The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.19 Tom Ford Melania Trump Fake News, Can Google Stadia Defeat Input Lag, & Russian Censors

Starting point is 00:00:00 Sup you beautiful bastards, hope you had a fantastic Tuesday. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show and let's just jump into it. The first thing we're gonna talk about today is that fun old segment, who's Twitter boycotting today news and today's contestant is Tom Ford. He's a fashion designer, director, he does a lot of stuff, famous guy. He was trending today seemingly in large part because of this tweet that blew up reading, Who likes Tom Ford? Tom Ford refuses to dress Melania Trump, quote, I have no interest in dressing a glorified escort "'who steals speeches and has bad taste in men.'" And in response to this, you had people on the right

Starting point is 00:00:30 bashing Tom Ford, some people calling for a boycott. Meanwhile, you had people on the left spreading this, others saying, oh, well, I guess I should buy Tom Ford stuff now. You had 50 Cent jumping on it, saying, "'Fuck Gucci, I'm wearing Tom Ford.'" You also saw people saying, how can you boycott Tom Ford if he can't even afford it, which implies

Starting point is 00:00:46 that Trump supporters can't afford his clothes, which is also just not a good look. One, the idea that all Trump supporters are just people that don't have money is not accurate, and two, it makes you seem like an elitist asshole. But to cut to the center of this story for the people calling for a boycott or saying yeah, we gotta buy Tom Ford,

Starting point is 00:01:01 the quote's not real. The tweet that went viral has since been deleted. Ford reportedly is a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton and in the past he did actually refuse to dress Melania Trump. But in a 2016 episode of The View he said, "'She's not necessarily my image.'" But also going on to say,

Starting point is 00:01:14 "'Even had Hillary won, she wouldn't be wearing my clothes. "'They're too expensive.'" And this was him talking about how his clothes were probably not great for public figures because you want them to look relatable. But the crazy thing about the world we live in today is it doesn't matter that Tom Ford never actually said it. It doesn't matter that a Tom Ford spokesperson

Starting point is 00:01:29 has had to come out and say, "'Hey, here's an official statement. "'This is an absolutely fabricated "'and completely fake quote attributed to Mr. Ford "'that has somehow gone viral. "'Mr. Ford did not make this statement. "'It is completely false.'" There are unfortunately going to be people on both sides

Starting point is 00:01:41 that don't know the truth, that they just think that this thing actually happened. And one of the things that's really concerning to me is this wasn't a situation where someone only showed one angle of some footage or they misled people by editing content to look a certain way and then a bunch of people were like, oh, well that has to be the truth.

Starting point is 00:01:58 I mean, look at this situation. The bar is so incredibly low. It was a picture of Tom Ford and Melania with a quote that was just seemingly thrown on Tom Ford. There was no sourcing, there was no linking to an article, and it was just off to the races. It's just a really wild thing to see. Then in incredibly interesting tech and gaming news today,

Starting point is 00:02:16 we had Google announcing their new gaming platform, Stadia. And I say gaming platform because no console, no actual personal computer is needed. It's all streamed across Google's network. They say they can do this at 4k 60 frames per second. Now if you've ever streamed a game from previous streaming services or you know you have it on one system and it's kicking out to another, you know one of the biggest issues is latency, right? Input lag. You move something on the controller, how fast does it happen on screen?

Starting point is 00:02:40 Well, in the announcement they said to combat that they have the Stadia controller which connects directly to Google streaming centers to limit latency But also on that note they say that you can try the service with your own controllers If you want all the nitty-gritty details of this announcement I'll link to it down below You know one of the reasons that I'm extremely excited about this if the implementation is as good as they say and of course I'm Skeptical is that there is so much potential upside here for people that don't have things like data caps and such you see a game You want to play it because it's streamed You do not have to download it

Starting point is 00:03:06 You could just jump in it also opens up the opportunity for people to stream their gameplay on YouTube Even if they don't have a powerful rig and one of the most exciting things to me is someone that just constantly uses YouTube They brought out Ryan Wyatt head of YouTube gaming guy. Just you know, I beat every year and fantasy football No big deal He came out and showed what I thought was one of the most exciting features. And that was if you were watching someone stream a game on YouTube, there can be a button that says, hey, join this person.

Starting point is 00:03:31 They used NBA 2K as an example, but I mean, imagine a world where let's say you're streaming Apex Legends, and either one of two options is available. They can click to join and you have two people that join your three man party. Or maybe if you had your stream on a two minute delay, you could bring in 59 other people to play. And understand that's just a hypothetical,

Starting point is 00:03:46 but that sounds awesome. Best of all, they announced that this is something that is launching this year. With all of that said, here's how I'll end it. I'm incredibly skeptical, but hopeful. I think it's always important to remember that when you see something in an announcement, it may not look like that when it gets to you.

Starting point is 00:03:58 Right, whether it be something on a massive scale, like when Microsoft announced and showcased Xbox Connect, I feel like what people got was vastly different than what we first saw. What we often see regarding the difference between how a video game looks when it's announced versus what you get. But ultimately I am excited and hopeful and with this story, of course, I do want to pass the question off to you. What are your thoughts around it? Love the idea, hate the idea, any thoughts? Yeah, I know I've said it over and over skeptical, but hopeful and excited and you know, really it's just gonna come down to input lag. What does that look like in an ideal situation and the not so ideal situation? And then I wanted to make sure that I made some time today to

Starting point is 00:04:30 feature and applaud something that the Prime Minister of New Zealand said to Parliament in the wake of this horrible horrible mass shooting that happened there. his act of terror, but one was notoriety. And that is why you will never hear me mention his name. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless. And to others, I implore you, speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them.

Starting point is 00:05:07 He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing, not even his name. I wanted to feature and applaud that because it is very nice to see that at a high government level. It's a thing that we've talked about for years. We've talked about it on a personal

Starting point is 00:05:22 and a news organization level. Keep them nameless, keep them faceless. There's a lot that we can learn from the situation without inadvertently making these people infamous. Now this of course will never fully stop the spreading of a name, a face, the videos that this person wants to go viral. Right, you're gonna have people that don't realize the damage that is done when you're spreading this. You're also gonna of course have bad actors. And it's all happening at a rate that is hard to comprehend. And for a little insight into this,

Starting point is 00:05:45 you had YouTube tweeting yesterday. We've removed tens of thousands of videos and terminated hundreds of accounts created to promote or glorify the shooter. The volume of related videos uploaded to YouTube in the first 24 hours was unprecedented both in scale and speed, at times as fast as a new upload every second.

Starting point is 00:06:00 And of course it wasn't just YouTube. There was actually a report where Facebook said that they deleted 1.5 million videos that contained footage of the shooting in the first 24 hours alone. And really if there's anything I could attach to the end of this is to to the news orgs, the companies, the people like the Prime Minister of New Zealand, to your everyday people that are not giving a murderer what they want. And you also try and spread this movement of no face, no name. Thank you. And to kind of use a tweaked version of what I said yesterday and what we heard

Starting point is 00:06:27 from the prime minister, let's talk about the victims, let's talk about the heroes, let's talk about the people trying to put in a positive change. But yeah, something I just wanted to make sure we included today. And then let's talk about Mother Russia in the news, because if you didn't see, yesterday Russian President Vladimir Putin signed two new laws

Starting point is 00:06:40 that will make it illegal to spread fake news and information that disrespects the state. So let's break this down. The first law says that corporate entities like online news outlets that spread fake news will face fines up to 1.5 million rubles or $22,900. While citizens who spread fake news could receive fines of up to $6,090 according to the state run news agency TAS.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And as far as the second law, it punishes users and outlets that post content that quote, "'shows obvious disrespect for society, society, state and official symbols of Russia, the Russian Constitution, or other agencies. Offenders of the second law face a fine of up to $1,552 for a first offense and up to $4,656 and 15 days in jail for repeat offenders. Also under these new laws, prosecutors can report online media to the government, which in turn can block access to websites if the content is seen as violating the law either by spreading fake news or Insulting the government now while these laws might not come as a surprise to you many experts have said that this actually represents a significant

Starting point is 00:07:33 shift in the censorship of Russia's internet according to Matthew Rojansky the director of the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute Russia has not historically had major constraints on internet freedom The internet has thus been one realm in which full diversity of opinion and free expression, even on the most sensitive political topics, were generally permitted. And going on to say, the prosecutor general now has essentially unconstrained authority to determine that any speech is unacceptable

Starting point is 00:07:54 under the new law. Maria Snegovia, an adjunct fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, elaborated on this point, saying that the prosecutor's office can now block news sources before any sort of ruling by a court or a judge saying. In other words, it significantly expands the repressive power of Russia's repressive apparatus. And she even went as far as to say these new laws are comparable to laws implemented by Russian dictator Joseph Stalin.

Starting point is 00:08:15 Now of note here is that these laws passed by Putin aren't the only controversial pieces of legislation that attempt to restrict internet access. In fact, just last week we saw massive protests in Moscow and two other Russian cities over yet another internet bill. And the protests in Moscow were described with some of the biggest protests in the Russian capital in years, with White Counter, an NGO that counts participants at rallies saying 15,300 people attended, while the Moscow police put the numbers at 6,500.

Starting point is 00:08:38 But as far as what they were protesting, the bill in question, it would essentially cut Russia off from the global internet. And it would do this by directing Russian web traffic through servers controlled by the government. And it could also create a system that would allow the Russian internet to work without foreign infrastructure.

Starting point is 00:08:51 Supporters of the bill say that it is necessary to protect Russia from foreign meddling, whereas critics have compared it to China's great internet firewall. Even going as far to call it the Iron Curtain and arguing that it will stifle dissent. Now of note here, we are talking about two related, but separate situations.

Starting point is 00:09:04 The law that sparked the protest has not yet been passed by parliament, whereas the laws passed by Putin yesterday have, and of course they will bring considerable change to Russian censorship. But also it's important to look at this whole situation because these kinds of laws are becoming increasingly common in Russia.

Starting point is 00:09:15 This kind of legislation reflects broader efforts by the government to increase sovereignty over its internet. And I say sovereignty because this story doesn't exist in a bubble. You have to look at Russia as a whole. And it seems like a pretty transparent move to suppress the opposition, people who would speak out. You know, Russia has introduced other internet laws

Starting point is 00:09:31 in the last few years. Last year, communications oversight agency tried to ban the messaging app Telegram after the company refused to give the Russian government access to the encryption tools that would allow them to read users' messaging data. A move that prompted a wave of protests, with some saying that these tactics are a way for Putin to try and control public discourse,

Starting point is 00:09:46 especially since Putin's approval rating has fallen significantly in the last few years. And that last point is incredibly significant because some experts have said that the new laws passed yesterday would make it almost impossible for individuals or groups to call for public protest. Because to bring it all back around, protesting government policies and actions

Starting point is 00:10:01 could be considered disrespect of the government under this new law. And that's one of the many concerning factors here. But that is where this story ends for now. And of course, I'd love to know your thoughts on this one. And that's where I'm going to end today's show. And remember, if you like this video, you like jumping into the news with me every day,

Starting point is 00:10:15 let me know, hit that like button. Also, if you're new here, you want more, be sure to subscribe. Definitely click that bell to turn on notifications. Also on that note, if you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show or this morning's Extra Morning News deep dive, you wanna catch up, you can click or tap right there to watch those. Also on that note, if you missed yesterday's Philip DeFranco show or this morning's Extra Morning News deep dive, you wanna catch up,

Starting point is 00:10:27 you can click or tap right there to watch those. But with that said, of course, as always, my name's Philip DeFranco, you've just been filled in, I love yo faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.

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The Philip DeFranco Show - PDS 3.19 Tom Ford Melania Trump Fake News, Can Google Stadia Defeat Input Lag, & Russian Censors

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