this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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A prince, an ambassador, senior diplomats, top politicians. All brought down by the Jeffrey Epstein files. And all in Europe, rather than the United States.

The huge trove of Epstein documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice has sent shock waves through Europe’s political, economic and social elites — dominating headlines, ending careers and spurring political and criminal investigations.

Former U.K. Ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson was fired and could go to prison. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a leadership crisis over the Mandelson appointment. Senior figures have fallen in Norway, Sweden and Slovakia. And, even before the latest batch of files, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, lost his honors, princely title and taxpayer-funded mansion.

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No I am an american and it pisses me off I seem to be angrier about changes in the homeland than you guys are.

Jury trials, right to protest, are bedrock, non negotiable values, that your politicians are the first in the west to cancel them should be a concern, not the least as the first to adopt these rights.

[–] HamFistedVegan@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I see. A lot of people do see it as concerning. We'll see if it actually goes ahead. Many people have made their opposition to it clear.

How do you feel about the current state of your own country and the values that seem to be at threat there, if I may ask?

[–] hector@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Locking down the internet is a huge deal too, they are setting up every ip, every account, connected to a name and face and connected with all other information running it through half baked ai threat detection by companies like palantir to make secret social scores to determine everything. Not just there, everywhere, all this age verification, chatcontrol, it's trojan horses, (or trojan sheep as the case may be,) to employ these new ai tools, to surrender the population to tech for a cut of the information, which will surrender your information to the US as well make no mistake. Obviously yours in the UK is "ours" already my special partner!

Very concerned here obviously as one would guess. We are fucked, I don't want to see Europe also fall to fascists that have every intention of fixing elections for the worst people in the world to remain in permanent control. We will be helping your fascists, secretly and openly, any confidential communications with other candidates, scandals, etc, you should presume the US is sharing with the fascists to help them win, it doesn't matter how much starmer strokes off the president. All of these changes starmer makes are guarenteeing "reform" gets the vote for reform, just as the Republicans did here, as "our" politicians, labour and the democrats, are running as status quo and deeply unpopular and not trying to be popular.

The west is going to fall like dominoes barring some real leadership that is not forthcoming because we somehow still trust the controlled opposition of the oligarchs that have captured all of our parties. The far right backed by Putin and now the US are the only ones running as reform, as populist albeit more fake populist as they are mostly scapegoating.

We need real leaders now, even if in just one country, in the UK, in Europe, it can spread.

[–] HamFistedVegan@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Locking down the internet is a huge deal too, they are setting up every ip, every account, connected to a name and face and connected with all other information running it through half baked ai threat detection by companies like palantir to make secret social scores to determine everything.

Sorry, what? In the UK? I don't believe that for a second, unless you have some irrefutable evidence for that. I could write an essay about why that's not true.

surrender your information to the US as well make no mistake.

If that is happening it is by the design of the technology made by someone like Peter Thiel. The UK government would never knowingly allow such a thing to happen. There's no benefit and they risk being ejected from government if found out. It sounds ridiculous to be honest, sorry.

Very concerned here obviously as one would guess. We are fucked, I don't want to see Europe also fall to fascists that have every intention of fixing elections for the worst people in the world to remain in permanent control. We will be helping your fascists, secretly and openly,

Likewise! I am very concerned just how easily the US has fallen to the right wing spell. Steve Bannon has been shown in the Epstein files as linked to helping all sorts of right wing parties in Europe, including Reform. Luckily we at least have more stringent campaign funding rules that America's "spend what you want".

That is the price America pays for ultimate freedom of speech. It is lauded as the peak of democracy there, yet that very protection is used to guarantee unlimited financing of political campaigns by PACS and the elite. It's actually a weapon turned against the people. But yeah. Freeeedom.

The west is going to fall like dominoes barring some real leadership that is not forthcoming because we somehow still trust the controlled opposition of the oligarchs that have captured all of our parties

Not if citizens are wise to the manipulation tactics used i.e. social media. Many here are becoming aware. Rules are becoming more stringent. I have hope. Reform tend to do well in the less educated sectors of society. If we can educate them then they will see them for what they are. They thrive in poorer areas too. If the economy gets back to prospering then again, they will fade.

We need real leaders now

Mark Carney. His Davos speech was excellent. My hope os he starts taking the lead more with middle powers holding firm in the face of economic bullying from superpowers.

America and China cannot survive alone. They need the middle powers still, just less than the middle ones individually need them. As a collective though they have power.

My hope is the ties between EU countries grow stronger, hopefully we rejoin soon and we become a collective force.

That or Trump passes away amd MAGA fade into civil war. That would be nice.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Without answering all your points yet, you don't believe they are locking down the internet, doesn't speak well to your undertanding

You should know it's already been locked down in the UK for a long time, not just by Palantir either, over ten years, going on 20 really. But what they are doing now is different, and this information will be accessible to more groups of people, and is being done to utilize new technology that didn't exist back then.

I seriously think we are being dosed with some toxin making us trusting and docile because previous generations never would've stood for this.

[–] HamFistedVegan@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I

you don't believe they are locking down the internet

No, I believe they are policing the internet more than previously. The part I definitely don't believe is your idea that they are using this information to make secret social scores on citizens. That's a dystopian fantasy in my view.

Aside from introducing age verification checks do you have any evidence that it's being "locked down"? You're right in that my understanding is limited as I'm only aware of what our government has passed into law, not what people think is happening.

If you have some article or evidence that helps explain it I would be grateful.

[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 points 7 hours ago

It's sort of the whole thing about Palantir, and like companies, they aren't the only ones. They are tapping into a lot of information streams, including ones people assume they don't have access to, including ones they aren't supposed to have access to. Because the information is never used in court it's never challenged, any information they get from such systems they find parallel constructions for the evidence, a plausible legal way they found that evidence they want to use in court.

I will jot a note on your comment and send you something about it when I find a good article about what I'm talking about. The article(s) I am referencing from memory are not findable by search engines as such due to enshitified search results, and time as one article about Palantir, and the UK, was like 2010 or so. Not just palantir, but they were setting Natsec to tap into the internet in the UK, and US was following suit, on a base level.

But beyond that longstanding spying, this is a new beast entirely, utilizing new technologies past authoritarians couldn't dream of, to run ai threat detection, and make scores on people, that they then discreetly filter through, to you getting that loan at your bank, that job, the background check, and in the dystopian future, determining the personalized prices you are offered for goods, online or in person with digital price tags, down to the results your search engine shows you.

These ai systems are half baked too, it's not like they will make good accurate determinations, or have accurate information, and as always to help sell it to the people in power they leave a way for it's users to input ways to fuck people they don't like. Anyway I will get back to you on a source on that part of it.

[–] itistime@infosec.pub 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I sense a dangerous level of willful disbelief. Things in the UK and EU are going to get worse. The fascists don’t follow rules, and most of your politicians have the same weaknesses as our controlled opposition.

Do not be complacent, because they are already in your midst with blades to your throats. They are preparing to cut.

[–] HamFistedVegan@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

I sense a dangerous level of willful disbelief.

Disbelief of what? That the UK government is keeping secret social scores on it's citizens? Yeah. Until I see evidence of that.

They are starting to police the internet more though. I personally think that's due to the huge amounts of misinformation used to manipulate the public via social media. I.e. The Southport Riots which were inflamed by spreading of lies about immigrants.

This is probably an unpopular opinion here but I think there should be more control. Peoples view of reality is being completely distorted by the internet and what they see and read. It will only get worse with AI and deepfakes. I personally think it does need more policing. There is a good documentary called "Hypernormalisation' by Adam Curtis that explores the reality distortion we experience. It is worth watching.

My political views are that one of governments main duties is to protect citizens from harm. That includes protecting them from business malpractices from social media companies and foreign influencers looking to destabilise the population. I believe our government should take action to prevent harm from those.

I am not being wilfully ignorant of what they are doing. I support it. That may make me unpopular here but so be it. I stand by that belief. I will change it if I am presented with tangible evidence of things like social ratings for citizens or nefarious uses of peoples information. I haven't seen any this far though. Feel free to send some if you have any.

[–] itistime@infosec.pub 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Are you for age (ID) verification? Are you fine with no channels of privacy? Do you support things like chat control in the EU?

If you do, then you are blind to how these people think and operate.

[–] HamFistedVegan@lemmy.world 0 points 10 hours ago

Am I fine with age verification? Yes, I am. Especially for social media. I don't want children being brainwashed by right wing propaganda that is prevalent on there and I believe the state has a duty of care to protect citizens.

No channels of privacy? No, I am not fine with that. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that private conversations are not possible though, either via chat encryption or any other method. Is there any for the UK?

Chat control? I'm not sure. That sounds vague. I would need to know the specifics and what it's protective purpose is.

You are welcome to call me blind. You still haven't presented any evidence that the government is keeping secret social scores on it's citizens though, nor any evidence of state wide internet restrictions on privacy. If there is such evidence and I believe it is a threat to an open and democratic society then I will act.

The USA is currently descending into authoritarianism, in my view precisely because "freedom of speech" and freedom of ownership are so closely protected. Malicious forces can spread whatever messages they want and influence whoever they want with impunity.

My view is that the current UK government is not a threat to the people. The elites looking to purchase power and influence and eventually become the government are the biggest threat. Social media is their most effective weapon.

I would argue that if you can't see that then you are blind yourself.

I'm happy to agree to disagree though. Civility and all that.