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<ul><li>The <keyword id="169875" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="anonymous" source="Orion">Anonymous</keyword> hacker collective is pooling its resources to help support Ukraine against the Russians. </li><li>Hackers took down several important Russian government websites, and RT.com, the state-controlled television network. </li><li>Ukraine was earlier the victim of a massive hacking campaign that it alleged was from Russia. </li></ul>The ongoing Russia Ukraine war has a new player – the Anonymous hacker collective. Amidst Russia’s offensive against Ukraine, Anonymous hackers have claimed to have taken down several Russian government websites, and RT.com, the website of the state-controlled television network. The hacker collective made an announcement on Twitter yesterday, stating that they’re engaged in a ‘cyber war’ against the Russian government. <div type="twitter" handle="YourAnonNews" handlename="Anonymous" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1390018317864296450/bk21WUAT_normal.png" favoritecount="22976" retweetcount="4165" status="#Anonymous is currently involved in operations against the Russian Federation. Our operations are targeting the Rus… https://t.co/hkqszqRyYV" createdat="1645736675000" id="1496954233492541444"></div> Some of the websites that were either taken down by Anonymous or were slowed down include those of the Russian government, the Kremlin, Duma and the Ministry of Defence. Apart from RT.com, the hacker collective also launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against websites of Russian internet service providers Com2Com, Relcom, Sovam Teleport and PTT-Teleport Moscow. Various Anonymous accounts were found using the #OpRussia and #OpKremlin hashtags on Twitter, similar to the #OpISIS campaign that was launched earlier in an attempt to take down the terrorist organisation’s online propaganda attempts. Most of these websites have now recovered. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Ukraine alleges Russia behind the massive cyberattack against the country" comment="subhead" text="Ukraine alleges Russia behind the massive cyberattack against the country">Ukraine alleges Russia behind the massive cyberattack against the country</cmsannotation> This comes after Ukraine claimed that Russia was behind the massive cyberattacks <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/ukraines-ministry-of-defence-and-banks-suffer-massive-cyber-attack-amidst-russia-standoff/articleshow/89608377.cms">launched</a> against its government websites and a few banks, too, among other information technology companies. “The malware, which is designed to look like ransomware but lacking a ransom recovery mechanism, is intended to be destructive and designed to render targeted devices inoperable rather than to obtain a ransom,” Microsoft said in a blog post, describing the attack against Ukraine. Cyberattacks are one of the vectors being employed in modern warfare, which can prove to be dangerous and has the potential to take down a country’s industrial infrastructure. Indeed, one of the Anonymous accounts had threatened to do just this to Russia earlier this month. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/experts-fear-possible-cyber-attacks-by-russia-against-ukraine-amid-ongoing-tensions/articleshow/89565011.cms">Experts fear possible cyber war by Russia against Ukraine amid ongoing tensions</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/ukraines-ministry-of-defence-and-banks-suffer-massive-cyber-attack-amidst-russia-standoff/articleshow/89608377.cms">Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, and banks suffer massive cyber attack amidst Russia standoff</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/indian-government-to-ban-54-chinese-apps-posing-threat-to-national-security/articleshow/89562328.cms">Indian government to ban 54 Chinese apps posing threat to national security</a>

Russia-Ukraine war: Anonymous hackers launch cyberwar against Russia taking down government websites

New Delhi, Nov 28 () Forty eight websites of ministries of Centre and state governments were hacked this year up to October, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
 "As per the information reported to and tracked by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) a total number of 110 and 48 websites of Central Ministries/ Departments and State Governments were hacked during the year 2018 and 2019 (till October), respectively," Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
 He added that there have been attempts from time-to-time to launch cyber attacks on Indian cyber space.
 The minister said it has been observed that attackers are compromising computer systems located in different parts of the world and use masquerading techniques and hidden servers to hide the identity of actual systems from which the attacks are being launched.
 "According to the logs analysed and made available to CERT-In, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the computers from where the attacks appear to be originated belong to various countries including China, Pakistan, Netherlands, France, Taiwan, Tunisia, Russia, Algeria and Serbia," he added.
 CERT-In devises response measures in co-ordination with its counterpart agencies in foreign countries for resolution of incidents involving systems outside the country, he said. SR RVK

48 websites of central ministries, state govts hacked in 2019 till Oct

(Eds: Combining related stories) New Delhi, May 19 () Hundreds more people tested positive on Tuesday for the deadly coronavirus infection across the country with a large number of them having returned from other states or from abroad, even as officials said India's mortality rate has been very low and it has taken much longer here for the tally to hit the one-lakh mark than many other countries. In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has reached 1,01,139 and the death toll has risen to 3,163. This marked an increase of nearly 5,000 cases and 134 fatalities in a 24-hour period. However, a tally of figures announced by various states and union territories, as of 6.45 PM, showed a much higher number for the confirmed infections at 1,01,688. More than 39,000 patients have recovered too, still leaving over 59,000 active cases in the country -- which is the seventh largest globally after the US, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy and Peru. The Health Ministry said that for every one lakh population, there are 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far, as against 60 globally. Referring to data from the World Health Organisation, the ministry said 45,25,497 COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide till Monday, which is about 60 cases per lakh population. Among the countries with a very high load of coronavirus cases, the US, with 14,09,452 instances of the infection so far, has around 431 cases per lakh population. In the UK, this ratio is 494 cases per lakh and for Italy it is 372. Officials also cited data about India having taken 64 days for the count of confirmed cases to increase from 100 to one lakh, which was more than double the time taken by countries like the US and Spain. According to the data sourced from the health ministry and Worldometers, the coronavirus infection cases increased from 100 to 1,00,000 in the US in 25 days, while it took 30 days for the cases to reach the 1 lakh-mark in Spain. It took 35 days in Germany, 36 days in Italy, 39 days in France and 42 days in the United Kingdom for the coronavirus infection cases to rise from 100 to 1 lakh, respectively. Reeling off further data, officials said India has so far an average of about 0.2 COVID-19 deaths per lakh population as against the global average of 4.1. They further said a record number of 1,08,233 samples were tested for COVID-19 on Monday, taking the overall count of tests to more than 24 lakh. While the total count of tests in India is estimated to be the seventh largest in the world, after the US, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK, the country ranks much lower at 139th place in terms of tests per million population, as per data website Worldometer. The countries having done more tests than India per million population include Russia, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Norway, Switzerland, UK, Germany, US, Canada, France and Sweden. As per the latest data, more than 48 lakh people worldwide have tested positive for the deadly virus ever since its emergence in China last December, while nearly 3.2 lakh have lost their lives. Over 18 lakh have recovered too. More than 15 lakh cases have been reported in the US alone, while over 90,000 have died there. There are concerns that some parts of the country, including in Kerala, Goa and North-East, are seeing the second or third phase of the virus outbreak as they had almost flattened the curves till a few days ago before people from other states or countries started arriving there. Kerala on Tuesday recorded 12 more COVID-19 cases, all being returnees from overseas and other states, taking the total active patients to 142. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rise was expected but asserted community transmission has not happened so far. All those who tested positive had come from outside the state -- four from abroad and eight from other states, including six from Maharashtra, Vijayan told reporters. With the flow of people from various countries and other states, as expected, positive cases have begun to rise in Kerala, the chief minister said. Since May 7, when the first repatriation flight from the Gulf landed, several of the Keralites who returned home after being stranded in foreign countries and in other states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have a high number of COVID-19 cases, have tested positive. On Monday too, as many as 28 returnees had tested positive. In Manipur too, a woman and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Delhi, officials said. Uttar Pradesh also saw 142 more people testing positive for COVID-19, taking its tally to 4,748. The national capital recorded 500 more cases, taking its tally to 10,554, while its death toll has now risen to 166. Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, reported 2,100 fresh cases, taking its overall tally to 37,158, state's Health Minister Rajesh Tope said. In Assam, 20 people tested positive, taking the total number of cases in the state to 135. All the new patients were in different quarantine centres across districts. These included people having returned from Chennai and Darjeeling. Karnataka recorded its biggest ever single-day rise with 127 new cases. Of these, 91 have inter-state travel history from neighboring Maharashtra, the state government said. At least two COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh, taking the toll to 52, while 57 more tested positive to take the total number of infections in the state to 2,489. Fresh cases include those linked to the Koyambedu market in Chennai, which has become a major hotspot of the deadly virus infection. PLB PM UD ABN KND TR ND BJ BJ

COVID-19: Cases rise further across states; Govt says mortality rate much lower in India

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="RT/screenshot" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53c93846eab8ea132ffc6d9c-960/screen shot 2014-07-18 at 7.49.02 am.png"></a>RT/screenshot</div></div></div>Kremlin-backed Russia Today is covering the the shoot down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane in the only way it knows how: Blaming everyone except for the Russian government.
Leading its website just one day after the plane was downed in pro-Russian rebel-held territory with 298 people onboard, RT's main headline is to a video of the U.N. Security Council discussion on the topic, along with other headlines that insinuate it was Malaysia Airlines fault for flying over the area.
"Questions over why Malaysia plane flew over Ukrainian warzone," one headline reads. Another, under their military vertical "Op-Edge," asks "Why was MH17 flying through a war zone where 10 aircraft have been shot down?"
Noticeably absent is any mention of Russian support for the pro-Russian separatists believed responsible, who were <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-militants-mh17-transcript-2014-7">caught on an audio recording talking about the plane</a>, after they apparently realized they had shot it down.
In <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-militants-mh17-transcript-2014-7">one leaked call,</a> one militant asks, "What was it doing in Ukraine's territory?" Another, identified as Nikolay Kozitsin, responds, "That means they were carrying spies. F--- them, got it? ... They shouldn't be f---ing flying. There is a war going on."
On the route, according to a Malaysia Airlines spokesman <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/malaysia-flight-17-took-different-route-2014-7">speaking to the </a>Telegraph: "This route is an approved route. 15 out of 16 airlines use this route. It's a safe route - most other countries use this route. So we were not given any notice to change this."
RT's coverage shouldn't come as a surprise, of course. Soon after the crash, Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-ukraine-malaysia-airliner-2014-7">blame the government of Ukraine for the disaster.</a> 
An <a href="http://rt.com/op-edge/173804-airplane-tragedy-ukraine-wakeup-call/">interview</a> on the site published today parroted this line under the headline, "Malaysia airplane tragedy is a wakeup call to the Ukrainian govt to stop what it is doing."
The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/propaganda-war-underpins-kremlins-clash-with-the-west-2014-3">channel also had</a> a very similar record in the coverage of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.

Here's The Ridiculous Way Russia's Propaganda Channel Is Covering The Malaysia Airlines Crash

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell was upset when Elon Musk kept financing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starlink-satellites-internet">Starlink</a> in Ukraine, per a new book.</li><li>Musk had reportedly told the Pentagon Starlink equipment could no longer be sent to Ukraine for free.</li></ul>SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell was upset when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-ceo-elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> kept financing Starlink in Ukraine even after the Pentagon offered to fund the enterprise, author Walter Isaacson wrote in a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics/elon-musk-biography-walter-isaacson-ukraine-starlink/index.html">recent excerpt</a> from his <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-62027-20&amp;h=2027d6a23f13de742cdbc82b8d9b8c20e983f7d061fb74d2941552dcf095b060&amp;postID=64f9cfd6261711ba2f60a7c1&amp;postSlug=spacex-shotwell-mad-elon-musk-continued-financing-ukraine-starlink-report-2023-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FElon-Musk-Walter-Isaacson%2Fdp%2F1982181281">biography on Musk.</a>"The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally," Shotwell said, according to Isaacson. "Then Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story."Shotwell, Musk, and spokespeople for SpaceX and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.Shotwell's comments came after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a> told the US Department of Defense the rocket company couldn't keep paying for satellite equipment for Ukraine in September 2022, saying that the equipment could cost more than $100 million by the end of the year, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/13/politics/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-ukraine/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN reported</a> at the time. SpaceX had spent millions of dollars sending Starlink terminals to Ukraine, Musk told Isaacson.But, after the CNN report sparked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-fund-starlink-ukraine-asks-pentagon-pay-2022-10">ire toward Musk</a> on social media, the billionaire changed course."The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money &amp; other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1581345747777179651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">posted on X</a>, formerly known as Twitter, in October.Isaacson, who shadowed Musk for about three years in preparation for the biography, said SpaceX later came to an agreement with the Department of Defense earlier this year for the Pentagon to pay for an additional 100,000 new Starlink dishes to be sent to Ukraine. In June, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-01/musk-s-spacex-wins-pentagon-deal-for-its-starlink-in-ukraine">Bloomberg reported</a> that SpaceX had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-to-pay-for-ukraines-starlink-after-elon-musk-complained-2023-6">won a deal with the Pentagon</a> for it to pay for the satellite service in Ukraine.Starlink has been instrumental in allowing Ukraine to overcome Russian cyberattacks. On February 24 — one hour before Russia launched its attack on Ukraine — the nation hacked the satellite provider that was used by the Ukrainian military, per US and UK <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-61396331" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">intelligence reports</a>. Two days after the attack, Musk <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-starlink-satellite-internet-activated-ukraine-2022-2" rel="">shipped</a> Starlink dishes to Ukraine within hours of a request for Starlink terminals from Mykhailo Fedorov, the vice prime minister of Ukraine.However, the biographer said Musk has since started to question SpaceX's involvement in the war between Russia and Ukraine."Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars," Isaacson said Musk told him. "It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes."Isaacson reported that Musk told SpaceX staff to eliminate Starlink satellite network availability near Russian-controlled Crimea last year in order to prevent it from being used in a Ukrainian attack on Russia. The biographer said Musk made the call because he was concerned the attack on Russia could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-blocks-starlink-in-crimea-amid-nuclear-fears-report-2022-10">prompt a nuclear attack</a>.Last year, political analyst Ian Bremmer first reported in a newsletter that Musk had denied a Ukrainian request to enable the use of Starlink in Crimea. More recently, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/elon-musks-shadow-rule">Ronan Farrow reported</a> that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-treated-like-unelected-official-ukraine-war-new-yorker-2023-8">Musk's power over the satellite network</a> has led Ukraine and the US government to treat him like an "unelected official."Farrow reported in New York Magazine that Musk had told Pentagon officials in October that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone regarding the conflict with Ukraine. That same month <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-kremlin-elon-musk-ukraine-war-peace-plan-twitter-poll-2022-10">Musk posted a poll</a> on X that included ideas for ending the war in Ukraine and appeared to parrot Russia's agenda, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-ambassador-elon-musk-russia-crimea-twitter-poll-response-2022-10" rel="">Ukrainian officials</a>. Musk also said he was "obviously" pro-Ukraine and <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1579879154463690752">said</a> later in October that he had only spoken to Putin once, around 18 months previously, and the two had talked about space.<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/07/politics/elon-musk-biography-walter-isaacson-ukraine-starlink/index.html">Read the full excerpt on CNN's website.</a>

SpaceX president was reportedly upset that Elon Musk kept financing Starlink in Ukraine before Pentagon deal: 'Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Twitter added a "US state-affiliated media" label to NPR's account on Tuesday.</li><li>The description is usually reserved for outlets like Russia Today and Xinhua in China.</li></ul>Twitter CEO Elon Musk said the company may have made an error in adding a "US state-affiliated media" label on NPR's Twitter account, a description usually reserved for accounts like Russia Today, which is <a href="https://www.rt.com/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">funded and run by the Russian government,</a> and <a href="https://english.news.cn/https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara/letters-determination/xinhua/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China's Xinhua News Agency</a>, the official state news agency of the Chinese government.NPR <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1168455846/elon-musk-says-nprs-state-affiliated-media-label-might-not-have-been-accurate">reported Thursday</a> that it communicated with Musk in a series of emails disputing the tag since it was placed on its account. After learning more about how much of NPR's funding comes from the federal government and the outlet's longstanding editorial independence, Musk allegedly said Twitter "should fix" the mistake."The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate here," Musk allegedly wrote in one email to NPR.According to NPR's website, <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less than 1% of its annual operating budget on average</a> comes from grants from the <a href="https://cpb.org/aboutcpb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Corporation for Public Broadcasting</a>, and federal agencies and departments. NPR says <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its top revenue sources</a> are sponsorships from corporations, and NPR Member organization fees. CPB was created by <a href="https://cpb.org/aboutpb/act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress's Public Broadcasting Act of 1967</a>.While Musk reportedly admitted it may have been a mistake and said the label is still being evaluated, NPR still has the label as of Friday morning. The outlet hasn't tweeted since it the tag was added to their account, as any new tweets would come with what the outlet calls a "false disclaimer" labeling their coverage as state-affiliated.According to <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affiliated">Twitter's Help Center</a>, the label is for media outlets whose editorial content is controlled by the state "through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution."NPR was previously mentioned alongside the BBC in the UK as an example of state-financed media organizations that do have editorial independence, and therefore would not be defined "as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy," as <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20230404001956/https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affiliated">shown on Wayback Machine</a>.However, Twitter has since scrubbed the mention of NPR on that Help Center page. The mention of the BBC, which did not see the label added to its accounts, remains on the page.<div type="image" title="A screenshot of NPR's profile on Twitter shows a label reading &quot;US state-affiliated media.&quot;" height="962" width="1200" msid="99278016" hostid="261"></div>"We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as 'state-affiliated media,' a description that, per Twitter's own guidelines, does not apply to NPR," NPR President and CEO John Lansing said in a statement shared with Insider."NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide," Lansing added. "NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy."Musk has interacted with several tweets regarding Twitter's labeling of NPR, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1644191817561153544">including news reports</a> and users including <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1643509178986799104">right-wing commentator Benny Johnson</a> criticizing NPR and its <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1643919957850304513">use of federal funds</a>. He has not commented publicly on the reported discussions with NPR, or indicated online that Twitter made a mistake.Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company sent back an automated message that did not address the question.Elon Musk has previously said he finds Russia Today's "news quite entertaining" in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-praised-russian-state-propaganda-media-court-documents-show-2022-9">text messages with a former Tesla executive</a>. The texts were revealed in court documents while he was trying to back out of his decision to buy Twitter for $44 billion."EU passed a law banning Russia Today and several other Russian news sources. We have been told to block their IP address," Musk texted Antonio Gracias, after the European Union put out <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/02/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-state-owned-outlets-rt-russia-today-and-sputnik-s-broadcasting-in-the-eu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">an order last March</a>, banning Russian state media outlets after Russia invaded Ukraine. Musk followed up in another text saying Russia's media has "lot of bullshit, but some good points too."

Elon Musk reportedly admits Twitter may have been wrong to label NPR as 'state-affiliated media'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk says Twitter is relying on Wikipedia to help decide which news outlets to label "government-funded media."</li><li>It recently labeled NPR "state-affiliated media," a move Musk later said might have been wrong, before changing it to "government-funded media."</li></ul>Twitter relies on a Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Publicly_funded_broadcasters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">page</a> to help inform its decision on what news organizations' accounts get labeled as "government-funded media."Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyAllyn/status/1645576815803760640" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> as much to NPR reporter Bobby Allyn, and Twitter's Help Center page about government and state-affiliated media labels confirmed the policy."Government-funded media is defined as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content. We may use external sources similar to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Publicly_funded_broadcasters" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">this one</a> in order to determine when this label is applied," the Twitter page <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/state-affiliated" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a>.Twitter recently slapped a "state-affiliated media" label on NPR's Twitter account. The label is usually reserved for the likes of Russia Today, which is <a href="https://www.rt.com/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">funded by the Russian government,</a> and <a href="https://english.news.cn/https://www.justice.gov/nsd-fara/letters-determination/xinhua/download" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">China's Xinhua News Agency</a>, the official state news agency of the Chinese government.Musk reportedly later <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1168455846/elon-musk-says-nprs-state-affiliated-media-label-might-not-have-been-accurate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> adding the "state-affiliated media" label to NPR's account might have been a mistake."The operating principle at new Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as govt, then we should do the same for US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate here," Musk reportedly told Allen.Twitter has since changed the label on NPR's account to say "government-funded media."NPR's website <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/178660742/public-radio-finances">says</a>, on average, less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes from federal agencies and departments and grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created by <a href="https://cpb.org/aboutpb/act" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">Congress's Public Broadcasting Act of 1967</a>.When told that the government doesn't have influence over NPR's editorial decisions, Musk said, "If you really think that the government has no influence on the entity they're funding then you've been marinating in the Kool-Aid for too long," according to Allyn.<a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyAllyn/status/1645576815803760640" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>NPR did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When contacted for comment, Twitter replied with an automated message that did not address the question.In a statement <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-npr-state-affiliated-media-label-2023-4">previously shared</a> with Insider about Twitter's initial "state-affiliated media" label on the organization's account, NPR President and CEO John Lansing said, "NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy."NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/04/06/1168455846/elon-musk-says-nprs-state-affiliated-media-label-might-not-have-been-accurate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> the organization will not resume tweeting until its label is removed, as any tweets posted in the interim would carry a "false disclaimer."

Elon Musk says Twitter is using a Wikipedia list to help decide which news organizations are labeled 'government-funded media'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>On the first day of impeachment impeachment hearings in the House of Representatives, two senior US State Department officials testified.&#xa0;</li><li>George Kent, a top State Department expert on Ukraine, and Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, described their shock at learning that President Donald Trump had pressured Ukraine to open a criminal investigation into political rival Joe Biden.</li><li>After five-and-a-half hours of testimony, White House officials, senior Republicans, and pro-Trump activists all claimed the detailed testimony had been "boring" and not worth paying attention to.&#xa0;</li><li>"This sham hearing is not only boring, it is a colossal waste of taxpayer time &amp; money," tweeted White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.</li><li>Trump himself said he was too busy to watch, but sent 60 tweets about it during Wednesday.</li><li>Democrats hit back at the attempt to dismiss the testimony, which they claimed provided startling new evidence of wrongdoing by President Trump.&#xa0;</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Following Wednesday's damaging testimony by two senior US diplomats during the first day of the House impeachment hearings, Republicans coalesced round a new response: the proceedings are just too boring to bother paying attention to.During the hearing Bill Taylor, the acting US ambassador in Ukraine, provided a startling new piece of evidence, damaging to the president's defense that he sought no personal advantage from his dealings with Ukraine.Taylor claimed that he was told by the US' EU ambassador, Gordon Sondland, that Trump cared more about Ukraine's investigations into his political rival, Joe Biden, than he did about Ukraine, a key regional ally of the US.&#xa0;During the hearings Republican lawmakers attacked Taylor's testimony and that of senior State Department official George Kent as founded on second-hand information.Rather than engaging with the substance of the testimony, afterwards senior Republicans and allies of the president changed tack and dismissed the entire proceeding as too "boring" to merit attention.&#xa0;"This sham hearing is not only boring, it is a colossal waste of taxpayer time &amp; money," tweeted White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.&#xa0;Echoing her, President Trump's son, Eric Trump, tweeted "This is horribly boring." He posted the message alongside the hashtag "#Snoozefest."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina and a key congressional ally of the president, claimed during a break in the testimony that it was sending people to sleep.&#xa0;"Just like all of you as reporters have your impression of what truth is, the ultimate judge will be the American people. And I think most of them will see what I'm seeing in that room - it's reporters and people in the audience who are yawning because this is all about a policy difference between the president of the United States and a few people at the State Department," he remarked, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/470399-republicans-satisfied-with-outcome-of-impeachment-hearing-say-it-was-boring">as quoted by The Hill.&#xa0;</a>The claim was repeated by right-wing populist website Breitbart, <a href="https://twitter.com/hshaban/status/1194837617352855552?s=20">and pro-Trump activists and conspiracy theorists</a> including Jack Posobiec, Bill Mitchell, and Ann Coulter.&#xa0;Despite Trump claiming earlier Wednesday <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/11/13/trump-not-watching-impeachment-public-hearing/4178213002/">that he was too busy to watch the testimony</a>, he seemed to have been playing close attention, retweeting scores of clips from the proceedings showing Republican representatives interviewing the officials, and a video in which he alleged impeachment was a malign plot by Democrats. In total, he posted 60 tweets about the hearing during Wednesday.&#xa0;Democrats and other critics took issue with the characterization of events as boring, given the gravity of the occasion. Some saw the response as an attempt to distract Americans from the seriousness of the allegations laid out about Trump during the hearing."Is Eric Trump really the best source to assess excitement/boredom of events today? Dont you think he might have a political agenda in describing the impeachment hearing as boring? Why didnt you call me and ask me my opinion?!" tweeted Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Russia, after Reuters' <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-impeachment-response/consequential-but-dull-trump-impeachment-hearings-begin-without-a-bang-idUSKBN1XO059">Jeff Mason cited Eric Trump's tweet and echoed his assessment of the excitement value of the testimony.&#xa0;</a><div></div><div></div>

Top Republicans claim impeachment hearings were 'boring' and Trump was 'too busy' to watch, despite him tweeting about it 60 times during the day

Thomson ReutersRussian President Putin attends VTB Capital "Russia Calling!" Investment Forum in MoscowFrance's upcoming presidential election has turned into a de facto referendum on whether to halt or strengthen the nationalist fervor sweeping the west that propelled US President Donald Trump into the White House last year and spurred Britain's exit from the European Union.Russian president Vladimir Putin, who has been accused of meddling in both the US election to help elect Trump and the Brexit vote to help fracture the EU, has two horses in France's race - the far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, and the center-right Republicans candidate Francois Fillon.Both candidates have touted policies that are at once Russia-friendly and hostile to two institutions Putin abhors: the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). They also oppose western sanctions on Russia and advocate a closer relationship between France and Moscow. Le Pen has vowed to pull France out of both the EU and NATO, comparing Europe to a prison and calling NATO "obsolete." Fillon's view of the institutions is more nuanced, but he has indicated that he would like to see the EU's power diminished and <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/francois-fillon-thatcherite-with-a-thing-for-russia-juppe-france/" target="_blank">has characterized NATO</a> as an arm of "American imperalism." Le Pen - who has said she admires Putin and thinks sanctions on Russia are "completely stupid" - traveled to Moscow in late March to meet with the Russian president. Fillon, who developed a close relationship with Putin between 2008-2012, is <a href="http://www.politico.eu/article/francois-fillon-thatcherite-with-a-thing-for-russia-juppe-france/" target="_blank">a tireless defender of Kremlin policies</a>: He has sought to justify Russia's invasion of eastern Ukraine, demanded that the US lift its Crimea-related sanctions, and has advocated for France to realign with Russia, Iran, and Syrian president Bashar Assad to fight terrorism.Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev via ReutersRussian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Marine Le Pen, French National Front (FN) political party leader and candidate for the French 2017 presidential election, during their meeting in Moscow, Russia March 24, 2017.The stakes are high for Russia. Depending on who wins, the French election could set the tone for a broader European shift toward Moscow and away from Washington. It is no surprise, then, that both the French and English-language versions of Russia's state-sponsored news agencies, including Sputnik and Russia Today (RT), have been conspicuously bolstering the Kremlin's candidates.RT featured Le Pen's statement about Thursday's terror attack in Paris at the top of its site on Friday: "<a href="https://www.rt.com/news/385582-le-pen-close-borders/">Restore France's borders, expel foreign nations on watchlist - Le Pen to French govt</a>," the headline read. <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/385582-le-pen-close-borders/" target="_blank">The article</a> made no mention of the statement released by her centrist opponent, Emmanuel Macron, in the wake of Thursday's attack: "Don't give in to fear, divisions and intimidation."A recent article in Russia's state-sponsored Sputnik News agency listed Fillon and Le Pen as the two most "pro-Putin" French candidates; Macron, meanwhile, could be both a secret "US agent" and a puppet of France's "rich gay lobby," according to a Sputnik article published in February. Following Sputnik's cue, Russian television anchor Dmitry Kiselyov told his audience that month that there are "still rumors about [Macron's] nontraditional [sexual] orientation...He has also been connected with Hillary Clinton," the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-media-leap-on-french-presidential-candidate-with-rumors-and-innuendo/2017/02/06/d123676a-ec7d-11e6-a100-fdaaf400369a_story.html?utm_term=.fae9527501f7" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> reported at the time.Thomson ReutersEmmanuel Macron, head of the political movement En Marche !, or Onwards !, and candidate for the 2017 French presidential election, delivers a speech during a visit at the INRIA in Montbonnot-Saint-MartinShortly thereafter, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - who CIA director Mike Pompeo recently characterized as a foreign intelligence agent - told the Russian Izvestia broadsheet that his organization had "interesting information" about Macron that could be released imminently. (Assange has said that his quote was taken out of context, and WikiLeaks has, so far, not leaked anything related to Macron. But RT quickly <a href="https://francais.rt.com/france/33403-wikileaks-macron-clinton-email-assange" target="_blank">picked up</a> on the claim.)February continued to be a rough month for Macron: His campaign website was targeted by thousands of cyberstrikes and phishing attacks that his team claimed had originated in Russia. France's foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, quickly denounced the cyberattacks as "unacceptable.""It's enough to see which candidates, Marine Le Pen or Francois Fillon, Russia expresses preference for in the French electoral campaign," Ayrault told the French <a href="http://www.lejdd.fr/" target="_blank">Journal du Dimanche</a>. "Whereas Emmanuel Macron, who is pro-Europe, is being targeted by cyberattacks.""This form of interference in French democratic life is unacceptable and I denounce it," he added.REUTERS/Pascal RossignolFrancois Fillon, former French Prime Minister, member of the Republicans political party and 2017 French presidential election candidate of the French centre-right, attends a political campaign rally in Lille, France, April 18, 2017.Facebook, meanwhile, has been indundated with fake accounts set up in France used to spread hoaxes and conspiracy theories overwhelmingly associated with <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/04/17/524393092/facebook-cracks-down-on-30-000-fake-accounts-in-france">the far-right.</a> The site <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/facebook-shuts-down-30-000-fake-accounts-france-ahead-presidential-n746821" target="_blank">recently announced</a> that it had shut down approximately 30,000 of these accounts in an attempt to stop the flood of disinformation ahead of France's first round of voting on Sunday.Twitter is facing a similar problem: A <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-socialmedia-idUSKBN17M31G" target="_blank">recent study</a> conducted by researchers at Oxford University found that as many as 25% of links shared by Twitter accounts in France represented "junk news" containing "ideologically extreme, hyper-partisan or conspiratorial" political views. Another study published by the Hungary-based private research group Bakamo <a href="https://www.lesechos.fr/elections/presidentielle-2017/0211987550595-reseaux-sociaux-un-lien-partage-sur-quatre-pourrait-etre-du-fake-news-2080820.php#xtor=CS1-33&amp;utm_content=social-bpwtj&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=SocialMedia&amp;utm_campaign=SocialPilot" target="_blank">concluded that</a> several "alternative" news sources widely shared on Facebook and Twitter - whose stated aim is to "counter the narrative of the traditional media" - cite Russian sources to justify their narratives. French newspaper Le Monde <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2017/04/21/etudes-bidons-rumeurs-boules-puantes-le-grand-n-importe-quoi-de-fin-de-campagne_5115237_4355770.html?utm_term=Autofeed&amp;utm_campaign=Echobox&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1492788632" target="_blank">recently compiled</a> a list of the most egregious examples of fake news, including one site, "<a href="http://www.wikistrike.com/2017/04/les-resultats-du-premier-tour-des-elections-presidentielles-francaise-de-2017.html" target="_blank">Wikistrike</a>," which deemed Marine Le Pen the winner before any voting had actually taken place. (These results, it said, were based on electronic ballots that had been "scanned in the USA, opposite the CIA headquarters.")The impact of this "junk news" pushed by the far-right - much of it inspired or created by Russian disinformation - on the outcome of the French elections will be difficult to measure. In an encouraging sign, experts say that French citizens, on average, have shared far fewer fake stories in the run-up to their election than Americans did in the runup to theirs.Russian bots and trolls, meanwhile, are already shifting their attention to another high-stakes European election. "A contingent of the Trump campaign supporters we believe to be 'bots' and accounts from Russia have shifted to Germany," <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-socialmedia-idUSKBN17M31G" target="_blank">said Clint Watts</a>, a former FBI special agent who testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month about Russia's use of bots and trolls to spread disinformation online. "If I had to estimate," he added, "about one-third of previous Trump supporter accounts are now trying to influence the German election." <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-commentator-shut-down-comparing-trump-mlk-donald-healthcare-jeffery-lord-2017-4">Watch a Trump surrogate get shut down after calling Trump the 'Martin Luther King of healthcare'</a></h3> Please enable Javascript to watch this video

You Searched For "russia govt websites" and got 9 results

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