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Three Dozen Groups Worldwide Call on Facebook to Restore Privacy Protections for WhatsApp Users
Public Citizen and three dozen other social justice, labor, and digital rights organizations from around the globe are calling on Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg to reverse course on WhatsApp's May 15, 2020 privacy policy revisions. Facebook intends for WhatsApp to contribute directly to its revenues at the expense of user privacy.
WASHINGTON
Public Citizen and three dozen other social justice, labor, and digital rights organizations from around the globe are calling on Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg to reverse course on WhatsApp's May 15, 2020 privacy policy revisions. Facebook intends for WhatsApp to contribute directly to its revenues at the expense of user privacy.
Facebook has presented WhatsApp users with a devastating ultimatum: Accept our invasive changes or leave WhatsApp forever. The changes will allow Facebook to collect payment and transaction data from WhatsApp users. This means Facebook will be able to gather even more data and target WhatsApp users with ever more personalized ads.
"Facebook must be broken up, not permitted to further integrate the disparate services it never should have been permitted to agglomerate," said Burcu Kilic, digital rights program director for Public Citizen. "This latest move to encroach upon the privacy of WhatsApp users is further proof that Facebook is using exploitative practices and abusing its dominant market power. We call on legislators worldwide to 'Stop Facebook and Save WhatsApp.'"
The new privacy policy endangers one of the most important channels of communication around the globe. The messaging app has two billion users worldwide who rely on WhatsApp to talk to their families, friends, colleagues, and communities. It is the leading messaging app in all but 25 countries, easily outperforming Facebook's signature Messenger app and China's WeChat. And in the U.S. about half of all Latinos use the app, totaling around 32 million users.
Once again, Facebook is set to break the promise it made to users when the tech giant bought the messaging app in 2014. "We are absolutely not going to change plans around WhatsApp and the way it uses user data," Zuckerberg claimed. "WhatsApp is going to operate completely autonomously."
Facebook's broken promises began in 2016. Presenting a routine "update" on WhatsApp's terms and conditions, Facebook was given access to a range of user data for users who did not "opt-out" within 30 days' notice. This included account information, phone numbers, login frequency and duration, information about how users interact with each other, IP addresses, browser details, language, time zone, and more. Although many users opted out, millions were left completely unaware of this option. The approximately one billion WhatsApp users who joined after 2016 were given no choice at all.
The European Union is exempt from Facebook's policy change thanks to privacy protections that are noticeably absent elsewhere. The groups maintain that WhatsApp users everywhere are entitled to the same privacy protections as Europeans.
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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US Faces 'State of Emergency' for Civil Rights Under Trump: Urban League Report
"What we face today is a deliberate, coordinated effort to deny the future of a more just and inclusive America," said Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, in the latest report on the "State of Black America."
Jul 18, 2025
One of America's oldest civil rights organizations warned Thursday that the country is experiencing a "dangerous tilt toward authoritarianism."
In its annual report on "The State of Black America," the National Urban League said the country is in the midst of a "state of emergency" for racial equality under the second administration of U.S. President Donald Trump as it wages war on voting rights protections; guts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs; turns civil rights investigations into "tools of political retribution"; and embraces social media platforms that promote hate speech and false information.
"Almost daily, since January 20, 2025, the federal government, at the direction the White House, has set fire to policies and entire departments dedicated to protecting civil and human rights, providing access to an equal education, fair housing, safe and effective healthcare, and ensuring that our democratic process is adhered to across the nation," the report says.
It cites the White House's attacks on the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Supreme Court, it says, dealt the "first seismic crack" to the law in 2013 with the Shelby County v. Holder decision, which got rid of the requirement that states with a history of race-based voter suppression clear new voting laws with the Department of Justice.
"Dozens of states have seized on this weakened federal oversight to pass restrictive voting laws—from voter ID requirements that disproportionately burden Black and Latino voters, to aggressive voter roll purges that remove eligible citizens from voter lists, to reduced polling hours and locations in communities of color," wrote Janai Nelson, the president of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund, in one essay.
Since then, Nelson writes, "The Trump administration has launched a full-scale assault on what remains."
Nelson notes the president's "sweeping executive order requiring individuals to show documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote—and permitting only a narrow set of documents, such as a passport, that many Americans don't have easy access to."
She also notes that the administration "shifted the focus of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division away from protecting voting rights and toward investigating voter fraud, even though such fraud is exceedingly rare."
In another essay, Samantha Tweedy, the CEO of the Black Economic Alliance, described "an all-out assault on... Black liberty, livelihood, history, prosperity, economic power, and opportunity," being carried out "under the false premise and scapegoating of 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.'"
The Trump administration has aggressively sought to purge DEI initiatives and affirmative action from all sectors of public life, banning them from use in the federal government and putting pressure on private corporations and universities to abandon them as well.
Fueling this, Tweedy says, is the "destructive lie" that "for Black people to succeed, others must lose out." The report goes on to cite statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank, Citi, and McKinsey showing that closing economic disparities increases economic prosperity for the entire country.
One of the engines propelling the Trump administration's attack on civil rights has been the DOJ's Civil Rights division itself, which the report says has been "hollowed out and repurposed" to go after universities that pursue DEI initiatives.
The report also singled out Harmeet Dhillon, who Trump tapped to lead the Civil Rights Division, for her past assertions that the 2020 election was stolen and her writings arguing against the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would have restored power to the original law.
The report also highlighted the recent surge of racist rhetoric on billionaire-owned social media platforms, which have abandoned many content moderation policies in recent years.
The report especially singled out the violent shift on Elon Musk's X, which saw a dramatic increase in hate speech against racial minorities and LGBTQ+ people after the billionaire bought the platform.
"We are witnessing something more than policy shifts," said the Urban League's president and CEO, Marc H. Morial, in the report's foreword. "We are watching an attempt to turn back the clock to an era when the full humanity of all Americans was not recognized—when the idea of true equality was treated as a threat to the social order."
"What we face today is a deliberate, coordinated effort to deny the future of a more just and inclusive America," Morial said. "And the architects of this effort have made their intentions plain: they would rather see our democracy crumble than cede power to a multiracial, equitable society."
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Opponents Urge Lula to Veto Brazilian Lawmakers' 'Legislated Ecocide'
"Lula says Brazil will lead the environmental agenda by example," said one prominent Brazilian climate defender. "A veto, on the eve of COP30, is the perfect opportunity to make the discourse into practice."
Jul 18, 2025
Opponents including native and Afro-descendant communities and environment defenders are urging progressive Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to veto legislation passed Thursday by the lower house of the National Congress that would dramatically weaken environmental protections and Indigenous peoples' control over their own lands.
Bill 2159/2021—commonly called the "Devastation Bill"—was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in a 267-116 vote in the dead of night following its passage by the Senate in May. The vote, which took place at approximately 3:40 am, was called by Chamber of Deputies President Hugo Motta of the right-wing Republicans party. Both houses of the National Congress have strong right-wing majorities; some members of Lula's leftist Workers' Party also voted for the bill.
If approved by Lula, the legislation would introduce an online self-declaration process for environmental licensing for many mining and agricultural projects that critics say will fuel deforestation and other destruction. The bill also speeds up the review process for development projects prioritized by the federal government and eliminates reviews for highway upgrades.
"As approved, the bill encourages deforestation and aggravates the climate crisis," Marcio Astrini, executive director of the Climate Observatory," said following the vote.
"Lula says Brazil will lead the environmental agenda by example. A veto, on the eve of COP30, is the perfect opportunity to make the discourse into practice," he continued, referring to this November's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Belém.
"We hope that he will meet his campaign commitments and reject this absurd text approved by the Brazilian Congress," Astrini added.
Lula has 15 days to either approve or veto the measure. However, the right-wing congressional majority could overturn a veto, prompting the Supreme Court to intervene.
Proponents argue the bill would simplify the regulatory process.
"Finally, we have improved legislation to unlock investments, streamline the system, and generate opportunities and income for the country," said Pedro Lupion, a deputy from the right-wing Progressistas party representing Paraná and president of the Parliamentary Agriculture Front.
However, Climate Observatory public policy coordinator Suely Araújo said that the proposal represents "the greatest setback to Brazil's environmental legislation" since licensing requirements were introduced in the 1980s.
Some critics of the bill pointed to Article 225 of the Brazilian Constitution, which states that "everyone has the right to an ecologically balanced environment, which is an asset of common use and essential to a healthy quality of life, and both the government and the community shall have the duty to defend and preserve it for present and future generations."
Brazilian Minister for Indigenous Peoples Sônia Guajajara, a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), said on the social media site X that Thursday's vote "should be forever remembered as the moment when the Chamber of Deputies attacked Brazilian environmental legislation and showed its lack of commitment to the future."
"In the year we will host the COP, our parliamentarians show what example not to set for the world," she added.
Célia Xakriabá, a PSOL deputy representing Minas Gerais, called the bill "legislative ecocide."
Quilombolas—residents of quilombos, Afro-Brazilian communities formed by self-liberated slaves or their descendants—and their advocates also sounded the alarm over the bill, pointing to existing efforts by extractive industries to kick them off their lands.
"The Devastation Bill threatens over 80% of quilombos and 32% of Indigenous lands in Brazil," progressive Rio de Janeiro consultant Lázaro Rosa noted on X. "Let's put strong pressure to ensure this abomination is not approved."
Erika Hilton, a PSOL federal deputy representing São Paulo, said that if the bill is approved by Lula, "mining companies will be able to renew their licenses automatically, without technical studies or prior analysis."
"This is a recipe for new tragedies like those in Brumadinho, Mariana, and Braskem in Maceió," she warned. "Other points of the bill include the end of environmental licensing for agriculture to deforest and the end of control over the use of our water resources... And the Devastation Bill will also destroy the control of pollutant emissions, putting at risk the very air we breathe."
Hilton continued: "Even so, the tendency is that, with the narrative that all our environmental legislation is bureaucracy that hinders development, the deputies will approve this horror. But what country develops with an environmental tragedy every other day? What country develops if children start being born without brains due to pollution, like in the '70s in Cubatão? What country develops if the people no longer have water to drink, air to breathe, and life to live?"
"These are the questions that the deputies are ignoring," she added.
Journalist Amanda Miranda denounced members of Congress who voted to authorize "the destruction of Brazil while its citizens sleep."
"Brazil will be handed over to the interests of businessmen who will help reelect each one of them," she added. "Every climate catastrophe is part of this reckoning too."Keep ReadingShow Less
'Terrible Development': Trump Admin Restricts State Efforts to Help Kids Stay on Medicaid
"The Trump administration will stop at nothing to rip coverage away from American families, even kids they claim they want to protect," said Sen. Ron Wyden.
Jul 18, 2025
The Trump administration on Thursday said it will restrict waivers that have allowed states to keep kids enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program beyond the 12-month period of continuous coverage required under federal law.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), led by Mehmet Oz, announced the move on Thursday, saying that it has informed states of a "clear shift away from policies that extend beyond statutory limits," specifically restricting Section 1115 waivers that have been sought and approved in dozens of states across the U.S.
"CMS will allow currently approved initiatives to run out their course but does not anticipate extending them nor approving new waivers," the agency said in a statement, which came less than two weeks after President Donald Trump signed into law the largest Medicaid cuts in U.S. history.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, called the CMS announcement a "terrible development" and "yet one more awful example of the Trump administration's obsession with making it as hard as possible for Americans to access the healthcare they are eligible for."
In 2022, Oregon became the first state in the nation to receive federal approval to provide children with continuous Medicaid coverage from birth up to age 6 through a Section 1115 waiver. The policy was described as a "ground-breaking initiative" that would "help infants and young children get off to a healthy start in life without parents having to worry about renewing their Medicaid coverage annually," regardless of temporary changes to family income or other factors.
The CMS announcement points to the Oregon policy without explicitly naming the state. Oregon's federal waiver is set to expire in 2027.
Wyden said Thursday that "the Trump administration will stop at nothing to rip coverage away from American families, even kids they claim they want to protect."
Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, wrote that "in the name of 'protecting vulnerable Americans,' the Trump administration will rip away Medicaid coverage from babies and toddlers."
👀In the name of “protecting vulnerable Americans” the Trump Administration will rip away Medicaid coverage from babies and toddlers👀
CMS announces Medicaid demos that 8 states are implementing to cover babies and young children continuously w/o gaps will no longer be allowed pic.twitter.com/aXF0mKXL9S
— Joan Alker (@JoanAlker1) July 17, 2025
CMS insisted that the newly announced changes are aimed at protecting Medicaid's finances by ensuring that those who are no longer eligible for the program are removed.
But Amaya Diana, a policy analyst at the health research organization KFF, wrote Thursday that "not everyone who loses coverage at renewal is no longer eligible."
"During the unwinding of the [pandemic-era] Medicaid continuous enrollment provision, seven in 10 Medicaid enrollees who lost coverage were disenrolled for procedural reasons," Diana noted. "While some were no longer eligible, others lost coverage due to barriers such as communication issues."
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