The 208th Block: The objectivity dilemma
(At least some of) the kids are alright.
This week…
Your reading time is about 6 minutes. Let’s start.
There are a few articles published over the past week or so about how the looming TikTok ban in the U.S. will affect ___ industry. The argument about protecting teens and personal data is weak because that’s a problem for any social media platform. The erosion of these platforms’ functionality is worse; everywhere you click on Meta’s platform or XTwitter, there’s someone’s “🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱 IN BIO.”
Dress it however you want, the U.S. Senate move to force a TikTok sale is because its parent company ByteDance is China-based. But as Arizona State University’s Sarah Florini argued, banning TikTok won’t solve social media’s foreign influence, teen harm, or data privacy problems (article below).
After the 2020s Huawei ban in large parts of the Western hemisphere, and with TikTok potentially facing a similar fate, drone manufacturer DJI is also bracing for a wider U.S. clampdown on Chinese-owned companies, launching a trust centre to detail how their drones deal with user data.
Whether in retaliation, or complete coincidence, China ordered Apple to remove WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram from its app store—apps that aren’t popular compared to local equivalents in China, to begin with.
And now, a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ICYMI: The Previous Block was on personal data exchange, shaping AI’s language, and influencer media. CORRECTION NOTICE: None notified. APP CRACKDOWN
Apple’s censorship in China is just the tip of the iceberg
Mathew Ingram for CJR:
Last week, the Chinese government ordered Apple to remove several widely used messaging apps—WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram—from its app store. According to the Wall Street Journal, these apps have about three billion users globally, and have been downloaded more than a hundred and seventy million times in China since 2017. In a statement, Apple said that it was told to remove the apps because of “national security concerns,” adding that it is “obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree.” Although new downloads are now blocked, some reports said that Chinese users who had already installed the apps were still able to use them, though doing so requires the use of a virtual private network, or VPN, to get around the country’s “Great Firewall.”
Tit for tat. Loosely linked:
Banning TikTok won’t solve social media’s foreign influence, teen harm and data privacy problems by Sarah Florini (Arizona State University) for The Conversation.
The TikTok ban is bigger than just ByteDance by Russel Brandom for Rest of World.
TikTok may be banned in the US. Here’s what happened when India did it by Krutika Pathi for AP.
Russian court sentences Meta spokesperson to six years in absentia by Reuters.
Why is Elon Musk feuding with Australia and Brazil over free speech? by Erin Hale for Al Jazeera.
BAD PRESS
The rise of CNews and the making of France’s far-right media empire
Christopher Clark for The Dial:
This kind of incendiary commentary at the nexus of crime, immigration and identity politics is CNews’s bread and butter. Since its launch in early 2017, it has helped the channel gain a reputation as France’s answer to Fox News. It is a simple recipe that has seen CNews’s audience share more than triple since its debut. Today, it boasts more than eight million daily viewers, according to Mediametrie, a company that compiles French television ratings; its audience is predominantly male and over-60. At the beginning of December 2023, just two weeks after the Crépol killing, for the first time in its short history, CNews became the most-watched news channel over the course of an entire week. It repeated the feat in mid-February this year during the country’s farmers’ protests. These numbers highlight the channel’s increasing power to direct the currents of national debate; it was recently reported that Macron and some of his closest advisors are now regular viewers, as they seek to keep up with hot button issues on the right.
Loosely linked:
The Finnish fabulist: When a reporter confesses to making things up, what’s a newspaper to do? by Laura Kukkonen for CJR.
“Objectivity” in journalism is a tricky concept. What could replace it? by Jonathan Stray for Nieman Lab.
The petty feud between the NYT and the White House by Eli Stokols for Politico.
Reporting in India ‘too difficult’ under Modi, says departing Australian journalist by Kate Lyons for The Guardian.
BAD AI
Netflix uses seemingly AI-manipulated images in true crime doc
Victor Tangermann for Futurism:
Netflix has used what strongly appears to be AI-generated or -manipulated images in a recent documentary about a murder-for-hire plot involving a woman named Jennifer Pan that took place in Canada back in 2010.
The streaming service used the photos to illustrate her “bubbly, happy, confident, and very genuine” personality, as high school friend Nam Nguyen described her.
The images that appear around the 28-minute mark of Netflix’s What Jennifer Did, have all the hallmarks of an AI-generated photo, down to mangled hands and fingers, misshapen facial features, morphed objects in the background, and a far-too-long front tooth.
Loosely linked:
Netflix true crime producer responds to AI allegations in What Jennifer Did documentary by Victor Tangermann for Futurism.
Catholic group defrocks AI priest after it gave strange answers by Noor Al-Sibai for Futurism.
From shrimp Jesus to fake self-portraits, AI-generated images have become the latest form of social media spam by Renee DiResta (Stanford University), Abhiram Reddy (Georgetown University), and Josh A. Goldstein (Georgetown University) for The Conversation.
Chatbots providing ‘unintentional’ misinformation ahead of EU elections by Anna Desmarais for Euronews.
What I read, listen, and watch…
I’m reading A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022) by Becky Chambers, the second book in the charming Monk & Robot series exploring what people need.
I’m listening to Ed Zitron’s Better Offline about the man who purportedly ruined Google Search for the rest of us…
I’m watching Andrew Chang explain why Vietnamese property tycoon Trương Mỹ Lan has been sentenced to death on CBC’s About That.
Other curious links, including en español et français:
Here are the Gaza encampment college protests we know about so far by Julianne McShane for Mother Jones.
Grindr sued for allegedly revealing users’ HIV status by Tom Singleton and Imran Rahman-Jones for BBC.
What journalists and independent creators can learn from each other by Neel Dhanesha for Nieman Lab.
Do you speak a ‘big’ global language? Here’s what my tiny language can teach you by Ana Schnabl for The Guardian.
Canadian banks need to do more to stop abusive e-transfers, survivors say by Katie Nicholson and Victoria Stunt for CBC.
Por qué la Europol quiere que WhatsApp acabe con el cifrado de extremo a extremo por R. Badillo en El Confidencial.
Erdogan lanza su brazo mediático en español para atacar a Occidente en América Latina por Marcos Lema en El Confidencial.
Le Monde et les présidents de la Vᵉ République, entre contre-pouvoir et soutien par Raphaëlle Bacqué dans Le Monde.
Une formation pour lutter contre la désinformation ($) par Constance Cazzaniga dans La Presse.
Chart of the week
How generative AI chatbots respond when asked for the latest news, according to new research by Richard Fletcher, Marina Adami, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen for Reuters Institute:
And one more thing
Remember the fake news factory BNN Breaking? (Not to be confused with BNN Bloomberg or BNO News.) Long story short, they are Trimfeed News now.
