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British Muslim MP accuses host of ‘sneering contempt’ over UK riots interview

The UK has been grappling with a wave of far-right violence, including attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers. (AFP/File)
The UK has been grappling with a wave of far-right violence, including attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers. (AFP/File)
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Updated 06 August 2024
Arab News
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British Muslim MP accuses host of ‘sneering contempt’ over UK riots interview

British Muslim MP accuses host of ‘sneering contempt’ over UK riots interview
  • Zarah Sultana spoke about the importance of calling the incidents ‘Islamophobic’
  • Good Morning Britain host Ed Balls repeatedly interrupted her in ‘unacceptable and deeply uncomfortable’ interview
Updated 06 August 2024
Arab News
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LONDON: British Muslim MP Zarah Sultana has accused Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls of attempting to patronize her during a Monday morning interview about the recent far-right riots in the UK.

Labour’s Sultana engaged in a heated debate with the presenter and former politician, emphasizing the importance of labeling the far-right violence as “Islamophobic.”

“The sneering contempt of ‘journalists’ will never stop me from calling out racism and Islamophobic hate,” Sultana wrote on X.

During the interview, Balls repeatedly interrupted Sultana, accusing her of not answering the questions.

“If you want to answer the questions, you can but you don’t have to,” Balls told Sultana.

In a tense exchange, co-presenter Kate Garraway asked Sultana why it was important to use the term “Islamophobic” alongside “racist” and “thuggery” to describe the events. Balls interrupted again, stating: “They definitely said racist over the weekend.”

As Sultana explained how protesters attacked a mosque over the weekend, Balls interjected once more, saying: “But Keir Starmer has condemned that,” to which Sultana replied: “I’m just finishing the question if that’s OK.”

The incident has sparked online criticism, with some calling the episode “unacceptable and deeply uncomfortable,” and accusing Balls of being “reckless” for his repeated interruptions of the MP.

Balls and ITV faced scrutiny for interviewing his wife, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, on the same program, raising questions about the impartiality of the interview.

The UK has been grappling with a wave of far-right violence, including attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers.

The unrest follows a stabbing rampage at a dance class in Southport that left three girls dead and several injured, fueled by false online rumors that the 17-year-old suspect was a Muslim immigrant.

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Topics: UK Good Morning Britain Zarah Sultana

Russia fines Google $20 decillion, a record-breaking penalty

Russia fines Google $20 decillion, a record-breaking penalty
Updated 1 min 7 sec ago
Arab News
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Russia fines Google $20 decillion, a record-breaking penalty

Russia fines Google $20 decillion, a record-breaking penalty
  • The amount — 20 followed by 33 zeros — exceeds the estimated total global GDP of $110 trillion, a figure with a mere 13 zeros
  • Unpaid fine dates back to 2020 when Google began banning Russian YouTube channels, and has grown exponentially due to compound penalties
Updated 1 min 7 sec ago
Arab News

LONDON: A Russian court has fined Google a staggering $20 decillion, the largest financial penalty ever issued.

In fact, $20 decillion (20 followed by 33 zeros), which in Russia’s own currency is equivalent to 2 undecillion rubles (a 37-digit figure), far exceeds the combined gross domestic product of every country in the world, which is estimated to be about $110 trillion (a figure with a mere 13 zeros).

The amount dwarfs the $206 billion paid by tobacco companies to the US government in 1998, which remains the largest civil lawsuit settlement.

Google said: “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. We do not believe these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”

The fine, which a judge said contained “many, many zeros,” relates to a dispute that began in 2020 when Google-owned YouTube banned Tsargrad, a Russian ultra-nationalist, pro-Kremlin channel, from the platform in compliance with US sanctions.

Since then, Google has blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels and more than 5.5 million videos from Russia, halted advertising services in the country in March 2022, and paused monetization of content that supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In response, a number of relatively small fines were imposed by Russian courts but they went unpaid and Russian business newspaper RBC reported that the amounts owed have grown immensely as result of compound penalties initially set at $1,025 a day and doubling each week.

Details of the current total of the fine emerged on Tuesday, as Google reported quarterly earnings of $88.3 billion for the three months to September. Based on that amount, it would take the company more than 56 septillion (a figure with 24 zeros) years to pay off the fine, which is more than 4 trillion times the age of the universe.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, urged Google parent company Alphabet to stop blocking Russian YouTube channels. However, he conceded that the massive fine, which he said he cannot even pronounce, is purely symbolic.

“These demands, they simply demonstrate the essence of our channels’ claims against Google,” Peskov said. “Google should not restrict the activities of our broadcasters, but Google is doing this.

“Probably, this (growing fine) should be a reason for Google’s management to take notice and rectify the situation. It’s the best thing the company can do.”

Topics: Russia Google Alphabet US Youtube

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Palestinian student wins appeal after UK Home Office revoked visa over Gaza remarks

Palestinian student wins appeal after UK Home Office revoked visa over Gaza remarks
Updated 31 October 2024
Arab News
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Palestinian student wins appeal after UK Home Office revoked visa over Gaza remarks

Palestinian student wins appeal after UK Home Office revoked visa over Gaza remarks
  • Tribunal found Dana Abu Qamar’a comments did not constitute extremism, align with views of human rights organizations
  • Qamar had her visa revoked in December after a speech at Palestinian rally that prompted intervention of the then-immigration minister, Robert Jenrick
Updated 31 October 2024
Arab News

LONDON: A Palestinian student has won an appeal against the UK government after her student visa was revoked in 2023 due to statements on the Gaza situation that the Home Office deemed “not conducive to the public good.”

The Home Office had stripped Dana Abu Qamar, a dual Jordanian-Canadian citizen of Palestinian origin and University of Manchester student, of her visa after concluding that her remarks on Gaza’s resistance to Israel posed a risk to public safety.

However, a tribunal overturned the ruling on Wednesday, declaring that her comments did not constitute extremism.

Court documents show that her visa was revoked after the then-immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, intervened in the case. Qamar, who leads the Friends of Palestine society at the university, stated that his involvement “sends a chilling message to activists,” calling it part of a “brutal crackdown.”

The tribunal’s judgment also concluded that Abu Qamar’s reference to Israel as an “apartheid” state aligned with views held by multiple human rights organizations and found her language around “actively resisting” and “breaking free” to be consistent with lawful expressions of Palestinian resistance. The court also determined she was “not an extremist.”

Commenting on her legal victory, Qamar said “justice has prevailed” and that she was happy with the result.

“This ruling validates the right to voice support for human rights for the plight of Palestinians and the right to resist occupation,” she said on Wednesday.

Her statements, which initially attracted government scrutiny, came during a speech at a pro-Palestine rally in Manchester, in which she remarked, “We are full of pride, we are really, full of joy at what has happened,” referencing the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel.

Later, in a BBC interview, she clarified her stance, saying: “The death of any innocent civilian should not be condoned ever, and we don’t condone it at all.”

Abu Qamar, who has lost 22 relatives in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing campaign and whose paternal grandparents were displaced by the 1948 Nakba, reiterated her opposition to harm against civilians, adding: “I’ve always been of the position that I never have or never will condone harm to innocent civilians. It doesn’t align with who I am as a person, with my character and with my views. I’ve made that explicitly clear throughout and I’m glad that the court has seen that.”

Topics: War on Gaza UK Robert Jenrick

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Report says crowd-sourced fact checks on X fail to address flood of US election misinformation

Report says crowd-sourced fact checks on X fail to address flood of US election misinformation
Updated 31 October 2024
AP
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Report says crowd-sourced fact checks on X fail to address flood of US election misinformation

Report says crowd-sourced fact checks on X fail to address flood of US election misinformation
Updated 31 October 2024
AP

SAN FRANCISCO, California: X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking program, called Community Notes, isn’t addressing the flood of US election misinformation on Elon Musk’s social media platform, according to a report published Wednesday by a group that tracks online speech.
The nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate analyzed the Community Notes feature and found that accurate notes correcting false and misleading claims about the US elections were not displayed on 209 out of a sample of 283 posts deemed misleading — or 74 percent.
Misleading posts that did not display Community Notes even when they were available included false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that voting systems are unreliable, CCDH said.

From a page of the "Rated Note Helpful" report of the Center for Countering Digital Hate

In the cases where Community Notes were displayed, the original misleading posts received 13 times more views than their accompanying notes, the group added.
Community Notes lets X users write fact checks on posts after the users are accepted as contributors to the program. The checks are then rated by other users based on their accuracy, sources, how easily they are to understand, and whether they use neutral language. The program was launched in 2021 by the previous leadership of the site — then known as Twitter — and was called Birdwatch. Musk renamed it Community Notes after he took over the site in 2022.

Formerly known as Birdwatch under the old Twitter, the program was renamed Community Notes after Elon Musk took over the popular social media platform in 2022 and renamed it X. (Image courtesy of X)

Last year, X sued CCDH, blaming the group for the loss of “tens of millions of dollars” in advertising revenue after it documented an increase in hate speech on the site. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in March.
Keith Coleman, a vice president of product at X who oversees Community Notes, said in a statement that the program “maintains a high bar to make notes effective and maintain trust across perspectives, and thousands of election and politics related notes have cleared that bar in 2024. In the last month alone, hundreds of such notes have been shown on thousands of posts and have been seen tens of millions of times. It is because of their quality that notes are so effective.”
San Francisco-based X also pointed to external academic research that has shown Community Notes to be trustworthy and effective.
Imran Ahmed, the CEO of CCDH, however, said the group’s research “suggests that X’s Community Notes are little more than a Band Aid on a torrent of hate and disinformation that undermines our democracy and further polarizes our communities.”

Topics: US Election 2024 misinformation X Community Notes Center for Countering Digital

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Meta says Malaysia’s social media licencing plan lacks clarity, threatens innovation

Meta says Malaysia’s social media licencing plan lacks clarity, threatens innovation
Updated 30 October 2024
Reuters
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Meta says Malaysia’s social media licencing plan lacks clarity, threatens innovation

Meta says Malaysia’s social media licencing plan lacks clarity, threatens innovation
  • Malaysia to require social media licenses by Jan. 1, says platforms must step up monitoring
  • Meta says undecided if it will apply for licencing by deadline due to “exceptionally accelerated” iter and unclear obligations
Updated 30 October 2024
Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR: A Meta Platforms official on Wednesday criticized Malaysia’s plan to require social media platforms to apply for a regulatory license by January, saying the proposal lacked clear guidelines and gave social companies little time to comply, risking digital innovation and growth in the country.
Malaysia said in July it will require social media platforms and messaging services with more than eight million users to obtain a license, as part of efforts to curb financial scams, cyberbullying and sexual crimes online.
The companies could face legal action if they failed to do so by Jan. 1, 2025.
The plan has faced a backlash, with an Asian industry group that includes Meta urging the government in August to pause the move. Malaysia however has said it will not delay the proposed regulations, with Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil saying tech companies must comply with local laws to continue operating the country.
Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia Rafael Frankel said the firm has not yet decided if it plans to apply for the license ahead of the January deadline, due to a lack of clarity over the new regulations.
The timeline to apply for a license was “exceptionally accelerated” and the obligations for social media firms under the plan remained unclear, Frankel said in an interview with Reuters.
“These regulations tend to take a couple years to go through multiple iterations... to properly structure them and to balance the need for safety and ensure that you don’t inadvertently cap innovation and digital economic growth,” he said.
Malaysia’s communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interview.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday following a meeting with Meta representatives a day earlier, communications minister Fahmi thanked the company for its willingness to cooperate with the government but urged it to take more proactive measures against sexual content involving minors on its platforms.
Frankel said Meta shared the Malaysian government’s goal for a safe online environment and was working closely with the communications regulator to remove or restrict harmful content from its platforms.
“We don’t need a licencing regime in order to take online safety seriously. We already take it seriously,” he said.
Meta has shared its concerns with the government and hopes to “bridge the differences” over the proposed regulations before they are implemented, Frankel added, without providing details.
Malaysian authorities deem online gambling, scams, child pornography and grooming, cyberbullying and content related to race, religion and royalty as harmful.
Malaysia reported a sharp increase in harmful social media content earlier this year and urged social media firms, including Facebook parent Meta and short video platform TikTok (8645.HK), to step up monitoring on their platforms.

Topics: Meta Malaysia Regulation

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Journalist shot dead in crime-riddled western Mexico

Journalist shot dead in crime-riddled western Mexico
Updated 30 October 2024
AFP
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Journalist shot dead in crime-riddled western Mexico

Journalist shot dead in crime-riddled western Mexico
  • Mauricio Cruz Solis was a host on local radio station La Poderosa Uruapan who also published news on the Minuto x Minuto outlet
  • Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, news advocacy groups say
Updated 30 October 2024
AFP

MORELIA, Mexico: A journalist was shot dead Tuesday night in western Mexico, a local prosecutor’s office said, in a part of the country hit hard by organized crime.
Mauricio Cruz Solis, a host on local radio station La Poderosa Uruapan who also published news on the Minuto x Minuto outlet, was killed in the city of Uruapan.
One other person was wounded in the attack, the prosecutor’s office said.
The radio station where Cruz Solis worked mourned his killing in a statement published on social media.
“Mauricio was more than a colleague, he was an unconditional friend, a source of inspiration and a tireless voice in the service of our community,” the station said.
Wracked by violence related to drug trafficking, Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, news advocacy groups say.
Reporters Without Borders says more than 150 newspeople have been killed in Mexico since 1994.
Cruz Solis’s murder is the first killing of a journalist under the government of Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office on October 1, although there have been other attacks on media this month.
On October 18, gunmen shot at the front of the El Debate newspaper’s office in Culiacan, the state capital of cartel stronghold Sinaloa, which has been shaken by weeks of gang infighting.
A day later, a delivery worker with the outlet was abducted by presumed criminal groups and there has been no news about his whereabouts.

Topics: Mexico

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