Andrew Tate Situation Just Got Worse For Him, 41% of Young Voters Support Luigi Mangione, Matt Gaetz
PDS Published 12/18/2024
-
Luigi Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism.
This new charge doesn’t replace his existing second-degree murder charge but just gives a potential jury another option and also highlights an interesting quirk of New York law. []
In most jurisdictions across the US, a first-degree murder charge just requires premeditation, but in New York, it’s actually a narrow set of circumstances that qualify.
One such requirement is that the alleged crime is “intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policies of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion and affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping.” []
And Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brag added that: “this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror… this was not an ordinary killing.” @0:00-0:23
In addition to these new charges, there’s also been some updates about the investigation into Mangione.
New York is still trying to extradite him from Pennsylvania, where he’s been arrested on gun charges.
And police claim they have more evidence that may link Mangione to the crime, such as ballistic evidence from the firearm he allegedly used.
Possibly most damning -- if true -- is also finger print evidence on a KIND bar wrapper and water bottle that he reportedly got at a Starbucks very close to the crime scene just before the attack.
Mangione is also clearly popular with a lot of Americans.
He’s already received quite a bit of mail as well as 153 deposits into his commissary -- which allows him to buy some small amenities weekly while sitting behind bars.[]
And saying “a lot of Americans” isn’ t hyperbolic either.
Emmerson College ran a poll about the situation and 41% of young voters -- so those between 18 and 29 -- said Thompson’s killing was acceptable.[]
Support bottoms out for those in their 50s and then suddenly it begins to have small upticks again as people get older.
On average, just 17% of people find the killer’s actions against Thompson acceptable.
Which might come as a shock for those who frequent sites like X, where Mangione seems to have turned into an icon because of his alleged involvement.
Some clearly in support his alleged actions and saying things like:
“[Bragg’s] quote about luigi mangione and the uhc shooting is crazy bc he definitely didn't sow terror the vibe was pretty good actually.” []
At the same time, there were those who joked about Mangione, saying:
“Luigi Mangione indicted on terrorism for the irreparable damage he has done to male body standards.” []
Of course, we also saw people clearly condemning Mangione’s alleged actions:
“Let’s be clear. Luigi Mangione is a terrorist. He is not an activist. He is not a victim. He is not a hero. The fact that he quotes the Lorax in his manifesto makes me sick. If you care a whole lot, you don’t kill innocent people.” []
And then there was people using this situation to highlight how differently things can be treated in America, for example:
“Luigi Mangione being charged with terror but a school shooter isn't is exactly what is wrong with this country. Slap on the hand for a child murderer. Life in prison for the murder of one (1) CEO.” []
(If you want to “um ackshully:’ then technically some school shooters have been charged with terror. But most are not).
As well as: “that luigi mangione was charged with terror is actually a fascinating admission by the government.” []
And this sentiment was fueled by reports that New York Governor Kathy Hochul is considering setting up a special hotline for CEOs to report alleged threats.
This came after she met with 175 corporate reps, counterterrorism officials, and Homeland Security yesterday.
The optics of such a hotline have not gone over well for many people who often feel that rich individuals get way better treatment by the government and judicial systems.
“Instead of pushing for the NY Health Act - which would provide Single Payer in NY state, Gov Kathy Hochul decided to provide wellness sessions to corrupt CEOs and provide them with a Hotline so they feel safe. Democrats continue to show who matters to them, and it's not us.” []
And, “Democracy is when rich people get a special hotline for their own personal protection” []
And while looking I couldn’t really find a single example of someone defending the hotline.
The closest rationalization was speculation by an outlet that there’s a major financial incentive here as New York City’s massive $1.2 trillion (WITH A T) GDP could be affected if CEOs and their companies leave due to safety concerns.[]
Or a statement by Kathy Wylde -- CEO of Partnership for New York City and a Hochul ally -- who said in the lead up to the meeting that:
“[Gov. Hochul] understood how serious the impact of both the killing and the hateful reaction to it is, and she wants to make sure that the state resources, specifically the domestic counterterrorism resources, are focused on being supportive, sharing information.”
Let me know what you think in the comments down below.
Notably, do you think this alleged crime deserves to be called terrorism?
-
And then let’s talk about some quick celebrity legal stories, starting with Andrew Tate.
Because a court in the UK just ruled that police in the country can seize 2.6 million pounds, or over $3 million US dollars, in unpaid taxes from him.
Police in Devon and Cornwall were seeking to seize the money, which was held in seven frozen bank accounts held by Tate, his brother Tristan, and a woman only identified as J.
And a judge ruled today that several transactions made by the brothers, including millions of dollars in transfers to J, were a “straightforward cheat” to evade tax authorities.[]
Saying that they were serial tax evaders who paid nothing on over $26 million in revenue made over the course of nearly a decade.
With one lawyer even alleging that Tate had previously publicly said:
"When I lived in England I refused to pay tax."
According to the BBC, detectives linked some of the revenue to the human trafficking allegations the brothers are facing in Romania, but have repeatedly denied.[]
With all the money coming from earnings in the War Room, Hustler’s University, Cobra Tate, and OnlyFans.
For his part, Tate has slammed the court’s decision online, writing:[][]
“First they said I was a human trafficker, but couldnt find a single girl to testify. So instead they stole all the money they could find from banks... If you speak against power they will do anything to destroy you.”
“When they fail to control your influence, they audit your influence. When they fail to match your power, they nitpick your paperwork. They want the world to believe that a man of mastery can be reduced to a headline in a lying newspaper.”
Further adding in a statement that:
“This is not justice; it’s a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system.”[]
But the police forces released a statement saying that not only did their investigations find that Tate and his brother paid no taxes on income earned between 2014 and 2022, but:[]
“both individuals are alleged to have concealed the origins of their income by channelling money through ‘front’ accounts, constituting criminal activity and rendering those earnings proceeds of crime.”
Though, these proceedings were civil, not criminal.
But obviously, there are a lot of cases left to play out with the Tates, so we will have to see where those go.
-
But this brings us to our second legal celebrity update, with Megan Thee Stallion seeking a restraining order against Tory Lanez.
Right, two years ago he was convicted for shooting Meg in the feet and eventually sentenced to ten years in prison.
But she is alleging that he has managed to continue a campaign of harassment from behind bars.
Multiple outlets obtained the nearly 200-page filing, which claims that Tory:
“continues to terrorize [Meg]. Due to inadequacies and loopholes in the criminal justice system, [she] is currently without any formal protection against [his] attacks.”
Further claiming that Tory and his legal team “purposefully” filed petitions challenging his conviction on the day Meg’s documentary came out in an effort to spread false claims about the case while she was telling the public her story.
Calling Tory’s alleged efforts “psychological warfare.”
Because, notably, Meg claims he is not doing this alone, and has formed a “conspiratorial relationship” with a blogger who is smearing her name online.[]
And Meg actually previously filed a lawsuit against that blogger, and her latest filing now points to prison calls between Tory and his father where they allegedly discuss paying the blogger.
Claiming that they are working together “to bully, harass and further victimize” her, likening that blogger to a puppet that Tory is using.[]
And so she is seeking a new restraining order, as a previous protection order expired, that would prevent Tory from directly and indirectly harassing and intimidating her.
With the filing noting that without a restraining order, she will have no protection from Tory when he is released, and:
“This possibility alone causes [her] severe emotional distress and makes her fearful for her life.”[]
And so we will have to see where this goes, this was obviously a massive case and the ripple effects are still growing, so we will have to see what comes next, if she gets the order, or if Tory fights back.
PDS Debt is offering a free debt analysis. It only takes thirty seconds. Get yours at PDS Debt
-
Come the new year. in that because Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB three into law this year. reportedly in part requires pornographic websites
to implement age verification to block access to those under 18. a law specifically mandating that these websites use
either anonymous age verification or standard age verification. And this is you places like Axios reporting it, the Free Speech Coalition filed a legal challenge to the law.
This week, arguing that it creates a substantial burden on adults who want to access legal sites without fear of surveillance.
as far as Pornhub. If you're in Florida right now and you go to the website, you'll get a pop up that says you will lose access to Pornhub in 13 days, saying your government wants you
to give your driver's license before you can access the site. then adding we don't want minors accessing our site and thing preventing that from happening is a good thing,
but putting everybody's privacy at risk won't achieve that. Renzo, come New Year's Day, Florida will now be the ninth state that Pornhub has pulled out of.
all of this is you have people on the other side saying, you know, for Pornhub, this isn't actually about caring about privacy. reports noting, for example, that state representative Chase Tremont,
who's actually a Republican who sponsored the age verification bill, he said that the site's decision to shut down rather than comply tells us exactly who their real target audience is.
But yeah, that's the situation. Florida is probably not the last state we're going to see this from. But, generally bad news for porn sites.
Great news for VPNs. some of the most dangerous medical conditions are the ones you don't even know you have.
-
Some of the most dangerous medical conditions are the ones you don’t even know you have.
And sometimes, it takes a trained professional who knows what to look for to tell the difference between a trivial symptom and a life-threatening emergency.
So the question right now is: can they make that judgment over the phone or even a video call?
Because Simon Rowland, a researcher with health-care company Haleon, tells The Washington Post that few providers receive special training in making remote diagnoses, which can be especially difficult in acute cases. [Quote, find “Simon”]
Well now the answer is beginning to reveal itself, thanks to One Medical, [Image]
The in-person and Telehealth primary care provider that was acquired by Amazon for almost four billion dollars in early 2023. [Headline]
Because the Post is reporting that just before Christmas that year, One Medical allegedly made a fuck-up that apparently led to its first ever wrongful death lawsuit.
With Philip Tong, a beloved father and husband in his forties, logging onto a video consultation to report some symptoms. [Quote, find “turning blue”]
Namely that he was short of breath, coughing up blood, and watching his feet turn blue. [Same quote]
Which, I gotta say, as someone with zero medical education, sounds pretty serious.
But hey, what do I know?
Oh, and also, he was diabetic and had been sick with flu-like symptoms for about a week up to this point. [Quote same link, find “about a week”]
Yet according to the lawsuit, the provider’s recommendation was simple: just buy an inhaler. [Quote same link, find “turning blue”]
Then, just hours later, Tong collapsed in an emergency room and died the same day. [Quote same link, find “collapsed”]
So now the suit argues that One Medical failed to order appropriate testing for him and lacked “adequately trained and qualified staff,” resulting in treatment that was “careless, reckless and negligent.” [Quote same link]
With the first meeting in that case scheduled for March of next year, but this isn’t the first complaint lobbed at One Medical or Amazon.
Right, after one company acquired the other, current and former employees told The Post that pressure to improve productivity increased at the expense of patient care. [Quote same link, find “pressure”]
With virtual providers’ schedules becoming so tightly packed that two different patients reported having telehealth visits with providers who were clearly calling from their cars. [Same quote]
So at one clinic, former employees said standard appointments shrank from one hour to 30 minutes, health coaches no longer assisted physicians throughout appointments, and in-person mental health check-ins with behavioral health specialists were replaced with virtual visits. [Quote, find “30 minutes”]
With doctors expected to see more and more patients per day, first around six, then eventually more than 12. [Same quote]
Then, a year after the acquisition, One Medical laid off several hundred employees, including some clinical staff and reception workers. [Headline]
Who were replaced by a call center in Arizona manned by a staffing agency.
Now some of its workers are full-time employees, but reportedly many others are newly hired contractors with little to no medical experience and just a few weeks of training. [Quote, find “newly hired”]
And we’ve already begun to see the consequences.
With The Post reporting that the call center failed on more than a dozen occasions to seek immediate attention for elderly callers with urgent symptoms. [Quote, find “dozen occasions”]
Like for example, when one patient reported a “blood clot, pain and swelling,” staff didn’t escalate the call; they just scheduled an appointment. [Quote same link]
And over the following two days, clinical staffers flagged four more call-center errors involving elderly patients with urgent complaints, including stomach pain and blood in stool, a spike in blood pressure, an insect bite and sudden rib pain. [Quote same link, find “insect”]
Now the corporate leadership has defended itself against all these accusations.
With One Medical’s CEO claiming it’s “independent of Amazon leadership” and any changes are unrelated to the acquisition. [Quote]
As well as the company claiming it began shortening appointments before Amazon took it over, [Quote same link, find “now screened”]
And that patients are now screened in advance by a centralized team to save time on administrative tasks in the office. [Same quote]
With it adding that the call center has improved response times and patient care. [Quote same link, find “improved response times”]
But I’m sure as this lawsuit unfolds and more reporting comes out, we’ll find out whether any of that’s actually true or not.
Links:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/18/amazon-one-medical-lawsuit-wrongful-death/
-
The U.S. Bureau of Prisons just lost nearly 116 million dollars for running what was known internally as the “rape club” among guards and prisoners.
This after the Justice Department concluded what appears to be the largest settlement in the Bureau’s history. [Headline]
And it all comes down to just one prison: the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California. [Image]
Right, it was one of six women-only facilities in the federal prison system, housing just several hundred inmates. [B roll, 00:44]
Which makes it all the more shocking that a staggering 103 of them sued the Bureau for alleged sexual abuse and retaliation for speaking out. [Same B roll]
Yet perhaps it’s not that surprising, since even the former warden, Ray Garcia, who would’ve ultimately been responsible for making sure none of this happened, was guilty himself. [Screenshot, 00:07]
Right, he was convicted in 2022 for abusing three inmates and is serving a 70-month prison sentence. [Quote, find “70-month”]
With seven other employees getting charged so far, six of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted. [Quote, find “least eight”]
But allegedly as many as 30 correctional officers took part in the abuse, including a chaplain.
And they barely even tried to hide it.
Right, for example, one inmate said her prison work supervisor assigned her to work with a maintenance foreman she had accused of rape, then taunted her by remarking “let the games begin.” [Quote]
Or another time, a woman said that when she reported her rape by a safety administrator to an internal prison investigator, he replied, "If it's not on camera then you're beat.” [Quote]
And when women spoke out, they were often put in solitary confinement or transferred to other prisons, Catholic Church-style.
Now, thankfully the 103 plaintiffs in the lawsuit are each getting about a million dollars on average.
And one inmate who was there for a 10-year drug sentence convinced a judge to release her three years early because of her alleged abuse at the hands of at least five correctional officers. [Headline]
Now FCI Dublin has since been shut down, with its inmates being distributed to other federal prisons across the country.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re free from the abuse.
Right, because in 2022, a Senate inquiry found that staff had sexually abused inmates in at least two-thirds of federal women’s prisons over the past decade. [Quote, find “thirds”]
But at least the prisons where these women went will now have court-appointed monitors, and back in July 2022 Biden signed a law strengthening oversight of the Bureau. [Quote, find “Biden”]
Links:
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/17/nx-s1-5232193/federal-prison-california-sexual-abuse-settlement
https://apnews.com/article/prisons-california-united-states-sexual-abuse-only-on-ap-d321ae51fe93dfd9d6e5754383a95801
Visit Aura and use code PHIL to get an exclusive deal and get $35 off on the best-selling Carver Mat frame!
-
Then in other absolutely massive news coming out of the House, it’s now being widely reported that the chamber’s Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on a range of very serious allegations against Matt Gaetz.
Right, as we’ve talked about before a number of times, the committee has been investigating Gaetz for sexual misconduct, drug use, and accepting improper gifts.
With this coming after the DOJ dropped its own separate probe into whether he paid for sex — including with a 17-year-old minor — and paid women to travel across state lines for sex.
But just days before the panel was supposedly set to vote on whether to release the report, Trump tapped Gaetz to be his attorney general, and Gaetz made the rare move of immediately resigning.
And that really mucked everything up because the Ethics Committee only investigates sitting members.
So by resigning, he effectively ended the probe and made it very difficult for the panel to release the report.
With many Republicans — including Speaker Johnson — pressuring the committee not to release their findings, saying it would violate House rules and against precedent.
Though, very notably here, there is actually precedent for releasing an ethics report after a member leaves Congress, but it’s only happened on a few occasions.[]
So it is INSANELY rare that the committee reportedly voted to release the Gaetz report — and the move is also super significant for several other reasons.
Right, first of all, it came AFTER Gaetz had already withdrawn himself for consideration as AG.
With CNN — which was the first to report the latest news — the committee secretly voted to release its findings earlier this month.
And that’s super notable because the argument for releasing it when he was still under consideration as AG was that he was still going to be a public servant and the American people deserved to know the truth.
Right, after Gaetz withdrew his name, the debate kind of fizzled out, with both lawmakers and the American public mostly dropping their demands to see it.
Especially after an attempt by House Democrats to force the committee to release the report failed to pass in the chamber.
Hell, you even had the Republican chair of the committee literally saying that Gaetz withdrawal “should end discussion’ of report’s release.”
So the fact that they still voted to release this when he isn’t even serving the public anymore could speak to the severity of their findings.
Beyond that, this decision is also significant because it marks a major reversal for the panel — and specifically, for members of Gaetz’s own party.
Right, the committee is split evenly among Democrats and Republicans — 5 to 5 — but because the GOP controls the House, they get to break ties.
And last month, just one day before Gaetz resigned, the Ethics Committee voted against releasing the report.
With Republicans voting along party lines to block their findings from being made public.
So if all the reporting is true and the panel secretly voted again and decided to release the report this time around, it would have to mean that at least one of the Republican members flipped their vote.
Which again is a huge deal and could indicate how serious this thing is.
Now, as for the contents of this report, we don’t have any new information right now.
But multiple outlets have reported that it is expected to be released later this week.
And as far as how Gaetz has responded, he wrote a long post on X where he once again denied the claims.
Noting that the DOJ had investigated the allegations before and writing:
“I was charged with nothing: FULLY EXONERATED. Not even a campaign finance violation. And the people investigating me hated me.”[]
With Gaetz claiming that the witnesses the House panel interviewed had been deemed credible by the DOJ.
Arguing that he and his attorneys weren’t able to challenge the testimony the witnesses gave to the committee.
But then also going on to sort of address the substance of the allegations against him, saying:
“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated - even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18. Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court - which is why no such claim was ever made in court. My 30’s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”
So that, at least, seems to be a pretty good preview of what his defense will be here against whatever the report says.
Right, that he was just helping out these women financially and not paying them for sex, and his actions were not illegal even if they were questionable.
But for now, we’re just going to have to wait and see what the report actually says.
-
A major shutdown showdown is going down in Congress.
Say that five times fast.
Right, lawmakers have until midnight on Friday to pass a bill to fund the government and avert a shutdown.
And last night, congressional leaders unveiled a 1,500-page stopgap bill — called a continuing resolution, or CR — that will fund the government until March.
Right, this is just a short-term bill to keep things going until Trump and the new Republican-controlled Senate can take over.
But, in addition to extending current funding levels, the legislation also includes a number of very notable provisions.
Among other things, the CR would:
Allocate more than $100 billion in disaster relief for communities hit by the recent hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Give an additional $10 billion in aid to farmers as lawmakers continue to squabble over a new farm bill.
Commit the federal government to pay 100% of the cost to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge that collapsed in Baltimore last spring.
Pave the way for the NFL’s Commanders to from Maryland to D.C.
Provide a cost-of-living adjustment to Congressmembers pay — which they have voted on in past spending bills since 2009.
And criminalize the publication of “nonconsensual intimate visual depictions,” including deepfake pornography.
And those are just some of the most significant provisions — there were also a whole host of additional unrelated policy measures on health, energy, and other matters that lawmakers were able to slip into the bill as part of negotiations.
Right, and that’s not at all uncommon for an end-of-the-year spending bill.
There’s even a term for it — they call this a “Christmas tree” because it's decorated with a bunch of different pet projects both parties have been trying to pass.
And because they’re tacked onto a must-pass spending bill, lawmakers are forced to choose between forcing a shutdown or caving to those projects and passing the bill as-is so they can head out for their holiday recess.
But the fact that this is common doesn’t make it any less popular — especially among Republicans, who generally oppose new spending.
Which is why you have a bunch of GOP members absolutely slamming the bill.
With many openly opposing it, calling it a Democrat wish list [][]
Or, as Rep. Eric Burlison put it:
“It’s total dumpster fire. I think it’s garbage.” 00:02 - 00:05
And it wasn’t just lawmakers complaining — we also saw Elon Musk making multiple posts condemning the CR and urging lawmakers not to pass it. [][]
We also saw “Vote NO” trending high on X this morning.
But, as has become common on the platform, a bunch of the top posts promoted by the algorithm were totally unrelated and literally nothing to do with the stopgap bill.
But Musk’s decision to chime in here specifically is still notable because it elevates the spending battle to the millions and millions of people who see his content.
I mean, just yesterday, The Washington Post published this wild analysis that found that Musk’s influence on X is bigger than every single member of Congress COMBINED.
And that includes both personal AND official accounts.
Right, and so by adding visibility to the shutdown showdown, Musk could encourage constituents to pressure their congressmembers to vote against the CR.
Now, that said, unless Musk uses his influence over Trump to get the president-elect to weigh in, it’s unclear if this will really move the needle.
But it’s still fucking wild we’re having a conversation at all about the potential power Elon Musk has to sway a government shutdown.
But, on the other side, Democrats have widely voiced support for the bill — and so has Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, who helped negotiate it.
With Johnson defending the bill, pointing out that it’s just a short-term measure — not a fully-funded bill, like Democrats wanted — and arguing:
“This is a small CR that we’ve had to add things to that were out of our control.”
“These were not man-made disasters, these were things that the federal government has an appropriate role to do. I wish it weren’t necessary.”
And adding, “We have to be able to help those who are in these dire straits, and that’s what the volume of the pages to this is.”
But given how slim the Republican majority is in the House and how many members have already voiced opposition, Johnson will likely end up needing Democrats to get this resolution passed.
That could be a very bad look for Johnson because it would be perceived as him caving to Democrats — and, apparently, bipartisanship can be fatal.
Right, that’s exactly how Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker last year — in order to avoid a shutdown, he had Democrats help him pass a spending bill the right wing of his party opposed.
And if Johnson poised to do the same thing, he could face the same fate as ol’ McCarthy.
Right, when the new Congress convenes next month, they will have to vote on their speaker, and Johnson will need to win the support of at least 218 of the 220 Republicans to keep his leadership position.
So he can hardly spare any defections, and already, there are some rumblings from members of his party about his ability to lead the conference if he has to compromise with Democrats just to keep the government open.
So for now, we’ll have to wait and see how all this plays out.
You know, low stakes stuff like whether the fucking government will shut down and if the Speaker of the House will change…
-
Tiktok isn’t only facing heat in the US.
Right, the social media giant is now under fire in the EU.
With the European Commission opening formal proceedings against the company on the suspicion that it failed to “properly assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to election integrity” as required under the EU-wide Digital Services Act, or DSA. []
And specifically, this all has to do with the recent presidential election in Romania.
Right, in November, a far-right, ultra-nationalist candidate by the name of Calin Georgescu (Kuh-lean George-s-koo) came out of nowhere to win the first round.
And notably, he campaigned almost exclusively on TikTok.
Right, he’s been dubbed the TikTok messiah for his ultra-religious messaging, with him saying, for example, that he has a mission from God to save Romania.
He has also said the moon landing never happened and that COVID-19 doesn’t exist – and described fascist leaders (1, 2) from his country’s past as national heroes. []
But outside of that, the reason he’s sparked so much concern internationally, at least among the mainstream European establishment…
It’s for being intensely critical of the EU and NATO while appearing friendly to Russia.
With the key thing to keep in mind there being that Romania is seen as playing a key strategic role in the region.
Right, the country shares a 400-mile border with Ukraine
It’s also home to a new air base that will be one of NATO’s biggest in Europe.
And in fact, there’s already a missile defense facility built by the US in the county, which George-s-koo has criticized using typical Putin talking points.
And with all that, people just couldn’t believe he really won fair and square.
And as it turns out, he might not have.
Right, the Romanian government, but also non-governmental organizations, began reporting that the candidate had received a massive boost from a network of paid influencers, fake accounts, and bots.
With the country’s national media regulator saying that it had flagged "various irregularities” and asked Tiktok to take action, but claiming the platform hadn’t responded adequately. []
And with that, the government requested that the European Commission open "a formal investigation into TikTok's role in the Romanian elections" under the DSA.
Not long after, Romanian authorities declassified a series of documents suggesting there may have been an effort there similar to Russian influence operations in Ukraine and Moldova.
Claiming, for example, that 25,000 pro-George-s-koo Tiktok accounts burst into action just two weeks before the first-round vote. []
Also identifying than 85,000 cyberattacks that allegedly sought to exploit vulnerabilities in Romania’s election IT system[]
And finally, finding that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been paid to some TikTok users involved in promoting George-s-koo in the leadup to the election. []
And with that, we’re now actually seeing some Romanian Tiktok influencers fleeing the country as they're being investigated by tax authorities for their alleged role in swaying the election.
But also, just a day after the declassification of those documents – and just two days before the second round of the election was scheduled to take place….
Romania’s constitutional court made the hugely controversial decision to cancel the election and rerun it at a later date.
Notably, with not only George-s-koo, but also the liberal candidate who had been set to challenge him, taking issue with the decision.
Right, both describing the move as an attempt by the unpopular and distrusted establishment parties to cling to power.
But on the flip side, of course, people saying the election was deeply flawed and needs to be redone.
But in any case, with the EU now investigating, this whole debacle is just becoming an even bigger part of a debate taking place not only over there, but also here in the US.
Right, one about balancing free speech with efforts to tackle disinformation and foreign interference.
And with that, Europe is now on high alert when it comes to other upcoming elections, which may be another reason for opening these proceedings against Tiktok.
Right, earlier this month, anticipating the possibility of an investigation, the Commission actually ordered TikTok to retain all data related to election risk management for four months, starting from late November and running through March.
And notably, the order encompasses all national elections — not just the Romanian ones.
And with that, the Commission will specifically investigate TikTok’s recommendation systems for “coordinated inauthentic manipulation or automated exploitation of the service.”
As well TikTok's policies on political advertisements and paid-for political content.[]
With this investigation triggered by what happened in Romania, but not necessarily confined to it.
With the Commission, for example, saying it’s conscious of the risk of interference in the German parliamentary election coming up in February and the presidential election in Croatia starting on December 29th.[]
Tiktok, for its part, I should say, has consistently denied wrongdoing,
With a spokesperson saying:
“We’ve protected the integrity of our platform through over 150 elections around the world and continue proactively addressing these industry-wide challenges.”
And adding: “TikTok has provided the European Commission with extensive information regarding these efforts, and we have transparently and publicly detailed our robust actions.
But with that, we’ll have to see if this investigation reaches the same conclusion, as well as what happens with Romania's as-of-yet unscheduled redo of the presidential election.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(824x389:826x391)/Tory-Lanez-shaqs-fun-house-102622-b1b2b7f4e7b4453a9630ee75cb3f6e64.jpg){kind=link}
