3 To Know: Facebook jail reform, more
1. Tired of serving time in Facebook jail? You will now get warnings before being locked up.
Call it Facebook jail reform.
Facebook says it will now warn users when they run afoul of its rules instead of taking away their posting privileges and tossing them in Facebook jail.
For most violations, the first strike will result in a warning. If Facebook removes additional posts, users will lose access to some features. Facebook jail sentences will typically begin after the sixth strike.
The old rules will still apply to more serious violations, such as terrorism or child exploitation, and offenders will face immediate restrictions, said Monika Bickert, vice president of content policy at Facebook parent company Meta Platforms.
The shift to a more lenient approach is the result of feedback from around the world as well as the company’s civil rights auditors and its Oversight Board, Bickert said.
“The one consistent refrain that we heard from those external groups was that they thought the penalty system needed to be fairer, more proportionate,” Bickert told USA Today in an interview. – Jessica Guynn/USA Today
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2. Florida Highway Patrol reports fourth Collier County road fatality
Florida Highway Patrol was hoping to identify a motorcyclist killed Feb. 21 when his bike hit an oncoming car in Golden Gate, troopers report.
They said a passenger in the car was seriously injured.
According to troopers, a male motorcyclist was headed east on 19th Place Southwest about 3:45 p.m. when he failed to maintain his lane on a curve approaching Sunset Road.
He collided with the front of a pickup driven by a 46-year-old Naples man.
The motorcyclist left the machine, which crashed into a parked car in the 4300 block of 19th Place Southwest. The motorcyclist died at the scene.
A passenger in the truck, a 27-year-old Naples man, was seriously injured, troopers said.
The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports four fatalities on Collier County roads in 2023, with 275 crashes and 212 injuries. – Stacey Henson/Staff
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3. Judge asked to appoint receiver for insolvent Florida Insurance Company
The Florida Department of Financial Services on Feb. 20 asked a Leon County circuit judge to appoint the department as a receiver for United Property & Casualty Insurance Co., which has been deemed insolvent.
The department’s Division of Rehabilitation and Liquidation filed a petition in Leon County circuit court after insurance regulators last week sent a letter to state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis to trigger the process.
The St. Petersburg-backed United Property & Casualty has agreed to the appointment of a receiver.
Amid major financial problems in the property-insurance market, the state placed six insurers into receivership in 2022 because of insolvencies.
United Property & Casualty has grappled with financial problems for months and announced in August that it would exit Florida’s homeowners’ insurance market.
Tampa-based Slide Insurance Co. on Feb. 1 picked up 72,000 of United Property & Casualty’s policies. Before that move, United Property & Casualty had about 135,000 policies in Florida, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
While Slide took over the 72,000 policies, it is not liable for claims filed before Feb. 1 by former United Property & Casualty customers.
The insolvency and receivership likely will lead to the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association needing to step in to help pay United Property & Casualty claims.
Circuit Judge John Cooper was assigned Tuesday to handle the case. – Jim Saunders/Staff