Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, some of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
Morocco cites misinfo in immigration crisis
Morocco’s government blamed online misinformation as a major factor in the scenes that unfolded when large numbers of immigrants attempted to cross into Spain. Conservatives leaped at the opportunity to portray the situation as some sort of hellacious scenario that justified the MAGA movement’s racist and xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric.
So it’s certainly noteworthy that, at least according to Morocco, a major contributor was a crisis the MAGA movement has helped fuel: the spread of misinformation online.
“They were the outcome of the interaction of several overlapping factors, foremost among them the malicious exploitation of digital platforms, the dissemination of misleading information, the role of human trafficking networks, and the misinterpretation of legal and administrative information aimed at creating the false impression that entry into the European area could be achieved easily and without legal consequences,” said Ministry of Interior spokesman Rachid El Khalfi.
Some Moroccan migrants told CBS News they saw social media posts stating, “Spain is an open door,” along with videos of people swimming from Morocco to Ceuta. It was unclear who was behind the social media claims.
I’m reminded here that, back in 2022, the Biden administration established a Disinformation Governance Board to help combat misinformation that was helping fuel the U.S.-Mexico border crisis. But Republicans peddled so much disinformation about the board itself that the administration eventually killed it.
Tech official on leave after remarks on vets
A top technology official at the General Services Administration was put on administrative leave after publicly complaining about the federal government’s hiring preference for veterans.
Read more at FedScoop.
Judge denies xAI’s Minnesota gambit
A judge has denied Elon Musk’s company xAI’s request to issue an injunction blocking Minnesota’s so-called nudification law, which is designed to prevent the dissemination of nonconsensual sexually explicit imagery generated by artificial intelligence.
Read more at NBC News.
MAGA world embraces OnlyFans
The Bulwark spotlighted the story of an OnlyFans influencer turned right-wing propagandist to spotlight the “symbiotic relationship” between the MAGA movement and the porn-infused platform. The story offers insight into the ways some MAGA influencers are leaning into sexuality to enrich themselves and attract people — men in particular — to their movement.
Read more at The Bulwark.
Staff infection
Politico has a new report on longtime Republicans who are concerned about the GOP’s top young staffers veering into what the outlet calls “terminally online extremism” espoused by white supremacist influencer Nick Fuentes and others.
Read more at Politico.
Navajo Nation partners with Flock Safety
The Navajo Nation has announced a partnership with controversial tech company Flock Safety, which develops license plate readers that have been deployed in the Trump administration’s mass surveillance efforts. Several localities have ended their contracts with Flock Safety amid the backlash, but the Navajo Nation said its partnership will help crack down on crime and find people who have been reported missing.
Read more at the New York Post.
Trump’s dangerous blame game
President Donald Trump baselessly accused Minnesota officials of hacking their own water system last week, even as federal officials said the attack likely came from Iran.
Read more at MS NOW.
ICE’s prying eyes
A new report from The Wall Street Journal spotlights how Immigration and Customs Enforcement — the tip of the spear in Trump’s racist anti-immigrant crackdown — has been weaponizing social media to snoop on the agency’s critics and potentially subject them to scrutiny.
Read more at the Journal.
PornHub fights age verification laws
PornHub, the X-rated digital platform, sent a letter to hundreds of lawmakers nationwide raising concerns about age verification laws. In the letter, the company said it was concerned about “the harm being caused by the performative, ineffective, and unenforceable age verification laws you have taken part in passing despite your intention of protecting minors.”
Read more at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Capital One claps back
Trump and his two oldest sons have backed lawsuits baselessly accusing top financial institutions of “debanking” them, or closing their accounts for political purposes. I wrote about how Capital One responded in a legal filing — saying the actual reason for shutting down the accounts was a concern about potential money laundering.
Read more at MS NOW.
Truth Social launches premium access
Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has officially launched its service that provides premium access to market-moving posts. Democrats see the brazenly unethical effort as ripe for investigations should they retake the House in November.
Read more at New York Magazine.
The post Morocco says online misinformation fueled crisis at Spain’s border appeared first on MS NOW.
