Facebook Accused of Blocking News in Australia, Plants Can Grow in Lunar Soil

Speaker 1: This is CNET. And here are the stories that matter right now, Facebook whistle blowers are accusing the social media company of intentionally blocking the Australian government last year to influence a proposed law. In February of 2021, Australia was considering a bill that would force online platforms, including Facebook to pay for news items. Publishers posted Facebook responded by blacking out news about the bill and the whistleblowers documents obtained and published online by CNET. They alleged the social media company prevented [00:00:30] access to government and health services pages. Facebook initially blamed those mistakes on problems with its computer systems. The Elon Musk Twitter rollercoaster ride continues early morning. Friday Musk tweeted that the $44 billion deal to purchase the social media company was on hold. He cited a Reuter's article about fake or spam accounts making up less than 5% of users defeating fake accounts as a big part of his takeover plan, as he's been critical of the company for its inability to control them two hours [00:01:00] later, however, Musk tweeted that he was still committed to the acquisition, but in the intervening hours, Twitter share prices dropped 20% in pre-market trading. Speaker 1: And finally, for the first time ever scientists have been able to grow plants in lunar soil astronauts from past Apollo emissions to the moon, collected the soil and planted seeds, similar to mustard greens here on earth while the seeds did grow, they didn't exactly thrive. Genetic analysis shows the plants were stressed likely because lunar soil doesn't contain a lot of [00:01:30] nutrients. Still one day being able to grow plants on the moon is crucial to a long term. Stay by providing food for astronauts and other visitors stay up to date with the latest by visiting CNET.