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Markets are tanking, coronavirus is spreading – and Trump is attacking Biden and the media – CNBC

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President Donald Trump, whose administration is under increasing pressure and criticism for its response to the coronavirus outbreak, lashed out in a Twitter tirade Monday morning that came as global markets tumbled from coronavirus fallout and Joe Biden appeared to be surging toward the Democratic nomination.

Trump blasted the media, accusing it of colluding with Democrats in trying to “inflame the CoronaVirus situation.” He accused the Democratic Party of trying to “smear” Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost his front-runner status to Biden in a Super Tuesday rout. And the president attacked his predecessors: “The Obama/Biden Administration is the most corrupt Administration in the history of our Country.” 

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The Trump administration and the president himself are under fire for what has been called a sluggish and flawed response to the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.

Critical reports, including by The Atlantic, The Washington Post and NBC News, have painted a portrait of a White House in an enhanced state of chaos. Some members of the administration, according to reports, have been calling for a more robust response since the early days of the outbreak. Others, including Trump and his top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, have sought to play down the severity of the outbreak.

Later Monday morning on Twitter, Trump lauded his administration’s response to the disease, taking credit for saving “many lives” and complimenting the task force being led by Vice President Mike Pence.

He added in a follow up: “So much FAKE NEWS!”

The president had spent the weekend in Florida, and was he scheduled to remain there Monday morning to participate in a fundraiser and chat with supporters before returning to the White House in the afternoon.

CNBC reported that Trump will be presented with a “full menu” of economic options to respond to the virus after he gets back to the White House.

The number of coronavirus cases in the United States ballooned to at least 564 over the weekend, while at least 22 people have died from it in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally. Globally, more than 111,000 have been infected, and at least 3,890 have died.

Markets are in turmoil due in large part to the spread of the disease and its impact on trade and consumer demand.

The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted more than 1,800 points at the start of trading Monday. Global equities markets saw broad declines across the board, leading to a quick halt in stock trading shortly after the market opened.

Oil prices plunged, too, as demand fears pushed OPEC members Saudi Arabia and Russia into a price war. Trump has long touted the stock market’s success during his term as a key argument for his policies.

The White House declined to comment when asked for the administration’s reaction to the stock market plunge.

Biden, who surpassed Sanders in the delegate count after an astonishing performance on Super Tuesday and has fed his momentum with a slew of key endorsements, looked to cement his lead in the next round of primary contests Tuesday. All eyes were on Michigan, the delegate-rich swing state in which polls showed Biden with a commanding lead over Sanders.

A week before Super Tuesday, Biden’s campaign appeared to have lost nearly all of its momentum to Sanders, who had triumphed in the Nevada caucuses and enjoyed a healthy lead in delegates.

But Biden’s turnaround in South Carolina on Feb. 29 set the stage for a massive haul on Super Tuesday, when 14 states held their nominating contests.

The former veep to Barack Obama had been a prime target of Trump’s ire from the time he entered the 2020 race. Trump even asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce an investigation into allegations of corruption against Biden and his son Hunter through their connections to a Ukrainian natural gas company.

Those efforts, seen by critics as an attempt to smear the possible Democratic presidential nominee with the taint of a corruption probe, prompted the Democrat-led House to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The president was acquitted of both articles of impeachment in the GOP-held Senate.

With Biden back on top, Trump has taken aim at him once again. 

“I will protect your Social Security and Medicare, just as I have for the past 3 years. Sleepy Joe Biden will destroy both in very short order, and he won’t even know he’s doing it!” Trump tweeted Friday, one of his first direct attacks against Biden since Super Tuesday.

The Biden campaign denounced the president’s attacks. “Why the hell is Donald Trump spending his time tweeting Breitbart fanfiction when he should be leading the country’s response to the coronavirus?” spokesman Andrew Bates said.

The Sanders campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Although COVID-19 emerged squarely within the bounds of Trump’s term in office, the president has even suggested that the Obama administration bears blame for a lack of testing kits available in the U.S.

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump claimed without providing evidence during a March 4 roundtable event at the White House. “And we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more accurate and rapid fashion.”

Trump’s claim that he “undid” any Obama-era testing rule is wrong, FactCheck.org reported. A day later, Trump denied that he had blamed Obama for the testing kit difficulties.

On Monday, after attacking the Obama-Biden administration, Trump again defended his own response to the outbreak.

Trump complimented Pence, who was put in charge of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. And he took credit for saving “many lives” by implementing travel restrictions and quarantines in late January.

Trump’s public schedule has him spending much of his day at campaign fundraising events in Florida before he travels back to the White House later Monday afternoon. The White House is also scheduled to hold a coronavirus task force media briefing at 5:30 p.m. ET.

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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Ontario school boards sue social media giants for $4.5B

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Four major Ontario school boards are taking some of the largest social media companies to court over their products, alleging the way they’re designed has negatively rewired the way children think, behave and learn and disrupted the way schools operate.

The public district school boards of Toronto, Peel and Ottawa-Carleton, along with Toronto’s Catholic counterpart, are looking for about $4.5 billion in total damages from Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd., which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively, according to separate but similar statements of claim filed Wednesday.

“These social media companies … have knowingly created a product that is addictive and marketed to kids,” said Rachel Chernos Lin, the chair of the Toronto District School Board, on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning on Thursday.

“We need them to be held accountable and we need them to create safer products.”

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Social media giants ‘knowingly’ harming children, TDSB chair says in wake of lawsuit

3 hours ago

Duration 5:53

Four of Ontario’s largest school boards, including the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), have launched lawsuits against social media giants behind Meta, Snapchat and TikTok for allegedly causing harm to students. Metro Morning host David Common spoke with TDSB chair Rachel Chernos Lin about the action.

The allegations have yet to be proven in court, and there is no set date for when they will be heard. CBC Toronto has reached out to the companies named for comment.

The school boards, speaking under a new coalition called Schools for Social Media Change, allege students are experiencing an “attention, learning, and mental health crisis” because of “prolific and compulsive use of social media products,” in a news release.

They allege the platforms facilitate and promote cyberbullying, harassment, hate speech and misinformation, and have a part in escalating physical violence and conflicts in schools, according to the statements of claim.

They also argue these apps are “purposefully designed” to deliver harmful content to students dealing with topics such as suicidal ideation, drugs, self-harm, alcohol, eating disorders, hate speech and sex — particularly content encouraging “non-consensual” sexual activity.

Trying to respond to those problems has caused “massive strains” on the boards’ funds, including in additional mental health programming and staff, IT costs and administrative resources, the release says. The boards call on the social media giants to “remediate” the costs to the larger education system and redesign their products to keep students safe.

Lawsuit may be first of its kind in Canada

Hundreds of school boards in the United States, along with some states, have launched similar lawsuits against social media companies.

Last fall, over 30 states accused Meta Platforms Inc. of harming young people’s mental health and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly designing features on Instagram and Facebook that cause children to be addicted to its platforms.

In an email, a spokesperson for Snap said Snapchat was “intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media.”

“Snapchat opens directly to a camera — rather than a feed of content — and has no traditional public likes or comments. While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence.”

What social media scrolling is doing to kids’ brains

5 months ago

Duration 7:52

With most children and teenagers spending hours a day on a smartphone, CBC’s Christine Birak breaks down what research shows about how using social media is changing kids’ behaviour, if it’s rewiring their brains and what can be done about it.

Neinstein LLP, a Toronto-based firm, is representing the school boards. The boards will not be responsible for any costs related to the suit unless a successful outcome is reached, the release says.

Duncan Embury, a partner and head of litigation at Neinstein, told CBC News the named companies are “mainly responsible” for the social media products that kids use, and share “common” designs or algorithms that lead to “problematic use.”

To his knowledge, this is the first case of its kind in Canada.

“Based on what we’re seeing and what we’re hearing from our educators, I think this is a problem that is pervasive across our system and I wouldn’t be surprised if there [were] more boards that took this step,” said Embury.

Ford ‘disagrees’ with move

At an unrelated news conference on Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he “disagrees” with the schools boards’ lawsuits.

“What are they spending on lawyer fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not about this other nonsense that they’re looking to fight in court,” he said.

WATCH | Ford disagrees with school board lawsuits against social media companies:

Ford disagrees with school board lawsuits against social media companies

2 hours ago

Duration 0:41

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded to news Thursday that four major school boards in the province are suing some of the largest social media companies over alleged harm to young people, saying he disagrees with the boards’ action. “Let’s focus on the kids, not about this other nonsense,” he told reporters.

CBC News spoke to parents with children who attend schools in the Toronto District School Board. While they all agree social media apps are a problem, they differ in what approach they think should be used to regulate them.

“Just take the phones away,” said Gillian Henderson.

“I don’t think we need to sue anybody, that seems like a long, expensive process. Just take away their phones in class and give them back to them when they need them.”

The board has recently moved to develop a policy to limit cellphone use in classrooms, which includes potential phone bans and social media restrictions. It previously said staff had problems enforcing policies stating students should only use phones for educational purposes only.

Two separate pictures of a woman and a man shown together.
Gillian Henderson and Shyon Baumann have children who attend schools in the Toronto District School Board. Henderson thinks schools should take students’ phones away in class, while Baumann says it may be helpful to force tech giants to decrease harm from their apps through the court system. (Paul Smith/CBC)

Shyon Baumann said school boards could use some help in reducing screen time.

“If the school boards can do what they can trying to police it, that would be great. But it would be also great if the app creators did what they could to make the harms decrease,” he said.

“If they’re not going to make voluntary changes, then maybe doing it through the courts is the most effective way.”

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Five of the best books about social media

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From Covid conspiracy theories to recent speculations about Catherine, Princess of Wales, social media is at the heart of how we share information, and misinformation, with one another in the 21st century. For those who want to have a better understanding of social media and how it affects us, here are a selection of titles that explore how we consume, share, and manipulate information on social media platforms.


So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

Journalist and author Jon Ronson argues we live in “a great renaissance of public shaming”, and this book tracks down some of the many victims of online shaming to understand what happened to them as a result. In the process, we learn about Ronson’s own values, question our own, and figure out how we’ve reached a time where an online feed can become a social courtroom.


Doppelganger by Naomi Klein

After getting repeatedly mistaken for feminist-turned-conspiracy-theorist Naomi Wolf online, and then in real life, Naomi Klein penned Doppelganger as an earnest and introspective look at herself. The book explores how conspiracy theories and lies spread quickly through the internet, and how the social and political climate of the physical world manipulates the way we experience online platforms. While not exclusively about social media, the story behind Doppelganger is a perfect case of the ways our digital lives and identities intersect with what we experience in reality – and how dangerous the repercussions of spreading online lies can be.


Irresistible by Adam Alter

Have you ever wondered why you can’t stop scrolling on your TikTok “for you” page, or obsessing over how many likes you got on a recent Facebook post? You’re not alone, and Adam Alter’s book explores why we get sucked into the digital world. He answers what makes an online addiction, whether it be to emails, Instagram, or Netflix, different to other forms of addiction – and warns us of the dangers this could cause long-term. As well as introspection, he gives practical solutions to how digital addiction can be controlled for good.

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Extremely Online by Taylor Lorenz

Journalist Taylor Lorenz calls this book “a social history of social media”; she uses real-life case studies of mothers, teenagers, politicians and influencers to assess how social media touches all demographics. Extremely Online explores topics from the digital economy and influencer culture, to what makes moments go viral on Twitter and how this is all influencing the way we socialise and understand the world. At its core, this book explores the idea of what it means to connect – and how social media as an innovation has warped communication.


TikTok Boom by Chris Stokel-Walker

TikTok is arguably one of the most significant advancements in social media in the past two decades. This book by journalist and writer Chris Stokel-Walker explores how the app is changing the way users interact with content. It moves away from the social-commentary style of the other books mentioned here, instead using business and technology analysis as a means to describe wider socio-political repercussions of the app. Stokel-Walker bridges the gap between the digital and the physical, showing the feedback loop that exists between what happens online on platforms such as TikTok and the real world.

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