Have you ever had the experience of getting tantalisingly close to a big opportunity in your creative career a but not quite making it? Maybe it was a pitch, or a competition, a publishing opportunity, a senior role, or a funding application. Maybe you got really positive feedback. They said you were great, your work [â¦]
The post Are You in the Ballpark? (finally, The 21st Century Creative on YouTube) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
When the Covid 19 pandemic struck in 2020, human life on earth was massively disrupted. Not only the human tragedy of millions of lives lost, but also the social and economic damage caused by the virus and our attempts to control it. As a writer and a coach for creatives, I have been particularly concerned [â¦]
The post Creative Disruption: How 12 Creatives on 5 Continents Rose to the Challenge of the Pandemic appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 10 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Itas been my most ambitious season yet, with creatives from 5 continents and probably the closest Iall ever [â¦]
The post How I Created, Funded and Launched My New Podcast (while the World Was in Meltdown) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 9 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to Tokyo, to meet Ichi Hatano, a wonderful artist whose work has deep [â¦]
The post From Tattoos to NFTs with Ichi Hatano appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 8 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Have you ever had the idea for a creative project that youave never quite got round to starting? [â¦]
The post Using Lockdown to Launch a Dream Project with Nicky Mondellini appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
If you work on your own a in your office or studio, or your bedroom or at your kitchen table a it can feel like no one is watching. So it doesnat matter whether you show up. If you skipped a day on your novel, who would know? If you didnat go to the studio [â¦]
The post All Arts Are Performing Arts appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 7 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today weare focusing on a creative sector that is close to my heart, which was massively disrupted but [â¦]
The post Taking Deep Work Online with Laura Davis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A few months ago I was listening to the DavidBowie: AlbumtoAlbum podcast, a terrific show about Bowie hosted by Arsalan Mohammed. In Season 3 episode 11 Arsalan spoke to Donny McCaslin, the leader of the jazz band that Bowie discovered in a New York club, and asked to work with him on what turned out [â¦]
The post Sometimes You Have to Grind the Work Out appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 6 of the Creative Disruption season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are off to Australia in the company of Charlotte Abroms, a music manager based in Melbourne [â¦]
The post Helping Musicians Through Lockdown with Charlotte Abroms appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Last week I suggested that if youare serious about achieving your creative ambitions, you need to think in terms of projects, not tasks. Because if you get up every morning and ask yourself aWhat should I work on today?a you risk making decisions based on what feels urgent right now, rather than what will make [â¦]
The post Work on Multifaceted Projects appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 5 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are going to look at one of the biggest challenge for many people during lockdown, whether [â¦]
The post Staying Creative as a Parent (Even in a Pandemic) with Kay Lock Kolp appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
When we think of productivity we typically think about tasks and to-do lists, working habits and routines. We focus on how to make the most of our time on a daily or at most a weekly basis. All of which is great, but if this is all we focus on, thereas a danger of getting [â¦]
The post Focus on Projects, Not Tasks appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 4 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we meet Amrita Kumar, the co-founder and CEO of Candid Marketing, an innovative marketing agency in India. [â¦]
The post Launching a New Business in the Pandemic with Amrita Kumar appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Marketing is a word that strikes fear into the heart of a lot of creatives. Itas an area where a lot of us feel we donat have a natural talent a weare far more comfortable making work than telling the world about it, let alone trying to get people to buy it. One reason for [â¦]
The post Make Your Marketing Personal with a Media Dashboard appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 3 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. Today we are looking at the world of film and TV production, which was massively disrupted by the [â¦]
The post Rebooting Global Filming with Hometeam appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A lot of creative professions involve submitting work to gatekeepers of various kinds: agents, editors, publishers, gallerists, funders, producers, studios and competition judges and so on. Yes, the 21st century gives us plenty of options for creating things without gatekeepers a you can sell direct, build your own platform, launch your own event, self-publish or [â¦]
The post Why Rejection Doesnat (Necessarily) Mean Your Work Isnat Good Enough appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Welcome to Episode 2 of the CREATIVE DISRUPTION season of The 21st Century Creative, where we are hearing stories of creatives around the world who came up with a creative response to the challenges of the pandemic. This week we are off to South Africa, to hear from Earl Abrahams, an artist and filmmaker who [â¦]
The post Lockdown Series: Windows on a Changed World with Earl Abrahams appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
aEat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.a This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain. Apparently thereas no hard evidence linking it to him, but that hasnat stopped it from concentrating the minds of many people when they ask themselves [â¦]
The post Eat that Frog (But Eat the Cake as Well) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Today we kick off Season 6 of The 21st Century Creative, the podcast that helps you thrive as a creative professional amid the demands, distractions and opportunities of the 21st Century. The theme for this season is CREATIVE DISRUPTION. Every episode will feature an interview with a creator whose work was disrupted by the Covid-19 [â¦]
The post The Rocky Road for Theatre through the Pandemic with Steven Kunis appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
I hope this finds you as well as can be. Here in the UK weare bracing for what we are assured will be a large wave of Omicron. I know things may be very different for you, depending on where you are in the world. But whatever the circumstances, I hope you are finding your [â¦]
The post Video: Forget the Career Ladder a Start Creating Assets appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Today is the launch of my new podcast, and itas something Iave been planning and dreaming of sharing with you for years. Itas called A Mouthful of Air. And in several ways, itas the opposite of my 21st Century Creative podcast. I designed the two shows to work together from the start, although itâs taken [â¦]
The post My new podcast (and why itas the opposite of The 21st Century Creative) appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Last night I was about to go to bed when I suddenly remembered an idea Iad had for an article a few months ago. Though I say so myself, it was a great idea, and I was keen to revisit it, so I opened up the Scrivener project where I had written it downa| and [â¦]
The post Ideas Are Leprechauns appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Michael Bungay Stanier, a returning guest whose interview way back in Season 1 proved very popular. And his book The Coaching Habit turned out to be even more popular, as it went on to sell three quarters of a million copies. Michael is back with some excellent [â¦]
The post Avoiding the Advice Trap with Michael Bungay Stanier appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
A lot of productivity advice tells us that we need to stop procrastinating, beat Resistance, and get things done. The Americans like to talk about ashippinga, meaning finished and sent out for delivery. This emphasis on getting things done and out to market is part of their extraordinary entrepreneurial culture. Famously, Guy Kawasaki even said [â¦]
The post Every Creative Project Is a Revolving Door appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Krystal Lauk, an illustrator who took an unconventional path by creating illustrations for tech companies, and founded a studio that counts Google, Uber, Facebook and The New York Times among its clients. Itas a fascinating story of discovery and enterprise at what Krystal calls athe intersection of [â¦]
The post The 21st Century Illustrator with Krystal Lauk appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Iave recently started taking one-to-one Japanese conversation lessons. It hasnat been easy. In fact, itas been a bit of a humbling experience. Between work and family responsibilities, I only have 30 minutes a day to study Japanese, and Iave spent this time every day for the past two years memorising kanji characters, vocabulary and grammar [â¦]
The post You Have to be Bad to Get Good appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Cynthia Morris, a coach for creatives who shares insights on the book-writing process, based on her latest book The Busy Womanas Guide to Writing a World-Changing Book. So if you are contemplating writing a book â whether itas your first one or your twenty-first â there is [â¦]
The post Writing a World-Changing Book with Cynthia Morris appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
If you think about overhearing something, you probably think of listening to someone elseas conversation, whether deliberately or accidentally, and picking up a titbit of information that you would never otherwise have been privy to. It might be funny, or shocking or useful, or â as in the case of so many loud phone calls [â¦]
The post The Art of Overhearing Yourself appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Todayas guest on The 21st Century Creative is Emily Kimelman, a thriller author who has travelled the world in a boat and criss-crossed the USA in an Airstream trailer while writing and publishing her books, and selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the process. Emilyas adventurous spirit shines through in her writing as well [â¦]
The post The Adventure of Writing with Emily Kimelman appeared first on Creative Coach | Mark McGuinness | Since 1996.
Author and Modern Elder Academy founder Chip Conley shares four pathways to discover your purpose and the statement that helps him fulfill his.
Early in my research about Chip Conley, I heard him share a perspective that stopped me in my tracks. Invoking Father Richard Rohras insight, he shared that we spend the first half of our lives serving our ego and the second half serving our soul. For weeks, I couldnat stop asking: How can I start the second half sooner?A
With $290 million in funding and a team of industry veterans, the new company hopes to enter a category of obesity treatments that has taken the country by storm.
Metsera, a clinical-stage biotechnology startup that develops drugs for obesity and metabolic diseases, launched on Thursday with what it described as a âbroad portfolioâ of weight-loss treatments that it hopes to bring to market.
Certainly there are other major factors driving the interest in bitcoin and gold.
Concern about the rapidly rising U.S. government debt is partly behind recent surges in gold prices and bitcoin, even as the Treasury market so far remains relatively sanguine about the countryâs fiscal path, market observers say.
Officials said it could be used to help identify promising athletes, personalize training methods and make the games fairer by improving judging.
Olympic organizers unveiled their strategy Friday to use artificial intelligence in sports, joining the global rush to capitalize on the rapidly advancing technology.
Olympic Broadcasting Services first began using AI at the PyeongChang Winter Games in 2018.
As part of a push by the International Olympic Committee to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) in Paris, the Gamesâ broadcaster is stepping up its use of the technologyabut not without concerns about the risk of âdeepfakesâ.
the UAW is operating under new leadership, directly elected by its members for the first time and basking in a successful confrontation with Detroitas major automakers.
The United Auto Workersâ ambitious drive to expand its reach to nonunion factories across the South and elsewhere faces a key test Friday night, when workers at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, will finish voting on whether to join the union.
Designation as a hazardous substance under the Superfund law doesnat ban the two chemicals.
The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday designated two forever chemicals that have been used in cookware, carpets and firefighting foams as hazardous substances, an action intended to ensure quicker cleanup of the toxic compounds and require industries and others responsible for contamination to pay for its removal.
Backers of the bill, which recently cleared a key committee, say the lack of pet-friendly units is pushing renters to forgo housing or relinquish beloved pets to overcrowded shelters.
California pet owners struggling to find a rental that accepts their furry, four-legged family members could have an easier time leasing new housing under proposed state legislation that would ban blanket no-pets policies and prohibit landlords from charging additional fees for common companions like cats and dogs.
Millions of people use X in Pakistan, and Khanas Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party relies on it especially heavily.
An important ally of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded the government lift a two-month-old ban on the social media platform X, saying on Friday that it violates citizensâ right to speech and expression.
Russian-linked hack attacks against U.S. water utilities highlights yet another weakness in the sector.
When the streets of Muleshoe, Texas, flooded with water in January, most people probably didnat blame Russian hackers.
While cost effective and efficient, training AI models on social media carries some major risk.
The unique relationship between social media and AI continues to develop in interesting ways, with Redditas recent deal with Google allowing their AI to train on its content, and tech companiesâ sudden interest in once-popular social media sites like Photobucket.Â
The damages they are seeking are symbolic, about 23,000 yen ($150) per plaintiff.
A group of Japanese doctors has filed a civil lawsuit against U.S. search giant Google, demanding damages for what they claim are unpoliced derogatory and often false comments.
The railroad corporation claims it was not aware of the hazards of asbestos.
BNSF Railway attorneys are expected to argue before jurors Friday that the railroad should not be held liable for the lung cancer deaths of two former residents of an asbestos-contaminated Montana town, one of the deadliest sites in the federal Superfund pollution program.
Attorneys for the Warren Buffett-owned company say the railroadâs corporate predecessors didnât know the vermiculite it hauled over decades from a nearby mine was filled with hazardous microscopic asbestos fibers.
The case in federal civil court over the two deaths is the first of numerous lawsuits against the Texas-based railroad corporation to reach trial over its past operations in Libby, Montana. Current and former residents of the small town near the U.S.-Canada border want BNSF held accountable for its alleged role in asbestos exposure that health officials say has killed several hundred people and sickened thousands.
Looming over the proceedings is W.R. Grace & Co., a chemical company that operated a mountaintop vermiculite mine 7 miles (11 kilometers) outside of Libby until it was closed 1990. The Maryland-based company played a central role in Libbyâs tragedy and has paid significant settlements to victims.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris has referred to the mining company as âthe elephant in the roomâ in the BNSF trial. He reminded jurors several times that the case was about the railroadâs conduct, not W.R. Graceâs separate liability.
Federal prosecutors in 2005 indicted W. R. Grace and executives from the company on criminal charges over the contamination in Libby. A jury acquitted them following a 2009 trial.
How much W.R. Grace revealed about the asbestos dangers to Texas-based BNSF and its corporate predecessors has been sharply disputed.
The railroad said it was obliged under law to ship the vermiculite, which was used in insulation and for other commercial purposes, and that W.R. Grace employees had concealed the health hazards from the railroad.
Former railroad workers said during testimony and in depositions that they knew nothing about the risks of asbestos. They said Grace employees were responsible for loading the hopper cars, plugging the holes of any cars leaking vermiculite and occasionally cleaned up material that spilled in the rail yard.
Former rail yard worker John Swing said in previously recorded testimony that he didnât know asbestos was an issue in Libby until a 1999 newspaper story reporting deaths and illnesses among mine workers and their families.
Swing also said he didnât think the rail yard was dusty. His testimony was at odds with people who grew up in Libby and recall dust getting kicked up whenever the wind blew or a train rolled through the yard.
The estates of the two deceased plaintiffs have argued that the W.R. Graceâs actions donât absolve BNSF of its responsibility for knowingly exposing people to asbestos at its railyard in the heart of the community.
Their attorneys said BNSF should have known about the dangers because Grace put signs on rail cars carrying vermiculite warning of potential health risks. They showed jurors an image of a warning label allegedly attached to rail cars in the late 1970s that advised against inhaling the asbestos dust because it could cause bodily harm.
BNSF higher-ups also should have been aware of the dangers because they attended conferences that discussed dust diseases like asbestosis in the 1930s, attorneys for the plaintiffs argued.
The Environmental Protection Agency descended on Libby after the 1999 news reports. In 2009 it declared in Libby the nationâs first ever public health emergency under the federal Superfund cleanup program.
The pollution in Libby has been cleaned up, largely at public expense. Yet the long timeframe over which asbestos-related diseases can develop means people previously exposed are likely to continue getting sick and dying for years to come, health officials say.
Family members of Tom Wells and Joyce Walder testified that their lives ended soon after they were diagnosed with mesothelioma. The families said the dust blowing from the rail yard sickened and killed them.
In a March 2020 video of Wells played for jurors and recorded the day before he died, he lay in a home hospital bed, struggling to breathe.
âIâve been placed in a horrible spot here, and the best chance I see at releasearelief for everybodyais to just get it over with,â he said. âItâs just not something I want to try and play hero through because I donât think that thereâs a miracle waiting.â
If the past is any indication, investors might protest a little but ultimately wind up going along with managementas decision.
This story originally appeared in The Technology Letter and is republished here with permission.
The reserve has traditionally been a site of tug of war between environmentalists and developers.
The Biden administration said Friday it will restrict new oil and gas leasing on 13 million acres (5.3 million hectares) of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska to help protect wildlife such as caribou and polar bears as the Arctic continues to warm.
The decisionapart of an ongoing, yearslong fight over whether and how to develop the vast oil resources in the stateafinalizes protections first proposed last year as the Biden administration prepared to approve the controversial Willow oil project.
The approval of Willow drew fury from environmentalists, who said the large oil project violated Bidenâs pledge to combat climate change. Fridayâs decision also cements an earlier plan that called for closing nearly half the reserve to oil and gas leasing.
A group of Republican lawmakers, led by Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, jumped out ahead of Fridayâs announcement about drilling limitations in the National Petroleum-Reserve Alaska even before it was publicly announced. Sullivan called it an âillegalâ attack on the stateâs economic lifeblood, and predicted lawsuits.
âItâs more than a one-two punch to Alaska, because when you take off access to our resources, when you say you cannot drill, you cannot produce, you cannot explore, you cannot move itathis is the energy insecurity that weâre talking about,â Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said.
The decision by the Interior Department doesnât change the terms of existing leases in the reserve or affect currently authorized operations, including Willow.
In an olive branch to environmentalists, the Biden administration also Friday recommended the rejection of a state corporationâs application related to a proposed 210-mile (338-kilometer) road in the northwest part of the state to allow mining of critical mineral deposits, including including copper, cobalt, zinc, silver and gold. There are no mining proposals or current mines in the area, however, and the proposed funding model for the Ambler Road project is speculative, the Interior Department said in a statement.
Sullivan accused the administration of undermining U.S. national security interests with both decisions. Alaska political leaders have long accused the Biden administration of harming the state with decisions limiting the development of oil and gas, minerals and timber.
President âJoe Biden is fine with our adversaries producing energy and dominating the worldâs critical minerals while shutting down our own in America, as long as the far-left radicals he feels are key to his reelection are satisfied,â Sullivan said Thursday at a Capitol news conference with 10 other GOP senators. âWhat a dangerous world this president has created.â
Biden defended his decision regarding the petroleum reserve.
Alaskaâs âmajestic and rugged lands and waters are among the most remarkable and healthy landscapes in the world,â are critical to Alaska Native communities and âdemand our protection,â he said in a statement.
Nagruk Harcharek, president of Voice of the Arctic IA+-upiat, a group whose members include leaders from across much of Alaskaâs North Slope region, has been critical of the administrationâs approach. The groupâs board of directors previously passed a resolution opposing the administrationâs plans for the reserve.
The petroleum reserveaabout 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refugeais home to caribou and polar bears and provides habitat for millions of migrating birds. It was set aside around a century ago as an emergency oil source for the U.S. Navy, but since the 1970s has been overseen by the U.S. Interior Department. There has been ongoing, longstanding debate over where development should occur.
Most existing leases in the petroleum reserve are clustered in an area thatâs considered to have high development potential, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the Interior Department. The development potential in other parts of the reserve is lower, the agency said.
The rules announced Friday would place restrictions on future leasing and industrial development in areas designated as special for their wildlife, subsistence or other values and call for the agency to evaluate regularly whether to designate new special areas or bolster protections in those areas. The agency cited as a rationale the rapidly changing conditions in the Arctic due to climate change, including melting permafrost and changes in plant life and wildlife corridors.
Environmentalists were pleased.
âThis huge, wild place will be able to remain wild,â Ellen Montgomery of Environment America Research & Policy Center said.
Jeremy Lieb, an attorney with Earthjustice, said the administration had taken an important step to protect the climate with the latest decision. Earthjustice is involved in litigation currently before a federal appeals court that seeks to overturn Willowâs approval.
A decision in that case is pending.
Google executive Rick Osterloh says AI is the main reason hardware and software engineers are coming together.
Google will combine the software division responsible for Android mobile software and the Chrome browser with the hardware division known for Pixel smartphones and Fitbit wearables, the company said Thursday. Itâs part of a broader plan to integrate artificial intelligence more widely throughout the company.
In a letter to employees, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the changes will âturbocharge the Android and Chrome ecosystemsâ while helping to spur innovation.
The decision will place both operations under the oversight of Rick Osterloh, a Google executive who previously oversaw the companyâs hardware group. Not long ago, Google insulated Android development from the hardware division, saying it wanted to avoid giving its phone designers an unfair advantage over the other major smartphone makers who used Androidaincluding Samsung and Motorola, as well as Chinese companies such as Oppo and Xiaomi.
Then a few years ago, Google started to position the Pixel as a flagship for demonstrating what AI could accomplish and leaned heavily into developing features that could demonstrate its potential. That meant more integration of AI hardware and software to power those features on mobile devices.
In an interview with The Verge, a tech publication, Osterloh noted that AI is the primary reason for bringing together Googleâs consumer hardware and software engineers. He argued that phone technology is already growing more dependent on AI, citing the development of the Pixel camera, which among other things uses the technology for features that enhance nighttime photos or automatically choose the best of several closely timed shots.
Combining the teams, Osterloh added, is a way for Google to move even faster on infusing AI into its features. Designing the Pixel camera several years ago, he said in the interview, required deep knowledge of not just the complex hardware and software systems involved, but also the then-early AI models used for image processing.
âThat hardware-software-AI integration really showed how AI could totally transform a user experience,â Osterloh said. âThat was important. And itâs even more true today.â
âWhat youâre now starting to see Google do is flex its core AI innovation engines,â said Chirag Dekate, an analyst with Gartner. âGoogle wants to dominate the AI, the commanding heights of the emerging AI economy, both on the consumer side as well as on the enterprise side, essentially by infusing AI everywhere and by connecting it.â
Meanwhile, the chief of Googleâs software division, Hiroshi Lockheimer, is left without a title and, according to Pichaiâs letter, will be starting some other unnamed projects. Lockheimer did join Osterloh for the Verge interview, though, and the two men insisted the changes werenât the result of a power struggle.
Google is also reorganizing its AI research and responsibility groups, although those changes mostly wonât directly affect consumer productsaat least not for now.
Designer Yves BA(c)har designed a tower out of patterned cork tiles.
Looking for a versatile building material that can be used both indoors and outdoors? Have you considered cork?
The court orders have called for a suspension of approximately 150 X accounts.
A U.S. congressional committee released confidential Brazilian court orders to suspend accounts on the social media platform X, offering a glimpse into decisions that have spurred complaints of alleged censorship from the company and its billionaire owner Elon Musk.
The Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday published a staff report disclosing dozens of decisions by Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordering X to suspend or remove around 150 user profiles from its platform in recent years.
The 541-page report is the product of committee subpoenas directed at X. In his orders, de Moraes had prohibited X from making them public.
âTo comply with its obligations under U.S. law, X Corp. has responded to the Committee,â the company said in a statement on X on April 15.
The disclosure comes amid a battle Musk has waged against de Moraes.
Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, had vowed to publish de Moraesâ orders, which he equated to censorship. His crusade has been cheered on by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, who allege they are being targeted by political persecution, and have found common cause with their ideological allies in the U.S.
De Moraes has overseen a five-year probe of so-called âdigital militias,â who allegedly spread defamatory fake news and threats to Supreme Court justices. The investigation expanded to include those inciting demonstrations across the country, seeking to overturn Bolsonaroâs 2022 election loss. Those protests culminated in the Jan. 8 uprising in Brazilâs capital, with Bolsonaro supporters storming government buildings, including the Supreme Court, in an attempt to oust President Luiz InA!cio Lula da Silva from office.
De Moraesâ critics claim he has abused his powers and shouldnât be allowed to unilaterally ban social media accounts, including those of democratically elected legislators. But most legal experts see his brash tactics as legally sound and furthermore justified by extraordinary circumstances of democracy imperiled. They note his decisions have been either upheld by his fellow justices or gone unchallenged.
The secret orders disclosed by the congressional committee had been issued both by Brazilâs Supreme Court and its top electoral court, over which de Moraes currently presides.
The press office of the Supreme Court declined to comment on the potential ramifications of their release when contacted by The Associated Press.
âMusk is indeed a very innovative businessman; he innovated with electric cars, he innovated with rockets and now he invented a new form of non-compliance of a court order, through an intermediary,â said Carlos Affonso, director of the nonprofit Institute of Technology and Society. âHe said he would reveal the documents and he found someone to do this for him.â
Affonso, also a professor of civil rights at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said that the orders are legal but do merit debate, given users were not informed why their accounts were suspended and whether the action was taken by the platform or at the behest of a court. The orders to X included in the report rarely provide justification, either.
The Supreme Courtâs press office said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the orders do not contain justifications, but said the company and people with suspended accounts can gain access by requesting the decisions from the court.
While Musk has repeatedly decried de Moraesâ orders as suppressing âfree speechâ principles and amounting to âaggressive censorship,â the company under his ownership has bowed to government requests from around the world.
Last year, for instance, X blocked posts critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and, in February, it blocked accounts and posts in India at the behest of the countryâs government.
âThe Indian government has issued executive orders requiring X to act on specific accounts and posts, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment,â Xâs global affairs account posted on Feb. 21. âIn compliance with the orders, we will withhold these accounts and posts in India alone; however, we disagree with these actions and maintain that freedom of expression should extend to these posts.â
Brazil is a key market for X and other social media platforms. About 40 million Brazilians, or about 18% of the population, access X at least once per month, according to market research group eMarketer.
X has followed suspension orders under threat of hefty fines. De Moraes typically required compliance within two hours, and established a daily fine of 100,000-reais ($20,000) for noncompliance.
It isnât clear whether the 150 suspended accounts represent the entirety of those de Moraes ordered suspended. Until the committee report, it wasnât known whether the total was a handful, a few dozen or more. Some of the suspended accounts in the report have since been reactivated.
On April 6, Musk took to X to challenge de Moraes, questioning why he was âdemanding so much censorship in Brazilâ. The following day, the tech mogul said he would cease to comply with court orders to block accountsaand that de Moraes should either resign or be impeached. Predicting that X could be shut down in Brazil, he instructed Brazilians to use a VPN to retain their access.
De Moraes swiftly included Musk in the ongoing investigation of digital militias, and launched a separate investigation into whether Musk engaged in obstruction, criminal organization and incitement. On April 13, Xâs legal representative in Brazil wrote to de Moraes that it will comply with all court orders, according to the letter, seen by the AP.
Affonso said the committeeâs release of de Moraesâ orders were aimed less at Brazil than at the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. The report cites Brazil âas a stark warning to Americans about the threats posed by government censorship here at home.â
Terms like âcensorshipâ and âfree speechâ have turned into political rallying cries for U.S. conservatives since at least the 2016 presidential election, frustrated at seeing right-leaning commentators and high-profile Republican officials booted off Facebook and Twitter in its pre-Musk version for violating rules.
âThe reason why the far-right needs him (Musk) is because they need a platform, they need a place to promote themselves. And Elon Musk needs far-right politicians because they will keep his platform protected from regulations,â said David Nemer, a Brazil native and University of Virginia professor who studies social media.
In the U.S., free speech is a constitutional right thatâs much more permissive than in other countries, including Brazil. Still, the reportâs release seemed to invigorate Bolsonaro and his far-right supporters.
Late Wednesday, soon after the court orders were released, Bolsonaro capped off a speech at a public event by calling for a round of applause for Musk.
His audience eagerly complied.
Republicans and industry leaders oppose the rule saying it deprioritizes development on public lands.
The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule for public land management thatâs meant to put conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling, grazing and other extractive industries on vast government-owned properties.
Officials pushed past strong opposition from private industry and Republican governors to adopt the proposal. GOP members of Congress said in response that they will seek to invalidate it.
The rule from the Interior Departmentâs Bureau of Land Managementawhich oversees more than 380,000 square miles (990,000 square kilometers) of land, primarily in the U.S. Westawill allow public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling.
The rule also promotes the designation of more âareas of critical environmental concernâaa special status that can restrict development. Itâs given to land with historic or cultural significance or thatâs important for wildlife conservation.
The land bureau has a history of industry-friendly policies and for more than a century has sold grazing permits and oil and gas leases. In addition to its surface land holdings, the bureau regulates publicly-owned underground mineral reserves a such as coal for power plants and lithium for renewable energyaacross more than 1 million square miles (2.5 million square kilometers).
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the changes would ârestore balanceâ to how the U.S. government manages its public lands. The new rule continues the administrationâs efforts to use science to restore habitats and guide âstrategic and responsible development,â Haaland said in a statement.
Environmentalists largely embraced the changes adopted Thursday, characterizing them as long overdue.
Trout Unlimited President Chris Wood said conservation already was part of the land bureauâs mission under the 1976 Federal Lands Policy Management Act. The new rule, he said, was âa re-statement of the obvious.â
âWe are pleased to see the agency recognizing what the law already statesaconservation is a vital use of our public lands,â he said.
But Republican lawmakers and industry representatives blasted the move as a backdoor way to exclude mining, energy development and agriculture from government acreage thatâs often cheap to lease. They contend the administration is violating the âmultiple useâ mandate for Interior Department lands, by catapulting the ânon-useâ of federal landsameaning restoration leasesato a position of prominence.
âBy putting its thumb on the scales to strongly favor conservation over other uses, this rule will obstruct responsible domestic mining projects,â said National Mining Association President Rich Nolan.
The ruleâs adoption comes amid a flurry of new regulations from the Biden administration as the Democrat seeks reelection to a second term in November.
Government agencies in recent weeks tightened vehicle emissions standards to cut greenhouse gas emissions, finalized limits on PFAS chemicals in drinking water and increased royalty rates for oil companies that drill on public lands.
About 10% of all land in the U.S. falls under the Bureau of Land Managementâs jurisdiction, putting the agency at the center of arguments over how much development should be allowed on public property.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, a staunch Biden critic, on Thursday said he will introduce legislation to repeal the public lands rule. The Republican lawmaker alleged it would block access to areas that people in Wyoming depend on for mineral production, grazing and recreation.
âPresident Biden is allowing federal bureaucrats to destroy our way of life,â he said.
A property rights group that often sides with private interests said the rule would help promote voluntary conservation efforts. It will allow ranchers and others who use public lands to work with private organizations to restore streambeds, improve wildlife habitat and remove invasive weeds, said Brian Yablonski with the Property and Environment Research Center.
Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of New Mexico asserted that protecting public lands has wide support among the American people. Oil, gas and mining companies âhave had the upper hand on our public lands for too long,â Grijalva said.
Restoration leases will not be issued if they would conflict with activity already underway on a parcel of land, officials said. They also said private industry could benefit from the program, since companies could buy leases and restore that acreage to offset damage they might do to other government-owned properties.
Those leases were referred to as âconservation leasesâ in the agencyâs original proposal last year. That was changed to ârestoration leasesâ and âmitigation leasesâ in the final rule, but their purpose appears largely the same.
While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation purposes in limited cases, it has never had a dedicated program for it.
Bureau Director Tracy Stone-Manning has said the changes address the rising challenges of climate change and development. She told The Associated Press when the changes were announced last year that making conservation an âequalâ to other uses would not interfere with grazing, drilling and other activities.
Former President Donald Trump tried to ramp up fossil fuel development on bureau lands, before President Joe Biden suspended new oil and gas leasing when he entered office. Biden later revived the deals to win West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchinâs support for the 2022 climate law.
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