Latest news with #HB366
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Social media posts omit key details of Texas bill claimed to criminalize political memes
Claim: The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill to criminalize political memes. Rating: Context: House Bill 366 requires certain groups of people, including officeholders, candidates and political committees, to disclose if their political advertising content includes "appearance, speech, or conduct that did not occur in reality" or was generated by artificial intelligence. It applies to people whose political speech is already regulated by the Texas Electoral Code and Texas Ethics Committee — not the general public. As the people affected by the prospective legislation disclose that something they post has been digitally altered, they would not face the bill's suggested misdemeanor charge. In late April and early May 2025, a rumor circulated online that the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill to criminalize political memes. For example, one X user wrote (archived): "The Texas House passed a bill to CRIMINALIZE POLITICAL MEMES. House Bill 366 would LOCK UP ANYONE FOR A YEAR unless political memes or altered media have a gov disclaimer. Why is TEXAS DOING THIS?!" (X user @Carlos__Turcio) The claim appeared on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers also emailed to ask whether it was true that Texas was criminalizing political memes. However, these posts omitted important aspects of House Bill 366, which passed through the Texas House of Representatives on a 102-40 vote on April 30, 2025. The bill would require "political advertising" — a broad term that could include online material such as memes — to carry a disclosure if it contained "appearance, speech, or conduct that did not occur in reality" or was generated by artificial intelligence. But the bill — and its proposed Class A misdemeanor charge for omitting such a disclosure — would apply to three groups of people specified within the bill rather than the general public or "anyone," as some online claims suggested. Additionally, at the time of this writing, HB 366 still had to pass a vote in the Texas Senate before it could move to the governor's desk and become law. Given the above, we rated this claim false. At the time of this writing, HB 366 would require disclosures on "certain political advertising" containing "altered media." According to the bill: A person may not, with the intent to influence an election, knowingly cause to be published, distributed, or broadcast political advertising that includes an image, audio recording, or video recording of an officeholder's or candidate's appearance, speech, or conduct that did not occur in reality, including an image, audio recording, or video recording that has been altered using generative artificial intelligence technology. The bill said that alterations affecting "the saturation, brightness, contrast, color, or any other superficial quality of the image or video" or political advertising that already included a disclosure that altered content "did not occur in reality" would be exempt from HB 366's disclosure requirement. HB 366 defines "a person" as someone who (link added by Snopes): (1) is an officeholder, candidate, or political committee; (2) makes expenditures during a reporting period that in the aggregate exceed $100 for political advertising, other than an expense to cover the basic cost of hardware, messaging software, and bandwidth; or (3) publishes, distributes, or broadcasts political advertising described by Subsection (b) in return for consideration. Therefore, so long as the people named by the prospective legislation disclose that the content they post or share contains digitally manipulated material, they will not face a misdemeanor charge. Some House Republicans aimed tough criticisms at HB 366, saying that it targets (archived) political memes. They also spread fear (archived) about who could be jailed under the bill and called the prospective legislation anti-First Amendment and unconstitutional (archived). Republican Texas Rep. Dade Phelan, who sponsored the bill, repeatedly said, both during a March hearing (at 4:00) in the Committee on State Affairs and in the legislative session that passed HB 366, that the bill would not target the general public. On April 30, 2025, Phelan said (at 2:09:27): This bill applies to individuals who are currently, whose political speech is currently being regulated by the state of Texas, either through statute or through rules — the Texas Ethics Commission. The "persons," line 10 through 18, are already required to have disclosures. They have to have "Political ad paid for by." That's the same universe that is currently being regulated, that is being regulated in this bill. No new individual, no new person, is being brought in to HB 366. I know that's the narrative out there on Twitter, or social media, it is not accurate. Phelan was referring to the existing Texas Election Code's Title 15, Chapter 255 that regulates political advertising and campaign communications. Phelan's bill, if made law, would add a section to Chapter 255. Texas Ethics Committee rules, which Phelan also referenced in his April 30 appearance, further exempt regular members of the public from political advertising disclosure requirements. According to Chapter 26, a disclosure statement is not required on: (2) political advertising posted or re-posted on an Internet website, as long as the person posting or re-posting the political advertising: (i) is not an officeholder, candidate, or political committee; and (ii) did not make an expenditure exceeding $100 in a reporting period for political advertising beyond the basic cost of hardware messaging software and bandwidth. At the time of this writing, HB 366 still had to pass a vote in the Texas Senate before it could become law. The Texas Ethics Committee would decide how the disclosure required by the bill would look if it passed. Commission Rules Chapter 26. Accessed 2 May 2025. ELECTION CODE CHAPTER 255. REGULATING POLITICAL ADVERTISING AND CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS. Accessed 2 May 2025. " Texas House of Representatives, 30 Apr. 2025, PENAL CODE CHAPTER 12. PUNISHMENTS. Accessed 2 May 2025. Phelan, Dave. Relating to Required Disclosures on Certain Political Advertising That Contains Altered Media; Creating a Criminal Offense. H.B. No. 366, 27 Feb. 2025, POLITICAL ADVERTISING What You Need to Know. Texas Ethics Commission, 16 July 2019, PROCEEDINGS. Texas House of Representatives, 30 Apr. 2025, Solanki, Sneha. "Consideration in Contracts: Elements and Types." Thomson Reuters Law Blog, 13 Dec. 2024, "State Affairs." Texas House of Representatives, 12 Mar. 2025,
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Kentucky Derby 2025: How much do jockeys actually earn? Prize money, payout and more
The most awaited Kentucky Derby 2025 kicks off on May 3, with a $5 million prize money up for grabs this time for position holders. It is one mega event where jockeys have the opportunity to take away millions, with all eyes on some select race cards. The winner of the 2025 Kentucky Derby stands to make a whopping $3.1 million this time. This amount matches the record-breaking prize money from last year's edition. The race card, which comprises of the owner, the trainer and the jockey, will see a split of the prize money as per terms. These terms are decided by the jockeys and trainers, and once the prize money is bagged, the amount is split accordingly. Race jockeys are typically hired on a per-race basis, and the amount of money they are set to receive is pre-decided between them and the owner. This is a common thing with other sports as well, according to a federal research report. If jockeys are able to bag pole positions in the races, they tend to make something between 5-10% of the prize money. ALSO READ | Posting memes can get you jailed in Texas? All about the new HB 366 bill During the last year's Kentucky Derby, Brian Hernandez Jr. emerged as the winner on the horse Mystic Dan. After the win, he took away 10% of the record prize money awarded for the race. Depending on the agreement between the jockey and the owner, a similar instance is expected to be seen in this edition of the Kentucky Derby too. Hernandez was able to make a whopping $310,000 for the win with Mystic Dan. This included the prize money's share along with his fixed race fee, says the data from Kentucky Derby.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Google Messages undergoes massive layout fix: Here's what has changed
Google Messages' landscape mode has been subject to criticism for its alleged challenging display. Google has reportedly acknowledged this issue and is now revamping its dull landscape layout to make it more striking. According to the landscape mode has changed. Google Messages' current landscape mode uses up more space on one side than the other, which does not give the user a balanced feel when they flip their phone sideways. ALSO READ | Posting memes can get you jailed in Texas? All about the new HB 366 bill Developers at Google are, according to the report, now tweaking some features to solve these problems and give things a better, user-friendly experience. According to an Android Authority report, there were a few changes made to the user interface of Google Messages' new beta version. The first change is a rather small but interesting one, where there is a change in the space-sharing between the message list and the chat screen. There is also a striking difference on how PDF files show up in RCS chats. In the current version of the application, users are not able to get a preview of the PDF, but the upcoming versions could include a preview of the first page right on the chat screen. However, it looks like protected PDFs may not get this feature, looking at privacy concerns. This feature is already available on popular messaging applications like WhatsApp. It shows a quick preview of PDFs so that users can understand the gist without opening the file. There are some changes in the action buttons on Google Messages as well, including the call, video, contact details, and search. The features now come along with text labels, which is albeit a small change but helps new users understand the respective features with just one glimpse.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
What is H5N1 virus and why its spread across US states has sparked pandemic-like fears
All 50 American states are reportedly facing an outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus this 2025, with dairy farms being one of the majorly affected entities. The H5N1 virus is already leading to human infections, and experts are warning about the possibility of a fresh pandemic in the United States. Although bird flu has been present on Earth for decades, this new kind of pathogen, H5N1, is one of the most fatal ones, and can take human lives. Only in 2024, the H5N1 virus spread through America's dairy herds, poultry flocks, and also infected humans. ALSO READ | Posting memes can get you jailed in Texas? All about the new HB 366 bill In light of the possibility of outbreaks, the Global Virus Network has issued a comprehensive analysis and a call-to-action report on the deadly H5N1 virus. The GVN represents a massive community of human and animal virologists from across the world and has called on world governments to take the H5N1 spread seriously. The H5N1 avian influenza virus, primarily infecting birds, has raised alarm with human cases for the last few years. Symptoms include fever, cough, sore throat, and severe respiratory distress. Fatality rates havehit 52% in humans since 2003, per WHO data. Most human cases involve direct animal contact. The CDC warns against raw milk consumption amid dairy cow infections. Antivirals like Tamiflu may reduce severity if taken early. While no human-to-human transmission is confirmed, experts urge vigilance. Vaccines exist but remain limited. Health agencies across the world regularly monitor mutations that could ease spread. The GVN report suggests that as many as 1000 dairy cow herds have been affected by the H5N1 outbreak, leading to 70 human case, with the loss of one life over time. GVN scientists were quoted as saying in the report, "In the US, sporadic human infections with no known contact with infected animals highlight the possibility of viral adaptation for efficient human-to-human transmission." 'Concurrently, the virus continues to circulate in wild birds, backyard flocks, and hunted migratory species, further amplifying the risk to humans and domestic animals,' they continued.
Hindustan Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Posting memes can get you jailed in Texas? All about the new HB 366 bill
A new bill has been passed in Texas by lawmakers aiming to mandate disclosures for political ads that use AI-altered images, audio, or video of candidates. With the passing of the HB 366 bill, it becomes a legal requirement for digitally altered media to be labeled such if it is used by any candidate or campaign group that spends any amount over $100 on political advertising. This bill, presented by Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), passed the House with a 102-40 vote. The main priority of the HB 366 bill is to counter misleading or deceptive media, amid the immense rise of artificial intelligence. According to the bill, the labeling of any AI-altered media is a must as otherwise it poses a threat to "election integrity". For example, the AI-aided ads must included disclaimers like, "did not occur in reality". According to the bill that passed with a majority, anyone found in violation of the law will tend to face Class A misdemeanor charges. This would include punishment including a year in jail and a hefty $4,000 fine. Meanwhile this legislation has been condemned within political circles, with state Representative Shelley Luther, saying, 'We're banning political memes and giving people up to a year in jail for failing to attach a disclosure to a cartoon.' Luther, who is a Republican, posted a video on X with her reactions while saying, "Democrats, of course, are rallying around this bill. What a joke." Meanwhile, Nate Schatzline, the State Representative of Texas House District 93 took to X to slam the bill. He said, 'Today, we fought against the anti-1st amendment bill (HB366), that will LOCK PEOPLE UP for one year for posting political memes or political speech.' "I want to be clear, this bill is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, & will almost certainly be struck down in the courts," he continued.
