Acclaimed audio producer Mark Henry Phillips and the Peabody-finalist independent podcast network Radiotopia from PRX today unveiled Light Box, a new podcast series at the heart of AI and artistic creation. Debuting Tuesday, September 15, the 10-part series investigates the complicated reality of what AI is doing to music and the implications more broadly for culture, work, and all of us.
Light Box is available free across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, and NPR One. An audio trailer is available now:
Creator and host Mark Henry Phillips has spent 20 years making music for a living. Then, one night he typed a few words into an AI music generator, and it did his job possibly better than he could. Piecing together more than 40 interviews from inside a revolution happening largely in secret, Phillips sits down with Mikey Shulman — the CEO of the AI music generator Suno — just weeks before his company’s landmark settlement with Warner Music Group, with hitmakers behind hits that have billions of streams who reveal they’ve used AI to write for the biggest artists in the world. Phillips also hears the case against these services from legendary guitarist Marc Ribot and musicologist Michael Spitzer, and he tells the story of the moment a group of devoted creators discovered their music had been locked inside an AI platform.
Also featured in the series: the CEO of Recording Industry Association of America, a team detecting thousands of AI tracks flooding streaming services, a 19-year old college student generating an artificial pop singer from his dorm room, and renowned electronic artist The Range, who points to AI’s dichotomy from personal experience: “Financially, it’s a total disaster. Creatively, it’s a miracle. Both are true.”
“When I experimented with AI’s music-making capabilities, I actually lost sleep. It was scary but also extremely impressive. Way better than what I expected from the popular narrative,” said Phillips. “I spent the next year trying to figure out whether I was watching the end of my profession or a transition to something else. And the deeper I got, the clearer it became that this isn’t a music story. Whatever your job is, whatever your thing is, these questions and choices are coming for you too.”
Phillips has scored original music for signature podcasts including season one of Serial and Homecoming as well as the Radiotopia drama, Passenger List. He’s also served as sound designer for films such as Academy Award-nominated documentary Cutie and the Boxer. On Light Box, Phillips even turns the mic inwards, running AI tools on his own catalog of scores and abandoned demos to play these new versions side by side with the real thing to leave listeners with the question: Can you tell the difference?
“Light Box reminds us that we are all wrestling with questions of creativity, authorship, and how AI will shape our daily lives and work,” said Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producer of Radiotopia from PRX. “Mark approaches these big unsettling questions with creativity and curiosity, and we’re thrilled to be working with him on this deeply personal series. We hope it invites listeners to both better understand the technology while exploring its possibilities and contradictions.”
David Cotrone | david.cotrone@prx.org
Mark Henry Phillips is a composer and audio journalist with 20 years of experience at the intersection of music and storytelling. He spent five years as a staff producer and reporter at WNYC’s On the Media, and has produced and reported for Radiolab and All Things Considered. As a composer, he has scored Serial, This American Life, On the Media, Homecoming, Passenger List, award-winning films, and commercials for Google, Nike, and Ford. He is the founder of Windhill Studios, an audio production company specializing in podcasts and audio fiction, and lives in Vermont. He composed and performed the original score for Light Box.
Created in 2014, Radiotopia from PRX is the first network of its kind. As a network of independent podcasts, Radiotopia empowers audio creators with the artistic freedom to thrive on their own terms and to bring audiences inspired, high-quality, and well-crafted soundscapes. Programming from across Radiotopia has received recognition from the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the Tribeca Festival, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes.
Immerse yourself in stories and conversations of all kinds — intellectual and emotional, real and imagined, entertaining and thought-provoking. Be part of a community that values bold authenticity and boundless creativity. Discover award-winning audio with vision at Radiotopia.fm.
Mark Henry Phillips and Radiotopia from PRX Announce “Light Box” was originally published in PRX Official on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
A new report on the cost of solar power indicates that clean power can beat coal and gas for the 74 members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, with some interesting implications for the growth of the US solar manufacturing sector.
The post Solar Power Leaps Key Cost Barrier As Coal And Gas Sidelined (Shocker!) appeared first on CleanTechnica.
This summer I invited a group of talented writers who specialize in food systems to participate in a special Media Education Lab publication called MediaEd Insights. Our issue is called, “What’s for Dinner? Food as an Ecomedia Literacy Inquiry.” Our first essay introduced food systems as a way to engage ... [continued]
The post Food, Zoom, A Website, and Noodles From China to Italy: A Media Education Lab Curriculum Review appeared first on CleanTechnica.
PUYO, Ecuador—People fighting oil wells, mines and other threats to their homelands did not come to this Amazonian city to lobby politicians at an environmental conference hosted by governments. They built the conference themselves.
The deluge capped a summer of extreme climate events, from deadly heatwaves to wildfires. We must take action now
For millennia, the high peaks of the Himalayas were held together by an invisible, frozen cement – permafrost and glacial ice that bound ancient rock into seemingly unshakable fortresses. But as the planet continues to warm, this alpine glue is liquefying.
The glacial collapse and deluge in Nepal and Tibet was not a freak weather event; it was the structural failure of a mountain itself, nature’s latest commentary on the deadly consequences of human-caused planetary warming. And it was the exclamation point on a summer of extremes, illustrating with a sole unnatural disaster the apocalyptic future that lies in store if we fail to take dramatic climate action.
Continue reading...Maryland’s ratepayer protection agency is fighting on two fronts simultaneously to shield households from paying hundreds of millions more in costs related to projected power demand—much of it linked to data centers that may never get built.
CUTRIC has a credibility problem that extends well beyond its long enthusiasm for hydrogen buses. The underlying issue is whether an organization whose mission includes commercializing technologies should receive a presumption of neutrality when it advises transit agencies on investments worth hundreds of millions of dollars. After reviewing CUTRIC’s strategy, ... [continued]
The post CUTRIC Has Lost The Right To Be Treated As A Neutral Transit Authority appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Who dreams of having a Euro summer now when staying in an ancient, uncooled building in the Old Town is like trying to sleep in a wood-fired pizza oven?
This week the Euro summer comes to an end – and so does a certain type of posting on Instagram.
Waiting at the bus stop in the grey winter dawn, a slanting rain soaking your trouser leg, you can warm yourself by scrolling your feed and seeing pictures of Australians enjoying a Euro summer. There it is again – azure Greek coves, plates of barbecued sardines, the yachts rented by the hour, and selfies on the balcony of some Paris Airbnb, drinking wine in the long, blue night.
Continue reading...In Alaska, the Himalayas, the Andes, Greenland, and perhaps also the Alps, deadly chain reactions are just waiting to be triggered
You may not have felt it, but the earth beneath our feet is getting twitchier, and global heating is to blame. As temperatures surge and climate breakdown accelerates, interactions between climate and geology are becoming ever more apparent – as marked by last week’s horrific events in Nepal and Tibet. We still have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the idea that a changing climate can impact what scientists call the geosphere, but the evidence has long been incontestable.
In 2021, a similar deluge ripped through a series of mountain valleys in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, severely damaging two hydroelectric power plants and taking about 200 lives. In August 2025, a colossal landslide in an Alaskan fjord created a 500-metre-high wave in an area frequented by cruise ships. A few months earlier, the collapse of part of a glacier in Switzerland’s Valais canton caused a debris-laden torrent that destroyed and buried most of the already evacuated village of Blatten.
Bill McGuire is professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at UCL. His latest book is The Fate of the World – a History and Future of the Climate Crisis
Continue reading...Most people decide if it’s safe to eat an old tub of yogurt in the fridge or canned tuna in the back of the cupboard by checking its sell-by date. But no label indicates that pesticides, phthalates, PFAS or other hazardous chemicals could be seeping from those containers into your food.
Empowering women through greater access to finance could “strengthen” households’ resilience to “climate shocks,” according to a new study. Published in Climate Risk Management, it analyses the impact of financial access on “women-headed households” in sub-Saharan Africa. The study finds that where women had formal financial access — such as ... [continued]
The post Access to Finance “Strengthens Climate Resilience” Among Sub-Saharan Women appeared first on CleanTechnica.
I was born in 1940, and I just turned 86, so with help from my dad, I have photos from 100 years of history. My grandparents were born into the horse-and-buggy era and lived into the era of modern cars, airplanes, and telephones. Therefore, the technological revolutions of their lives ... [continued]
The post One Technological Revolution After Another appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Fellows Aim To Make Critical Minerals in the US, Generate Affordable Geothermal Energy, and Build Ultralight and Advanced Batteries—With Some Help From NLR Experts This article is part one of a two-part series featuring the laboratory’s seven newest West Gate fellows. Part one profiles four startup founders. By Caitlin McDermott-Murphy ... [continued]
The post From Tony Stark to Obi Wan Kenobi: Meet 4 (of 7) West Gate Fellows and Their Technologies appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Only 5% of EU ships’ tonnage was dismantled in Europe despite the capacity to recycle much more. Vast majority of end-of-life ships are sent for beaching in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh under poor environmental and safety standards. The vast majority of EU-owned or EU-flagged ships are being scrapped under poor ... [continued]
The post Most EU Ships Are Being Scrapped in South Asia Despite Sufficient Domestic Recycling Capacity, Confirms New Study appeared first on CleanTechnica.
The word “science,” according to Wikipedia, is derived from the Latin verb “scire, meaning ‘to know,’ specifically its present participle sciens, meaning ‘knowing.'” The root word scire is also connected to English words like conscience — shared knowledge of right and wrong — and omniscient — all-knowing. My, how times ... [continued]
The post Science, Attribution Studies, & Identifying Climate Criminals appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Flash flooding in Arizona tourist destination was likely triggered by compounding climate factors, such as drought and warming in Pacific Ocean
A deadly flash flood in the Grand Canyon over the weekend was likely driven by a confluence of climate factors, including drought, wildfire scarring and warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that can supercharge storms.
At least two people have died, nearly 80 people were rescued and one remained unaccounted for after a surge of water and debris swept through the immensely popular tourist destination on Saturday, fueled by torrents of rain that hit the national park’s Bright Angel Creek area.
Continue reading...With careful planning, events and newsroom-created gathering spaces can help local media measure impact and trust.
The post Design events and digital spaces to create — and measure — impact appeared first on Better News.
Learn how news outlets partner or invest to create young stakeholders and lifelong advocates for both the news organization and the community’s civic health.
The post 4 ways local news can grow and fund youth engagement programs appeared first on Better News.
There is a growing expectation for individuals to challenge misinformation, especially as platforms alter their governance processes around false content, shifting towards community-flagging approaches. While research on how individuals respond to exposure to information is developing, findings often taker a broad-brush approach, treating receivers as a single, undifferentiated category, identifying overarching barriers, motivations and coping mechanisms relating to challenging misinformation as opposed to highlighting how these differ between groups of individuals. In this paper, we draw on empirical findings from interviews and surveys with U.K. residents to develop a set of five behavioural archetypes that allow us to identify how different types of individuals behave when exposure to misinformation.
Previous work exploring inter-personal misinformation correction has uncovered a range of motivations and barriers to discussing misinformation (Malhotra, 2020, 2023; Malhotra & Pearce, 2022; Pearce & Malhotra, 2022; Scott, Cecchinato, et al., 2023; Scott, Coventry, et al., 2023; Scott et al., 2025), but has largely treated receivers as a single, undifferentiated category. While research identifies qualities affecting misinformation susceptibility (Sultan et al., 2024; Brashier, 2024), these remain unexplored in misinformation correction research. In contrast, we propose a differentiation of receiver archetypes, synthesizing behavioral patterns across interviews and surveys into five archetypes. This redefines peer correction as a heterogeneous practice shaped by relational proximity, normative expectations, and medium-specific constraints.
Consistent with prior research, we confirm and extend that relational proximity (Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2023), cultural norms (Malhotra & Pearce, 2022; Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2023), and medium affordances (Scott, Coventry et al., 2023) shape how individuals respond to misinformation. Using a constructivist approach, we developed five behavioral archetypes based on patterned combinations of relationship strength, normative expectations regarding politeness and responsibility, and comfort with specific communication media. Of these, two are archetypes of individuals who choose to challenge misinformation, and three prefer not to challenge.
Challenger archetypes illustrate how corrective intent interacts with relational and technological context. The Face-to-Face Challenger reflects existing findings that synchronous, in-person conversations are preferred for addressing misinformation due to non-verbal cues and opportunities for relational repair (Pearce & Malhotra, 2022; Scott, Coventry, et al., 2023). In contrast, the Digital Challenger demonstrates that medium constraints are not universally inhibiting. Where communication is digitally mediated, online correction is not perceived as inappropriate, particularly within close ties (Scott, Cecchinato, et al., 2023).
Receiver archetypes reflect distinct logics of non-intervention, either because they may challenge at a later date or never. The On-the-Fence Receiver embodies uncertainty about whether correction is socially or relationally appropriate, echoing previous findings (Malhotra & Pearce, 2022; Scott, Cecchinato, et al., 2023; Scott, Coventry, et al., 2023). The Conflict Avoidant Receiver aligns with prior findings on hierarchy, respect, and cultural expectations, where explicit correction may be seen as impolite or inappropriate, particularly in family contexts (Malhotra, 2023; Malhotra & Pearce, 2022). Finally, the Can’t Be Bothered Receiver is characterized less by cultural constraints and more by relational distance and effort calculation: they do not challenge at all, nor can they be convinced to, as the effort is just too great. These archetypes demonstrate that non-challenging behavior does not reflect a single attitude or lack of awareness, but emerges from different relational, normative, and contextual configurations.
In synthesizing behavioral patterns into archetypes, we demonstrate that peer-to-peer correction is not a uniform practice, but instead a relationally and contextually contingent one. This challenges prevailing assumptions that individuals can be treated as a homogeneous corrective audience and suggests interventions must be tailored to distinct profiles. Consequently, platform features that rely on generic misinformation correction prompts risk overlooking relational constraints and effort calculations that shape whether individuals act, and policies focusing on society as a whole overlook nuances between groups. For example, if some receivers perceive correction as normatively inappropriate (Conflict Avoidant Receiver), educational interventions must address social norms, not just factual literacy.
Implications for design
Our findings highlight distinct design needs across five archetypes. For Face-to-Face Challengers, tools that can detect and contest misinformation in real-time conversations could support their motivated but relationally cautious approach, whilst better-designed spaces for seeking support should prevent inadvertent adoption of misinformed beliefs. On-the-Fence Receivers may benefit from messaging features that reduce conversational pressure and tools that make online communication feel more personal/natural. For Conflict Avoidant Receivers, automatic content warnings and platform-level flags could do corrective work without requiring explicit confrontation, aligning with their preference for talking around rather than directly about misinformed beliefs. Can’t Be Bothered Receivers would benefit most from timely alerts and nudges that lower the effort required to act. Finally, Digital Challengers would benefit from richer online communication features and better support for involving trusted others in these conversations. The limitation of a “one size fits all” approach to misinformation correction points to opportunities for platforms to incorporate a range of correction mechanisms, each designed around the needs and constraints of a given archetype. Yet in doing do, platforms should consider broader demographic factors such as race and gender that may influence how users interact with corrective mechanisms and how these interactions are further shaped by the context of the misinformation.
From the analysis, five behavioral archetypes were developed. They are: Face-to-Face Challenger, Can’t be Bothered Receiver, Conflict Avoidant Receiver, On-the-Fence Receiver, and Digital Challenger. Although all archetypes are a type of receiver, some did choose to challenge misinformation, which is reflected in their name. Each archetype is presented with a short description, accompanied by a graphic representing key characteristics including name, group size, details of the spreader, motivations and barriers, strategies used, and coping mechanisms (what individuals do to support/manage their wellbeing).
Finding 1: Face-to-Face Challengers are willing to challenge misinformation shared if they can conduct that challenge in a face-to-face conversation.
The Face-to-Face Challenger is the largest group (Figure 1). They are close to their spreader and find the environment of a face-to-face conversation to be the most appropriate setting for a challenge. They are motivated to educate spreaders on why their beliefs are wrong but worry about the reaction of the spreader, mostly from a place of concern about long-term relational impacts. They vent their frustrations and seek validation from those who share either an existing relationship with the spreader or are of the same opinion as themselves to cope with the conversation.
Finding 2: On-the-Fence Receivers do not always think it is right to challenge, but when they do they engage in a strategic process, aiming to maintain relationships.
The On-the-Fence Receiver (Figure 2) is the second largest group, characterized by uncertainty about whether to challenge. This group is characterized by a close spreader-receiver relationship, with the receiver being reluctant to challenge due to their view that people are entitled to their opinion. However, where they do challenge, their approach is strategic, using tools like humor to lessen concerns of them being seen as attempting to force a change of opinion. Prior to the challenge, this group avoids future conversations on the topic with the spreader as a coping mechanism to both prevent the escalation of tensions and avoid risks of harming the relationship. Although both the On-the-Fence Receiver and the Face-to-Face Challenger would choose to challenge face-to-face, the On-the-Fence Receiver does not commit to changing beliefs or opinions, which the Face-to-Face Challenger does.
Finding 3: Conflict Avoidant Receivers do not think it is polite to challenge, avoiding the challenge by talking around the topic of misinformation.
The Conflict Avoidant Receiver describes someone who does not think it is polite to challenge misinformation; and this group receives misinformation from a range of sources. As shown in Figure 3, the Conflict Avoidant Receiver may talk about misinformed views with the spreader to understand them, as they do believe that changing the views of the misinformed person is their responsibility. As a result, they prefer to talk around the topic of misinformation rather than about it explicitly (e.g., talking about an illness and its vaccinations rather than stating that an individual must get vaccinated), and are less likely to challenge than the On-the-Fence Receiver group.
Finding 4: Can’t Be Bothered Receivers are not close to their spreader and do not see the challenges associated with misinformation correction worth it.
The Can’t be Bothered Receiver is a group of people who are characterized by their weak spreader-receiver relationship. In these cases, the spreader is typically someone they are aware of, either online or offline, but they are not emotionally or physically close to. The group finds both the risk of a negative response from the spreader and the effort required to challenge the misinformed views as barriers to challenging (Figure 4). They do not typically discuss the experience of being exposed to misinformation with others. However, where they perceive a potential risk to others, they discuss it to help reduce this risk. This determination of risk is what sets them apart from the Conflict Avoidant Receiver.
Finding 5: Digital Challengers are the only group primarily comfortable with challenging through digital platforms, as that is their main method of communication with the spreader.
The Digital Challenger, a small group, is those that are comfortable challenging misinformed beliefs online. As shown in Figure 5, they are not co-located with their spreader and usually communicate via digital platforms (i.e., typically communicate with people via these means, or challenge via these communication channels). This group utilize external sources of information (e.g., links to health organizations, groups they are in on social media, or news stories) to support them with the conversation. In addition, they would utilize other family members as a resource during these conversations.
To explore the context in which misinformation discussions occur, data was re-analysed from three prior studies with U.K. residents: an exploratory interview study (Scott, Coventry et al., 2023; n = 10), a survey on fictional experiences (Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2023; n = 100), and a survey based on participants’ own experiences (Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2025; n = 61).
Interviews
These were held with individuals who had been exposed to misinformation from their family members. They were asked about whether they chose to discuss the spreader’s views, how they chose to engage in this, whether they had any difficulties, and what tools or resources they used to support them. Participant demographics included age (18–24 = 3, 25–34 = 4, 35–44 = 1, 45–54 = 2). A full discussion of the results and interview design can be seen in Scott, Coventry et al., 2023.
Fictional survey
This survey explored how individuals would behave when exposed to misinformation from someone they were close to, and someone they considered less close, with the following scenario: “You find out that your [relation] believes some false information which could negatively impact their health. They have since started to share harmful articles and advice on social media.”
Closeness was measured using a combination of the Inclusion of Other Self scale (Aron et al., 1992), Relationship Closeness Index (Gächter et al., 2015), and the Subjective Closeness Index (Berscheid et al., 1989; Gächter et al., 2015), with participants being presented with their closest and least close relation. Questions asked about their immediate reaction when exposed to misinformation, barriers they would expect to experience, and coping mechanisms they would expect to use. Participant demographics included gender (Male = 43, Female = 54, Non-binary = 3), age (18–29 = 35, 30–39 = 33, 40–49 = 16, 50–59 = 9, 60+ = 7) and self-identified cultural background (Mono-cultural = 50, Multi-cultural = 50). A full discussion of the results and survey design can be seen in Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2023.
Individual experiences survey
This survey explored how individuals challenged misinformation in practice and the barriers that prevented them from doing so. Participants were asked to describe their own experience of misinformation exposure. Their actions, motivations, barriers, resources, and coping mechanisms were explored. This participant pool was recruited from individuals who completed the fictional survey. Participant demographics included gender (Male = 24, Female = 35, Non-binary = 2), age (18–29 = 23, 30–39 = 25, 40–49 = 6, 50–59 = 5, 60+ = 2) and self-identified cultural background (Mono-cultural = 26, Multi-cultural = 35). A full breakdown of the results and survey design can be seen in Scott, Cecchinato et al., 2023.
Following individual analyses, the authors created one larger dataset and analysed commonalities across all three studies from a behaviour change perspective, following steps outlined in Wendel (2020). We identified who challenged misinformation, how they challenged, and spreader-receiver relationship characteristics. We then reviewed where and how technology was used within the challenge, including whether it took place online or offline, before reviewing motivations and barriers to understand what might encourage or discourage people from challenging misinformation. These characteristics made up behavioural profiles, from which a set of behavioural archetypes was developed. Group sizes were included to indicate how common certain barriers, coping mechanisms, and motivations were across the sample. As the content/topic of misinformation was not explored during the data collection, it has not been utilized in the analysis.
The post From avoider to challenger: How individuals respond when faced with misinformation first appeared on HKS Misinformation Review.Earlier this year, one of the smartest internet rights people around, Heather Burns, suggested the “Darnella Test” regarding any kind of “kid safety” rule online. It’s named after Darnella Frazier. You might not recognize her name, but you’ve seen her work. She was the 17-year-old who was walking to the corner shop when she happened to see Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, in the process of murdering him. She got out her phone and filmed it, enabling the world to see that the initial statement from the Minneapolis police — the one headlined “Man Dies After Medical Incident During Police Interaction” — was bullshit.
She won a Pulitzer Prize for the video.
But she was a teen. On social media. So Burns came up with the Darnella test, to explore whether any particular internet regulation would have prevented Darnella from documenting the murder of George Floyd:
For any young person who is just going to be walking along the street for a snack and ends up witnessing something that nobody should ever see because it should not be happening. For that young person whose only recourse, at that moment in time, is to document and report.
And as that future Darnella pulls out their phone to document the event:
- Would they be allowed to have that phone, at all, under xyz regulation?
- Would they be allowed to have that social media account, at all, under xyz regulation?
- Would they be allowed to upload video, or livestream content, under xyz regulation?
- Would the video, because of their age-verified account information, be instantly flagged and/or taken down for violent content?
- Would the video, as urgent journalistic content in the public interest, be suppressed and censored based not on the content within it but on the age of the person who filmed it?
That’s your Darnella test. Run through it as if your life depends on it. Because it just might.
Thankfully, unlike the various outright bans of social media for teens, the newly announced Meta settlement with most state AGs does not actually ban kids from social media. But that doesn’t mean it passes the Darnella test. At the very least, the settlement will make it much harder for the next Darnella to document and distribute things that need to be documented and distributed.
Let’s start by running the settlement’s terms through the Darnella Test, question by question, to see what a future Darnella would actually be able to do. Especially since the goal of the settlement is that it become the industry norm across all of social media.
The first question doesn’t really apply here, since it has nothing to do with kids having phones directly, so that passes the Darnella test.
You could argue that the second question regarding whether or not the next Darnella would have a social media account also passes, since nothing in the settlement officially bars teens from having an account. But it certainly could impact them indirectly. The age assurance requirements make signing up more of a hassle, so the next Darnella might not bother creating an account at all. And if she does, that verification is precisely what marks her account as a teen account — which is what triggers everything that follows.
We can lump the next three questions together, because they’re all about the content itself. And here is where it seems clear that the settlement agreement fails the Darnella test. The “age-appropriate content restrictions” and the “content restrictions” for teen users would almost certainly create real problems for a teenager documenting a murder like George Floyd’s. A video of a police officer kneeling on a man’s neck until he stops moving is graphic violence by any classifier’s reckoning — and the entire point of a verified teen account is that graphic violence doesn’t stay on it.
And on that last item in the test — whether or not “urgent journalistic content in the public interest” would be suppressed — there are serious problems, even if the video somehow slipped past the content restrictions. The settlement imposes a default two-hour daily time limit on teen accounts — which means the answer might depend on how much time the next Darnella had already burned scrolling before she happened to walk past a murder in progress. Considering that George Floyd was murdered in the evening (around 8:30pm) there’s a good chance a teen user would have already used up their allotted time.
Yes, it’s possible that the next Darnella might have more time due to a parent or guardian bypassing the two hour restriction, but we don’t know that ahead of time. And a teenager watching a man die on the pavement in front of her does not have time to go find a parent and ask them to unlock the app.
Also, crime — and other things worth documenting — doesn’t happen only during your waking hours. The settlement includes “night mode” restrictions that say that teens will not be able to post content between midnight and 6am. If Darnella happened to witness Floyd’s murder past midnight, she might be out of luck. Or, at least, the police would have extra hours to lock in their false narrative.
And this is the problem with so much of the discourse regarding child safety online. It starts from the position that the internet is inherently unsafe for kids, and that the only remaining question is how thoroughly to block them from it.
But reality is more complicated than that. A kid with a phone and a social media account might also be the only thing standing between the official story and the actual truth. A teenager may be the one livestreaming a school shooting from a locked classroom. Or be a bystander filming ICE violating the rights of people across America. They might be the person documenting police violently attacking protestors.
Yet, under a framework built around “protecting teens from the dangerous internet,” such things will face multiple hurdles. A verified minor uploading graphic, unmoderated content in real time will violate all sorts of rules.
Run the actual Darnella video of Derek Chauvin kneeling on George Floyd against the “industry wide” standard Meta just paid $17 billion to create. It doesn’t pass. It’s graphic violence, filmed by a verified teen account late in the evening, perhaps after she’s used up all her allotted time. If it were after midnight she’d be barred entirely from posting. The next Darnella video might not exist. But at least 52 Attorneys General get to pretend they “protected kids.”
What happens when you stop asking, “How do we save journalism?” and start asking what people actually need from it What happens when you listen deeply to marginalised communities, and ask them what they think of the journalism they’re getting? More often than not, they’ll tell you uncomfortable truths like: We regard journalism as oppression, and we think of journalists in the same…
The US startup Operation Bluebird has launched a new social media platform under the Twitter name, claiming that Elon Musk's X Corporation abandoned the trademark.
The post Pssst, Hey There Elon Musk! Twitter Is Coming Back appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Resolve to Solve With Miles O'Brien features scientists and innovators working to address some of the planet’s most urgent threats.
The post How Miles O’Brien and Arizona PBS created a national science series appeared first on Current.
Exclusive: Data from Unicef UK suggests climate risks faced by children are being overlooked by UK aid – as the UN agency prepares to launch a major campaign calling for children to be better prioritised by the Foreign Office
This week’s action: Identify actionable solutions from non-news experts’ insights.
At the American Press Institute, we often encourage news leaders to consider their role in helping communities share their diverse perspectives, life experiences and lessons to confront and solve common problems. We also see how that approach benefits the news industry itself — we can learn from organizations outside of traditional media that are taking different approaches to working in the same ecosystems and facing the same challenges.
This week we’re sharing insights from thought leaders connected to API Local News Summits, where alongside news leaders they explored ideas on embracing local identity and history to create value, the conditions for local civic discourse across generations, and how to collaborate with community members to steward a shared local information ecosystem together.
Look for transferable ideas and skills that can help you think about your local news ecosystem — and use this as a blueprint for engaging with experts in your community.
Clay Routledge, executive vice president and COO of the Human Flourishing Lab at Archbridge Institute, on why young people are drawn to nostalgia:
While individuals of all ages tend to feel nostalgic about their own past, younger generations are highly nostalgic for eras that predate their lifetimes.
What this looks like in action: How local media can harness the history trend
Linda Appel Lipsius, founder of the Urban Garden Project, on creating safe, apolitical community spaces for people to convene:
Three critical elements of inclusion and belonging are being invited, being needed and having a structured way to engage.
What this looks like in action: Local news can provide a ‘third space’ — and it makes financial sense.
Dillon St. Bernard, founder of Team DSB, on co-creating with young people:
The not-so-secret way to engage young people in conversations about history, culture or civic life is to co-create — share the platform. However, getting to a point of thoughtful co-creation takes:
What this looks like in action: How to facilitate successful multi-generational collaboration
Corey Chao, managing director of the Public Spaces Incubator, on revisiting comments sections in the age of social media:
As we’ve co-created better conversational tools, we’ve learned two key shifts are needed.
What this looks like in action: How a university partnership helps The Coloradoan build opinion content and audience engagement
The post 4 practical perspectives appeared first on American Press Institute.
Andy Burnham urged to seek consensus over response to extreme heat and forthcoming ‘super El Niño’
Andy Burnham should call a cross-party meeting to discuss the UK’s response to worsening extreme weather, including the forthcoming ‘super El Niño’, the Liberal Democrats have said.
The prime minister chaired a Cobra emergency meeting on the drought earlier this month but there has been little from the government on the wider threats posed by five successive heatwaves since May and expected global issues with food shortages and inflation.
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An NPR investigation found that people in the U.S. are dying from heat much more often than official counts show. We explore the reasons why — and how lives can be saved.
The Trump administration announced a deal Friday to develop a vast amount of Venezuela's oil reserves, with the U.S. taking a majority stake. Energy experts say there are many reasons to be skeptical.
(Image credit: Pedro Mattey)
Hydrogen occupies an unusually large share of the energy-transition information stream for the amount of physical deployment behind it. Fuel-cell trucks, buses, trains, ships, storage projects, demonstrations and records recur through corporate releases, government announcements, trade publications and mainstream reporting, creating the impression that hydrogen remains a substantial parallel pathway ... [continued]
The post Hydrogen Gets Far More Attention Than Its Deployment Justifies appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gas
Turkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough.
Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact, with some experts calling it the climate “emergency brake”.
Continue reading...Richer countries might have more resources to deal with catastrophe, but this problem grips the entire planet, however much leaders may want to deny it
Climate breakdown is happening on one Earth, but two different worlds. In one, its impacts increasingly encroach on everyday life; longer periods of discomfort and shorter periods of sharp pain. Endless, hotter summers, and within them sudden wildfires, evacuations, homes burned to cinders in a matter of hours. In another, catastrophe. This summer has been a snapshot of that split-screen. The hottest day on record in parts of Europe, and a wave of water, mud and ice in Nepal that so far has claimed more than 750 lives. Thousands of people are still missing.
The difference is also one of resources. The climate crisis has an economic cost, but some places can absorb it better than others. Responses to this summer of wildfires in Europe included a rapid scrambling by the French government to provide everything from tax breaks for businesses affected by the fires to relocation costs and aid to rebuild homes. The UK government had deployed almost £100m before the summer to strengthen wildfire resilience.
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New federal rules mean Arizona will be getting a lot less water from the Colorado river. City leaders say they've been planning for years and no one will run out, but keeping taps flowing is expensive.
(Image credit: Alex Hager)
EREV — it means extended-range electric vehicle and it has become a core vehicle category in China due to policy changes in the country in recent years. For many years, auto manufacturers have been building cars with conventional combustion engine powertrains and adding a small electric motor and tiny battery ... [continued]
The post Hyundai Bets Big On Extended-Range Electric Vehicles appeared first on CleanTechnica.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk's work at the "DOGE" budget-cutting office is in the news again, following the devastating flood in Nepal last week.
The post Online Army Draws Attention To Elon Musk And The Nepal Flood Disaster appeared first on CleanTechnica.