No, not 💯 Elon. In the U.K. they’re not going round ‘finding people who’ve said something they disagree with and putting them in a f—king cage.’ Some people are being charged for inciting racial hatred and for organising acts of violence. It’s very specific, and it’s the law in most democracies including the US. For example, one person has pleaded guilty today to inciting an attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers: an attack which then took place. Another hotel was set on fire, with people still inside. Freedom carries responsibility: and freedom of speech carries with it the responsibility of each of us to use our words wisely and to be aware of the damage misinformation can cause. To be clear, criminal violence directed towards various communities in the U.K. was perpetrated as a result of malicious and specifically targeted misinformation online. And it’s a relief no-one was killed. Words matter. And yet here you are, running a huge information network, and all you can do is post 💯 over something you choose not to verify for accuracy, not alert people to it’s highly damaging nature. In fact, because of who you are, your 💯 gives it a stamp of approval in the eyes of those who seek validation for their actions. What we say and do has real consequences. That’s because we’re not in a matrix, we’re in real life, and sticking 💯 on a lie doesn’t turn it into truth.
NEW: Billionaire Elon Musk has created a PAC collecting voter data from those living in key states through an online "register to vote" form that does not directly register people to vote.
All of this in an effort to help Donald Trump become president.
https://t.co/1NlzNXPAGG
We are overjoyed that Vladimir Kara-Murza has been released as part of a prisoner swap. He is an extraordinarily brave and principled man, who recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his columns from the gulag.
He and his family have been through so much, simply because he told the truth about Putin’s Russia.
Our film will be updated to include this resolution as well as the inside story of the secret negotiations over the past two years.
And a final thought - professional journalists abide by the legal restrictions in play at times like this, but the general public don't know about them and bad faith actors don't care
It's a perfect storm for misinformation and it happens time and again.Something needs to change
The Tim Hetherington Award (presented in association with Dogwoof)
@dogwoof
🏆WINNER 🏆
No Other Land directed by Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal (Palestine, Norway, 2024)
Really looking forward to playing @thelexington on 14 September with @A_Wasylyk. It's been a long time since I played there with @foundtheband but I remember it being a great venue. London pals – it'd be lovely to see you there. Tickets here: https://t.co/SmHloxsuss
Big thanks @EastMidRailway to your train manager Susan on the Sheffield to London line this evening, who helped me out no end when I left my bag behind.
“The arts are not the cherry on the cake — they are the cake.”
Opening a debate in the House of Lords yesterday, Melvyn Bragg said the UK should realise the full potential of the arts to transform our economy and society.
Statement from South Yorkshire Police: Chris Brain, former leader of the Church of England’s Nine O’Clock Service in Sheffield in the 1980s and 1990s, has been charged with 34 sexual offences.
NB: this matter is now in criminal proceedings so no further comment should be made