Kevin Carson
boosted
Dave V. ND9JR
boosted
This week's comic, inspired by a study showing that AI summaries on top of search results are dramatically cutting traffic to websites.
#internet #technology #tech #journalism #disinformation #socialmedia #oligarchy
This week's comic, inspired by a study showing that AI summaries on top of search results are dramatically cutting traffic to websites.
#internet #technology #tech #journalism #disinformation #socialmedia #oligarchy
Dave V. ND9JR
and 1 other
boosted
Latest comic: It's hard to imagine another country doing more damage to the US than what is being done from within
#uspol #cartoon #comic #science #oligarchy #authoritarianism
Latest comic: It's hard to imagine another country doing more damage to the US than what is being done from within
#uspol #cartoon #comic #science #oligarchy #authoritarianism
Joseph Nuthalapati :fbx:
and 1 other
boosted
Good ideas are popular, from @pluralistic
Good ideas are popular, from @pluralistic
Gabriele Svelto
and 3 others
boosted
We all suspected it, now it’s confirmed.
#Musk ordered shutdown of #Starlink satellite service as #Ukraine retook territory from #Russia
A previously unreported order by #ElonMusk to cut satellite #communications over a portion of Ukraine disrupted a counteroffensive by Kyiv in the autumn of 2022. Reuters investigated the billionaire's order & its implications for countries increasingly reliant on his Starlink internet service.
#power #corruption #oligarchy
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/musk-ordered-shutdown-starlink-satellite-service-ukraine-retook-territory-russia-2025-07-25/
Tim Chambers
boosted
But #Musk’s order, which hasn’t previously been reported, is the first known instance of the billionaire actively [& personally] shutting off #Starlink coverage over a battlefield during the conflict. The decision shocked some Starlink employees & effectively reshaped the front line of the fighting, enabling #Musk to take “the outcome of a war into his own hands,” another one of the three people said.
Greg Lloyd
boosted
Upon #Musk’s order, #Ukraine troops suddenly faced a #communications #blackout, acc/to a Ukrainian military official, an advisor to the armed forces, & 2 others who experienced #Starlink failure near the front lines. Soldiers panicked, drones surveilling #Russia forces went dark, & long-range artillery units, reliant on Starlink to aim their fire, struggled to hit targets.
Greg Lloyd
boosted
“We have to do this,” Michael Nicolls, the #Starlink engineer, told colleagues upon receiving the order from #Musk, one of these people said. Staffers complied, the 3 people told Reuters, deactivating at least a hundred Starlink terminals, their hexagon-shaped cells going dark on an internal map of the company’s coverage. The move also affected other areas seized by #Russia, including some of #Donetsk province further east.
As a result,…troops failed to surround a Russian position in the town of Beryslav, east of Kherson, the administrative center of the region of the same name. “The encirclement stalled entirely,” said the military official in an interview. “It failed.”
Ultimately, #Ukraine’s counteroffensive succeeded in reclaiming Beryslav, the city of Kherson & some additional territory #Russia had occupied.
But #Musk’s order, which hasn’t previously been reported, is the first known instance of the billionaire actively [& personally] shutting off #Starlink coverage over a battlefield during the conflict. The decision shocked some Starlink employees & effectively reshaped the front line of the fighting, enabling #Musk to take “the outcome of a war into his own hands,” another one of the three people said.
Upon #Musk’s order, #Ukraine troops suddenly faced a #communications #blackout, acc/to a Ukrainian military official, an advisor to the armed forces, & 2 others who experienced #Starlink failure near the front lines. Soldiers panicked, drones surveilling #Russia forces went dark, & long-range artillery units, reliant on Starlink to aim their fire, struggled to hit targets.
As a result,…troops failed to surround a Russian position in the town of Beryslav, east of Kherson, the administrative center of the region of the same name. “The encirclement stalled entirely,” said the military official in an interview. “It failed.”
Ultimately, #Ukraine’s counteroffensive succeeded in reclaiming Beryslav, the city of Kherson & some additional territory #Russia had occupied.