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659 lines
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>03 February, 2022</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A Moment of Excruciating Anticipation in Kyiv</strong> - As the possibility of further war with Russia looms, people in Ukraine’s capital make plans to fight or flee. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/a-moment-of-excruciating-anticipation-in-kyiv">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Three Economic Scenarios for an Election Year</strong> - With ten months to the midterms, growth is strong but inflation is hurting the chances of Joe Biden and the Democrats. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/three-economic-scenarios-for-an-election-year">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Imagine a World Without Spotify</strong> - In order to support musicians you care about, you may have to give up the idea that all music should be available on demand. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/imagine-a-world-without-spotify">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Hypocrisy Undid Boris Johnson</strong> - According to the political scientist David Runciman, the Prime Minister’s greatest liability is that he treated the public as though “they were stupid enough to follow the rules.” - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-hypocrisy-undid-boris-johnson">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Bernardine Evaristo Conquered British Literature</strong> - In a new memoir, the writer describes how she was long excluded from the halls of literary power, and how she finally broke in. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/how-bernardine-evaristo-conquered-british-literature">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>What is school for?</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Two children, wearing backpacks, approach a school building in the snow." src="https://cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/thumbor/pTDWXHbejif9zc4Hu7XakwOOAY0=/167x0:2834x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-
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cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70466076/GettyImages_1364242660.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Students arrive for classes on January 12, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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Kids need it for education. Families also need it for child care.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GHRCZJ">
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When Covid-19 first hit, teachers were praised to the skies, recalled Maria Salinas, who teaches fifth grade reading in Florida. “You know: ‘Hey, you guys are doing a good job. It’s so wonderful what you’re doing.’”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GQFNTn">
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Now, she’s hearing the polar opposite: “Teachers are lazy. They don’t want to work.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W7nz1T">
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Also a mother of four, Salinas finds herself at the center of <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22868641/chicago-school-closings-omicron-covid-remote-learning">an ongoing conflict</a> among parents, lawmakers, and educators in which no one is satisfied and everyone is mad. Parents blame teachers for keeping schools closed. Teachers counter that the blame is misplaced — after all, it’s hardly their fault if a school has to shut down because <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22868641/chicago-school-closings-
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omicron-covid-remote-learning">so many staff are sick</a>. At the same time, teachers have concerns about keeping their own families safe amid an ongoing pandemic, and about the burden society seems to be placing on their shoulders.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="PQRIHt">
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At the core of the conflict is the fact that parents don’t just need school to educate their kids — something that can, in many cases, be accomplished virtually (though <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/09/global-remote-learning-loss/">some studies suggest</a> that remote learning is less effective than in-person class time). They also need school, controversial though this may be, as a source of child care — it’s a supervised place kids can go while parents work, and at least in the case of public school, it’s free. This is the function that has truly broken down in the pandemic, with hard lockdowns giving way to rolling quarantines and intractable staff shortages that have left working parents constantly on edge, wondering when the next closure notice will send them scrambling for a backup plan.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hl5VfW">
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The conflict between teachers and parents, however, obscures the crucial fact that school was failing as a source of child care long before the pandemic. The average school day <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workin-9-to-5-2/">ends before 3 pm</a>, in a country where many parents are working until 6 or later. Kids are out of school for months in the summer, weeks in the winter, and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workin-9-to-5-2/">many, many days</a> in between. The result is stress for parents, expenses many families can ill afford, and in some cases, kids going unsupervised when they are too young to safely be alone. “We all act as though child care no longer becomes all that critical once kids enter kindergarten,” said Chris Herbst, a professor at Arizona State University who studies the economics of child care. “That’s not right.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NuFedI">
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Like many problems exposed by the pandemic, this one is fixable. The solution is pretty simple: lengthen school, shorten work, or both. Doing that, however, will require a level of political will that hasn’t always been in evidence where families and care are concerned, even when the upheaval around the virus shows how necessary it is.
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</p>
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<h3 id="yNq1Bs">
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The conflicts over school started long before the pandemic
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8kAQQB">
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Americans tend to draw a stark distinction between child care and school. “Child care,” the thinking goes, is something for infants and toddlers. For most parents, its purpose is “to provide a safe and healthy environment for my kids so that I can work without having to worry,” Herbst said. Child care is also extremely expensive. While some subsidies and programs for children of low-income families exist, most parents have to pay out of pocket, a cost that can be <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/21432940/child-care-bailout-covid-economy-work-
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parents-great-rebuild">more than the average rent</a>. Proposals for universal child care have been floated in the past, but they’ve failed, in part because of an abiding American belief, especially among conservatives, that young children should be cared for at home, by their mothers.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m0Yduk">
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Then there’s school. Public education in America was conceived as a way of creating a more informed citizenry, as Bryce Covert <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/opinion/coronavirus-schools-child-care-centers.html">writes at the New York Times</a>. Despite <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443822/critical-race-theory-controversy">various controversies</a>, public school has generally enjoyed wide support in this country. It starts when kids are about 5 (though public preschool starts earlier in some areas), and it comes at no direct cost to parents, since it’s paid for by tax dollars. Teachers and other adults who work in schools are often adamant that they are not child care workers, perhaps in part because child care is controversial and looked down upon in America, and child care workers are paid extremely poorly.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1YdXb7">
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In reality, however, there’s always been a lot of overlap between the two realms. “School is — whisper it — a form of child care,” Covert writes; “child care, at its best, fosters children’s development.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yrJHcA">
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Children are learning from the very beginning, whether from parents, family members, nannies, or day care workers. On the flip side, they don’t suddenly stop needing to be cared for once they turn 5. Kindergartners may be ready to learn to read and write, but they also need someone to keep them safe and supervised; <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191025075904.htm">most social workers</a> say children aren’t ready to be on their own for extended periods of time until they turn 12.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XaGprH">
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Because of this, parents have always relied on school as a form of child care. “School plays an enormous role in parents’ labor supply,” Herbst said. Economically speaking, you can think of public school as a “100 percent child care subsidy” — for the hours of the day that kids are in school, parents’ direct child care costs go down to zero. As a result, parents often rejoin the workforce or start working more hours when children are old enough to go to school because they suddenly have a source of free, reliable care.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OVayqY">
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There’s always been a catch, though. Child care exists to support parents’ work, so day care centers are typically open year-round, often until 5 or 6 in the evening. Schools … aren’t.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bJOTj2">
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As of 2016, the median school day in America ended at 2:50 pm, according to a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workin-9-to-5-2/">report by the Center for American Progress</a> (CAP). Nearly all schools were closed by 3:30. Meanwhile, the largest school districts were closed for an average of 29 days during the school year for holidays and other reasons — some schools, for example, close on the first day of hunting season. That’s not even counting summer vacation, which typically lasts more than two months.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TOb5AA">
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When kids aren’t in school but parents are at work, families either have to pay for care or leave kids alone. Child care for school-aged children can be costly — summer camp, for example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22425250/summer-
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school-2021-covid-pandemic-kids-education">averages $76 per day</a> — and hard to find, with only around <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workin-9-to-5-2/">45 percent of elementary schools</a> offering before- or after-school care as of 2016. The cost is especially unaffordable for low-income workers, who are also more likely to have unpredictable schedules and lack paid time off, according to CAP.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0Jx7Ms">
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A lack of formal care, meanwhile, can shift the burden to older siblings, who then miss out on their own homework or after-school activities, said Khalilah Harris, CAP’s managing director for K-12 education policy. If younger children have to be left entirely alone before or after school, they may miss out on meals, baths, or clean clothes for school. “The lack of supervision can cause children to have a school day that isn’t as productive as it would be if there were an adult just kind of checking in on them,” Harris said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jxO0Km">
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Parents, meanwhile, are left with constant worry about their kids, which can make it hard to be productive at work. Not only that, but leaving kids alone can <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/south-carolina-moms-arrest-over-daughter-alone-in-park-sparks-debate/">expose parents to legal consequences</a>, even if they have little choice in the matter. This is an especially big concern for Black and other parents of color, who are <a href="https://time.com/5946929/child-welfare-black-families/">disproportionately likely</a> to be investigated by child protective services and potentially separated from their children.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HKRhxf">
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For decades, the lack of accessible child care options before and after school was forcing parents to make “very tough decisions” about how to support their kids financially while still keeping them safe, Harris said. Then the pandemic hit.
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</p>
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<h3 id="YVRUAM">
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Covid-19 sent an already precarious system into full collapse
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4OLi1D">
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If school had once functioned as a child care subsidy for parents, Covid-19 essentially reversed the situation. With classes remote, “the burden of caregiving sort of shifted from school to almost exclusively parents,” Herbst said. Parents had to be on call not just to provide care but also to assist in education, since younger kids often couldn’t fully participate in virtual learning without a parent directing them.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o8V5ZN">
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Remote learning added the equivalent of <a href="https://19thnews.org/2021/08/moms-child-care-pandemic-full-time-job/">another full-time job</a> onto the average mom’s workday (fathers also did more child care, though not as much as moms). Some parents, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/24/in-the-pandemic-the-share-of-unpartnered-moms-at-work-fell-more-
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sharply-than-among-other-parents/">especially single moms</a>, ended up having to drop out of the workforce. Others just got really, really <a href="https://www.vox.com/22060380/covid-parents-burnout-schools-closed-kids-pandemic">burnt out</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r5O2Ic">
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The situation has gotten better since 2020, but it’s still pretty bad. During the week of January 10, for example, more than 7,400 schools closed their doors for at least one day, <a href="https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-
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tracker/?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=2&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8di51zkNK2wUD4PgxaZls6-hl05C9JLyDOtQ1jJ_1JTXnbHbzhiLXhLoRqY0Mo9omFEPjMacu4skVIh4xKdZbj9ZXHkg&utm_content=2&utm_source=hs_email">according to the data service Burbio</a>. Even when schools are open, the ever-present threat of an omicron case or exposure hangs darkly over parents’ plans.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mm1rOP">
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Salinas, the Florida teacher, has seen it from both sides of the desk, as it were. She’s frustrated when parents send their kids to school sick, exposing others to the virus. At the same time, she understands that they often have little choice because they have no time off to stay home with a sick kid.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="10IGIJ">
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She and her family got Covid-19 last year, while she was pregnant, and she had to take more than two weeks off to care for her youngest child. All of that came out of her maternity leave, she said. “None of our time was covered.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4zqtRh">
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Now, with omicron continuing to drive quarantines and staff shortages, Salinas faces blowback from parents who think school closures are teachers’ fault. In some places, like <a href="https://news.wttw.com/2022/01/09/chicagos-covid-19-fight-cps-teachers-hangs-over-2nd-week-talks-resume-
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sunday">Chicago</a>, teachers unions have pushed for stricter Covid-19 protocols or a return to remote learning during virus surges. Some have also <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/elviadiaz/2020/07/22/dont-expose-
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teachers-covid-19-babysit/5490477002/">pushed back against the idea</a> that it’s teachers’ responsibility to provide child care — potentially putting their own families at risk — so other parents can work.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YhQm4Y">
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However, teachers have more bargaining power in some places than others, and not all unions have pushed for more remote instruction. Meanwhile, many school closures during the omicron wave had less to do with teachers’ concerns than with the simple fact that with so many staff out sick, it became <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22868641/chicago-
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school-closings-omicron-covid-remote-learning">impossible to operate a school</a>. “Some things are out of our hands,” Salinas said. “We’re trying to make everything normal again, in a sense, and it’s not.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="82ISv3">
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There are ways to fix the problem without overburdening teachers
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="js9aNN">
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If omicron continues to recede, then schools might return to something closer to normal as spring approaches. But normal wasn’t very good — working parents were already stretched thin long before the pandemic. As we continue to navigate (and, hopefully, one day emerge from) the public health crisis, families and educators need something better.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g8YsAa">
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One way to fix the mismatch between kids’ school and parents’ work would be to make school longer. For example, <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/workin-9-to-5-2/">CAP has proposed</a> the creation of a 9-to-5 school day to better align public education with parents’ child care needs. That doesn’t mean kids would be sitting at a desk for eight hours, Harris said — rather, the extra time would be spent on art, sports, and other areas of interest for kids. Many middle-class and wealthy students already participate in after-school activities based around their interests; an extended school day would allow public schools to offer these for free.
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Teachers, who are overworked and underpaid as it is, shouldn’t be expected to bear the burden of a longer school day, Harris said. Instead, other community members could be hired to lead arts or sports programming according to their strengths, or schedules could be staggered so that some educators worked from 9 to 3 and others from 12 to 5, for example. Such a setup would ensure that “all students have proper care, but that they also have the type of academic enrichment and programming that more affluent students have,” Harris said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OiUP1d">
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The question is how to pay for it. Districts could use money from the CARES Act or other pandemic recovery funds to expand their school days, Harris said. However, there’s yet to be a real concerted push, at the state or federal level, to change school schedules. A few school districts and charter schools have done experiments, but for a broad-based reform of school hours, “you would need certainly more public awareness about how this can work,” Harris said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hqz8iP">
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|
The other path to matching up children’s school and parents’ jobs is to help parents work less. Paid leave is certainly part of that conversation: The US still <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/upshot/paid-leave-democrats.html">lags far behind</a> other wealthy countries in this area, and while the pandemic led to more generous offerings by some employers, some of those have <a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/as-amazon-walmart-cut-covid-
|
|||
|
|
sick-days-paid-leave-push-revives">since been scaled back</a>. “When we got the virus, there was no help from the government like there was last year,” Salinas said.
|
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</p>
|
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|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="OD8MZt">
|
|||
|
|
Beyond paid leave, shortening parents’ work hours would require fundamental changes by employers, policymakers, or both. A universal basic income could reduce the hours parents need to work in order to support their families. Employers also need to be involved in the conversation by ensuring that the schedules they ask of their employees are compatible with family life, Harris said. While some white- collar jobs have offered more flexibility, days off, and the ability to work from home since the pandemic began, companies that employ lower-paid, service-sector workers have not necessarily followed suit. “There are a number of ways that industry is not being called to the mat in the way that they ought to be,” Harris said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBdXqw">
|
|||
|
|
In an ideal world, both school and work would change to help families live more sustainable lives. In this world, however, we’re forced — at least for now — to navigate a broken system, frequently turning on each other when it inevitably fails. Until we can make broader changes, what many working parents and teachers have been asking for throughout this pandemic is a little understanding of the challenges they’re going through and how hard they’re working to make mismatched pieces fit. As Salinas put it, “Everybody needs to give each other a little bit of grace.”
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>How Brazil survived its president’s vaccine skepticism</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro onstage with a person wearing a raindrop for a head with a
|
|||
|
|
huge surgical mask on its face." src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/DuBEDZQpzgVmhghWyOhVv6SnGEY=/323x0:3871x2661/1310x983/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70466007/1230160824.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro with the country’s vaccination mascot, Ze Gotinha, at the launch of a new national Covid-19 vaccination campaign, in Brasilia, Brazil, in December 2020. | Andre Borges/NurPhoto via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Brazil put its trust in vaccination programs, even as President Bolsonaro tried to undermine confidence in it.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5qZZXE">
|
|||
|
|
Franco, a 28-year-old Brazilian, agonized over getting the Covid-19 vaccine up until the moment the shot went into his arm. “I was skeptical in line,” he said. “Like, playing chicken, you know? Am I going to take it or not? It’s my turn.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gsXqol">
|
|||
|
|
He went through with it; once, then twice, for his Pfizer doses. “I have decided to get vaccinated after having a sit-down with my physician, and we did our checks and balances regarding my health issues,” Franco said. (Vox is withholding his last name to protect his privacy.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1BrC2q">
|
|||
|
|
Franco also decided to get vaccinated in case of possible mandates for air travel, which have not happened. But one thing did not really factor into his decision: politics.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZMbazA">
|
|||
|
|
Franco is a supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro — he’s been with Bolsonaro “all the time.” And Bolsonaro just happens to be the most prominent vaccine skeptic in Brazil.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Clopey">
|
|||
|
|
Bolsonaro’s skepticism might<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/12/06/1057344561/anti-
|
|||
|
|
vaccine-activists-political-conference-trump-republicans">sound familiar</a>, but in Brazil, vaccination has not become an ideological or political issue <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/us/politics/coronavirus-vaccines-
|
|||
|
|
republicans.html">the way it has in the United States</a>.<strong> </strong>More than 70 percent of Brazilians have been <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/brazil">fully vaccinated</a>, surpassing places like the <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/united-states">US</a>, which <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210516-brazil-struggles-with-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-as-death-toll-
|
|||
|
|
spirals">started its campaign much earlier</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mOGZzh">
|
|||
|
|
Bolsonaro himself <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-unvaccinated-president-misses-soccer-match-2021-10-10/">has said he is not vaccinated</a>, and he has challenged Covid-19 measures from the start, <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(21)00103-4/fulltext">even as Brazil dealt with devastating waves</a>. Bolsonaro has <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/28/21228512/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus-
|
|||
|
|
moro">dismissed the severity of the virus</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/5/21/21264956/brazil-coronavirus-
|
|||
|
|
bolsonaro-chloroquine">touted unproven cures</a>, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/28/21228512/brazil-bolsonaro-
|
|||
|
|
coronavirus-moro">battled lockdown measures</a>. He raised doubts about vaccines, claiming they could <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/4/brazils-bolsonaro-investigated-for-linking-vaccine-and-aids">increase the chance of contracting AIDS</a> (they cannot). His administration <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-knocks-vaccinating-children-criticizes-health-
|
|||
|
|
regulator-2022-01-06/">tried to undermine the approval of vaccines for kids</a>. Broadly, Bolsonaro has tied vaccination to the idea of freedom. “If a citizen does not want to get the vaccine, it is his right and that’s it,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/13/americas/bolsonaro-no-vaccine-intl/index.html">he said in October</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WvaDBu">
|
|||
|
|
Brazil’s health regulatory agency (Anvisa), <a href="https://covid19.trackvaccines.org/agency/who/">the World Health Organization</a>, and <a href="https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/human-regulatory/overview/public-health-
|
|||
|
|
threats/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/treatments-vaccines/covid-19-vaccines">health agencies around the world</a> have concluded that Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing severe disease outcomes, like hospitalization and death.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RvOXNz">
|
|||
|
|
Franco said he doesn’t see Bolsonaro as attacking vaccines; he thought some of the president’s phrasing was unfortunate, or taken out of context by the media or political opponents. Instead, he thinks Bolsonaro wanted more testing — that the president was just saying,<em> wait a second.</em> “Everybody is looking at what Bolsonaro used to say back in the day, and realizing that he was just raising up the question: Is that a safe thing? Is it going to make everybody well enough to go back to work?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="KGso8g">
|
|||
|
|
There are plenty of others who see things differently. They point to Bolsonaro promoting vaccine misinformation and taking steps to undermine inoculation efforts, and doing so from the most powerful seat in government, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22737145/bolsonaro-covid-19-crimes-against-humanity-icc">in a manner that impeded Brazil’s Covid-19 response</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RWIwwb">
|
|||
|
|
Yet,<strong> </strong>some places, like the city of São Paulo, say <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/13/coronavirus-brazil-sao-paulo-vaccination/">they have fully vaccinated the entire eligible population</a>. About <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210916-brazil-
|
|||
|
|
turns-the-tide-with-covid-19-vaccines">90 percent of adults say</a> they will get the shot.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="w8pFc1">
|
|||
|
|
Public health experts credit the<strong> </strong>trust in Brazil’s primary health care system and national immunization programs. The country has conducted mass vaccination campaigns in recent memory, including for diseases like polio, <a href="https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/962184#:~:text=Brazil%20saw%20its%20last%20case,poliovirus%20type%202%20(cVDPV2).">which was eradicated there in 1989</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xLH6W0">
|
|||
|
|
“Despite this anti-vax approach that Bolsonaro took on, we had some benefits from our culture of vaccination,” said Wasim Aluísio Prates-Syed, of União Pró-Vacina, a pro-vaccination union.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GPyre9">
|
|||
|
|
Raphael Augusto Teixeira de Aguiar, a professor in the preventive and social medicine department at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, added that Brazil has<strong> </strong>“built up the system for so many years. It’s not easy to destroy it.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XTQEmL">
|
|||
|
|
That has muted, if not entirely eliminated, the influence of anti-vaccine sentiment and misinformation. But although Brazilians’ trust in the country’s public health and vaccination programs may have survived Covid-19 and the president’s efforts to unravel them, Brazil has not emerged unscathed. “Today we don’t have to worry. Covid will not be a problem. But I’m worried about the future,” said Natalia Pasternak Taschner, a microbiologist and president of the Instituto Questão de Ciência.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="BZKXhJ">
|
|||
|
|
How Brazil has overcome Bolsonaro on Covid-19
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="72gw9N">
|
|||
|
|
On January 14, Brazil <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/brazil-starts-vaccinating-children-weeks-delay-82271751">started vaccinating kids</a>, ages 5 to 11 — almost a full month after Brazil’s federal health regulatory agency, Anvisa, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-health-regulator-approves-pfizer-covid-19-shot-
|
|||
|
|
ages-5-11-2021-12-16/">approved the vaccines for that age group</a>. Bolsonaro and his administration spent that month trying to stymie any vaccination efforts.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="urQIW7">
|
|||
|
|
“Kids are something very serious,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-public-health-brazil-jair-
|
|||
|
|
bolsonaro-a013cc47a3d4a69bf4ba68f02a958677">Bolsonaro said after Anvisa’s approval</a>. “We don’t know about possible adverse future effects. It’s unbelievable — I’m sorry — what the agency did. Unbelievable.” He also threatened to release the names of the regulators who had made the decision. (<a href="https://healthpolicy-watch.news/new-data-on-
|
|||
|
|
side-effects-of-second-pfizer-shot-in-children-shows-fewer-adverse-effects-than-for-teens/">Studies show that side effects are rare</a>.)
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xQ6jvu">
|
|||
|
|
Bolsonaro and his administration tried to push a policy <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-public-health-brazil-jair-
|
|||
|
|
bolsonaro-a013cc47a3d4a69bf4ba68f02a958677">to require a doctor’s prescription for childhood vaccination</a>, a process that would have slowed the inoculation campaign. Bolsonaro’s government launched <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-public-health-brazil-jair-
|
|||
|
|
bolsonaro-a013cc47a3d4a69bf4ba68f02a958677">an online survey</a> and <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/brazil-vaccinate-kids-stops-short-demanding-scripts-82097974">tried to get its supporters to flood the results.</a> The questions were also confusingly worded and, some critics said, phrased that way to get the outcome the government desired.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XVgIPv">
|
|||
|
|
That gambit failed. Of the tens of thousands who participated in the survey, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-jair-bolsonaro-health-caribbean-
|
|||
|
|
brazil-f67aca81ae08c0a76a1314b4945c4c6c">the majority opposed prescriptions for childhood vaccines</a>, and supported a much simpler process. The Ministry of Health finally put a campaign in place to vaccinate kids.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0QZtWW">
|
|||
|
|
Lorena Chaves, a researcher at Emory University, said this showed Brazil’s success at fighting vaccine misinformation, with doctors and health institutions rejecting anti-vaccine efforts. Throughout the Brazil’s vaccination campaign, groups like Prates-Syed’s pro-vaccine union worked alongside others, like Rotary International’s <a href="https://informacaosalvavidas.com.br/">#INFORMAÇÃOSALVAVIDAS</a> (Information Saves Lives) campaign, to debunk misinformation.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Y4p9OC">
|
|||
|
|
But in general, experts said, Brazil doesn’t have a powerful anti-vaccine movement.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="nC863J">
|
|||
|
|
“Brazil is really unique when it comes to vaccination history and vaccination tradition,” Pasternak said. “And that puts us in a very privileged position, because it’s been 50 years of an excellent vaccination program. And during this 50 years, vaccine confidence was built in the Brazilian population.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="afkzfr">
|
|||
|
|
“So residents are very favorable to vaccination, and that, it makes them kind of immune to vaccine misinformation,” she added.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="09q21i">
|
|||
|
|
In the 1980s, Brazil conducted a massive campaign to eradicate polio, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/brazil-once-vaccinated-10-million-people-for-polio-in-a-day-
|
|||
|
|
what-went-wrong-with-covid-19">vaccinating more than 10 million people in one da</a>y. There is even a vaccination mascot, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9_Gotinha">Zé Gotinha</a>. Brazil has also <a href="https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/saude/noticia/2018-09/polio-measles-vaccination-campaign-meets-target-
|
|||
|
|
brazil">conducted large-scale efforts for measles</a> and <a href="https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14065:brazil-launches-worlds-
|
|||
|
|
largest-campaign-with-fractional-dose-yellow-fever-vaccine&Itemid=135&lang=en">for yellow fever</a>. There is a living memory of life before, and after, vaccines. “A whole generation really grew up with this tradition of being vaccinated,” Aguiar said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ijTydq">
|
|||
|
|
“I think most fathers and mothers and grandparents, they can remember how awful the situation was before the vaccines,” he added.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Ule6fN">
|
|||
|
|
Aguiar said underlying this is Brazil’s primary health care system, <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/5-big-ideas-universal-health/">with clinics throughout the country and other community-based programs</a>. Together with vaccination, this health care infrastructure helped dramatically improve Brazil’s health outcomes for <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/child-mortality-igme?tab=chart&country=CHN+IND+BRA+BGD+ETH">things like the child mortality rate</a> and <a href="https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/5-big-ideas-universal-health/">life expectancy</a>. And Brazil has experience fighting epidemics of tropical diseases like <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/163881/dbv27p25.pdf?sequence=1">dengue</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5800195/">Zika</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oxSfuy">
|
|||
|
|
For these reasons, Brazilians largely still have faith that their health institutions are working. This is especially true for technical agencies — like Anvisa, which approves the vaccines. These agencies were somewhat insulated from the politicization of Covid-19 that permeated other parts of Bolsonaro’s government, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20210329-brazilian-
|
|||
|
|
defence-minister-resigns-following-foreign-and-health-ministers">like the Ministry of Health</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ACLZKe">
|
|||
|
|
“We, all the Brazilians, truly trust it,” said Renata Vasconcelos, who, along with her husband, Henrique Vasconcelos, works with Rotary International to combat Covid-19 vaccine misinformation. Renata said that if regulators say <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-offer-covid-19-booster-shot-everyone-older-
|
|||
|
|
than-18-2021-11-16/">more shots</a> are recommended, “we are going to respect that and have it.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8e9n7B">
|
|||
|
|
Beyond trust in the system, Brazilians witnessed Covid-19’s devastation for themselves. More than <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/brazil">625,000 Brazilians died from Covid-19</a>, the world’s second highest death count behind the United States. That toll was extraordinary, and the population wanted a way to avoid deadly wave after deadly wave. “Everybody has someone that we lost,” Henrique Vasconcelos said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SMmjNd">
|
|||
|
|
Maurício Terra Dias, a 59-year-old from Goiânia who voted for Bolsonaro in 2018 — but who says he will not vote for him again — put it another way in an email: “People [were] too scared to follow that insanity.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="xmuLsG">
|
|||
|
|
Brazil’s health system was resilient — this time
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9oGEVP">
|
|||
|
|
By many metrics, Brazil bungled its Covid-19 response. A Brazilian Senate panel has alleged Bolsonaro’s response to the pandemic is more than negligence. Instead, they argue, it was deliberate mismanagement to try to achieve herd immunity with a large amount of Covid-19 cases, something lawmakers suggested <a href="https://www.vox.com/22737145/bolsonaro-covid-19-crimes-against-humanity-icc">could amount to crimes against humanity</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sph1oo">
|
|||
|
|
Bolsonaro’s government also mishandled the vaccination campaign. The administration was late to secure doses, and reportedly <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/pfizer-got-
|
|||
|
|
no-response-offers-supply-vaccine-brazil-last-year-exec-says-2021-05-13/">ignored overtures by Pfizer</a> to buy doses. Other efforts were tainted by allegations of corruption, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/31/bolsonaro-brazil-
|
|||
|
|
covid-vaccine-corruption/">with officials trying to get kickbacks from suppliers</a>. All of that undermined Brazil’s vaccination program, delaying the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil/brazil-
|
|||
|
|
vaccinations-start-as-country-faces-vaccine-ingredient-shortfall-idUSKBN29N11D">start of the rollout until mid-January 2021</a>, and leaving the country short on supply.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tDEAmE">
|
|||
|
|
But the campaign picked up in the middle of last year, hitting rates just <a href="https://qap.ecdc.europa.eu/public/extensions/COVID-19/vaccine-tracker.html#uptake-
|
|||
|
|
tab">about on par with many European countries</a>. This is largely because the system proved, despite chaotic leadership from the federal government, to be resilient. Doctors, social movements, state governors, and local officials mobilized, reacting, improvising, and adjusting.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="49kCfi">
|
|||
|
|
“A lot of people think Brazil’s Covid-19 response was a disaster,” said João Nunes, a senior lecturer in international relations at York University. “But it wasn’t a disaster. It would have been a lot worse if it weren’t for this resilience, for this capacity of the public health system.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p0d8T5">
|
|||
|
|
Bolsonaro has always maintained his unshakable base of supporters, but, increasingly, that’s all who’s left. His <a href="https://www.brasildefato.com.br/2021/11/30/bolsonaro-s-popularity-drops-under-20-for-the-
|
|||
|
|
first-time-since-january-2019">government is more unpopular than ever</a>, and Bolsonaro <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-poll-shows-lula-gaining-over-bolsonaro-third-candidate-
|
|||
|
|
embryonic-2022-01-14/">is trailing far behind his likely opponent in the 2022 election</a>. The country is facing an economic crisis, and as Aguiar said, people who are struggling to survive can’t afford to be sick. Many see Bolsonaro’s anti-vaccine crusade as a way to distract from his own failures on Covid-19, and the economy, and turn it into a fight over ideology, in an attempt to galvanize his supporters. “Now we are almost all tired of his idiocy,” Terra Dias said.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hpWxEV">
|
|||
|
|
All of this helped create a buffer against Bolsonaro, but experts said it is fragile and not guaranteed to be permanent. “When it comes to vaccines, we have this 50-year-old tradition of trust,” Pasternak added. “And trust is not the same as understanding. It’s not the same as scientific literacy.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mw1wqW">
|
|||
|
|
The health system’s resiliency could still falter. Indeed, the rollout of childhood vaccinations for kids under 11 has been pretty slow so far, and some officials <a href="https://brazilian.report/liveblog/coronavirus/">have blamed</a> Bolsonaro for this, including <a href="https://brazilian.report/liveblog/coronavirus/">his comments that he would not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="POfH3M">
|
|||
|
|
“It’s the first time in Brazil in history that we have an outright anti-vax spreading vaccine misinformation,” Pasternak said. “So this beautiful vaccine confidence that we have today — that makes us immune even to Bolsonaro’s claims that vaccines are going to give you AIDS, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20201218-brazil-s-bolsonaro-warns-virus-vaccine-can-turn-people-into-
|
|||
|
|
crocodiles">turn you into an alligator</a>, or kill children — I don’t know where we’ll be in like five years’ time, if these attacks continue.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="deTVi0">
|
|||
|
|
Franco is supportive of vaccines, but thought the Covid-19 doses were misleadingly sold as the silver-bullet cure to Covid-19. He believes that even more strongly after his vaccinated father spent eight days in the ICU with Covid-19. He is still evaluating whether he’ll get a booster shot; he’ll talk to his doctor again, get a checkup. He’s unsure if he’s better off vaccinated — maybe, maybe not — but he does not regret it, either.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="imTaiw">
|
|||
|
|
“I have to stand with my decision,” he said. “I didn’t get any bad side effects or anything like that. But, I mean, what’s done is done.”
|
|||
|
|
</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Does banning extremists online work? It depends.</strong> -
|
|||
|
|
<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tatQRt98xGsrYXbC-
|
|||
|
|
INKeWkkgyU=/619x0:5568x3712/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70465968/GettyImages_1234824309.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A flag bearing the likeness of former President Donald Trump is held by a supporter during a far- right rally in Portland, Oregon, on August 22, 2021. Far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, held a rally on the anniversary of a violent altercation with anti-fascist activists a year earlier. | Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP via Getty Images
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Social media bans can make it harder to recruit new followers, but existing supporters can become more toxic.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="e6IRjd">
|
|||
|
|
It’s been over a year since Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube banned an array of domestic extremist networks, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/6/21504890/facebook-
|
|||
|
|
qanon-ban-conspiracy-theory-movement">QAnon</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/technology/facebook-ban-
|
|||
|
|
boogaloo.html">boogaloo</a>, and <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/oath-keepers-website-
|
|||
|
|
epik-down">Oath Keepers</a>, that had flourished on their platforms leading up to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Around the same time, these companies also <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22221543/twitter-suspended-trump-account-
|
|||
|
|
permanent-ban">banned President Donald Trump</a>, who was accused of amplifying these groups and their calls for violence.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eRwezq">
|
|||
|
|
So did the “Great Deplatforming” work? There is growing evidence that deplatforming these groups did limit their presence and influence online, though it’s still hard to determine exactly how it has impacted their offline activities and membership.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kSGA93">
|
|||
|
|
While extremist groups have dispersed to alternative platforms like Telegram, Parler, and Gab, they have had a harder time growing their online numbers at the same rate as when they were on the more mainstream social media apps, several researchers who study extremism told Recode. Although the overall effects of deplatforming are far-reaching and difficult to measure in full, several academic studies about the phenomenon over the past few years, as well as data compiled by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs for Recode, support some of these experts’ observations.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7Vmryq">
|
|||
|
|
“The broad reach of these groups has really diminished,” said Rebekah Tromble, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics at George Washington University. “Yes, they still operate on alternative platforms … but in the first layer of assessment that we might do, it’s the mainstream platforms that matter most.” That’s because extremists can reach more people on these popular platforms; in addition to recruiting new members, they can influence mainstream discussions and narratives in a way they can’t on more niche alternative platforms.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lw9OJf">
|
|||
|
|
The scale at which Facebook and Twitter deplatformed domestic extremist groups — although criticized by some as being reactive and coming too late — was sweeping.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iTftLH">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter took down some <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55638558">70,000 accounts associated with QAnon</a> in January 2021, and since then the company says it has taken down an additional 100,000.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/Utsv5Wy9yQH8hkNfWcSzT9-ZUAE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23212592/GettyImages_1235491471.jpg"/> <cite>Sean Rayford/Getty Images</cite></p>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A man wearing a QAnon T-shirt waits in line for a rally featuring former President Donald Trump to begin in Perry, Georgia, on September 25, 2021.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="36BWKh">
|
|||
|
|
Facebook says that since expanding its policy against dangerous organizations in 2020 to include militia groups and QAnon, it has banned some 54,900 Facebook profiles and 20,600 groups related to militarized groups, and 50,300 Facebook profiles and 11,300 groups related to QAnon.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Wzsv3y">
|
|||
|
|
Even since these bans and policy changes, some extremism on mainstream social media remains undetected, particularly in private Facebook Groups and on private Twitter accounts. As recently as early January, Facebook’s recommendation algorithm was still promoting to some users militia content by groups such as the Three Percenters — whose members have been charged <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/three-
|
|||
|
|
percenters-charged-conspiracy-capitol-riot/2021/06/10/f84091e6-c9ec-11eb-81b1-34796c7393af_story.html">with conspiracy in the Capitol riot</a> — according to a report by DC watchdog group <a href="https://www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/year-after-capitol-riot-facebook-remains-extremist-breeding-
|
|||
|
|
ground">the Tech Transparency Project</a>. The report is just one example of how major social media platforms still regularly fail to find and remove overtly extremist content. Facebook said it has since taken down nine out of 10 groups listed in that report.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HbAbqi">
|
|||
|
|
Data from Zignal Labs shows that after major social media networks banned most QAnon groups, mentions of popular keywords associated with it decreased. The volume of QAnon and related mentions dropped by 30 percent year over year across Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit in 2021. Specifically, mentions of popular catchphrases like “the great awakening,” “Q Army,” and “WWG1WGA,” decreased respectively by 46 percent, 66 percent, and 88 percent.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2IVOwk">
|
|||
|
|
This data suggests that deplatforming QAnon may have worked to reduce conversations by people who use such rallying catchphrases. However, even if the actual organizing and dialogue from these groups has gone down, people (and the media) are still talking about many extremist groups with more frequency — in QAnon’s case, around 279 percent more in 2021 than 2020.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-CPH32YTZi4D9F8GwyKE57n0PhA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23213198/image001_4_.png"/> <cite>Zignal Labs</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Mentions of keywords associated with QAnon across major social media networks dropped sharply after Facebook and Twitter bans in late 2020.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mtGNUl">
|
|||
|
|
<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3867818">Several</a> <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3447535.3462637">academic</a> <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3476057">studies</a> in the past few years have also quantitatively measured the impact of major social media networks like Twitter, Reddit, and YouTube deplatforming accounts for posting violent, hateful, or abusive content. Some of these studies have found that deplatforming was effective as a short-term solution in reducing the reach and influence of offensive accounts, though some studies found increases in toxic behavior these users exhibited on alternative platforms.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="3ZPsIk">
|
|||
|
|
Another reason why some US domestic extremist groups have lost much of their online reach may be because of Trump’s own deplatforming, as the former president was the focus of communities like QAnon and Proud Boys. <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22421396/donald-trump-social-media-ban-
|
|||
|
|
facebook-twitter-decrease-drop-impact-youtube">Trump himself has struggled to regain the audience</a> he once had; he <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/2/22465127/trump-desk-blog-gone">shut down his blog</a> not long after he announced it in 2021, and he has delayed launching the alternative social media network he said he was building.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Heb2qt">
|
|||
|
|
At the same time, some of the studies also found that users who migrated to other platforms often became more radicalized in their new communities. Followers who exhibited more toxic behavior moved to alternative platforms like 4Chan and Gab, which have laxer rules against harmful speech than major social media networks do.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Jc86F6">
|
|||
|
|
Deplatforming is one of the strongest and most controversial tools social media companies can wield in minimizing the threat of antidemocratic violence. Understanding the effects and limitations of deplatforming is critical as the 2022 elections approach, since they will inevitably prompt controversial and harmful political speech online, and will further test social media companies and their content policies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="JA9XVl">
|
|||
|
|
Deplatforming doesn’t stop extremists from organizing in the shadows
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qozJsO">
|
|||
|
|
The main reason deplatforming can be effective in diminishing the influence of extremist groups is simple: scale.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="E1cLi8">
|
|||
|
|
Nearly 3 billion people use Facebook, 2 billion people use YouTube, and 400 million people use Twitter.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sT49T8">
|
|||
|
|
But not nearly as many people use the alternative social media platforms that domestic extremists have turned to after the Great Deplatforming. Parler <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/parler-expands-business-into-decentralized-
|
|||
|
|
technology-301448129.html">says it has 16 million registered users</a>. Gettr <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/07/joe-rogan-helps-gettr-amass-a-million-new-users/">says it has 4 million</a>. Telegram, which has a large international base, had some <a href="https://twitter.com/telegram/status/1349014065931284480">500 million monthly active users as of last year</a>, but far fewer — less than 10 percent — of its users are from the US.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iUUEFq">
|
|||
|
|
“When you start getting into these more obscure platforms, your reach is automatically limited as far as building a popular movement,” said Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s digital forensic research lab who recently <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/report/after-the-insurrection-how-domestic-extremists-
|
|||
|
|
adapted-and-evolved-after-the-january-6-us-capitol-attack/">published a report</a> about how domestic extremists have adapted their online strategies after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="x2Io0Y">
|
|||
|
|
Several academic papers in the past few years have aimed to quantify the loss in influence of popular accounts after they were banned. In some ways, it’s not surprising that these influencers declined after they were booted from the platforms that gave them incredible reach and promotion in the first place. But these studies show just how hard it is for extremist influencers to hold onto that power — at least on major social media networks — if they’re deplatformed.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide- block">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid">
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/47ZoCvp-i8MalTImsmbkYMMj-NA=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23212522/GettyImages_1353669539.jpg"/> <cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Far-right political pundit Milo Yiannopoulos hosts the “Bishops Enough Is Enough” rally in Baltimore, Maryland, on November 16, 2021. The far-right Catholic news outlet Saint Michael’s Media, also known as Church Militant, organized the conservative prayer meeting and convention.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-image-grid__item">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/wI_WX48ydE5TfR9vIYU4pJGWWx4=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23212532/GettyImages_1229672718.jpg"/> <cite>Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Alex Jones, host of InfoWars, an extreme right-wing website that often traffics in conspiracy theories, talks into a megaphone as he arrives at a “Stop the Steal” rally at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta to protest the results of the US presidential election on November 18, 2020.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div></div></div></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="m9qmCT">
|
|||
|
|
One study looked at what happened when <a href="https://faculty.cc.gatech.edu/~dyang888/docs/jhaver-2021-deplatforming.pdf">Twitter banned extremist alt-right influencers</a> Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Owen Benjamin. Jones was banned from Twitter in 2018 for what the company found to be <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/06/645352618/twitter-bans-alex-jones-and-infowars-cites-
|
|||
|
|
abusive-behavior">“abusive behavior,”</a> Yiannopolous was banned in 2016 for <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/charliewarzel/twitter-just-permanently-suspended-conservative-writer-
|
|||
|
|
milo">harassing <em>Ghostbusters</em> actress Leslie Jones</a>, and Benjamin lost access in 2018 for <a href="https://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2018/04/twitter-blocks-owen-benjamin/">harassing a Parkland shooting survivor</a>. The study, which examined posts referencing these influencers in the six months after their bans, found that references dropped by an average of nearly 92 percent on the platforms they were banned from.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lfAOnr">
|
|||
|
|
The study also found that the influencers’ followers who remained on Twitter exhibited a modest but statistically significant drop of about 6 percent in the “toxicity” levels of their subsequent tweets, according to an industry standard called Perspective API. It defines a toxic comment as “a rude, disrespectful, or unreasonable comment that is likely to make you leave a discussion.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AEr78s">
|
|||
|
|
Researchers also found that after Twitter banned influencers, users also talked less about popular ideologies promoted by those influencers. For example, Jones was one of the leading propagators of the false conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook school shooting was staged. Researchers ran a regression model to measure if mentions of Sandy Hook dropped due to Jones’s ban, and found it decreased by an estimated 16 percent over the course of six months since his ban.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="T9GZ0F">
|
|||
|
|
“Many of the most offensive ideas that these influencers were propagating reduced in their prevalence after the deplatforming. So that’s good news,” said Shagun Jhaver, a professor of library and information science at Rutgers University who co-authored the study.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JTilF0">
|
|||
|
|
Another <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3476057">study from 2020</a> looked at the effects of Reddit banning the subreddit r/The_Donald, a popular forum for Trump supporters that was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/29/reddit-closes-long-running-forum-supporting-president-trump-
|
|||
|
|
after-years-policy-violations/">shut down in 2020 after moderators failed to control</a> anti-Semitism, misogyny, and other hateful content being shared. Also banned was the subreddit r/incels, an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-
|
|||
|
|
trending-41926687">“involuntary celibate” community</a> that was shut down in 2017 for hosting violent content. The study found that the bans significantly reduced the overall number of active users, newcomers, and posts on the new platforms that those followers moved to, such as 4Chan and Gab. These users also posted with less frequency on average on the new platform.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U65mie">
|
|||
|
|
But the study also found that for the subset of users who did move to fringe platforms, their “toxicity” levels — those negative social behaviors such as incivility, harassment, trolling, and cyberbullying — increased on average.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kY7KMV">
|
|||
|
|
In particular, the study found evidence that users in the r/The_Donald community who migrated to the alternative website — thedonald.win — became more toxic, negative, and hostile when talking about their “objects of fixation,” such as Democrats and leftists.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O9JKP1">
|
|||
|
|
The study supports the idea that there is an inherent trade-off with deplatforming extremism: You might reduce the size of the extremist communities, but possibly at the expense of making the remaining members of those communities even more extreme.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IgpyFp">
|
|||
|
|
“We know that deplatforming works, but we have to accept that there’s no silver bullet,” said Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center who studies extremist domestic movements. “Tech companies and government are going to have to continually adapt.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/hnCeGOeDNrMLngceOi8fTUbcSpw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23212491/GettyImages_1237612493.jpg"/> <cite>Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP via Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A member of the Proud Boys makes an “okay” sign with his hand to symbolize “white power” as he gathers with others in front of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem during a far-right rally on January 8.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xuyRjl">
|
|||
|
|
All of the six extremist researchers Recode spoke with said that they’re worried about the more insular, localized, and radical organizing happening on fringe networks.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MEdh1l">
|
|||
|
|
“We’ve had our eyes so much on national-level actions and organizing that we’re losing sight of the really dangerous activities that are being organized more quietly on these sites at the state and local level,” Tromble told Recode.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HMd5iG">
|
|||
|
|
Some of this alarming organizing is still happening on Facebook, but it’s often flying <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/8/28/21406022/facebook-banned-violent-militia-groups-kenosha-protests-jacob-blake-
|
|||
|
|
shooting-kyle-rittenhouse">under the radar in private Facebook Groups</a>, which can be harder for researchers and the public to detect.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WPdAHv">
|
|||
|
|
Meta — the parent company of Facebook — told Recode that the increased enforcement and strength of its policies cracking down on extremists have been effective in reducing the overall volume of violent and hateful speech on its platform.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="W67HOK">
|
|||
|
|
“This is an adversarial space and we know that our work to protect our platforms and the people who use them from these threats never ends. However, we believe that our work has helped to make it harder for harmful groups to organize on our platforms,” said David Tessler, a public policy manager at Facebook.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9wvdHm">
|
|||
|
|
Facebook also said that, according to its own research, when the company made disruptions that targeted hate groups and organizations, there was a short-term backlash among some audience members. The backlash eventually faded, resulting in an overall reduction of hateful content. Facebook declined to share a copy of its research, which it says is ongoing, with Recode.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XNloo3">
|
|||
|
|
Twitter declined to comment on any impact it has seen around content regarding the extremist groups QAnon, Proud Boys, or boogaloos since their suspensions from its platform, but shared the following statement: “We continue to enforce the Twitter Rules, prioritizing [taking down] content that has the potential to lead to real-world harm.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h3 id="9sCPaR">
|
|||
|
|
Will the rules of deplatforming apply equally to everyone?
|
|||
|
|
</h3>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="M566FY">
|
|||
|
|
In the past several years, extremist ideology and conspiracy theories have increasingly penetrated mainstream US politics. At least 36 candidates running for Congress in 2022 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-36-qanon-supporters-running-congress-in-the-2022-midterms-2021-6">believe in QAnon</a>, the majority of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/07/republicans-big-lie-
|
|||
|
|
trump/">Republicans say they believe</a> in the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and one in four Americans says <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/592056-1-in-4-says-violence-
|
|||
|
|
against-government-sometimes-justified-poll">violence against the government</a> is sometimes justified. The ongoing test for social media companies will be whether they’ve learned lessons from dealing with the extremist movements that spread on their platforms, and if they will effectively enforce their rules, even when dealing with politically powerful figures.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDkr7N">
|
|||
|
|
While Twitter and Facebook were long hesitant to moderate Trump’s accounts, they <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22221543/twitter-suspended-trump-account-permanent-ban">decided to ban</a> him after he refused to concede his loss in the election, then used social media to egg on the violent protesters at the US Capitol. (In Facebook’s case, the <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2021/6/4/22519076/trump-facebook-two-years-oversight-
|
|||
|
|
board">ban is only until 2023</a>.) Meanwhile, there are plenty of other major figures in conservative politics and the Republican Party who are active on social media and continue to propagate extremist conspiracy theories.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<div class="c-wide-block">
|
|||
|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/thumbor/c8a2WvrPD17XKv_tOMuv-pTeAzM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-
|
|||
|
|
cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23212498/GettyImages_1230565649.jpg"/> <cite>Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images</cite>
|
|||
|
|
<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green wears a mask reading “CENSORED” at the US Capitol on January 13, 2021.
|
|||
|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
</figure>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hIt3aE">
|
|||
|
|
For example, even some members of Congress, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have used their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-poised-to-eject-marjorie-
|
|||
|
|
taylor-greene-from-committees-over-extremist-remarks/2021/02/04/670601e4-6703-11eb-8468-21bc48f07fe5_story.html">Twitter and Facebook accounts</a> to <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/gop-candidate-shared-anti-semitic-great-
|
|||
|
|
replacement-video-watchdog/">broadcast extremist ideologies</a>, like the “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/26/1040756471/what-is-white-replacement-theory-explaining-the-white-supremacist-
|
|||
|
|
rhetoric">Great Replacement” white nationalist theory</a>, falsely asserting that there is a “Zionist” plot to replace people of European ancestry with other minorities in the West.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HXWdWH">
|
|||
|
|
In January, Twitter banned Greene’s personal account after she repeatedly broke its content policies by sharing misinformation about Covid-19. But she continues to have an active presence on her work Twitter account and on Facebook.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tKOfiM">
|
|||
|
|
Choosing to ban groups like the Proud Boys or QAnon seemed to be a more straightforward choice for social media companies; banning an elected official is more complicated. Lawmakers have regulatory power, and conservatives have long claimed that social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are biased against them, even though these platforms often promote conservative figures and speech.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AJ5N7i">
|
|||
|
|
“As more mainstream figures are saying the types of things that normally extremists were the ones saying online, that’s where the weak spot is, because a platform like Facebook doesn’t want to be in the business of moderating ideology,” Holt told Recode. “Mainstream platforms are getting better at enforcing against extremism, but they have not figured out the solution entirely.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India’s Winter Olympic contingent Covid-free after manager found negative in retests</strong> - Mohammad Abbas Wani was found COVID-19 positive upon his arrival at the Beijing Airport in Beijing on February 2</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Novak Djokovic’s COVID-19 test was valid: Serbian prosecutors</strong> - To enter Australia, Novak Djokovic submitted a positive COVID-19 test issued in Serbia on Dec. 16 for a visa exemption on the grounds that he had recently recovered from the virus</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Yuki Bhambri returns to Davis Cup tam</strong> - The Asian Games gold medallists Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan will form the doubles team for the tie</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aces’ National Team of the year nominees</strong> - India cricket squads, men’s hockey team make shortlist</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Women’s Football Asian Cup | Japan takes on old rival China; the Philippines goes up against Korea</strong> - The Philippines goes up against Korea</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Cocoon prices breach ₹1K mark</strong> -</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>ED attaches ₹268.66 crore assets in bank fraud case</strong> - Accused parked funds from SBI as assets in Austria, Thailand and Bangladesh</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>India’s top diplomat in China not to attend Beijing Winer Olympics</strong> - China’s decision to honour PLA’s Galwan commander as Winter Olympics torchbearer regrettable, says India</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Followers of Ambedkar should join Samajwadi Party to oust BJP from power: Akhilesh Yadav</strong> - Mr. Yadav said this during a joint press conference with Rashtriya Lok Dal president Jayant Chaudhary</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Congress and KRRS leaders question plum postings for official in Karnataka accused of corruption</strong> - They cite irregularities at Sringeri and Koppa taluk offices</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine tensions: Russia condemns destructive US troop increase in Europe</strong> - Extra US troops will go to Poland, Romania and Germany amid fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia-Ukraine crisis far from minds in idyllic Vladimir</strong> - Russians in the ancient town of Vladimir have little time for talk of conflict with their neighbour.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Jeff Bezos’ superyacht will see historic bridge dismantled</strong> - Rotterdam says the world’s richest man will foot the bill to remove part of the historic bridge.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Turkey-Greece border: Twelve migrants die in freezing conditions</strong> - Turkey accuses Greek border guards of turning migrants back in harsh conditions.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>NI Protocol: Irish Sea border ongoing despite order, says Downing St</strong> - Downing Street says checks remain despite DUP minister Edwin Poots’ directive for them to stop.</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Mac malware spreading for ~14 months installs backdoor on infected systems</strong> - Mac malware UpdateAgent only gets better over time. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1831397">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Tonga in lockdown after COVID spread from wharf workers</strong> - The five new cases brings Tonga’s pandemic case count to six. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1831399">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gran Turismo 7 preview: A return to expansive, grindy, car-collecting roots</strong> - We learned about new PS5 features, but questions remain about the PS4 version. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1831206">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>For T-cells, omicron is nothing unusual</strong> - T-cell response from earlier infection or vaccination is down, but not by much. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1831337">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Producer: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds will connect to a famous wrathful villain</strong> - Prequel series on Paramount+ will also feature a return to episodic storytelling. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1831036">link</a></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
</ul>
|
|||
|
|
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
|||
|
|
<ul>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>Karen goes to the doctor not feeling well. Karen: Doctor, I’ve not been feeling well lately. .</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Doctor: I’ve looked at your lab reports and I’m afraid I have some bad news.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Karen: Don’t give me this lab nonsense. I believe in homeopathic medicine, faith-based approaches and healing crystals. All my life, they have never failed me. Now will you do things my way or do I need to see the manager?!?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Doctor: Sure, we’ll do things your way. No need to raise your temper. Why don’t we try an astrology based approach?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Karen: At last a sensible approach.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Doctor: So, what’s your star sign?
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Karen: it’s cancer.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
Doctor: Well what a fucking coincidence.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/YZXFILE"> /u/YZXFILE </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj4hch/karen_goes_to_the_doctor_not_feeling_well_karen/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj4hch/karen_goes_to_the_doctor_not_feeling_well_karen/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>How do I keep her awake?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
|
|||
|
|
<div class="md">
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
A man went into work one day and asked his best friend for advice on a “personal matter.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“Every time me and my wife are 69ing; she always tends to fall asleep. Do you have any ideas how I can stop this from happening?”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
His friend surprised says “I used to have the exact same problem! But what fixed it for me is; every time when we were 69ing and I felt her slow down; I would fire a shot from my gun into the ceiling and that would wake her RIGHT up!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The man says that’s a good idea and goes home.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
The next day he comes in waddling very slowly; wincing with every step. His friend is worried and asks him what’s wrong.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
|||
|
|
“I tried that stupid idea you told me! I felt her falling asleep while we were 69ing so I fired a round from my gun into the roof and she got such a fright she sank her teeth into my cock; shat in my face; and our mailman came sprinting out of the closet!!”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
</div>
|
|||
|
|
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MayhemToast"> /u/MayhemToast </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj1p8m/how_do_i_keep_her_awake/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj1p8m/how_do_i_keep_her_awake/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>In a mental institution a nurse walks into a room…</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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In a mental institution a nurse walks into a room and sees a patient acting like he’s driving a car. The nurse asks him, “Charlie, what are you doing?” Charlie replied, “Driving to Chicago!” The nurse wishes him a good trip and leaves the room. The next day the nurse enters Charlie’s room just as he stops driving his imaginary car and asks, “Well Charlie, how are you doing?” Charlie says, “I just got into Chicago”. “Great,” replied the nurse. The nurse leaves Charlie’s room and goes across the hall into Bob’s room, and finds Bob sitting on his bed furiously masturbating. Shocked, she asks, “Bob, what are you doing?!” Bob says, “I’m screwing Charlie’s wife while he’s in Chicago!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MH_Nissan"> /u/MH_Nissan </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sjd1qh/in_a_mental_institution_a_nurse_walks_into_a_room/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sjd1qh/in_a_mental_institution_a_nurse_walks_into_a_room/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>Reddit should add separate NSFW tags for gore and porn</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I’m so tired of my boners being ruined by these hot ladies.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/AtlantaBoyz"> /u/AtlantaBoyz </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sisax2/reddit_should_add_separate_nsfw_tags_for_gore_and/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sisax2/reddit_should_add_separate_nsfw_tags_for_gore_and/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><strong>I came home one day and caught my wife in bed with one of my friends.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF -->
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I was angry, I got my gun out of the drawer and shot him dead.
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My wife said what the fuck? You carry on like this you ain’t gonna
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have any friends left.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj1uci/i_came_home_one_day_and_caught_my_wife_in_bed/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/sj1uci/i_came_home_one_day_and_caught_my_wife_in_bed/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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