WTF America?

Tech for Good Live

A lot has happened this week. Jonny made some delicious white chocolate and cranberry cookies and went on a wintery hike in the hills. Trump got banned from Twitter, and everywhere else, oh – and there was a deadly attempted coup in the United States. Yep. It’s been a week.

Technology and the role it plays in society has perhaps never been under more scrutiny than it is now. We’ve been banging on about Tech for Good for years on this podcast, and as you know, regularly drift into discussing the dangers of technology. How close did technology come to bringing down a republic that has stood for 243 years? Let’s find out in this special ‘WTF America?’ special!

Joining host Jonny Rae-Evans, we have Greg Ashton, Fay Schofield and Ankur Asthana.

Discussed in the show:

Stat of the week

13 face criminal charges with another 40 facing lesser charges following the assault on the capitol - Metro

This is tech news because they're being identified using the images they shared on social media - BBC News

Charity news of the week:

Positive news - Georgia win was due in no small art to digital organizing + local leadership - the honing of new model of virtual organizing over the last 12 months - potential hope for the future

Meet the Gen Z activists who helped win the Georgia Senate seats - Fast Company

Democrats’ historic Georgia Senate wins were years in the making thanks to local grassroots - CNN

Democrats’ historic Georgia Senate wins were years in the making thanks to local grassroots - CNBC

Tech news of the week:

This week we finally discovered what it takes to get Trump off social media. Just a coup attempt (or is it that the rats are jumping from a sinking ship?)

Social media backlash:

• Donald Trump suspended from Facebook indefinitely, says Mark Zuckerberg - Guardian
• Twitter permanently suspends @TeamTrump after string of Trump tweets - Mashable
• Twitch disables Trump’s account indefinitely - Twitch

"Free speech"

• Will Oremus thread - Twitter
• Not Easy, Not Unreasonable, Not Censorship: The Decision To Ban Trump From Twitter - TechDirt

Parler

• Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler, an App That Drew Trump Supporters - NY Times
• Google suspends Parler social network app over incitement to violence - Guardian
• Amazon Employees For Climate Justice thread - Twitter

Inauguration

• Trump would be only the 4th president to boycott his successor's inauguration - CNN

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