"Attention treadmill": Lawmakers grill social media companies over use of algorithms
CBSN
Lawmakers on Tuesday challenged top policy executives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to provide more transparency regarding the use of algorithms on the platforms and criticized their business models for relying heavily on user engagement.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Democrats and Republicans raised concerns that algorithms used to create tailored timelines are also pushing users toward extremist content and amplifying false information faster than it can be removed. "Algorithms have great potential for good," said Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska. "They can also be misused and we the American people need to be reflective and thoughtful about that."President Joe Biden said France was America's "first friend" at its founding and is one of its closest allies more than two centuries later as he was honored with a state visit Saturday by French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at showing off their partnership on global security issues and easing past trade tensions.
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.