The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is soliciting public comment "to better understand how technology platforms deny or degrade (such as by 'demonetizing' and 'shadow banning') users’ access to services based on the content of the users’ speech or their affiliations, including activities that take place outside the platform."
This is the brainchild of FTC Chairman and rabid Trumpista Andrew Ferguson, who recently said that DEI "violates natural law." He is hoping these comments will say that social media companies are persecuting poor innocent right-wing transphobes by shutting down their accounts when they post hate speech/misinformation.
In the real world, we know that many victims of deplatforming are (a) queer people and (b) sex workers and other folks who post content about sex. If you or someone you know has had an account shut down, had content removed, or otherwise had their access to services denied or degraded for those reasons, please consider submitting a comment about it. The comment period closes May 21st. I understand folks may not be comfortable giving any info to the government right now, but you have the option to submit anonymously, or as part of an organization.
Right now, most of the comments are exactly what this guy wants: they're from conservatives complaining about being banned for, e.g., spreading vaccine misinformation. If that continues, the FTC will able to use that record of comments as justification to go after companies that are trying to fight misinformation and hate speech. By submitting a comment, you can prevent that! (Also, it would be incredibly satisfying to watch drag queens and cam girls crash this dude's conservative pity party. Even if you don't believe it will really make a difference (it will!), do it for that.)
Hello, my name is Areej Kassab. I’m a 27-year-old English teacher and writer from Gaza, and I’m reaching out to you with a heavy heart and a desperate plea for support. My family and I are enduring unimaginable hardships as relentless bombings devastate our home and our dreams.
We are a family of 15—10 adults and 5 children. Every day is a battle for survival. Food is scarce, humanitarian aid is not reaching us, and my little nieces and nephews go to bed hungry. Among them is my sister, who is deaf, and another sister who has a newborn baby. They, too, are suffering in this crisis, and I’m doing everything I can to protect and provide for them.
💔 A Life in Ruins The war has robbed us of everything: safety, peace, and even the hope of a future here. My family’s needs are basic yet critical—food, clean water, diapers for the babies, gas for cooking, and other essentials to make it through each day.
With rising prices and limited access to necessities, we are struggling to provide even the most basic items. My sister’s home has been destroyed, and we are working together to ensure everyone has shelter, food, and warmth.
✨ My Plea for Your Support ✨ I’m a writer, and I’ve been documenting the harsh realities faced by my community under siege. But words can only do so much. We need action, and we need help. Your kindness can save us.
🙏 How You Can Help
Donate: Every contribution, no matter how small, brings us closer to securing the essentials we desperately need.
Share Our Story: If you can’t donate, please share this post to help us reach others who can.
Your support will help provide food for the children, clean water for my family, and basic supplies to help us survive this unimaginable crisis.
Thank you for reading, for caring, and for standing in solidarity with us. Together, we can create a lifeline for my family—a chance to live, to dream, and to hope again.
With love and gratitude, Areej Kassab ❤️
Quick reminder as we head into Trump’s first week in office. We are about to see an onslaught of executive actions designed to strip of us our rights. We’ve seen this before.
Many of them won’t be legal, many of them won’t take effect immediately, and some of them will be just plain nonsense. Trump alone can’t change the law (yet anyway- that’s Congress) and there is an official government process for enacting most executive actions that works slowly.*
There will be time to fight against these orders—either by stopping them entirely, weakening them, or at least slowing them down.
The purpose of doing so many terrible things at once is to scare us. Is to intimidate us to cede more ground than we need to. Don’t let them.
Stay engaged, stay angry, stay hopeful (or spiteful- me tbh), and—most importantly—stay strategic. Find an organization you trust, follow them, and take action when they ask you to.
(Side note- pick just a few issues to care deeply about and only follow a few organizations you trust. Don’t try to solve everything all the time or consume every piece of news. You WILL burn yourself out and that’s not helpful for anyone. Trust me, speaking from experience. Staying 15% engaged is better than 120% for three months and then 0%).
What we’re seeing right now is a backlash to decades of progress—a dying (and by extension dangerous I’m not gonna lie) breath of those in power desperate to maintain control. They wouldn’t be trying to squash us if there wasn’t something to squash.
TL;DR- there’s gonna be a lot of bad stuff in the news today. Don’t give into panic. There will be time to fight most of it. Stay engaged.
*Unfortunately, there will be some actions the President can control on his own and will take effect immediately. ICE Raids being one of them. Here’s a Know Your Rights factsheet. To learn more and stay informed on this issue, recommend following National Immigration Law Center, CASA, Immigrant Defense Project.
Hello, I'm Wasim, from Gaza. I'm 20 years old. My family consists of 6 members: my mother, father, 1 sister, and 2 brothers. We were displaced from Rafah to Al-Mawasi in Khan Yunis, under severe bombardment and destruction, without anything, in a small tent that can not accommodate 5 people without the necessities of life.😞💔😭
As was supposed, I was studying at a university in the month of October in which the war broke out, but my university was destroyed, and the universities in the entire sector were destroyed.
Link campaign ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
I’d also like to remind folks of the vetted campaign list here.
Please consider donating. I don’t know what else to say to convince people to care. If you are able to, I encourage you all to look into the massacre from last night (Motaz and Bisan have covered them in detail on Instagram; obvious content warning for child death & death in general. Jewish Voices for Peace is also reposting/consolidating information and action steps. It’s sick to say this not the worst we have seen Israel do, but it is some of the most brutal imagery I’ve seen in the past few months.) Be on the lookout for other organized forms of protest most likely to roll out today and the rest of the week. Please be safe out there and please do not let the world convince you to stop caring about Palestine and Palestinians.
"Every night, My brothers and sisters, my sick parents, and I sleep in fear, praying that it won’t be our last night alive. We live with constant terror, and all we wish for now is to survive and find safety. Please, we are begging you—help us with any amount, even the smallest, so we can escape this nightmare and find a place where we can live in peace."❤️🩹
Donation link 🫰🏻
They're wanting to change the definition of water to see which water would qualify under the Clean Water Act...I wish I was making this up.
What this means, in layman's terms, is that not all water or wetlands would be under environmental protections, so some could legally be dumped in, scraped out of, or otherwise harmed.
The comment period for this is pretty short (just a few days left!) so please submit comments asking for ALL water to be protected.
For any OC of your choice: would they wear designer clothes? Or would they not care about brands, and focus on other aspects of clothing? (overall appearance, practicality etc.)
Hi! Sorry I responded so late, finals are eating me alive.
I'm going to go with Elias Laidir for this question because I think he would, but over all his style can be described as Pirate Ziggy Stardust, so I don't think he cares as long as it looks nice. He's definitely not paying full price though, it will be thrifted, or stolen a gift.
Mahanon on the other hand, views clothes completely in terms of practicality. In a modern AU, he wears a t-shirt, jeans, and flannel almost exclusively. if he has any it's from Dorian, and if he wears it, it's out of guilt from never using his gift.
This is why I'm begging you to spare anything you can for @noor-yashour who is fundraising for her disabled son, Muhammad, 4 years of age. He was receiving physical therapy in order to be able to walk but with his treatment on hold during the genocide, his condition is rapidly deteriorating.
21| they/he | ace | perpetually tired | I like Ghosts more than birds sorry bird fans |
235 posts