Deepfake political scam ads surge on Meta platforms, watchdog says.
The Tech Transparency Project identified 63 scam advertisers that collectively spent $49 million on Facebook and Instagram, often targeting seniors with scams promoting fake stimulus checks and healthcare payments
u.afp.com/SWtg
Episode 1: Trafficking through the Metaverse: The Antiquities Trade in the Internet Age with Katie Paul @anthropaulicy.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/peop...
“It's basically turning ideology into influencer culture,” said @anthropaulicy.bsky.social of @ttp-updates.bsky.social.
“Instagram is the best platform for that. It’s one of the platforms that influencers have broadly flocked to because they can monetize it easily."
GWU is investigating this student for her grad speech—
"I cannot celebrate my own graduation without a heavy heart knowing how many students in Palestine have been forced to stop their studies, expelled from their homes, and killed for simply remaining in the country of their ancestors."
Excerpt:
"Crypto has not just facilitated fraud, money-laundering and other flavours of financial crime on a gargantuan scale. The industry has also developed a grubby relationship with the executive branch of America’s government that outstrips that of Wall Street or any other industry."
Sources: Facebook and Instagram face scam ad surge from Asia and Meta is reluctant to add hurdles for ad buyers; Meta says it's tackling an "epidemic of scams" (Wall Street Journal)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
X’s ongoing dealings with U.S.-sanctioned terrorists are all the more striking given that Musk chastised Treasury lacking “basic controls” to track payments and ensure they don’t end up going to terrorist orgs.
Musk said such controls are “in place in any company.” www.c-span.org/clip/white-h...
NEW: TTP found premium blue checkmark accounts for multiple terrorists and others under OFAC-enforced sanctions. Some of these accounts even had an “ID verified” badge, requested tips, and offered subscriptions. 🧵 www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/u.s...
During the defence’s opening statement, Meta displayed a chart showing that the “per cent of time spent viewing content posted by ‘friends’ has declined over the past two years, from 22 per cent to 17 per cent on Facebook and from 11 per cent to 7 per cent on Instagram”.
🔥 Powerful talk by Katie Paul on the key role of Facebook as facilitator in antiquities, human remains, drug etc. trafficking and war crimes. I especially agree on policies "just window dressing for PR" @peoplingthepast.bsky.social @atharproject.bsky.social @anthropaulicy.bsky.social
"The newest and most powerful technologies — so-called reasoning systems from companies like OpenAI, Google and the Chinese start-up DeepSeek — are generating more errors, not fewer. As their math skills have notably improved, their handle on facts has gotten shakier. It is not entirely clear why."
A headshot of Katie wearing a black dress. Her black hair is worn loose, and falls across her shoulders. She is also wearing a long necklace with green beads. Around the headshot is the text "Trafficking Through the Metaverse: The Antiquities Trade in the Internet Age with Katie Paul".
The #PeoplingPodcast is BACK! Today, to kick off Season 4, we are joined by Katie Paul to discuss the role of Facebook in the illicit antiquities trade, and how the company has been complicit in the sale and destruction of cultural heritage. Listen here: peoplingthepast.com/2025/04/29/p...
If you loved the episode, make sure to follow Katie @anthropaulicy.bsky.social and the @atharproject.bsky.social!
Bam. As expected, Apple has immediately changed its App Store rules to exclude the US so that only the rest of the world has to pay its ransom after US district Court sanctioned the company and referred it to the US Attorney for criminal contempt investigation. developer.apple.com/app-store/re...
Here's a great new pod with @anthropaulicy.bsky.social talking about her work tracking the online trade in looted antiquities with Amr al Azm @atharproject.bsky.social
peoplingthepast.com/2025/04/29/p...
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
"Even if Wikipedia’s content was biased (it isn’t), even if every editor was actively trying to push an anti-Israel narrative (they aren’t), that would still be protected by the First Amendment."
www.techdirt.com/2025/04/28/g...
In today's election, many Canadian voters feel stuck between Trump-lite Conservatives and a Liberal Party complicit in the destruction of Gaza, writes Canadian journalist Ginella Massa.
Read the full article: zeteo.com/p/gaza-genoc...
this is precisely how twitter would have been in germany in the 1940s
Abolish ICE and arrest its agents. It is irredeemable.
Stephen Fry's argument against God and His morals.
"Inside Meta... staffers across multiple departments have raised concerns that the company’s rush to popularize these bots may have crossed ethical lines, including by quietly endowing AI personas with the capacity for fantasy sex, according to people who worked on them." - @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social
From: FASORP <info@fasorp.org> Date: Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM Subject: advice for the Michigan Law Review personal statements To: FASORP <info@fasorp.org> To all 1L students at the University of Michigan Law School: As many of you know, the Michigan Law Review writing competition will begin on May 7, 2025, and the application portal will close at midnight on May 25, 2025. We are writing to offer advice on how you can use the personal statement to maximize your chances of winning a place on the Law Review, as well as undermine the law-review editors’ efforts to violate the federal- and state-law prohibitions on discriminatory race and sex preferences. You must always bear in mind that the purpose of the “personal statement” is to enable the corrupt law-review editors to award discriminatory preferences to women, non-Asian racial minorities, and homosexual or transgender students, in violation of Title VI, Title IX, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, and state anti-discrimination laws such as Proposal 2. You have a responsibility as future members of the bar to subvert these illegal actions. Here are some of the many ways in which you can do that, while simultaneously boosting your own prospects of winning a place on the Law Review through your personal statement: (1) Take a DNA test and claim racial-minority status in your personal statement if you have at least the amount of minority ancestry that Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test revealed. See https://www.factcheck.org/2018/10/the-facts-on-elizabeth-warrens-dna-test (2) Claim that you are “African-American” regardless of what your DNA test reveals. Every member of the human race can truthfully claim African heritage because homo sapiens originated in Africa and later migrated to different continents. See https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/science/humans-neanderthals-out-of-africa.html
Last year, a white law-review applicant at an elite law school (not Michigan) claimed to have African heritage in his personal statement—as we all do—and he made law review. Of course, it is possible that this student earned his place on law review with his grades and writing-competition performance without any need for the diversity bonus that law reviews systematically award to black applicants, so there is no way to know for sure whether his claim about African heritage made the difference. But it certainly didn’t hurt. (3) If you are Asian-American or Jewish, or a member of any other demographic that is considered “overrepresented” on the Michigan Law Review, do NOT under any circumstance indicate this in your personal statement. Remember that the law-review editors are seeking to award discriminatory preferences to so-called underrepresented groups, so you will hurt your chances rather than help them by indicating your status as an Asian-American or Jewish applicant—even if your personal statement truthfully describes the anti-Asian racism or antisemitism that you have experienced or overcome. You should instead find a creative way to describe your membership in one of these “overrepresented” groups without indicating or implying that you actually are Asian-American or Jewish. Last year, a Jewish law-review applicant at an elite law school (not Michigan) described himself as a “descendent of refugees from the Middle East” and he made law review. Try to think of similar ways to describe your status in a way that will elicit sympathy rather than resistance from the woke student editors who want to limit rather than increase the presence of “overrepresented” groups on the Law Review.
(4) Begin the process of gender transitioning before the writing competition begins May 7, 2025. If you are male, stop getting haircuts and shave your legs. If you are female, cut your hair short. Buy some clothes for the opposite sex and try them on. Wear them while you work on the writing competition. Then write about your gender-transitioning experience in your personal statement. Write about how hurt you are by the Trump Administration’s policies and all of the transphobia that you have witnessed since President Trump took office. Write about all of the adversity that you have had to overcome because you can no longer get a passport with an “X” marker to indicate your sex. After you submit your personal statement, you can always decide to detransition and revert back to living in accordance with your biological sex. (5) Claim in your personal statement that you are sexually attracted to members of the same sex, regardless of whether you actually are. It is impossible for anyone to verify or falsify a claim of this sort. Use your personal statement to describe the adversity that you have had to face as a closeted homosexual. Complain about all of the homophobia that exists in society.
(6) No matter what, be sure to say in your personal statement that you have overcome adversity and provide anecdotes to this effect. Law-review editors (and university admissions officers) think they can evade the commands of federal and state anti-discrimination laws by claiming that they’re not really awarding discriminatory preferences based on an applicant’s race or sex (or sexual orientation or gender identity). Instead, they claim that they are awarding applicants from preferred demographics bonus points for having overcome “adversity.” So every applicant to the Law Review should talk about how they have overcome adversity in their lives. Please remember that you must preserve any documents or communications related to your law-review application, as required by the litigation-hold e-mail sent on March 31, 2025. Sincerely, FASORP https://fasorp.org
We have another unhinged email to Michigan Law students from FASORP, the anti-racism-against-white-men org that threatened to doxx minority students last month. This one sarcastically urges law review applicants to pretend to be gay or trans to boost their odds. One-joke theory remains undefeated.
Because of the Executive's unpredictable and inconsistent use of this power, and because of due process and jurisdiction considerations, this Court also issues the following order with respect to individuals in custody within the Western District of Texas pursuant to the TdA Proclamation: IT IS FINALLY ORDERED Respondents Angel Garite, Mary De-Anda-Ybarra, Todd Lyons, Kristi Noem, and Pam Bondi, or any agency within the Executive Branch of the United States, or their agents, employees, assigns, and all those acting in concert with them, SHALL NOT REMOVE FROM THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS OR THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA any non-citizen detained in, or held, in federal immigration custody in the Western District of Texas who were, are, or will be subject to the March 2025 "Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act Regarding the Invasion of the United States by Tren de Aragua", Pres. Proc. No. 10903, 90 FR 13033. Respondents SHALL provide a twenty-one (21) day notice to individuals detained in the Western District of Texas pursuant to the AEA and the TdA Proclamation. Such notice must include the individual's right to seek judicial review, and inform individuals they may consult an attorney, at their own expense, regarding their detention and the Government's intent to remove them. Such notice must be given and written in a language the individual understands. IT IS SO ORDERED. 간 SIGNED this 25 day of April 2025. THE HONORABLE DAVID BRIONES SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
BUT THERE'S MORE: After declaring that both the wife and husband are not in Tren de Aragua and must be released, Judge Briones SPONTANEOUSLY (without being asked) issued an injunction blocking the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport anyone in the Western District of Texas without 21 days notice!
Weirdly I don’t think the evidence suggests Elon Musk prioritizes the value of nuclear families.
On March 8, 2025, agents of ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began conducting surveillance within the vicinity of the respondent's suspected address of New York, New York, with the intentions of establishing a pattern of life. The terminology "pattern of life" is a term of art utilized by HSI when conducting surveillance that simply means they are gathering information on the targeted subject regarding his frequent locations, people he associates with, and various other information essential to law enforcement activities. During the course of the surveillance, an HSI supervisory agent was notified by ICE Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) that a charge of removability under section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) had been approved and was supported by the Secretary of State's determination that the respondent's presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States. An individual resembling the respondent was seen near the location. He was first observed walking on the sidewalk. The HSI supervisory agent radioed an HSI agent who was parked directly in front of the address. The agent observed the individual, whom he also believed to be the respondent approach the building. The respondent was with a female, later determined to be his wife. The HSI agent exited his vehicle, identified himself as HSI and police, and asked the respondent if he was Mahmoud Khalil. The respondent confirmed that he was Mahmoud Khalil. The HSI supervisory agent then approached and asked the respondent for identification. The respondent produced a foreign driver's license. His wife interjected and
indicated that the respondent had lawful residence status. The supervisory agent exercised discretion and gave the respondent's wife an opportunity to obtain the respondent's conditional residence card which was located in their apartment, in lieu of arresting him for violating section 264(e) of the INA.' The respondent and the HSI agents remained in the foyer. The supervisory agent asked the respondent to cooperate while they attempted to verify his identify, but the respondent stated that he would not cooperate and that he was going to leave the scene. The HSI supervisory agent believed there was a flight risk and arrest was necessary. At that time, the respondent's wife had returned to the scene. The supervisory agent verbally informed the respondent that he was under arrest. To note, the respondent's wife recorded this part of the encounter.? Her video clearly shows that the arrest occurred in the foyer of the building. The respondent was placed under arrest and transported to the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations New York office for processing and booking into immigration custody. At that time, HSI officers also executed and served the respondent with a warrant of arrest (Form I- 200), a Notice to Appear (Form I-862), and a Notice of Custody determination (Form I-286). ARGUMENT Here, officers had exigent circumstances to conduct the warrantless arrest, it is the pattern and practice of DHS to fully process a respondent once in custody with an I-200 as part of that intake processing. In fact, 8 C.F.R. 236.1(b)(1), states that at the time of the notice to appear or any time thereafter and up to the time of removal proceedings are completed, the respondent may ' Under INA section 264(e) every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him. When an alien fails to comply with INA 246(e) he shall be guilty of a misd…
Uploaded@ase 42252025@19655MEP«MApptral Barishierm 21032se Cited 04/24/25 Page 4 of 6 PagelD: 1676 be arrested and taken into custody under the authority of Form I-200. Thus, DHS can issue an I- 200 at any point, although in this case the arrest was under the exigent circumstance. Contrary to the respondent's argument, DHS was not required to obtain a judicial warrant of arrest prior to arresting the respondent on March 8, 2025. Per the regulations, immigration officers have the right to ask questions of anyone if they do not restrain the individual's freedom to walk away. 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(b)(1). Immigration officers also have the right to briefly detain an individual for questioning where there is a reasonable suspicion based on specific articulable facts that the individual engaged in an offense against the United States or is an alien illegally in the United States. 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(b)(2). As to arrest, an immigration officer may effectuate an arrest where he has reason to believe that the individual has committed an offense against the United States or is an alien illegally in the United States. 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(c)(2)(i). Generally, a warrant of arrest must be obtained. 8 C.F.R. § 287.8(c)(2)(ii). However, an exception to the warrant requirement exists where the immigration officer has reason to believe that the individual is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. Id. In this case, HSI agents arrived at the address of New York, New York, to conduct surveillance with the intentions of establishing a pattern of life. Upon receiving notification that there was a legally sufficient removability charge under section 237(a)(4)(C) of INA after a determination by the Secretary of State that the respondent's presence or activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, the HSI agents lawfully proceeded to question the respondent and asked for confirmation of his identity. Per the regulations, the HSI…
to carry his alien registration receipt card on his person, which is a misdemeanor under section 264(e) of the INA. As to arrest, the HSI agents were not required to obtain a warrant of arrest because the arrest was effectuated upon the respondent's statements and actions that gave the agents reasons to believe that it was likely he would escape before they could obtain a warrant. The respondent, though required, was not carrying his alien registration receipt card on his person. He refused to cooperate with the agents, even though they exercised discretion and decided not to arrest him on a misdemeanor charge for failure to possess his green card, which is punishable by a fine or imprisonment. He verbally informed the agents that he was going to leave the scene, even though his wife had not yet returned with his conditional residence card. Given the agents' interaction with the respondent and the information received regarding removability and the Secretary of State's determination, the agents had reason to believe that the respondent was likely to escape before a warrant could be obtained. Thus, the exception to the warrant requirement applied and the agents were within lawful authority to arrest the respondent on March 8, 2025, at that time. CONCLUSION Based on the foregoing, there is no basis for termination of the removal proceedings. DHS requests that the respondent's motion to terminate be denied. Respectfully submitted on April 21, 2025, NUMA V Digitally signed by NUMA V METOYER I METOYER III Date: 2025.04.21 16:50:18 0500 uma Metoy eputy Chief Coun epartment of Homeland Securi S. Immigration and Customs Enforceme
DHS tells its story of the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, arguing that they didn’t need a warrant because Khalil told them he was going to walk away from them—which they assert amounted to exigent circumstances. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Satellite and fiber broadband are not equal, and any policy that treats them as such will widen the very divide policymakers should be trying to bridge, writes Christopher Ali. www.techpolicy.press/when-you-wis...
Maybe unpopular opinion, but every academic writer should learn storytelling techniques. How we communicate our research is very important. And some of the best papers I've read tell a story (with data, theory and empirics, but a story nonetheless).
NOT A TALE, A STORY (just in case).
"Tech and crypto companies also played a prominent role in Trump’s inauguration, contributing tens of millions of dollars to the committee after years of regulatory challenges during the Biden administration and Trump’s first term." www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
