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News site deters comment rants by making you take a quiz
It's all too easy for comment sections to get nasty, especially when people rush to spout off without having read more than the headline. How does a site prevent rants from showing up without resorting to cutting-edge tech? If you're Norway's NRK, the answer is simple: make people take a quiz. The news outlet is trying out a system that asks you to pass a short multiple-choice test, making sure you've at least had a cursory read-through before you share your opinion. It leads to more informed discussions, as you might guess, but it also introduces a brief delay that might give you a chance to cool down and write a more rational comment.
Twitter starts temporarily restricting abusive accounts
In a bid to stop trolling and online harassment, Twitter has now begun to reduce the reach of abusive accounts. The social media site's new vetting system temporarily restricts the tweets of abusive users, making them effectively invisible to those who don't already follow them. As well as stopping them being retweeted outside of their inner circle, this measure also works with mentions too. If the offending user tries to tweet at someone who isn't following them, for example, the intended receiver now won't get any notifications.
Twitter will soon filter out abusive replies to tweets
Twitter is delivering three new tools to help battle abusive users just one week after admitting it hasn't moved fast enough to curb rampant harassment taking place on the platform. In a blog post published this morning, VP of engineering Ed Ho announced three new features that'll be on Twitter soon. Perhaps the most immediately useful is a filter that hides "abusive or low-quality" tweets by default. It sounds similar to the "quality filter" that tries to remove trolls from your @ mentions.
Recommended Reading: The Wii U wasn't for everyone
The Wii U Was Great, Just Not For Me Luke Plunkett, Kotaku Before Nintendo revealed all the details about its upcoming Switch console, a lot of us took a moment to reflect on its predecessor: the Wii U. While the console offered compelling gamine experiences for some, it wasn't for everyone. Kotaku discusses just that, including its appeal among younger players.
Celebs ask Twitter to tackle a specific harassment case
Twitter has frequently been accused of waiting until harassment campaigns are big enough to make the news before it responds to them -- just ask Leslie Jones. And unfortunately, it looks like history might just repeat itself. Comedians Patton Oswalt, Tim Heidecker and others are calling on Twitter to take action following allegations that "alt-right" figure Mike Cernovich is conducting a sustained harassment campaign against Tim & Eric collaborator Vic Berger IV in retaliation for jokes and videos making fun of Cernovich.
Fake news sites are using Amazon to hire their writers
It appears that right wing websites that traffic in "alt-right" fake news are using Amazon's Mechanical Turk system to recruit writers to produce content for them. The Mechanical Turk platform is an "odd-job board" where companies can hire random folks from the internet to perform a variety of menial online tasks, like filling out surveys or transcribing audio. In this case, white supremacist outlet The Goldwater wants people to produce "news" articles for $5 a pop.
'Alt-right' site plans a 'fake black person' Twitter campaign
The Daily Stormer, an alt-right website that regularly features racist, sexist and anti-semitic content, claims it has nearly 1,000 "fake black person" Twitter accounts that it plans to use in a "big," upcoming harassment campaign. This is a response to Twitter's recent ban of multiple accounts that distributed white supremacist content and ideas -- many of these banned users are prominent names in racist circles online. The bans are a result of Twitter's attempt to clean up its image with a new set of rules for reporting abuse. The company rolled out these safeguards on Tuesday.
Trump's newly-emboldened troll army poses problems for Twitter
Yesterday, the US woke up to discover it had elected Donald Trump as leader of the free world. As we've pointed out, the decision threatens net neutrality and probably the planet, though we perversely got a Wu-Tang album from it. In addition to 48% of the country's voting electorate, those celebrating also included a loose army of trolls who rampaged across the internet harassing journalists and Clinton supporters for over a year. But far from being content with their US victory, many pro-Trump marauders have been emboldened and seem to be re-mobilizing to support far-right candidates in European elections. In short: The online abuse will almost certainly continue.
Expect more vote suppressing misinformation on Election Day
While the internet is filled with sources providing accurate and unbiased information aimed at getting informed voters to the polls on Tuesday, some corners of it are taking an alternate approach. A Buzzfeed report cites 4chan posters cooking up various memes and campaign-lookalike graphics intended to confuse and mislead potential Hillary Clinton voters. We've seen a preview of this with Twitter ads that promoted a "vote by text message" hoax and it appears there could be similar efforts in store for tomorrow.
No, US citizens can't vote by phone
An unsettling series of tweets surfaced on Twitter earlier today advising users to vote by phone. This is, of course, impossible: The voting system in the US requires citizens to register locally and vote either in-person or via absentee ballot sent in over snail mail. The tweets have been removed and at least one account that first sent them has been banned, but the lesson remains: Be smart, ignore trolls.
UK targets doxxing, hashtags and more in online troll crackdown
Over the course of the year, the UK government has attempted to crack down internet abuse by introducing new guidelines for prosecutors and forming a new troll-hunting police unit. Those updates ensured that anyone creating websites or fake online profiles with the intention to humiliate someone could be punished, but the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has today added a new list of offences aimed at bringing trolls to justice.
The Engadget Podcast, Ep 3: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Editors Nathan Ingraham and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about Android Nougat, PlayStation 4 rumors and why Amazon would create an Echo-exclusive music service. Then the panel addresses the endless harassment faced by Leslie Jones, and use the word "garbage"... a lot.
Twitter is letting all users filter out trolls from their notifications
Twitter has been failing to deal with abuse on its platform for a good long time now, but it seems like the company might finally be taking some substantive action. Twitter just posted a blog detailing two new features as part of its notification settings that should be rolling out to all users soon. The first is a so-called "quality filter" that attempts to reduce unpleasant or abusive @ mentions you might receive. Twitter says it filters out tweets based on a variety of factors including "account origin and behavior."
Kanye West, incest and Twitter's First Amendment conundrum
NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. On Nov. 11th, 2014, Kim Kardashian's ass broke the internet. Her iconic posterior, photographed by Jean-Paul Goude, graced the cover of Paper magazine and became an instant meme. Like a pillow-y flesh bomb, Kardashian's butt exploded into a firestorm of praise and disgust. The New York Times warned of the perils of a massive ass, while social networks and daytime talk shows teemed with hot takes about the young mother's butt.
London police to create a troll-hunting social media unit
In a bid to tackle rising levels of abuse on social media, London's Metropolitan Police is to set up a five-person team of specialist officers tasked with targeting online trolls. Scotland Yard will spend £1.7 million on the unit, called the Online Hate Crime Hub, which will provide "targeted and effective services for victims", offer advanced intelligence on offenders and strengthen links between police, communities and social media companies like Facebook and Twitter.
Periscope is using viewer juries to fight trolls
With most social internet services, getting rid of trolls is usually a matter of reporting a post or blocking the offender. But how do you do that in a fast-moving livestream service like Periscope? By asking viewers for help, that's how. Periscope has introduced a moderation system that creates "flash juries" whenever a comment is up for dispute. If someone flags a message as abuse or spam, a few random viewers are asked to vote on whether or not it's a problem. If the majority believes it is, the offender faces a minute-long ban on comments; a repeat offense mutes the person for the rest of the broadcast.
Twitter lets you flag multiple abusive tweets in one report
Twitter has been continually improving the process for reporting abuse on the social channel, including simplifying the process a while back. The company is rolling out an update to the web, iOS and Android apps that will allow you to attach multiple tweets to the same abuse report. In other words, if there's a string of harassment, you can give a lot more detail without having to file multiple complaints. Twitter says this will not only give it more info on a report, but will also help resolve issues faster.
UK issues new guidelines for punishing online trolls
Lawmakers in the UK are slowly coming to the realisation that online abuse can be just as damaging as its real-world equivalent. Last year, revenge porn became a specific crime, and the maximum prison sentence for internet trolls was increased from six months to two years. Acknowledging these serious cybercrimes is one thing, but it's also important to know what exactly constitutes a punishable offence. To this end, The Crown Prosecution Service is proposing an update to its Social Media Guidelines to help criminal prosecutors bring keyboard cowards to justice.
Twitter is setting up a safety council to tackle abuse
If there's one thing that's hampering Twitter's adoption in the wider world, it's that it's become a pretty toxic place for some people. The firm has decided to tackle this problem by announcing the formation of the Twitter Trust and Safety Council, a group tasked with reforming the service. The council's stated intention is to ensure the social network is a platform where "anyone, anywhere can express themselves safely and confidently." The site's head of global policy, Patricia Cartes, revealed that the body has recruited advocates from a wide network of advocacy groups. There are more than 40 listed contributors, many of which are legitimate anti-abuse organizations like GLAAD, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Samaritans.
UK claims its spying bill will protect you from cyberbullies
When politicians want approval for controversial security measures, they sometimes like to lean on insecurities about your kids' safety -- the "won't somebody think of the children?" trope is so common that it became a joke in The Simpsons. And the British government isn't above using that tactic to get its draft Investigatory Powers Bill past critics, apparently. Home Secretary Theresa May tells a member of Parliament that the far-reaching surveillance legislation would help tackle the "pernicious" problems of cyberbullying and trolling. She claims that the bill would make it easier for police to pinpoint both the harassers and their victims, making it harder to threaten someone anonymously. See? Your young ones will be safer!
