CNN: Former top Twitter official forced to leave home due to threats amid ‘Twitter Files’ release. “Twitter’s former head of trust and safety has fled his home due to an escalation in threats resulting from Elon Musk’s campaign of criticism against him, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.”
Axios: A first-of-its-kind database tracks threats against public officials. “Researchers at Princeton University and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) are building the first-ever national database that tracks incidents of threats and harassment against government officials…. The researchers involved have spent two years culling from public sources of information to build a central repository of threat reports — one they say will grow more robust, useful and predictive over time.”
BuzzFeed News: The YouTube Channel Streaming Alex Jones’s Trial Disabled The Chat Because Of Threats To Sandy Hook Victims’ Families. “The trial, which is being livestreamed in its entirety on YouTube by the Law & Crime channel, has had thousands of viewers each day since it began last week, although Jones himself has yet to testify. As always on Law & Crime’s streams, there are hundreds of active and colorful commenters, but trial viewers and Twitter users had noted from day one that the chat was littered with the same conspiracy theories that Jones now faces paying damages for.”
Washington Post: Lawmakers demand data about online threats against law enforcement. “House Oversight Committee leaders are demanding social media companies take ‘immediate action’ to address a flood of violent online threats against law enforcement, following the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.”
Reuters: School boards get death threats amid rage over race, gender, mask policies. “Local school officials across the United States are being inundated with threats of violence and other hostile messages from anonymous harassers nationwide, fueled by anger over culture-war issues. Reuters found 220 examples of such intimidation in a sampling of districts.”
University of Maryland: UMD Graduate Students Create AI-Powered Tool to Extract Threatening Language. “A paper recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) explains the science behind a new, online tool that can help users determine what share of a speech, article or other text uses threatening language.”
Reuters: “We will not yield,” French lawmaker says after death threats over COVID vaccine pass. “French lawmakers said on Monday they would not be cowed by death threats that dozens of them received over a bill that will require people to show proof of vaccination to go to a restaurant or cinema or take the train. The new law, which would remove the option of showing a negative test result instead of having the jabs, has the backing of most parties and is almost certain to be passed by the lower house in a vote late on Monday or early Tuesday.”
Associated Press: Self-Described German Soldier in COVID Threat Video Arrested. “A man identifying himself as a German army soldier who recorded a threatening video with demands including the removal of coronavirus restrictions was arrested on Thursday, police said.”
Associated Press: Anti-vaccine group targets California’s medical director. “The president of California’s medical board, which issues medical licenses and disciplines doctors, says a group of anti-vaccine activists stalked her at home and followed her to her office — where four men confronted her in a dark parking garage in what she described as a terrifying experience. Kristina Lawson, a former mayor of Walnut Creek who was appointed to the board by former Gov. Jerry Brown, said in social media on Wednesday she grew concerned Monday after she noticed the people in a white SUV parked near her home and saw someone flying a drone over her house.”
Times of Israel: ‘It goes to some very dark places’: Health expert on rising threats against her. “A top health official has spoken out about the threats and abuse being directed at her, days after she was assigned a bodyguard over what authorities believe to be an increased level of danger to her safety. Dr. Sharon Alroy-Preis, the Health Ministry’s head of public services and a top COVID adviser to the government, has been repeatedly threatened by anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists who view her as the public face of the health system’s inoculation effort.”
CBC: Noose left by COVID-19 protesters outside her home outrages Alberta MLA. “A northern Alberta MLA says a group of people protesting COVID-19 restrictions crossed a line when they gathered outside her private residence and left behind a noose marked with a violent threat. Tracy Allard says a protest began Sunday afternoon outside her home in Grande Prairie and soon grew to about 30 people. She said RCMP were called and the crowd dispersed about 90 minutes after police arrived.”
Boing Boing: Survey finds 22% of scientists who do media interviews about COVID get violent threats. “Nature surveyed 300 scientists who’ve done media interviews about COVID. The results had some surprisingly positive notes — 85% said ‘their experiences of engaging with the media were always or mostly positive, even if they were harassed afterwards’. But as you might expect, a significant chunk described some ghastly abuse. Fully 15% got death threats, and 22% “received threats of physical or sexual violence.”
Politico: Garland taps FBI in response to ‘disturbing spike’ in threats against educators. “Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday ordered federal law enforcement authorities to huddle with local leaders in the coming weeks to address what the nation’s top prosecutor called a recent ‘disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence’ against educators and school board members.”
Business Insider: An Alabama man who called himself the ‘vaccine police’ told pharmacists at a Missouri Walmart that they will be ‘executed’ if they continued giving COVID-19 shots. “A man, who calls himself the ‘vaccine police,’ entered a Walmart in Springfield, Missouri to put staff ‘on public notice,’ telling pharmacists they could be ‘executed’ if they carry out COVID-19 vaccine shots, according to reports.”
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