Archives for May 2021

Facebook board upholds Trump ban, just not indefinitely

Former President Donald Trump won’t return to Facebook — at least not yet.

Four months after Facebook suspended Trump’s accounts, having concluded that he incited violence leading to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the bans. But it told Facebook to specify how long they would last, saying that its “indefinite” ban on the former president was unreasonable. The ruling, which gives Facebook six months to comply, effectively postpones any possible Trump reinstatement and puts the onus for that decision squarely back on the company.

That could leave Facebook in the worst of all possible worlds — one in which Trump’s supporters remain enraged over the bans, his critics pushing for broader social-media regulation and the company stuck with a momentous issue it clearly hoped the oversight board would resolve.

The decision only “kicks the can down the road,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League, who said it highlighted the need for greater government oversight of social platforms.

The board ruled that Facebook was correct to suspend Trump’s account four months ago. But it said the company erred by applying a vague penalty and then passing the question of whether to ban Trump permanently to the board.

“Indefinite penalties of this sort do not pass the international smell test,” oversight board co-chair Michael McConnell said in a conference call with reporters. “We are not cops, reigning over the realm of social media.”

In a statement, Trump did not address the decision directly, but said that actions by Facebook, Twitter, and Google are “a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our Country.” He added: “These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price.”

The board agreed with Facebook that that two of Trump’s Jan. 6 posts “severely violated” the content standards of both Facebook and Instagram.

“We love you. You’re very special,” Trump said to the rioters in the first post. In the second, he called them “great patriots” and told them to “remember this day forever.”

Those violated Facebook’s rules against praising or supporting people engaged in violence, the board said, warranting the suspension. Specifically, the board cited Facebook’s rules against “dangerous individuals and organizations,” which prohibit anyone who proclaims a violent mission and bans posts that express support or praise of these people or groups.

But it insisted that the company needed to take responsibility for its decision.

“Facebook should either permanently disable Trump’s account or impose a suspension for a specific period of time,” said board co-chair Helle Thorning-Schmidt, a former Danish prime minister.

The board said that if Facebook decides to restore Trump’s accounts, it must be able to promptly address further violations. Among other recommendations, it advised against drawing a firm distinction between political leaders and other influential users because anyone with a big audience can potentially cause serious risks of harm.

There was some dissent within the board, according to its report on the decision. A minority of board members sought to characterize Trump’s statements about the election being stolen, coupled with praise for the rioters, as a violation of Facebook’s rules against inciting violence through calls for action or by spreading misinformation and unverifiable rumors. But the board said that adding that as a violation wouldn’t have affected its final ruling.

Facebook has long straddled that issue, granting political figures greater leeway than it allows ordinary users because, it argued, even their rule-breaking statements were important for citizens to hear.

“The same rules should apply to all users on Facebook, no matter how influential they are,” said board spokesman Dex Hunter-Torricke, a former speechwriter for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

If anything, he said, Facebook should look at the context of posts more carefully.

“A world leader or a very influential public figure has an enormous voice and reach, they are incredibly influential and that means their speech has the power to create all sorts of additional risks for people,” Hunter-Torricke said. “And Facebook needs to take that into account when acting on things which may potentially create harm.”

Facebook created the oversight panel to rule on thorny content issues following widespread criticism of its problems responding swiftly and effectively to misinformation, hate speech and nefarious influence campaigns. The board’s earlier decisions — nine of them before Wednesday — have tended to favor free expression over the restriction of content.

The board, which has 20 members and will eventually grow to 40, did not reveal how it voted on Trump’s suspension. It said a minority of members emphasized that Facebook should require users who seek reinstatement after being suspended to “recognize their wrongdoing and commit to observing the rules in the future.”

The decision has implications not only for Trump but for tech companies, world leaders and people across the political spectrum — many of whom have wildly conflicting views of the proper role for technology companies when it comes to regulating online speech and protecting people from abuse and misinformation.

Despite the board’s censure of Facebook, some renewed the argument that the oversight panel is nothing but a distraction.

“Let’s be clear: what should have been swift and decisive action from Facebook to remove Trump from its platform years ago was instead a months-long bureaucratic process because Facebook’s leadership refuses to take responsibility for their harms against our democracy,” said Color Of Change President Rashad Robinson, a longtime critic of Facebook. The board “is a ruse to stave off regulatory action,” he said. Facebook can’t be trusted to regulate itself and Congress and the White House should step in.

A day before the decision, Trump unveiled a new blog on his personal website, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.” While the page includes a dramatic video claiming, “A BEACON OF FREEDOM ARISES” and hailing “A PLACE TO SPEAK FREELY AND SAFELY,” the page is little more than a display of Trump’s recent statements — available elsewhere on the website — that can be easily shared on Facebook and Twitter, the platforms that banished him after the riot.

Barred from social media, Trump has embraced other platforms for getting his message out on his own terms. He does frequent interviews with friendly news outlets and has emailed a flurry of statements to reporters through his official office and political group.

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This story has been corrected to note that the board has not upheld a permanent ban of Trump.

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Associated Press Writers Jill Colvin in Washington, Tali Arbel in New York and David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this story.

Biden touts $28.6B restaurant relief program, orders tacos

WASHINGTON (AP) — Setting foot in a restaurant for his first time as president, Joe Biden made a Cinco de Mayo taco and enchilada run to highlight his administration’s $28.6 billion program to help eateries that lost business because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The president went to Taqueria Las Gemelas in Washington on Wednesday and ordered lunch. The restaurant, owned in part by Mexican immigrants, was a beneficiary of a pilot version of the restaurant relief program. It went from 55 employees to seven during the pandemic, though it was able to rehire some workers through the Paycheck Protection Program that predates the Biden administration.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, our nation’s restaurants were some of the first and the worst hit,” Biden said in remarks Wednesday, the anniversary of Mexico’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862.

The president stressed that restaurants have historically been one of the first rungs on the economic ladder, a chance to move upward that was undermined by the virus.

“For 1 in 3 Americans, a restaurant provided their first job,” he said at the White House. “This industry provided more opportunity for minority managers than any other industry in America. This is an industry where the staff feels like family and often is family.”

The White House said that 186,200 restaurants, bars and other eligible businesses had applied for the program over its first two days of accepting applications. More than half of the applicants are owned by women, veterans or people from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. The aid for eateries was part of the Biden administration’s broader $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

The coronavirus outbreak was especially brutal for restaurants. America lost nearly 2,700 dining establishments through last summer, according to the Labor Department. About 1.8 million food service jobs also have been lost, though the sector has been gradually regaining jobs since last May.

Researchers at the not-for-profit Opportunity Insights found that consumer spending at hotels and restaurants plunged more than 60% in April 2020 compared with the start of that year. Spending is still down 4.5% compared with before the pandemic.

Under the Biden relief program, which started accepting applications on Monday, restaurants and bars can qualify for grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue losses, with a cap of $10 million per business and $5 million per location.

The program has set aside $9.5 billion for the smallest restaurants and bars, and a third of the applications were filed by businesses with annual pre-pandemic revenues of less than $500,000. For the program’s first 21 days, applications from women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged people will have priority for being reviewed and funded.

Business owners seeking to apply for the program can receive more information at sba.gov/restaurants.

Shooting highlights lack of body cams among Portland police

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two police officers raised their weapons while sheltering behind a tree in a Portland park. They yelled at a homeless man to put up his hands. Moments later, two shots rang out. The man collapsed onto the grassy field.

A replica gun with an orange tip was found at the scene on April 16. But some key details are unclear, including whether the fake weapon was in Robert Delgado’s possession during the deadly encounter, or if he pointed it at officers.

Police have been tight-lipped, citing an ongoing investigation, and the only video from the scene — 11 minutes of footage taken by bystanders, not officers — shows just a portion of what happened.

Portland, which has become an epicenter of racial justice protests, is one of the few major U.S. cities where police are not required to wear body cameras, while elsewhere such footage is increasingly being released to provide an unaltered view of deadly incidents.

For years, city leaders and Portland police have advocated for the devices’ use, stating they promote accountability and transparency.

But officials say the department lacks the funds following the mayor and City Council’s decision last year to cut millions from its budget amid local and national calls to reform policing systems by “defunding” law enforcement and shifting money to other efforts.

“It’s gotten to the point now, if you don’t have a body cam policy, people wonder why,” said Geoffrey Alpert, a criminal justice professor at the University of South Carolina. “And while it’s really expensive, I think it’s important to get these things down on video as much as possible because otherwise we’re relying on written reports and then they can be inconsistent and not be remembered as well.”

Delgado’s family is relying on bystander video, police radio transmissions, photos and witness testimony to try to piece together the details. Officer Zachary DeLong killed Delgado, 46, after responding to Lents Park on reports of a man “quick drawing” and holding what looked like a handgun. He shot Delgado from a distance of about 90 feet (27 meters).

“The investigation is still underway, and we are waiting for information,” said Ashlee Albies, the attorney for Delgado’s family. “What we have seen from the videos and from witness statements is deeply disturbing and alarming.”

Since 2010, Portland police have shot and killed 27 people, according to data from the department. Three of those cases remain under investigation, while a grand jury found all but one other were justified.

Statewide, body camera recordings exist for just seven of the past 100 deadly shootings by police, according to a Washington Post analysis.

In recent years, body camera footage has played a pivotal role in examining the use of force in police-involved fatalities across the U.S.

During the trial of Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd, prosecutors showed footage from cameras worn by the former Minneapolis police officer and three colleagues. In the video, a handcuffed Floyd said he couldn’t breathe as Chauvin kept his knee on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

In just the past month, police departments have released body camera footage of other deadly encounters: the shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, as she swung a knife toward another girl, by a Columbus, Ohio, police officer; 13-year-old Adam Toledo appearing to drop a handgun and begin raising his hands less than a second before he was shot by a Chicago officer; and an hourlong video from Alameda, California, police that shows 26-year-old Mario Gonzalez dying after officers pinned him to the ground face down for more than five minutes.

Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell says body cameras are a “good tool” and can bring clarity to certain incidents.

“There’s a lot of agencies that have them, and they help them in situations like this and also just call-taking, even crowd control, public order-type events,” Lovell said Tuesday.

Body-worn cameras are becoming a police standard nationwide, and have been acquired by over 80% of departments with more than 500 officers, according to 2016 U.S. Justice Department statistics.

The New York Police Department has distributed body cameras to more than 24,000 officers, or about two-thirds of its force. Since October, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has distributed cameras to about a fifth of its deputies.

Some departments implemented body camera policies after high-profile killings of Black people by white officers, including in places like Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore.

But not all have followed suit.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety, the state’s largest police agency, does not have a requirement for its officers to wear cameras and has a relatively small number of cameras. New Orleans police use body cameras, but some nearby suburban departments don’t.

In Anchorage, Alaska, voters passed a $1.8 million proposition last month that includes funds for police body cameras.

Portland police are also hopeful the devices will soon become a reality in the country’s 26th most populous city.

During recent bargaining talks, the Portland Police Association made a proposal that “included the issue of” body cameras, according to a statement from city officials. Specifics were not yet available.

In 2019, the Portland Police Bureau revived plans to pursue a body camera pilot program that was supposed to be implemented in 2020 and 2021. The bureau estimated it would cost roughly $2.9 million to get a body-worn camera program up and running, with ongoing costs of about $1.8 million a year.

But last year, as protesters took to the streets nightly to demand racial justice and reform, the City Council and mayor voted to cut $15 million from the police budget, effectively halting the program.

“We often hear that body cameras will provide police accountability, but I disagree. I believe they are an expensive, false solution,” Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the first Black woman to serve on Portland’s City Council, said in June.

Hardesty said if officers do get body cameras, the money for them should come from the existing police budget. In addition, she wants to make sure a new police oversight board has access to all footage and that officers are required to record all law enforcement interactions.

“It has taken filming the police as journalists (and) civilians to reveal the everyday life of interacting with the police while being Black,” Hardesty said. “Even that hasn’t led to substantial change in policy or behavior. That’s why it’s important to keep our eye on reinvesting in community.”

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Cline is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Iowa pushes pop-up vaccination as demand for shots wanes

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) — As interest in the coronavirus vaccine continues to lag, Iowa public health officials are trying to make it easier to get a shot.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday that a bus will be set up this week in the parking lot of the Iowa Cubs baseball park in Des Moines for the first two days of games this season, and a similar pop-up vaccination station is planned at the Des Moines Farmers Market this weekend.

The state also now allows people who have had their first shot to take their vaccination card to any pharmacy or health care provider to get the second dose. Previously, people were advised to return to the same location for the second dose.

Reynolds said 66,500 Iowans have had their first dose and are eligible for a second but haven’t gotten it.

“I think the message that we want to relay here is even if you’re overdue for the second dose don’t worry about that. It’s more important that you get it late than not get it at all,” she said.

The more proactive approach comes as the state rejected 75,000 of the 110,000 doses offered this week by the federal government. Reynolds said 54 counties declined all their allocation while 34 turned down a portion and 11 accepted the full allotment.

“Demand for vaccine in Iowa and nationwide is waning,” Reynolds said.

She said the state is trying to figure out why people are declining vaccinations, saying that those remaining unvaccinated “want to return back to normal but there has to be some incentives for getting the vaccine to actually make that happen.” She said mixed messaging about whether one can quit wearing a mask after vaccination is partly to blame.

For next week, the federal government has allocated 87,400 doses to Iowa. Counties are now reporting in to the Iowa Department of Public health so the demand for doses isn’t year clear, said IDPH Director Kelly Garcia.

Iowa has fully vaccinated 1.1 million people, or 36.1% of the population, ranking the state 13th in the nation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The state reported 172 additional confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday and one additional death for a total of 5,960 deaths since the pandemic began.

Uber demand jumps as delivery grows, ride-hailing recovers

Uber saw record demand in the first quarter as its food delivery business grew and ride-hailing began to see some recovery.

The San Francisco-based company said Wednesday that its bookings jumped 24% to $19.5 billion __ an all-time high __ in the January-March period. That was far ahead of the $18 billion Wall Street was anticipating, according to analysts polled by FactSet.

Uber said its delivery bookings rose 166% from the same period last year. Mobility __ or ride-hailing __ bookings were down 38%, and flat compared to the fourth quarter. But ride-hailing demand improved throughout the quarter, and by March ride-hailing demand had reached its highest level in a year, the company said.

Uber said ride-hailing demand improved further in April as the pace of vaccinations increased in the U.S. and lockdowns ended in the United Kingdom. In some markets, including Miami and Hong Kong, ride-hailing demand was higher than 2019 levels.

Uber said demand is increasing faster than its supply of drivers. Last month, the company said it planned to spend $250 million on sign-up bonuses and other incentives to lure drivers.

Rival Lyft also showed signs of post-pandemic recovery in its first-quarter earnings report Tuesday, saying demand outstripped its expectations.

“We’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a conference call with investors.

One big question for Uber has been whether food-delivery orders will slow down once restaurants fully reopen. So far, that hasn’t happened in markets like Sydney, which fully reopened dining in February. Nelson Chai, Uber’s chief financial officer, said delivery customers do keep ordering, although some less often.

But Chai said it remains difficult to predict exactly what will happen to delivery demand as markets continue to reopen and customers adjust their post-pandemic routines.

In the meantime, Khosrowshahi said Uber Eats continues to add restaurant partners, reaching 700,000 globally during the first quarter. He said the company’s pricing also remains competitive. Last week, rival DoorDash said it would begin offering lower-cost plans to counter criticism from restaurants that delivery fees are too high.

Uber’s first quarter revenue fell 11% to $2.9 billion, partly due to a $600 million charge for back payment of workers in the United Kingdom. After losing a court battle in March, Uber must classify its 70,000 U.K. drivers as its own workers and pay them minimum wages, among other benefits.

Without that charge, Uber reported $3.5 billion in revenue, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $3.27 billion.

The company reported a net loss of $108 million for the period, or 6 cents per share. Analysts had forecast a 56-cent loss.

Uber’s shares fell about 4% in after-hours trading.

Archives for May 2021

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