Ben F

Teach Liberal Studies/Sociology; education, film, philosophy

[Taylor Lorenz @TaylorLorenz]

Back in March I wrote for The Guardian about how a “social media ban” for children is just forced Digital ID by another name. These policies are nothing more than mass surveillance and authoritarianism https://t.co/Nyu66hrTmC

[Laura Miers @LauraMiers]

🎯 “The act was never about protecting children but was really about building a giant database that links all online activity directly to a person.

This database would then be constantly poured over by AI to flag ‘citizens of concern’ to the government who may be potential political dissidents, saying naughty anti-government things etc so the government can pre-emptively act against them.”

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 SUMMARY: The UK's social media ban for children from early 2027:

- "User-to-user" apps where people create, share and interact with content (e.g. TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, X, Facebook) will be banned for under-16s

- WhatsApp, Signal and YouTube Kids will be exempt

- Under-16s will also be banned from livestreaming, messaging strangers on gaming apps like Discord and using disappearing messages

- 16 and 17 year olds will face nightly social media curfews and limits on infinite scrolling with more details next month

- AI "romantic companion" chatbots will be banned for under-18s

- Adults can still access social media through age checks like facial recognition, digital IDs, passports and credit cards

[Eliyahu Kamisher @eli_kamisher]

On a call with a major Dem donor, Gavin Newsom had a clear message: there would be no billionaire tax.

He assured the donor that the levy would be negotiated away before a June 25 deadline.

Newsom has ten days to make good on that promise. (gift link)
https://t.co/7v2wlKD7w0

[Emily Shugerman @eshugerman]

Big story out today with the names of a dozen tech tycoons in a secret Signal chat plotting California’s political future + much more!! https://t.co/8imHn7yN5Q

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

Stephen Miller wanted to suspend habeas corpus. Important story from @jonathanvswan & @maggieNYT https://t.co/EeLWbsx3m8

[Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1]

BREAKING WSJ:

The Trump Justice Department's senior leadership closed an investigation of Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery before career staffers who were concerned about the acquisition had an opportunity to object, according to people familiar with the matter.
https://t.co/saJVgnYMOu

[BreakThrough News @BTnewsroom]

“When the moment comes to choose between comfort and conscience, choose conscience.”

Pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil delivered a speech to Stanford graduates at a "People's Commencement" Sunday after their mass walkout during graduation.

The graduates' walkout occurred during Google CEO Sundar Pichai's commencement speech, as a protest against the tech company's contracts with the IDF, CBP, and ICE.

Khalil, who was detained last year by ICE for over three months for his role as lead negotiator at Columbia University's Gaza Solidarity Encampments, urged the students to keep building the movement for Palestine, assuring them, "History remembers those who speak up."

This year marked the third People’s Commencement at Stanford, organized by students and activist groups.

[BreakThrough News @BTnewsroom]

BREAKING: Stanford University graduates staged a walkout during Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s keynote address at commencement Sunday.

The walkout was organized by Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid as a protest against Google’s contracts with the IDF, Dept. of Homeland Security, and ICE.

[Zachary Foster @_ZachFoster]

Stanford graduates chant "Free Palestine" waving Palestinian flags as they walk out on Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai as he beings his commencement speech. Absolutely epic.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

JUST IN: This Is A Pretty Stunning Observation.

Trump is celebrating a new Iran agreement centered on a commitment that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon.

According to ABC's Jonathan Karl, that same commitment appeared in the very first paragraph of President Obama's nuclear deal more than a decade ago.

Think about that.

First came Obama's agreement.

Then Trump tore it up.

Now Trump is celebrating an agreement built around the same core promise.

[Nora Barrows-Friedman @norabf]

Extraordinary essay by @maryturfah in @thebafflermag

[julie k. brown @jkbjournalist]

(gift article) Inside Epstein's campaign to influence public opinion https://t.co/8GQyaZLRgG

[Alec Karakatsanis @equalityAlec]

The most urgent lesson from my book and my several years of studying propaganda is this: it's imperative that you get every well-meaning person you care about in your life to stop consuming mainstream news. There is a relentless war to shape people's brains so that they are okay with a world of enormous but preventable suffering and resigned to a world with nowhere near as much flourishing as human beings deserve.

[Dr. Ghada Sasa, PhD 🇵🇸 @drghadasasa]

Herzliya was named after the founder of political Zionism Theodor Herzl. It was built over the lands of three Palestinian villages that were ethnically cleansed & destroyed by Israel in 1948: Ijlil al-Shamaliyya, Ijlil al-Qibliyya, & al-Haram (Sayyiduna 'Ali). 1/

[brian b.dot™️ miller @bdotTM]

this looks like when they tried to integrate schools in the south.

[Nick Cleveland-Stout @nick_clevelands]

The Israeli government has hired Daniel Rosenberg, the producer of Spike Lee’s “Inside Man,” on a $900,000 contract to produce pro-Israel social media content to “influence the U.S. public.”

Rosenberg’s firm, Piro, set to hire a director and hold casting for on-camera talent.

[Alec Karakatsanis @equalityAlec]

I cannot get this New York Times headline from yesterday out of my head. One important form of propaganda is subtly lying about who is the attacking aggressor and who is framed as merely “responding.”

[Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf 🌏 🦣 @rahmstorf]

For thirty years of my career studying this, I considered the #AMOC tipping risk a high impact but low probability risk for the future of humanity.
Recently I've changed my mind.
Here I explain why. ⬇️
https://t.co/DfLsJ5ezCb

[Democracy Now! @democracynow]

Author Quinn Slobodian says Elon Musk's business empire and his work for the Trump administration are intimately connected.

DOGE was not about demolishing the government, but a way to "refashion and reformat" it so that Musk and his companies become "an indispensable part of the infrastructure."