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Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will collaborate to make gaming safer
Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have agreed to a set of common principles for safer gaming, including efforts to fight hate and harassment.
Twitch is rolling out new rules around harassment and hate
The Confederate flag will be banned from streams starting January 22nd.
New Jersey law bars doxxing campaigns against judges, prosecutors and police
New Jersey's governor has signed Daniel's Law, a measure intended to thwart doxxing campaigns against judges, prosecutors and police.
Having lots of followers will no longer help you get Instagram verified
Back in June, during the George Floyd Uprisings, Instagram took a long, hard look at its harassment, verification and content recommendation policies as part of a push to “elevate Black voices.” To start, Instagram has created a dedicated Equity team tasked with “better understanding and addressing bias in our product development and people’s experiences on Instagram,” per a post from Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, on Wednesday. To address the site’s rampant harassment and hate speech, Instagram is going to the mat.
Facebook removes massive QAnon group over hate and harassment claims
Facebook has removed a QAnon group with almost 200,000 members over repeated claims of hate and harassment.
An Ubisoft VP has resigned following assault and misconduct allegations
Several current and former Ubisoft Toronto employees have described it as having a toxic culture.
Ubisoft CEO lays out a plan to change the company's toxic culture
Ubisoft Yves Guillemot announced several major changes to address his company's culture after employees went public reporting incidents of harassment and abuse.
Trump supporters target Twitter employee after fact check
Twitter’s decision to fact check Donald Trump has resulted in mass harassment of one of its employees.
Twitch clarifies what its Safety Advisory Council will do
Twitch has elaborated on what its Safety Advisory Council will do, but not before one of its members endured harassment.
Instagram adds new comment filtering tools to combat bullying
Instagram introduced a new set of anti-bullying tools as Facebook details its work to fight harassment.
Recommended Reading: Facebook's new content oversight board
Pitchfork explores what’s next.
ASMR horror film 'Tingle Monsters' captures the terror of online trolls
Most ASMR videos give you tingles. This one will give you chills.
'CS:GO' will soon mute abusive players by default
Valve is working on a new moderation system for CS:GO that could finally give toxic players pause. This upcoming system will warn players if they receive significantly more abuse reports than their peers and punishes them if they ignore it. How? Well, if others continue reporting them for abuse despite that initial warning, then they will be muted by everyone by default. Other players can choose to manually unmute them, but they'll remain in that default mute state until they earn enough XP to shake off the penalty.
Twitter bans financial site Zero Hedge over false coronavirus claims
It's not just Facebook and Google fighting false coronavirus information. Twitter has permanently banned financial site and conspiracy promoter Zero Hedge after it shared a story that not only made unsubstantiated claims that a Wuhan-based scientist created the new coronavirus as a weapon, but doxxed the researcher by publishing a name, photo, email and phone number. As BuzzFeed News discovered, Zero Hedge had suggested that readers "probably pay [the scientist] a visit" -- a thinly-veiled threat of violence.
Twitter will give you control over who can reply to tweets
Twitter has yet another way to reduce harassment in your mentions: Prevent ne'er-do-wells from replying in the first place. It's developing a feature that lets you determine who's allowed to participate in the conversation. In addition to the usual free-for-all (global), you can limit replies to people you follow and mention (group), only the people included in the conversation (panel) or no one at all (statement). You wouldn't have to take your account private just to avoid strangers hurling toxic commentary in your direction.
YouTube's tougher harassment policy cracks down on hate speech and threats
YouTube is enacting a stricter anti-harassment policy to curb hate speech and threats that might have otherwise skirted past its moderators. The online video giant no longer allows material that "maliciously insults" people based on traits like gender identity, race or sexual orientation. It'll also bar "veiled or implied" threats, not just direct ones. You could face penalties if you simulate violence toward someone or suggest that violence might take place, YouTube said. Also, channels that routinely "brush up" against the policy will be kicked out of the YouTube Partner Program. A creator that's purposefully testing the limits of YouTube's resolve could find itself unable to make money, and might find itself banned outright if its behavior continues beyond that point.
Twitter bans House candidate who suggested Ilhan Omar should be hanged
Twitter may be reluctant to crack down on politicians' tweets, but it still has its limits -- and one political candidate may have crossed the line. The social media giant has permanently banned Republican House candidate Danielle Stella's personal and campaign accounts for "repeated violations" of Twitter's policies. While it didn't elaborate on what those violations were, Stella's campaign suggested that her potential rival, incumbent representative Ilhan Omar, should be "tried for #treason and hanged" if she was found to have passed sensitive info to Iran through Qatar. That claim is unsupported by evidence. The posts may have violated Twitter policies forbidding the promotion of violence or threats.
Uber will test an audio recording safety feature in Brazil and Mexico
A couple months ago, we learned that Uber was testing a feature that would allow riders to record audio through the app if they felt unsafe during a trip. Now, Uber is launching a pilot of that audio-recording feature in select cities in Brazil and Mexico, The Washington Post reports.
Microsoft tests content filters for Xbox messages
The gaming community can be ruthless and often outright abusive. In an attempt to make Xbox more welcoming and inclusive, Microsoft is introducing new content filters. Beginning today, Xbox Insiders can select one of four filters that will automatically block abusive and offensive messages.
Instagram makes its 'Restrict' anti-bullying tool available to everyone
Instagram is continuing to expand its anti-bullying efforts. A few months after it started testing its "Restrict" tool with a small group of users, the company is now rolling it out to everyone. The feature, which is designed to protect your account from unwanted interactions, makes it easy for you to quietly filter out people who may be harassing you in the app. Instagram says its latest anti-bullying tool can be useful for those who are reluctant to report or block bullies, particularly young people, as Restrict gives them a subtle way to hinder any problematic followers. This means that comments from accounts you restrict won't show up publicly on your posts (unless you approve them), and they won't be able to see when you're active or have read their direct messages.
