Entertainment
Facebook: Nick Clegg avoids questions on whistleblower Haugen’s testimony

Facebook: Nick Clegg avoids questions on whistleblower Haugen’s testimony
The Facebook executive Nick Clegg took a damage-limitation tour of US political talkshows on Sunday, but remained evasive over questions about the social media giant’s contribution to the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January this year.
The former British deputy prime minister, now Facebook vice-president of global affairs, was responding to a barrage of damaging claims from the whistleblower Frances Haugen.
Appearing before a Senate committee this week, Haugen said a proliferation of misinformation and unchecked hate speech on Facebook helped encourage the pro-Trump mob that stormed Congress, seeking to overturn the election result.
Haugen will also meet with the House committee investigating the Capitol attack.
Clegg insisted individuals were responsible for their own actions on 6 January, and would not say if he believed Facebook bore any responsibility for amplifying toxic messaging such as Donald Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election.
“Given that we have thousands of algorithms and millions of people using it, I can’t give you a yes or no answer to individual personalised feeds each person uses,” Clegg told CNN’s State of the Union.
“Where we see content we think is relevant to the investigation, to law enforcement, of course we cooperate. But if our algorithms are as nefarious as some people suggest, why is it that those systems have reduced the prevalence of hate speech on our platforms to as little as 0.05%?”
A week ago, Clegg blasted suggestions that social media contributed to the insurrection as “ludicrous”, and strongly resisted claims that Facebook ignored problems on its platform.
But after Haugen’s searing testimony that Facebook was harming children and damaging democracy globally in its quest to place “astronomical profits before people”, Clegg cut a more contrite figure on CNN, NBC’s Meet the Press and ABC’s This Week.
He outlined steps he said the company was taking to “reduce and mitigate the bad and amplify the good”, including new tools to direct users, especially teenagers, away from harmful content on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. He also said Facebook was open to discussions over stricter regulation including internet privacy legislation.
“We will, of course, seek to make ourselves ever more transparent, so people can hold us to account,” Clegg told ABC. “We understand that with success comes responsibility, comes criticism, comes scrutiny.
“We’re going to give new tools to adults, to parents, so they can supervise what their teens are doing online. And we want to give users more control. We give users the ability to override the algorithm, to compose their own newsfeed. Many people who use Facebook in the US and elsewhere want to see more friends, less politics.”
Pressure is growing in Congress for tighter restrictions on social media companies, including moves to break up Facebook dating from the Trump administration.
The Democratic Massachusetts senator Ed Markey said last month Facebook was “just like big tobacco, pushing a product that they know is harmful to the health of young people, pushing it to them early, all so Facebook can make money”.
Clegg said legislators should step in.
“We’re not saying this is a substitution of our own responsibilities,” he told NBC, “but there are a whole bunch of things that only regulators and lawmakers can do. I don’t think anyone wants a private company to adjudicate on these difficult trade-offs between free expression on one hand and moderating or removing content on the other.
“Only lawmakers can create a digital regulator … we make the best judgment we possibly can but we’re caught in the middle. Lawmakers have to resolve that themselves.”
Amy Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota and former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, welcomed Clegg’s stance but said social media companies had missed the opportunity to govern themselves.
“I appreciate that he is willing to talk about things but I believe the time for conversation is done, the time for action is now,” she told CNN. “If they’re willing to sign on I’m all for it, but so far we haven’t seen that.
“Look, where we are now, you know, the guy down the street[’s] mother-in-law won’t get a vaccine because she read on social media that it would implant a microchip in her arm. We need privacy legislation. We’re one of the few countries that doesn’t have a federal privacy policy.”
Entertainment
Oladips Slams Qdot For Rushing to Announce that he is alive after death announcement

Rapper Oladips has slammed his colleague Qdot for informing the world that he is still alive after his “death” was announced.
Oladips accused Qdot of chasing clout by announcing that he was still alive.
He wrote: “I know there is cruise, there is clout, and then there is truth…!!!
“Qdot the reason why you posted ‘My gee is alive’ at a time my family was unsure of my situation is so appalling & uncalled for.
“I dey where I dey struggle with my life you dey post ‘my gee is alive’. Unnecessarily misleading everyone. Made it look like me and you just had a conversation.
“Bro I went through it hard & anything could have happened.
“The last time I & you had any conversation was Jan 2nd 2022. I get proof & soon I’ll tell the story in full!!!
“Cos why una dey always do like this for this industry tori Olorun?”
He went on to call out a social media user who posted a 2-year-old video of them together as proof that he was alive.
He also accused bloggers of “misleading gullible Nigerians for likes & comments”. He did not state how Nigerians were misled by bloggers, considering that the news of his death came from his verified social media account and was signed by his management after a video of him writhing in pain while being rushed to hospital was also shared via his account. He has also not claimed that he was hacked.
On Nov. 13, a video of Oladips appearing to fight for his life was shared via his Instagram account. The following day, on Nov. 14, his death was announced via his page, though many suspected it was a publicity stunt because he had just released a song about dying young.
Then, on Nov. 17, Qdot announced that Oladips was not dead as he claimed, a move that obviously angered Oladips and forced him to return to social media to show proof of life
Entertainment
OAU Student Ends Hand wash-a-thon for Guinness World Records

The 200-level student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Osun state, Subair Enitan, early midnight on Monday completed 58 hours of hand wash-a-thon.
This is in a bid to set a record for the longest hand cloth washing by an individual after applying to the Guinness World Record for the task last June.
She began the quest on Friday afternoon at the Student Union Building Motor park inside the University campus with thousands of students rallying around her.
Various students artist and University officials also paid solidarity visit to the task pavilion to cheer her to victory.
She completed the 58 hours around midnight on Monday from where she was taken in the School Ambulance to the institution’s clinic for a medical check.
Speaking before heading to the clinic, Enitan said she was fulfilled to have completed the task right in front of her mother, Omogbolabo Afolake, who was at the venue for over two days.
“I am very fulfilled to have completed the task right in front of my mum, friends and colleagues who thronged this venue to show love and support my ambition”, she said.
Entertainment
Fire Guts Nigerian Singer, Orezi’s Residence

Nigerian singer Esegine Allen, popularly known as Orezi, has thanked God for saving his life as fire gutted his Lekki residence in Lagos on Monday night.
The singer escaped the fire incident because at the time his house was in flames, he was at a meeting in Lekki County around 11: 48. He got a call from his neighbour Bobrinsky that his house was on fire.
Orezi shared photos and video of his burnt residence on his Instagram story on Tuesday.
He wrote: “Last night was really hectic. Still trying to figure out and wrap my head around all that happened.
“I’m sitting here asking my self why me. God is indeed merciful. Can’t thank God enough.
“I was at a meeting in Lekki county last night around 11.48pm when I got a call from my neighbor, Bobrisky, that my house is on fire. I initially thought this was a joke.
“I was like, ‘Which kind yeye joke bob Dey give me so?’ Immediately I raced down to my house. What I saw … broke me.”
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