The Dangerous Myth of 'Taxpayer Money'

Hollywood stars and geeks unite to billionaire-proof social media | Fortune

The likes of Mark Ruffalo and Jimmy Wales are backing the Free Our Feeds project, to ensure Bluesky's tech will thrive even if the company goes bad.

Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia

The world's richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information.

Wikipedia Is Battling for the Soul of the Internet

The internet’s largest stockpile of free knowledge is under threat from MAGA, A.I. and foreign autocrats. A bibliophile ex-ambassador is here to help.

Marc Andreessen as Avatar for Societal Decay

How one venture capitalist represents everything wrong with social media

PODCAST: We Followed JK Rowling's Harry Potter Money — Here's Where It Actually Goes (ft. Jessie Gender)

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling’s trans persecution feeds off her vast fortune. Rowling uses her estimated $1.2 billion net worth to directly fund anti-trans causes. As executive producer of the upcoming Harry Potter HBO show, Rowling will make even more money that she can funnel into

Facebook Fact Checks Were Never Going to Save Us. They Just Made Liberals Feel Better.

Billionaires gonna billionaire — and lick the boots of whoever will bring them more riches and impunity.

Do Science <i>Kardashians</i> Get Citation Premium? Self‐Fulfilling Effects of Social Media on Scientific Impact

ABSTRACT We analyze whether the visibility of scientists on social media affects the number of academic citations. We use the global COVID‐19 pandemic as a quasinatural experiment that exogenously increased public attention and the demand for expertise. Using publications on COVID‐related topics by social media stars and their coauthors prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, we find that social media stars' pre‐COVID‐era papers received about – more citations annually per paper after 2019. Quantitatively comparable results are obtained when we use scientists' Kardashian index (K‐index) as a benchmark for stardom, however we find no significant effects when using the intensive margin of scientists' K‐indexes. We provide a brief discussion of policy implications in light of these findings.

Elon Musk Unmasked in Alex Gibney Documentary: “Insane a Person This Chaotic Has So Much Power”

He is the richest man on earth. An explosive new film from the Oscar-winning director suggests he may also be the most dangerous.

Epstein and the Capitalist Conspiracy

Naomi Klein discusses what to do with a narrative that mirrors the worst anti-Jewish theories and the importance of holding our depraved elites…

Elena Rossini 🌈 (@_elena@mastodon.social)

Attached: 1 image This was definitely NOT on my bingo card for this year: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen taking a moment between G7 meetings to promote the launch of the closed-source, for-profit network #WSocial. 🔗 : https://web.archive.org/web/20260617083436/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rentzhog_kind-of-cool-to-see-ursula-von-der-leyen-ugcPost-7472769475885461504-hwct/ I fear this may be a harbinger of things to come: MANDATORY AGE VERIFICATION for social media across Europe. I hope I'm wrong on this. #privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #EUBigTech

Ontario billionaire under fire for arguing poor people shouldn't be able to vote

Controversial German-Canadian billionaire Tobias "Tobi" Lütke is under fire once again for online comments suggesting that people who don't…

Corporate Bungling And Political Scandal Abound In Jesse Eisinger's New Book

Why don't crooked corporate CEO's go to jail anymore? Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jesse Eisinger uncovers culture of cowardice, incompetence, and corruption in both government and finance.

The Media Can't Stop Propping Up Elon Musk's Phony Supergenius Engineer Mythology

"CEO said a thing!" journalism is now utterly pervasive, and includes parroting billionaire and CEO claims with a total disregard for whether or not anything being said is actually true.