Meta platforms are marketplaces for child predators claims lawsuit

Facebook and Instagram ‘enabled adults to find, message and groom minors’ for sexual exploitation, alleges state of New Mexico legal filingMeta has allowed its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, to become marketplaces for child predators, …

Facebook and Instagram ‘enabled adults to find, message and groom minors’ for sexual exploitation, alleges state of New Mexico legal filing

Meta has allowed its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, to become marketplaces for child predators, the state of New Mexico alleges in a lawsuit filed against the company and its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

The lawsuit claims that Meta “proactively served and directed [children] to egregious, sexually explicit images through recommended users and posts – even where the child has expressed no interest in this content”. It claims Meta “enabled adults to find, message and groom minors, soliciting them to sell pictures or participate in pornographic videos”. The company is also accused of fostering unmoderated user groups devoted to facilitating and selling child sexual exploitation content.

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Best podcasts of the week: Jonathan Aitken’s fall from Downing Street hopeful to convicted liar

In this week’s newsletter: Rob Delaney and Alice Levine investigate the end of the cabinet minister’s career in the latest series of British Scandal• Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereGoonedWidely available, episodes weeklyThis s…

In this week’s newsletter: Rob Delaney and Alice Levine investigate the end of the cabinet minister’s career in the latest series of British Scandal

Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Gooned
Widely available, episodes weekly
This shocking series, presented by Emma Lehman, profiles the “troubled teen industry”, which convinces US parents to let them help their children with behavioural issues, only to horrifically mistreat them. Staff, survivors, families and activists explain how what are often sold as “woodland retreats” can involve sleep and water deprivation, and being locked in padded rooms. Horrendous revelations from a manipulative industry. Alexi Duggins

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Best podcasts of the week: Jonathan Aitken’s fall from Downing Street hopeful to convicted liar

In this week’s newsletter: Rob Delaney and Alice Levine investigate the end of the cabinet minister’s career in the latest series of British Scandal• Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereGoonedWidely available, episodes weeklyThis s…

In this week’s newsletter: Rob Delaney and Alice Levine investigate the end of the cabinet minister’s career in the latest series of British Scandal

Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

Gooned
Widely available, episodes weekly
This shocking series, presented by Emma Lehman, profiles the “troubled teen industry”, which convinces US parents to let them help their children with behavioural issues, only to horrifically mistreat them. Staff, survivors, families and activists explain how what are often sold as “woodland retreats” can involve sleep and water deprivation, and being locked in padded rooms. Horrendous revelations from a manipulative industry. Alexi Duggins

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Telling tales: Zimbabwe’s Weaver Press celebrates 25 years of championing truth-telling fiction

NoViolet Bulawayo among authors paying tribute to independent publishing house that shook up the country’s literary sceneWhen the Zimbabwean editor Irene Staunton and her husband Murray McCartney set up their publishing business in 1998, it seemed natu…

NoViolet Bulawayo among authors paying tribute to independent publishing house that shook up the country’s literary scene

When the Zimbabwean editor Irene Staunton and her husband Murray McCartney set up their publishing business in 1998, it seemed natural to call it Weaver Press. Their modest HQ, in the back garden of their home in Emerald Hill, a northern suburb of Harare, looked out on the many intricate nests of the weaver bird that peppered the landscape.

This week, the company is celebrating its 25th birthday. The location has not changed and the team has rarely exceeded the staff of two. But in the words of one distinguished Zimbabwean scholar at the University of Oxford, Weaver Press has “quietly shaped post-independence Zimbabwean literature”.

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Carol Vorderman ‘snubs offer from GB News’ after quitting BBC

Presenter approvingly quotes piece saying she wouldn’t touch rightwing broadcaster ‘with a barge pole’ Carol Vorderman has disclosed she turned down an approach by the rightwing broadcaster GB News.The presenter, a fierce critic of the government, left…

Presenter approvingly quotes piece saying she wouldn’t touch rightwing broadcaster ‘with a barge pole’

Carol Vorderman has disclosed she turned down an approach by the rightwing broadcaster GB News.

The presenter, a fierce critic of the government, left her weekly show on BBC Radio Wales last month, saying she would “not be silenced” by the corporation’s new social media guidelines.

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Taylor Swift lambasts music industry and says Kim Kardashian feud ‘took me down psychologically’

In a lengthy interview as she is named Time’s person of the year, Swift speaks about toll of high-profile spat, and criticises music industry over treatment of young starsTaylor Swift has spoken of the psychological damage of her feud with Kim Kardashi…

In a lengthy interview as she is named Time’s person of the year, Swift speaks about toll of high-profile spat, and criticises music industry over treatment of young stars

Taylor Swift has spoken of the psychological damage of her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and lambasted the music industry over its treatments of young pop stars, in a new interview with Time, which has named her their person of the year.

After a year in which she has been at the centre of cultural conversations for her massively lucrative Eras tour, Swift spoke damningly of what she sees as a short-termist approach by record labels to replace, rather than nurture its stars. “By the time an artist is mature enough to psychologically deal with the job, they throw you out at 29, typically,” she says. “In the 90s and 00s, it seems like the music industry just said: ‘OK, let’s take a bunch of teenagers, throw them into a fire, and watch what happens. By the time they’ve accumulated enough wisdom to do their job effectively, we’ll find new teenagers.’” She said her solution was to change style with each new album project: “I realised every record label was actively working to try to replace me. I thought instead, I’d replace myself first with a new me. It’s harder to hit a moving target.”

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Trump will target media ‘criminally or civilly’ if re-elected, ally vows

Kash Patel, who held senior positions in Trump administration, said of members of the media, ‘we’re putting you all on notice’A Donald Trump ally who worked in his justice department said on Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his ad…

Kash Patel, who held senior positions in Trump administration, said of members of the media, ‘we’re putting you all on notice’

A Donald Trump ally who worked in his justice department said on Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his administration will retaliate against people in the media “criminally or civilly”.

Kash Patel, who was also chief of staff in the defense department and held a role on the national security council, made the comment on Steve Bannon’s podcast. He said that, in a second Trump administration, “We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media,” over the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

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Trump will target media ‘criminally or civilly’ if re-elected, ally vows

Kash Patel, who held senior positions in Trump administration, said of members of the media, ‘we’re putting you all on notice’A Donald Trump ally who worked in his justice department said on Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his ad…

Kash Patel, who held senior positions in Trump administration, said of members of the media, ‘we’re putting you all on notice’

A Donald Trump ally who worked in his justice department said on Tuesday that if the former president is elected again, his administration will retaliate against people in the media “criminally or civilly”.

Kash Patel, who was also chief of staff in the defense department and held a role on the national security council, made the comment on Steve Bannon’s podcast. He said that, in a second Trump administration, “We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media,” over the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

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James Blunt: One Brit Wonder review – soldier-turned-singer’s brilliant Twitter game

The witty singer’s superb comeback is a delight to behold in this entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentaryChris Atkins’ highly entertaining documentary about the soldier turned million-selling singer-songwriter effectively marks the apotheosis of James…

The witty singer’s superb comeback is a delight to behold in this entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentary

Chris Atkins’ highly entertaining documentary about the soldier turned million-selling singer-songwriter effectively marks the apotheosis of James Blunt’s superb comeback – his rearguard action, in fact, against all the tabloid journalists, trolls and panel-show comics who were using him as a punchline, nettled at his overwhelming success and poshness.

Using skills honed at boarding school, and the possibilities of social media, Blunt neutralised the bullies by laughing at himself first, while also (with a dash of ruthless cunning) picking on civilians, quote-tweeting some member of the general public making a nasty remark and adding a very good gag notionally at his own expense but also embarrassing his tormentor. His Twitter game turned it around – though his sales never appear to have been really affected by the mockery. And throughout this fly-on-the-wall account of Blunt’s international tour, much delayed by Covid, the star retains a very droll and unashamedly well-bred irony, wit and down-to-earth attitude.

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James Blunt: One Brit Wonder review – soldier-turned-singer’s brilliant Twitter game

The witty singer’s superb comeback is a delight to behold in this entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentaryChris Atkins’ highly entertaining documentary about the soldier turned million-selling singer-songwriter effectively marks the apotheosis of James…

The witty singer’s superb comeback is a delight to behold in this entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentary

Chris Atkins’ highly entertaining documentary about the soldier turned million-selling singer-songwriter effectively marks the apotheosis of James Blunt’s superb comeback – his rearguard action, in fact, against all the tabloid journalists, trolls and panel-show comics who were using him as a punchline, nettled at his overwhelming success and poshness.

Using skills honed at boarding school, and the possibilities of social media, Blunt neutralised the bullies by laughing at himself first, while also (with a dash of ruthless cunning) picking on civilians, quote-tweeting some member of the general public making a nasty remark and adding a very good gag notionally at his own expense but also embarrassing his tormentor. His Twitter game turned it around – though his sales never appear to have been really affected by the mockery. And throughout this fly-on-the-wall account of Blunt’s international tour, much delayed by Covid, the star retains a very droll and unashamedly well-bred irony, wit and down-to-earth attitude.

Continue reading...