8221; to comply with &#8220;sweeping requests&#8221; from the committee for months, even before the subpoena was issued in February.
&#8220;To date we have delivered over 53,000 pages of documents &#8212; both internal and external &#8212; and have made nearly a dozen current and former employees available to discuss external and internal matters, including some scheduled this very week,&#8221; Meta added. &#8220;Meta will continue to comply, as we have thus far, with good faith requests from the committee.&#8221;
In addition to Zuckerberg, top executives from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple were also subpoenaed in February with a deadline set toward the end of March. While Republicans have set their focus on the issue of censorship, Democrats have generally been more concerned about the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/981203566/5-takeaways-from-big-techs-misinformation-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spread of false information and extremism</a> on social media platforms.
Twitter, which this week owner Elon Musk <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-announces-twitter-logo-change-plans-to-gradually-remove-all-the-birds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rebranded to X</a>, did not appear on the subpoena list. At the time, Jordan <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2023-02-15-jdj-to-jassy-amazon.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">touted how Twitter</a> &#8220;set a benchmark for how transparent Big Tech companies can be about interactions with government over censorship&#8221; following the release of The Twitter Files.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook that recently introduced its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/meta-to-release-new-app-threads-to-compete-with-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter-competitor app</a> called Threads, had as of Tuesday &#8220;produced only documents between Meta and external entities and a small subset of relevant internal documents&#8221; to the House Judiciary Committee, the panel&#8217;s report said.
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The committee &#8220;has a particular need for Meta’s internal documents, which would shed light on how Meta understood, evaluated, and responded to the Executive Branch’s requests or directives to censor content, as well as Meta’s decision-making process to censor viewpoints in the modern town square,&#8221; the panel added.
While alluding to an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-administration-scores-victory-against-order-blocking-contact-with-social-media-companies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ongoing lawsuit</a> over alleged collusion between the federal government and social media companies to censor speech in violation of the First Amendment, the panel&#8217;s report indicated Congress may develop legislation to enact &#8220;new statutory limits on the Executive Branch’s ability to work with technology companies to restrict the circulation of content and deplatform users.&#8221;
Among the recommendations made in the report, beyond holding Zuckerberg in contempt of Congress, is to have the House speaker refer the matter to the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., and &#8220;otherwise take all appropriate action to enforce the subpoena.&#8221;

House Committee Moves Forward With Plan To Hold Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg In Contempt

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