Facebook Removes News Outlets in Latest Orwellian Purge

Over the past three years, Facebook has been removing accounts for participating in what they call “coordinated inauthentic behavior” (CIB). According to Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, the Orwellian term refers to when “groups of pages or people work together to mislead others about who they are or what they’re doing.” Facebook takes down accounts for CIB due to “deceptive behavior” not for sharing false information. In the latest purge, Facebook removed accounts from two news outlets, SouthFront and News Front.

The two outlets have no affiliation; the only thing they share besides the word “Front” in their names is content that does not toe the Western mainstream media line. In its effort to remove CIB and limit “disinformation,” Facebook partners with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRLab). The Atlantic Council is a Washington-based think-tank that receives funding from Western and Gulf State governments, defense contractors, and social media outlets. Some of its top contributors for the 2018 fiscal year include the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Embassy of the UAE to the US, the US State Department, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.

Facebook started releasing monthly CIB reports in March that detail the networks and accounts they take down. On May 5th, Facebook released its CIB report for April 2020. The report says Facebook removed eight networks of accounts, pages, and groups engaging in CIB. SouthFront and News Front are included in the first network covered in the report. “We removed 46 Pages, 91 Facebook accounts, 2 Groups, and 1 Instagram account for violating our policy against foreign interference which is coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign entity,” the report reads.

Facebook claims they linked this activity to “individuals in Russia and Donbass, and two media organizations in Crimea – NewsFront and SouthFront.” In a response to the report, SouthFront says the claim that they are based in Crimea is a “blatant lie” that they are willing to “defend in court.” SouthFront says the organization is made up of “an international team of independent authors and experts,” some of whom are from Russia and post-USSR states. News Front, on the other hand, is based in Crimea, but the organization does not try to hide its pro-Russia bias.

In a press release, the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab announced Facebook’s removal of the two organizations. The DFRLab refers to News Front and SouthFront as “two Crimea-based media organizations with ties to the FSB.” The FSB is a Russian security and intelligence agency, a successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB. In its independent analysis of the two outlets, the DFRLab offers little evidence to back up the claim of FSB ties. The analysis only uses a 2017 story from the German outlet Zeit, where a former News Front staffer claims the organization receives funding from the FSB. The DFRLab offers no evidence to link the FSB with SouthFront.

The DFRLab does not make a strong case for Facebook’s removal of the news outlets. The press release says, “While the DFRLab could not corroborate Facebook’s finding of CIB, it also found no evidence to contradict it.”

But using Facebook’s definition of CIB, the DFRLab’s analysis of the two outlets does seem to contradict Facebook’s findings. The pages and users analyzed do not seem to be misleading others or hiding who they are. “Most of the assets that DFRLab had access to did not hide their connection to South Front or News Front. Many of the pages wore their connections on their sleeves, naming themselves as different language versions of the websites,” the analysis reads. News Front is an international news organization with websites in English, Russian, German, Spanish, French, and Georgian and had Facebook pages to reflect that.

The analysis finds what they call “suspicious links” between News Front and ANNA News, another pro-Russia news outlet. But those “suspicious links” are just two former ANNA News anchors who now work for News Front. Facebook removed pages dedicated to the two anchors.

https://southfront.org/facebook-removes-news-outlets-in-latest-orwellian-purge/

This is the Problem: Good Cop Fired for Asking Fellow Cops to Respect the Rights of the People

Seattle, WA — Last week, TFTP brought you the story of Port of Seattle Police Officer Greg Anderson, who made a video calling out the bad cops throughout the country who are enforcing mandates in complete violation of the oaths they swore to uphold the Constitution. This put a target on his back and in the cross-hairs of authoritarians across the country. Now, proving the point that good cops are hard to find and the system is set up to purge them from the ranks, officer Anderson has been terminated.

As we reported last week, in the 8-minute video, Anderson says he’s “seen officers nationwide enforcing these tyrannical orders.”

“Every time I turn on the TV I see people getting cited for going to church, for travelling on the roadways, for going surfing, opening their businesses, going to the park with their families, or doing nails out of their own house,” Anderson laments.

Anderson then reads a portion of the Bill of Rights before going off on his fellow cops.

“Stopping people and asking for their papers?” Anderson asks. “What is this, 1930’s Germany? Are you the Gestapo? You don’t get to stop people unless you have reasonable suspicion or probable cause that they have committed a crime.”

“Our power as law enforcement officers is nothing more than a facade,” Anderson says in one of the most telling admission we’ve ever heard from a cop. “It’s a badge and a gun.”

Anderson then makes an ominous prediction of what he thinks will happen if cops continue to stomp on the rights of Americans. Anderson says if the tyrant cops do not stop enforcing such arbitrary dictates from their overlords, cops will be “stripped” of their authority “in a heartbeat.”

He then goes on to predict a potential civil war.

“I am afraid that with these actions……you are going to wake a sleeping giant,” he said. “They are going to be put in a position where they won’t have their rights trampled anymore…..I think what is going to happen if this continues is we’re gonna see bloodshed in the streets.”

Anderson, who says he was Special Forces in Iraq, then implores his fellow cops to wake up to the tyranny they are forcing on the land of the free — before it is too late.

“You need to ask yourself one question, and that is, ‘am I doing the right thing?’”

We agree. Seriously asking the above question and scrutinizing your very existence as a law enforcing order follower is one of the best ways to end up on the right side of history. Sadly, however, Anderson’s superiors do not want to end up on the right side of history.

Anderson says that after he posted the video online, he originally received a ton of praise from his superiors.

“Wow Greg, what a powerful message, we agree with that 100 percent,” Anderson says his superiors told him.

“I know putting something out like that may have gotten a lot of attention, but it was so grounded in integrity and liberty that I thought no one would have an issue with it,” Anderson said.

The support from his superiors was short lived, however, and he says just three hours after he received the praise, their tone shifted.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/05/this-is-the-problem-good-cop-fired-for-asking-fellow-cops-to-respect-the-rights-of-the-people.html

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/good-cop-fired-respecting-constitution/

Former Lawmaker Sandy Adams: “Eric Holder Either Incompetent Or Untruthful About Gun Running”

The GOP lawmaker who confronted Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder accountable for his involvement in the “Fast and Furious” gun running scandal that provided high powered firearms to cartel members who eventually murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is sounding the alarm once again.

Sandy Adams, a former undercover law enforcement officer and veteran who served one term in congress during the Tea Party wave of 2010 has told TGP that Holder and Obama need to be held accountable for many things.

TGP reached out to former lawmaker Congresswoman Adams after hearing Mexico is signaling that the United States can still apologize for the gun running that aided violent cartels.

“As a former law enforcement officer, I can tell you that is highly unlikely that guns would have been able to walk across the Southern border without approval from the Attorney General. The fact that Attorney General Holder claimed he had now knowledge of this operation until after Agent Terry was murdered means he was incompetent or untruthful.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/former-lawmaker-sandy-adams-eric-holder-either-incompetent-untruthful-gun-running/

Boris Johnson: There May 'Never' Be A COVID-19 Vaccine

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that a coronavirus treatment or vaccine may be more than a year away - and in fact may never arrive, according to a 60-page 'Covid-19 recovery strategy' document which details how the UK plans to emerge from lockdown.

"A mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away. Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine," said Johnson. "So our plan must countenance a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome."

Other notable items from the document (via The Independent):

For the first time, the UK government is recommending that the public wear face-coverings in public settings such as mass transportation and some shops.

Schools and non-essential shops will begin reopening starting June 1.

"Social bubbles" where two households can mingle are under consideration.

Easing of restrictions will be contingent upon no resurgence of the virus - which would cause the government to reimpose tight lockdowns, either nationally or locally or both.

"If the data goes the wrong way, if the alert level begins to rise, we will have no hesitation in putting on the brakes and delaying or reintroducing measures locally, regionally, or nationally," said Johnson.

"This document sets out a plan to rebuild the UK for a world with Covid-19," he said. "It is not a quick return to ‘normality’. Nor does it lay out an easy answer. And, inevitably, parts of this plan will adapt as we learn more about the virus. But it is a plan that should give the people of the United Kingdom hope. Hope that we can rebuild; hope that we can save lives; hope that we can safeguard livelihoods."

Labor leader Keir Starmer wasn't convinced, and said during a TV broadcast in response: "The prime minister said he was setting out a road map, but if we’re to complete the journey safely a roadmap needs clear directions. So many of us have questions that need answering. How can we be sure our workplaces are now safe to return to? How can we get to work safely if we need public transport to do so? How can millions of people go back to work while balancing childcare and caring responsibilities? How do our police enforce these rules? And why are some parts of the United Kingdom now on a different path to others?"

And acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “In changing the advice and changing the messaging the government has spread confusion and put at risk what people have fought so hard for. The prime minister is creating more confusion than clarity by badly communicating his government's plans.

"We must put people's health first. The only way route out of the current lockdown is to radically expand our capacity to test, trace and isolate, which the government is still a long way away from achieving." -The Independent

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/boris-johnson-there-may-never-be-covid-19-vaccine