CfA's September 18, 2020 Newsletter

Our Latest Work:

• 'Proud Boys' and Other Facebook Pages Promoting Extremist Organizations Taken Down: This week, CfA's Tech Transparency Project identified several Facebook pages linked to a rally against "antifa" and Black Lives Matter. These pages were promoted by the Proud Boys and other far-right groups. The links displayed propaganda videos promoting the rally and included a page that utilized Facebook’s fundraising tool to gather money for the events. The pages were removed only after a journalist reached out to Facebook for comment.
  • Read HuffPost's article.

What We're Reading:

• U.S. Reframing of Human Rights Harms Women and LGBT People, Advocates Say: "Since establishing a commission on unalienable rights, made up mostly of religious conservatives, Mike Pompeo has had its report formally adopted by the state department on 26 August, despite widespread objections from human rights groups. Those groups argue that Pompeo’s approach establishes a hierarchy of rights, downgrading the status of issues like women’s right to reproductive health and LGBTQ+ rights to a second, optional tier. They also point out that it legitimises claims by authoritarian regimes that rights are based in national traditions." (The Guardian, September 17)
• Google Executive Defends Online Ad Practices Amid Bipartisan Scrutiny: "A Google LLC executive defended the company's advertising business practices and pushed back on the idea of regulating digital advertising exchanges during a U.S. Senate hearing on Sept. 15. In prepared testimony, Donald Harrison, president of global partnerships and corporate development at Google, called the ad tech space "crowded and competitive," and he argued that Google's products help businesses grow." (S&P Global, September 16)
• U.S. Watchdog to Investigate Whistleblower's Detention Allegations: "U.S. immigration officials said on Tuesday a federal watchdog would investigate complaints made by a whistleblower nurse in a Georgia immigration detention facility who alleged detainees had improperly received hysterectomies and other gynecological procedures. The allegations were made by Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC), on Monday by advocacy groups Project South and the Government Accountability Project." (Reuters, September 15)

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