The larger question remains: Who orchestrated the cyberattack, and to what end?

"This clash can also be explained by the likelihood that each commander had received contradictory orders, either due to direct infiltration of the command structure or because external actors were using compromised channels to issue false instructions. "

According to witnesses, al-Abdullah issued orders for a southern withdrawal, while al-Hassan commanded his forces to advance north and engage opposition units. The conflicting commands led to a firefight between the two factions that raged for more than two hours. "

"One example is the exchange of fire that erupted on Dec. 6, 2024, between forces loyal to two senior Syrian commanders in the Hama region’s Sibahi Square. At the time, at least 30,000 Syrian army fighters had gathered in the area. "

"They would have access to troop concentrations, phone conversations, text messages, photos and maps on officers’ devices, and be able to monitor military facilities remotely."

" whoever was behind the app extracted a devastating range of data from the officers’ phones, including their ranks and identities, whether they were responsible for sensitive posts and their geographical locations (possibly in real time)."

As he puts it: "I’m fed up with giving the platform companies advice about how to fix the internet, if we want this done right, we have to do it ourselves! ". 9/9

I'll be looking forward to the new platform that Peretti is building, because for once in a long time, there is someone in the industry who's taking things into their own hands. 8/

We need to do a better job as journalists to find and report on these stories, because they are as important, if not more, than the problems themselves. 7/

There are people endlessly working to find solutions to major issues, there are happy endings (sometimes), there are people uniting and working together to fight back. 6/

The result is an endless stream of addictive content that leaves everyone feeling depressed, scared, and dissatisfied. "

That's on point.

We tend to forget that the world is not all gloom and doom. 5/

It is not a coincidence that no matter what the message is, it always takes the same form, namely memetically optimized media that maximizes stakes and novelty, provokes anger, drives retention, and instills fear. 4/

but rather the stories that can be shaped into SNARF. This is why it seems like every election, every new technology, every global conflict has the potential to end our way of life, destroy democracy, or set off a global apocalypse! 3/

And that's a problem because most people get their news on social media.
Jonah Peretti boils it down to SNARF: Stakes/Novelty/Anger/Retention/Fear.
"The news stories and journalism that break through aren’t the most important stories, 2/