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We wrote this guide to digital security at protest in 2020, but much of the information continues to be relevant three years later.⁠ ⁠ Be smart, stay safe.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ 🔗 Full guide at the link in our bio.⁠ 📸 Image: Alex Wong/Getty Images

TikTok has come under GOP fire in recent weeks after the app showed an apparent spike in pro-Palestine content after the IDF began its bombing campaign of Gaza following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. Republican politicians have publicly claimed that the company is intentionally promoting pro-Palestine content with the goal of “brainwashing our [American] youth” into supporting Hamas. But the proliferation of pro-Palestine content on TikTok isn’t due to the app’s algorithm, the company stated in a press release on Monday. Rather, it claimed that teenagers simply tend to support Palestine more. “Attitudes among young people skewed toward Palestine long before TikTok existed,” the release stated. “Support for Israel (as compared to sympathy for Palestine) has been lower among younger Americans for some time. This is evidenced by looking at Gallup polling data of millennials dating as far back as 2010, long before TikTok even existed.” The data linked by the release states that sympathy toward Israel is “solidly positive” among older generations, but that millennials were “evenly divided,” with 42 percent sympathizing more with Palestine and 40 percent sympathizing more with Israel. TikTok admitted that the data in the poll covering Gen Z is slight. “There are too few adult members of Generation Z (aged 18-22) in the recent poll to report, but the limited available data suggests their views on this question are similar to millennials’,” the Gallup data states. Around three in four adult TikTok users are between the ages of 18 and 34. The company wrote in the release that its algorithm does not “take sides,” but operates in a positive feedback loop—the more of a certain type of content a user interacts with, the more of that type of content they will be shown. “TikTok does not ‘promote’ one side of an issue over another,” the release read. "On TikTok, the videos people view, like, and share inform the recommendation algorithm about content they might find relevant. Using these signals, the recommendation algorithm creates a prediction score to rank videos to potentially recommend.” 🔗 More at the link in our bio. 📰 Author: Jules Roscoe 📸 Image: Getty Images

The United Kingdom has a new Home Secretary in charge of national security, and he’s a fan of Warhammer 40K.⁠ ⁠ As part of a broader leadership shakeup at Number 10, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed James Cleverly as the U.K.’s home secretary. It’s a role that’s focused on domestic policy like policing and immigration, and the British press sees the move as a balm to right-wing elements in the government. ⁠ ⁠ In a statement after his appointment replacing Suella Braverman, Cleverly said his goal is “stopping the boats,” referring to immigrants who arrive illegally by crossing the Channel.⁠ ⁠ But the more important thing, for our purposes, is that Cleverly is a nerd who is really into painting Warhammer 40K miniatures. Warhammer 40K began as a wargame and spun off into video games, movies, and an upcoming Netflix show starring Henry Cavill. ⁠ ⁠ Set in a far flung future, it paints humanity as an explicitly fascist and genocidal space-faring race fanatically dedicated to serving a zombie Emperor and waging perpetual war against dozens of factions. ⁠ ⁠ It coined the term grimdark, and represents a very British view of a possible hellish future.⁠ ⁠ Cleverly loves it. On YouTube, Britain’s new Home Secretary has subscribed to channels dedicated to the hobby like Buypainted, WarGamerGirl, and the official Warhammer channel. Another eagle-eyed Warhammer fan noticed that Cleverly had boxes of miniatures behind him during a television interview, and posted a screengrab of it on Twitter.⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Matthew Gault⁠ 📸 Image: Getty Images/Warhammer 40K

Since its creation, The Sphere in Las Vegas has become, for people of a certain techno-political persuasion, a beacon of hope in a sea of darkness. ⁠ ⁠ At 875,000 square feet and 366 feet tall, it is the largest spherical structure in the world and able to fit 12,000 people. But it has quickly become better known as the world's largest LED screen, an ever-changing globe of QR codes and smiling cartoon faces that look down on the Las Vegas strip. ⁠ ⁠ Optimists have described it as “the future of entertainment,” “the most insane concert venue ever built,” and a representation of modern-day American ingenuity in action. “Late stage empires don’t build things this extraordinary,” Eric Wollberg, the co-founder and CEO at Prophetic, a neurotech startup, wrote in September while reposting a video from inside the venue of one of U2’s first shows. ⁠ ⁠ “America bodied y’all. Absolute dominance,” another Twitter user wrote this month alongside a video of The Sphere as a round yellow cartoon figure, casting his eyes down on the people below him. ⁠ ⁠ But since The Sphere’s debut on September 29, evidence has begun to pop up that something might be amiss. The chatter started November 3, when the company informed the SEC that chief financial officer Gautam Ranji had quit. ⁠ ⁠ In the SEC filing, the company said Ranji’s resignation was “not a result of any disagreement with the Company’s independent auditors or any member of management on any matter of accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosure or internal controls.”⁠ ⁠ But four days later, The New York Post insinuated that was not actually the case. A source had told the outlet that Ranji had quit after his boss, the famously ill-tempered Knicks owner James Dolan, reportedly screamed at him during a meeting of senior executives. ⁠ ⁠ Ranji, who had worked at the company for 11 months, reportedly “calmly” left the room and immediately told the company’s general counsel he was done.⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More on the Sphere Drama at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Maxwell Strachan⁠ 📸 Image: Getty Images

The pyramids of Egypt are staggeringly ancient. By the time of Cleopatra, they were already thousands of years old. But new research claims that another pyramid might have them all beat, potentially rewriting the history of human civilization. A team of researchers say in a new study that Gunung Padang, a pyramid in Indonesia, is at least 16,000 years old, roughly 10,000 years older than the pyramid of Djoser in Egypt, long thought to be the world’s oldest. The researchers, who hail from a collection of universities and institutions in Indonesia, say this makes Gunung Padang “potentially…the oldest pyramid in the world.” In contrast, ancient Egyptians are believed to have begun construction on the Djoser pyramid roughly 5,000 years ago. The new research indicates that Gunung Padang is a highly complex, prehistoric pyramid that sheds “light on the engineering capabilities of ancient civilizations during the Palaeolithic era,” also known as the Stone Age. Gunung Padang is a pyramid-shaped mound of terraced earth adorned with ancient stone built on top of an extinct volcano. It has long been acknowledged as an ancient site, but just how old has been a matter of some debate. Most estimates have placed it under 2,000 years old, but Indonesian geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja—one of the study's co-authors—has long claimed that the site is much older. A decade ago, Natawidjaja’s claims caught the attention of then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who set up a task force to study the pyramid, which included Natawidjaja. Natawidjaja’s claims are controversial because they suggest an unknown Stone Age civilization created a monumental pyramid. ''People think the prehistoric age was primitive, but this monument proves that wrong,” he said in 2013. Since then, the team’s work has been revealed in piecemeal. Last month, they published a study in the peer-reviewed journal Archaeological Prospection that concludes the oldest parts of Gunung Padang are 27,000 to 16,000 years old, based on a range of tests including electrical resistivity tomography, ground-penetrating radar, seismic tomography, and core sampling among other methods. 🔗 More at the link in our bio.

Orcas attacked a sailing yacht off the coast of Morocco on October 31, causing so much damage that the vessel sank.⁠ ⁠ The incident was reported by Morskie Mile, a Poland-based sailing tour company. “On October 31, 2023, in the Strait of Gibraltar, in the early afternoon, our yacht was attacked by a pod of orcas,” the company announced in a blog post signed by Morskie Mile captain Lech Lewandowski. The post said the attack lasted for nearly an hour. ⁠ ⁠ “For 45 minutes, they struck the rudder fin causing major damage and a leak,” Lewandowski’s post stated. “Despite efforts to bring the yacht to port made by the Captain, Crew, and [Search and Rescue] rescuers, as well as with the help of port tugboats and the Moroccan navy, the vessel sank near the entrance to the Tangier Med port. The crew is safe, whole, and healthy now in Spain.”⁠ ⁠ Orca attacks targeting boats is an ongoing trend all over the world, from the Strait of Gibraltar where the most recent attack took place to U.S. shores. ⁠ ⁠ The reason for the attacks is a bit of a mystery; while some research has put forward the theory that the orcas are responding to traumatic experiences with boats, experts previously told Motherboard that the activity is most likely playful—to whales, at least. ⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Jordan Pearson⁠ 📸 Image: Chase Dekker Wild-Life Images via Getty Images

The growing acceptance of online gambling in the U.S. is permeating the nation’s universities, high schools, and even middle schools at a rate that is of growing concern to politicians, therapists, and local helpline workers, who are noticing more underage and youth gamblers coming forward with problems.⁠ ⁠ Since the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the sports betting industry in a landmark 2018 case that cleared the pathway for legalization around the country, online gambling fever has swept the nation. Celebrity endorsements have flooded the airwaves as sports betting has become legal in over 30 states, with more on the way. Some states, like Connecticut, Michigan, and New Jersey, have legalized online casino gambling as well. ⁠ ⁠ Politicians and the industry have made attempts to expand legal online gambling responsibility. The age to legally bet on sports online is 21 in almost all states, and the legal gambling and sports betting industry has introduced a number of safeguards in an attempt to minimize online participation by underage Americans, according to Cait DeBaun, a representative for the American Gaming Association, a D.C.-based organization that lobbies on behalf of the industry. ⁠ ⁠ Those can include many of the same tools used by financial institutions online, including two-factor authentication, verification of a user’s location and Social Security number, and matching someone’s ID photo with a current photo of their face. ⁠ ⁠ But there are growing signs that digitally native children are bypassing security measures with some frequency. In New Jersey, concerned parents have been calling the state’s gambling helpline with more frequency about their children. ⁠ ⁠ In Long Island, teens and people in their early- to mid-20s are now the “number one demographic” calling gambling helplines, said Pamela Brenner-Davis, who works at the Long Island Problem Gambling Resource Center.⁠ ⁠ “We have definitely seen a marked increase in the number of young people calling our helpline identifying a problem with gambling,” said Brenner-Davis.⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Maxwell Strachan⁠ 📸 Image: Getty Images

Adobe is selling AI-generated images showing fake scenes depicting bombardment of cities in both Gaza and Israel. Some are photorealistic, others are obviously computer-made, and at least one has already begun circulating online, passed off as a real image.⁠ ⁠ As first reported by Australian news outlet Crikey, the photo is labeled “conflict between Israel and palestine generative ai” and shows a cloud of dust swirling from the tops of a cityscape. It’s remarkably similar to actual photographs of Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, but it isn’t real. Despite being an AI-generated image, it ended up on a few small blogs and websites without being clearly labeled as AI. ⁠ ⁠ Motherboard found multiple AI-generated images currently for sale on Adobe Stock that claim to depict the bloody conflict, which has seen the Israeli Defense Force bombard the Palestinian territory and kill thousands of civilians in the weeks since an attack by Hamas killed 1,400 Israelis. ⁠ ⁠ One AI-generated image is titled “Destroyed buildings as a result of a rocket fired by militants from the Gaza Strip” and shows devastated streets; another is called “Destroyed buildings in Gaza town of Gaza strip in Israel, Affected by war.” ⁠ ⁠ Other AI-generated images for sale on Adobe Stock show fake explosions inside Israel. ⁠ ⁠ The images for sale were submitted, and presumably generated, by users. Some of them say they are AI-generated in their title, while others do not. The images are marked as being generated by AI in the site’s interface. However, proliferating—and profiting from—fake imagery of Israel-Palestine is arguably a dubious practice even if it’s labeled at the point of sale.⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Matthew Gault⁠ 📸 Image: Screengrab via stock.adobe.com

A United Nations poverty and human rights expert has sent letters to Amazon, DoorDash, and Walmart, demanding they address allegations that their wages are so low that they trap workers in poverty. Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty, also sent a letter to the U.S. government, requesting a response to allegations that the U.S. minimum wage and earnings for workers in the gig economy are so bad that they’re forced to rely on government assistance. “I am extremely disturbed that workers in some of the world's most profitable companies—in one of the richest countries on earth—are struggling to afford to eat or pay their rent,” De Schutter said in a statement. “Multi-billion dollar companies should be setting the standard for working conditions and wages, not violating the human rights of their workers by failing to pay them a decent wage.” In 2022, DoorDash reported $6.6 billion in revenue. Walmart reported $572 billion. Amazon reported $514 billion in net sales. De Schutter’s letters were sent in August and unveiled this week. The letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, the longest of the three sent to U.S. companies, details allegations that “Amazon pays wages that do not allow its workers and their families an adequate standard of living, shifts the cost of doing business onto the public by relying on public assistance to supplement very low wages, and prevents workers from exercising their right to unionize through intimidation and retaliation.” Amazon has had one successful warehouse unionization, at its JFK8 Staten Island warehouse last year. Since then, the National Labor Relations Board has demanded Amazon stop firing people for unionizing, and filed complaints against the company for refusing to bargain. “Amazon has a long history of anti-union action at warehouses,” De Schutter wrote. “This includes constant and continuous anti-union messaging to workers at its “captive audience meetings”, aggressive objection to election outcomes, and a narrative that workers will be better off dealing directly with Amazon rather than through a union.” 🔗 More at the link in bio. 📰 Author: Jules Roscoe 📸 Image: Bloomberg via Getty

Thousands of people still holding onto the dream of NFTs traveled to Hong Kong this past weekend to party at ApeFest, a gathering for owners of the pricey Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. ⁠ ⁠ But what was supposed to be a good time away from the haters turned tragic after more than a dozen attendees reported vision injuries that landed them in the emergency room. ⁠ ⁠ The injuries, which the company behind Bored Apes has acknowledged, appear to have not been sustained from looking at NFT art, but were likely from ultraviolet stage lighting. ⁠ ⁠ “Woke up in the middle of the night after Apefest with so much pain in my eyes that I had to go to the hospital,” wrote X user Crypto June, who posted videos from the event that depicted a Bored Ape-branded stage drenched in bright neon lighting. ⁠ ⁠ “I've seen several tweets about it Doctor told me it was due to the UV from stage lights. I go to festivals often but have never experienced this.”⁠ ⁠ ApeFest is the latest in a series of live events organized by Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Apes. The festival ran from November 3-5 in Hong Kong and was free to owners of Bored Ape NFTs. Additional tickets for non-holders could be purchased for $269. ⁠ ⁠ Despite recent declines in the NFT resale market, Bored Ape NFTs are still trading for roughly $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency.⁠ ⁠ In a statement to Motherboard, Yuga Labs confirmed it was following up on the reports and said that the company was in “direct communication” with 15 who had been affected. ⁠ ⁠ The company noted this represented “less than one percent” of the event’s 2,250 people at the Saturday event. ⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Jordan Pearson⁠ 📸 Image via X/BoredApeYC

Starbucks is threatening to sue Starbucks Workers United, the union representing workers for the coffee chain, for trademark infringement. ⁠ ⁠ A letter sent to the president of Workers United last week demanded that the union “immediately cease and desist” from using the company’s name and logo or it would “seek all appropriate legal relief, including without limitation monetary damages."⁠ ⁠ The demand came after various branches of Starbucks Workers United expressed “solidarity with Palestine” in the Israel-Hamas war in since-deleted social media posts—Starbucks issued a statement in response that it “unequivocally condemn[s] these acts of terrorism, hate and violence,” and disagreed with the stance expressed in the posts. ⁠ ⁠ Its legal counsel then sent the international president of Workers United Lynne Fox a letter, seen by Motherboard, which referenced a call for a boycott of the coffee chain by Florida Senator Rick Scott and alleged that the union's statements had led to "volatile customers confronting baristas." ⁠ ⁠ It stated that the union had made “statements advocating for violence in the Middle East” and must as a result change its name, website address, social media accounts, merchandise, and “all other forms of identification and marketing.” ⁠ ⁠ “Starbucks is seeking to exploit the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East to bolster the company’s anti-union campaign,” Fox’s letter reads. “Your letter asserts frivolous legal claims, while falsely implying that the union supports terrorism.” ⁠ ⁠ The National Labor Relations Board has found in numerous cases that Starbucks has violated labor law by firing union workers or offering benefits exclusively to non-union workers.⁠ ⁠ 🔗 More at the link in our bio.⁠ 📰 Author: Jules Roscoe⁠ 📸 Image: Newsday LLC/Contributor via Getty Images

Tim Ballard, the founder and former head of Operation Underground Railroad whose heavily fictionalized exploits were the subject of this summer’s surprise box-office hit Sound of Freedom, has been sued in Utah by five women accusing him of misconduct. They say he he used their faith and visions from a psychic to coerce them. #timballard #utah #soundoffreedom #operationundergroundrailraod #operationundergoundrailroad #lds #ldschurch #scandal #lawsuit #lawtok #news