How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists

MakeUseOf: “Calls from unknown numbers are frustrating, especially when they don’t seem to stop. Using a reverse phone number lookup tool, you can take power back from anonymous callers. Here are some of the best free tools you can use to identify these callers.

This Tool Finds Matching Usernames Across 400 Social Media Networks

Lifehacker: “Want to check if a particular internet handle you encountered online (or created yourself) is being used on any other social networks or websites? Sherlock is a free command line application that scans around 400 social networks and finds accounts that match whatever username you type in. Using this service couldn’t be simpler: Just open it up and type “sherlock” followed by the username your want to search for. 

The program will check every site it can access and tell you where accounts matching your username exist, complete with a link to the relevant profile page. This is useful in two ways: finding people across multiple websites, and checking whether a username you’re thinking of using is already taken on other sites.”

Google’s 2.4 Billion Euro Fine Upheld By Europe’s Top Court in EU Antitrust Probe CNBC

 

Senate Leaders Ask FTC To Investigate AI Content Summaries As Anti-Competitive Techcrunch

 

Two Delta planes collide on an Atlanta taxiway, knocking the tail off one Associated Press 

Eric Schmidt: How Oligarchs Speak (when they think no one is listening) YouTube 

Lawyers for Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex, want zero prison time for her Business 

How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists

The New York Times & ProPublica: “Telegram has become a global sewer of criminal activity, disinformation, child sexual abuse material, terrorism and racist incitement, according to a four-month investigation by The New York Times that analyzed more than 3.2 million Telegram messages from over 16,000 channels. The company, which offers features that enable criminals, terrorists and grifters to organize at scale and to sidestep scrutiny from the authorities, has looked the other way as illegal and extremist activities have flourished openly on the app. 

The degree to which Telegram has been inundated by such content has not been previously reported. The Times investigation found 1,500 channels operated by white supremacists who coordinate activities among almost one million people around the world. At least two dozen channels sold weapons. In at least 22 channels with more than 70,000 followers, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and other drugs were advertised for delivery to more than 20 countries. Hamas, ISIS and other terror groups have thrived on Telegram, often amassing large audiences across dozens of channels. 

The Times analyzed more than 40 channels associated with Hamas, which showed that average viewership surged up to 10 times after the Oct. 7 attacks, garnering more than 400 million views in October. Telegram is “the most popular place for ill-intentioned, violent actors to congregate,” said Rebecca Weiner, the deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism at the New York Police Department. “If you’re a bad guy, that’s where you will land.”…

Society at a Glance 2024: OECD Social Indicators, the tenth edition of the biennial OECD overview of social indicators, addresses the growing demand for quantitative evidence on social well-being and its trends. 

The report features a special chapter on fertility trends which discusses evidence from recent OECD analysis on the effect of labour market outcomes, housing costs and different aspects of the family policy framework (e.g. parental leave, childcare, and financial supports) on fertility trends and highlights key policy challenges. 

This edition of Society at a Glancealso includes a special section based on the 2022 OECD Risks that Matter Survey on people’s perceptions of social and economic risks and the extent to which they think governments address those risks effectively. 

Society at a Glance presents 25 social indicators, 5 each in chapters on General context, Self-sufficiency, Equity, Health, and Social cohesion. These indicators include data for 38 OECD member countries and, where available, accession and key partners countries (Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, Croatia, China, India, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, and South Africa) and another other G20 country (Saudi Arabia).

The Gift of the Grange JSTOR