accountable

15Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, POLITICS

Alex Jones Is Being Held Accountable For Spreading Conspiracy Theories 10 Years After The Sandy Hook Shooting – But Those Sorts Of Lies Now Plague The US

Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the U.S. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the U.S. While American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media now regularly achieve mainstream acceptance and are echoed by people in power. Recently, one of the most popular American conspiracy theorists faced consequences in court for his part in spreading viral lies. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones and his company, Infowars, were ordered by juries in Connecti...

Facebook Could Be Held Accountable For Its Actions By Congress In 3 Ways

Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University; Bhaskar Chakravorti, Tufts University, and Ryan Calo, University of Washington Facebook may have changed its corporate name to Meta Platforms, but that won’t end its troubles - nor efforts to rein in the social media company’s business practices. Lawmakers are pondering new ways to regulate Facebook, whose CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote in 2019 that he welcomed new “rules governing the internet.” With that in mind, we asked three experts on social media, technology policy and global business to offer one specific action the government could take about Meta’s Facebook service. Let users control more of their data Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University Social media sites like Facebook are designed for constant ...

State prosecutors and voters – not the feds – can hold corrupt officials accountable

Two high-ranking officials with ties to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie hatched a plot in 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, a town adjacent to the George Washington Bridge – the busiest bridge in the world. The reason for targeting the mayor: his refusal to endorse Christie for reelection. To inflict pain on the mayor, the aides ordered lane closures on the bridge under the guise of a sham “traffic study,” causing massive backups – with school buses idling in traffic for hours and emergency vehicles and ambulances blocked. A public uproar ensued. The press swarmed, the plot unraveled and the state legislature began an investigation, as did the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Two aides were charged and convicted under a federal wire-fraud statute for misusing fede...