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Facebook’s latest propaganda sweep takes down QAnon-linked pages

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The removals mark the first time Facebook has publicly announced an action against QAnon, a far-right conspiracy group that originated on 4Chan and has been banned on other platforms like Reddit. Facebook didn’t specify exactly who was behind the effort, only that the “investigation found links to individuals associated with QAnon.” 

Facebook’s Head of Security Policy, Nathaniel Gleicher, said the accounts pre-date the coronavirus pandemic, but that “we’ve seen them opportunistically leverage COVID-related topics.” 

Examples of the posts shared by the accounts removed by Facebook.
Examples of the posts shared by the QAnon-linked accounts removed by Facebook.

Facebook

“They frequently posted about news and topics including the upcoming presidential election and candidates, the current US administration, anti-Semitic and anti-Asian conspiracies, and COVID-19,” Facebook wrote in a report on the takedowns. “While it did not appear to be the focus of this campaign, some of the individuals behind this effort attempted to monetize their clickbait content by selling t-shirts and other merchandise.”

As NBC News points out, the pages  represent only a “fraction” of QAnon supporters’ Facebook presence. While Facebook aims to debunk and hide conspiracy theories and misinformation, the company doesn’t remove posts that don’t otherwise violate their rules. 

Together, the five pages, 20 accounts, and six groups reached more than 150,000 Facebook users, the company said. One hundred and thirty-three thousand users had followed at least one of the pages, and 30,000 had joined at least one of the groups. While that’s a tiny subset of Facebook’s 195 million US users, it still highlights how a small number of “fringe” accounts can gain relatively wide distribution on the social network.



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The Obamas will headline YouTube’s graduation ceremony

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It turns out students who are graduating this year will have some options when it comes to their choice of a virtual ceremony. Following Facebook, YouTube announced today it plans to host an online graduation ceremony to honor the class of 2020 as they’re forced to stay home due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Dubbed “Dear Class of 2020,” the event will kick off on June 6th at 3PM ET, with a commencement address delivered by former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Google CEO Sundar Pichai will also make an appearance, as will musicians like Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys and Kelly Rowland. As you might have guessed from the festival-like lineup, they’ll be musical performances in between speeches. And at the end, K-pop group BTS will host a virtual after-party. 

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Airbnb will lay off 25 percent of its workforce due to COVID-19

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Departing staff will get 14 weeks of pay, plus another week for every year they’ve worked at Airbnb, and will get a year’s worth of health insurance in the US. International workers will get health coverage through the end of 2020. Employees who’ve worked for less than a year can buy their vested share options.

Airbnb has a degree of cushioning. It scrambled to raise capital once the pandemic hit, including $2 billion in debt. All the same, it’s easy to see why the company would cut jobs to such a severe degree. While lockdowns are beginning to lift, it could be a long time until travel resumes in earnest, let alone until enough travellers are comfortable that Airbnb sees pre-pandemic booking levels. The layoffs might help Airbnb survive until that point without having to ask for more money.

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California sues Uber and Lyft for allegedly misclassifying drivers

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The companies have promised to compensate drivers either infected by COVID-19 or quarantined by health officials out of precaution, but their strategies are exceptions that don’t cover separate health issues or other costs. They also don’t account for payroll taxes.

A Lyft spokesperson told Engadget the company was “looking forward” to working with the Attorney General and mayors on bringing the “benefits” of gig economy companies to Californians. It’s not directly indicating how it will respond to the lawsuit, then. Uber was more vocal in its opposition, saying it would “contest” the lawsuit and claimed this would make it “harder” for people to start driving. You can read the full statements below.

In the past, Uber and Lyft have fought bitterly against AB5 and other attempts to treat their drivers as employees. They’ve insisted that their contractor approach is necessary to provide flexibility and have argued for an in-between option that lets them keep drivers as contractors but theoretically offers more of a safety net. Uber has gone so far as to preemptively sue the state. The attorneys don’t buy the argument, however. San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the companies were “selling a lie,” and that it was entirely possible for drivers to choose their own hours and areas while receiving employee benefits. Uber and Lyft “simply don’t want to do it,” Herrera added.

It’s far too soon to say how the lawsuit will pan out. There’s little doubt that it comes at a difficult moment for Uber and Lyft, though. Both companies are reeling from the pandemic due to a plunge in ridership, leading Uber to pull its Eats service out of several countries and Lyft to lay off nearly 1,000 people. They could find themselves paying considerably more to support California drivers if government attorneys succeed. At the same time, there’s little doubt that the new coronavirus has highlighted the lack of protections for gig economy workers of all kinds — they have few options if something goes awry.

“At a time when California’s economy is in crisis with four million people out of work, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to quickly start earning. We will contest this action in court, while at the same time pushing to raise the standard of independent work for drivers in California, including with guaranteed minimum earnings and new benefits.” Uber

“We are looking forward to working with the Attorney General and mayors across the state to bring all the benefits of California’s innovation economy to as many workers as possible, especially during this time when the creation of good jobs with access to affordable healthcare and other benefits is more important than ever.” Lyft

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Ford shares a year’s worth of self-driving car data

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The data was collected over the span of one year, and it comes from multiple self-driving research vehicles. It includes LiDAR and camera sensor data, GPS and trajectory information, as well as 3D point cloud and ground reflectivity maps. Ford is even sharing a plug-in with data visualization tools.

Ford self-driving vehicles

Ford

While other companies, like Waymo, have shared self-driving vehicle data in the past, the breadth and depth of Ford’s data is unusual. Because it was collected over an entire year, it includes a variety of weather conditions, including rain, sun, clouds and snow. The data was gathered in the Metro Detroit area, so the vehicles experienced dense urban areas, freeways, tunnels, residential neighborhoods, airports, construction zones and pedestrian activity. That should give research access to the kinds of diverse scenarios self-driving vehicles will find themselves in, Ford says.

Plus, while most datasets only offer data from a single vehicle, this data comes from multiple vehicles. That means researchers can explore, for instance, what happens when two vehicles encounter each other. One might be able to detect things that the other cannot “see,” which could lead to development around multi-vehicle communication, perception and path planning.

The data is available through a collaboration with Amazon’s open data program, and more info can be found at avdata.ford.com. The first set of data is available now, and Ford says it will continue uploading the rest of the data logs.

Ford has tested its self-driving vehicles and delivery services in a handful of cities — though it clarified that this data is separate from the work it’s doing with Argo AI to develop a production-ready system. Ford still plans to launch its self-driving car fleet in 2021, but last spring, CEO Jim Hackett scaled back those ambitions. He said the fleet’s “applications will be narrow, what we call geo-fenced, because the problem is so complex.”

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Stream Dischord Records’ entire discography for free on Bandcamp

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You probably can’t go to the record store at the moment, but you can listen to 40 years’ worth of punk and hardcore music from Dischord Records, which has its entire discography available to stream for free on Bandcamp. The independent label was founded by Ian MacKye and Jeff Nelson of Minor Threat in 1980, and ever since has released influential records. If you hear something you like, you can pay for a download with higher audio quality — which could help artists more than if you were to listen on Spotify. MacKaye popularized the idea of $5 concerts and insisted on selling Dischord’s music at a low price, so this move is in line with the label’s DIY ethos.

Dischord has been a major provider of independent music, ranging from punk to emo — before the genre was associated with makeup and tight leather pants, it was an offshoot of hardcore. Many of punk and hardcore’s most prominent artists either had music published on the label or were directly influenced by its output. Aggressive music certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you’re curious, some stand-out albums include Rites of Spring’s self-titled record, 13 Songs by Fugazi, Shudder to Think’s Funeral at the Movies and No Kill No Beep Beep by Q and Not U. Hopefully new listeners will find something surprising, and longtime fans can go deeper down the Dischord rabbit hole.

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Gladiatorial brawler ‘Gorn’ comes to PlayStation VR on May 19th

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On May 19th, Gorn, one of the PC’s better virtual reality showcases, will make its way to PlayStation VR. If you’re not familiar with the title, it’s a physics-based gladiator game.

Gorn’s engine simulates every object in its arenas, including enemies. This creates a combat system in which you have a lot of control over how fights evolve. You can, for example, pick up a rock to use as a makeshift weapon, or use the body of a dead enemy as a shield against projectiles. With the right timing, you can also parry weapon blows and even catch an arrow in midflight. It’s a combat system that rewards creativity, often to bloody and amusing results.

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Android’s real-time captioning is coming to Chrome on desktops

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You won’t need an Android phone to take advantage of Google’s real-time captioning before long. Techdows has noticed (via 9to5Google) that the latest Canary build of Chrome includes Live Caption support for media playing in the browser. You’ll have to enable the feature through an accessibility flag in the settings, but it should automatically caption music or videos without requiring special support.

You can try it now on Chrome OS, Linux, Mac and Windows, although Canary versions of Chrome are very rough around the edges. You may have to wait a while if you want Live Caption in a beta or stable release. Whenever you hop in, though, this could make life easier if you’re hard of hearing or need to cut through background noise.

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Twitter test asks you to ‘rethink’ sending mean replies

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Twitter is testing a new feature that could reduce bullying and harassment on its platform. Under the experiment, the company will ask users if they want to “rethink” replies before they hit send on potentially offensive tweets.

“To let you rethink a reply, we’re running a limited experiment on iOS with a prompt that gives you the option to revise your reply before it’s published if it uses language that could be harmful,” the company wrote.

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Motorola has a two-for-one deal on its foldable Razr phone

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Foldable smartphones are clearly in their infancy, but there is a certain level of hype around them. If you’ve been on the fence about becoming an early adopter, Motorola’s buy-one-get-one deal on its Razr flip phone might be worth checking out. You get two foldables for the price of one, but that price is still pretty high.

$1,500 gets you two Razr phones, which could be a good deal for couples or families. Meanwhile, $1,380 can get you one Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, which comes with double the storage capacity of the Razr (among several other advantages). The middling reviews of the Razr may be an indication that this sale is, at least in part, due to poor sales. That’s a little alarming, given that the phone has only been available for three months.

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