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Recommended Reading: 'WandaVision' begins Marvel's TV slate on Disney+
Recommended Reading highlights the week's noteworthy writing on technology and more.
Amazon is finally enforcing its rules that ban QAnon-promoting goods
It may take a few days to remove all of the products.
Twitter won't remove Trump's Joe Scarborough conspiracy tweets
Twitter apologizes for the "pain" caused by Trump's tweets regarding a long-debunked murder conspiracy theory.
YouTube's tweaks to recommend fewer conspiracy videos seem to be working
One of the most important aspects of YouTube is its recommendation engine, as the vast majority of views and watch time come from suggested content, rather than direct traffic. The platform does a good job of determining which videos would be relevant to a given user, but when it comes to news and fact-based videos, conspiracy theory content can find its way in. As of January of 2019 -- and after facing public backlash -- YouTube promised to curb the amount of conspiracy videos it pushes to users. A study published by the University of California, Berkeley states that these efforts do seem to be working, and that their analyses show a 40% reduction in the likelihood of YouTube suggesting conspiracy-based content.
Congresswoman calls on YouTube to stop promoting climate misinformation
Congresswoman Kathy Castor (D-Florida) is calling on YouTube to stop including climate change misinformation in its recommendation algorithm and to demonetize videos that deny climate change. In a letter addressed to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Castor references a report by Avaaz, which claims that YouTube is sending millions of users to climate change misinformation videos every day.
US charges China-based hacking group for massive 2015 Anthem breach
Four years after hackers committed one of the worst data breaches in history, the US Justice Department has charged a "sophisticated China-based hacking group" with the attacks. An indictment released yesterday charges two members of the group, Fuji Wang and another listed as John Doe, with four counts of conspiracy and intentional damage. According to the indictment, Wang and Doe allegedly broke into and stole data from computer networks in four distinct business sectors. The most high-profile hit was the 2015 Anthem breach, in which prosecutors say the hackers stole personal information from nearly 80 million people.
Researchers blame YouTube for the rise in Flat Earthers
Despite steps taken to counteract problematic material YouTube is still a hotbed of hoaxes and fake news -- a problem that's become so prevalent the site recently announced it is changing its AI in a bid to improve matters. But now the scope of the problem has really come to light, as new research suggests that the increasing number of Flat Earthers can be attributed to conspiracy videos hosted on the site.
YouTube says it'll finally stop recommending conspiracy videos
YouTube says it will stop recommending conspiracy videos. Given that even the most innocuous of searches can lure you down an algorithmically generated path that almost invariably leads to videos containing outlandish claims, the move seemed inevitable. YouTube's Kids app wasn't immune either, as such videos were popping up there.
YouTube searches for 'RBG' led to slew of bogus conspiracy videos
As much as YouTube has done to counter hoaxes and fake news in its searches, it still has room for improvement. The Washington Post discovered that "more than half" of YouTube's top 20 search results for "RBG," the nickname for US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, were known fake conspiracy theory videos. In fact, just one of the results came from a well-established news outlet. And if you played one of those videos, the recommendations quickly shifted to more extreme conspiracies.
Reddit bans communities promoting QAnon conspiracy theory
Reddit's tougher policies just led to more community bans, albeit not for typical reasons. The site has confirmed to Slate that it shut down subreddits associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory, including GreatAwakening, QProofs and thestorm, among others. While the company didn't say exactly what had prompted the bans, it noted that its rules bar activity that "incites violence, disseminates personal information, or harasses." It had banned a related board in March, but it hadn't conducted such a sweeping response until now.
The internet’s slow turn against Alex Jones and InfoWars
Tech companies are finally starting to take action on Alex Jones, the man who called the Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax and said the Democrats were planning a second civil war, for spreading his hateful conspiracy nonsense on the internet. It all began a couple of weeks ago when YouTube removed multiple videos from his channel for hate speech, a move that was followed by Facebook blocking him from posting on his personal page for 30 days. Since then, Spotify has taken down multiple episodes of Alex Jones' podcast, citing violations of its rules against hate speech, while Stitcher and Apple have gone as far as completely removing InfoWars shows. And now Facebook and YouTube have outright banned him and his InfoWars pages. Although things seem to have come to a head just recently, the battle between the InfoWars creator and tech firms has actually been brewing for months. Here's a timeline of the most important events leading up to today, when it seems that tech companies have decided that enough is enough.
Amazon Prime Video is offering dubious conspiracy videos
It won't surprise you to hear that streaming services are full of documentary-style videos with dodgy claims about aliens or the paranormal. Amazon Prime Video, however, is coming under fire for offering considerably worse. The Telegraph has noticed that the service includes numerous conspiracy videos from widely discredited sources like Alex Jones and David Icke. Amazon isn't going out of its way to promote the junk theories (which include the New World Order and reptilian aliens). As a subscription service, though, it's paying the authors for their work -- unlike YouTube, it can't just pull ads.
The bogus expert and social media chicanery of DC’s top cyber think tank
Like viruses, cybersecurity charlatans are incidental guests in the body of infosec. These men sell false expertise, conspiracy theories, and invisible security potions and they are as unintentionally hilarious as they are alarming. Case in point: BuzzFeed's exposé of James Scott, cofounder of Washington DC's big cybersecurity think tank, ICIT (Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology).
US charges Ex-VW CEO with fraud over Dieselgate scandal
Volkswagen's former CEO Martin Winterkorn has been formally charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in US federal court over the corporation's diesel emissions-cheating scandal. It's part of a probe into the company's efforts in the so-called Dieselgate fiasco that revealed the German automaker had installed software that faked favorable results on vehicle emissions tests.
DNC sues Russia, Trump campaign and WikiLeaks over 2016 hack
While Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 election continues, the Democratic National Committee has decided to take action of its own. According to the Washington Post, the DNC this morning filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit accusing (among others) the Russian government, WikiLeaks and key officials inside Donald Trump's presidential campaign of computer fraud, racketeering, data theft and more, all in hopes of swaying the outcome of a presidential election.
YouTube's Kids app suggested conspiracy theory videos
As much work as YouTube may have done to scrub vile videos from its Kids app, there's still some work to go. Business Insider has discovered that the Kids app was suggesting conspiracy theory videos when you searched for certain keywords. If you looked for "UFO," for instance, you'd find videos from David Icke parroting numerous discredited conspiracy theories, including the notion that the planet is run by reptile-human hybrids.
YouTube CEO talks misinformation, creators and comments at SXSW
YouTube's presence at SXSW 2018 extended beyond its Story HQ, a space where it turned ads into videos that feel more like art. The company's CEO, Susan Wojcicki, was part of a panel at the event titled "Navigating the Video Revolution in the Digital Age." There, she talked about a wide range of topics, including experiments for YouTube's comments section and how much money creators are making. But the biggest news Wojcicki dropped on stage was about a new feature she called "information cues," which will help fight hoaxes by linking viewers to articles on Wikipedia that debunks those.
YouTube's trending section shows it has a fake news problem, too
In discussions of the ongoing battle over fake news, we often hear Facebook and Google criticized for playing a hand in spreading false information. And while both have made efforts recently to stem the spread of misinformation on their platforms, they've each had some major missteps. YouTube is talked about less often when it comes to fake news, though it isn't short of scandals itself. Last year, a number of companies and groups pulled their ads once it became known that they were appearing alongside extremist content and YouTube has also had to deal with predatory comments on children's videos, content falsely parading as being appropriate for kids and of course Logan Paul. But today, YouTube has stepped into the fake news spotlight. The number one trending video on the site earlier today was a video purporting to be evidence that David Hogg isn't a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student but instead an actor paid to speak out during crises.
Twitter pulls conspiracist's verified badge after celebrity outrage
Twitter's stricter approach to verification isn't just taking checkmarks away from the leaders of racist groups. The social network has pulled the verified badge from conspiracy peddler Liz Crokin after Chrissy Teigen and her husband John Legend reacted to Crokin's unsupported claims that the two were trafficking their child in a Washington, DC pedophile ring. As Teigen explained, it didn't make sense that Twitter would verify someone who was accusing her of horrific acts, especially not when this person has nearly 50,000 followers.
Protests supporting fired Google employee have been postponed
The multi-city Google protests organized by alt-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec have been called off for now. Posobiec began planning the protests after James Damore was fired by Google for circulating his ridiculous, nonsensical anti-diversity memo and the marches scheduled in multiple cities across the country were said to be demonstrations in support of free speech. "Google is a monopoly, and its abusing its power to silence dissent and manipulate election results. Their company YouTube is censoring and silencing dissenting voices by creating 'ghettos' for videos questioning the dominant narrative," said Posobiec on Medium. "The firing of James Damore for calling out Google's Echo Chamber of Ideology is only further proof of Google's insidious anti-free speech agenda."
