Fresno firebrand conservative and county supervisor Steve Brandau said Monday afternoon that he was quitting Twitter cold turkey. "I am deleting my account tonight and throwing away 2,000 followers," he told me. Indeed, a search today for his handle on the social media platform turned up crickets. However, Brandau says...
Facebook Faces Lawsuits As It Ramps up Voter Fact-Checking
Facebook wants to make sure its users have accurate and fair information about the election. However, critics — including President Donald Trump — say the widely-used platform engages in censorship. Through its Voting Information Center launched last week, the social media giant also wants to register voters, with a goal...
Facebook Launches a New TikTok Clone, Instagram Reels
NEW YORK — Facebook's Instagram is launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels. The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram...
Holocaust Survivors Urge Facebook to Remove Denial Posts
BERLIN — Holocaust survivors around the world are lending their voices to a campaign launched Wednesday targeting Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to take action to remove denial of the Nazi genocide from the social media site. Coordinated by the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany,...
Facebook Bans Violent 'Boogaloo' Groups, Not the Term Itself
OAKLAND — Facebook has banned an extremist anti-government network loosely associated with the broader “boogaloo” movement, a slang term supporters use to refer to a second Civil War or a collapse of civilization. But the platform didn't try to name the group, underscoring the difficulty of grappling with an amorphous...
Central Unified Trustee Seat Will Stay Vacant Until Nov. Election
The Central Unified Area 4 seat formerly held by Richard Atkins, who resigned this week in response to public outcry over his Facebook post that urged U.S. critics to "go back to your country," will remain vacant until the November election. The elected candidate will serve out the remainder of...
School Board President Who Posted Confederate Flag, ‘Proud to be White,’ Resigns
Sara Wilkins, the Madera County Board of Education president whose Facebook post of the Confederate flag and the phrase "I'm proud to be white" prompted community outrage, has resigned, Madera County Superintendent of Schools Cecilia Massetti announced Thursday morning. Wilkins' resignation came in a single sentence: “After 47 years of...
Madera Unified: ‘We’re Not Madera County School Board, and We Don’t Condone Racism’
Madera Unified School District wants everyone to know that it opposes racism and that it's not the same entity as the Madera County Board of Education, whose president posted on Facebook last weekend "I'm proud to be white" overlaid on an image of the Confederate flag. "Madera Unified School District...
Friday Deadline to Add Picking Atkins’ Successor to November Ballot
Richard Atkins submitted his written resignation from his Area 4 seat on the Central Unified School District board of trustees on Wednesday morning, Superintendent Andy Alvarado said. Atkins dated his resignation June 23, but it won't be official until it reaches the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, Alvarado said. "Jim...
‘Go Back to Your Country’ Central Trustee Abruptly Resigns
Central Unified School District trustee Richard Atkins abruptly resigned his Area 4 seat Tuesday night in the midst of a special public meeting in which members of the public called for him to resign or be removed or recalled because of a controversial Facebook post. The board had just voted...