Tag: checks

Tiny Changes Let False Claims About COVID-19, Voting Evade Facebook Fact Checks : NPR

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Facebook labels posts that its fact checkers have found false, as in the screenshot on the left. On the right, a similar post had no label applied.

Screeenshot via Avaaz


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Screeenshot via Avaaz

Facebook labels posts that its fact checkers have found false, as in the screenshot on the left. On the right, a similar post had no label applied.

Screeenshot via Avaaz

Something as simple as changing the font of a message or cropping an image can be all it takes to bypass Facebook’s defenses against hoaxes and lies.

A new analysis by the international advocacy group Avaaz shines light on why, despite the tech giant’s efforts to stamp out misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic and the U.S. election, it’s so hard to stop bad actors from spreading these falsehoods.

“We found them getting around Facebook’s policies by just tweaking the misinformation a little bit,

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IRS owes 9 million people stimulus checks, but they have to register by Oct. 15. What to know

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The IRS this month is contacting 9 million Americans who may still be owed economic stimulus money.


Angela Lang/CNET

After the IRS sent the bulk of the first stimulus check, the agency noticed something was wrong. One large group — an estimated 9 million people — didn’t receive their lawful payment. 

For the most part, the first wave of stimulus checks went out automatically this spring and summer, without the intended recipients having to do anything but meet the qualifications. But a subset of folks did have to take a further step, mainly people who typically don’t file their taxes, a group that can include older adults, retirees and SSDI recipients.

The IRS is now in the process of sending letters to people who may be eligible. But the window is closing for nonfilers to claim their $1,200 checks by the end of 2020. Oct. 15

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Digital identity checks to be expanded under $800m new-technology budget package

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a circuit board: Photograph: dem10/Getty Images

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: dem10/Getty Images

The Morrison government will expand the use of digital identity checks when businesses and individuals access services online, as part of an $800m package in next week’s budget to increase the take-up of new technologies.

As the government puts the finishing touches on its delayed budget, which is expected to foreshadow a deficit north of $200bn and ongoing high unemployment, the Coalition is rolling out a series of announcements that it says are designed to get the economy moving again.

But the government is coming under pressure for reducing the rate of jobkeeper and jobseeker payments over the past few days, with Labor accusing Scott Morrison of “mishandling this worst recession in almost a century” by cutting economic support “without a proper jobs plan to replace it”.



a circuit board: Digital identity scanner

© Photograph: dem10/Getty Images
Digital identity scanner

The biggest chunk of new funding in the

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