Twitter allowed Taliban to tweet but censored me: Trump appeals to court

Former US President Donald Trump has appealed to a federal judge in Florida to force Twitter to restore his account, Reuters reported.

Donald Trump's Twitter account was permanently suspended in January this year after the Capitol Hill riots on January 6. Other social media companies followed suit and took action against him.

In July, Donald Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google, as well as their chief executives. He alleged that their action against him was unlawful. In Florida, Trump filed a request for a preliminary injunction against Twitter and argued that Twitter was coerced by US Congress members to suspend his account.

Twitter "exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate," Trump's lawyers stated.

Importantly, Donald Trump argued in his filing that Twitter had allowed the Taliban to tweet regularly but censored him. He claimed that Twitter censored him even during his presidency by labelling his tweets as "misleading information" or indicating they violated the company's rules against "glorifying violence", Reuters reported.

On January 8, Twitter had said that after a close review of the recent tweets from Donald Trump's account, the company took the decision to permanently suspend the account due to the risk of further "incitement of violence".

"Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks," Twitter had said.

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/twitter-taliban-censor-donald-trump-appeals-court-1860123-2021-10-03

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Google is accused of authoritarian behavior after announcing it will ban climate change deniers from making money from their YouTube sites

Google was accused of authoritarian behavior after announcing YouTubers who deny climate change will be banned from making money on the tech giant's platforms.

In a controversial statement issued Thursday, Google, which owns YouTube, announced that advertisers and publishers, as well as YouTube creators, will be prohibited from making ad revenue off content that contradicts 'well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change,' Axios reported.

'This includes content referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.'

The company said it decided to ban climate change deniers from making money off its platforms in response to frustration from advertisers and content creators about their messages appearing alongside that of climate deniers.

The announcement came one day after CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled a new suite of tools that gives users more information about how they could cut their greenhouse gases +5
The announcement came one day after CEO Sundar Pichai unveiled a new suite of tools that gives users more information about how they could cut their greenhouse gases

'Advertisers simply don't want their ads to appear next to this content,' the company said in a statement. 'And publishers and creators don't want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos.'

But the move was deemed authoritarian by anti-woke author Vivek Ramaswamy as fears grow that tech giants are censoring non-progressive views.

He tweeted: 'Big Tech has spoken: It’s time to end the debate about climate change.'

Tech firms including Google, Facebook and Twitter have repeatedly been accused of censoring conservative voices online, many of whom take a more skeptical outlook on climate change.

Google and YouTube will prevent anyone who denies climate change from monetizing their platforms with ads or creator payments under a new policy

To evaluate which content is deemed inappropriate, employees 'will look carefully at the context in which the claims are made, differentiating between content that states a false claim as a fact, versus content that reports on or discusses that claim.'

The company added that it has consulted with representatives of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment reports to create the policy, and will use a combination of automated tools and human review to enforce the new policy - which goes into effect next month.

The announcement comes just one day after the company unveiled a new suite of tools that give users more information about ways to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, with Google Maps now showing users the most eco-friendly route to get somewhere.

It will default to that route when the estimated travel time is comparable to other fuel-intensive options.

The program was developed in partnership with the United States Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, and uses metrics like road congestion and incline.

'We believe this feature will have the same impact next year as taking over 200,000 cars off the road,' said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a video announcement.

Additionally, he said, Google Flights is now displaying the carbon emissions of various flight options - taking into account the type of plane used, the route and the seating options, as first and business class seats have a higher greenhouse gas footprint than a coach seat because they take up more room.

And the company's hotel search feature now shows if a hotel has made sustainability commitments and whether they have eco certifications from independent organizations.

The company is also designing a new landing page for when people search for 'climate change' and other basic climate science and policy terms to show the 'most reliable' information from neutral organizations, according to Axios.

It is all part of the company's goal to enable a 'billion sustainable actions' by 2022.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10070335/Google-YouTube-ban-climate-change-deniers-monetizing-content-platforms.html

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