My colleague Jamie is fostering kittens! I am so glad she lives far, far away or that little ginger boy would be mine! Thank you Jamie for taking such great car of these little ones before they find their forever homes!

Shirley Chisom

This "No More Walking on Eggshells Policy" pushes to eliminate EO in the military and creates an unsafe space for victims of discrimination and assault. "No more anonymous complaints," Hegseth says. This will silence victims out of fear of retaliation.

In places where speaking out can cost someone their freedom, social media stops being a hobby and starts looking like infrastructure. Hong Kong showed how quickly strangers can become a coordinated crowd when information moves faster than police lines, and the Arab Spring made it hard for officials to keep a lid on what people were seeing and recording in real time. Myanmar offered another reminder that a network can hold a community together when institutions collapse and intimidation becomes routine. Iran belongs in that same story. People use phones and platforms to share what is happening, to signal where to go, to warn others away from danger, and to leave behind a record that cannot be erased as easily as a headline. The power of that record is obvious, but so is the threat that comes with it. A video can travel across borders in minutes, then circle back as evidence used against the person who filmed it or the person who appears in the frame. When governments slow the internet or cut it off, confusion grows and propaganda fills the gaps, which makes careful verification even more important. Sharing becomes a choice with consequences, not just for the person who posts but for anyone connected to them. Social media does not create courage, but it can connect it, amplify it, and sometimes protect it by making repression visible to the world.

Period.

A key point that I found from this week’s learning materials is that social media users on rare occasions have control fully over how their identity is represented online. Rather, set platforms, monetize in shape these identities through data extraction and design choices. With futures as media professional professionals, there is an important thing to ask: who is the one that is benefiting from the current structures, and what are the changes that can be made to make sure that social media will support democratic participation rather than sabotaging it?

One drawback of social media in public political discourse is the divide it can create. With strong opinions and biased sources, arguments often erupt and rarely lead to resolution.