Continuing responsive health services for rare disease patients

August 23, 2022 | 6:04 pm

health-patient — OLGA KONONENKO-UNSPLASH

Rare diseases are a group of disorders which individually affect a few patients. These diseases are often considered chronic, progressive, degenerative, and life-threatening. Often, they are termed as “orphan diseases” due to the neglect from the medical community.

Patients living with rare diseases (PLWRDs) are unceasingly confronted with several challenges, the most predominant of which is the requirement of lifetime medical management.

Imagine experiencing a similar condition. Perhaps one cannot fathom the quality of life of these patients. Consider the lives of their families, beset with significant social and economic burdens as they struggle to make ends meet for their loved ones.

The start of this year provided some relief and hope for PLWRDs, their carers and families when funding worth P104.9 million was included in the General Appropriation Act of 2022, specifically for the implementation of the Rare Disease Law or Republic Act 10747.

Passed in 2016, the said Law aims to improve access of PLWRD or patients suspected of having a rare disease, to comprehensive medical care. This includes access to available medicines and other health technologies that will treat or otherwise help them cope with their condition.

On Aug. 15, the Stratbase ADR Institute, in partnership with the Philippine Society for Orphan Disorders (PSOD) and UHCWatch, held a hybrid town hall discussion (THD) entitled “The State of Rare Disease Law: Continuing Implementation and the Delivery of Responsive Health Services to the Affected Population.”

The THD, which is actually a continuation of an initial discussion held last January, brought together different stakeholders from the academe, government agencies, civil society/patient organizations, and private sectors. It showcased milestones and updates, continuing challenges and a possible way forward that will support the progressive implementation of the Law.

Prof. Dindo Manhit, President of Stratbase ADR Institute, mentioned in his opening remarks: “continuous support and advocacy is needed to sustain a responsive healthcare system and that adequate resources is vital to constantly respond with the public needs, including those patients living with rare diseases.”

Dr. Carmencita Padilla, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines-Manila and Founding Chairman of PSOD, said that “it’s not a societal commitment. It is a commitment of the world to make sure that it is inclusive, that all patients will be able to benefit from the policy.”

According to Dr. Razel Nikka Hao, Director IV of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Department of Health, “a recently approved five-year strategic plan for the integrated management of [rare disease] condition… is rooted in the five guiding principles of access, integrated comprehensive care, evidence-based policies, inclusive communication and enhanced collaboration.”

“A total 159 rare diseases made it into the initial list that was submitted to the Department of Health,” noted Dr. Eva Maria C. Cutiongco-dela Paz, Executive Director of the UP-National Institutes of Health. “Additionally, a checklist provided assistance in deciding which rare diseases are the most important to be included in the list that will be covered by the Law.”

Dr. Durhane Wong-Reiger of the Asia Pacific Alliance of Rare Disease Organizations, who joined the discussion virtually from Canada, said that “there is a need to address the health of the most vulnerable for an inclusive society.” PLWRD are counted as among the most vulnerable and marginalized populations.

“Only 5% of rare diseases have an approved orphan drug,” Daisy Cembrano of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines pointed out. She reiterated the pharma industry’s commitment to advocate for policy reforms based on four principles, namely, 1.) rare diseases as a public health priority, 2.) empowering patients and their communities, 3.) promoting continued research and development, and, 4.) ensuring sustainable patient access to diagnosis and care.

Senator Sonny Angara, in his message, asserted that “funding is a challenge, but hopefully the Legislature can provide more, as well as the National Expenditure Program provided by the Executive.” He expressed gratitude to the private sector for their help and encouraged people to partner with the government in helping make progress against rare diseases.

The senator also assured the public of continued support and motivated them to continue the dialogue to keep the attention on rare diseases.

Among those who also shared their insights in the event were Chris Muñoz of the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations, Cynthia Magdaraog of the PSOD, and Dr. Lizette Kristine Lopez of the Health Technology Assessment Council.

As the one who was tasked to moderate the said event, I would like to send my sincere appreciation to the PLWRDs who personally attended the event. Indeed, you are an inspiration to all patients. I hope that someday we will no longer use the term “orphan disorders” to describe your diseases, as all will have corresponding treatment.

Alvin Manalansan is the health and nutrition fellow at Stratbase ADR Institute and a co-convenor of UHC Watch.

CREATE-ing Business Opportunities?

August 23, 2022 | 6:03 pm

A closer look at the 2022 SIPP and the incentives concerns of foreign investors

The Angara Abello Concepcion Regala Cruz Law Offices or ACCRALAW recently concluded a seminar on the latest laws geared to promote foreign investments. It was part of a year-long celebration of ACCRALAW’s golden anniversary and a way of giving back to its valued clients. The presenters provided insights on what prompted the government to pass these legislations, considering the challenges of foreign clients and their costs for doing business in the country.

As one of the speakers, I naturally highlighted the government’s industrial strategy reflected in the 2022 Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP). This is an important component of the country’s incentives system, which CREATE (RA 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act) overhauled early last year. The extent of incentives depends on the SIPP, which differentiates export and domestic market activities. The special corporate income tax and zero-rated purchase incentives are only granted to registered export entities.

The 2022 SIPP identifies the government target activities for the next three years. They are classified into tiers, and not into mere pioneer and non-pioneer categories.

The 2020 and 2021 priority activities are generally carried over as Tier 1 activities. They focus on job and value creation, and support for strategic or emerging industries. Export- and BPO- related activities, major infrastructure, and telecommunications projects (specifically the establishment of connectivity facilities for broadband services) fall under Tier 1 category.

Foreign investors may now fully participate in construction activities (PCAB v. Manila Water Co., Inc., 2021). With the recent Public Service Act (PSA) amendment, they may operate, manage, or control major infrastructure and telecommunications projects. Safeguards are in place when foreign investors own strategic industries. Foreign government investments in public utilities and critical infrastructures are prohibited on a prospective basis.

Tier 2 activities cover environment, health, food security, industrial value-chain, and defense-related activities. Those not specifically listed may fall under Tier 1. They have been government’s priority except for defense-related activities. Electric Vehicle (EV) assembly and related support activities, renewable energy (RE), energy efficiency, conservation, and storage technology-related projects enjoy Tier 2 incentives.

The incentives on EV-related projects align with the PSA’s clarificatory amendment. EVs are not considered as PUVs (public utility vehicles). Foreign investors may now engage in the public transport business, especially using EVs.

The more generous RE law incentives are still in place. CREATE did not remove and instead complemented them. RE developers may enjoy a longer income tax holiday (or net operating loss carry-over privilege, as applicable), reduced corporate income tax, and VAT zero-rating treatment of local sales. They may apply for duty- and VAT-free importation under CREATE and just not for a limited period under the RE law.

Crude oil refining is a Tier 2 activity. Oil storage and distribution may continue to enjoy the Oil Industry Deregulation Act fiscal incentives but as Tier 1 activities.

Government endorsed defense-related activities are now considered priority projects. The Foreign Investments Act amendment removed substantial export requirements, which in the past foreign investors had to meet to undertake such projects.

Tier 3 activities are the truly pioneer activities. They focus on innovation and R&D. Their extensive incentives complement the 2019 innovation legislations, and the recent FIA amendment liberalizing the ownership and capital requirements for startups and startup enablers. The aim is to attract venture capital (VC) investors and establish a Silicon Valley-type hub in the country.

There is concern about the certainty of the rules. Fortunately, the Supreme Court has clarified some issues.

The focus of the incentives is on the registered activity and not on the location of activity (CIR v. JP Morgan, 2018). It follows that the unregistered activities of an entity registered with an Investment Promotions Agency (IPA) may be subject to a default taxation regime even if such activities are carried out inside the IPA administered special zone. The government has yet to clarify the extent of local government units’ (LGUs) authority over unregistered activities inside the special zones. LGUs are required to issue a resolution of concurrence in the creation and special administration by the concerned IPAs of these special zones.

Direct costs should be broadly understood (CIR v. East Asia Utilities, 2020). CREATE’s implementing rules describe them. Judgment is required and East Asia clarification is relevant in their application.

The government may not impose a specific cost allocation methodology (DoF v. AUB, 2021). ACCRALAW successfully litigated this theory for the banks. It has utility when an IPA-registered enterprise adopts a reasonable costs allocation methodology for its numerous (registered and unregistered) activities.

Recent legislation and the 2022 SIPP will create business opportunities. The government must only ensure its implementing issuances enlighten — instead of confuse — investors and other stakeholders.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. This article is for general information and educational purposes, and is not offered as, and does not constitute, legal advice or legal opinion.

Eric R. Recalde is a partner and the head of the Tax department of the Angara Abello Concepcion Regal Cruz Law Offices.

errecalde@accralaw.com

02-8830-8000

Europe’s drought could have a long afterlife

August 23, 2022 | 6:02 pm

EUROPE has been burning. As a brutal drought and record-breaking heat gripped the continent this summer, crops withered and forest fires raged. Thunderstorms have been cooling things off but are not expected to end the drought and may even create new problems of their own: flash flooding and falling trees.

The apocalyptic weather is not without precedent, as the reemergence of centuries-old “hunger stones” in the continent’s river beds attest. But as climate change makes such crises more frequent, it’s worth remembering an important point: Historical episodes of meteorological mayhem have sown chaos, fueling everything from social unrest to pandemics.

Consider the drought that hit central Europe in AD 69. The Roman historian Tacitus remains our best source on this disaster. He wrote that the legions sent to deal with the restive German tribes that year were in a “bad temper” because “the Rhine [was] scarcely navigable by reason of a drought unprecedented in that climate.” This explained the soldiers’ other grievances: “want of pay and food.”

Tacitus reported that the superstitious Germans “construed the scarcity of water” as evidence that “the very rivers, those ancient safeguards of the Empire, were deserting us” on account of “the anger of the Rhine God” toward the Romans.

And judging from what went down in Rome in AD 69, the Rhine God was angry indeed. That was the infamous “Year of the Four Emperors,” when ill-fed legions joined a civil war between the different factions vying for supremacy in Rome. The soldiers in Germania threw their lot with a portly contender named Vitellius, who was eventually overthrown after a bloody battle. Vitellius ended up dead, as did tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers alike.

The relationship between bad weather and mutinous soldiers was not restricted to this particular episode. In 2018, an economic historian compared data on weather in ancient Rome with the assassination of Roman emperors. He found a strong statistical correlation between droughts in northern frontier provinces and assassinations of emperors back in Rome. Caveat imperator!

Other studies of climate in ancient Rome have suggested tantalizing, if speculative, links between drought-induced famine and subsequent outbreaks of disease, such as the Plague of Justinian. Bad weather may have sowed the seeds of famine, leaving behind a population vulnerable to the predations of a novel pathogen.

The hypothesis that extreme weather can pave the way for pandemics has also been invoked to explain the severity of the Black Death. In the 1330s, anomalous weather events left Europe devastated and malnourished. Different groups of researchers have argued that the resulting poor harvests left the region’s population especially vulnerable to Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that ravaged the region beginning in 1341.

A little more than a century later, another bout of extreme weather generated entirely different problems. After several years of brutal heat in the early 1470s — what one Belgian chronicler referred to as “an unprecedented and anomalous drought [that] afflicted the whole world” — rivers dried up, crops failed, and many people went, well, crazy. In Spain, political leaders blamed the “conversos” — Jews who had converted to Christianity — for the bad weather and burned them at the stake. It was neither the first nor last time that bad weather begat antisemitism.

What was arguably the worst “megadrought” of the past millennium played out the following century in the summer of 1540. Rivers, springs, and wells dried up. Lake Constance, one of Europe’s deepest and largest lakes, lost so much water that people walked to former islands.

Temperatures must have been excruciating. In France, townspeople huddled in cellars not long after sunrise, hoping to escape the heat. One French chronicler noted that the wine grapes were “roasted and the leaves of the vines had fallen to the ground like after a severe frost.”* Throughout the continent, forest fires erupted, much as they have now. A Swiss account from late July 1540 reported that it was “unbearably hot [with] everybody complaining of water shortages. Forests were burning everywhere around.”

Buildings burst into flames as well. Thanks to the meticulous record-keeping of the Germans, we know that 1540 enjoys the dubious distinction of witnessing more fires in towns than any other peacetime year since 1000 AD. Judging from the anecdotal evidence in other countries, Germany was hardly alone.

The fires lent the sky a ghoulish glow, with many observers reporting that both the sun and moon were wreathed in a blood-red aura. Though many centuries had passed since the time of Tacitus, the Germans and other Europeans greeted these signs with similar superstition, viewing them as portents of evil. Many people soon became convinced that hordes of murderous arsonists — “Mordenbrunner” — were setting the fires.

A search for suspects followed. In some places, Protestants fingered Catholics, suspecting papal intrigue in deadly conflagrations. Elsewhere, local authorities arrested more conventional scapegoats: vagrants and beggars and outsiders — basically, anyone who didn’t belong. In classic late-medieval style, authorities tortured suspects to secure “confessions” of perfidy.

Nonstop fires, blood-red skies, scorching heat, failed harvests and collective paranoia all conspired to make peasants terribly peevish. Mercifully, similarly brutal conditions did not return until 1921.

Climate change has ushered in a new era. Beginning in 2003, Europe has sustained a number of crushing heat waves and droughts, with 2022 arguably the worst on record. The historical record would tell us to watch out: Extreme weather, whatever the cause, leaves chaos in its wake. That’s cold comfort indeed.

BLOOMBERG OPINION

*There were some upsides. When winemakers pressed the desiccated fruit, they ended up with a potent beverage closer to sherry than regular wine. It apparently got people drunk quickly. There was much rejoicing.

Kantar breaks down PHL spending habits, food gets bulk of budget

August 23, 2022 | 4:55 pm

CHANGES in budgeting for food will continue to shape how Filipinos shop, according to a study by marketing data and analytics company Kantar.

Due to tighter budgets, households allocated around half of their income to utilities, transportation, and food — with the latter accounting for the bulk of the money spent per month. Combined, this trio of expenses accounted for 46% of the expenditure share of Filipino homes in 2022, a decrease from 57% in 2020, according to the pilot release of Kantar’s Shopperscope study.

The expenses of Filipino families have increased at a faster rate compared to the money they are earning, said Laurice Obana, shopper and consumer insight director for Kantar in the Philippines, in an Aug. 23 release sharing the study’s results.

“While local households still prioritize basic needs and utilities on their monthly expenses, they have also developed five habits that will continue to impact and shape how they spend in the future, especially in the post-COVID era,” the study said.

Kantar broke down the five spending habits of 2,000 Filipinos and highlighted the changes between 2018 and 2022:

Food budgeting

Filipinos spent 31% of their budget on fresh and packaged food this year, down from 37% when the pandemic began in 2020.

The drop is due to Filipinos choosing to eat out again as quarantine restrictions are loosened, according to Kantar.

Healthcare and coping

In 2022, Filipinos made sure to allocate part of their monthly budget on healthcare, which includes hospitalization, consultation, curative and maintenance medicines, and vitamins and supplements.

However, families also spend to cope with the pandemic stress. Data shows that Filipinos turned to pets, seen in the increase in pet-care expenses, and to de-stressing items like alcohol and tobacco, which had a 4% rise in annual spending.

Insurance

Kantar found that the pandemic also pushed Filipinos to increase their insurance, savings, and investments.

Ms. Obana said that the intention to save may have been a direct result of quarantine restrictions, with less things or activities to spend on during the height of lockdowns, and uncertainties in employment.

This was short-lived, though with the resumption of pre-COVID activities and the rising cost of goods, the company said in the study.

Recreation

Recreation and outdoor celebrations have returned to pre-pandemic levels due to mobility, Kantar said.

From almost zero travel spend in 2020, Filipinos in 2022 are now budgeting for vacations and other celebrations, resulting in a small increase in outdoor clothing and footwear purchases.

Beauty products

A striking decrease was seen when it came to cosmetics and beauty products. It was only in 2022 that beauty and personal care brands regained momentum.

Kantar also specified that Filipinos are considering buying products for a more “natural look” or those made from organic and natural ingredients. — Brontë H. Lacsamana

BusinessWorld One-on-One: “New Drivers of Growth for the Automotive Industry”

August 23, 2022 | 3:46 pm

In line with BusinessWorld’s 35th anniversary celebration this year with the theme “Forward Faster”, the country’s most trusted business newspaper and multimedia content provider will be holding a BusinessWorld One-on-One series featuring some of the country’s topnotch thought leaders who will share with BusinessWorld Editor-in-Chief Wilfredo G. Reyes their expert insights about “Innovations Reshaping the Future of Key Industries”.

Watch Jose Maria M. Atienza, senior vice-president and division head for marketing new mobility and vehicle logistics of Toyota Motor Philippines, talk about “New Drivers of Growth for the Automotive Industry” on #BUSINESSWORLDONEONONE this August 22 at 11 a.m. on BusinessWorld’s and The Philippine STAR’s Facebook pages.

#BUSINESSWORLDONEONONE is supported by Asia Society – Philippines, British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Financial Executive Institute of the Philippines, Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Franchise Association, People Management Association of the Philippines, and The Philippine STAR.

Meralco embarks on a sustainable supply chain journey with supplier scorecard

August 23, 2022 | 2:54 pm

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has taken its commitment to embed sustainability in its operations to a higher level with the adoption of a sustainability scorecard covering the Company’s entire value chain.

The Meralco Supplier Sustainability Scorecard (MS³) was established as a tool to assess suppliers and contractors on key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, while using the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards as guiding principles.

MS³ provides Meralco a comprehensive view of its business partners’ ESG performance and is now incorporated in the Company’s vendor accreditation process.

Through this program, Meralco is better positioned to heighten and operationalize its sustainability agenda—called Powering the Good Life—by ensuring a sustainable supply chain.

Meralco, through its Supply Chain Management (SCM) office, maintains a network of active suppliers and contractors integral to the Company’s ability to deliver high quality and reliable electric service to its customers. SCM has so far implemented MS³ to its top suppliers, which account for 95% of the Company’s spend. The program will eventually cover all Meralco’s active suppliers as the Company strives to ingrain sustainability excellence throughout its supply chain.

Beyond driving compliance to ESG standards, MS³ serves as a platform for the Company to have meaningful engagement with its suppliers by understanding the challenges they face in becoming more sustainable and aiding them in building their own sustainability strategies and programs.

“With the implementation of MS³, Meralco is making headway in increasing awareness on the importance of sustainability among our external stakeholders. Working with different suppliers, we, at SCM, are in a distinctive position to influence and inspire other companies to also embed sustainability in their operations. Sustainable development is a collective effort. Meralco cannot do it alone, and we are truly embracing our role as an enabler in this greater push for sustainability,” said Maria Luisa V. Alvendia, Meralco Chief of Staff to the President and CEO and Supply Chain Advisor.

Meralco has embarked on various key initiatives to drive its sustainability agenda. One such program is the Company-wide ban on Single Use Plastics (SUPs), which began in 2019 and was extended to Meralco’s suppliers, particularly for packaging of delivered equipment and materials. Going forward, Meralco will continue to introduce and implement more programs in collaboration with its stakeholders to generate sustainable value.

“Our aim is to ingrain sustainability in all we do, placing it at the core of our strategy and operations as a Company. MS³ is indeed a breakthrough step in broadening the reach and impact of our sustainability efforts as we collaborate closely with our vendor partners in powering the good life for all,” Meralco First Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Raymond B. Ravelo concluded.

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BusinessWorld One-on-One: “Future-Proofing The Workspaces for the Better Normal”

August 23, 2022 | 1:15 pm

Learn from Jericho P. Go, Senior Vice President and Business Unit General Manager of the Office Buildings Division of Robinsons Land Corporation, who will talk about “Future-Proofing The Workspaces for the Better Normal” on #BUSINESSWORLDONEONONE this August 23 at 11 a.m. on BusinessWorld’s and The Philippine STAR’s Facebook pages.

Taiwan saw off China before and retains resolve to defend itself, president says

August 23, 2022 | 1:02 pm

TAIPEI – Taiwan saw off China‘s military six decades ago when its forces bombarded offshore Taiwanese islands and that resolve to defend the homeland continues to this day, President Tsai Ing-wen told a visiting group of former U.S. officials on Tuesday.

Tensions between Taiwan and China have spiked over the past month following the visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. China staged war games near Taiwan to express its anger at what it saw as stepped up U.S. support for the island Beijing views as sovereign Chinese territory.

Meeting a delegation of former US officials now at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Tsai referred to China‘s more than a month of attacks on the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen and Matsu, just off the Chinese coast, which started in August 1958.

“Sixty-four years ago during the Aug. 23 battle, our soldiers and civilians operated in solidarity and safeguarded Taiwan, so that we have the democratic Taiwan today,” she said, using the common Taiwanese term for that campaign, which ended in stalemate with China failing to take the islands.

“That battle to protect our homeland showed the world that no threat of any kind could shake the Taiwanese people’s resolve to defend their nation, not in the past, not now, and not in the future,” Tsai said.

“We too will show the world that the people of Taiwan have both the resolve and confidence to safeguard peace, security, freedom and prosperity for ourselves.”

In 1958, Taiwan fought back with support from the United States, which sent military equipment including advanced Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles, giving Taiwan a technological edge.

Often called the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, it was the last time Taiwanese forces joined battle with China on a large scale.

James O. Ellis, now a visiting fellow at Hoover and a retired US Navy admiral, said his delegation’s presence in Taiwan reaffirmed the American people’s commitment to deepening cooperation.

“Consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act, part of this cooperation involves strengthening Taiwan‘s capabilities for self defense as well as the ability of the United States to deter and resist any resort to force across the Taiwan Strait,” Ellis told Tsai, referring to a U.S. law that requires it to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

Matt Pottinger, who served as former US President Donald Trump’s deputy national security adviser, is also part of the delegation.

The United States, which ditched formal diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing in 1979, remains Taiwan‘s most important source of arms.

“As Taiwan stands on the front line of authoritarian expansionism we continue to bolster our defense autonomy, and we will also continue to work with the United States on this front,” Tsai said.

China‘s drills near Taiwan have posed a threat to the status quo in the strait and across the region, and democratic partners should work together to “defend against interference by authoritarian states”, she added.

Following that meeting, Tsai met two Japanese lawmakers, and other foreign parliamentarians are also expected to visit this year, including from Canada and Britain, defying Chinese pressure not to go.

Taiwan‘s government says that as the People’s Republic of China has never governed the island it has no right to claim it or decide its future, which can only be set by Taiwan‘s 23 million people. – Reuters

This small business incorporates sustainable practices in its everyday operations; why can’t we?

August 23, 2022 | 1:00 pm

Sustainability has become a buzzword for every big business in the Philippines and the world. But for growing companies, incorporating sustainable practices to protect the environment can seem daunting.

But for Green Fit Friend (GFF) personal care founder April Sarah Peoro, or Ara, as she is fondly called, sustainability should be a part of everyone’s agenda – even for small businesses.

Creating a sustainable business model was Peoro’s priority when she transformed her GFF advocacy-based blog into a business.

“The Philippines is the third largest contributor of plastic wastes into the ocean, and by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the sea. And it hit home, and I thought about the future of my nieces and the next generation. What will be left for them?” Ara says.

Championing sustainability

Ara’s passion for the environment and a healthy lifestyle started when her brother introduced her to the University of the Philippines (UP) Mountaineers, shortly after quitting her job as a flight attendant.

“He told me maybe I could find myself in the mountains—true enough, I found myself falling in love with the beauty of our mountains and islands,” she adds. “I’ve seen numerous places around the world only to find out that the Philippines is the center of rich biodiversity. It ignited my desire to protect it somehow.”

Aside from shifting to a more sustainable lifestyle, she also decided to champion her cause through a blog and eventually a YouTube channel. Through GFF, Ara shared her mindful living adventures around the country.

Ara then launched GFF Eco-friendly Personal Care and Sustainable Alternatives, combining her passion for healthy living and environmental protection as the pillars of building her personal care startup. She first created handmade and plastic-free soaps, shampoo, and conditioner bars for herself and her family, but it quickly turned into an enterprise.

Using natural, sustainable, and locally-sourced raw materials, Ara’s line of premium, eco-personal care products speak for themselves. Her brand has grown through social media, bazaar pop-ups, and the help of good old mom-and-pop shops that carry her product.

More than a brand, but a movement

A portion of every GFF purchase goes to reforestation projects and different advocacy organizations tackling environmental conservation or helping the most vulnerable communities concerning the climate crisis.

“Now that we have traction from the market, every purchase reminds us of our advocacy. It reaffirms our mission of reducing plastic usage and waste and creating more alternatives that are safe for the environment and our clients,” she says.

Ara is one of 15 Filipino entrepreneurs featured in Maya Business’ newest series, “Scale Up: The Show,” where dreamers compete for a prize of seed capital of up to P150,000 in each episode. Five winners from the series will then compete for the grand prize of P500,000.

Her passion for the environment captured the attention of business moguls and judges, including Maya Chief Marketing Officer Pepe Torres, Tiny Buds co-founder Lorin Tan, and Boozy PH CEO Miguel Guerrero.

“We love meetings Filipino dreamers like Ara, who have advocacies tied to their fresh business ideas,” Torres says. “Expanding and scaling up their brand is one of the biggest challenges for small business owners, and Maya is excited to provide them with the right tools to achieve their dreams.”

As the all-in-one growth partner of enterprises in the Philippines, Maya Business provides entrepreneurs like Ara with convenient digital payment solutions and banking services under one integrated platform.

MSMEs using Shopify can avail of the Maya Checkout Plugin for seamless payment acceptance of credit, debit, prepaid cards, and e-wallets. They can also accept cashless payments in-store from users of Maya and other financial institutions via Maya QR, enabled by QR Ph. For employee payroll and supplier payments, they can use Maya Disbursements.

Catch “Scale Up: the Show” on the One News Facebook and Youtube page and get inspired by the modern entrepreneurs’ passion, hard work, and possibilities with Maya Business.

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Flash mobs and YouTubers boost India anti-coal mining protests

August 23, 2022 | 12:56 pm

CHENNAI, India – Vaibhav Bemetariha’s wedding card was a conversation starter.

The 38-year-old’s friends and family were intrigued by his decision to print “save Hasdeo” in support of a protest to protect a major forest in his state from coal mining.

“Even my wife had questions,” said the newlywed Bemetariha, who lives in Raipur, the capital of eastern Chhattisgarh state – home to one of India‘s largest coal reserves.

“I have promised to take her to the forest (Hasdeo Arand) to show her why protecting it matters so much and cutting (trees) to meet power needs is not necessary,” he said by phone.

“It is our personal contribution to a fight that the adivasis (tribes) have fought alone so far.”

Hasdeo Arand, one of central India‘s largest intact forests and the site of the country’s longest anti–coal protests by indigenous communities, is gaining growing support from people such as Bemetariha in cities and towns across Chhattisgarh.

In April, news of local authorities felling hundreds of trees in the area sparked outrage, with on-the-ground protests and the hashtag #SaveHasdeo trending on Twitter. YouTubers, artists and even students have backed the movement publicly.

The surge in solidarity comes on the heels of India‘s worst power crisis in more than six years, as a summer heatwave drove up demand for power and spurred the government to announce the opening of new and closed coal mines to bridge the energy gap.

The Hasdeo Arand coalfield, spread over 1,878 square km (725 square miles) in Korba, Surguja and Surajpur districts, has 23 new coal blocks, of which seven have so far been given approval to open by the federal government, Chhattisgarh state has said.

The forest, meanwhile, is home to indigenous people such as India‘s largest Gond tribe. It has rich biodiversity with an elephant corridor and the Hasdeo river cutting through it.

Opening up coal mines in the area will not only lead to the loss of thousands of hectares of forest land, but also affect the flow of the river, cause pollution and displace many villagers, according to anti–mining activists.

Vijendra Aznabi, an active supporter of the Adivasi Van Adhikar Manch, an indigenous peoples’ forest rights alliance, said the issue was the hot topic at the recent Hareli festival in Chhattisgarh, which celebrates farming and the environment.

“(Instead of a) generic celebration of nature, this time it was a specific discussion on saving the forest,” he said.

“Flash mobs were organised, there are songs being written and constant social media campaigns to support the adivasis,” he added. “Nobody wants the forest cut and mining to happen.”

‘SURGE OF SUPPORT’

Student Lakshya Madhukar’s grandfather was a mining engineer and his mother grew up in Korba, a Chhattisgarh mining hub.

The 16-year-old, a self-described “nature lover”, won a recent school competition on protecting the environment by focusing on the struggle of indigenous people in Hasdeo Arand.

“My mother’s family comes from a village in Korba, where mining was – and is – a way of life,” Madhukar said by phone.

“But we also know of the impact of mining. And Hasdeo Arand is in the news so much now, we wanted to make our art and theatre play relevant,” he said, referring to the competition.

Like Madhukar, many people in Raipur were moved by a 300-km (186 mile) walk by 250 villagers from their homes to the state capital to protest against new mining in the region last year.

“The long march was an eye-opener for many,” said Alok Shukla of the non-profit Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, which supports the communities in Hasdeo Arand.

“The protesting communities were tired and often wondered how long they would have to fight. But this surge of support has strengthened their resolve and given a boost to their movement,” he said, adding that there had been an increase in news reports and television debates on the issue since the march.

The protesters have been demanding the cancellation of all coal mining projects in Hasdeo Arand, stating that permissions were granted illegally and mining would cause irreparable damage.

Last month, the state’s legislative assembly passed a resolution asking the federal government to cancel all coal block allocations in the area, citing the elephant corridor.

Protesters and non-profits said they believed their movement was partly responsible, but did not think mining permissions would end up being scrapped given the growing demand for energy and pressure from companies. The protests will go on, they said.

ART AND YOUTUBE

When artist Pramod Sahu, known for his rangolis (traditional patterns drawn on the ground), decided to support the Hasdeo movement, his neighbourhood was facing long power outages.

Coal accounts for more than 70% of India‘s electricity output, but Sahu said he did not buy the argument that thermal coal power is the only way to meet rising energy needs.

In his depiction of the problem, the artist portrayed the Hasdeo Arand forest as the lungs of the state being sold to mining firms by the government.

“It was symbolic of what most people believe,” Sahu said.

In Bilaspur town, about 170 km from Hasdeo Arand, groundwater has significantly depleted, forcing residents to buy water delivered by tankers and sparking their own protest to support the communities who are resisting the opening of mines.

YouTuber Deepak Patel, 31, who highlights tourist destinations across Chhattisgarh, decided to use his channel to talk to his tens of thousands of subscribers about the issue.

His main motivation is the fact that the Hasdeo river is a key source of water for Bilaspur, where he lives.

Bhanumati Kalluri of the Dhaatri Resource Centre, which works with women in mining areas, said there was a surge in support for communities impacted by various types of mining.

“These haven’t become anti-fossil fuel movements yet, but urban Indians battling air pollution and water scarcity are worried about the indirect impacts of mining on their lives,” she said.

“It is also fuelling conversation on green energy options.”

In Raipur, the newly-married Bemetariha said an encounter he had with one of the women who walked to raise awareness about the threat of coal mining to Hasdeo Arand had deeply moved him.

“She said that she was willing to be buried on that land but would not give up an inch of the forest. That is how much saving this forest mattered to her and now it matters to me also.” – Reuters

New breed of video sites thrive on misinformation and hate

August 23, 2022 | 12:53 pm

woman-6010924_1280 — STOCK PHOTO | Image by Chen from Pixabay

A day after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York last May, the video-sharing website BitChute was amplifying a far-right conspiracy theory that the massacre was a so-called false flag operation, meant to discredit gun-loving Americans.

Three of the top 15 videos on the site that day blamed U.S. federal agents instead of the true culprit: a white-supremacist teenager who had vowed to “kill as many blacks as possible” before shooting 13 people, killing 10. Other popular videos uploaded by BitChute users falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccines caused cancers that “literally eat you” and spread the debunked claim that Microsoft founder Bill Gates caused a global baby-formula shortage.

BitChute has boomed as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook tighten rules to combat misinformation and hate speech. An upstart BitChute rival, Odysee, has also taken off. Both promote themselves as free-speech havens, and they’re at the forefront of a fast-growing alternative media system that delivers once-fringe ideas to millions of people worldwide.

Searching the two sites on major news topics plunges viewers into a labyrinth of outlandish conspiracy theories, racist abuse and graphic violence. As their viewership has surged since 2019, they have cultivated a devoted audience of mostly younger men, according to data from digital intelligence firm Similarweb SMWB.N.

Online misinformation, though usually legal, triggers real-world harm. U.S. election workers have faced a wave of death threats and harassment inspired by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was rigged, which also fueled the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot. Reuters interviews with a dozen people accused of terrorizing election workers revealed that some had acted on bogus information they found on BitChute and almost all had consumed content on sites popular among the far-right.

BitChute and Odysee both host hundreds of videos inspired by the QAnon conspiracy theory, whose supporters have been arrested for threatening politicians, abducting children and blocking a bridge near Arizona’s Hoover Dam with an armored truck full of guns and ammunition.

“Platforms such as BitChute and Odysee have had a seismic impact on the disinformation landscape,” said Joe Ondrak of Logically, a British firm that works with governments and other organizations to reduce the harm of misinformation. The sites, he said, had become the “first port of call” for conspiracists to publish videos.

BitChute and Odysee say they comply with the law by, for example, removing terrorism-related material, and that they have rules banning racist content or incitement of violence. At the same time, the companies defended the rights of extremists to express themselves on their sites and downplayed the importance of their content.

“Bitchute’s North Star is free speech, which is the cornerstone of a free and democratic society,” BitChute said in a statement to Reuters. Odysee said that right-wing and conspiracy content didn’t define the platform, which it said is focusing on generating science- and technology-related videos.

Despite the platforms’ rules, their users routinely publish overtly racist videos and post comments that call for violence, a Reuters review of the sites found. BitChute and Odysee didn’t respond to questions about content that appeared to violate the sites’ guidelines.

All social media platforms publish standards saying they don’t accept extreme or hateful content, said Callum Hood of the Center for Countering Digital Hate in London. “The real test is: Do they live up to those standards? With BitChute and Odysee, the answer is an emphatic no.”

Some academics who have researched BitChute and Odysee say their relaxed content-moderation practices result in sites that are dominated by incendiary content that most online publishers routinely reject. Benjamin Horne, a social scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and two colleagues reviewed more than 440,000 BitChute videos and found that 12% of channels received more than 85% of the engagement. “Almost all of those channels contain far-right conspiracies or extreme hate speech,” their report concluded.

Reuters searches of the sites show that their most popular videos are often full of abusive content and misinformation that grossly distort news events.

The top BitChute and Odysee videos in searches for “Buffalo shooting” assert that the massacre never happened. Three of the top 10 on Odysee claimed that Black survivors and witnesses were actors. “It’s payday in the ghetto,” said one commentator. Another video defended the racist theory that motivated the shooter: that whites are being “replaced” by non-whites through migration and population growth. The only purely factual video among BitChute’s top 10 results attracted a slew of racist comments, with one viewer describing the shooter as a “patriot” and his victims as “dumb n‑‑‑‑‑s.”

Searching for “COVID” on BitChute one recent day produced a short film called Plandemic as the top result. Plandemic was banned by YouTube and Facebook for its potentially harmful misinformation, including the claim that wearing a facemask “literally activates your own virus” and makes you sick. At least seven of the top 10 “COVID” search results on Odysee also contained falsehoods – for example, that vaccines contain dangerous nanoparticles or have side-effects that are “like a nuclear bomb.”

It’s a similar story with a widely reported atrocity of the Russia-Ukraine war. Nine out of the top 10 search results on BitChute for “Bucha massacre” theorized that the killing by Russian soldiers of Ukrainian citizens was a hoax intended to escalate U.S. involvement in the war, or that it was the work of Ukrainian soldiers, British agents or “Nazis.”

Identical YouTube searches on these topics produced almost all factual reports from established news organizations. This is consistent with YouTube’s policy of prioritizing information from what it calls “authoritative sources” on sensitive topics or events.

BitChute and Odysee are hardly the only sites spreading misinformation. Social media giants such as Facebook and YouTube have also struggled to contain such content, but they have responded with more aggressive moderation policies and practices.

A more direct competitor to BitChute and Odysee is Rumble, a larger video-sharing site that attracts right-wing users. Rumble also touts itself as a free-speech champion and attracts thousands of videos promoting conspiracy theories. But Rumble has mainstream ambitions and better financial backing, and the company moderates its content enough to make it palatable to app stores run by Apple AAPL.O and Google GOOGL.O – a key growth driver for any digital business.

Founded in 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian entrepreneur, Rumble started as a clearing house for viral videos about children and animals. By 2020, Pavlovski was capitalizing on anti-Big Tech sentiment to attract prominent right-wing commentators, and the following year won financial backing from billionaire Peter Thiel, a Republican kingmaker. Thiel didn’t reply to a request for comment.

Today, Rumble offers a mix of pets and politics, with one foot in the febrile, pro-Trump world where the 2020 election was stolen and climate change doesn’t exist. Rumble said in a statement that the platform offered a “wide variety” of information, including a channel featuring Reuters content. A Reuters spokesperson said Rumble is a customer that pays to publish Reuters content.

Rumble said its audience is growing rapidly because it trusts adults “to make up their own minds after hearing all sides.” But the platform does limit some extreme speech. Search for the N-word on Rumble, for instance, and you get a message: “No videos found.”

The same search on BitChute and Odysee returns hundreds of racist videos. BitChute co-founder and Chief Executive Ray Vahey and Odysee co-founder Jeremy Kauffman are self-styled libertarians who see their creations as safe zones for free speech – no matter how false or repellent.

The onslaught of vile content attracted by that philosophy caused one of BitChute’s three founders to quit and got the platform banned from mainstream app stores. Odysee has managed to stay in the Apple app store, but only by blocking searches for COVID-19 in its app.

Apple said in a statement that it only permits COVID-19 information in apps from governments and other “recognized entities.” The company did not answer questions about whether the extremists and white supremacists on Odysee are permitted under Apple guidelines, which ban offensive references to racial, religious and other groups.

Both BitChute and Odysee have struggled to find workable financial models in an increasingly crowded market, even as both quickly amassed huge audiences, attracting hundreds of millions of site visits annually.

Odysee’s story starts with a frisbee-playing American eccentric who sought to finance the site by inventing a new cryptocurrency. BitChute has roots in northern Thailand, where a reclusive British expat decided that something had to be done about internet censorship.

‘KILL ‘EM ALL’

Vahey, 45, is a software designer who lives in the sleepy suburbs of Chiang Mai. Before starting BitChute, Vahey created animated nursery rhymes for a YouTube channel called RockstarLittle. The songs, among them “Incy Wincy Spider” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” also appear on BitChute under its “Education” category, where they’re mixed with videos about chemtrails – the conspiracy theory that governments are secretly spraying toxins from aircraft – and security-camera footage of a hooded man shooting a Brazilian shop assistant in the head.

Vahey declined to be interviewed for this story but has detailed his vision in recorded talks with BitChute users posted to the site. In one recent talk, he recalled a “golden age” when the internet had fewer restrictions. “It seems like the more censorship has grown, the more society has been ripped apart,” he said.

Bit Chute Ltd was incorporated in Britain in 2017 by Vahey and two other Brits. Rich Jones, a software developer by training, is the company’s chief operations officer. He is 53, lives in England and, on his LinkedIn page, describes Vahey as “a former classmate and long-time friend.” Jones also declined to comment.

Andy Munarriz, a 53-year-old telecoms expert, is BitChute’s third co-founder. “Around this time YouTube, Facebook and others were removing contributors, and Ray felt free speech was under attack,” Munarriz told Reuters. Vahey started BitChute in his spare time, running it from his Chiang Mai home.

Vahey was shocked when his platform “took off like a rocket,” he recalled in an interview published on BitChute in December. “It was overwhelming. The next day, I had to scale up. And the next day, I had to scale up again.”

Horne, the BitChute researcher, said the platform owes its early success to the prominent U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. His Infowars show joined BitChute in late 2017 and gained popularity as YouTube and other platforms evicted Jones the following year.

Among other falsehoods, Jones championed the theory that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax. Twenty children and six staff members were fatally shot; Jones claimed their families were actors and the shooting was a false-flag operation concocted by a government that wanted to seize citizens’ guns. Today, videos from a variety of content creators on BitChute and Odysee make strikingly similar claims about the Buffalo shooting.

A Texas jury recently ordered Jones to pay $50 million in damages to the parents of one child killed in the shooting. A spokesperson for Infowars and a lawyer for Jones did not respond to requests for comment.

Horne’s team collected and analyzed more than three million videos from 61,000 BitChute channels posted between June 2019 and December 2021, finding that almost all of the platform’s most popular videos were full of misinformation and hate speech. Horne said the researchers found a “recruitment video” for Atomwaffen Division, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a “terroristic neo-Nazi organization.” Federal and state authorities have charged Atomwaffen members with crimes including murder.

Horne said he reported the video to the Federal Bureau of Investigation but didn’t hear back. The FBI declined to comment. The video is no longer available on BitChute, which didn’t respond to questions about what happened to it.

Experts say Atomwaffen Division disbanded in 2020. A former leader of the group, John Denton, pleaded guilty in 2020 for his part in a racially motivated campaign of harassment and was sentenced to 41 months in prison. Neither Denton nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment.

The comment sections beneath some of the BitChute videos that Horne’s team reviewed contained “high amounts of hate speech, most of it anti-Semitic,” Horne said. Reuters also found dozens of videos featuring white men fighting Black men, with comments extolling the violence: “N‑‑‑‑‑ stompin fuck yeah.” One video consisted of graphic footage of a man being burned to death. “They are the scum of the world,” commented one viewer, referring to Black people. “Kill ‘em all.”

In the December interview, Vahey said he often sees opinions he disagrees with on BitChute, but “that’s part of accepting what free speech is.” For Munarriz, one of the company’s co-founders, it was too much. He quit in January 2019, alarmed at BitChute’s direction.

“No matter what community guidelines you put in place, or how hard you police, objectionable content would still make its way onto the platform under the guise of ‘free speech,’” Munarriz told Reuters. “Why take on that fight? The intention of BitChute is not to be a destination for objectionable content, but in the real world that’s what happens.”

In theory, BitChute users can filter the content they see by choosing one of three “sensitivity” settings: “Normal,” “NSFW” (“not safe for work”) and “NSFL” (“not safe for life”). In practice, because BitChute’s uploaders choose these settings, even “Normal” videos can include disturbing footage of suicides and killings.

The Buffalo shooter livestreamed his rampage on Twitch, a platform owned by Amazon AMZN.O, which quickly removed it. But the gruesome footage was reposted on BitChute, where it stayed for days, before eventually being taken down for depicting what BitChute called “abhorrent violence” on a page explaining the removal.

BitChute didn’t respond to a request for comment on why the video wasn’t taken down sooner.

Since 2020, under rules enforced by the British media regulator Ofcom, BitChute must protect the public from “harmful content.” This means, primarily, content that would be deemed a criminal offense under laws relating to terrorism and child sexual abuse, or content that incites violence or hatred against particular groups. Ofcom can impose heavy fines or even suspend a platform.

Ofcom and BitChute told Reuters they had consulted with each other on content to ensure compliance – “while maintaining our free speech guidelines,” added BitChute. But that doesn’t mean BitChute has removed all potentially harmful content. Ofcom told Reuters that the regulations don’t require BitChute to proactively police itself; rather, BitChute only has to remove content that someone – for example, a user or advocacy group – has reported as a violation of its terms and conditions. Moreover, the regulations apply only to BitChute’s videos and not to its user comments.

A Reuters review of BitChute’s British site found myriad examples of content promoting hate and violence, including the videos of white men beating black men and the racial slurs in their comment sections.

Ofcom said it hadn’t launched any investigations or issued any fines under the 2020 regulations against BitChute or any other company.

BitChute issued a public report in June on how it had moderated tens of thousands of videos. Most were flagged for copyright issues; others promoted terrorism, violent extremism or incited hatred. BitChute said that, in most cases, it either removed the videos or restricted their distribution in certain countries.

Reuters found that some videos blocked by BitChute in Europe remain on BitChute in the United States, where free-speech protections for social media are especially robust. In addition to constitutional protections, Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act stipulates that social media firms cannot be held legally responsible for the content that users post on their platforms.

The BitChute content blocked in Britain, but still freely available in America, includes swastika-adorned videos that attacked Jews and Blacks, and adoring montages about Adolf Hitler with names such as, “We Need You Now – Happy Birthday Mein Fuhrer.”

‘A LIZARD PERSON’

BitChute’s online traffic grew 63% in 2021 over the previous year, to 514 million visits, according to Similarweb, the digital intelligence firm. For comparison, that’s more than double the online audience of MSNBC.com, the website of the cable news channel known for left-leaning opinion hosts.

But BitChute’s funding model appears fragile. In the December interview, Vahey said he had turned down investors because he refused to compromise on free speech. He said he mostly covered his monthly running costs of $50,000 through donations and subscriptions. The site also has some advertising.

BitChute’s closest rival, Odysee, attracted 292 million visits last year. But it has taken a different path to get there.

Odysee grew from a company called LBRY (pronounced “library”), co-founded in 2015 by Jeremy Kauffman, a U.S. tech entrepreneur and radical libertarian who financed LBRY by creating his own cryptocurrency. The company’s other founders did not respond to requests for comment.

Kauffman, 37, lives in New Hampshire, where he’s running a long-shot campaign for the U.S. Senate on the state’s Libertarian Party ticket in November’s midterm elections. His hardline version of the Party’s anti-government philosophy includes abolishing the Federal Reserve, the Internal Revenue Service and child-labor laws.

Kauffman promoted his Senate campaign with a bizarre video posted on Twitter in May. He addresses the camera in an ill-fitting crocodile costume and speaks as images flash on the screen of snarling aliens, Godzilla and President Joe Biden with a forked tongue. “I want to become a lizard person,” Kauffman says. “I would like to rule you.”

The act appeared to reference the lizard-people conspiracy theory, which holds that governing elites are really blood-sucking alien reptiles in human form.

Kauffman also posts provocative statements on Twitter. “Being unvaccinated and being Black are both choices,” he tweeted in August 2021, with a picture of a light-skinned Michael Jackson. He told Reuters the tweet was a joke.

“I think it’s funny,” said Kauffman, the sole occupant of LBRY’s plainly furnished headquarters in downtown Manchester, New Hampshire. “If you don’t think it’s funny,” he said, “you don’t have to look at it.”

In college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, Kauffman studied computer science and physics, and played competitive frisbee. He had little experience in publishing when, in 2015, he set up LBRY with four others, promising to bring “freedom back to the web,” according to an early investor pitch.

LBRY’s business model relied on sales of its own cryptocurrency, called LBC. Launched on the cusp of a crypto boom, the price jumped, pushing the company’s value to $1.2 billion.

But in March 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued LBRY, alleging that selling a cryptocurrency to finance its operations amounted to an unregistered securities offering. Kauffman attacked the commission in tweets and interviews as “monsters,” and told Reuters he had spent $2 million on legal fees on a “Kafka-esque” fight. The Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment on the case, which is still pending.

Even before the suit, demand for LBC was faltering. After its 2016 launch, the currency’s value swung up and down, reaching $1.29 in early 2018 before collapsing, according to CoinGecko, a website that tracks cryptocurrency values. It now trades at about two cents.

The company started a streaming platform in late 2019 called LBRY.TV. It courted creators who specialized in technology, cryptocurrencies or science, but also attracted conspiracy theorists and extremists seeking an alternative to YouTube. Paul Webb, a web developer who joined LBRY in 2017, said he raised objections when he found out the site featured videos of a leader of the Proud Boys, the far-right group whose current leader and four associates are now charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

On a video call with Kauffman, Webb presented research on the Proud Boys by groups that track extremists. Webb said he argued that “we have a responsibility not to give people like that a platform.” Kauffman disagreed and said the controversy generated publicity for LBRY, according to Webb, who now works at a digital design agency based in Canada.

Asked about the exchange, Kauffman said: “Even morally questionable groups, such as Reuters journalists or the Proud Boys, should be allowed to speak to others that want to hear them.”

LBRY.TV was rebuilt and rebranded as a new website, Odysee, in late 2020. The following year, the operation was put into a new subsidiary of LBRY called Odysee Holdings Inc, with a new chief executive. Kauffman remains the CEO of LBRY, but Odysee is now run by Julian Chandra, both men said in interviews. Chandra had worked at the popular Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok before joining LBRY and taking over Odysee.

He told Reuters he wants to make Odysee a profitable platform that serves a bigger, more mainstream audience, moving beyond Kauffman’s libertarian politics and his original vision for the video-sharing site. Odysee is seeking to grow revenue through advertising and premium ad-free subscriptions.

Odysee’s traffic has grown exponentially. Like BitChute, it has fed off the turbulence surrounding COVID-19 lockdowns, mass vaccinations and Trump’s false claims about the U.S. election in November 2020. That month, Odysee’s visits doubled to about 6 million, according to Similarweb. In January 2021 – the month Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol – it almost tripled again, to 17 million. By August, the total almost doubled again, to 33 million.

Odysee still bills itself as a bulwark for free speech. When YouTube last year removed several videos condemning alleged human rights abuses by China against Uyghur Muslims, Odysee provided an alternative home. It did the same for RT and Sputnik after YouTube and Facebook blocked the Russian propaganda channels in March. In a statement on Twitter, Odysee said: “We are not banning any news network. It’s a slippery slope.”

It remains a sanctuary for controversial figures. Megan Squire, a professor at Elon University in North Carolina who researches online extremism, has identified more than 100 channels on Odysee from right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists.

Chandra acknowledged that such content existed on Odysee but said it didn’t define the platform. He said the company removes content that promotes terrorism, hatred or violence towards other groups.

Yet Odysee remains a home to neo-Nazis. Joseph Jordan, who produces videos under the pseudonym of “Eric Striker,” co-founded the white supremacist National Justice Party. In his videos on Odysee, he praises Hitler, denies the Holocaust happened and argues for policies protecting whites against Blacks. Jordan did not respond to a request for comment.

“You want me to delete this person because of what exactly? He hasn’t broken any laws,” Chandra said. “You don’t like a channel, don’t watch the channel. It’s very simple.” – Reuters

Ukraine’s capital bans Independence Day festivities, fearing Russian attack

August 23, 2022 | 12:43 pm

Ukraine-flag-bullets — JERNEJ FURMAN-FLICKER

KYIV – Ukraine’s capital Kyiv banned public celebrations this week commemorating independence from Soviet rule, citing a heightened threat of attack as a U.S. official warned of Russian plans to strike Ukrainian infrastructure in the coming days.

Near frontlines in the south of the country, Ukraine said Russia fired rockets into several towns north and west of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, captured by Russian forces shortly after they invaded Ukraine in February.

Artillery and rocket fire near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor complex, on the south bank of the Dnipro River, has led to calls for the area to be demilitarized. Ukrainians living near the plant voiced fears shells could hit one of the plant’s six reactors, with potentially disastrous consequences.

“Of course, we are worried. … It’s like sitting on a powder keg,” said Alexander Lifirenko, a resident of the nearby town of Enerhodar, now under control of pro-Moscow forces. Read full story

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned that Moscow could try “something particularly ugly” in the run-up to Wednesday‘s 31st independence anniversary, which also marks half a year since Russia invaded. Read full story

Warning of potential harm to civilians, a U.S. official told Reuters that Russia “is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”

The official said the statement was based on downgraded U.S. intelligence. Read full story

Fearing renewed rocket attacks, authorities in Kyiv moved to ban public events related to the independence anniversary from Monday until Thursday. The capital is far from the front lines and has only rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukraine repelled a ground offensive to seize the capital in March.

Other jurisdictions also restricted public gatherings. In Kharkiv, a northeastern city that has come under frequent and deadly longer-range artillery and rocket fire, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced an extension to an overnight curfew to run from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. effective from Tuesday to Thursday.

In the port of Mykolaiv near Russian-held territory to the south, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said authorities planned a precautionary order for residents to work from home on Tuesday and Wednesday and urged people not to gather in large groups.

BRIDGE ATTACKED

Fears of intensified attacks rose after Russia’s Federal Security Service on Monday accused Ukrainian agents of killing Darya Dugina, daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue, in a car bomb attack near Moscow that President Vladimir Putin called “evil”. Ukraine denies involvement. Read full story

The two sides have traded blame over frequent shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, where Kyiv accuses Moscow of basing troops and storing military hardware. Russia denies this and accuses Ukraine of targeting Zaporizhzhia with drones.

Overnight, Russian forces fired rockets into the nearby towns of Nikopol, Krivyi Rih and Synelnykovskyi, the area’s regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, wrote on Telegram.

Moscow requested a U.N. Security Council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Dmitry Polyanskiy. Read full story

To the south, renewed fighting and explosions were reported in Russian-occupied Kherson and in the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

In Kherson, the sole bridge across the strategic Dnipro River was hit by high-precision HIMARS rockets supplied to Ukraine by the United States, injuring 15 people, a source in occupied Kherson’s emergency services told Russia’s Interfax news agency.

The bridge, a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces as they stage a counter-offensive to retake the Kherson region. A Kyiv interior ministry adviser said smoke was seen rising from the bridge.

Russian media reported explosions in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. The city’s Russian-appointed governor said an anti-air defense system had been triggered nearby. Crimea has been rocked by a series of explosions in recent weeks, including a blast at a munitions depot that Moscow blamed on saboteurs.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield reports of either side.

CIVILIAN TOLL

Russia launched on Feb. 24 what it calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize its smaller neighbor and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperial-style war of conquest.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing its monitoring mission in Ukraine, said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between Feb. 24 and Aug. 21, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.

UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, said at least 972 children have been killed or injured over six months of war.

“The use of explosive weapons has caused most of the child casualties. These weapons do not discriminate between civilian and combatant, especially when used in populated areas as has been the case in Ukraine,” the agency’s executive director, Catherine Russell, said in a statement.

Separately, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi – Kyiv’s army chief – provided what appeared to be the first public Ukrainian military death toll, saying nearly 9,000 soldiers had died in action.

Russia has not said how many of its soldiers have been killed. Ukraine’s General Staff have estimated the Russian military death toll at 45,400.

Reuters has been unable to verify military losses. – Reuters

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