Saving the planet using corals and lawyers — #84

Dear readers,

Do you believe in signs?

I started thinking about contacting an old friend a couple of weeks ago. Long story short: we lost touch over the years, and no one has made the extra effort to connect.

I know she’s got a dog – a cute but unusual breed – and I’ve now seen that kind of dog at least four times in very different settings this week.

So, I cannot but wonder — is it by chance, or …

I’m looking forward to learning what you think.

Anna

Violent protests in Israel when right-wing government dismantles democratic foundations

DEMOCRACY

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are rallying against a judicial overhaul from the hard-right government, which plans to hand more control to politicians and diminish the Supreme Court's role.

Demonstrations have been occurring for 12 weeks in a row, starting in January when the right-wing coalition first announced its reform package. Saturday evening, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for the immediate suspension of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul legislation, saying it has “created an internal rift that poses a clear and immediate threat to Israel’s national security.”

The Israeli government says it is necessary to rebalance powers between lawmakers and the judiciary. The recent increase in mass protests came days after the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to continue the changes despite increasing international alarm.

Several of Israel’s top allies, including the United States, have questioned the reforms. During a Friday meeting in London, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “stressed the importance of upholding the democratic values that underpin our relationship, including in the proposed judicial reforms”.

According to Israeli media estimates, protests have repeatedly drawn tens of thousands of protesters, with expectations of even more people joining in the upcoming week when Israeli lawmakers are expected to vote on a central part of the government’s proposals, which changes how judges are appointed. However, a clear separation between the court and the government is essential for a democracy to function as intended.

“We’re not going to live in a dictatorship. Even if they do pass the judicial coup, this protest is not going anywhere,” said Josh Drill, one of the protesters.

Utah will require parental consent for anyone under 18 using Social Media

INTERNET

It’s not April Fools just yet, but some news makes you wonder.

In Utah, The Social Media Regulation Act now requires parental consent for anyone under 18 to use social media. It also forces social media companies to allow parents and guardians access to their children’s posts. And it sets a curfew, restricting all minors from using social media between 22:30 and 6:30 and allowing parents to set time limits for how long a minor can use their accounts.

Additionally, social media companies are prohibited from displaying ads or targeted content to minors, collecting their personal information, and displaying minors in public search results. However, tech industry lobbyists and civil liberties groups claim that the laws infringe on people’s right to exercise free speech under the First Amendment and cause severe privacy concerns.

Republican-controlled Utah claims they want to protect children from addictive features and targeted ads on social platforms. “We’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth,” said Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox on Twitter when announcing the legislation.

The bills don’t clarify how the state will enforce the new regulations. Cox said he plans to work with the social media companies to figure that out. However, the same social media companies are expected to challenge the legislation before it comes into effect on March 1st, 2024.

In TikTok’s shadow, ByteDance’s CapCut hits 200 million active users

INTERNET / GEOPOLITICS

ByteDance’s video editing app CapCut has reportedly hit 200 million monthly active users in January 2023, according to Chinese app analysts Diandian and Data.ai. If accurate, CapCut, launched in 2020, would be ByteDance’s third app to hit over 200 million active users. The first was Douyin, the China-only TikTok sister app, and the second was TikTok itself.

CapCut’s success is spelt cross-promotion. For example, ByteDance has grown its user base primarily through in-app promotions on Douyin, including one offering CapCut’s free editing tools for two years. ByteDance aims to compete with popular mobile video-editing tools like Adobe, Canva, and VEED. And is pushing to commercialise the app with investments in “creator programs” that pay the creators who create the best templates.

While TikTok is currently under heavy scrutiny from lawmakers in the United States. CapCut – also available in the US – does not yet seem to have faced any issues. However, if legislation is passed to ban TikTok, CapCut would likely end up in trouble, too.

The tiny island nation of Vanuatu takes climate change to The Hague

CLIMATE CHANGE

The tiny Pacific island of Vanuatu wants United Nations approval to pursue an unprecedented legal examination of countries' obligations to combat climate change. A low-lying country, Vanuatu is acutely vulnerable to climate impacts, currently in a six-month state of emergency after two powerful tropical cyclones hit within one week in late February and early March.

Vanuatu's resolution would give the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague a chance to weigh in on how nations behind much of the global warming should take responsibility for potential consequences. And while the legal opinion would be nonbinding and advisory, it could be cited by courts and used in legal proceedings worldwide.

Propelled by youth activism, the Vanuatu government has led the effort to gain adoption by the UN General Assembly since 2021. With a vote expected on March 29, the resolution has over 100 co-sponsors.

The resolution asks the court questions consciously framed to avoid singling out any large, industrialized countries responsible for the vast majority of historical global emissions. This has helped the proposal gain traction in the General Assembly, assembling co-sponsors such as the United Kingdom, Norway and Australia.

Double-check the headlines

Just making sure you didn’t miss any major world events this week.

• Uganda has passed a controversial anti-LGBTQ+ bill, which would make homosexual acts punishable by death.

• This year's first major wildfire in Spain has destroyed over 3,000 hectares of forest and forced 1,500 residents to abandon their homes.

• China's Xi Jinping met with Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Moscow, where they held nearly three full days of talks.

• Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, marking the first time since the mid-1990s that Moscow bases nuclear arms outside the country.

• Donald Trump launched an offensive against Manhattan's district attorney to undermine the most acute legal threat against him ahead of his 2024 run.

• Ukraine says the previously critical situation in Bakhmut is stabilising.

• 4.9 million Haitians are affected by acute hunger, according to the United Nations, which outlines the increased need for humanitarian aid.

• Protests against the new pension law continue in France, where police have been accused of using excessive force during the protests.

• Despite the ICC warrant for alleged war crimes, NATO member Hungary said it would not arrest Vladimir Putin if he entered Hungary.

• According to the 11th World Happiness Report from the United Nations, Finland is the happiest country in the world.

One long

The New Yorker

The TikTok Hearings Inspired Little Faith in Social Media or in Congress

During five hours of questioning, lawmakers seemed to cast the company as a scapegoat for the sins of all algorithmic platforms.

Five short

1. Watch

41% of adults in the United States support a ban on Tiktok. And on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in the US Congress for the first time. But, having a golden ticket, TikTok failed to make a convincing case for itself — for example, Shou Zi Chew could not ensure that US user data was inaccessible to Chinese employees. Watch the highlights or the 7-hour live stream and judge for yourself.

2. Listen

I listened to a fascinating episode of The Gray Area with Costica Bradatan as the guest this week. In a surprisingly spiritual conversation with Sean Illing, he talked about failure and the growth that comes with it. Failure is an essential part of how life gets meaning; we even narrate our lives around how we overcome it.

However, we should not view failure as part of the path to success. If we do, we don’t get the complete discomfort of failure, which moves us forward.

3. Remember

This week I got Instagram ads from a small retail company that said they’d buy a freakin’ CORAL in my name if I placed an order. But, unfortunately, the coral won’t survive long if I keep buying stuff I don’t need from Greenwashing ads on Instagram. We have all the facts we need. And a coral won’t compensate for much of the CO2 I spew into the atmosphere, and I’m pretty good at saving CO2 whenever possible.

4. Change

Last weekend, I spent a day on a train, scrolling my feeds instead of reading a book. In hindsight, that felt like a waste of time. Next time, I’d do it differently.

5. Try

Ask someone for help. This week, I reached out to two brilliant friends, asking to pick their brains for a project I’m doing. I hesitated beforehand, thinking they had better things to do than give me advice. But judging from the response, they were grateful for my asking. It was also an excellent opportunity to catch up on what had happened since we last met.

Thank you for reading! Every time a post gets shared, it makes me very happy. /Anna