Archived

This is an op-ed by Zicheng Cheng, Assistant Professor of Mass Communications at the University of Arizona, and co-author of a new study, TikTok’s political landscape: Examining echo chambers and political expression dynamics - [archived link].

[...]

Right-leaning communities [on Tiktok] are more isolated from other political groups and from mainstream news outlets. Looking at their internal structures, the right-leaning communities are more tightly connected than their left-leaning counterparts. In other words, conservative TikTok users tend to stick together. They rarely follow accounts with opposing views or mainstream media accounts. Liberal users, on the other hand, are more likely to follow a mix of accounts, including those they might disagree with.

[...]

We found that users with stronger political leanings and those who get more likes and comments on their videos are more motivated to keep posting. This shows the power of partisanship, but also the power of TikTok’s social rewards system. Engagement signals – likes, shares, comments – are like a fuel, encouraging users to create even more.

[...]

The content on TikTok often comes from creators and influencers or digital-native media sources. The quality of this news content remains uncertain. Without access to balanced, fact-based information, people may struggle to make informed political decisions.

[...]

It’s encouraging to see people participate in politics through TikTok when that’s their medium of choice. However, if a user’s network is closed and homogeneous and their expression serves as in-group validation, it may further solidify the political echo chamber.

[...]

When people are exposed to one-sided messages, it can increase hostility toward outgroups. In the long run, relying on TikTok as a source for political information might deepen people’s political views and contribute to greater polarization.

[...]

Echo chambers have been widely studied on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but similar research on TikTok is in its infancy. TikTok is drawing scrutiny, particularly its role in news production, political messaging and social movements.

[...]

Using TikTok could be making you more politically polarized, new study finds

Users on TikTok gravitate to networks of like-minded people, but right-leaning users tend to be in more tightly sealed echo chambers.

^{The Conversation}

cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/37546476

Archived

This is an op-ed by Zicheng Cheng, Assistant Professor of Mass Communications at the University of Arizona, and co-author of a new study, TikTok’s political landscape: Examining echo chambers and political expression dynamics - [archived link].

[...]

Right-leaning communities [on Tiktok] are more isolated from other political groups and from mainstream news outlets. Looking at their internal structures, the right-leaning communities are more tightly connected than their left-leaning counterparts. In other words, conservative TikTok users tend to stick together. They rarely follow accounts with opposing views or mainstream media accounts. Liberal users, on the other hand, are more likely to follow a mix of accounts, including those they might disagree with.

[...]

We found that users with stronger political leanings and those who get more likes and comments on their videos are more motivated to keep posting. This shows the power of partisanship, but also the power of TikTok’s social rewards system. Engagement signals – likes, shares, comments – are like a fuel, encouraging users to create even more.

[...]

The content on TikTok often comes from creators and influencers or digital-native media sources. The quality of this news content remains uncertain. Without access to balanced, fact-based information, people may struggle to make informed political decisions.

[...]

It’s encouraging to see people participate in politics through TikTok when that’s their medium of choice. However, if a user’s network is closed and homogeneous and their expression serves as in-group validation, it may further solidify the political echo chamber.

[...]

When people are exposed to one-sided messages, it can increase hostility toward outgroups. In the long run, relying on TikTok as a source for political information might deepen people’s political views and contribute to greater polarization.

[...]

Echo chambers have been widely studied on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, but similar research on TikTok is in its infancy. TikTok is drawing scrutiny, particularly its role in news production, political messaging and social movements.

[...]

Using TikTok could be making you more politically polarized, new study finds

Users on TikTok gravitate to networks of like-minded people, but right-leaning users tend to be in more tightly sealed echo chambers.

^{The Conversation}

Opinion - Michelle Goldberg
June 27, 2025

"Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian politics have sparked enormous alarm among some New York Jews, but he’s also won considerable Jewish support. In a poll of likely Jewish voters done by the Honan Strategy Group in May, Andrew Cuomo came in first, with 31 percent of the vote, but Mamdani was second, with 20 percent. On Tuesday, he won most of Park Slope, a neighborhood full of progressive Jews, and held his own on the similarly Jewish Upper West Side.

“His campaign has attracted Jewish New Yorkers of all types,” wrote Jay Michaelson, a columnist at the Jewish newspaper The Forward. The rabbi who runs my son’s Hebrew school put Mamdani on his ballot, though he didn’t rank him first. And while Mamdani undoubtedly did best among left-leaning and largely secular Jews, he made a point of reaching out to others. After he gave an interview to Der Blatt, an ultra-Orthodox Yiddish newspaper, Rabbi Moishe Indig, the leader of a faction of Hasidic Jews, told The New York Times, “As mayor, we wouldn’t have a problem with him.” (Though Indig considered adding Mamdani to his endorsement slate, he ultimately decided against it.)"

archive.ph/MrZQ0

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/opinion/jews-zohran-mamdani.html

Google’s carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company’s efforts to go green.

While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence.

The company reported a 27% increase in year-on-year electricity consumption as it struggles to decarbonise as quickly as its energy needs increase.

Datacentres play a crucial role in training and operating the models that underpin AI models such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT-4, which powers the ChatGPT chatbot. The International Energy Agency estimates that datacentres’ total electricity consumption could double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, approximately Japan’s level of electricity demand. AI will result in datacentres using 4.5% of global energy generation by 2030, according to calculations by the research firm SemiAnalysis.

Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green

Increase influenced by datacentre growth, with estimated power required by 2026 equalling that of Japan’s

^{Helena Horton (The Guardian)}

Part 1.

The New Orleans City Council is set to vote on an ill-conceived ordinance that would facilitate the use of untargeted facial recognition surveillance by the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). Recent reports have revealed that not only has the NOPD intentionally misled the public for years about its use of facial recognition, but it has also relied on an unauthorized partnership with a private organization to violate existing restrictions on the use of facial recognition.

The use of untargeted facial recognition by law enforcement is flawed by design, and may have already caused improper police stops, investigations, and even arrests of innocent people. But because the program has been cloaked in secrecy — with the NOPD refusing to keep records on alerts the system triggered and how officers responded — whatever harms it has caused remain hidden. By touting a small set of success stories while sweeping a potential litany of failures under the rug, proponents of this system are seeking to exploit a distorted view of untested, unvetted, and unsafe AI mass surveillance. The New Orleans City Council should not be fooled by this effort — it should reject the proposed ordinance and impose stronger restrictions on the NOPD’s use of facial recognition.

Untargeted Facial Recognition is Unvetted and Unsafe: New Orleans City Council Should Reject It - Center for Democracy and Technology

Part one of this two part series regarding New Orleans’ dragnet facial recognition program is available here.

^{Center for Democracy and Technology}

Ciao Fediverso!

Titolo1

Titolo2

Testo formattato grassetto corsivo ~~barrato~~ monospazio

> Citazione

cross-posted from: rss.ponder.cat/post/217784

Signposts on the Vancouver street bear the English name below the official Musqueam name, which is written in the North American Phonetic Alphabet.

---

From this RSS feed

Vancouver man says institutions unable to recognize new Indigenous street name

^{Amy Judd (Global News)}

https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/this-years-election-bills-focus-on-citizenship-ranked-choice-voting

cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/32367585

Opinion - Michelle Goldberg
June 27, 2025

"Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian politics have sparked enormous alarm among some New York Jews, but he’s also won considerable Jewish support. In a poll of likely Jewish voters done by the Honan Strategy Group in May, Andrew Cuomo came in first, with 31 percent of the vote, but Mamdani was second, with 20 percent. On Tuesday, he won most of Park Slope, a neighborhood full of progressive Jews, and held his own on the similarly Jewish Upper West Side.

“His campaign has attracted Jewish New Yorkers of all types,” wrote Jay Michaelson, a columnist at the Jewish newspaper The Forward. The rabbi who runs my son’s Hebrew school put Mamdani on his ballot, though he didn’t rank him first. And while Mamdani undoubtedly did best among left-leaning and largely secular Jews, he made a point of reaching out to others. After he gave an interview to Der Blatt, an ultra-Orthodox Yiddish newspaper, Rabbi Moishe Indig, the leader of a faction of Hasidic Jews, told The New York Times, “As mayor, we wouldn’t have a problem with him.” (Though Indig considered adding Mamdani to his endorsement slate, he ultimately decided against it.)"

archive.ph/MrZQ0

Peter Link

2025-06-28 00:04:04

Plenty of Jews Love Zohran Mamdani

Opinion - Michelle Goldberg
June 27, 2025

"Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian politics have sparked enormous alarm among some New York Jews, but he’s also won considerable Jewish support. In a poll of likely Jewish voters done by the Honan Strategy Group in May, Andrew Cuomo came in first, with 31 percent of the vote, but Mamdani was second, with 20 percent. On Tuesday, he won most of Park Slope, a neighborhood full of progressive Jews, and held his own on the similarly Jewish Upper West Side.

“His campaign has attracted Jewish New Yorkers of all types,” wrote Jay Michaelson, a columnist at the Jewish newspaper The Forward. The rabbi who runs my son’s Hebrew school put Mamdani on his ballot, though he didn’t rank him first. And while Mamdani undoubtedly did best among left-leaning and largely secular Jews, he made a point of reaching out to others. After he gave an interview to Der Blatt, an ultra-Orthodox Yiddish newspaper, Rabbi Moishe Indig, the leader of a faction of Hasidic Jews, told The New York Times, “As mayor, we wouldn’t have a problem with him.” (Though Indig considered adding Mamdani to his endorsement slate, he ultimately decided against it.)"

archive.ph/MrZQ0

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/opinion/jews-zohran-mamdani.html

Ancora non riesco a capire che cosa, ma comunque certamente una qualche cosa dai poteri eccessivi, su questo non ci sono dubbi, sta in ogni modo lavorando con gran forza contro di me, per sabotarmi in maniera sempre più definitiva… per farmi crollare oltre ogni remota possibilità di rialzo, per farmi sentire sempre più priva […]

octospacc.altervista.org/2025/…

minioctt

2025-06-28 14:16:02

confungelamento octoso, un gran pericolo per l’estate rottosica

Ancora non riesco a capire che cosa, ma comunque certamente una qualche cosa dai poteri eccessivi, su questo non ci sono dubbi, sta in ogni modo lavorando con gran forza contro di me, per sabotarmi in maniera sempre più definitiva… per farmi crollare oltre ogni remota possibilità di rialzo, per farmi sentire sempre più priva di autonomia spirituale e di controllo sulle mie specialissime e personalissime possibilità magiche. Questo vale un po’ in tutto, in ogni caso è sempre terribile, e si manifesta principalmente per mezzo di due criteri di annichilimento: nebbia mentale e stanchezza ingiustificabile. Entrambi, in momenti diversi o tranquillamente anche insieme, lavorano per impedirmi di commettere l’epicità giornaliera, e sta diventando veramente una noia a dir poco: le giornate passano, ma oramai in maniera pressoché insoddisfacente. ☠️

Per prima cosa, la nebbia. La nebbia avvolge tutto, perché si forma la notte nel mio letto, si introduce silenziosamente nel mio cervello attraverso la normale respirazione… e, senza mezzi termini, mi frega, perché la mattina poi mi sveglio con la mente che ragiona e produce persino peggio della sera prima! La nebbia contrasta attivamente lo sviluppo di idee creative epiche, bloccando la vista dell’intero scenario mentale a qualche punto sempre diverso degli stessi processi in questione, e dunque, se non ho voglia di scrivere codice, le sole cose che riesco a trasferire dall’Iperuranio al piano digitale sono questo tipo di parole qui, da blogging giornaliero; per certi versi unicamente profonde, ma allo stesso tempo terribilmente banali, e anche di ciò ne soffro. 😫

Poi certo, il fatto che mi si stiano rompendo tutte le cose peggiora la situazione, ma non è l’unico problema: anche la confusione digitale mi colpisce senza mancare mai un colpo, ed è contro di me superefficace, facendomi perdere ogni volta tra: migliaia di schede aperte nel browser (che mi servono, quindi dovrei salvare nei memos e togliere da lì, anche perché fanno laggare tutto, ma non ho voglia), fin troppe cose nel launcher del telefono (e mi servono tutte in diversi momenti, quindi non posso toglierle, e le cartelle aiutano solo fino a un certo punto), e lasciamo stare cos’altro. 😿

Poi c’è ovviamente la stanchezza in senso più stretto, che oltre ad essere assolutamente ingiustificabile è completamente incomprensibile, perché banalmente non c’è alcun elemento che la oggettivi. Non sto facendo alcuna vera fatica in questi giorni, e per quanto io comunque mi sforzi nel possibile di non rottare, comunque complessivamente non mi sto appesantendo con nulla… la mia energia vitale viene insomma prosciugata, ma in cambio non ottengo nulla. Se devo uscire dalla mia stanza per andare in qualche altra, dopo essermi alzata dalla sedia voglio spesso appoggiarmi per qualche minuto sul letto a riposare, che i 2 passi che faccio fino a metà della strada per la porta già sono troppo faticosi; e qualche ora fa, quando all’una e mezza sono dovuta scendere un attimo di casa, ci ho messo 5 minuti a fare un avanti e indietro che normalmente avrei fatto in 3, perché stavolta andavo lenta come la cacca. 🐌

Ed è davvero difficile capire come mai sono effettivamente così rovinata, nel complesso. In questi giorni non solo sto dormendo abbastanza, ma addirittura il giusto, ossia non troppo: in media tra le 8 e le 9 ore, che in teoria è top… ma in pratica non serve a una mazza, perché, ripeto, sono proprio così stanca, mi sento spaccata e non riesco nemmeno a digitare supervelocemente sulla tastiera come io in primis pretendo, per dirne solo una. Forse sarà in buona parte colpa anche del caldo — incluso da oggi o ieri questo nuovo vento africano aiutatelo-a-casa-sua, che dovrebbe essere francamente illegale in quanto esistente con nessun altro scopo se non rovinare la salute mentale e fisica della popolazione intera — però chiaramente non è l’unico fattore; altrimenti, ogni estate puntualmente dovrei crollare completamente, ma le mie cronologie raccontano ovviamente stagioni nel complesso diverse da questo scenario apocalittico. 🌌

L’unica informazione un minimo interessante — che per fortuna del pubblico posso condividere, per chiudere con un po’ di decenza questo bordello di rapporto — è che… l’unione dimensionale sta per concretizzarsi. Dimensional merge, come postulato da Chris Chan, lo sento sempre più vicino ed inevitabile, visto cosa sto percependo ultimamente. Ogni notte faccio sogni sempre più strani, dal significato nullo se non l’essere in qualche modo collegati a qualcosa di fatto o visto durante il giorno (unico dettaglio normale di tutta la situazione), con personaggi sempre più improbabili in situazioni sempre più inconcepibili, mentre invece in quei rarissimi momenti di veglia in cui la nebbia si dirada dal mio cervello mi escono da scrivere cose che sembrerebbero provenire dalle pareti, e invece mi escono da dentro. E insomma, sono certa che non ci vorrà molto altro tempo perché si passi dai sogni REM e le idee alle allucinazioni vere e proprie, e dalle allucinazioni alla materializzazione di tutte quelle cose strane nel nostro (mio) piano di realtà, appena la dimensione dell’irreale canalizzerà per l’ultimo momento di esistenza separata tutte le sue energie attraverso di me (ovviamente senza che io abbia mai acconsentito, ma figurarsi se le forze ultraterrene si curano di dettagli così umani)… e potrebbe essere da un lato la megafine più assoluta, ma dall’altro si materializzeranno waifu e altre cose, dunque si risolverà sia la solitudine nel mondo… che la fame nel mondo, chi vuol capire capisca. 🙏

#daily #feels

Google’s carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company’s efforts to go green.

While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence.

The company reported a 27% increase in year-on-year electricity consumption as it struggles to decarbonise as quickly as its energy needs increase.

Datacentres play a crucial role in training and operating the models that underpin AI models such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT-4, which powers the ChatGPT chatbot. The International Energy Agency estimates that datacentres’ total electricity consumption could double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, approximately Japan’s level of electricity demand. AI will result in datacentres using 4.5% of global energy generation by 2030, according to calculations by the research firm SemiAnalysis.

Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green

Increase influenced by datacentre growth, with estimated power required by 2026 equalling that of Japan’s

^{Helena Horton (The Guardian)}

SBS Insight Invisible Illness – Statement by 4 Studio Participants​

Published: 23 June 2025​

Invisible, Misrepresented, and Harmed: ME/CFS Voices Demand Accountability from SBS​

A Joint Statement from Participants and Advocates in Response to the 20 May 2025 Episode of Insight​

This statement has been prepared by a group of individuals who participated in the recent SBS Insight episode on invisible illness. We are united in our deep concern over how the episode was produced, edited, and presented and the serious harm it caused by misrepresenting Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) and its impact on the wider chronic illness community.​

We believe this broadcast represents a clear breach of SBS’s own Code of Practice. The program:​

• Failed to uphold editorial integrity by platforming a participant with undisclosed commercial interests (Section 3.1: Editorial Independence and Integrity);
  
  • Presented medically inaccurate and misleading portrayals of ME/CFS (Section 3.2: Accuracy);
  • Minimised the diversity of lived experiences in favour of a single recovery narrative (Section 3.3: Diversity of Views and Perspectives);
  • Caused emotional harm to participants and viewers alike (Section 4.1: Harm and Offence);

  
  

As a public broadcaster, SBS has a duty to ensure ethical, accurate, and inclusive storytelling, especially when dealing with marginalised communities.​

[…]

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/google-convinces-openai-use-tpu-chips-win-nvidia

On Thursday, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that digital platforms are responsible for users’ content — a major shift in a country where millions rely on apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube every day.

The ruling, which goes into effect within weeks, mandates tech giants including Google, X, and Meta to monitor and remove content involving hate speech, racism, and incitement to violence. If the companies can show they took steps to remove such content expeditiously, they will not be held liable, the justices said.

Brazil has long clashed with Big Tech platforms. In 2017, then-congresswoman Maria do Rosário sued Google over YouTube videos that wrongly accused her of defending crimes. Google didn’t remove the clips right away, kicking off a legal debate over whether companies should only be punished if they ignore a judge.

In 2023, following violent protests largely organized online by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro, authorities began pushing harder to stop what they saw as dangerous behavior spreading through social networks.

Brazil holds social media platforms responsible for user posts - Rest of World

New Brazil ruling makes Meta, X, WhatsApp and other platforms accountable for content and user safety.

^{Karla Zabludovsky (Rest of World)}

https://www.wired.com/story/openai-five-levels-agi-paper-microsoft-negotiations/

As the supreme court upends precedent again and again, the liberal justices reveal the divisions within the legal body

On Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered an acidic sermon against the court’s 6-3 decision to end lower courts’ practice of issuing nationwide injunctions to block federal executive orders, reading her dissent directly from the bench in a move meant to highlight its importance.

“No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates,” states Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown-Jackson. “Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship.”

Liberal supreme court justices’ dissents reveal concerns that the US faces a crisis

^{George Chidi (The Guardian)}

On Thursday, the Supreme Court delivered a decision that could be a death knell for Planned Parenthood health centers across the nation.

In a 6-3 decision authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the court’s conservative supermajority decided that the federal Medicaid Act does not give an individual the right to bring a civil rights lawsuit challenging the termination of a specific Medicaid provider from that state’s network.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic is its latest assault on reproductive health care. The case also marks another victory for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Christian conservative litigation shop behind the Dobbs decision, in which the high court reversed Roe v. Wade and ended the federal right to an abortion. (ADF lawyers represented the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in Medina.)

Supreme Court Allows South Carolina to Defund Planned Parenthood

The Supreme Court’s conservatives issued their latest attack on reproductive health care in “Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.”

^{Tessa Stuart (Rolling Stone)}