Peter Thiel is building a parallel justice system

"...If people with limitless resources could sponsor litigation against news organizations they disliked, constitutional protections would be no match for the sheer cost and complexity of defense.
Now, they’ve found an AI-assisted way to supercharge those effects..."

https://www.codastory.com/polarization/can-we-trust-an-ai-jury-to-judge-journalism

#ai #news #journalism #PeterThiel #ObjectionAI #Objection

Aron D’Souza says his latest startup, #Objection, aims to use AI to adjudicate the truth of journalism.

And for the price of $2,000,
anyone can pay to challenge a story,
triggering a public investigation into its claims. 

(D’Souza is also the founder of the Enhanced Games, an Olympics-style competition that allows performance-enhancing drugs and is set to debut in Las Vegas next month.)

Objection launched on Wednesday with “multiple millions” in seed funding from Peter #Thiel and Balaji #Srinivasan, as well as VC firms Social Impact Capital and Off Piste Capital.

Thiel, who funded the Gawker lawsuitpartly in defense of the individual right to privacy,
has long been critical of the media.

D’Souza says his goal is to restore trust in the Fourth Estate, which he argues has collapsed over decades.

Critics, including media lawyers, warn Objection could make it harder to publish the kind of reporting that holds powerful institutions to account,
-- particularly if that reporting relies on confidential sources.

Anonymous sources have played a key role in major award-winning investigations into corruption and corporate wrongdoing.
These are often people who are at risk of losing their jobs or facing other retaliation for sharing important information.
It’s the journalist’s job
— alongside their publication’s editors, peers, and lawyers
— to ensure that those sources are reliable and not acting out of pure malice and to verify the information they provide. 

But that’s not enough for D’Souza, who said
“using a fully anonymized source who hasn’t been independently verified”
would lead to a lower evidence and trust score on Objection.

Under the platform’s rubric, primary records like regulatory filings and official emails carry the most weight,
while anonymous whistleblower claims are ranked near the bottom.

Those inputs are collected in part by a team of freelancers
— former law enforcement agents and investigative journalists
— and are ultimately fed into what Objection calls an
“Honor Index,”
a numerical score the company says reflects a reporter’s integrity, accuracy, and track record.

“Protecting a source’s information is a vital way of telling an important story,
but there’s an important power asymmetry there,”
D’Souza told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview.

“The subject gets reported upon, but then there’s no way to critique the source.”

⚠️His solution presents a lose-lose for journalists:

either divulge sensitive source information to Objection’s “cryptographic hash” that determines “if it’s high quality reporting,”

or face demerits for protecting sources who share important information at great personal risk.

💥If technology like Objection takes off,
it could chill whistleblowing,
experts argue.

Jane Kirtley, a lawyer and professor of media law and ethics at the University of Minnesota, says Objection fits into a long pattern of attacks that erode public trust in the press.

“If the underlying theme is,
‘Here’s yet another example of how the news media are lying to you,’
that’s one more chink in the armor to help destroy public confidence in independent journalism,” she said,
adding that clearly journalists need to do their part to be as transparent as possible in their reporting.

Kirtley pointed to existing journalistic standards,
like the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics,
which advises reporters to use anonymous sources only when there is no other way to obtain the information.

She also cited longstanding industry practices like peer criticism and internal editorial review as built-in accountability methods.

⭐️More broadly, she questioned whether Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are not steeped in journalistic traditions are equipped to evaluate what serves the public interest.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/can-ai-judge-journalism-a-thiel-backed-startup-says-yes-even-if-it-risks-chilling-whistleblowers/

Peter Thiel, openlijk fascist & geestelijk vader van Musk & Trump, is een nieuwe AI begonnen. Hij wil rechtbanken & journalistiek opheffen, omdat ze veel te vaak kritisch zijn op oligarchen zoals hij.

Volgens Evil Peter kunnen we beter zijn Objection AI vertrouwen. Want Objection zal je mening bijsturen naar de mening van Thiel en zijn extreemrechtse miljardairsvriendjes, en dat is toch veel beter?

...maar waar is Thiel eigenlijk bang voor?

https://youtu.be/XAqE03jiff4?is=F6S4QucbTlUcyiN1

#AI #PeterThiel #Objection

#objection : that which is, or may be, presented in opposition

- French: objection

- German: der Einwand

- Italian: obiezione

- Portuguese: objeção

- Spanish: objeción

------------

Fill in missing or incorrect translations @ https://wordofthehour.org/r/translations

This is the #primaryschool I attended as a #child... any wonder I still, even as a #teacher and professional #educator, I still feel a deep #suspicion, #objection, #resentment, and extreme #aversion regarding #school? I feel triggered every time I walk by, and notice, that not much has changed since I attended, around four decades ago. Sadly, this is not uniquely a German issue. Though, the primary schools I passed in #Barcelona were by far the most inviting.

#Ludwigshafen #Germany

Critics slam German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's push to end online anonymity as a "demolition ball" to freedom of expression. Is real-name posting the cure or a threat to open debate? 🚜🗣️ #FreeExpression #DigitalRights https://www.heise.de/en/news/Demolition-ball-for-freedom-of-speech-Criticism-of-Merz-s-anti-anonymity-course-11184925.html
#Newz

Me #2cents #objection #gif

https://tenor.com/view/nuh-uh-meme-nuh-uh-phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-gif-15697829963566837629