Trump/Harris Debate Canceled?, Facebook "Regrets" Bowing to Biden Censorship, Tech CEO Imprisoned in France Over Free Speech (The Five for 08/27/24)
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that matter.
First, a very personal note. On Sunday, I was in Forest Park here in St. Louis with friends and extended family, adjacent to what is most likely the most expensive street in the state of Missouri. The victim of a robbery was shouting “help, I have a son.”
Assuming it was a kidnapping, I gave chase (along with a friend of mine) for about a half mile, until the guys in the video turned and fired a shot in my general direction to keep us from chasing them. I’m still rattled, and will have more to share when I have had time to collect my thoughts.
Needless to say, this was a life changing event for me.
But, the news keeps spinning, so let’s get into it.
[one]
Over the weekend, France arrested Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, an app similar to WhatsApp and Signal, which allows group messaging.
From the Associated Press:
What is Telegram?
Telegram is an app that allows for one-on-one conversations, group chats and large “channels” that let people broadcast messages to subscribers. Unlike rivals such as Meta’s WhatsApp, Telegram’s group chats allow as many as 200,000 people, compared to a maximum of 1,024 for WhatsApp. Experts have raised concerns that misinformation spreads easily in group chats of this size.
Why was Durov arrested?
Durov was detained in France as part of a judicial inquiry opened last month involving 12 alleged criminal violations, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. It said the suspected violations include complicity in selling child sexual abuse material and in drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crime transactions and refusing to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.
Keep in mind, Durov was not arrested for DOING any of these crimes, but only because these alleged crimes happened on Telegram. To put it in perspective, this is like arresting the CEO of Verizon because drug dealers use cell phones.
France appears to be cracking down on free speech, in a way that no other tech company has faced. Despite Instagram operating with a “vast network of pedophiles” according to the Wall Street Journal, Mark Zuckerberg has not faced similar charges.
Which really comes down to the allegations of “misinformation.” Telegram allows users to say things mainstream social media companies and legacy outlets don’t allow.
Rather than allowing people to just speak freely, France imprisoned the founder.
Julia Vavilova, a 24-year-old crypto coach and video game broadcaster, has mysteriously vanished after reportedly traveling with Telegram CEO Pavel Durov.
Durov, known for his staunch defense of privacy and encryption, was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris as part of a broader investigation by the French Interior Ministry. The arrest is linked to allegations involving serious crimes such as global drug trafficking, fraud, and crimes against minors, largely due to Telegram’s minimal content moderation, which has allegedly allowed criminal activities to flourish on the platform.
Vavilova had been sharing glitzy pictures and videos from places like Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan on social media, where she had been traveling with Durov.
According to privacy researcher Baptiste Robert, these posts could have unintentionally disclosed Durov’s whereabouts, which could have resulted in his imprisonment. The inability of Vavilova’s family to get in touch with her after the tragedy has caused them to become more concerned.
We must consider that the government of France may have played a role in this…if they do not respect freedom of speech, it’s also possible they do not respect life itself.
[two]
Thirty eight days into being the assumed nominee for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris has not given an interview…and there is allegedly significant infighting among her staffers on how, or even if, an interview will happen.
Nearly three weeks ago, on an airport tarmac in Detroit, Eugene asked VP KAMALA HARRIS about plans for a sitdown interview. She had just formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination and was facing pressure to answer questions about her candidacy in a more formal setting.
Harris gave him a deadline: “I’ve talked to my team,” she said. “I want us to get an interview scheduled before the end of the month.”
That’s four days from now, on Saturday. Of course, “scheduled” doesn’t mean the interview will happen by then. But with the Democratic nominee generally hitting all her marks since entering the race, her scripted, light-on-policy candidacy has become an issue. And questions about when, where and with whom Harris will finally sit down are dominating the inside conversation this week. (DONALD TRUMP has stepped up the pace of his interviews, partially to highlight the gap.)
In a seperate article, Politco highlights Kamala’s campaign weak points, including potentially ducking debates with Trump, and the fact that her website doesn’t contain a single pieced of policy.
On the other side of the aisle, Trump has been taking tough questions, ranging from the Afghanistan pullout to abortion, on a bevy of independent channels, including a must-watch (in my humble opinion) interview with former Navy Seal Sean Ryan.
It’s now possible that Harris and Trump WILL NOT MEET on the debate stage, which may mean this is a contest between a candidate who’s very active on social media and in interviews…and another who is running a “vibes” campaign, complete with “retro” merch.
[three]
In regards to that debate that may (or may not) happen, here are the details.
In June, President Joe Biden’s campaign came to an agreement with Trump’s: There would be two debates — CNN’s on June 27 and ABC’s on Sept. 10 — conducted by mutually negotiated rules. One of the Biden team’s demands — which the Trump team agreed to — was that microphones “will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak,” as CNN announced on June 15.
But Biden is no longer running for president. And Harris’ campaign wants the microphones to be hot at all times during the ABC debate — as has historically been the case at presidential debates.
“We have told ABC and other networks seeking to host a possible October debate that we believe both candidates’ mics should be live throughout the full broadcast,” Brian Fallon, the Harris campaign’s senior adviser for communications, tells POLITICO. “Our understanding is that Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own. We suspect Trump’s team has not even told their boss about this dispute because it would be too embarrassing to admit they don’t think he can handle himself against Vice President Harris without the benefit of a mute button.”
“Enough with the games. We accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate. The Harris camp, after having already agreed to the CNN rules, asked for a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements. We said no changes to the agreed upon rules,” Jason Miller, senior adviser for Trump told Playbook last night. “If Kamala Harris isn’t smart enough to repeat the messaging points her handlers want her to memorize, that’s their problem. This seems to be a pattern for the Harris campaign. They won’t allow Harris to do interviews, they won’t allow her to do press conferences, and now they want to give her a cheat-sheet for the debate. My guess is that they’re looking for a way to get out of any debate with President Trump.”
Trump later told reporters Monday that he hoped to move forward with the same rules as the June debate, but “it doesn’t matter to me, I’d rather have it probably on.”
[four]
The founder of Facebook officially regrets bowing to government pressure to censor content during COVID.
CNN reports:
Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and CEO of the social media company Meta, said in a letter to the House Judiciary committee on Monday that his teams were “pressured” by the Biden White House to censor some content around the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” Zuckerberg said.
In his letter to the judiciary committee, Zuckerberg said the pressure he felt in 2021 was “wrong” and he came to “regret” that his company, the parent of Facebook and Instagram, was not more outspoken. Zuckerberg added that with the “benefit of hindsight and new information” there were decisions made in 2021 that wouldn’t be made today.
“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction – and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” Zuckerberg wrote.
President Biden said in July of 2021 that social media platforms are “killing people” with misinformation surrounding the pandemic.
Though Biden later walked back these comments, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said at the time that misinformation posted on social media was a “serious threat to public health.”
[five]
Finally, Russia targeted critical infrastructure in Kiev, Ukraine last night:
Russia launched a deadly large-scale attack across Ukraine on Monday, sending drones and cruise and ballistic missiles toward at least 15 regions, Ukrainian officials said.
The strikes were among the largest such aerial attacks since the war began in 2022, with Russia using at least 127 missiles and 109 drones in an attack that lasted over eight hours, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"And like most previous Russia strikes, this one is just as dastardly, targeting critical civilian infrastructure," Zelenskyy said in Ukrainian, adding later that Russian President Vladimir Putin "can only do what the world allows him to do."
Critical infrastructure, the energy sector and railroads were targeted in the attack, Zelenskyy said.
"What is happening now in Kyiv is unbelievable horror. Pray for us," Kira Rudick, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, said on social media. She later added, "What happened today? Nightmare."
At least seven people were killed and at least 47 others injured as a result of the attacks across Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said in a post on Telegram on Monday.
Out of the 47 people injured, four of them were children, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said.
The move comes as a response to Ukraine’s counter-invasion of Russia, where Ukrainian forces are also taking out civilian infrastructure, like this bridge.
Until the next one,
-sth