The Influence of Social Media in Politics — Monday Matters Blog by Ragan

In the article, “The Power of Social Media in Politics continues in 2021”, Arika Ho reviews the many ways that social media has influenced politics not only in the United States but all over the world. Ho argues that social media media has created a lot of momentum and awareness to many political campaigns and […]

The Influence of Social Media in Politics — Monday Matters Blog by Ragan

Amazon countersuits Parler

The attempted coup on the US Capitol on January 6^th forced several tech companies such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to ban US President Donald Trump for its failure to comply with its policies inciting an insurrection, which caused deaths, damages, and theft. Parler, a “free speech” social media app used by pro-Trump members was also shut down filed a breach of contract against Amazon. On Tuesday January 12^th however, Amazon submitted a new filing in Federal court in response to Parler’s claims (see snapshot of the case below)

This case is not about suppressing speech or stifling viewpoints. It is not about a conspiracy to restrain trade. Instead, this case is about Parler’s demonstrated unwillingness and inability to remove from the servers of Amazon Web Services (“AWS”) content that threatens the public safety, such as by inciting and planning the rape, torture, and assassination of named public officials and private citizens. There is no legal basis in AWS’s customer agreements or otherwise to compel AWS to host content of this nature. AWS notified Parler repeatedly that its content violated the parties’ agreement, requested removal, and reviewed Parler’s plan to address the problem, only to determine that Parler was both unwilling and unable to do so. AWS suspended Parler’s account as a last resort to prevent further access to such content, including plans for violence to disrupt the impending Presidential transition.

Despite Parler’s rhetoric, its lawsuit is no more than a meritless claim for breach of contract. But the facts are unequivocal: If there is any breach, it is Parler’s demonstrated failure and inability to identify and remove such content. AWS was well within its rights to suspend Parler immediately for those failures. Parler also cannot hold AWS liable in tort for enforcing the agreement’s express terms. And there is no antitrust claim where, as here, Parler cannot plausibly plead an agreement to cause it harm and the complained-of conduct is undeniably compatible with a legitimate purpose.

Compelling AWS to host content that plans, encourages, and incites violence would be unprecedented. Parler has no likelihood of prevailing on the merits, and the balance of equities and public interest strongly tip against an injunction. The motion for a temporary restraining order should be denied.

Read the full story from [gizmodo.com]

Squelched by Twitter, Trump seeks new online megaphone — Press Enterprise

BOSTON (AP) — One Twitter wag joked about lights flickering on and off at the White House being Donald Trump signaling to his followers in Morse code after Twitter and Facebook squelched the president for inciting rebellion.

Squelched by Twitter, Trump seeks new online megaphone — Press Enterprise

“Donald, you’re fired!” – says Twitter

Twitter just permanently suspended US President Donald Trump’s account (@realDonaldTrump), after continued failure to comply to the companies policies. This came two days after his supporters seized and terrorized the US Capitol on January 6th, which caused damages, assaulted police officers, and deaths of at least 5 people.

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021

Trump however later tried to evade the ban by tweeting using @POTUS, the official twitter account of the President of the United State, but those tweets were instantly deleted.

Read more Twitter’s policies [here] of the full story at [npr.org]

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram Blocks Trump

Everyone knows that US President Donald Trump have been an eager Twitter user – he would use this tool to express his thoughts, hire and fire people, and unfortunately have used the tool to incite division in a day when the US Congress was set to certify elections results. The mob that descended to the US Capitol today forced their way in the building, triggered violence, rampage and even a death of a woman.

Twitter finally took a stand and locked Trump’s account out for 12 hours due to his three tweets for violations of their “Civic Integrity policy”. Twitter further mentioned the @realDonaldTrump account will be locked for good if the tweets were not removed.

As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy. https://t.co/k6OkjNG3bM

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

On a similar note, both Facebook and Instagram has blocked Trump from posting on the site for 24 hours, this came after the company already removed posts he made in support of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol on Wednesday.

We've assessed two policy violations against President Trump's Page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.

— Meta Newsroom (@MetaNewsroom) January 7, 2021

Fed Up With Tech Platforms’ Censorship? Here Are 3 Free Speech Upstarts. — PA Pundits – International

By Nathalie Voit ~ The social media platform Parler is gaining favor among political conservatives, who claim their voices are being stifled by the Silicon Valley giants. (Photo: Olivier Douliery/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) Traditional social media networks are experiencing a backlash from users as they continue to “cancel” or otherwise censor conservative views. As a result, […]

Fed Up With Tech Platforms’ Censorship? Here Are 3 Free Speech Upstarts. — PA Pundits – International

Disney’s Christmas ad bring Filipinos back home

Christmas is almost upon us and for Filipinos this is the most awaited event of the year as families and loved ones come together. It’s just fitting Disney’s latest Christmas ad depicted Filipino values during this time. For everyone to know, Philippine Christmas is unique, it’s genuinely and surprisingly warm. Pure joy is in the air, you can smell and feel it.  People are all smiles, families and friends come together to celebrate. It’s just different, and anyone should experience it for themselves.

Check out this heart-warming story #FromOurFamilyToYours of Lola (”grandmother” in Filipino), it brings back the nostalgia of the past and how lanterns and old Mickey could bring back beauty, warmth, love in families.  

Share a family festive memory on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter with the following hashtag: #LoveFromDisney and Disney will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish® (up to $100,000 US) on your behalf. 

See more [Disney Ireland]

Trivia: Philippines start Christmas celebrations at the start of the “BER” months (September) probably the longest in the world.

tech companies take a stand on #blacklivesmatter

We are certainly in dire times, but one good thing that came out of the recent protests over the death of George Floyd, is how technology and social media played its role to enforce awareness of police violence and the long-running systemic racism against black people in America.  This has also caught the eye of the world and lately, several tech companies showed where they stand.

Mark Zuckerberg – “Facebook also has more work to do to keep people safe and ensure our systems don’t amplify bias.“ However, he also declined to take down President Trump’s “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” message.

Jeff Bezos – “You’re the kind of customer I’m happy to lose” referring to a man who has hateful messages even using the n-word when Amazon last weekend showed “Black Lives Matter” banner on its site.  He further pledges $10M to organizations fighting systemic racism against black Americans.

Twitter, Reddit, Google, and Airbnb are among the other companies that have endorsed Black Lives Matter and committed to anti-racism (see more via axios.com)

Want to know more about how systemic racism works? See this video by act.tv

Do the #Hashtag

ever wonder if we ever use hashtag (#) in everything we say?  check out jimmy fallon and justin timberlake’s take on this 🙂



hashtags (#) rose to popularity due to microblogging sites such as Twitter and later Facebook to help filter out popular topics on the web.

The Pinoy Selfie

PINOYs love taking photos.

you are in a group dinner. they just served your fav sizzling tuna, sweet-and-sour pork and salted crab.  you realize you have to capture this, you got your smartphone and asked your friend to take a picture of you with the food. you post them in Instagram with the text, “Yummy!” (your friends like it, drools over, and comment)

you try out a fantastic dress you plan to wear on your friend’s birthday, you take a shot and post it on Facebook tagging your friend saying, “I’m ready to parrrtyyy!” (your friends see this, likes it, and comment)

you just got out of the gym all sweaty, after months of working out you wanted to show off your now bulging muscles and abs. you take pride of your accomplishment, facing the mirror, a self-portrait and a post in Twitter is in order (your friends see this and tags it as their favorite)

under the scorching sun, piña-colada on your left hand, and the blue waves of Boracay in the background, you look up and get a shot of yourself saying, “This is paradise!” and upload in Facebook (your friends see this, likes it, and comment)

its 11am and you just woke up, still lying in bed you take a photo of yourself. thought this is your way of saying, “Good morning!” (your friends see this, some liked it, and some commented you are a bum)

the list goes on.. 

the rise of social media in recent years plus the easy access of internet, advanced camera and smart phones has changed the way PINOYs share details of their daily lives. 

in fact many have been making abuzz about those who take “selfie” shots recently. #me became the third-most popular hashtag in Instagram.  some celebs even make fun of those who does this a lot, others warned saying selfie shots border narcissism and may be a sign of a mental condition or leads to selfie-loathing or depression (hmm hala ka!)

“selfie” was first coined by photographer Jim Krause in 2005.  urbandictionary describe it as “a strange phenomenon in which the photographer is also the subject of the photograph; when someone takes a picture of themselves looking ugly or funny and sends it to their friends to get them to laugh. People who do this are not trying to look good and usually don’t. The typical selfie face involves a peace sign and duck lips.”  

we have nothing against selfies, since all is fair in web and war 🙂  this may just be a way for others to express themselves.  although some may really be bordering narcissism, or sharing too much of everything to the public. worse is they implicitly expect their posts “being liked.”  so if you get affected when your posts seem unpopular, you may want to start assessing yourself why other’s approval is important to you.

PINOYs love taking photos, which at times is synonymous to our love for karaoke.  however, more often than not it is still best we see and enjoy things as they are and not lose focus by taking shots on our phones to enjoy that moment which matters most.