It’s Thursday, October 1. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Senators Dave McCormick and John Fetterman unveil a bipartisan plan for winning the AI age. Niall Ferguson and Luke Nichter on how they have unlocked unheard recordings of Richard Nixon. Douglas Murray on Israel’s victories. And much more.
But first: Mob rules.
Innocent until proven guilty? Here in the age of social media, where posters view themselves as judge and jury, that long ago became a quaint concept. A short clip of a man and woman kissing at a Coldplay concert turns into days of mockery and denunciation. A woman tells a tasteless joke about AIDS in Africa; it goes viral, and she loses her job. A father runs a marathon a few months after the deaths of his children, and the internet decides it’s proof he killed them. And after it’s had its pound of flesh, the mob moves on to the next “outrage,” leaving those whose lives it damaged to pick up the pieces.
Today we’re bringing you two articles about people who were wrongly subjected to the hysteria that social media generates with such ease—examples of the mob at its worst.
First up, Frannie Block has a scoop about a terrible case of mistaken identity after a man named Matthew Ingalls was sued in the Cornell 7 case. In fact, a Matthew Ingalls is one of the Cornell 7, but the man on the receiving end of the lawsuit is a Marine sergeant who never attended the university and had nothing to do with the case. Not that it has mattered. Once his name was disclosed, the internet vigilantes went about the business of making his life—and his family’s—miserable. “Do the world a favor and kill yourself,” said one text. Ingalls’ mother Victoria told Frannie that while she understands the public’s outrage, “we just want to be left alone.” Read her report:
Our second story is by Erika Alvarez. You may have seen a video of Erika on social media recently. She went viral after she was briefly caught on television during a San Francisco Giants game bringing ballpark food to her husband with a baby strapped to her front. Once again, the mob jumped to unwarranted conclusions, deciding that any man who sat there while his overburdened wife brought him food must be a terrible husband—a “deadbeat” who didn’t deserve Erika and should probably (of course) kill himself.
Erika tells the real story, both of what happened at the game that evening, and why the father of their two children doesn’t deserve the abuse he’s received online. “Going viral has shown me firsthand that we have become quick to vilify people from a brief clip, filling in everything we cannot see with assumptions,” Erika writes. “If our viral moment contributes anything to the ongoing cultural conversation about how we judge what we see online, I hope it reminds us to be more comfortable saying, ‘I don’t know the whole story.’ ” —Joe Nocera
Israel Defeats Its Enemies
On Wednesday morning, Israel narrowly averted tragedy when travelers aboard a plane bound for Tel Aviv thwarted an attempted hijacking by the co-pilot, a suspected terrorist. How did average citizens muster the courage to pull off such a feat? In an exclusive interview with The Free Press, Yaniv Hayoun, one of the heroes of the incident, described how he and a group of fellow passengers stormed the cockpit—and why they prevailed. In case you missed it, read what he said here:
Yesterday’s near-miss came as Israel prepares to mark three years since the October 7 attack. It is a reminder, writes Douglas Murray, that for all the talk about Israel “los[ing] the PR war,” it is also locked in an actual war against enemies trying to kill its citizens. And when it comes to that more important fight, Douglas reminds us, Israel has seen remarkable success. Read his column on why that victory is more important than the approval of the country’s critics:
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
THE NEWS
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British prime minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that his government believes Iran played a part in a recent attack on an English air base. Local authorities arrested five suspects Sunday (who have since made bail), but they are continuing to investigate the nature of the incident.
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The UK government has also accused a Chinese research institute of operating as a front for the country’s intelligence agency. The organization, known as the China General Technology Research Institute, reportedly financed projects designed to steal information about artificial intelligence, while hiding its ties to Beijing.
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching an investigation into Anthropic and OpenAI. The agency is believed to be probing the safety of their models, as industry experts continue to raise concerns about their products.
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A new report from the Federal Reserve’s watchdog found no evidence of misconduct or illegal activity in the renovations of the central bank’s headquarters. The 120-page document cited several missteps in the $2.5 billion project, but none that rose to the level of prosecution.
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Senate Democrats voted to block a GOP-led data center bill on Wednesday that would have tech companies pay for the increased energy costs from their facilities, rather than local residents. Many on the Republican side argued the legislation would help Americans defray their expenses, but Democrats argued the bill wasn’t strong enough to impose sufficient reforms on data centers.
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Citadel’s chief executive Ken Griffin announced a $2 billion donation to Carnegie Mellon University, which he hopes will go toward the construction of a new campus in Miami. Griffin’s contribution marks the largest donation to higher education in American history.
