On March 14th 2017 Donald Trump’s administration demanded that Twitter reveal the identities of one of its users. Not because of a potential link to extremists, not because of a credible threat to the American people, not even because there was evidence linking them to a crime. No, the President of the United States wanted twitter to hand over the details of a user because they were critical of him. Thankfully, Twitter thwarted the administrations attempt and Trump was forced to back down and withdraw his demand.
The user in question, @ALT_USCIS, anonymously criticized the Trump administration and claimed to be run by federal employees at the United States Citizenship and immigration services. The original court summons demanded that Twitter hand over “all records regarding the twitter account @ALT_USCIS to include, user names, account login, phone numbers, mailing addresses, and IP (computer) addresses”. By the 13th of March 2017, a day before twitter had received the document. The government bizarrely justified it’s actions by citing a law relating to the import of merchandise.
Alt-Immigration’s avatar
Twitter then sued the government, arguing that summon was fundamentally unlawful as the demand for information did not fit with the law that the government is citing. They also raised the concern that handing over the information requested would lead to a “grave and chilling effect” on free speech and First amendment rights. A day after Twitter’s case went public the government has withdrawn the summons request.
This is not just about our account. This is about all twitter users whether you agree with our view point or not. #WeAreAltGov #resist
— ALT Immigration (@ALT_uscis) April 7, 2017
@ALT-USCIS is part of a number of “alternative” twitter accounts set up in response to Trump’s gagging of official federal accounts. They are part of the #WeAreAltGov movement, a collection of Twitter accounts that are critical of Trumps administration and claim to be run by employees of the Federal Government.
This is another example of Trump’s sensitivity to criticism and if I can be frank for a moment? The fact that a President of one of the worlds largest democracies is so thin skinned that he is willing to violate the fundamental rights of free speech is utterly appalling to me and I am not even American. It is the sort of move that one would expect from a tin-pot dictator. Not the supposed leader of the free world.
Twitter was right to stand up for its users and we should all be thankful that it has done so. Whatever your political beliefs, whether you support Trump or not, the government should never be allowed to stifle its critics. That is how democracies slip into dictatorship.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with Republican lawmakers who will probably lead committees that regulate the tech sector.
Republican representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Darrel Issa of California, and Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington are among those with whom Cook has booked meetings.
The meetings were probably planned several weeks, if not months, beforehand. Top conservatives have criticized Apple since the beginning, and many of them have joined with Twitter CEO Elon Musk in their recent dispute with Apple.
Jordan has publicly expressed his support for Elon Musk, as Bloomberg notes.
When the GOP wins over the House in 2023, Jordan is also set to serve as chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chairman is most likely to be McMorris Rodgers.
They both will play a key role in developing the GOP’s technology policy agenda for 2023.
What is particularly on the agenda is unclear. Even when he is not called to testify about big tech, Cook travels to Washington, DC, on several occasions each year.
The goal is to make sure marginalized people are considered in environmental decisions.
According to Reuters, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a new office to assist underserved communities in coping with the additional responsibilities of pollution and climate change. 200 EPA workers from the Washington headquarters and 10 regional bureaus will work in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
“The establishment of a new office dedicated to advancing environmental justice and civil rights at EPA will ensure the lived experiences of underserved communities are central to our decision-making while supporting community-driven solutions,” remarked Kamala Harris, vice president of the US.
As part of a $60 billion investment in environmental justice, one of the main responsibilities of the new office will be to supervise the distribution of $3 billion in grants for environmental justice that were made possible by the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, it will ensure that other EPA initiatives adhere to President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that 40% of certain government spending go to underserved communities. Finally, it will assist localities in obtaining funds, upholding human rights legislation, and resolving environmental disputes.
The opening of the new office took place in Warren County, North Carolina, the scene of demonstrations against the disposal of toxic waste there in 1982. While the 22-acre dump was not stopped as a result of the civil disobedience actions and arrests that followed, the current environmental justice movement was born. Participants remembered the protests’ 40th anniversary last week.
The competition between Pewdiepie and T-Series has been going on for quite a while. I say this mostly because if Pewdiepie was in the middle of a smear campaign, I would certainly believe that it was all a ploy by T-Series in order to make him lose popularity. However, it seems like T-Series doesn’t have to do much as Pewdiepie is no stranger to getting himself into trouble.
So, what did Pewdiepie do this time? Well, in his most recent edition of “Pew News,” a semi-satirical series where Pewds offers his own take on news events or YouTube discussions, he dedicates the last portion of the video to shouting out smaller YouTube creators he enjoys watching. One of those creators is E;R (otherwise known as “EsemicolonR”), an essayist who often includes anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic, and cruel language in his videos.
At least that’s what TheVerge and so many outlets/other YouTubers are saying. I took a look at E;R’s content and saw mostly meme videos about political stuff. The guy even made a tribute to Tay AI. You can see a whole documentary made about this by Internet Historian down below:
However, the subjects tackled in the videos can be a bit more problematic because of the current political climate with Pewdiepie. As such, we can assume that a lot of people don’t find this very funny and even reprehensible. Especially when the US is caught in the middle of tension thanks to laws like FOSTA, which are an indirect cause of Tumblr’s collapse right now.
Ever since Pewdiepie has made the shoutout, the channel has gained over 15,000 Subscribers. Of course, this also means that the ire of the people who are against him has risen even more. As such, we’re in this situation where Pewdiepie has gotten himself into trouble yet again despite knowing that the current situation is tense. I guess some people will never learn.
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