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1. Embed this notice
   CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

   So: surveillance.
   All the big tech companies do it.
   Can you get away from it?

   This story is of a writer who went without Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple, first one at a time for one week each, then all five at once.

   Turns out they pervade our lives.

   "Amazon’s most profitable business isn’t retail; it’s web hosting."

   Even Signal uses AWS.

   https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-the-big-five-tech-giants-from-my-life-it-was-hel-1831304194

   This piece is 5 years old, but I have a feeling things haven't improved since then.

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     When you're ready to cut the influence of Big Tech on your life, here is a really good step by step guide, by someone who's done it and can warn you about the pitfalls on your way out.

     Includes: Secure your email; Protect your passwords; Get social again; there's more.

     The 21-day Cyber-Cleanse: designed to remove toxic tech from your life

     https://www.optoutproject.net/tags/cleanse/

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     "Misinformation and #disinformation are viewed as the most severe global risk over the coming two years, matching the ranking in the 2024 report. #ExtremeWeather events ranked second and state-based armed conflict is viewed as the third biggest threat."

     https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/armed-conflict-and-climate-change-driving-global-economic-uncertainty-wef

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     • Jeff Jarvis

     "We find that radical-right populism is the strongest determinant for the propensity to spread misinformation. Populism, left-wing populism, and right-wing politics are not linked to the spread of misinformation.

     Political misinformation should be understood as part and parcel of the current wave of radical right populism, and its opposition to liberal democratic institution."

     "Misinformation and Radical-Right Populism Across 26 Countries"

     Link to paper via @jeffjarvis
     https://mastodon.social/@jeffjarvis/113832748112382271

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     "More than 60 German and Austrian academic organizations say they will leave the messaging platform X owned by Elon Musk. The German government has also voiced fears that the platform is warping political discourse.

     On Thursday, the trade unions GEW, which represents educators and teachers, and Verdi announced they were deleting their X presence, as did the Federal Court of Justice (BGH)."

     https://www.dw.com/en/german-institutions-depart-x-a-day-after-musks-weidel-talk/a-71266331

     #Xodus

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     "The French Human Rights League (LDH) and the National Centre for Scientific Research (#CNRS) cofounded the collective “#HelloQuitteX,” which is now supported by a group of 86 unions and organisations that pledge to no longer post any content on X because the algorithms “favour the proliferation of hateful content and conspiracy theories,” according to a press release on theirwebsite. "

     https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/01/15/french-group-encourages-mass-departure-from-elon-musks-x-platform-on-us-inauguration-day

     #Xodus

     Paul Sutton repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 18-Jan-2025 18:13:07 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     If you have not yet left facebook and instagram, read this.

     "You might think of Meta as a social media company, but its primary business is surveillance advertising. Meta’s business model relies on collecting as much information as possible about people in order to sell highly-targeted ads. That’s why Meta is one of the main companies tracking you across the internet—monitoring your activity far beyond its own platforms."

     How to cut free:

     https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/mad-meta-dont-let-them-collect-and-monetize-your-personal-data

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Apr-2025 20:43:45 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     People Who Get Most of Their News From Social Media Sources Are More Likely to Think #ClimateChange Is a Conspiracy: Study

     "A quarter of respondents who primarily got their news from social media believed that the climate crisis was a conspiracy.

     Just two percent who relied on public radio for their news and six percent for whom public television was their main source believed climate change was a conspiracy."

     https://www.ecowatch.com/social-media-climate-change-denial.html

     GreenSkyOverMe (Monika) repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Apr-2025 20:43:45 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     "New research highlights companies’ “aligned and coordinated” use of Twitter to deny #ClimateChange and delay solutions."

     https://grist.org/accountability/fossil-fuel-sectors-climate-obstruction-twitter-x/

     (And of course the strategies are not confined to Xitter).
     #disinformation

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Apr-2025 20:43:46 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     Paris has joined the #Xodus

     https://brusselssignal.eu/2025/01/are-european-governments-next-paris-joins-growing-exodus-from-musks-x/

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Apr-2025 20:43:46 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     "While users who type "#Democrat" or "#Democrats" see no results, the hashtag "Republican" returns 3.3 million posts on the social media platform.

     By manually searching Instagram for "Democrats", rather than clicking on a hashtag, users are greeted by a screen reading "we've hidden these results"."

     https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g32yxpdz0o

     Meta says it's a "technical problem" But since both searches fail this looks more like a trial balloon to me.

     I see you, meta.

   • Embed this notice
     CelloMom On Cars (cellomomoncars@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 03-Apr-2025 20:43:46 JST CelloMom On Cars

     in reply to

     Disinformation will be rampant on facebook

     "The company will end US-based third-party fact-checking organizations in March 2025. The planned changes slated to roll out to US users won't affect fact-checking content viewed by users outside the US. The tech industry faces greater regulations on combating misinformation in other regions, such as the European Union."

     https://www.sciencealert.com/climate-misinformation-to-escalate-on-social-media-expert-warns

     (The same reason that cosmetics and foods are cleaner in the EU than in the US: regulations.)