April 19 top stories
It is April 19. Here are today’s top stories.
Fox and Dominion reach $787 settlement
Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million at last minute to avert a trial – about half of Dominion’s original $1.6 billion ask. The trial would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election. Dominion filed a lawsuit against Fox News arguing that the network damaged the company’s reputation by spreading phony conspiracy theories about their voting machines.
Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse, “The truth matters. Lies have consequences.” Dominion CEO John Poulos said to reporters, “Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion. Truthful reporting in the media is essential to our democracy.”
Fox acknowledged in a statement that the certain claims about Dominion are false. Dominion added that the network will not have to admit on air that it spread election lies.
Outside of the settlement promised to Dominion, it was unclear what other consequences Fox would face. Dominion also has pending lawsuits against right-wing networks Newsmax and OAN, as well as against some allies of Trump.
Boy dies from benadryl TikTok challenge
Local news reported a 13-year-old, Jacob Stevens, in Ohio has died after he took a bunch of Benadryl. He participated in a dangerous TikTok challenge that’s circulating online. Jacob was on a ventilator for almost a week before he died.
Benadryl is an antihistamine used to treat symptoms such as a runny nose or sneezing from upper respiratory allergies, hay fever or the common cold.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning Thursday that too much diphenhydramine (Benadryl), can lead to severe health problems including serious heart problems, seizures, coma and even death.
The FDA said it had contacted TikTok and strongly urged them to remove videos of the “Benadryl Challenge” from its platform and to monitor for any new posts.
Facebook data privacy settlement
Facebook users who had an active account at any point between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, can now apply to receive Meta’s $725 million settlement related to the Cambridge Analytica (CA) scandal. Cambridge Analytica is a data analytics firm that worked with the Trump campaign.
When Facebook shared the information of as many as 87 million users with CA, the firm harvested data through an app offering a personality test. Then, they gave it to a service promising to use techniques to influence voters during the 2016 presidential election where Trump won narrowly in several key states. This sparked controversy.
The class action lawsuit accused Meta of allowing Cambridge Analytica and other third parties to access private user information and misleading users about its privacy practices in 2018.
If eligible, you can fill out the claim form which requires a few personal details and information about a user’s Facebook account. The form must be submitted by August 25 to be included as part of the settlement. It is not yet clear how much each settlement payment will be.
———
[Sponsored Video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
———
Cheerleaders shot after getting into wrong car
Local news, KXAN, reported two teenage cheerleaders were shot after one said she mistook the suspect’s vehicle as her own in a supermarket parking lot in Elgin near Austin, Texas. They are part of the Woodlands Elite cheer program.
Officers responding just after midnight Tuesday to an HEB supermarket parking lot found two people who’d been struck by bullets. Payton Washington was shot twice and badly injured. She was rushed by helicopter to a hospital and in critical condition, while the other, Heather Roth, was struck by a bullet but was treated and released at the scene.
Roth said she was trying to apologize to the man after finding a man sitting in the passenger seat and realizing it was the wrong car. He just exited the passenger door, threw his hands up, and then pulled out a gun and he just started shooting at all of us.
Authorities arrested Pedro Rodriguez Jr., 25, the man they said shot the two teens. He was taken into custody early Tuesday.
Twitter removes trans protections policy
Multiple sources said Twitter appears to have quietly rolled back a portion of its hateful conduct policy that included specific protections for transgender people.
The policy previously stated that Twitter prohibits “targeting others with repeated slurs that intend to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming individuals.” The second sentence concerning misgendering and deadnaming was removed earlier this month.
LGBTQ advocacy group, GLAAD, called out the hateful conduct policy change in a Tuesday statement. GLAAD president and CEO, Sarah Ellis, said Twitter’s decision to covertly roll back its longtime policy is the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike. Twitter did not respond to a request to comment about the change.
That is all the top stories for today and stay with the light!
Settlement:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/04/18/fox-news-dominion-settlement/
Benadryl:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/benadryl-challenge-tiktok-viral-trend-jacob-stevens/
Facebook:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/19/how-facebook-users-can-apply-for-part-of-725-million-settlement.html
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2023/04/18/facebook-settlement-meta/11689760002/
Claim form: https://facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/#submit-claim
Cheerleaders:
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/police-man-arrested-2-shot-after-elgin-parking-lot-fight/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/2-texas-cheerleaders-shot-after-wrong-car-parking/story?id=98686531
Twitter: