The Trump administration announced on Monday that it was ending temporary protections shielding immigrants from Myanmar from deportation from the United States.The move affects around 4,000 people from the Southeast Asian nation who have been living in the United States under what is known as Temporary Protected Status (TPS).TPS protects its holders from deportation and allows them to work.It is granted to people deemed to be in danger if they return to their home countries, because of war, natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstances.President Donald Trump, as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown, has removed TPS for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, South Sudan and Venezuela.Trump announced on Friday that he would also withdraw TPS from Somalis.TPS was extended to Myanmar nationals after a 2021 military coup. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the decision to withdraw it was made after a review of conditions in the country.Myanmar continues to face “humanitarian challenges due in part to continued military operations against armed resistance,” Noem said.But, she added, there have been improvements in “governance and stability at the national and local levels.”Noem noted the July lifting of a state of emergency and the announcement that “free and fair elections” will take place beginning in December.The move drew fierce criticism from nongovernmental advocacy organizations like Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Homeland Security’s misstatements in revoking TPS for people from Myanmar are so egregious that it is hard to imagine who would believe them,” John Sifton, HRW’s Asia advocacy director, said in a statement.The group noted that “Myanmar’s supposedly revoked state of emergency in July was immediately replaced with a new state of emergency and martial law in scores of townships across nine states and regions.”Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has said it is “unfathomable” for Myanmar to hold free and fair elections under current circumstances.”How can anyone say that they’re free and fair,” Turk said in a recent interview with AFP.”And how can they even be conducted when considerable parts of the country are actually not in anyone’s control, and with the military being party to the conflict and having suppressed its population for years?” he added.Rights groups have said the election cannot be legitimate, with democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi deposed and jailed in the coup, and her popular National League for Democracy party dissolved.The junta seized power making unsubstantiated claims of fraud in a 2020 election that the NLD won in a landslide.A many-sided civil war has since consumed Myanmar, with the junta having lost swathes of the country to pro-democracy guerrillas and powerful ethnic-minority armed factions.The US State Department currently advises Americans not to travel to Myanmar due to “armed conflict, the potential for civil unrest” and “wrongful detentions.”  

Elon Musk’s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account’s location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform — including in support of Donald Trump.X’s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend, allowing users “to see the country or region where an account is based,” in a bid to boost transparency on a platform that tech experts say is rife with disinformation.”This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Bier wrote on X.The launch triggered a wave of online sleuthing.Almost immediately, the platform flooded with posts flagging dozens of right-wing internet personalities — promoters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) or “America First” political slogans — whose location data showed they were in Nigeria, Bangladesh, or Eastern Europe.Influential pro-Trump accounts that present themselves as US-based but actually operate overseas have circulated 31 false claims over the past 15 months — including allegations of Democratic corruption — according to a NewsGuard analysis using the location feature.The feature also seemed to vindicate researchers who warned during last year’s US presidential election that a network of MAGA accounts — posing as “Trump-supporting independent women” and using stolen photos of European models and influencers — was operating overseas.”X’s new account info showed many of these ‘American’ women were actually based in Thailand, with some tied to Myanmar,” Benjamin Strick, the London-based director of investigations at the Centre for Information Resilience, told AFP.”Before this change we could show these profiles were fake, but we had almost no visibility on where they were run from, and often had to rely on ‘slip ups’ posted by the accounts, time posting patterns and irregularities in language.”Now we can see that many of the accounts in this specific network are linked to Southeast Asia, which brings us closer to understanding who might be behind them,” Strick added.- ‘Rough edges’ -Reflecting a hyperpolarized political climate, some right-wing personalities also pointed fingers at left-wing users seemingly posting from suspicious locations.X, however, cautioned that the location data “may not be accurate and can change periodically.”When users clicked on an account’s location, a pop up noted: “The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation.”Some users may also be connected via a VPN that can mask their real location.”There are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday,” Bier wrote after the feature’s launch.Late Sunday, Bier said an “upgrade” was upcoming that will ensure “accuracy will be nearly 99.99%”Some users criticized the launch, warning that it could expose the locations of dissidents and protestors in autocratic states. Bier, however, said that for users in countries “where speech has penalties,” the feature includes privacy toggles that reveal only the region.Soon after the launch, some apparent imposter accounts with vast followings were suddenly taken down.One X handle posing as a fan account for Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was suspended after users noted that its location was listed as Nigeria.The account, which had amassed one million followers, regularly posted pro-Trump content as well as Islamophobic and anti-immigration messages.As tech platforms scale back content moderation and reduce their reliance on human fact-checkers, disinformation researchers warn of a growing threat from Russian and Chinese actors seeking to sow political chaos in Western countries — as well as from overseas influencers driven by the prospect of monetary gain.The new feature “shines a light on a fundamental problem with social media today: paid actors are deliberately inflaming difficult issues because controversy attracts attention,” Amy Bruckman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told AFP.”It’s a difficult situation, and I believe we need more trustworthy platforms that don’t allow people to behave badly.”Last month, X laid off half of its engineering team responsible for fighting influence operations, spam, and illegal content on the platform, reflecting a push to replace staff with artificial intelligence, The Information reported on Monday.X did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.burs-ac/jgc

Elon Musk’s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account’s location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform — including in support of President Donald Trump.X’s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend, allowing users “to see the country or region where an account is based,” in a bid to boost transparency on a platform that tech experts say is rife with disinformation.”This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Bier wrote on X.The launch triggered a wave of online sleuthing.Almost immediately, the platform flooded with posts flagging dozens of right-wing internet personalities — promoters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) or “America First” political slogans — whose location data showed they were in Nigeria, Bangladesh, or Eastern Europe.”Why are so many MAGA influencers from outside the U.S.? It’s almost as if they are working for foreign governments,” liberal influencer Ed Krassenstein wrote in a post.The feature also seemed to vindicate researchers who warned during last year’s US presidential election that a network of MAGA accounts — posing as “Trump-supporting independent women” and using stolen photos of European models and influencers — was operating overseas.”X’s new account info showed many of these ‘American’ women were actually based in Thailand, with some tied to Myanmar,” Benjamin Strick, the London-based director of investigations at the Centre for Information Resilience, told AFP.”Before this change we could show these profiles were fake, but we had almost no visibility on where they were run from, and often had to rely on ‘slip ups’ posted by the accounts, time posting patterns and irregularities in language.”Now we can see that many of the accounts in this specific network are linked to Southeast Asia, which brings us closer to understanding who might be behind them,” Strick added.- ‘Rough edges’ -Reflecting a hyperpolarized political climate, some right-wing personalities also pointed fingers at left-wing users seemingly posting from suspicious locations.X, however, cautioned that the location data “may not be accurate and can change periodically.”When users clicked on an account’s location, a pop up noted: “The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation.”Some users may also be connected via a VPN that can mask their real location.”There are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday,” Bier wrote after the feature’s launch.Late Sunday, Bier said an “upgrade” was upcoming that will ensure “accuracy will be nearly 99.99%”Some users criticized the launch, warning that it could expose the locations of dissidents and protestors in autocratic states. Bier, however, said that for users in countries “where speech has penalties,” the feature includes privacy toggles that reveal only the region.Soon after the launch, some apparent imposter accounts with vast followings were suddenly taken down without any explanation.One X handle posing as a fan account for Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, was suspended after users noted that its location was listed as Nigeria.The account, which had amassed more than one million followers, regularly posted pro-Trump content as well as Islamophobic and anti-immigration messages.X did not respond to AFP’s request for comment on the suspension.As tech platforms scale back content moderation and reduce their reliance on human fact-checkers, disinformation researchers warn of a growing threat from Russian and Chinese actors seeking to sow political chaos in Western countries — as well as from overseas influencers driven by the prospect of monetary gain.The new feature “shines a light on a fundamental problem with social media today: paid actors are deliberately inflaming difficult issues because controversy attracts attention,” Amy Bruckman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told AFP.”It’s a difficult situation, and I believe we need more trustworthy platforms that don’t allow people to behave badly.”burs-ac/sms/sla