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With the Biden administrations efforts to vaccinate Americans hitting a brick wall and the delta variant wreaking havoc nationwide, lawmakers in recent weeks have increasingly pointed fingers at social media companies for allowing COVID-19 misinformation to spread on their platforms.

New Morning Consult polling suggests that much of the public agrees that social media plays a role in halting progress toward a true post-pandemic existence and nearly two-thirds back legislation that would punish the platforms that enable such misinformation to proliferate.

Sixty-three percent of adults said theyd support a federal bill holding internet platforms responsible if content generated by their users and other third parties spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines and public health emergencies, including 78 percent of Democrats, 57 percent of independents and 52 percent of Republicans.

By contrast, just over 1 in 5 adults including 12 percent of Democrats, 23 percent of independents and 32 percent of Republicans said they were against holding platforms accountable for the spread of misinformation amid public health crises. The share of those who didnt know or had no opinion ranged from 10 percent (Democrats) to 21 percent (independents).

The poll of 2,201 U.S. adults was conducted July 23-25, just days after Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced legislation that would revoke Section 230 liability protections for internet companies that fail to crack down on the dissemination of misinformation during public health emergencies, though the survey did not reference Klobuchar or Section 230 specifically. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

Klobuchars measure lacks any Republican co-sponsors and is considered a long shot to pass, but the publics support for legislation of that kind mirrors general sentiment about which entities deserve the most blame for the spread of false coronavirus information though maybe not at quite the same levels of scorn that President Joe Biden has recently reserved for them.

Biden slightly walked back comments made earlier this month that social media giants were killing people by allowing vaccine misinformation to run wild on their platforms, saying that his rhetoric was meant to prod tech companies to take more decisive action to stem the spread of false posts.

When respondents were asked who they think is most responsible for controlling the spread of false information about the coronavirus on platforms, 27 percent pointed fingers at social media companies a 4-point rise from a March 2020 survey. Thirty-four percent of adults blamed the users who originally posted false information, virtually unchanged from the poll taken 16 months ago.

On vaccine misinformation specifically, the problem appears to be centered on a small group of prolific posters: A recent Center for Countering Digital Hate report found that 12 individuals dubbed the Disinformation Dozen were responsible for 65 percent of anti-vaccine content on social media platforms, including up to 73 percent on Facebook Inc.

Even though more adults attribute blame to the individual user than to social media companies, the Morning Consult poll suggests that the public believes those platforms are not doing enough to combat anti-vaccination content.

Thirty-five percent of adults said they think social media companies are doing a poor job when it comes to preventing the spread of false information about coronavirus vaccines on their platforms, while 27 percent said the performance of companies is just fair.

About 1 in 5 adults said social media platforms are doing a good job halting anti-vaccination content and just 6 percent said their work on that front is excellent. Republicans are slightly more critical of social media platforms than Democrats, with 40 percent and 30 percent, respectively, saying the platforms are performing poorly when it comes to vaccine-related moderation.

The pressure on social media companies from Capitol Hill to do a better job of policing anti-vaccine content is likely to ramp up as the Biden administration considers mandates and other avenues to meet its vaccination goals.

And as Facebook and other social media companies point to authoritative vaccine information as a means to drown out false content, lawmakers can note one last data point in arguing their case for stricter moderation: Just 10 percent of Americans believe that false or misleading information about the coronavirus that is posted online should not be removed.

See more here:
Social Media Companies Keep Taking Hits Over COVID-19 Misinformation. The Public Thinks There Should Be Consequences - Morning Consult

TOKYO (AP) The IOC says the Olympics are only about the sports; no politics allowed. This will be the mantra, as it always is, when the Beijing Winter Games open in six months.

Covering ski races or figure-skating finals should be painless; just stay in the sports bubble and out of trouble. But reporters from other countries who puncture the PR skin to explore other aspects of life in China as they have in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics could draw more than criticism.

They could face harassment and threats if portrayals are deemed by the government and the increasingly nationalist public to be giving a negative view of China.

China demands complete adherence to its position on a number of issues, Oriana Skylar Mastro, who researches China security issues at Stanford University, told The Associated Press.

It demands this from governments, but also corporations, media, and individuals, she said in an email. So, do I think China is going to go after anyone, including sports reporters during the Olympics, that deviate from the acceptable script? Yes, I absolutely do.

Chinas foreign ministry has repeatedly criticized the politicization of sports and has said any Olympic boycott is doomed to failure. It has not addressed journalism during the Games specifically.

The peril for journalists was evident last week when foreign reporters covering floods in central China were targeted. The Communist Youth League, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, asked social media followers to locate and report a BBC reporter on assignment. That expanded into broader accusations against foreign reporters for slandering China with coverage that could be seen as critical rather than focusing on government rescue efforts.

In a statement, The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said the rhetoric from organizations affiliated with Chinas ruling Communist Party directly endangers the physical safety of foreign journalists in China and hinders free reporting.

The organization added that staff from the BBC and the Los Angeles Times received death threats and intimidating messages and calls. This came after China last year expelled more than a dozen American reporters working for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Beijing was the IOCs unlikely choice for the 2022 Winter Olympics, a decision made in 2015 chiefly because European favorites like Oslo and Stockholm pulled out for financial or political reasons. The IOC was left with only only two candidates: Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Beijing won by four votes, 44-40. The choice elicited sharp criticism from human rights groups, which continues.

The IOC has declined several recent demands to move the Olympics out of Beijing. China is accused by some foreign governments and researchers of imposing forced labor, systematic forced birth control and torture upon Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group Xinjiang, a region in the countrys west.

China has denied committing genocide against the Uyghur people, calling such accusations the lie of the century.

Last week a vice president of Intel, one of the IOCs top 15 sponsors, said he agreed with a U.S. State Department assessment that said China was committing genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang. Other sponsors including Coca-Cola, Visa, Procter & Gamble, and Airbnb appeared in a congressional hearing but wouldnt answer most questions directly.

Its what I refer to as the Olympics Catch-22 for illiberal regimes like China, Victor Cha, an Asian specialist at Georgetown University, wrote in an email to AP. Cha surveyed the politics of sports in Asia and the 2008 Beijing Olympics in his book Beyond the Final Score. He also served from 2004-2007 in the Bush White House as director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

They want all the glory and attention of hosting the world for the Winter Games, but they want none of the inevitable criticism that comes with the media magnifying glass, Cha said. All hosts have to deal with this; witness all of the scrutiny over COVID pre-Tokyo. The difference is how the hosts handle it.

The IOC says its focus is only sports, though its a highly political body with an observer seat at the United Nations. IOC President Thomas Bach touted his efforts to bring the two Koreas together during 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. He also addressed world leaders in 2019 in a G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

Our responsibility is to deliver the Games, said Mark Adams, the IOCs spokesman. That is our responsibility. It is the responsibility of others the United Nations, who have been very supportive of the Olympic Games, and governments to deal with this and not for us.

He added: Given the diverse participation in the Olympic Games, the IOC has to remain neutral. Thats clear.

Adams was asked in an email if the IOC was willing to condemn Chinas policy of interning Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities. He did not answer the question and referred to previous statements. At all times, the IOC recognizes and upholds human rights within its remit, Adams wrote. This includes the rights of journalists to report on the Olympic Games.

The IOC included human rights requirements several years ago in the host city contract for the 2024 Paris Olympics, but it did not include those guidelines the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for Beijing. Paris is the first Olympics to contain the standards, long pushed for by human rights groups.

In countless interviews about China and its preparations for the Winter Olympics, Bach has not mentioned the situation of the Uyghurs. Nor has he said it was a topic covered in meetings of his executive board.

The IOC, however, has promoted press statements about conversations Bach has had with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though it has not revealed the content.

The Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, reacting to the BBC incident, essentially said the British news organization had it coming.

The BBC has a long history of ideological bias against China, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. It has been producing and broadcasting fake news, spreading false information on issues related to Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the COVID-19 epidemic to attack and discredit China.

The BBC has been reporting on China with tinted glasses for a long time, which brought down its reputation in China, Zhao added.

Yaqiu Wang, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch who grew up near Shanghai, said the foreign media had brand credibility five or six years ago. But she said increasing information control by the Chinese state does not allow average Chinese to get a fair assessment of what the Western press is saying about China.

Wang said the mood is vastly different from 2008, when Beijing held the Summer Olympics. Many outside China hoped the Olympics would improve human rights, and some Chinese saw it as period of optimism. Controls over the foreign media were relaxed in the runup to the Olympics, which some interpreted as a relaxation on the political front after decades of reform and opening-up, as China refers to its 40 years of economic reconfiguration.

The hostility among the people is real, much more real than before,, Wang said. That kind of hostility did not exist in 2008, but it exists now. Among average people, they know that saying bad things about the West or being hostile, they know its in your interest to do that.

If you go to a stadium, it will be all good if they feel you are covering something good, Wang added. But say you speak to some dissidents or somebody who is a victim of some kind of abuse, you could be in a dangerous position.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade reported from Beijing for 2 1/2 years covering the runup to the 2008 Olympics, the Games, and its aftermath. More AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2020-tokyo-olympics and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Read more:
Beijing Games: Sports coverage fine, other things maybe not - Associated Press

A prominent Hong Kong singer and pro-democracy activist has been arrested by the citys anti-corruption watchdog over accusations he broke the law by singing at a political rally three years ago.

The arrest of Anthony Wong on Monday is the latest official move against those who had been pushing for greater democracy in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Hong Kongs independent commission against corruption said Wong performed two songs at the 2018 rally and urged attendees to vote for the pro-democracy candidate Au Nok-hin in a byelection.

The watchdog also charged Au, who won the election, in part for publicising the rally on social media and saying that Wong would be performing.

The watchdog said in a statement that providing others with refreshments and entertainment at an election event was a corrupt conduct and a serious offence and against the elections ordinance.

Local media reported Wong was released on bail. Au has been in jail since March after being one of the 47 pro-democracy activists arrested for alleged subversion over an unofficial primary election they held last year. The unofficial polls, which have historically been held by both sides of the political divide, were attended by more than 600,000 people and were widely seen as an unofficial statement on the government.

The arrests come as authorities crack down on dissent in Hong Kong following the 2019 anti-government protests sparked by concerns that the former British colony was losing the freedoms it was promised when it was handed over to Chinese control in 1997. Opposition figures, media, legal groups, unions and activists have been targeted.

China last year imposed a sweeping national security law that has since been used to arrest more than 100 pro-democracy figures. Changes have also been made to Hong Kongs election laws to reduce the number of directly elected legislators and give a largely pro-Beijing committee the leeway to nominate legislators.

The crackdown has drawn criticism from many governments around the world.

Wong rose to fame in the 1980s as the vocalist for pop duo Tat Ming Pair and later embarked on a solo career.

In 1989 Tat Ming Pair played at a benefit concert after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and travelled with the 1990 North American Concert for Democracy in China tour. Wong also co-founded the LGBTQ+ rights group BigLove Alliance.

He became an outspoken supporter of the citys democracy movement, backing the 2019 protests as well as the umbrella revolution protests that hit the city in 2014. His support for the 2014 protests led to a ban on performing in mainland China and his music was removed from streaming sites.

Read more:
Hong Kong singer and activist arrested over corrupt conduct - The Guardian

Sourabh Raaj Jains eviction from Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 has left fans shocked. The actor was ousted despite performing all tasks to the best of his abilities and the fact that he wasnt even supposed to be in the elimination task. Given Arjun Bijlani had won the K Medal last week, he got a chance to save himself and send another contestant for the last task. Stating that Sourabh would be able to perform well, he chose him, but as luck would have it, the actor took more time compared to Anushka Sen and Maheck Chahal and had to bid farewell to the show.

Sharing that the elimination was not in his hands, Sourabh, in a recent chat with indianexpress.com had shared, While I do not have much experience in reality shows, I have understood that there are things which are not in your control. Its like sitting in a car and letting someone else have control. Also, theres not much that you can do as sometimes things are not based on talent but situations.

The actor added that it would be a treat for his fans though as through his short journey, he never got a fear phanda or aborted a task. Even when I had a phobia when it comes to creepy crawlies, I managed to complete my task.

Ask him if this sour experience will deter him from taking up another reality show, and Sourabh smiled to say, After all these years, I have learnt never to say never.

Giving a clarification on his eviction, Arjun Bijlani also tweeted sharing that he wish Sourabh was saved. I won the k medal to be saved from the elimination stunt .. later the twist was I have to choose someone. So I did that. When Souraub was eliminated I knew a lot of people will find it unfair. I truly wished he hadnt .But yes u have a right to have an opinion, he wrote.

While Sourabh Raaj Jain seems to have accepted his fate, fans were clearly unhappy with his exit. Even his wife Riddhima shared an Insta story which read, Very rightly said @sourabhraaj.jain Fear fanda stunt kharab/abort karne se mile ya planning se,, karna to hai!!! Well done to your spirits. Question to all.. putting Sourabh Raaj Jain in direct elimination round when he completed all the stunts, never got Fear Fanda, never Abortted any stunt. is this correct? Is this justice?

Here are some fans tweet reacting on Sourabhs eviction:

Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 airs on Colors.

Originally posted here:
Sourabh Raaj Jains eviction from Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 causes uproar on social media, actor says Some things are not in your control - The Indian...

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona visits a summer program at a Los Angeles school in mid-July. // Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, Al Seib

U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has a message for schools across the country ahead of the new school year: Students need to be in classrooms.

"That's where students learn best," Cardona told NPR's A Martnez. "Schools are more than just places where students learn how to read and write they're communities. They're like second families to our students."

On Monday, the U.S. Education Department will release a roadmap for the return to school, encouraging districts to invest in social and emotional support for students and outlining ways to "accelerate academic achievement."

The roadmap also recommends that school systems follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's masking guidance for K-12 schools, which the agency revised last week, recommending "universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status."

Mask mandate bans will make it hard for some schools to follow the roadmap

Following those masking recommendations will be next to impossible for some districts where state legislators have stepped in. Texas, South Carolina and Iowa have all passed laws banning schools from requiring students and staff to wear masks. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said last week that the CDC's recommendations wouldn't change that. In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster tweeted that "personal responsibility" was the answer.

"I know that there are some folks making decisions that are less based on science and more on their ideology," Cardona said. "But at the end of the day, our educators, their job is to make sure our students are OK. We have to make sure that we're following mitigation strategies and creating safe learning environments for students."

It's on schools to communicate with hesitant families about the steps they're taking, Cardona said. If they're not taking the right steps, "what's going to happen is those families that don't feel comfortable will not be sending their children to school."

Cardona added that he knows some school leaders are "going to be running up against challenges from elected officials. And that's sad and that's unfortunate."

South Carolina's largest school district, Greenville County Schools, is strongly encouraging masking but district spokesperson Tim Waller said that's about all they can do to get students and staff to use face coverings. "The legislature has passed a number of provisos which have tied the hands of school districts in South Carolina," he said. If cases rise or high numbers of students and staff must quarantine, "It is my hope that elected officials who have placed these restrictions on public school districts in South Carolina will do the right thing and ease up on some of those restrictions."

Cardona said the department is having daily conversations with governors and elected officials about best practices but "in those places where they're most resistant, that's where we're seeing the most spread of COVID-19."

Meanwhile, public health leaders are warning Americans about the fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus. On Friday, the CDC published data showing that vaccinated people are just as likely as unvaccinated people to spread the virus to others.

"I don't have to tell you, the rising delta variant is creating some concern across the country," Cardona said. But he added, "We know that mask wearing and mitigation strategies allow [schools] to reopen safely." If increased spread of the virus prohibits schools from reopening in person, he said, "to me, that's a failure of adults."

Schools should "hit the reset button" this fall

The roadmap also recommends that school leaders encourage and provide access to vaccination for all eligible students and staff.

Vaccines are currently approved for children 12 years old and up so, regardless of how many students and families heed public health advice, elementary schools will be filled with unvaccinated students at the start of school. And while most middle school-aged students are eligible for the vaccine, just 28% of the country's 12- to 15-year-olds were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, according to data from the CDC.

Vaccinated or not, Cardona said students need to be able to return to classrooms, where they have access to school meals and "where they can access the social and emotional support and mental health support professionals that are available in the school."

That social-emotional support is another area the department is encouraging schools to invest in with the pandemic relief funding provided by the federal government. "I would be as concerned about the social and emotional well-being of our students as much as the academic loss," Cardona said.

Schools have an opportunity "to hit the reset button" but he worried the one thing holding them back is "complacency":

"You know, before the pandemic, we had wide opportunity gaps in our country. We had the cost of college preventing people from thinking about college because they didn't want to be buried in debt. We must do better."

For Cardona, that future might include some expanded remote learning options for students. "But post pandemic, I really feel like students need to be in a classroom learning with their peers, engaging with an educator in person."

That's what many school leaders are focused on right now. Still, in-person school is a complicated goal when, in many places, the desires of state leaders, public health officials and families all look different.

See more here:
Students Need To Be In Classrooms, With Masks, This Fall, Education Secretary Says | NPR - Houston Public Media