THE SHOW NOTES: The Fox News Poll, SCOTUS Rulings, & Russia's Other War

Welcome! The details of a Bank of America survey of young people are concerning.

SHOCK POLL: Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump according to Fox News.

NEW: The naval incident between China and the Philippines was way worse than previously thought.

HEADLINE: Why Democrats think Biden’s problem is Biden - Politico

PREP: Biden is barricading himself at Camp David to prepare for next week’s debate.

OUCH: A t-shirt is gaslighting people into watching the WNBA.

SCOTUS: Go read Ed Wheelan’s quick summary of today’s Supreme Court rulings.

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Instagram Recommended Sexual Content to 13-Year-Olds

Instagram regularly recommends sexual videos to accounts for teenagers that appear interested in racy content, and does so within minutes of when they first log in, according to tests by The Wall Street Journal and an academic researcher.

The tests, run over seven months ending in June, show that the social-media service has continued pushing adult-oriented content to minors after parent Meta Platforms said in January that it was giving teens a more age-appropriate experience by restricting what it calls sensitive content including sexually suggestive material.

Separate testing by the Journal and Laura Edelson, a computer-science professor at Northeastern University, used similar methodology, involving setting up new accounts with ages listed as 13. The accounts then watched Instagram’s curated video stream, known as Reels.

Instagram served a mix of videos that, from the start, included moderately racy content such as women dancing seductively or posing in positions that emphasized their breasts. When the accounts skipped past other clips but watched those racy videos to completion, Reels recommended edgier content. 

Full story at The Wall Street Journal (paywall).

The Washington Post Scandal

Will Lewis, the Washington Post publisher, advised Boris Johnson and senior officials at 10 Downing Street to “clean up” their phones in the midst of a Covid-era political scandal, according to claims by three people familiar with the operations inside No 10 at the time.

The advice is alleged to have been given in December 2021 and January 2022 as top officials were under scrutiny for potential violations of pandemic restrictions, a scandal which was known as “Partygate”.

The claims suggest Lewis’s advice contradicted an email sent to staff at No 10 in December 2021 which instructed them not to destroy any material that could be relevant to an investigation into the flagrant breaking of Covid lockdown rules by Johnson and officials who worked for him.

Full story at The Guardian. Related story at Politico.

Russia

As war continues to rage in Ukraine, Russia is increasingly pushing the boundaries against neighboring countries in the Baltic region and more broadly against the West.

Incident: Masked Russian border patrol agents were caught (again) moving navigational beacons that mark the sovereign boundary waters between Russia and Estonia in the Narva River. As Estonia marks the end of NATO’s reach, the move is widely viewed as another signal that Russia’s expansionary actions will not end in Ukraine.

Related: Russia has instigated other equally provocative actions from airspace violations in Sweden to migrant attacks in Finland and to disturbing invasion threats against Lithuania. Read the full story at Bloomberg (free).

Ouch:

Trending news:

• Hezbollah leader warns Israel of war with ‘no red lines,’ threatens Cyprus - CNBC

• Norcross indictment mutes Booker’s usual moral certainty - Politico

• How Apple is winning the financial services game - Axios

• Louisiana law signed, first in US to require Ten Commandments in the classroom - USA Today

• Tropical Storm Alberto makes landfall in Mexico; Texas faces flooding and heavy rain - CNBC

• What the Russia-North Korea security agreement actually means - Washington Examiner

• Car dealerships hit with second day of massive computer system outage - CNN

• 5 illegal immigrants were arrested and charged with kidnapping a 14 year old girl - Fox59

• Fake Ozempic Is Circulating in Europe and Americas, WHO Warns - MSN

Pesky Paywalls:

• Soaring U.S. Debt Is a Spending Problem - WSJ (paywall)

• A Record Number of Kids Are in Special Education—and It’s Getting Harder to Help Them All - WSJ (paywall)

• Iran signals a major boost in nuclear program at key site - Washington Post (paywall)

Market snapshot: