Washington Post has two stories on Trump and Social Media

"A study released Thursday by the Election Integrity Partnership found that just 20 conservative, pro-Trump Twitter accounts — including the president’s own @realDonaldTrump — were the original source of one-fifth of retweets pushing misleading narratives about voting.

A recent Cornell University study, meanwhile, concluded that Trump was also the “largest driver” of misinformation in the public conversation about the coronavirus during the first half of 2020. The researchers found that nearly 40 percent of articles containing misinformation about the virus mentioned him, including articles about false cures and blaming China for the disease."

Meanwhile, a report by the Post shows that quote: "In the final months of the presidential campaign, prominent associates of President Trump and conservative groups with vast online followings have flirted with, and frequently crossed, the boundaries set forth by Facebook about the repeated sharing of misinformation."

From a pro-Trump super PAC to the president’s eldest son, however, these users have received few penalties, according to an examination of several months of posts and ad spending, as well as internal company documents. In certain cases, their accounts have been protected against more severe enforcement because of concern about the perception of anti-conservative bias, said current and former Facebook employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Metadata Laws review

Cam Wilson, writing for Gizmodo, says "Australia’s metadata retentions laws are making it too easy for too many people to access Australian’s data without warrant, according to a review of the controversial scheme."

"The Committee recommended removing loopholes and updating definitions to limit access of metadata in Australia.

When the law was first passed in 2015, there were just 21 agencies who were allowed to access it -- a number that Peter Dutton wouldn't mind increasing.

But since then, more than 100 agencies — including local councils and even the RSPCA — have accessed the data, sometimes for minor legal offences.

This is due to a loophole that allowed data to be released to more agencies if it was authorised.

In response, the Committee suggested setting a "serious offence" threshold for accessing the data under the scheme."

Rumour: Government considering watering down it's Facebook/Google Regulations 

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting "the federal government is considering weakening new rules designed to force Google and Facebook to pay news publishers, following fierce lobbying and threats from the tech giants to leave the Australian market.

"Google and Facebook have aggressively lobbied the government to change core elements of a draft news media bargaining code being created by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that both companies have described as "unworkable". The new code will force the tech giants to strike commercial deals with news publishers."

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