On the day of the 2016 U.S. election, a popular Twitter account alerted its followers to a potentially serious problem with the voting system. “BREAKING: Machine Refuses to Allow Vote For Trump in Pennsylvania!! RT the hell out of it! #VoterFraud #voted,” tweeted @TEN_GOP to the account’s more than 140,000 followers. That account appeared on Friday as part of an indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice against 13 Russian operatives employed by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency “troll factory.” The social account @TEN_GOP was part of this effort to swing the election and alter U.S. politics — a strategy that has…
Author: Loknath Das
If a brand today wants to promote a new product, it would order its social media team to tailor posts that resonate with its audience, buy targeted ads to reach impressionable eyeballs, and closely monitor the performance of its messaging to ensure it reaches, and influences, as many viewers as possible. If a Russian troll farm wanted to disrupt an American election and amplify discord in an open society, it would apparently do the exact same things. That’s one of the key takeaways from an indictment filed Friday by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III against 13 Russians and three…
I’m not a libertarian, but I love debating libertarians. Case in point: Bryan Caplan. Caplan is an economics professor at George Mason University and the author of a new book, The Case Against Education. In that book he makes a bold argument: Public education is waste of time and money and we should stop investing in it. Caplan marshals a ton of evidence in support of this claim, most of which reinforces his view that what we’re doing now isn’t working that well. I agree with him that our current system is broken, but I’m not convinced we should give up…
St Brelade Constable Steve Pallett will become the new assistant minister for Education after Housing Minister Anne Pryke took on the ministerial responsibilities for the department. Mr Pallett is already an Assistant Economic Development Minister. In a ministerial decision confirming the appointment, it said that Mr Pallett had been named Assistant Education Minister to ‘assist with the workload and to provide support if any conflicts of interest might arise’. Deputy Pryke’s daughter is a head teacher at one of the Island’s primary schools. Deputy Bryans stepped aside as Education Minister last week after a formal complaint was made about his…
GraduFund offers AI-based, hassle-free micro-financing and career connect to graduates through web and mobile platforms, and has partnered with financiers, educators, and merchants to provide funding for higher education. At a glance Startup: GraduFund Founder: Abhijit Onkar and Lalit Chawla Year it was founded: 2017 Where is it based: Gurugram Sector: Fintech The problem it solves: Micro-financing options for higher education Funding raised: Angel A report by KPMG and Google highlights that India’s edtech market is expected to touch $1.96 billion by 2021, with close to 9.6 million users, from $247 million and over 1.6 million users in 2016. Keeping the potential exponential growth in mind, several…
HIGHLIGHTS MTV India has blocked Tekken 7 videos on YouTube This comes after it broadcasted UCypher – a gaming reality show MTV India has not commented as to why this has happened MTV India has been blocking Tekken 7 videos on YouTube. Multiple Tekken 7 content creators the world over have had their Tekken 7 videos removed following an overreaching copyright claim by MTV India. “Looks like MTV India is blocking Tekken videos and streams on YouTube. What’s up with this @MTVIndia @TeamYouTube?” tweeted Zoran Mircevic a Tekken 7 player and writer for fighting game-focussed site AvoidingThePuddle. This comes weeks after the TV…
HIGHLIGHTS Wolfenstein 2 is 50 percent off Okami HD is 30 percent off GTA 5 is 50 percent off The Steam Lunar New Year Sale 2018 is taking place right now. A host of games have received deep discounts. Like recent sales, there’s a single discounted price for each game through the duration of the sale. This time, the Steam Lunar New Year Sale 2018 ends on February 19, 2018 at 11pm IST. Here’s what you should check out. Okami HD – this remaster of Capcom’s take on the Legend of Zelda looks gorgeous on modern hardware. With support for 4K resolution, Steam…
HIGHLIGHTS Atari has announced Atari Token It represents the legacy brand’s foray into cryptocurrency Its shares spiked after announcing its cryptocurrency push Classic video game brand Atari has announced Atari Token. It represents its foray into cryptocurrency. The announcement has seen a spike in shares, rising by more than 60 percent since the announcement on February 8. In addition to this, Atari is taking a stake in a company that’s building blockchain-based digital entertainment and is expanding its online casino-gaming partnership with Pariplay to allow for gambling with digital currencies. It’s unknown if this would be restricted to Atari Token or be…
Unilever Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed has gotten tougher on big digital platforms – but he’s not ready to go cold turkey on the Google-Facebook duopoly just yet. His threat to stop doing business with media that “breed division in society or fail to protect children” in yesterday’s speech to the IAB leadership meeting isn’t an ultimatum with a firm deadline, he says in an interview with Ad Age. But he isn’t giving social media forever to make things right, either. Think of it this way: Weed is also in charge of Unilever’s sustainability program. When Greenpeace sent…
Mitt Romney will launch his Utah Senate campaign Thursday morning with a low key announcement on social media, and will make his first public appearance a day later near Salt Lake City with a keynote address to a gathering of grassroots Republicans. Romney teased his run for Senate in a Feb. 1 tweet, saying that he would have an announcement to make on Feb. 15. On Wednesday, Romney previewed his campaign again in a short Facebook post. Sources in Utah told the Washington Examiner that Romney that will officially jump into the 2018 Senate race with a digital announcement, rather than holding…