What A Day

Facebook is in the crosshairs after a drumbeat of stories over the last few weeks all stemming from a set of documents called the Facebook Papers. Some of those documents detailed how the company prioritized engagement over user safety, and described its failure to moderate hate speech and misinformation across the world. We spoke to Mike Isaac, a tech correspondent at the New York Times who has been wading through all of this.

And in headlines: cyclones drenched the East and West Coasts, Congressional Democrats rushed to finalize the details of the climate and social policy bill, and Disneyland raised its prices this week.

Show Notes:

NYT: Mike Isaac – https://www.nytimes.com/by/mike-isaac

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram were offline for six hours yesterday in what’s been called the most sustained and the largest outage for the company in recent memory. It came a day after CBS aired an interview with a Facebook whistleblower, and on the same day the company filed a dismissal in an anti-trust lawsuit by the federal government.

The latest Supreme Court term began, yesterday, and there is a lot to keep our eyes on with the current 6-3 conservative majority. The court is going to hear arguably the most important 2nd Amendment case since at least 2008, possibly the most impactful reproductive health ruling in decades, and more.

And in headlines: union members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees voted to authorize a strike, Senate Republicans vow to not raise the country’s debt ceiling, and Clint Eastwood won a $6.1 million lawsuit against a CBD company.

Show Notes:

Washington Post: “Facebook apps coming back online after widespread outage” – https://wapo.st/3BcQ3Wu

Wall Street Journal: “​​The Facebook Whistleblower, Frances Haugen, Says She Wants to Fix the Company, Not Harm It” – https://on.wsj.com/3AcO8zE

Balls and Strikes – https://ballsandstrikes.org/

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Los Angeles County reimposed mask mandates this weekend for everyone indoors in a public space because the Delta variant is causing cases and hospitalization rates to climb. Last week, the seven-day average of cases in the U.S. went up by almost 70 percent in a single week.

The Biden administration kicked off a public war against social media companies last week regarding their inaction on the spread of COVID misinformation, and Facebook responded with a blog post that accused the White House of "finger pointing."

And in headlines: extreme floods in Germany have left at least 189 people dead, a federal judge in Texas ruled against DACA, and a new report on the reach of Pegasus spyware.

Show Notes:

NYT: “The Pandemic Has a New Epicenter: Indonesia” – https://nyti.ms/3ex2yCU

The Guardian: “Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people, report finds” – https://bit.ly/3ksXl2M

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

Scientists in South Africa announced on Thursday that they detected a new variant of the coronavirus: Omicron. Cases caused by the variant have been identified in almost a dozen countries, but not yet in the U.S. Epidemiologist and host of “America Dissected” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed gives us a better sense of what we know and the much bigger amount of things we don’t.

And in headlines: Ghislaine Maxwell’s federal trial starts today, legendary Black fashion designer Virgil Abloh died after battling cancer, and South Korea announced plans to build its own metaverse.

Show Notes:

Washington Post: “Officials: Variants ‘haunt’ world with vaccine imbalance between rich and poor nations” – https://wapo.st/3lgDGTp

Politico: “Omicron raises concerns about global vaccine equity and hesitancy” – https://politi.co/3lhIDLr

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

On the same day Facebook announced the launch of “Horizon Workrooms,” a virtual reality app for remote work meetings, the Federal Trade Commission filed an updated antitrust suit against the company. The FTC argues that Facebook tried to maintain a monopoly in the social media sphere through acquisitions of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and lessened the ability of contending apps like Vine to compete. Previously, a federal judge said the FTC failed to prove its contention that Facebook holds a monopoly, but with new FTC chair Lina Khan heading the more detailed suit this time around, Facebook may be forced to break up.

House Democrats introduced HR 4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is expected to be taken up by Congress next week. HR 4 is less sweeping than HR 1, the For the People Act, but contains measures that reinstate oversight powers of the Voting Rights Act, and make it easier for courts and observers to block election law changes. Though HR 4 is more limited, only one Republican in the Senate, Lisa Murkowski, is likely to support it, which means Democrats need nine more Republicans to bypass the filibuster.

And in headlines: Taliban members go door-to-door to hunt U.S. allies, OnlyFans bans sexually explicit videos, and Sha’carri Richardson returns to the track.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday