headlines that matter
The great Twitter robbery
Unknown persons gained access to Twitter’s internal systems and tools. They sent out messages from some of the most famous handles: Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Kim Kardashian West and Bill Gates. The tweets asked followers to send them bitcoins (the cryptocurrency)—and promised to pay them double the price in return. They managed to make $118,000 via the scam.
Why this matters:
- This is the worst security breach in Twitter’s history. Previous breaches include: hacking of CEO Jack Dorsey’s phone last year.
- Back then, he lost control for only 20 minutes. This time, the attack continued for two hours, and the platform had to shut down all its verified accounts (with those blue ticks).
- The hackers managed to gain at least one mid-level employee’s admin privileges—which had system-wide access. Vice reports that the employee was “convinced” to hand them over.
- The big worries: Did the hackers have access to private messages, which would be a massive breach of privacy? Also: Is this just the beginning of a campaign to spread chaos and disinformation ahead of the US presidential election?
- Also: a pattern of rogue Twitter employees. Last year, US authorities charged two of spying for Saudi Arabia—one of whom is a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The troubles of Trump
An Indian lawsuit: 174 Indian citizens have filed a lawsuit challenging the suspension of H-1B visas. Many of them are stranded outside the United States—and some are minor dependents who pose no threat to an American’s job prospects.
An illegal advertising gig: The US President posted an Insta pic with him at his White House desk surrounded by cookies, coconut milk, canned beans etc. made by a company called Goya. This came the day after his daughter Ivanka tweeted out a selfie with a Goya can of beans. It isn’t clear if Trump is getting ready for his next job come November—or if he’s trolling those who are calling for a boycott of the company (the Latino CEO is a big Trumper). But neither changes a key US law: government employees “shall not use or permit the use of his Government position or title or any authority associated with his public office to endorse any product.”
India gags green groups
Government authorities have blocked the websites of at least three environmental groups—LetIndiabreathe.in, FridaysforFuture.in and ThereisnoEarthB.com. The reason: They have strongly criticized the government’s plan to significantly weaken environmental laws. Huffington Post has more on this new form of targeted ‘digital lockdown’.
Chinese companies hit back
Alibaba-owned UCWeb has sent termination letters to some of its staff—specifically citing the Indian ban as the reason. Club Factory has backed out of its contracts with sellers citing the ‘force majeure’ (or extraordinary event) clause. (Reuters)
A bindi-sized confusion
Brand expert Karthik Srinivasan called out Scotch-Brite’s logo—noting that it featured a woman with a bindi. In his blog post, he noted:
“While a lint roller does not carry this, other products like scrub pad/sponge, sink brush, broom, bathroom wipe, stainless steel scrub, toilet brush do carry it...In 2020, such gender markers seem awkward and out of place. I sure hope the good folks at 3M take note of this legacy logo and update it."
The company’s marketing head happily agreed, responding to Srinivasan’s LinkedIn post: “You have correctly surmised that this is a legacy vector and that it is undoubtedly time to move on from regressive beliefs”—and claimed that the brand plans to change its logo.
Then everything went off-track. And Srinivasan’s observation instead sparked a #WearABindi campaign. Women tweeted out photos of themselves in bindis, accompanied by messages such as: “Do I look regressive to you @ScotchBriteIn?” Mercifully, the ladies soon realised they were victims of bad news writing—specifically on the part of News InShorts.
Lesson of this story: Getting your news from curation apps can be hazardous to your understanding. This Twitter thread shows why.