NEW RESOURCES

New-to-Me, from Tulane News: Tulane database brings historic activism to the forefront. “The African Letters Project is a free database that consists of over 5,600 letters written between 1945 to 1994, during the decolonization era in many African countries. [Professor Elisabeth] McMahon’s initial idea for the database was to highlight more African American activists who supported independence movements throughout Africa during that period of history.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Roundtable: Microsoft Bing Search Tests & New Features. “There is just so much going on with Microsoft Bing Search between new features and tests, I figured I’d put together a quick list of them in one place. I am not 100% sure if these are all new because I am not as on top of Bing as I am with Google but here it goes.”

How-To Geek: Amazon Is Axing Amazon Drive, But It Still Wants Your Photos. “Amazon has a cloud service for backing up photos and videos, fittingly called Amazon Photos, but the company also offered regular cloud storage that worked like Dropbox or OneDrive. Now, that option is going away.”

TechCrunch: Google announces new Play Store policies around intrusive ads, impersonation and more. “Google announced new Play Store policies for developers on Wednesday that aim to address issues with intrusive ads, alarms, VPNs and impersonation of brands and other apps. The company said these policies will go into effect during different timeframes so developers have ample time to make changes to their apps.”

USEFUL STUFF

Popular Science: How to use built-in parental controls on Instagram, TikTok, and more. “Both Android phones and iPhones have built-in system-wide safety measures that allow you to limit the sites your kids can see, the apps they’re allowed to run, or the time they spend on their device each day. But some apps also have parental controls included—social media is no exception. These bespoke settings let you tailor an app to be suitable for your kids, keeping them away from inappropriate content and making sure they’re using social platforms responsibly.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Associated Press: Washington Post headline calling to ‘cancel midterms’ is altered. “Social media users are sharing a fabricated image of a Washington Post headline to claim that a columnist for the news outlet suggested President Joe Biden should cancel November’s midterm elections to ‘save democracy.'”

WCNC: Tweets falsely claim The Atlantic published story about ‘Biden’s negative growth economy’. “Several days after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) had declined for the second quarter in a row, people on Twitter began sharing an image of a headline about the economy under President Joe Biden.”

Museums + Heritage Advisor: Trent Park Mansion secures funding to create digital museum ahead of opening mansion house. “Funding for a new ‘digital museum’ has been secured by the Trust currently developing Trent Park House in North London. The Digital Museum project, backed by £225,000 from theNational Lottery Heritage Fund, is hoped to generate awareness and provide access to the House’s hidden histories. Specifically, the stories of the ‘Secret Listeners’, a group of German and Austrian refugees who were recruited by British intelligence to spy on prisoners based at the Mansion.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Reuters: Italy’s communication authority fines Google over gambling advertising. “Italy’s communication authority said on Tuesday it had fined tech giant Google, owned by parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), 750,000 euros ($766,350) for allegedly breaching a ban on gambling advertising on its YouTube video platform.”

Washington Post: Twitter is probing Elon Musk’s social circle in broad legal requests. “Twitter is probing associates of Elon Musk and seeking other information in far-reaching legal requests about his $44 billion deal to acquire the social media company, according to legal documents obtained by The Washington Post.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Washington Post: Social Media Can No Longer Hide Its Problems in a Black Box. “There’s a perfectly good reason to break open the secrets of social-media giants. Over the past decade, governments have watched helplessly as their democratic processes were disrupted by misinformation and hate speech on sites like Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Twitter Inc. Now some governments are gearing up for a comeuppance.”

PolitiFact: How will social media platforms respond to election misinformation? It isn’t clear. “As we reviewed the rules for false claims about elections and voting on social media, we found that determining what gets removed, what gets labeled and what gets downgraded isn’t straightforward. Every platform is different, and their policies aren’t always clearly outlined. Even when policies are clear, platforms may still shift them quickly without making the changes obvious to users.” Good morning, Internet…

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