NPR

In whatever corner of the world Facebook is operating, it has become clear that people are using this powerful platform as a communications tool in ways that Mark Zuckerberg never envisioned. He started the company as a young Harvard undergrad 13 years ago to connect students. It expanded exponentially since then under his supremely techno-utopian vision of connecting the world. For Zuckerberg, connecting the world means bringing people together. But increasingly the platform is being used by some very powerful elements to do the exact opposite: sow divisions.

President Donald Trump's budget blueprint calls for eliminating dozens of government programs and zeroing out funding for 19 independent agencies. And that may only be a preview of things to come as the Trump administration seeks to reorganize the executive branch. On March 13, President Trump signed the "Presidential Executive Order on a Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch," which calls for the director of the Office of Management and Budget to consult with agency heads and within a year develop a plan for improving government efficiency.

A year from now, when President Trump is presented with a plan for reorganizing the government, perhaps even eliminating whole agencies, a major question will be how much political capital the president has to spare. And that will likely depend on whether Congress has passed the health care bill and his yet-to-be-unveiled tax-cut plan.

The Trump era has opened with the promise of a White House foothold for media mogul Rupert Murdoch. It looks to be the kind of warm and solicitous reception in the corridors of presidential power that he has long enjoyed abroad. Murdoch has told close associates that the nation's 45th president calls to confer frequently — as often as multiple times a week — and that he has visited the White House to meet with President Trump more than once. The rapport forged by Murdoch and President Trump may prove handy for both men. Murdoch's news outlets often shine a favorable light on the new president; meanwhile, his media properties have many interests pending before the federal government.

Several examples:
1) Murdoch wants the planned acquisition of the rival entertainment conglomerate Time Warner by telecommunications giant AT&T tempered by federal regulators or lawyers, if not killed. (President Trump has denounced the deal but major government intervention currently appears unlikely.) New York magazine reported that Murdoch advised President Trump ahead of his selection of the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai.
2) Murdoch, who has long had his eye on the Los Angeles Times, would like federal regulators to ease or lift restrictions that prevent the owners of television stations acquiring major newspapers in the same big city.
3) Federal prosecutors in New York City are investigating Fox News over whether it broke securities laws by masking payments to women who had alleged sexual harassment by former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes and others at the network. Executives at parent company 21st Century Fox say they are cooperating with the investigation.

If you've been glued to your smart phone checking work email throughout the holiday season, you might want to consider relocating. French workers will have the "right to disconnect" outside of work hours, thanks to a new law going into effect Jan 1. Companies with more than 50 employees will be obligated to set up hours — normally during the evening and weekend — when staff are not to send or respond to emails.

The French government said at the time that an intervention was necessary, for the health and well-being of their workers. "All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," said member of parliament Benoit Hamon. "Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash - like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails - they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down."

A lot of fake and misleading news stories were shared across social media during the 2016 election. One that got a lot of traffic had this headline: "FBI Agent Suspected In Hillary Email Leaks Found Dead In Apparent Murder-Suicide." The story is completely false, but it was shared on Facebook over half a million times. We wondered who was behind that story and why it was written. It appeared on a site that had the look and feel of a local newspaper. Denverguardian.com even had the local weather. But it had only one news story — the fake one. We tried to look up who owned it.

Eventually we found our man: Jestin Coler. Coler's company, Disinfomedia, owns many faux news sites — he won't say how many. But he says his is one of the biggest fake-news businesses out there, which makes him a sort of godfather of the industry. Below are highlights of NPR's interview with Coler.

For decades Freedom House has been ranking the world on free speech, political and civil rights. In recent years, this nongovernmental organization has extended its research into the state of the Internet. And for the sixth consecutive year, it has found Internet freedom on a decline. In 2013, it was a rise in surveillance. In 2014, governments shifted more from behind-the-scenes control to overt repression and arrests. In 2015, it was more of the same, plus a push against encryption. Over the past year, the pressure fell increasingly on social media and messaging tools, often to quash protests or dissent, according to the latest Freedom on the Net report, which covers the period from June 2015 through May 2016. "In a new development, the most routinely targeted tools this year were instant messaging and calling platforms, with restrictions often imposed during times of protests or due to national security concerns," the report says, presenting two particular features that attract crackdowns:

1) Encryption on some of the apps, for instance Telegram, helps protect users' chats from surveillance;
2) The apps, which are free or cheap, challenge profits of traditional phone and other telecom companies that may be friendly with governments.

FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress reporting a renewed look into e-mails that could be related to Hilary Clinton's private server rocked the presidential race on Oct 28. The Clinton campaign and supporters have jumped on Comey for making such a dramatic announcement so close to an election. The question being raised now is whether the timing and style of the announcement make it illegal.

Democrats allege this is more than just an 11th-hour inconvenience. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid says Comey may have violated a law known as the Hatch Act by making the investigation public this late in the election season. In a letter to Comey, Reid said the move revealed a "clear double standard" and accused Comey of using his position as FBI director to influence the election. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the result of an election. An official complaint was filed with the Office of Special Counsel and the Office of Government Ethics by Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under the George W. Bush administration from 2005 to 2007. Painter wrote about his decision in an op-ed for The New York Times on Sunday, calling Comey's move "an abuse of power."