Happy Tuesday! When I first launched the Tuesday Tech Drop, I did so out of a concern for how tech, in the wrong hands, can be used to worsen inequality, manipulate the masses and sow division.
Almost at every turn since then, Republicans have validated the cause for my concern. There’s a reason I wrote in spring of 2022 that Vice President Kamala Harris’ poorly covered speech in Sunset, Louisiana, was arguably more consequential than the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that were happening on the same day. It was not because I don’t appreciate Jackson’s significance; rather, it’s because I do see the subject of Harris’ speech — about the dire need to expand access to technology not just to the wealthy and well-connected — as the most pressing issue of our time.
This election will determine how the United States approaches tech — and who controls it — for years to come: whether it will be used to divide and demonize or to unite and uplift. The next time I write one of these, more than likely the answer will be clear.
So without further ado, here’s your last pre-election Tech Drop, the weekly compilation of the week’s top stories at the intersection of tech and politics.
Bad Bunny responds again to racist Trump rally
Puerto Rican pop star Bad Bunny dropped an eight-minute video celebrating his hometown, and he captioned it “garbage,” a pretty clear reference to the racist speech delivered by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden over the weekend.
Bad Bunny — who endorsed Kamala Harris for president shortly after Hinchcliffe’s remark about Puerto Rico being a “floating island of garbage” went viral — has a history of using documentary-style social media posts to promote his social causes. In 2022, he garnered widespread attention for debuting a new music video along with an 18-minute documentary about corruption in Puerto Rico.
Watch the Instagram video here:
Trump peddles falsehoods in Rogan interview
CNN compiled a list of 32 falsehoods Trump told during his recent conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan. It’s not exhaustive, but it helps show how shameless Trump is in distorting the truth.
Read CNN’s report here.
And watch a clip of Trump being caught lying about having won the 2020 election here:
“Are you going to present this ever?” Joe Rogan gives Trump the opportunity to prove his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, he can’t and instead pivots to Hunter Biden’s laptop. In a classic moment, Trump slips and says “I lost”, and Joe Rogan laughs in his face. pic.twitter.com/5ohgvNo3OO
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 26, 2024
Vance and Trump’s propaganda plan
Between Truth Social and Rumble, Donald Trump and JD Vance are investing in a multimillion-dollar effort to craft a distorted right-wing information ecosystem. The Washington Post published an article on Trump’s relationship with Chris Pavlovski, the right-wing Canadian businessman who founded the video platform Rumble (which Vance has helped fund) that has made a home for conservatives and conspiracy theorists. The story highlights how the men have leaned on each other for funding and other resources to build their platforms into megaphones for far-right rhetoric and pro-Russian propaganda.
Read more at the Washington Post.
Trump takes Truth Social followers down the rabbit hole(s)
The New York Times took a deeper dive into the content Trump posts to Truth Social to show how the site has become a tool for the Republican nominee to spread conspiracy theories.
Check out the detailed breakdown here.
Extremist streamer preps for election night
Prepare for right-wing propaganda as ballots are being cast and counted next week. Pro-insurrectionist podcaster Stephen Crowder announced a plan to partner with True The Vote, a group that spread false claims of election fraud after the 2020 election, to stream video (on the aforementioned Rumble) of anybody who wants to record polling places on Election Day.
A screengrab of Crowder’s announcement on X can be seen here.
Calls for probe of Musk’s alleged chats with Putin
The head of NASA and several Democratic lawmakers are calling for a federal investigation into reports that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin since 2022. Musk’s company SpaceX called the initial Wall Street Journal report “misleading” in a statement that notably did not deny the claim that Musk and Putin have been in contact (a Kremlin spokesperson told ABC news that the two had only spoken once to discuss “space as well as current and future technologies”). With Musk and the Russian government both promoting pro-Trump conspiracy theories and disinformation, the content of private discussions between the two should be an urgent question.
Read more at Business Insider.
Vance covers for the Kremlin
Sen. JD Vance downplayed the significance of Russian interference in the U.S. election and even questioned whether Russia is interfering at all, essentially shrugging off reports from federal agencies and other experts who have been shining a light on Kremlin-aligned efforts.
BRENNAN: What price should Moscow pay for trying to manipulate American voters?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 27, 2024
JD VANCE: Well look, a lot of countries are gonna try to manipulate our voters & elections. That's what they do.
B: You don't think that's election interference?
VANCE: You want us to go to war? pic.twitter.com/ZatZnXZ60p
Instagram can lead health enthusiasts toward extremism
I reported this week on a new study that shows how Instagram’s algorithms can steer users from ostensibly wellness-focused accounts toward accounts known for promoting far-right extremism, including election denial. Beware your scroll.
Read more here.
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