5: How Fox News dominates Facebook in the Trump era
By the time Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference landed, the battle to spin it had already begun, with politicians and media outlets pumping out their respective takes.
But on Facebook, there was one clear winner: Fox News.
The network’s favorable interpretation of the Mueller report — that it exonerated the president — furiously gathered up reactions, comments, and shares. In fact, its main Facebook page nearly doubled CNN’s in total engagements the day the report dropped, according to the analytics firm CrowdTangle. The New York Times and the Washington Post each mustered just one-sixth the number of Facebook interactions. MSNBC, Fox News’ purported liberal foil, drew just one-tenth.
Vice News
4: ‘Unacceptable’: Sri Lankans share their views on face veil ban
Sri Lanka’s decision to ban face coverings a week after more than 250 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks on Easter Sunday has drawn a mixed response, with activists saying the move “violated Muslim women’s right to practice their religion freely”.
The law that takes effect from Monday did not specifically name burqas, niqabs or hijab worn by many Muslim women. A burqa is an outer garment that covers the entire body and the face, a niqab is a veil that also covers the face, while a hijab covers only the hair.
“The ban is to ensure national security… No one should obscure their faces to make identification difficult,” a statement from President Maithripala Sirisena said on Sunday.
Aljazeera
3:HOMELAND SECURITY USED A PRIVATE INTELLIGENCE FIRM TO MONITOR FAMILY SEPARATION PROTESTS
THE CALLS FOR action were mounting. It was mid-June, and the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, which saw thousands of migrant children separated from their parents, was producing waves of outrage. By the end of the month, hundreds of protests were planned in towns and cities across the country. As the plans moved forward, others took notice.
In the days leading up to the protests, a private intelligence company that works with the Department of Homeland Security was monitoring the activity on the ground. Documents shared with The Intercept by the American Immigration Council, obtained through a freedom of information request, show that LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, a Virginia-based firm, gathered information on more than 600 demonstrations across the country, information that was then shared with DHS and state-level law enforcement agencies.
The Intercept
The award-winning Filipina journalist Maria Ressa has been arrested twice in recent months by the Philippines government as President Rodrigo Duterte cracks down on critics and the media. In February, she was detained in a cyber libel case that’s widely seen as politically motivated. She was arrested again in late March for allegedly violating a ban on foreign media ownership. Duterte has long attempted to shut down Rappler, which has published groundbreaking work on Duterte’s deadly war on drugs that has killed thousands. Duterte has repeatedly described the site as fake news outlet. We speak with Maria Ressa, the founder of the independent news site Rappler and a vocal critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Democracy Now
1: Huawei tech would put UK-US intelligence ties at risk, official says
