The early internet activists had a simple dream — there should be no sovereignty on the web.
What has played out is the opposite, with a handful of online giants increasingly dominant and governments worldwide struggling to figure out how to police a system over which they have little control, save pulling the plug.
In Sudan, it looks like the army did just that. During yesterday’s military takeover, internet and telecoms networks vanished.
In the U.S. and Europe, there has been little threat of strong-armed tactics by governments. Yet Frances Haugen, the former Facebook product manager turned whistle-blower, argues that the window is closing to control content on social media.
Key reading:
Yesterday major news organizations revealed how Facebook’s own internal research showed a platform failing to halt the spread of misinformation and hate speech. Even so, investors have been more worried about ad revenue than potential regulation: After arguably one of its worst days of media coverage, the social media giant’s shares were up.
Attempts at regulation in any case have struggled.
India is a case-study in uncontrolled content. On Facebook’s WhatsApp platform, viral fake messages circulated about child kidnapping gangs, leading to dozens of lynchings. The government and social media are stuck in court, arguing over each other’s intentions.
And in Sudan, even as internet outages were reported in the capital Khartoum, social media still demonstrated its power.
The removal of the Sudanese premier was revealed to the world by the Information and Culture Ministry in a plea for help — via a statement on its Facebook page. — Giles Turner
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Global Headlines
Split opinions | Senate Democrats moved closer to an agreement on U.S. President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, but some House lawmakers raised doubts about the terms of the deal and whether differences could be resolved in the next few days. An agreement could allow the House this week to pass a separate $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill held up by progressive Democrats until the party strikes a deal on the broader package.
- Read why Biden will likely be unable to keep a key campaign promise to roll back former President Donald Trump’s historically unpopular 2017 tax cuts.
Words matter | Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s comment that China and Taiwan are “not subordinate” to each other has angered Beijing. The remarks, made on the island’s National Day this month, came close to reviving the notion of a two-state theory, an idea that fueled tensions between China and the U.S. two decades ago.
- Read more on why Taiwan is the biggest risk for a U.S.-China clash.
- Washington and Beijing made incremental progress in their economic and trade talks yesterday, as Vice Premier Liu He and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke for the second time in four months.
Many Women Regularly Face Sexual Harassment
Our survey asked how frequently women experience sexual harassment or other forms of unwanted attention from people they don't know
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For millions of working women in the world’s leading commercial cities, daily life is often shaped by what they cannot do and how they’re excluded. A Bloomberg Businessweek analysis of 15 cities shows each failing career women in several ways. You can see how they stacked up here.
Polish escalation | The European Union is threatening to block budget payments to Poland — amounting to $21 million and growing — over Warsaw’s refusal to comply with a 500,000 euro-a-day fine, Jorge Valero reports. The European Court of Justice ordered the penalty after Poland failed to comply with a ruling to shut a lignite mine which the neighboring Czech Republic says is draining water reserves from the border region.
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Energy fight | EU energy ministers
clashed at an emergency meeting today over how to cushion consumers and companies from soaring electricity and natural gas prices. Countries including Poland and Spain called for new tools to mitigate future crises, but a group of nine other nations argued the price spikes are temporary and should not lead to quick changes to the bloc’s energy laws and ambitious climate reforms.
World leaders are running out of time to make a climate breakthrough at the COP26 talks. You can sign up now to get the latest from Glasgow in your inbox every day from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12.
Signing up | Australia, one of the world’s top polluters per capita, finally agreed to a plan to zero out its carbon emissions by 2050 but fell short of committing to harder short-term targets demanded by climate activists. As Jason Scott reports, climate policy is an issue that’s riven the country’s politics for more than a decade.
- Read here about proposals by Russia’s Finance Ministry to adopt sustainable development principles for investments from the country’s $191 billion wealth fund, and why it could face opposition from President Vladimir Putin.
Bloomberg TV and Radio air Balance of Power with David Westin weekdays from 12 to 1pm ET, with a second hour on Bloomberg Radio from 1 to 2pm ET. You can watch and listen on Bloomberg channels and online here or check out prior episodes and guest clips here.
What to Watch
- Myanmar skipped an annual summit of Southeast Asian countries after rejecting an invitation to send a non-political representative instead of the junta leader.
- Roh Tae-woo, a former South Korean general who became the country’s first democratically elected president after being forced by street protests to hold open polls, has died. He was 88.
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The U.K.’s public sector pay freeze will come to an end next year, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak will announce in his budget tomorrow.
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The U.S. is pausing assistance from a $700 million emergency aid package for Sudan after the military arrested the prime minister and other government officials.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel becomes caretaker leader today, while parliament meets for the first time since the election.
And finally ... Japan’s former Princess Mako slammed the spread of “false information” about her husband after she married her college sweetheart today. Mako, who has now officially left the imperial household, canceled plans to respond in person to media queries following the wedding, which was held without public celebrations. The Imperial Household Agency has said the princess was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of online abuse directed at the couple and their families.
— With assistance by Anthony Halpin, Muneeza Naqvi, and Michael Winfrey
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Taming Social Media Tests Governments Globally - Bloomberg
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