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This Week's Updates:
CfA Requests IRS Investigation into True the Vote for Enriching Leaders
In order for a 510(c)(3) non-profit to be tax-exempt, it must be operated exclusively for its exempt purpose and cannot be used to channel money to private individuals. The election conspiracy group True the Vote (TTV) appears to have violated those rules, according to documents which became public when one of their donors sued the organization for allegedly misusing the $2.5 million he had given them to investigate the results of the 2020 election. Now, CfA is calling on the IRS and the Texas Attorney General’s office investigate whether TTV violated both state and federal law by redirecting funds to its senior leaders. In addition to apparently funneling this money away from tax-exempt purposes, TTV also failed to adequately disclose these and various other payments on its Form 990 tax returns—raising suspicions as to whether its leaders intended to conceal the payments from the IRS and the public. Read CfA’s press release and the full complaint for more information.
Election Subversion Bills Moving Through State Legislatures
At least 185 bills designed to subvert elections have been introduced by state lawmakers across the country, according to a new report authored by several voting rights organizations. If signed into law, the bills would enable various elected and appointed officials to launch audits, seize power over elections, impose burdens on election administrators, and institute steep criminal penalties for voter fraud. Taken together, these bills would trigger confusion and delays surrounding elections, and help candidates and organizations push conspiracy theories about voter fraud. So far, fifteen of the bills introduced this year have been signed into law.
Instagram Pedophile Network Bolstered by Platform Algorithms
On Thursday, reporters with The Wall Street Journalrevealed that Meta’s own content recommendation systems were helping pedophiles buy and sell child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through a network of Instagram accounts. Together, researchers from the Stanford Internet Observatory and UMass Amherst’s Rescue Lab found evidence of large-scale communities fueled by Instagram’s own “suggested for you” recommendations, which pushed the researchers’ test accounts to view more CSAM images. In some cases, Meta placed warnings on Instagram search results that contained CSAM, but offered users the option to “see results anyway.” The content was widespread, and researchers identified over 400 accounts that claimed to be minors selling explicit images of themselves. Those accounts alone had 22,000 followers, and some identified themselves as being only 12 years old.
Predictably, Meta said it was working to address the issue by setting up a task force. This promise is considerably undercut by Meta’s recent layoffs, which included regional heads of trust and safety as well as platform integrity teams. While these actions helped Meta’s stock price surge, the termination of workers who focused on child safety suggests that this area was targeted for cost-cutting. Worse, Meta had been warned about the danger its algorithms posed. CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has repeatedly drawn attention to the ways Instagram’s recommendation systems can build dangerous connections between accounts, including those promoting eating disorders or facilitating the sale of illegal drugs. Now, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton is pushing Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg for answers.
