Booted By Brazil, Swedish Screens & Australian Bosses
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #214 ❤️
It's an international episode this week as we discuss Elon Musk's beef with Brazil, the founder of Telegram's recent arrest in Paris, and how the Swedish government are dealing with screen time.
Plus, what to do your when your TikTok catchphrase is stolen, and why Australian workers need the right to switch off.
Let’s get into it.
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#1 - X Gets Booted In Brazil
Brazil have banned X, with Brazilian users no longer able to get onto the platform, and any who do try to do so using a VPN risk an almost $9,000 fine.
This comes as the culmination of a “months-long feud” between Musk and Brazilian Supreme Court Judge. One of many that Musk is currently involved in, it seems, it’s a wonder he can remember what each feud is about…
This particular feud stems from X’s moderation policies, or, famously, lack thereof.
More specifically, Moraes opened an inquiry against X after Musk refused a court order to block accounts supporting former right-wing president Jair Bolsanaro that Moraes believed, (or alleged, depending whose side you’re on) spread fake news and hate speech.
Musk said no, Moraes got X blocked in Brazil. Tit for tat at a pretty high level, but a fair enough response.
Elon Musk is arguing, as usual, that free speech is the basis of democracy. He also called Moraes an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge”, so make of that what you will.
One the one hand, yes, fine, free speech is the basis of democracy, but hate speech is literally illegal in most places and X apparently is supposed to moderate fake news.
On the other hand, should a judge be able to ban an entire social network simply because its owner refused to block accounts supporting their political rival (assuming they AREN’T promoting hate speech and fake news, which we think they actually were).
Just playing devil’s advocate…
Either way, you’ve got to REALLY want to use X to spend $9,000 on it.
#2 – What’s The Deal With Telegram?
Pavel Durov, the man behind Telegram, was just arrested in France for a myriad of charges linked to the messaging app, including being complicit in child sexual abuse image sharing and the organisation of terrorism, and his online community is up in arms.
First, what’s Telegram?
It’s like WhatsApp but with huge chat groups that make organising large groups of people much easier than other messaging services, with “channels” allowing information to be shared quickly to a lot of people.
It is also perhaps most famous for its strong privacy features, encryption, secret chats and self-destructing messages, and its founder absolute refusal to share any data, including with authorities.
This means that while it has been instrumental in fuelling anti-authoritarian demonstrations in Iran, Belarus and Russia, it is also used by Isis, child abuse networks and drug gangs.
And who is Pavel Durov?
He rose to prominence after creating the Russian version of Facebook, and then rose to fame after refusing to hand over information about anti Putin protesters on the social network, eventually leaving the country, and has been seen as a bit of a hero figure ever since.
Many think his arrest will make him an even more “prophet” figure, but it is a historical moment in that this is the first time that the owner of a social media site has been literally arrested because of their platform.
Will there be others?
#3 - Sweden Take On Screen Time
The Swedish Health authority have published guidelines for parents and children on how much screen time they should be having.
For under twos, that number is zero. For two-to five-year-olds a maximum of one hour a day, six-to twelve-year olds a maximum of two hours a day, and a limit of three hours for thirteen-to eighteen-year-olds.
These numbers are a sharp reduction on what Swedish kids are actually getting right now, which according to estimates is around four hours a day for the nine-to twelve bracket and seven hours a day for the teens – and that’s not including schoolwork.
The minister of social affairs stated that children’s health has been paying the price for tech companies profits for too long, quoting effects such as sleep issues and depression.
Earlier this year an expert panel in France also gave stricter recommendations on screen time for children, suggesting that under three’s should have no screen access and children under six should have only very limited access.
The French panel also placed a large focus on social media, arguing that anyone under fifteen should be forbidden access to social media, and even that under thirteens shouldn’t have mobile phones at all to avoid potential exposure.
Will the kids of today have a completely different relationship to screens to the generation before them?
#4 - Very Demure, Very Mindful
TikTok creator Jools Lebron, an influencer with over 2 million followers, went viral recently advising her viewers how to be “demure”, “mindful” and “cutesy” in and out of the workplace.
The new TikTok buzz phrase was everywhere, even making it to Instagram where the non TikTokers could benefit from it’s mind-altering effect, and JLO could use it to caption some of her many post-divorce photo dumps.
But you know what isn’t demure, mindful, or cutesy? The fact that some rando in Washington State tried to steal Jools’ catchphrase out from under her by posting a one billion dollar patent on the catchprase.
Or, almost, he forgot “cutesy”, filing the paperwork only for “very demure, very mindful”. Still, this could block Jools from benefiting from any branded work using her catchphrase, which comes as a harsh blow after she expressed joy at finally being able to afford to continue her gender transition process as a result of her new fame.
The founder of “Influencer Legal”, a law firm that helps influencers deal with trademark and contract issues, thinks Jools could fight the patent considering US law recognises the first person to use a phrase rather than the first to file it, however she also advises her clients to file immediately in similar cases.
If you’re lucky enough to go viral, strike while the iron is hot. You’re only one scroll away from being yesterdays viral sound.
#5 - Australian Worker Vs. Their Bosses
Australian workers were just granted the right to disconnect from work, which means they aren’t obligated to respond to their employers out of work hours, and after hearing the reactions of Australia’s big bosses, boy do they need it…
Kevin O Leary, a panel member on Shark Tank Australia, asked “who dreams this crap up” and wondered “why would anybody propose such a stupid idea”, asking what he’s meant to do if he needs to contact an employee at 2am, before rounding it off with the statement that any employees who don’t answer him after hours just get fired anyway.
Well, Kevin, somebody might propose this so that they don’t have to answer their boss literally two in the morning without getting fired, because now, legally, you can’t fire them for that. Sounds like a pretty good idea, to be honest.
Add to that another big name in the Australian employment market, “billionaire boss” Chris Ellison of Perth Mineral Resources stated in a public financial update video – you can view it on YouTube – that he wanted all employees “locked in” to the office.
That’s why he has not only banned remote working, but has a restaurant, gym and any other necessary amenities onsite to stop people leaving the office even for a coffee break, because that costs him too much money, according to him. We’d like to see the numbers please.
They do also have a highly discounted creche where you can drop off your kids for a fraction of the price of the average Australian creche, but hey, you might want to weight the pros and the cons with this guy.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
AI Models
We’ve been hearing a little bit about AI models – fake people to put clothes on – and we’ve finally seen some in the wild.
Shein-adjacent clothing company Cider popped up on our Intsagram feeds this week with an ad featuring clearly cartoon women wearing drawn on clothes as an ad for their brand, with no disclaimer, of course.
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