China censors COVID news, Google's 'positive' AI research, Trump trashes McConnell, Adelson's Singapore casino
This week's best document-based investigative journalism
Dec 27
Leaked Documents Show How China’s Army of Paid Internet Trolls Helped Censor the Coronavirus
ProPublica citing directives to workers and news outlets.
“… do not use push notifications, do not post commentary, do not stir up speculation. Safely control the fervor in online discussions, do not create hashtags, gradually remove from trending topics, strictly control harmful information.”
Google told its scientists to 'strike a positive tone' in AI research
Reuters citing internal webpages explaining the policy.
A senior Google manager reviewing a study on content recommendation technology shortly before publication this summer told authors to “take great care to strike a positive tone,” according to internal correspondence read to Reuters.
Trump trashes McConnell to fellow Republicans
Axios citing an email from Trump.
"Sadly, Mitch forgot,” reads the top of the slide sent to Republican senators by Trump's personal assistant, written in red for emphasis. “He was the first one off the ship.”
Rogue employees at Adelson's Singapore casino may have facilitated millions of dollars out of prominent accounts
Bloomberg citing internal documents with details of transactions.
Unauthorized transfers weren’t the casino’s only problem before they were dealt with starting in 2018. While Marina Bay Sands’ policy is not to deal with junkets, some rogue employees were working with these operators to attract Chinese gamblers, according to documents.