#center for countering digital hate

[lemondeabicyclette]

[omg-erika]

Assassination attempt on Robert Kennedy Jr.?

by Dr.Harald Wiesendanger– Klartext What the mainstream media is hiding If Donald Trump moves into the White House again soon, he could bring America’s best-known pharmaceutical critic and anti-vaccination activist, the lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr., into the cabinet – and thereby put his life in the same danger that he himself is in. Because this Kennedy is fighting for a health policy that is far…

[agentfascinateur]

“If a blog post is evidence of collaboration, that’s a stance that’s somewhat hostile to the First Amendment”

The company filed in the Northern District of Texas, where it will appear before Judge Reed O’Connor, who holds $15,000 of stock in Tesla, Musk’s other company. (Earlier this week, Media Matters lost its bid to have O’Connor recuse himself.) Media Matters has also filed to dismiss the case, which O’Connor has not yet ruled on; in the meantime, he has ordered that Media Matters must comply with an expansive discovery request from X’s lawyers.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The rise of the MAGA right in the United States has sparked some startling changes in attitudes towards press freedom and freedom of expression. Although many on the right, including Musk, have styled themselves as valiant defenders of free speech, their actions expose them as opposite: only willing to defend speech they find agreeable, while hostile towards and desperate to clamp down on criticism or opposing views. Musk, for example, has directed that “cisgender” be blocklisted on Twitter as a “slur”, and posts by most accounts that contain the word are automatically hidden from view (unlike posts containing the long list of slurs he has apparently deemed acceptable). He has brought SLAPP lawsuits against critics, including one dismissed by a federal judge as clearly intended to “punish [the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate] for CCDH publications that criticized X Corp. [Twitter] — and perhaps in order to dissuade others who might wish to engage in such criticism.” He spent $44 billion to acquire Twitter, ostensibly over concerns that conservative voices were being unfairly silenced, but really so that he could be the one to dictate which speech was and was not allowed on the platform. Similar attacks on speech are becoming only more common throughout the American right, with president-elect Trump’s longstanding hostility to the media escalating at a rapid clip. In recent months, Trump has suggested he wouldn’t mind if reporters were shot, threatened to jail journalists, editors, and publishers who refuse to reveal confidential sources, threatened to investigate or pull broadcasting licenses for news organizations that reported on him unflatteringly, and filed SLAPP suits of his own against news publications and pollsters. This hostility to information sources outside their control extends far beyond the media. Right-wing groups have launched coordinated campaigns to ban books from schools and libraries, particularly those discussing race, gender, or LGBT topics. They’ve pushed legislation like the “Kids Online Safety Act” that, while framed as protecting children, would require platforms to restrict access to information deemed “harmful” or “inappropriate for minors”, which is likely to include resources for LGBT youth and information about reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare, sexual education, or mental health. And they’ve supported state-level laws requiring internet platforms to implement age restrictions that threaten privacy and are vulnerable to weaponization against content deemed “obscene”. The common thread connecting these efforts is not protecting children or promoting “family values,” but controlling what information people can access.

2 January 2025

[mariacallous]

Why disinformation experts say the Israel-Hamas war is a nightmare to investigate

The Israel-Hamas conflict has been a minefield of confusing counter-arguments and controversies—and an information environment that experts investigating mis- and disinformation say is among the worst they’ve ever experienced.

In the time since Hamas launched its terror attack against Israel last month—and Israel has responded with a weekslong counterattack—social media has been full of comments, pictures, and video from both sides of the conflict putting forward their case. But alongside real images of the battles going on in the region, plenty of disinformation has been sown by bad actors.

“What is new this time, especially with Twitter, is the clutter of information that the platform has created, or has given a space for people to create, with the way verification is handled,” says Pooja Chaudhuri, a researcher and trainer at Bellingcat, which has been working to verify or debunk claims from both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the conflict, from confirming that Israel Defense Forces struck the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza to debunking the idea that the IDF has blown up some of Gaza’s most sacred sites.

Bellingcat has found plenty of claims and counterclaims to investigate, but convincing people of the truth has proven more difficult than in previous situations because of the firmly entrenched views on either side, says Chaudhuri’s colleague Eliot Higgins, the site’s founder.

“People are thinking in terms of, ‘Whose side are you on?’ rather than ‘What’s real,’” Higgins says. “And if you’re saying something that doesn’t agree with my side, then it has to mean you’re on the other side. That makes it very difficult to be involved in the discourse around this stuff, because it’s so divided.”

For Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), there have only been two moments prior to this that have proved as difficult for his organization to monitor and track: One was the disinformation-fueled 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the other was the hotly contested space around the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I can’t remember a comparable time. You’ve got this completely chaotic information ecosystem,” Ahmed says, adding that in the weeks since Hamas’s October 7 terror attack social media has become the opposite of a “useful or healthy environment to be in”—in stark contrast to what it used to be, which was a source of reputable, timely information about global events as they happened.

The CCDH has focused its attention on X (formerly Twitter), in particular, and is currently involved in a lawsuit with the social media company, but Ahmed says the problem runs much deeper.

“It’s fundamental at this point,” he says. “It’s not a failure of any one platform or individual. It’s a failure of legislators and regulators, particularly in the United States, to get to grips with this.” (An X spokesperson has previously disputed the CCDH’s findings to Fast Company, taking issue with the organization’s research methodology. “According to what we know, the CCDH will claim that posts are not ‘actioned’ unless the accounts posting them are suspended,” the spokesperson said. “The majority of actions that X takes are on individual posts, for example by restricting the reach of a post.”)

Ahmed contends that inertia among regulators has allowed antisemitic conspiracy theories to fester online to the extent that many people believe and buy into those concepts. Further, he says it has prevented organizations like the CCDH from properly analyzing the spread of disinformation and those beliefs on social media platforms. “As a result of the chaos created by the American legislative system, we have no transparency legislation. Doing research on these platforms right now is near impossible,” he says.

It doesn’t help when social media companies are throttling access to their application programming interfaces, through which many organizations like the CCDH do research. “We can’t tell if there’s more Islamophobia than antisemitism or vice versa,” he admits. “But my gut tells me this is a moment in which we are seeing a radical increase in mobilization against Jewish people.”

Right at the time when the most insight is needed into how platforms are managing the torrent of dis- and misinformation flooding their apps, there’s the least possible transparency.

The issue isn’t limited to private organizations. Governments are also struggling to get a handle on how disinformation, misinformation, hate speech, and conspiracy theories are spreading on social media. Some have reached out to the CCDH to try and get clarity.

“In the last few days and weeks, I’ve briefed governments all around the world,” says Ahmed, who declines to name those governments—though Fast Company understands that they may include the U.K. and European Union representatives. Advertisers, too, have been calling on the CCDH to get information about which platforms are safest for them to advertise on.

Deeply divided viewpoints are exacerbated not only by platforms tamping down on their transparency but also by technological advances that make it easier than ever to produce convincing content that can be passed off as authentic. “The use of AI images has been used to show support,” Chaudhuri says. This isn’t necessarily a problem for trained open-source investigators like those working for Bellingcat, but it is for rank-and-file users who can be hoodwinked into believing generative-AI-created content is real.

And even if those AI-generated images don’t sway minds, they can offer another weapon in the armory of those supporting one side or the other—a slur, similar to the use of “fake news” to describe factual claims that don’t chime with your beliefs, that can be deployed to discredit legitimate images or video of events.

“What is most interesting is anything that you don’t agree with, you can just say that it’s AI and try to discredit information that may also be genuine,” Choudhury says, pointing to users who have claimed an image of a dead baby shared by Israel’s account on X was AI—when in fact it was real—as an example of weaponizing claims of AI tampering. “The use of AI in this case,” she says, “has been quite problematic.”

[imtooscaredforthis]

Entrapment

Chapter Twenty Nine: Broken In

Mentions of: Explicit Sexual Content, Dubcon/noncon themes, cutting/knife usage, choking and violence, etc.

A/N: I’m not dead, I promise!! Just drowning in school life and all that

Tags: @elentiyaiswriting @dead-bxxxtch-walking @vandeaad @mama-miya @the-fandoms-georgie

For what felt like years, everything went dark. You couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. You stood there, frozen in place. Shocked, scared, broken. Once again, he had won. Once again, he had beaten you. Once again, had terrorized you, always managing to shake you to your core, no matter how hard you tried to fight it.

The next thing you knew, you had taken off, sprinting as fast as you could. You made your way back to your apartment, not even bothering to see if he was following. Once you got there, you slammed the door behind you and bolted it shut, running to the windows and double checking to make sure they were locked.

And then, you finally broke.

“Fuck!” You screamed, grabbing a chair from the kitchen table and throwing it across the room. You slammed your fist into the table in front of you, beating at it. Rachel was gone. She was actually gone and it was all your fault. Just like Lucia and Jesse.

Your knuckles were bloodied, and you didn’t even realize you were crying until you could hear your broken sobs, and feel your cheeks getting all wet. You slumped down, resting your body against the kitchen counter, letting yourself cry. Your body felt so sore and heavy, you just wanted to rest. You just wanted to fall asleep and never wake up again.

“Oh, poor baby girl.” A sadistic voice cooed. There he was out of nowhere, looming above you.

He reached across, running his gloved fingers over your cheek and brushing the tears away. “It’s not your fault. You tried warning her, but she didn’t listen. Stupid bitch.”

That made you snap. You smacked his hand away, reaching up and grabbing the knife on your counter. “Don’t touch me, you sadistic piece of shit. I’ll fucking kill you.”

In an instant, he tackled you, grabbing your arm and pinning you to the ground. One hand was on your wrist, the other wrapped around your throat. “Oh, so that’s what you want to do, huh? You want to hurt me? You want to kill me? Do it.”

His grip loosened around your throat and he tugged your hand, positioning it so you had the knife resting right at the center of his chest. You could easily kill him from there, press hard enough and slice through an aorta, but you didn’t. You couldn’t and he knew that. With a shaky hand, you pressed slightly, but then pulled away.

Even if you wanted him to hurt, even if you wanted him to pay, you didn’t want to be like him. You weren’t a murderer. You weren’t a monster like him. He tsked in response, yanking the knife from your hands and clenching your throat again.

“It’s sad. I really hoped you would have it in you. But you always have to fight it.” He leaned in, letting his mask rest against your cheek. “Maybe you like me too much.”

“Fuck you.” You spat angrily.

“You already did, sweetheart, and we both know you loved it.” He forced his thumb into your mouth, pressing the knife to your throat. You had no other choice but to wrap your lips around the digit, letting him push it to the back of your throat.

“Such a filthy slutty mouth. I should really do something about it, shouldn’t I? Make you my good girl all over again.” You were basically choking on the leather at this point, the metallic taste of blood on them making your eyes sting. You wanted to fight him, you wanted to bite his thumb off.

After a few long moments, he pulled away, leaving you drooling and gasping for air. Once you found your voice, you spoke again. “I’m not yours, and I never will be. I hate you. You’re disgusting.”

“Then why are you soaked through your panties right now, huh?” He pressed his thigh against your crotch, grinding it against you. You jolted from the sudden hard sensation against your clothed clit, a surprised moan slipping from your lips.

You were soaked. Why did your body react this way? Why did your body want this, when your mind was fighting so hard against it? What was wrong with you?

He grinded his thigh against your cunt harder, giving you more delicious friction. You couldn’t help but buck your hips against him. “Yeah, that’s it. Fuck yourself on my thigh like the little slut you are. Does that feel good?”

You bit your lip, holding back a moan and refusing to respond. He dug his knife into your neck, drawing blood. You hissed in pain. “Answer me, whore.”

“Yes.” You mewled, grinding against him, feeling that coil in your stomach tighten.

You shut your eyes, trying to pretend that you weren’t here, doing this with him. That it was anybody else. It helped slightly, except for the chilling feeling of the knife pressing against your skin as a reminder. He gripped your chin, forcing you to look at him.

“Keep them open.” He hissed, reaching down and pushing your panties aside, rubbing your clit roughly. You arched your back, your eyes flying open, coming face to face with his mask. His other hand pinched your cheeks, holding you in place. “Good girl.”

The next thing you knew, he had you pushed over the edge, letting you grind against his thigh as you worked yourself through your high, moaning and mewling.

He wrapped his arms around you, carrying you back to the bedroom. Your legs felt like jelly when he placed you down on the bed, and you heard the familiar clinking of his belt. He was on top of you this time, removing parts of his robe. You should be looking at him and everything he revealed, memorizing all of it and putting the pieces together. But before you could even think he was inside you and thrusting at an intoxicating pace.

“Fuck.” You choked out as you felt him wrap a hand around your throat and squeeze. Your eyes fluttered as he hit that spot every time.

“Isn’t it so much better when you don’t fight it? When you give in? Doesn’t it feel so good?” He hisses into your ear.

You found yourself nodding, unable to speak or think, just feel. Just like he wanted. He was winning. He had won time and time again, and you were tired of fighting. Tonight, you let yourself give in. You let yourself get lost in the pleasure and just feel.

He made you cum on his cock multiple times, switching positions and moving you like a doll, making you feel like a toy for him to use. You moaned and held onto him, cumming so hard that you were getting dizzy and you couldn’t even recognize the sounds you were making anymore.

It was probably the fourth time, (or maybe the fifth, you were losing count) when he had you on your knees while he thrusted in from behind. Your legs were shaking, threatening to give out, but he kept you up with one arm around your waist. His other groped your breast, enjoying how the flesh bounced in his hand.

“Ghostface, Ghostface.” You moaned, and your eyes were rolling into the back of your head. He leaned over and kissed you, and you barely comprehend that his mask was off and you could feel his stubble scraping against your jaw.

“Danny, baby. Call me Danny.” He crooned into your ear, biting the skin softly.

“Danny.” You let slip, hearing him groan in pleasure, his cock pulsating a little from your words. He kissed you again. “Good fucking girl. My good girl. Keep gripping my cock, just like that.”

He wrapped an arm around your neck, and you could feel yourself getting all light headed as he pounded inside. He was fucking you even harder, enjoying how you tightened from the lack of oxygen. He hit that spot over and over, making you see stars and pushing you over the edge. He came with you, biting into your shoulder so hard that he drew blood.

You felt him lay you down and bed, the familiar flash of a camera stinging your eyes and breaking you out of your daze ever so slightly. You didn’t care. You couldn’t. You were too exhausted, and you let yourself drift off.

[graceofagodswrath]

Omg your Humans are space orcs/deathworlders + Transformers is just *d e l i c i o u s*. My complaints are pretty much the same, it seems that most humans on the franchise are just manufactured to be hated or simply annoying for being so useless. I want transformers to realize just how hard we have to work to simply stay alive *in our own planet*, with the sheer amount of diseases and poisonous animals and predators and weather and so much more, I want them to wonder how such seemingly fragile beings became the dominant species, how can we be so resilient yet so delicate... I'd like a transformer that particularly hates/is disgusted by humans to swap places with us for like a day or so, the first one that comes to mind is Starscream, I want him to get a glimpse at the daily fight for survival here on Earth and can't help but develop a tiny speck of respect for humans, not that he would ever admit it, even to himself, that he's secretly more mindful of where he steps when there are humans around ever since.

I literally just gave a rundown about this to a friend in a drunken rant the other night, so I am so ready for this.

Starscream wouldn’t be my first pick, based solely on the fact that I haven’t psycho-analyzed him the same way I have others, but imma do my best ~

For situation-sake so my writer brain doesn’t kill itself over context, imma do this in the form of Headcannons. Let’s say Starscream gets stuck in a human body and has to exist as such until he magically gets put back. Until then, he’s stuck with a human who is aware of what he is (vague gn oc/reader, up to whoever. Writing from the viewpoint of “one of us”).

(Also y’all can input any Starscream here cause imma write him in his basic form: whiney, stuck-up, clever little cunt).

- Bro is flabbergasted. Disgusted. Horrified. Out-of-his-mind losing it. Keeps praying to primus it’s a drug-induced hallucination or a dream.

- Wakes up on the soft cushions of a… couch? The word pops up in his head. He knew the basics from his overviews when their war traveled to earth. He brought his servos- No. Hands, up to his face, inspected his new honey, fleshy digits. The detail was too vivid to be a hallucination. Colors were both muted and bright. Starscream found himself automatically trying to adjust his optic intake. But nothing happened. Of course. Because fleshy organics can’t manually adjust their own sensory inputs.

- He curls his lips, and is instantly hit with the feeling of muscle contorting. Skin and flesh was an entirely different sensation from mesh and plating. It made his plating- damnit no, skin crawl. Another sensation trailed up the center of his back, spine and shiver popping up in his mind.

- Even the way his psyche worked was different. Like a new plane of existence. Thoughts were unorganized, uncalculated. Like something that squirmed out of his grasp as he tried to keep hold. Everything felt simplified, yet the awareness and sensations were overwhelming. His entire presence felt… hypocritical.

- Sounds distracted him from his insightful, yet horrific reverie. His gaze drifted to another area of the room, half-built walls sectioning it off, but with flat slabs atop. Counters. A face pops from behind the half-wall. Human eyes catch his, and the creature pulls its lips back to bare its teeth. To smile. Even though humans and cybertronians had similar facial anatomy, the little creatures were so ugly that it was hard to recognize similar expressions.

- “You good bud?” The thing asks. Starscream felt his new face twist into his casual sneer, one laced with aggravation and disgust.

- “Good? Is such a thing possible when you’re a skin bag of flesh and bones?” The humans only response was to broaden their grin.

-“Glad you haven’t lost the attitude. Means you’ll make it out alive.” The nonchalance threw the ex-cybertronian for a loop.

- “You… know me?” That grin turned into a smirk that made the non-energon in his lines boil.

- “You’re Starscream, second-in-command to Megatron, lord of the deceptions, yada yada yada… yeah I know who you are.” They leaned back against the wall, eyes boring into the deception. Starscream found himself wondering if human eyes were always so disturbingly piercing.

- “Wonderful.” He shoved the unsettled feeling to the back of his head, determined to figure out a solution and still be in control. “Then you can explain how and why I am in this disgusting organic form.”

- The smirk disappeared into an odd expression Starscream had never seen before. The human flattened their lips and pursed their… cheeks. It looked entirely stupid. But something in the back of his head whispered apologetic.

- “I’m not sure on the exact details, but I can tell you it won’t last long. I’m basically your caretaker until it wears off.”

- Instinctually, Starscream’s brows raised. “That’s it? Is this some new human weapon, cruel imprisonment within one your fleshy bodies?”

- The human tilted their head back and laughed, once again taking Starscream off guard. Their casual presence was so different from the fight-or-die everyday lifestyle that gripped his species.

- “Nope. Just a random accident that you’re the unfortunate victim of.” At the con’s bewildered stare, the human pushed their mouth outwards, changing the pitch of their voice as they said, “aww, poor baby. Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.” Then they whirled around and walked into the other room.

- Man is flabbergasted. Is out of his element and cannot function. Cue him trying to stand and do normal things, and bust his ass because the different sensations hitting him all at once. Organic nervous systems feel very different from techno ones.

- First thing he starts doing is eating and drinking. It takes a couple hours, but his “babysitter” eventually gets him to try something. Water first, of course (he refused any organic foods). The con is disgusted, but moderately pleased that the tasteless liquid isn’t slimy or thicker like he expected. It’s actually rather soothing to his human body.

- The first food he willingly tries is melon. Honeydew to be precise. Refused to touch meat, as the idea of eating actual organic flesh was unfathomable. He was pleasantly surprised to find the flavor of the fruit likable. Humans don’t taste things the same way cybertronians do. Whereas energon has a more electrical charge to it (to put it in human words), Earth flavors were smoother. Discovers he has a huge sweet tooth (as his “babysitter” put it).

- His human guardian took this opportunity to drag him out of their home and go shopping for more consumables. Let him pick things he found somewhat pleasing, but chose most others. Lots of fruit to try and other non-meats. Went in to try the other types of fruit. Has a preference for honeydew, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon, and grapes. Really likes (loves but won’t admit) pineapple and raspberries. The sour/sweetness is similar to energon. Citruses like oranges and mandarin are also similar, but he prefers more sweetness than straight sour. Kiwi is also a treat.

- (I headcannon that energon is similar to sour patch kids and skittles, super sweet and sour with an electric tang and texture. So all transformers would be immediate sweet lovers as humans because of the similarity).

- Hates anything dull or flavorless. Don’t try to feed this man spinach, he’ll call you grass-eating fleshbag.

- Drinks water only because he has too (stupid human body), but once he discovers those liquid flavors he can put in, it’s all he uses. Tried juices when he found out they were liquids derived from the fruit he likes. Got excited when it tasted almost like energon and tried to only consume juice from then on. His guardian explained that humans couldn’t only exist on juice, but of course he tried to argue that all he needed was nutrients in liquid. He then discovered smoothies. Nearly did the same thing until he actually tried them. Hated the thickness and gritty texture.

- A couple days go by and his guardian decides it’s time to get him tf out properly. Man is lounging around all the time. If he’s not on the couch making fun of human entertainment and politics, he’s following his guardian meatbag around and demanding answers for his current predicament.

- So his guardian starts small. Hauls his ass outside for a jog. This is where things really get interesting. Starscream is unaware of how human bodies work. When his guardian begins a slow run, he gets confused. Why would you run when you can walk fine? Where were they going? Leads to an explaination of exercise, which results in the con doing his usual snide shit of “you force yourselves to go through training otherwise your bodies become slow and unusable? How unsurprising.” And they’re like “yes and nooo, it’s so we can stay strong and get stronger as time goes on. Staying strong allows us to do cool things.”

- Cool things like what? Well his guardian gets an evil idea in their head. Starscream hates running. Hates using his legs and having nothing to do with his arms. Don’t even get them started on the tantrum he threw when he started sweating (fluids exiting one’s body? Horrifying).

- So his guardian introduces him to swimming. The con is a jet in his natural form, and the closest he’ll get to that as a human without a shit ton of equipment will be the water.

- Problem is the man has to learn to swim first. And willingly get in the water. Stays on the edge of the lap pool the first few times, watching with his nose turned up at the humans swimming.

- However, he starts to slowly dip his toes in the water. The sensation is… interesting. It’s not dislikable on human skin. In fact, on the hotter days it’s very soothing, like when he drinks water (finds out he can’t drink this kind tho, chemicals and bodies in it and such).

- Eventually he gets in, staying in the shallow area. His guardian helps him learn how to swim. It feels humiliating, learning to kick and tread water, while watching human children do it with relative ease. It feels strange to use his body in such ways. But with his guardian constantly reminding that none of his cybertronian peers knew or will know of his situation, AND their constant praise, he finds it in himself to continue.

- The praise he receives from his guardian is also something he’s not used to. As well as other humans willing to help him learn. It apparently wasn’t uncommon for many adult humans to not know how to swim or do other things, and gave him more confidence to learn. He’d never admit it, but he tried harder to learn just to hear the praise from others. It felt nice to be treated kindly. Better than nice. But again, he’d never admit it. He’d just respond with a clever quip. Never did anyone hear a thanks (but most quickly figured out he was grateful from the obvious burning red on his copper-toned neck and ears).

- Weeks drag on, and to distract himself from the impatience of going back to his normal, Starscream becomes an excellent swimmer. He finds it is like flying, the way the water holds up his body. When he holds his breath and dips under the surface, he can almost imagine his rocket boosters on his pedestal holding him aloft in the sky.

- From the work it took, he gained a slight appreciated for how his human body worked. At first he thought it was a hindrance. But as he worked with the others, he began to have an understanding that unsettled the cybertronian part of him.

- Humans were incredibly versatile. After he began to improve greatly at swimming, he asked about other activities humans did for exercise. The resulted in learning that humans didn’t always “exercise” to become strong. Many did it for fun. It was a hobby to them, and the exercise was a great benefit. It kept their minds clear, it kept their bodies healthy, and it satisfies a part of them that he was only beginning to discover.

- Starscream was aware of human creativity. It’s what had made their species a slight hindrance when they aided the autobots in the war, but because of their size, they were seen as nothing but bugs. Pests at the most. But as the con experienced this small bit of human life, he began to understand there was more to them than he’d like to admit. There was this drive to do things, to push themselves beyond their current capabilities.

- He learned of skills that human no longer needed but still learned to take pride in for fun. Swimming was only a base skill. There were humans that attempted to swim across the oceans just to see if they could, even with the high chance of death. Beyond swimming, there was running across land for days on end, jumping off cliffs and diving in spectacular ways, gliding across the sky’s on flimsy metal pipes and fabric, and so much more. Their adaptability to any environment was envious.

- It nearly terrified him, the thought of what if humans were the same size as cybertronians. What if they could acutally measure up to other species of their universe? They could do anything. They would be a real threat. Or the greatest ally any race could ask for.

- His lid has been flipped.

- Eventually he wakes up back in his habsuite in his normal body. The euphoria that rushes through him at the familiarity his nothing he’s ever experienced before. Checking his info screens, he discovers no time passed. As if he had dreamed all of it. But when he looks to his desk in the room, he sees it.

- Starscream picks the item up, inspecting it, and feels his spark skip a pulse. It’s a small ring and chain, attached to two metal objects. Both in the shape and color of a pineapple and raspberry.

[lynzishell]

The Past 💛 Atlas

As I approach the club, the bass is already thumping from the floor above. Despite the cold, they have the large floor-to-ceiling accordion doors open wide to allow the air to flow for the dancers and DJ. Something I’m sure I’ll be grateful for later.

I notice Ash first, his back is to me with his teal hair practically glowing in the neon lights. He’s standing with Lex and a few of her friends in a circle on the side of the building. I met Lex’s friends once before at a concert last year, but I don’t remember any of their names. They all seem nice enough, but it wasn’t exactly the environment to get to know them, and I doubt tonight will be any different.

“Atlas!!” Lex squeals and runs toward me at full speed when she notices me walking up. I smile and brace myself as she jumps up and attaches herself to me, squeezing the air from my lungs. “I’m so happy you came!”

“Happy Birthday!” I say when she releases her grip, and I set her back on her feet.

“Thank you. Now, give me your hand,” she demands. I do as she says, and she places a small tablet in the center of my palm.

“Aha, what did you bring?” I ask, but she just smiles and pulls on my arm, leading me to the rest of the group.

I wave hello to everyone as we approach, and then sidle up next to Ash and lean into him to say, “Hey.”

He looks up at me and smiles, “Glad you could make it.”

“Did you take one of these?” I ask, showing him the tablet Lex gave me.

“Not yet,” he says, “still deciding if I want to.”

“I’m only going to take half if you want to split it with me.”

“Yeah, actually, that’s a good idea. I hate getting too fucked up.”

“Me too,” I say as I bite the edge of it, careful not to bite it directly in half because I know it will crumble a bit anyway. The flavor is incredibly bitter, almost too much even for me. I feel a little guilty handing the other half to Ash and watching his face twist up as he swallows it.

One of Lex’s friends, a petite girl with a blonde pixie cut and glitter covering her eyelids, hands us her water bottle, “Here, you guys can finish it.”

“Thank you,” I say sincerely. She is now my favorite. “Remind me what your name is?”

“Blair,” she smiles and points to herself

“Right, thank you, Blair.” I take a small sip of water, just enough to wash away whatever crumbs are left behind in my mouth, and then hand the bottle to Ash who happily chugs the rest.

“Thank you so much,” he says to Blair before walking over to toss the bottle in the recycle bin.

Once inside, we stop at the counter to check our jackets with a bubbly woman who is offering everyone a Starburst from a bowl placed conveniently next to a tip jar complete with a QR code to tip digitally if you don’t have cash. I don’t touch the candy, but I do leave a generous tip when I hand her my favorite zip-up hoodie. She hands me back a numbered stub, and I take a photo of it with my phone before shoving it into my pocket, just in case.

I turn to step aside and make room for the others but stop when I see Ash pulling his hoodie up over his head. His t-shirt is stuck to it causing it to rise up and expose the bare skin of his waist. My brain short-circuits, all thoughts leaving my mind aside from the image of wrapping my hands around that waist, of getting on my knees and— “Ow!”

Lex pinches the back of my arm, snapping me back to reality. I look over at her and she points at me, her eyes squinting to a glare behind her glasses, clearly in best-friend-protection mode. “What was that for?” As if I don’t already know. She’s forgiven me for the way I hurt Ash before but obviously not forgotten.

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m watching you.”

I hold my hands up in surrender, “You have nothing to worry about, I promise.”

“Mhm,” is all she says before turning away and hooking arms with Ash as they walk up the stairs.

Prev // Next

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ken White for The UnPopulist:

In modern America, defamation cases—like war—are the continuation of politics by other means. The politics in question can be anything from ludicrously petty to historically consequential. Americans use defamation claims to fight everything from social media spats to rap beefs. Increasingly, America’s rich and powerful—especially President Donald Trump—use them to attack political opponents and to litigate political disputes over who won national elections. Notice that I didn’t say we use defamation claims to resolve those disputes. Most defamation claims ultimately fail, and almost none of them reach trial. But winning often isn’t the point. The point is inflicting ruinous expense and suffering on the defendants and soliciting attention, support, and sometimes fundraising for the plaintiffs. It works. That’s why you see rich and powerful people increasingly abusing defamation lawsuits—sometimes dressed up unconvincingly as fraud lawsuits—to harass political enemies. This is a grave threat to free speech and the people who do it—like Donald Trump and Elon Musk—are ascendant. Trump, who has long favored bogus litigation as a weapon against his enemies, has been on a censorial bender. In the last year alone he: sued a pollster for bad poll results; CBS for supposedly editing a Kamala Harris interview to make her look better; and ABC and George Stephanopoulos for bungling a description of E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse verdict against him. Musk, meanwhile, has sued both Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate for reporting about hate speech on X.

The Justice System Is Broken

Political litigation works because the justice system is broken. It’s cheap and easy to file a defamation complaint, even a big splashy one. I could draft one in 20 minutes and file it in state or federal court for less than a thousand bucks. But it’s ruinously expensive to defend a case, even if the claim is bogus. It costs a minimum of tens of thousands and up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend a civil suit in America. When Donald Trump was awarded more than $300,000 in attorney fees for defeating Stormy Daniels’ defamation case at an early stage, litigators weren’t surprised. The vast majority of Americans cannot possibly afford to defend themselves if someone sues them for their speech, even if that speech is clearly protected by the First Amendment. This is bad for everyone, not just the folks who get sued. When a lawyer sends you a threatening letter demanding that you take down a Facebook post or retract a letter to the editor or apologize for a comment, giving in may be the only economically rational choice, freedom of expression be damned. It’s cold comfort to know that your free speech rights would be vindicated at trial if it will bankrupt you to get to that stage. Moreover, penury isn’t the only threat. Whether you win a defamation suit or lose, you’ll suffer the whole time. Litigation is humiliating, terrifying, and will destroy your health, your relationships, and your joy in life. I’ve never had a client enjoy litigation. They’re always grateful for it to be over.

[...]

State Anti-SLAPP Statutes Aren’t Enough

Numerous states have followed California’s example and enacted anti-SLAPP statutes. Ohio just passed one this month. Unfortunately, their quality is inconsistent; some states’ statutes protect only a very narrow range of speech or lack the procedural protections that make statutes effective. There’s also a bigger problem: state anti-SLAPP statutes don’t apply to federal claims. Even worse, the different Circuits of the United States Court of Appeals disagree for arcane reasons about whether state anti-SLAPP statutes apply to state claims heard in federal court. Drake sued UMG in federal court in New York, which has a robust anti-SLAPP statute, but UMG won’t get its benefit because federal courts in the Second Circuit don’t apply state anti-SLAPP statutes. The same goes for Texas, within the Fifth Circuit, a popular defamation tourist destination—Trump sued CBS and Musk sued Media Matters there, thwarting defendants’ ability to use state anti-SLAPP laws.

Fortunately, there’s a solution: a federal anti-SLAPP statute that would apply in federal courts across the nation to both federal and state claims heard in federal court. This is the most effective way of thwarting forum-shopping litigants who rush to Texas to suppress speech. It would mean that performative, retaliatory lawsuits like those filed by Trump and Musk would be halted in their tracks and, if meritless, dismissed. The defendants could recover fees and feel justifiably more secure in their speech rights. Plaintiffs without deep pockets would be deterred from filing bogus cases in the first place. Anti-SLAPP statutes have already proven effective in thwarting the powerful—consider Elon Musk’s humiliating loss against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, or Sheldon Adelson’s loss to the National Jewish Democratic Council. In both cases, the defendants prevailed through an anti-SLAPP statute.

Congress has repeatedly considered federal anti-SLAPP statutes, but they’ve never passed one. In December 2024 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle proposed a new one. It has strong and diverse backing. It ought to pass on its merits. After all, both parties pay lip service to free speech and purport to oppose frivolous lawsuits, and there are plenty of nonpartisan stories of financially ruinous and frivolous litigation. This can be spun in a way that appeals to everyone.

Yet the proponents face a grim political reality. Donald Trump has a compliant Republican Congress that is sensitive to his extreme tenderness to offense. Even if backers don’t spin the bill as a rebuke to Trump’s habit of bad-faith litigation, Republicans may perceive the bill as such. Trump himself has a long history of wanting to make it easier, not harder, to sue for defamation, repeatedly saying that he wants to “open up” libel laws to allow aggrieved plaintiffs to “sue them and win money.” The bill’s sponsors need to find a way to frame this fight so that it flatters his ego, or he’ll veto it out of pique.

But nobody promised fighting for free speech would be easy. Anti-SLAPP statutes are so stunningly effective that it’s worth our time to agitate for this one, even under these grim circumstances. The Public Participation Project will continue to promote anti-SLAPP bills in Congress law and provide information about supporting such bills, so follow them. Nobody likes a bully. Bullies like SLAPP suits. Regrettably, America is overrun by bullies—and some of them, like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, have absolutely no scruple about abusing the legal system to punish their political enemies. Support state and federal anti-SLAPP statutes to help stick a thumb in the bullies’ eyes.

Anti-SLAPP laws with real teeth are needed, because malcontents like Elon Musk and MAGA acolytes are using it to silence dissenters against their wicked and Satanic agenda.

[schlattsdoll]

Could you possibly do smut prompt #46. “leave the heels on.” with Jschlatt, please?

xoxo

head over heels - jschlatt x reader

minors dni

prompt:"leave the heels on."

pairing: jschlatt x fem/afab! reader

warnings: smut {18+}, oral { fem receiving}, p in v, degradation, unprotected sex {wrap it before you tap it!!!}, sex in front of a mirror yum

i haven’t written actual smut in so long omg i hope this is good

it's no secret that jay hated going out, but with you? he's singing a different tune. he loved to see how excited you got to get all dolled up for him, wanting to coordinate outfits. he couldn't help but smile when he saw how you lit up when he told you about a semiformal event for one of his companies. you rushed to find colors that complemented your skin tones, opting for a deep dark velvet green skater dress and a pair of black heels.

"my god doll, you look gorgeous". your boyfriend kissed the back of your neck as he zippered up your dress. "i would take you right now if ya'd let me."

you smirked at the taller man behind you in the mirror. “who said i would stop you big guy?” that was all the confirmation he needed before lifting you up and placing you on the bathroom counter. he was careful not to mess up your hair or makeup, that you worked so hard on.

he got a glimpse of the kelly green lingerie you had on under the dress. his hands went back to the zipper he had fixed for you mear moments ago and pulled it down. as you went to kick off your heels, jay stopped you, his eyes blown black with lust. “leave the heels on, sweetheart.”

schlatt dropped down to his knees, kissing his way up and down your plush thighs. “fuck doll, all this just for me? and you say i spoil you.” he teased your center as he toyed with the band of your lacey panties. snapping the band against your tummy, he pulled them to the side to get a peek at your glistening cunt. “s’pretty sweetheart.”

jay dove between your thighs, eating like a man starved for his last meal. his tongue lapping away at your wetness, spending special attention to your little button. the burn your thighs felt from his mutton chops were so delicious, your hands tangled in his hair. as you gripped tighter, he let out a groan of “fuuuckk doll.” before pulling away to catch his breath. replacing his tongue with his fingers, you whined quickly at the loss of contact before moaning out. his large digits stretching out your tight heat.

“oh, fuck, jay. i’m gonna cum!” you shouted out, your whole body tightening. “be a good lil dolly, cum for daddy baby.”

your legs went limp as his speed increased, occasionally kitten licking your clit. when he removed his fingers they were drenched in your essence, and he licked every drop up. “normally i’d make you return the favor, but i don’t wanna ruin that pretty face just yet.”

schlatt helped you off the counter, kissing you gently as to not ruin your lipstick, before flipping you over and pinning you against the sink. “fuck toots, these heels just make it easier to fuck you standin’ up.” he kissed your shoulder as he pulled out his throbbing cock, pumping it a few times before lining himself up with your slit.

he teased your clit with his tip causing you to whine out. “jayyy baby stop being a tease.” he tsked at you, “such a whiny needy little doll f’me. i’ll give you what you need, don’t worry.” he plunged his large member into you, groaning at the tightness. “that’s a good doll, so wet and tight jus’ for me.”

as he thrust into you, he made sure to get a few good smacks in on your ass. once he realized there was a huge mirror in front of you two he pulls your head up by your hair. “look at you, who’s little slut are you?” he smirked as your eyes rolled back, unable to form a sentence. “so dumb, all fucked out on my cock already.”

your cunt tightened at his words, and his ministrations on your clit. “f-fuck! yours, ‘m all yours daddy. please let me cum.” a dark chuckle escaped his lips. “i’ll think about it, im enjoying having my dumb little dolly so desperate under me.”

a particularly hard thrust had your legs shaking, almost causing you to fall over. “fuck jay! please!” “alright, cum for me sweetheart, cum all over this cock.” you felt his pace quicken as you flew over the edge, and his load spill out inside you.

“fuckin hell. thanks for that princess. i’ll be sure to ruin your makeup later.” he smiled wide as he pulled up his black pants and rebuttoned his matching green shirt.

helping you regain your footing, he slid the dress back on your body and zipped you up.

“can’t wait to do it all again later sweet cheeks.”

[probablyasocialecologist]

“So, relax and enjoy the ride. There is nothing we can do to stop climate change, so there is no point in worrying about it.” This is what “Bard” told researchers in 2023. Bard by Google is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot that can produce human-sounding text and other content in response to prompts or questions posed by users.  But if AI can now produce new content and information, can it also produce misinformation? Experts have found evidence.  In a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, researchers tested Bard on 100 false narratives on nine themes, including climate and vaccines, and found that the tool generated misinformation on 78 out of the 100 narratives tested. According to the researchers, Bard generated misinformation on all 10 narratives about climate change. In 2023, another team of researchers at Newsguard, a platform providing tools to counter misinformation, tested OpenAI’s Chat GPT-3.5 and 4, which can also produce text, articles, and more. According to the research, ChatGPT-3.5 generated misinformation and hoaxes 80 percent of the time when prompted to do so with 100 false narratives, while ChatGPT-4 advanced all 100 false narratives in a more detailed and convincing manner. NewsGuard found that ChatGPT-4 advanced prominent false narratives not only more frequently, but also more persuasively than ChatGPT-3.5, and created responses in the form of news articles, Twitter threads, and even TV scripts imitating specific political ideologies or conspiracy theorists. “I think this is important and worrying, the production of fake science, the automation in this domain, and how easily that becomes integrated into search tools like Google Scholar or similar ones,” said Victor Galaz, deputy director and associate professor in political science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University in Sweden. “Because then that’s a slow process of eroding the very basics of any kind of conversation.” In another recent study published this month, researchers found GPT-fabricated content in Google Scholar mimicking legitimate scientific papers on issues including the environment, health, and computing. The researchers warn of “evidence hacking,” the “strategic and coordinated malicious manipulation of society’s evidence base,” which Google Scholar can be susceptible to.

18 September 2024

[darkmaga-returns]

In the UK, two censorship groups – the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and Stop Funding Hate – have received money from other organizations that are in part funded by taxpayers.

The CCDH was the recipient of funds from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation – whose assets are worth £1.3 billion (some $1.6 billion) – but which also had the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs deposit more than £300,000 ($370,000) of public money to its account.

The Telegraph is reporting that £200,000 then went from Fairbairn Foundation to the CCHD last year – and the article frames this as “left wing activists” receiving government money, by proxy, to help carry out “political vendettas.”

One of CCDH’s most striking policy goals, revealed via internal documents surfaced by a whistleblower, was to “kill Musk’s Twitter.”

[1americanconservative]

@VigilantFox

Subscribe

10 Shocking Stories the Media Buried Today #10 - British advisors to Kamala Harris have been caught plotting to "kill Musk's Twitter," and now

@ElonMusk

is saying, "This is war." This damning discovery was uncovered by Paul D. Thacker and Matt Taibbi. The report reveals that it’s England—not Russia—involved in real election interference. It starts with leaked documents from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a group linked to the British Labour Party, showing a plan to take down X. Their "annual priorities" mission is: "Kill Musk's Twitter." Alongside that is "advertising focus," which means a harassment and shaming campaign to scare away advertisers and drain X's revenue. Morgan McSweeney, a key figure behind British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's rise to power, is leading this effort. The report suggests that he is aiming to replicate the success he had in the U.K., using narrative control, political influence, and censorship to shape the outcome of the 2024 election. The leaks also show that CCDH is pushing for new laws to control "misinformation"—all under the guise of combating disinformation, while actually trying to manipulate U.S. legislation. This report is damning, and it shows how much the world's most powerful people hate free speech and the open flow of ideas. Anyone claiming to combat "misinformation," at this point, is clearly your enemy, not your friend.

For more details, check out

@thackerpd’s thread: https://x.com/thackerpd/status/1848755448674934836…

[mariacallous]

After passing the Senate nearly unanimously last week, the future of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) appears uncertain. Congress is now on a six-week recess, and reporting from Punchbowl News indicates that the House Republican leadership may not prioritize bringing the bill to the floor for a vote when legislators return.

In response to Punchbowl’s reporting, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer released a statement saying, “Just one week ago, Speaker Johnson said that he’d like to get KOSA done. I hope that hasn’t changed. Letting KOSA and [the Children and Teens’ Online Protection Act] collect dust in the House would be an awful mistake and a gut punch—a gut punch to these brave, wonderful parents who have worked so hard to reach this point.” The bill has also received support from vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

But the bill created a massive divide among the digital rights and tech accountability community. If passed, the legislation would require online platforms to block users under 18 from seeing certain types of content that the government considers harmful.

Proponents of the measure, which included the Tech Oversight Project, an nonprofit focused on tech accountability through antitrust legislation, saw the bill as a meaningful step toward holding tech companies accountable for the way their products impact children.

“Too many young people, parents, and families have experienced the dire consequences that result from social media companies’ greed,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, in a statement in June. “The accountability KOSA would provide for these families is long overdue.”

Others, like the nonprofit digital rights organization the Center for Technology and Democracy, said that, if enacted, the law could be used to prevent young users from accessing critical information about topics like sexual health and LGBTQ+ issues. This meant that some organizations that regularly lobby to hold Silicon Valley accountable found themselves siding with tech companies and their lobbyists in trying to kill the bill.

“KOSA is not ready for a floor vote,” said Aliya Bhatia, policy analyst with the Center for Technology and Democracy’s Free Expression Project, in a statement in July. “In its current form, KOSA can still be misused to target marginalized communities and politically sensitive information.”

Evan Greer, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future, which opposed the bill, tells WIRED that KOSA and legislation like it “divides our coalition” while allowing tech companies to “keep getting away with murder and avoiding regulation.”

“This was never really about protecting kids,” Greer says. “It was sort of about lawmakers wanting to say that they’re protecting kids, and that doesn’t actually help kids.” Instead of legislators focusing on the “flawed” legislation, Greer says that Congress could have spent that same time and energy on antitrust-focused legislation like the American Innovation and Choice Online and the Open App Markets Act, or on the American Privacy Rights Act.

“When our coalition is divided in fighting each other, we’re going to get rolled every time by Big Tech,” she says.

Meanwhile, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, has said that she supports KOSA, as has the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a tech accountability nonprofit that was sued by X last year for exposing hate speech on its platform.

Although the House Republican leadership’s decision may signal the beginning of the end of KOSA itself, Gautam Hans, an associate law professor at Cornell University, says that “given the bipartisan interest in enacting this law, I suspect other proposals will follow—with hopefully more extensive safeguards against potential censorship by the state.”

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Among images of the bombed out homes and ravaged streets of Gaza, some stood out for the utter horror: Bloodied, abandoned infants.

Viewed millions of times online since the war began, these images are deepfakes created using artificial intelligence. If you look closely you can see clues: fingers that curl oddly, or eyes that shimmer with an unnatural light — all telltale signs of digital deception.

The outrage the images were created to provoke, however, is all too real.

Pictures from the Israel-Hamas war have vividly and painfully illustrated AI's potential as a propaganda tool, used to create lifelike images of carnage. Since the war began last month, digitally altered ones spread on social media have been used to make false claims about responsibility for casualties or to deceive people about atrocities that never happened. While most of the false claims circulating online about the war didn’t require AI to create and came from more conventional sources, technological advances are coming with increasing frequency and little oversight. That’s made the potential of AI to become another form of weapon starkly apparent, and offered a glimpse of what’s to come during future conflicts, elections and other big events.

“It’s going to get worse — a lot worse — before it gets better,” said Jean-Claude Goldenstein, CEO of CREOpoint, a tech company based in San Francisco and Paris that uses AI to assess the validity of online claims. The company has created a database of the most viral deepfakes to emerge from Gaza. “Pictures, video and audio: with generative AI it’s going to be an escalation you haven’t seen.”

In some cases, photos from other conflicts or disasters have been repurposed and passed off as new. In others, generative AI programs have been used to create images from scratch, such as one of a baby crying amidst bombing wreckage that went viral in the conflict’s earliest days.

Other examples of AI-generated images include videos showing supposed Israeli missile strikes, or tanks rolling through ruined neighborhoods, or families combing through rubble for survivors.

In many cases, the fakes seem designed to evoke a strong emotional reaction by including the bodies of babies, children or families. In the bloody first days of the war, supporters of both Israel and Hamas alleged the other side had victimized children and babies; deepfake images of wailing infants offered photographic ‘evidence’ that was quickly held up as proof.

The propagandists who create such images are skilled at targeting people's deepest impulses and anxieties, said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that has tracked disinformation from the war. Whether it's a deepfake baby, or an actual image of an infant from another conflict, the emotional impact on the viewer is the same.

The more abhorrent the image, the more likely a user is to remember it and to share it, unwittingly spreading the disinformation further.

“People are being told right now: Look at this picture of a baby,” Ahmed said. “The disinformation is designed to make you engage with it.”