This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Freedom of Information Act, the landmark government transparency law that has helped reveal and publicize critical information about everything from the Vietnam War to FBI surveillance to CIA torture. For decades, FOIA has played a crucial role in uncovering and rectifying government wrongdoing. Today, however, advocates say that the government’s resistance to fulfilling FOIA requests has grown, forcing applicants to file expensive lawsuits to obtain records, while records that are released often take years to receive and are filled with so many redactions as to render them essentially “a waste of time.” “It’s gotten extremely bad in this last year and a half under Trump, but this has […]

A new investigation from the BBC is accusing Instagram of running paid ads in India promoting child sexual abuse material. BBC senior correspondent Divya Arya explains how Instagram’s AI-powered review process frequently fails to flag content suggesting illegal and abusive activity, and how the platform’s profit-driven algorithms boost accounts paying to advertise this content. Instagram’s parent company Meta has denied culpability, “saying that it’s absolutely unfair to say that they prioritize revenue over user safety and that they underinvest in safety mechanisms.” In response to Arya’s findings, the Indian government is now demanding that Meta immediately remove all such ads and child exploitation materials, and submit a […]

As a rose-tinted wave of progressives and democratic socialists win Democratic primaries across the United States, we take a look at two of the organizations behind this recent slate of successful electoral campaigns: the Democratic Socialists of America and Justice Democrats. From Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York to Melat Kiros in Colorado to Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C., major victories from self-described democratic socialists and DSA-backed candidates show that “socialism is losing its scare factor.” Ashik Siddique, co-chair of the DSA’s National Political Committee, explains that DSA’s “goal is to reframe politics around class lines in the United States, which is what the ruling class has […]

U.S. Denies Involvement as Blasts Rock Southern Iran, Eyewitness and Video Evidence Contradicts ICE Claims in Killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, Mexico Seeks Criminal Charges in Deaths of Mexicans in ICE Custody, Vigilantes Intensify Attacks on Immigrants in South Africa, Venezuela Faces Public Health Crisis as Earthquake Death Toll Tops 3,800, U.N. Says Russian Attacks Killed at Least 265 Ukrainian Civilians in June, Palestinian Authority Schedules First Elections Since 2006, Israel Continues Deadly Strikes on Gaza, Withholds Bodies of Palestinians, Housing Bill Sidelined by Trump Is Set to Become Law, Barring Last-Minute Veto, With Midterms Looming, Trump Completes Purge of Election Assistance Commission, Justice Department’s Civil […]

Plans for a luxury resort in an ecologically sensitive area have set off more than a month of protests in Albania, where thousands have taken to the streets to oppose the megaproject backed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. The Flamingo Revolution — named for its feared impact on migratory birds — began as an environmental protest but has now turned into anger at the entire political system, threatening to bring down the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama. For more, we speak with two members of the left-wing Lëvizja Bashkë party who call the planned resort a “money laundering operation” that exposes a deeper rot in the country. “The protests will go on, and the people are very determined,” says researcher and labor […]