Twitter Says It Stopped Policing COVID Misinformation Under Musk

New York, US - November 18: A view of Twitter Headquarters on 

November 18, 2022 in New York, United States.
Lokman Vural Elibol—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

BY MAXWELL ADLER/BLOOMBERG
NOVEMBER 29, 2022 

Twitter Inc. said it ended a policy designed to suppress false or misleading information about COVID-19, part of Elon Musk’s polarizing mission to remake the social network as a place for unmoderated speech.

By discarding the COVID rule, the company will no longer apply labels to posts containing falsehoods about the disease or provide supplemental corrective information as it did before. It will apparently no longer remove inaccurate tweets or ban offending accounts either.

The company disclosed the change in a note added to a page on its website outlining the old COVID policy. It says Twitter stopped enforcing the rule on Nov. 23.

Read More: Twitter Was a Lifeline for People With Disabilities. Musk’s Reign Is Changing All of That

Twitter didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Sky News reported on the revision earlier Tuesday.

Over 11,000 accounts had been suspended and over 97,000 pieces of misleading content had been removed from the time Twitter introduced the COVID policy in January 2020 to when it ended last week, according to data on Twitter’s website.

Twitter has received frequent criticism for its lack of action against disinformation and misinformation over the last decade. The critiques were heightened during the presidency of Donald Trump due to his controversial and prolific tweeting, including ones that violated Twitter’s policies on coronavirus misinformation. Musk moved to reinstate Trump’s Twitter account this month, though the former president has yet to post from it.

Twitter quietly drops Covid misinformation prevention policy under Elon Musk

Tuesday 29 November 2022 

Elon Musk has scrapped Twitter's Covid misinformation policy.

Credit: AP

Twitter has quietly ended the enforcement of its policy to stop the spread of Covid misinformation.The social media giant introduced the policy during the pandemic and used it to remove thousands of misleading tweets as part of efforts to stop the spread of “potentially harmful and misleading information” about the virus and vaccines.

Between January 2020 and September 2022, Twitter suspended over 11,000 accounts for breaking Covid misinformation rules, removing almost 100,000 pieces of content that breached those standards, according to internal statistics.

However, a note added to the company’s webpage detailing the policy’s work says that “effective November 23 2022, Twitter is no longer enforcing the Covid-19 misleading information policy”.The company did not publicly announce the change.

The move is likely to raise new concerns about Elon Musk’s approach to content moderation at the company since his takeover last month.

In spite of recent controversies, Elon Musk's popularity on Twitter is growing.

Credit: AP

Musk has said he believes in “absolute free speech” and wants to reduce content moderation on the site— something critics warned would lead to a spike in abuse, harassment, and other harmful behaviour.

In May 2020, as the pandemic was deepening, the Tesla CEO emerged as a champion of defying lockdown orders intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading in the US.

In one instance, Tesla’s factory reopened— with Musk practically daring local authorities to arrest him.

Since taking over the company in October, the billionaire has laid off more than half of the platform’s 7,500 staff, which has increased fears about the firm’s ability to successfully moderate the site with substantially reduced staff numbers.

Earlier this month, the billionaire restored former US president Donald Trump’s Twitter account and has also allowed Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to return after he was suspended for antisemitic comments.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Musk has also dramatically reduced the size of the team devoted to tackling child sexual exploitation on the platform.

The report suggests that the team of specialists that review and escalate reports of child sexual exploitation has more been halved.

Last week, the SpaceX CEO tweeted that “removing child exploitation is priority #1”.The changes are the latest incidents in Musk’s turbulent reign as Twitter boss.

On Monday, he accused Apple of threatening to remove the platform from its app store and claimed the iPhone maker had halted most of its advertising on Twitter.

Twitter parodies mock Musk's changes but also present misinformation threat

He criticised the tech giant over its commission on purchases made through Apple’s App Store, and posted a meme suggesting he was willing to “go to war” over the issue.

A number of companies have paused advertising on Twitter amid concerns about Musk’s content moderation plans.

The new Twitter boss has already begun looking for ways to diversify the site's revenue, which is currently almost entirely dependent on advertising.

He is hoping to change this by charging a monthly subscription fee for verified status on the platform through the Twitter Blue service.

This was initially launched earlier this month before being paused after a number of incidents of Twitter users paying for verification and then posing as public figures.

Twitter ended its COVID-19 misinformation policy. Here are other major changes under Elon Musk.

Jenna Moon

Nov 29, 2022

THE NEWS

Twitter quietly ended its COVID-19 misinformation policy last week, one of the latest changes to the site’s moderation since Elon Musk took over the platform one month ago.

Under Musk, permanently banned users are back on Twitter, and hate speech policies are changing.

Here's a look at the moderation changes so far.

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

THE COVID-19 MISINFORMATION POLICY

Twitter is no longer enforcing its COVID-19 misleading information policy as of Nov. 23, the site said in a note last week.

Under the previous policy, implemented in Jan. 2020, accounts which pushed misleading content about the virus or vaccines would be challenged.

More than 11,000 accounts were suspended under the policy, and 97,000 pieces of content were removed.

REVERSING BANS

Under Musk, several permanently banned accounts, as well as restricted accounts have been reinstated.

Most prominently, Musk reversed the permanent ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account after taking a Twitter poll on it. Trump has not started tweeting yet, preferring to use the look-alike site Truth Social, which he helped found.

Right-wing lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had been permanently banned for tweeting COVID misinformation, also had her account reinstated.

Here's a running list of Twitter accounts that have been reinstated under Musk.

HATE SPEECH GETS "MAX DEBOOSTED"

Users will not be able to find hateful or negative tweets unless they actively "seek it out" under Musk's new Twitter policy he described as "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach."

The offending tweets will be "max deboosted & demonetized," Musk said.

It’s unclear what exactly constitutes hateful or negative speech. Musk has said the policy would apply on a tweet-by-tweet basis, and would not affect entire accounts.

Tech journalist Dell Cameron outlined in a Twitter thread how the site's moderation of hateful tweets towards trans users appears to have changed.

AUTOMATING MODERATION

Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that Musk is seeking to automate parts of the moderation process, removing the human element which offers some nuance during complicated decisions.

It hasn't yet been implemented, but a vast number of Twitter's moderation staff — an estimated 15% — have left the company since Musk's takeover.

Elon Musk tries to start a Twitter fight with Apple

Elon Musk claims Apple has threatened to withhold Twitter from the App Store and that the iPhone maker won't say why.

Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer on Nov. 29, 2022

ZDNET

Getty/Anadolu Agency

Elon Musk has attempted to start a Twitter tussle with Apple, claiming the iPhone giant threatened to withhold Twitter from the App Store.

In a series of tweets Musk said Apple 'puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through their App Store' and said Apple has threatened to "withhold" Twitter from the App Store. Apple does charge between 15 and 30% for in-app purchases, but this cost is well known and not a secret.


Musk also says Apple has "mostly stopped advertising on Twitter". "Do they hate free speech in America?" he asked in one tweet. "What's going on here @tim_cook?" Musk asked Apple chief Tim Cook in another.

Musk has published a survey on Twitter asking his 119 million followers whether Apple should publish every instance of censorship that have affected its customers. Musk said that "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won't tell us why."

Neither Tim Cook nor Apple has apparently responded to Musk's Twitter storm.

The response from Musk's followers is overwhelmingly in the affirmative (84%) that Apple should disclose these details.

Via The Verge, CBS News asked Tim Cook earlier this month whether Twitter could change in a way that would cause Apple to remove it from the App Store.

"You know they say that they're going to continue to moderate, so I count on them to do that. Because I don't think anyone wants hate speech on their platform," said Cook.

When Musk announced his intent to buy Twitter in April, he said: "Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

Musk ran another survey last week asking whether Twitter should offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, if the individuals behind them had not broken the law or engaged in spam. After votes came in, Musk said he would follow through with the amnesty this week.

Twitter's former head of safety Yoel Roth recently wrote in the New York Times that Twitter failing to adhere to Apple's and Google's respective app store guidelines "would be catastrophic". 

Elon Musk’s ‘weak stance on moderation’ is catching up to him as Apple threatens to remove Twitter app

Musk's continues to feud with almost everyone.

By Chloe Olivia Sladden

Twitter's place on Apple's App Store could be at risk.

Elon Musk’s relaxed stance on Twitter’s content moderation may finally be catching up to him as the “Chief Twit” unleashed a barrage of tweets claiming Apple threatened to kick the platform off its App Store.

On Monday, Musk tweeted that Apple “had threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store” but refused to say why.

Apple’s App Store is the only way in which iPhone users can download Twitter onto their phones. If Apple followed through on its alleged threat, Twitter would lose a large portion of its user base, CNBC reports.



In more tweets posted on Monday, Musk called Apple’s App Store fees a “secret 30% tax” and ran a poll with his 119m followers asking if “Apple should publish all censorship actions it has taken that affect its customers.”

He added that “Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter” and ended the barrage with a meme stating he would rather “go to war” with the tech giant than pay its commission.


Critics have spoken out against Musk, claiming that his “controversial public image” has begun to catch up to him.

“Musk’s controversial public image and weak stance on content moderation are catching up [to him],” Rachel Foster Jones, associate analyst at GlobalData, told Verdict.

“Brands will not want to risk their reputation and on a platform where harmful content may spread.”

Apple was the biggest advertiser on Twitter in this year’s first quarter. It is estimated that the tech giant spent $48m on advertising on the social media platform, accounting for 4% of Twitter’s total revenue during that period, Sky News reported.

Dan O’Dowd, founder of anti-Tesla self-driving safety campaign and critic of Musk, stated that the Twitter owner’s tweets demonstrate his “petulance and childness” at responding “to valid criticism with spiteful personal attacks.”

O’Dowd says that Musk’s insults are symptomatic of Twitter’s problems, including reinstating banned accounts, which is causing major advertisers to cut ties with Twitter.

 World Cup·Analysis

Is Alphonso Davies's celebrity a potential problem for Canada's men's World Cup team?

Social Sharing

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Reddit
• LinkedIn
• Email

Star player has appeared reticent to represent his teammates off the field

Chris Jones · for CBC Sports · Posted: Nov 29, 2022 

Canada forward Alphonso Davies speaks to the media after practice at the World Cup in Qatar on Tuesday. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Chris Jones is in Qatar covering the men's World Cup for CBC Sports.

Nearly 48 hours after Alphonso Davies scored the first World Cup goal in the history of the Canadian men's team in a 4-1 loss to Croatia, he finally met with reporters on Tuesday evening to talk about it. 

"I looked to my left and just saw all my teammates running toward me," he said, remembering the celebration that followed, which included an accidental headbutt from an ecstatic Liam Millar. "It was a great feeling. We've been waiting for that moment for a long time."

Davies wasn't the only one who's been waiting. His appearance in the media tent at Canada's training centre was his first since the World Cup began 10 days ago, and the story of his conspicuous absence has been filling the void his silence has left.

After every game here, rights-holding broadcasters — TSN in Canada and beIN Sports internationally — get first crack at players as they leave the field. Davies spoke briefly to both following the Croatia game.

There are two further media opportunities for the written press and international reporters: a news conference, usually held by the head coach and a key player, and a mixed zone between the field and team rooms.

After Canada's opening loss to Belgium, when Davies missed a penalty that might have altered the outcome, he wasn't at the news conference, and he powered through the mixed zone surrounded by young teammates, ignoring requests for comment.

Following the Croatia loss, when he scored his historic goal, he again wasn't at the news conference, and he didn't break stride in the mixed zone, shaking his head at clamouring reporters while wolfing down a sandwich.

Davies has every right not to speak. On some level, his reticence is even understandable.

Davies enters practice past a poster commemorating Canada having qualified for the men's World Cup. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Part of public trust

"I'm happy that I was able to score," Davies said, "but at the end of the day we lost the game, and that was really what was on my mind. I was very devastated and very down about how the team played."

It arguably remains his responsibility, having benefitted from a federally funded program in Canada Soccer, to help promote the sport, especially at a time when so many eyes are on it. When you're wearing a Canada Soccer shirt, you're no longer a private enterprise. You're part of a public trust.

Bigger players on bigger teams accept those terms. Lionel Messi has spoken multiple times here, including after a humiliating loss to Saudi Arabia. Cristiano Ronaldo has, too. The U.S. Soccer Federation has held roundtables with every one of its players. There is nothing like a World Cup to put soccer at the heart of things.

More important from a team perspective, media responsibilities don't disappear when Davies shirks them. They shift to his less-famous teammates. Atiba Hutchinson, Steven Vitoria, Alistair Johnston — the demands on them increase.

• FIFA opens disciplinary case against Croatia for fan taunts of Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan

• Having scored at World Cup, Canadian men now look to get one final result

After Davies' refusal to stop in the Croatia mixed zone, Sandra Gage, Canada Soccer's chief marketing officer, was hammered by incredulous reporters. She then tried to stop Jonathan David: She literally clasped her hands, begging him to speak. He walked right past her. 

That moment is emblematic of a growing star problem with Davies.

Divisions are inevitable, unfortunately, a function of Canada's strange, stratified roster. England's third-string goalkeeper is still a top-level professional and multi-millionaire. Davies wears diamond earrings that probably cost more than James Pantemis's annual salary at CF Montreal.

Now there has been some troubling spillover, on the field and off. Davies, who has taken only two penalties in his career, both in low-pressure situations, should never have taken the spot kick against Belgium. David, a pure striker who has taken 12 penalties, should have.

Davies, right, runs with teammate Jonathan David during practice on Tuesday. Davies took a crucial penalty shot against Belgium when many felt David, a more accomplished scorer, should have taken the shot. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Clearly mindful of the history at stake, Davies took the ball — "Because I felt confident in the moment," he said — and then a weak shot, and Canada ultimately lost, 1-0.

Why would David want to speak for him?

There have been other, less obvious signs of potential disharmony, despite this team's self-proclaimed "brotherhood."

Davies, wielding his celebrity like a weapon, has signed his own deal with Canada Soccer for jersey rights; the rest of his teammates are still waiting for theirs.

• ANALYSIS
  Memory of Alphonso Davies's goal should outlive sting of Canada's losses at men's World Cup

• ANALYSIS
  Messi's reliable genius keeps Argentina's World Cup dream alive

He arrived late in Qatar, allegedly to receive superior treatment for a nagging injury at Bayern Munich, his professional club. Nick Huoseh, Davies' agent, sat in on Tuesday's meeting with reporters. No other player has received an escort.

During Canada's fantastic World Cup qualification run, any potential cracks and fissures were lost under a string of thankfully headbutt-free celebrations.

But now this team is losing — and against Croatia, losing badly— and with that comes the real test of character. Thursday's final game against Morocco will tell us a lot.

"We want something out of it," Davies said. "We want to show that we belong on this stage."

This stage is the biggest in the world, and occupying it has its costs. Alphonso Davies needs to understand that he alone isn't above paying them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Jones

Senior Contributor

Chris Jones is a journalist and screenwriter who began his career covering baseball and boxing for the National Post. He later joined Esquire magazine, where he won two National Magazine Awards for his feature writing. His work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN The Magazine (RIP), and WIRED, and he is the author of the book, The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics. Follow him on Twitter at @EnswellJones

HSBC to sell Canadian unit to Royal Bank of Canada - and the banking group's shareholders could be in line for a one-off bumper dividend

HSBC has agreed to sell its business in Canada to Royal Bank of Canada

 
It may return some proceeds to shareholders via a one-off dividend or buyback

By JANE DENTON FOR THISISMONEY
29 November 2022

HSBC has agreed to sell its business in Canada to Royal Bank of Canada for $10.04billion, or around £8billion, in cash.

The sale comes as the FTSE 100-listed banking giant pursues a strategy of focusing its resources on its core markets, amid pressure from its biggest shareholder, Ping An, to boost its performance and bottom line.

Chinese insurance group Ping An has been pushing HSBC to split its Asian and western operations in a bid to strengthen returns.

HSBC said it may return some of the proceeds of the sale to shareholders via a one-off dividend or buyback from early 2024 onwards.

 

'We decided to sell following a thorough review of the business', HSBC boss Noel Quinn said

Noel Quinn, the bank's boss, said: 'We decided to sell following a thorough review of the business, which assessed its relative market position within the Canadian market and its strategic fit within the HSBC portfolio.'

HSBC's shares were up 4.55 per cent or 22.23p to 510.83p this afternoon. In the last year, the lender's share price has risen over 20 per cent. But, looking back over the last five years, the bank's share price is down over 30 per cent. The lender axed dividends at the height of the pandemic, but has since resumed them.

In February 2021 the group announced it was scrapping the scrip dividend option as it was deemed 'dilutive'.

The sale of HSBC's arm in Canada is expected to complete late next year and will result in a pre-tax gain of $5.7billion for HSBC, according to the bank.

The deal will enable Royal Bank of Canada to take more market share in its home market, adding 130 branches and more than 780,000 retail and commercial customers. If successful, it will be the first big banking merger in a decade in Canada.

The transaction will unlock 'significant value' for the group, HSBC said in a stock market statement today.

HSBC said in October it was considering the sale of the Canadian arm as it looks to beef up returns following pressure from Ping An.

HSBC is Canada's seventh biggest bank with assets of C$125billion, and it earned C$490million before tax as of 30 June, based on its latest financial results. Analysts had valued HSBC's Canada business in the range of C$8billion to C$10billion.

Last month HSBC reported an adjusted pre-tac third quarter profit of $6.5billion, against $5.5billion a year ago. At the time, the bank also maintained its guidance for a dividend payout ratio of 50 per cent in 2023 and 2024

UK 

Daily Mail roasted for making ‘private school fees the biggest issue of the day’ during cost of living crisis

Basit Mahmood Today

The paper seems to have forgotten that Tory MP Michael Gove, also supported removing the charitable status of private schools.

The Daily Mail has spent yet another day taking aim at the Labour Party for daring to tackle educational inequality and wanting to level the playing field between state and private schools, and once more it’s rightly been mocked for its latest front page on the issue.

With the Labour Party reiterating its pledge to remove the charitable status of private schools, the Mail’s front page today featured the headline: “Keir’s class war threat to 200 private schools’. Keir Starmer has vowed to make private schools pay VAT and the Daily Mail has had a complete melt down.

The paper seems to have forgotten that Tory MP Michael Gove, also supported removing the charitable status of private schools.

Writing in The Times in 2017, the leading Tory MP said: “Private school fees are VAT-exempt. That tax advantage allows the wealthiest in this country, indeed the very wealthiest in the globe, to buy a prestige service that secures their children a permanent positional edge in society at an effective 20 per cent discount.

“How can this be justified? I ask the question in genuine, honest inquiry. If Times readers can tell me why we should continue to provide such egregious state support to the already wealthy so that they might buy advantage for their own children, I would be fascinated.”

Andy Burnham also took aim at the Mail today, tweeting: “In a cost-of-living crisis, the Daily Mail tries to make private school fees the biggest issue of the day.”

What’s also interesting is how the Daily Mail portrays the issue as one of ‘class war’. So here’s a question for the paper. Over the past decade, the most deprived fifth of secondary schools saw a 14% real-terms fall in spending per pupil between 2009 and 2019, compared with a 9% drop for the least deprived schools.

Would they describe that as ‘class war’ too?

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

Illegal building under fire after Ischia landslide

Reuters

Nov 28, 2022

Experts and activists said the construction of illegal buildings increased the risks from natural disasters on the Italian island of Ischia as the death toll from a landslide caused by torrential rain rose to eight, including a baby

 

Watch again: Footage from site of massive landslide in Ischia, Italy

The Independent 

Nov 26, 2022

23:55 

A rescue operation is underway on the Italian island of Ischia after multiple buildings were engulfed in a landslide caused by heavy rain.

The island, in the Bay of Naples, has also been beset by flooding, with at least 12 people said to be missing. Two people were rescued from a car after it was dragged into the sea, the fire service said.

Italy’s infrastructure minister Matteo Salvini said that eight people had been killed in the landslide during a speech in Milan on Saturday. However, interior minister Matteo Piantedosi later contradicted this by saying that there had been no confirmed deaths.

Volcano begins to erupt in eastern 

El Salvador

Clouds and gasses surround the Chaparrastique volcano in San Jorge, El Salvador, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Authorities in El Salvador are warning residents near the Chaparrastique in the eastern part of the country to be alert as the volcano has shown signs of increased activity. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Authorities in El Salvador on Monday warned residents near the Chaparrastique volcano in the country’s east to be alert after it began to erupt.

The Environmental Ministry’s observatory reported explosions in the central crater of the volcano located about 83 miles (135 kilometers) east of the capital. It said the eruption’s intensity was a 1 on a scale from 0 to 8.

The eruption began Sunday when the volcano launched rock and ash to areas surrounding the crater. There were no reported injuries.

Civil Defense Director Luis Alonso Amaya said three municipalities were on alert.

Authorities were preparing 26 shelters that could accommodate more than 10,000 people and installing a command post to provide the most current information on the volcano’s activity.

The safety zone was extended to a radius of 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) from the crater.

Volcanic ash expelled from the Chaparrastique volcano begins to cover bushes in San Jorge, El Salvador, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022.

When Did Judaism Begin?

A new book called The Origins of Judaism places the momentous occurrence much later in time than that proposed by most scholars. Is it right?

The Flight of the Prisoners, c. 1896-1902, by James Tissot. Jewish Museum.

OBSERVATION
JON D. LEVENSON
NOV. 28 2022
About the author
Jon D. Levenson is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University and the author of Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Library of Jewish Ideas; Princeton University Press).

When did Jews first begin to view the observance of law as a religious obligation?

The traditional answer is simple. They began doing so even before they knew what those laws entailed, even, in fact, before the Decalogue itself had been revealed: “And the whole people answered as one and said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do!’ And Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord” (Exodus 19:8). Only then does the revelation of law on Sinai that dominates the last four books of the Torah commence. In the traditional rabbinic perspective, the commitment to maximal observance is thus primordial, or close to it, in the history of the Jewish people, and so are all the norms to which they committed themselves. Non-observance can therefore only be the result of backsliding.

Modern historians take a contrasting approach. They ask when the various texts, including those that speak of primordial Israelite unanimity, were written and in response to what situations. They propose answers, in part, by noting discrepancies between narrative and law. Is there anything in the book of Samuel, for example, to suggest that King David had ever heard of the Sabbath? If not, then perhaps the answer provides some insight into when that venerable institution came into being or at least when it came to be regarded as obligatory and widely practiced. In the classical historical-critical thinking, most of the law collections in the Torah are relatively recent, dating from the late 7th or 6th century BCE, the latter being the period of the Babylonian Exile. In the famous and still influential synthesis of Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918), the hypothesis that the law is not earlier but later than the prophets served as a major clue to the reconstruction of the historical development of biblical religion.

In The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal, Yonatan Adler, a professor of archaeology in Israel, provides a highly learned and carefully reasoned contribution to this longstanding and often contentious discussion, but he does so with a relatively novel focus. “My interest here,” he writes at the outset, “is decidedly not in the history of ideas or intellectual history, but rather in social history, focused on the behavior of a society at large.” The goal is not to ascertain when the various compositions were composed and for what purposes. Instead, the driving question is when “rank-and-file Judeans” adopted the Torah “as their authoritative law.”

“Judeans” and not “Jews” because the point of the investigation is to determine when Judaism—the religious system focused on observance of the laws and commandments found in the Torah—first emerged. Before then, the ethnic group that would later become the Jews existed, of course, but it would be anachronistic to speak of Jews before there was Judaism. Although Adler’s nomenclature thus makes much sense, it also has its drawbacks, since many of his “Judeans” were not from Judea/Judah or living in that region in the periods of which he writes.

His method is simple and straightforward. He takes the 1st century CE—a period rich in datable archaeological and literary sources, Jewish, pagan, and Christian alike—as the benchmark for establishing the existence and widespread observance of a given norm. Then he seeks to trace how far back in Jewish history such evidence can be found, paying keen attention as well to data suggesting the norm in question was either unknown or generally violated. Finally, he offers a cogent, if necessarily speculative, account of when and why the shift to a law- and book-centered understanding of identity took place—hence, The Origins of Judaism. The period in which Adler places that momentous transformation turns out to be much later than that proposed by most scholars, including Wellhausen.

Figural art is a good case in point. Adler notes that the familiar prohibition on graven images and the like in the Decalogue (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7) had early on been understood as forbidding all representational art, whether it was used for religious purposes, thus suggesting idolatry, or not. In the 1st century CE (give or take a few years), figures as different as the philosopher and theologian Philo of Alexandria and the historian Josephus (both of them Jewish), the Greek geographer Strabo, and the Roman historian Tacitus all attest explicitly to a characteristic Jewish avoidance of statuary. Moreover, as Adler points out, “Throughout the 1st century CE, coins minted in Judea for Judeans were adorned with images of either inanimate objects or floral forms, but almost never with figural depictions of humans or animals”—this “in stark contrast to coinage minted practically everywhere else in the Roman world.” In fact, he goes on to note, “When the Great Revolt broke out in 66 CE, the revolutionary authorities began to mint coins of their own with an array of designs—none of which included human or animal images.” The same can also be said of the hundreds of Judean tombs from the same century that have been examined.

Tracing the issue back into the Hasmonean period (ca. 142–37 BCE), which derives its name from the family of the Maccabees so well-known from the Hanukkah story, Adler finds that “not a single coin type features the image of a human or animal.” But there the trail goes cold. In fact, among the “earliest Judean coins ever minted”—from the 4th century BCE, late in the Persian period—“every example of the many surviving coin types . . . displays human and/or animal images.” This includes coins that bear the names of Judean officials, such as the high priest or governor, some of whose names contain elements derived from the four-letter designation of the God of the Judeans. Even more striking are the figurines of foreign deities from Persian-period Judea, including Jerusalem.

Further back in time, biblical authors were quite capable of writing “rather approvingly of the twelve molten bulls Solomon had cast as a support for his molten ‘sea,’ as also of the sculptured lions adorning his monumental ivory throne. In fact,” Adler continues, “Solomon’s temple is said to have been filled with sculpted and embroidered images of bulls, lions, and winged cherubim—none of which seem to have provoked the ire of the biblical authors.” Again, the issue for Adler is not when the familiar prohibition on figural art came into existence but rather when it became widely known and practiced and generally regarded as authoritative. As he sees it, the archaeological and literary evidence both point to the 2nd century BCE, late in the Hellenistic period.

The Festival of Sukkot, or Booths, is in some ways an even more telling example. Here, in the language of the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh, is how the Torah specifies the most conspicuous observances: “On the first day, you shall take the product of the hadar tree, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord seven days. . . . You shall live in booths seven days . . .” (Leviticus 23:40, 42). The identities of “the product of the hadar tree” and the “leafy trees” are, alas, far from clear. Rabbinic tradition understands the former to be a citron (etrog), the latter to be myrtles, and the verb to “take,” which is similarly vague, to refer to gathering these items together with the palm and willow branches and waving them ceremonially. Thus is the mitzvah of the “four species” performed on Sukkot to this day.

For this practice as well, Adler finds substantial evidence in the 1st century CE. Most strikingly, “all three denominations of the bronze coins minted in the fourth year of the Great Revolt (69/70 CE) featured variations on the ‘four species’ motif.” Josephus, too, describes the rite with considerable precision, providing identifications of the four species that match those of rabbinic tradition. A bit later, the Greek historian Plutarch provides some evidence for its existence as well.

But before the 1st century CE, the testimony is murky. Second Maccabees, a Jewish book usually dated around 100 BCE, ascribing the observance of Hanukkah as an eight-day festival to an imitation of Sukkot, reports Judah Maccabee and his followers’ celebration of it as follows:


Therefore, carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also palm fronds, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purification of his holy place. (2Maccabees 10:7)

But this is only three species. Where are the citrons? Why is their absence not noted? And, without circular reasoning, is there any convincing basis to identify the “wands” and “branches” with the myrtles of later tradition and the willows of Leviticus?

“Prior to the 2nd century BCE,” Adler writes, “the sole evidence for the existence of either of the two central rituals of Sukkot [i.e., dwelling in booths and waving the four species] is found in a single passage in Nehemiah 8:13–18.” But even this passage, narrating events that supposedly happened in the 5th century BCE, describes something noticeably different from what Leviticus legislates—and this despite the report that the people had acted in accordance with what “they found written in the instruction (torah) that the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.” First, they collect not four but five species of vegetation, only two of which (myrtles and palms) match the list in Leviticus 23:40. And note that in addition to the myrtles, the passage lists “leafy trees,” thus showing it does not equate the two, as later tradition would. And once again, the product or fruit of the hadar tree, whether a citron or not, is missing (Nehemiah 8:15). As Adler observes, “it seems likely that the author of the Nehemiah passage knew of a source that included a passage somewhat similar to Leviticus 23:40 . . . but not identical to it.”

The second discrepancy is more obvious. Nehemiah 8:13–18 and, apparently, the “instruction,” or Torah, of Moses that it implements offer no hint that the five species are to be waved. On the contrary, they are used “to make booths (sukkot)” (v. 15), a practice still observed by the Samaritans and Karaites with the four species of Leviticus. For Adler, though, the important point is that before the Hellenistic period there is, apart from this passage, no evidence, whether textual or archaeological, for the actual observance of Sukkot as mandated in the Torah we now have. That the author of that passage wanted his readers to observe the norm as it came down to him is clear. But, Adler insists, we “simply have no way of knowing whether his contemporaries were in agreement.”

Adler conducts the same sort of massively learned inquiry about a host of other characteristic Jewish practices—dietary laws, ritual purity, t’fillin (phylacteries) and mezuzahs, ritual circumcision, Sabbath, Passover, the seven-branched menorah, and the synagogue. “In each and every case,” he concludes, “we learned that the trail of the available evidence ends in the 2nd century BCE at the earliest.” That is thus when Judaism as he understands it must have emerged.

But what accounts for this seismic shift?

To answer, Yonatan Adler invokes a view widely held among scholars of Mesopotamia, namely that “[the more] ancient law collections were never regarded as prescriptive law—they are not themselves ‘the law.’” Rather, quoting the scholar of the ancient Near East Jacob Finkelstein, their “primary purpose was to lay before the public, posterity, future kings, and, above all, the gods, evidence of the king’s execution of his divinely ordained mandate.” The adjudication of actual cases was, in contrast, based upon longstanding, unwritten precedent rather than such literary compositions.

Adopting a theory of the Bible scholar Michael Lefebvre’s, Adler then points to a critical change that occurred in the reign of the Hellenistic Egyptian king Ptolemy II, who also controlled the Land of Israel in the 3rd century BCE. Ptolemy set up separate courts to hear the cases of different groups but, importantly, according to each group’s own laws. Lefebvre conjectures that this change “may have served as the catalyst for a recharacterization of the Pentateuch from descriptive to prescriptive law, and for the adoption of this law code as the Judean politikoì nómoi,” or community laws. He finds a further impetus for the shift, again in Adler’s own words, in “Hellenistic presuppositions that prescriptive law is a necessary mark of civilization” and the felt need of Judean communities “to advance a defense of their native culture as ‘civilized’ by recharacterizing the Pentateuchal collection of laws in alignment with the Greek model of a prescriptive code of law.” Appealing to a controversial theory proposed by the University of Tel Aviv historian Sylvie Honigman, he suggests that this shift enabled the Hasmoneans in the next century to present themselves as heroic upholders of longstanding practice against the assaults of the wicked Seleucids, thus both securing their own regime and cementing the new understanding of law.

If this is so, it is worthwhile to take a moment to savor the irony: the observance of Torah law, which has for millennia served to differentiate the Jews and preserve them from assimilation, itself began as a Jewish borrowing from the larger Gentile culture.

Adler’s formidable analysisof the data is not, alas, without its soft spots. For example, although he quotes and seeks to uphold the famous maxim “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,” his adherence to it is sometimes less than ideal. Thus, having cited research demonstrating the low level of swine production throughout the southern Levant in early biblical times, he concludes that “there is no apparent reason to assume that anyone was practicing deliberate avoidance of pig consumption because of some sort of cultural taboo against the animal.” Perhaps so, but the archaeological data he cites provide no indication of motivation; neighboring groups may engage in the identical practice for very different reasons.

Adler advances a similar point about the ritual impurity of menstruants, corpses, and those afflicted with certain skin diseases. That such perceptions are attested widely, including in the ancient Near East, falls short of securing Adler’s claim that ancient Israelites attached no particular religious significance to them. Having made the same point about the treatment in the Book of Ezekiel of carrion and “torn” (ṭ’reifah) animals as impure, he then concludes, “None of this suggests that any of these authors knew of any kind of detailed system of impurity regulations akin in any way to the Pentateuchal laws.” Striking parallels between Ezekiel and Leviticus suggest otherwise.

Much more problematic, however, is Adler’s claim that before the Hellenistic period biblical law was perceived as descriptive and iconic, rather than prescriptive and to be obeyed by individuals. This misses the fact that the law collections in the Pentateuch appear within a framework of covenant, with their particular norms thus revalorized as covenantal stipulations. And covenantal stipulations are very much intended to be obeyed.

Thus, Deuteronomy, the book most imbued with the conceptions and idioms of covenant, time and again insists that its laws be carefully practiced and continually kept in mind. It promises blessings to those who heed that counsel and curses to those who violate it, proving faithless to the covenant. “For the word is very close to you,” reads the conclusion to one of its most memorable exhortations, “in your mouth and in your heart to practice it” (Deuteronomy 30:14). This was written long before anyone ever heard of Ptolemy II or the Hasmoneans.

To be sure, Adler acknowledges the “trope of the ‘restoration’ of the Mosaic Torah first used by the authors of the Josiah and Ezra stories”—that is, about figures from the 7th and 5th centuries BCE, respectively—but he accepts the view that prior to the 2nd century BCE, “commitment to the Mosaic Torah (and indeed to the entire ‘biblical tradition’) remained limited to certain marginal circles of ‘literate and well-educated individuals.’” This notion that the faithful are but a small minority comports well with biblical literature itself, especially with the prophets, who regularly speak of massive and persistent defection from, or neglect of, God’s revelation. And if so, it was those “marginal circles” (Adler also uses the term “fringe groups”) whom the events of Hellenistic times vindicated—surely one of the more remarkable turns of events in the history of Judaism.

On this, another memorable biblical verse comes to mind:

The stone the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone. (Psalms 118:22)

But all this just pushes the question about the origins of Judaism further back in time. From where did those long-neglected laws come? How, finally, did Judaism begin?

Such questions of absolute beginnings are, alas, ones that historians cannot answer. In a brief article based upon his new book, Yonatan Adler, who studied at the Orthodox Yeshivat Merkaz Harav and received ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, concludes with “A Personal Reflection” on his findings that is helpful on this. For he both acknowledges the divergence of his historical reconstruction from the traditional picture and refuses to allow that divergence to refute the claim that the Torah continues to hold transcendent meaning:

The focus of traditional Jewish thought has invariably been on the ultimate authoritative status of the Torah, which is wholly a normative/prescriptive judgment rather than a historical/descriptive one. In simpler terms, the traditional interest in Torah has always centered on the “ought” rather than on the “is.” As such, the traditional appreciation of the Torah has remained—and must always endure—entirely beyond the purview of history, archaeology, or any other scientific endeavor.

Adler does not name the source of that “ought,” but the traditional Jewish thought he references does indeed place Him above the messy and all-too-human history within which He has made His will known. When the trail goes cold for the historian, it remains quite warm for the believer.

 

Looking at ASEAN only in context of US-China relations a mistake

Several ASEAN countries will be growing faster than China for the first time in over three decades, according to the Asian Development Bank.

Reported By:| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Nov 28, 2022, 06:03 AM IST

File Photo

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states have, in recent years, repeatedly expressed their concern regarding the insular economic policies of the US, as well as the downward slope in China-US ties ever since the ‘trade war’ between both countries began in 2018.  

The US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in 2017, and the deterioration in ties between Beijing and Washington after the imposition of tariffs by former US President Donald Trump were viewed with great concern by the ASEAN region. Several ASEAN countries have underscored the point that they have close economic ties with China and good relations with the US, and thus, would not want to take sides in case of a conflict between the two. 

Indonesia, which also recently hosted the G20 Summit 2022 in Bali, reiterated the same point. “ASEAN must become a peaceful region, and an anchor for global stability, consistently uphold international law and not be a proxy to any powers,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said while addressing the ASEAN Summit.

While Indonesia has been critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has refused to provide arms to Ukraine. Joko Widodo had visited both Russia and Ukraine in June 2022 and offered to mediate, saying that Indonesia was prepared to bridge ‘Russia-Ukraine communications’. 

Over the past few years ASEAN was viewed from the prism of China-US relations by many commentators. But in recent days, it has been witness to three important events; ASEAN Summit (Phnom Penh), G20 Summit (Bali, Indonesia) and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit (Bangkok).  

While the G20 Summit was witness to a meeting on the side lines between the US President, Joe Biden and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, the APEC Summit witnessed an exchange between Chinese President, Xi Jinping and US Vice President, Kamala Harris. There is no doubt that differences between both countries persist on crucial issues – such as Taiwan -- both sides agreed that they needed to resume engagement and work on crucial issues – such as climate change. 

“I noted a key message that President Biden emphasised in his November 14 meeting with President Xi: we must maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries,” Kamala Harris had stated in a tweet.

Apart from the above, the US reiterated the importance of ASEAN especially in the context of its Indo-Pacific strategy. Both Biden and Kamala Harris also referred to the importance of ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific strategy. Biden said that ASEAN is at the heart of his ‘..administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy’. The US emphasis on ASEAN’s geopolitical importance was relevant because apart from US’ withdrawal from TPP, there has been a perception that the US has not been paying much attention to the ASEAN region --- even though the Biden administration has tried to dispel this notion (apart from visiting Thailand for the APEC Summit, US Vice President Kamala Harris also visited Philippines). 

In spite of internal problems and differences and excessive bureaucracy within ASEAN grouping which according to many analysts has hampered decision making, recent events have reiterated its geopolitical importance. Interestingly, for the first time in over three decades, several ASEAN countries will be growing faster than China, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).   

In conclusion, while ASEAN has been afflicted by numerous problems, recent events are important not just in terms of symbolism, but highlight the geopolitical and economic significance of the region. It would thus be a mistake to look at ASEAN only in the context of US-China relations. 

The author, Tridivesh Singh Maini, is a New Delhi-based policy analyst associated with the OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat

Companies lured to ‘crypto hub’ Dubai have regrets thanks to FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

BYBEN BARTENSTEIN AND BLOOMBERG
November 27, 2022 at 4:42 PM MST

A scene from the Dubai Crypto Expo early last month.
CHRISTOPHER PIKE—BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

On Oct. 26, days before the collapse of his crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried sat for lunch at an upscale Dubai restaurant, subtly testing the waters for funding at a table of founders, bankers and financiers, including Anthony Scaramucci.

It turned out to be a final hurrah before the former billionaire’s troubles were exposed to the world. The implosion of FTX, which went from a $32 billion valuation to bankruptcy in the ensuing weeks, sent crypto markets into a tailspin, driving billions of dollars in outflows from some of the biggest global exchanges.

The aftershocks have reverberated particularly hard in the United Arab Emirates — especially in Dubai, which has been working to lure the world’s largest firms with its crypto-friendly policies. While some financial centers tightened regulations, many UAE officials promoted virtual assets as a gold mine for economic growth and pivotal in the nation’s diversification strategy beyond fossil fuels.

That helped the Gulf state position itself as a crypto hub, attracting industry heavyweights while also prompting bankers, lawyers and tech executives to switch jobs. Property brokers were reporting an infusion of crypto funds into luxury real estate. Yet the end of the bull market has some expressing regret at the turn of events.

Local exchanges Rain Financial Inc. and BitOasis have trimmed headcount in Dubai. Among those rethinking their foray into the sector is Hazem Shish, a former Barclays Plc banker who recently set up a crypto hedge fund in Abu Dhabi. While it performed well in its early months, challenges in raising institutional money amid the market turmoil prompted him to step back from the main fund’s management, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity as the information is private.

Shish declined to comment.

FTX was one of the first firms granted a license by Dubai’s Virtual Asset​s Regulatory Authority as part of the push to lure business, and the exchange set up its regional headquarters in the city.

At the time, Helal Al Marri, director general of the Dubai World Trade Centre Authority that houses VARA, praised the move and said it followed a rigorous evaluation — months before the firm went bust.

With FTX and Bankman-Fried now facing investigations from the US to the Bahamas, officials have distanced themselves from that decision, even scrubbing its license details from the regulator’s website.

Some links were harder to erase from view.

Banners touting an FTX-sponsored party during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix lined one of Dubai’s most exclusive beachfront drives. At the race track, spectators donned Formula One hats decorated with the FTX logo.

Twin blows

The firm’s collapse was the second significant blow to Dubai’s efforts within a matter of months. In June, hedge fund Three Arrows Capital imploded in one of the biggest-ever crypto trading busts, weeks after obtaining a provisional license in the city.

The drama has extended to other asset managers.

Multiple crypto hedge funds that recently set up in the UAE had put all their client money on FTX, forcing a mad scramble to exit the platform before withdrawals were halted in order to avert their own collapse, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some 4% of FTX’s global customers are based in the UAE, according to court filings in the firm’s bankruptcy case, making it one of the top 10 jurisdictions impacted by the fallout.


FTX and Three Arrows Capital didn’t have full-scale licenses, limiting the local fallout to an extent. The Dubai virtual assets regulator’s structure is aimed at opening the doors for the biggest firms to operate but initial licenses only allow a narrow range of services.

Still, the incidents have prompted a debate over whether authorities were too nimble in their push to lure crypto firms, lending legitimacy to companies that have since gone bust.

“As a regulator, there’s always the risk that if things go wrong it looks really bad,” said Dapo Ako, a former compliance specialist at UBS Group AG, whose firm J. Awan & Partners is helping crypto firms set up in the UAE. “But it’s also a chance to rethink the framework. If Lehman didn’t fail, we wouldn’t have new banking regulations.”

An official at VARA said FTX hadn’t cleared the approval process to onboard any clients or start operations. In a July statement, they said the license would allow FTX to deploy crypto derivatives products and trading services to qualified institutional investors.

Regarding Three Arrows Capital, the VARA representative said a provisional permit is an “approval of concept” factoring in the credibility of other licensing jurisdictions but that steps for a more complete license didn’t progress.

In response to questions, a UAE official said there’s a commitment to enable mass economic empowerment with a focus on consumer protection, cross-border financial security and economic stability.

A spokesperson at FTX declined to comment.

 
‘A walking time bomb’

Much of the UAE’s bet on crypto has centered around Binance Holdings Ltd. and its Chief Executive Officer Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.

The world’s largest crypto exchange has found a more receptive audience in the country, so much so that the 45-year-old executive made Dubai his home base and soon made inroads with the nation’s power brokers. The UAE granted Binance multiple licenses, and more than 500 of the firm’s employees settled in the Gulf state.

After FTX’s demise, Binance’s share of global crypto trading volumes increased to almost 50%, according to data from CryptoCompare. Yet the speed of FTX’s unraveling has sparked a debate about the health of centralized crypto exchanges, and traders have pulled funds from such venues.


At a summit in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 16, the economist Nouriel Roubini, a crypto critic who’s been referred to as “Dr. Doom,” called Binance a “walking time bomb,” blamed regulators for granting the firm licenses and urged officials to remove Zhao from the UAE.

A day later, the Binance CEO responded on stage at the Milken Institute’s conference in Abu Dhabi: “What’s a word for unimportant people?” he said. “We don’t care.” The dust-up came as the exchange got more approvals from Abu Dhabi Global Market.

 
Tighter regulation?

Since Zhao’s arrival last year, influential players from Kraken to OKX, Bybit and Crypto.com have built up their UAE presence, aligning with the nation’s ambitions for a digital economy that creates more non-oil sector jobs. Yet UAE officials privately have expressed concerns over the pace of regulatory approvals — that they may have proceeded too quickly and failed to identify the blowups of Three Arrows Capital and FTX, people familiar with the matter said.

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, which has come under particular scrutiny from the US Treasury Department for its looser regulations, is attracting the lion’s share of crypto companies — more than 500, according to a DMCC spokesman.

“I’d expect that overall regulators will be more careful and conservative as a result of the latest developments,” said Gabriele Dunker, the Vienna-based founding partner of Financial Transparency Advisors GmbH, which has previously advised the UAE government.

UAE crypto players are now on alert for updates from the regulators.

Dubai’s VARA plans to announce its CEO in the coming weeks and intends to hold further consultations with key stakeholders before year-end, people familiar with the matter said.

Meantime, Abu Dhabi’s efforts to finalize federal legislation for crypto have been delayed as authorities navigate a lobbying push from industry insiders as well as scrutiny from international bodies over money laundering and consumer protection concerns.

The Binance CEO, for his part, has initiated a proof of reserves system to support “full transparency.” However, his firm has declined to disclose the full details of its corporate structure.

“We have the largest offices in Dubai and Paris so you can view those two as global hubs,” Zhao told Bloomberg TV on Thursday.

A Binance spokesperson said the exchange is growing its UAE team and is in the midst of a corporate restructuring aimed at giving regulators further clarity about the organization.

Close calls

For now the UAE, like some financial centers, is sticking to its conviction of becoming a crypto hub. Hong Kong has reiterated its desire to lure virtual-asset firms, while Japan has proposed easing token-listing rules. Singapore, on the other hand, has stated its preference for use-case based blockchain technology while warning against retail crypto trading.

Abu Dhabi funds including Mubadala Investment Co. had set up committees to study investments in the crypto ecosystem. They’ve felt vindicated for proceeding cautiously and plan to tread carefully in the coming months, people familiar with the matter said.

A Mubadala spokesperson declined to comment.

But other entities controlled by UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed have maintained a more aggressive approach, plowing ahead with investment plans in the space. Zhao and his team met with potential backers, including entities affiliated with Sheikh Tahnoon, who oversees a large financial empire in Abu Dhabi, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

And earlier this month, just as Bankman-Fried tried to close a rescue deal with Binance, Zhao’s colleague Dominic Longman was in Abu Dhabi, launching the Middle East, Africa & Asia Crypto & Blockchain Association alongside UAE officials, who were pushing ahead with their embrace of the industry.

“Abu Dhabi, and the UAE, is a leader in the development of innovative and compliant crypto and blockchain businesses,” Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, chairman of ADGM, said. “We are pleased to be able to support MEAACBA, which will contribute towards developing this dynamic sector.”

—With assistance from Nicolas Parasie, Leen Al-Rashdan, Suvashree Ghosh and Philip Lagerkranser