Happy Tuesday. Here's your Tuesday Tech Drop, the previous week's high tales from the intersection of politics and the all-inclusive world of expertise.
Musk's Minions
Republicans in Congress are already arduous at work doing billionaire Elon Musk’s bidding, in nearly the most literal approach attainable. On Monday, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee announced an investigation into the Federal Communications Commission’s 2022 choice to not award a virtually $900 million bid for Musk’s Starlink to offer broadband web to rural areas.
The transfer comes after Musk, a staunch Trump supporter, used his social media platform X to assert that the authorities’s choice to not grant Starlink the bid was “illegal” and value lives in North Carolina. In one other tweet, he promoted false claims — later amplified by Donald Trump — that the authorities was stopping Starlink servers from being delivered to victims of Hurricane Helene.
A Monday letter from the House Oversight Committee to the FCC calls for paperwork for a probe on whether or not the FCC’s choice “followed established processes and is not improperly using the regulatory process for political purposes.”
In 2022, the FCC said the decision was because Starlink didn’t meet its internet speed requirements. And the company stood by that decision in a statement last December. But Republicans appear wanting to bow to Musk each alternative attainable. One can solely think about the degree of fealty he’ll possible be paid if Trump wins the presidency in November.
AI and the First Amendment
California’s effort to curtail the use of election-related deepfakes was halted final week when a federal choose paused a regulation meant to crack down on the misleading movies. The pause adopted a conservative influencer’s declare that California’s regulation, Assembly Bill 2839, violated the First Amendment.
Read extra at the Los Angeles Times.
States sue TikTok
Thirteen states and the District of Columbia are suing TikTok, alleging the app is dangerous to younger folks and has been used intentionally to hook them with “addictive” options. TikTok responded in a public statement, saying, “We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading.”
Read extra at CNBC.
A storm of antisemitism
Jewish officers engaged on the response to Hurricane Helene have confronted antisemitic attacks online as right-wingers have unfold vile conspiracy theories suggesting that nefarious figures are enjoying some sort of function in worsening the hurricane’s fallout.
Antisemitic conspiracy theories accusing Jewish folks in North Carolina of orchestrating Hurricane Helene are spreading like wildfire on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, in keeping with a brand new report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
Read the report here.
Clinton's social media issues
In a current interview on CNN, Hillary Clinton got here out in assist of stricter regulation of social media corporations that enable dangerous content material to be posted on their platform. Clinton, who is aware of from expertise how social media misinformation can affect politics, has been outspoken about the need to combat this misinformation lately.
CBP One lies
I lately wrote about Republicans like Trump, Musk and Ohio Sen. JD Vance spreading lies about the immigration app CBP One to stoke worry and anger towards immigrants as early voting is underway.
Read extra right here.
