Businesses are rethinking political contributions in the wake of the deadly Capitol siege by President Donald Trump’s supporters on Wednesday. Citigroup is pausing all federal political donations for the first three months of the year. In a memo to employees, Citi’s head of global government affairs Candi Wolff said the company wanted its employees to be assured that Citigroup will not support candidates “who do not respect the rule of law.” The trade group representing Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, meanwhile, said it’s suspending political contributions to lawmakers who voted last week to reject the Electoral College results that cemented Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
By BARBARA ORTUTAY
Posted inArticle, Business, Health
Twitter to start removing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
Twitter says it will begin removing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations from its site. That includes false claims that the virus is not real, debunked claims about the effects of receiving the vaccine. It will also remove baseless claims suggesting immunizations and vaccines are used to intentionally cause harm or to control people. Twitter said in a blog post Wednesday that it will start enforcing the new policy next week. If people send tweets in violation of the rules, they will be required to delete them before they are able to tweet again. Before the offending tweet is removed, Twitter will hide it from view.
Posted inArticle, Business
Five takeaways from Facebook’s civil rights audit
A two-year audit of Facebook’s civil rights record found “serious setbacks” hurting the social network’s progress on matters such as hate speech, misinformation and bias. Facebook had hired former American Civil Liberties Union executive Laura Murphy, in May 2018 to assess its performance on vital social issues. On Wednesday, the final 100-page report said that the company’s elevation of free expression _ especially by politicians _ above all other matters has hurt its progress on other matters like discrimination and protecting vulnerable users.
