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Twitter cuts off QAnon conspiracy accounts as employees push to ban Trump
Trump allies Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell and Ron Watkins have been banned as part of a Twitter push against Coordinated Harmful Activity. Meanwhile, Twitter employees are pressuring executives to permanently suspend Donald Trump's account.
Twitter updates its 'Hacked Materials' policy after NY Post controversy
Now Twitter has changed its hacked materials policy, and according to Gadde: “1.
Twitter marks a Trump tweet 'manipulated media' for the first time
The label Twitter applied to this Donald Trump tweet marks it as manipulated media, and links to the company's policies.
TikTok opts out of paid political advertising entirely
While other social networks grapple with complex issues of political speech, growing video platform TikTok has decided not to allow political ads of any kind. We'll have to see how that ban works in practice, as the company's list of disallowed material includes "paid ads that promote or oppose a candidate, current leader, political party or group, or issue at the federal, state, or local level – including election-related ads, advocacy ads, or issue ads." The Beijing-based app said in a statement that "the nature" of political ads don't fit its experience. As TechCrunch notes, it may not have the infrastructure to develop a verification system of the type that Facebook has built to try and manage political advertising, and notes that this statement reiterates the company's existing advertising policy. But the bigger it gets, the more people will ask questions about how censorship, moderation and politics play into the platform's decisions, and now there's a clear statement on at least one angle of its approach.
Facebook makes clear that posts by politicians can break 'normal' rules
Pretty much anything a politician says on Facebook goes, from the company's perspective. It typically won't remove their posts under its content guidelines and it doesn't fact check them. However, it might still limit the spread of political posts that include previously debunked misinformation (say, a climate change-denying video its fact checkers have discredited).
Apple Card customer agreement: use two-factor, no jailbreaking
As the debut of Apple's "new kind of credit card" draws closer, partner Goldman Sachs has published the official customer agreement (PDF) on its website. The Apple Card terms are pretty standard -- similar to some other cards, purchasing any kind of "cash equivalent" like cryptocurrency is prohibited -- but there are some specific items.
Facebook tweaks terms of service to better explain user rights
Facebook's terms of service agreement is infamous for being lengthy and hard to decipher -- and it appears that the company has gone back to the drawing board. The social media giant has unveiled an update to its user agreement that it thinks will better explain how it makes money and what happens when it removes content. The changes aren't entirely self-directed: Back in April the European Commission forced the social media giant to spell out that it makes money by selling targeted ads based off of user data. As a result, the company agreed to revise its terms publicly by the end of June.
YouTube tries to explain its policies on harassment, again
Over the last few days, there has been a lot of focus on YouTube's inaction when it came to an internet personality harassing Vox host Carlos Maza with anti-gay and racist speech that frequently incited harassment. Tonight the streaming platform released its first detailed statement about the incidents, as well as its decision not to pull the videos posted by Steven Crowder and follow-up decision to demonetize them. Unlike notes sent to Engadget in response to previous inquiries and tweets sent out today from the @TeamYouTube account, this has a name attached -- that of head of communications Chris Dale. In his post, Dale said (without mentioning specific examples) "we sometimes host opinions and views that many, ourselves included, may find offensive." However the most notable section is here: Not everyone will agree with the calls we make — some will say we haven't done enough; others will say we've gone too far. And, sometimes, a decision to leave an offensive video on the site will look like us defending people who have used their platforms and audiences to bully, demean, marginalize or ignore others. If we were to take all potentially offensive content down, we'd be losing valuable speech — speech that allows people everywhere to raise their voices, tell their stories, question those in power, and participate in the critical cultural and political conversations of our day. Specifically relating to Crowder's channel, Dale reiterated YouTube's claim that for reinstatement of monetization, it would need to deal with "all relevant issues" causing harm to YouTube's community. There's still no indication of exactly how YouTube plans to improve its enforcement, but as it has many times before, the company is out there trying to explain what it thinks it's doing to make things better.
FanDuel applies a $3 inactivity fee to your old daily fantasy account
Remember daily fantasy sports? Before increased scrutiny, threats of regulation and a failed merger between industry giants DraftKings and FanDuel, it went from niche element to nearly inescapable in 2015. A flurry of interest and investment spurred ads that stretched from ESPN to gas station pumps, and it was in that storm of activity that I created an account on each site just to test things out while writing about them. The mistakes of the past became my present this afternoon when I got a friendly email from FanDuel. It said that in accordance with recently updated Terms of Use, it planned to charge me $3 per month as a "monthly inactivity fee," starting 30 days from now. That's because my account has not received a deposit or entered a contest in at least 24 months.
Twitter: It was a 'mistake' not to suspend bomb suspect for threats
Hours after FBI Director Christopher Wray announced the arrest of Cesar Sayoc in connection with sending 13 IEDs, Twitter finally suspended two accounts tied to Sayoc. Once he was identified, internet users quickly found posts of his showing videos and pictures taken at rallies for President Donald Trump, as well as a number of social media posts threatening various people, including some of the same people that the bombs were addressed to. One of the people who received his threats was political analyst Rochelle Ritchie, who tweeted screenshots showing threats Sayoc made toward her, and Twitter's response to her reports: to do nothing. Despite promising her a "nice silent air boat ride" on October 11th after she appeared on Fox News, the company inexplicably decided there was "no violation" of its rules. Now, after his arrest, and after removing both accounts, Twitter's Safety account tweeted "We made a mistake when Rochelle Ritchie first alerted us to the threat made against her. The Tweet clearly violated our rules and should have been removed. We are deeply sorry for that error."
Twitter explains dehumanizing speech so you maggots will understand
Twitter is still taking your responses and suggestions on its incoming policy against "content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material does not include a direct target." Apparently, a lot of the feedback received over the last few days has complained that the policies aren't clear enough, so the company updated its blog post with more details and a couple of examples.
Valve explains 'progress' toward a new Steam Store content policy
It's been a few months since Valve announced an "allow everything onto the Steam Store, except for things that we decide are illegal, or straight up trolling" content policy and it's still working out the details. A new blog post provides some insight on how it plans to handle the store once sexual content is again admitted, and what kind of content will be banned.
Twitter's CEO tries to explain not suspending Alex Jones
Over the last few days, platforms like Apple Podcasts, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify decided they'd had enough of Alex Jones and InfoWars and pulled his access. Twitter was not among them, saying that InfoWars is not "currently violating our policies." Tonight its CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted a thread trying to clarify things, as he occasionally has when explaining changes in its policy or stating once again why some bad actor will be allowed to remain on the platform. The Twitter Safety account also provided information on the company's policy, explaining that while "We prohibit targeted behavior that harasses, threatens, or uses fear to silence others and take action when they violate our policies...If individuals are not targeted (e.g. @ mention, tagged in a photo, etc.), we allow a wide range of content as long as it doesn't cross the line into threatening violence." This may explain why Jones' exhortations about parents of children killed in school shootings aren't enough to get him banned, simply because he did not @ mention them.
Suicide, violence, and going underground: FOSTA’s body count
Maybe you've noticed a sudden flood of updates to Terms and Conditions recently from the internet services you use. A close look at those agreements will show that many are GDPR related, but some are most definitely not. Welcome to the culture of fear, ushered in by the passing of FOSTA-SESTA.
Facebook suspends Trump-linked data firm Cambridge Analytica (update: response)
Late Friday night, Facebook has announced it's suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) from its site. While you may not have heard of SCL, its political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has made headlines in the last few years due to work for the Trump campaign and the Brexit initiative. According to former US Magistrate and current Facebook Deputy General Counsel Paul Grewal, this move is occurring because an app "thisisyourdigitallife" pulled in personal information of the 270,000 people who used it as well as information from their friends. While this is allowed under its policy, its creator -- a Cambridge psych professor named Dr. Aleksandr Kogan -- passed the data onto other parties including Cambridge Analytica.
Twitter clarifies what behavior will get you banned
Twitter's been in the headlines for years for its poor handling of abuse on the platform. Recently, the social media service has been rolling out new tools to fight abuse. Today, Twitter's Safety team published a new version of its rules to clarify policies for the social media service. The company said that basic guidelines and approaches haven't changed; this is Twitter attempting to be more transparent and clear in how it handles abuse on the platform.
Now Twitter's quest to become a 'safer' place has a schedule
You no longer have to wonder when you'll see Twitter implement the new rules promised by its CEO and outlined in that leaked email. The social network has released a "Safety Calendar," which details when it will roll out a series of new rules to make the platform a safer place. As the internal email said, the company plans to crack down on hate and violence on its website: on November 3rd, it promises to start suspending accounts of "organizations that use violence to advance their cause."
Jack Dorsey responds to #WomenBoycottTwitter: New rules incoming
Last night #WomenBoycottTwitter spread among many high profile accounts that stood in solidarity with "victims of hate and harassment Twitter fails to support." The boycott itself wasn't without controversy and spawned responses including a push to highlight and appreciate women of color on the platform under the hashtag #WOCAffirmation. While many weren't sure it would have any impact, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded with a thread promising that after a day spent focusing on "making some critical decisions...We decided to take a more aggressive stance in our rules and how we enforce them." Changes that he says are coming in the next few weeks include "New rules around: unwanted sexual advances, non-consensual nudity, hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies violence." Of course, we've heard these kinds of statements from Twitter before, and critics may note it only plans to deal with "violent" groups and overt symbols of hate. Will that be enough to make any real difference in the experiences so many people report on Twitter? Unfortunately, we're still waiting to find out.
Twitter suspends Rose McGowan's account (updated)
Over the last week or so, rumors about movie executive Harvey Weinstein have turned into actual reports of sexual harassment and rape by The New York Times and The New Yorker. As a result of those public reports, he has been fired by the board of his own company, while many in Hollywood (and beyond) have come forward to talk more openly about incidents of sexual harassment and assault. One of the most notable voices has been that of actress Rose McGowan, who tweeted last year that her own assault has "been an open secret in Hollywood/Media & they shamed me while adulating my rapist." Tonight, Twitter temporarily pulled the plug on her account.
Twitter tries to explain why Trump's posts aren't like others
So if Twitter's rules ban "violent threats," then surely a tweet indicating that a country "won't be around much longer" from a user with the ability to make that happen would be deletion-worthy, right? As the company was forced to explain today, not quite. Donald Trump's tweet about North Korea may have riled that nation's representatives, but according to a thread from its global public policy team, "newsworthiness" and whether a Tweet is of public interest" comes into play. It says it will update its public-facing rules to make that clear, but clearly it has no interest in trying to place a muzzle on the accounts of any particular political leader -- no matter what he tweets next. Twitter Rules: Any accounts and related accounts engaging in the activities specified below may be temporarily locked and/or subject to permanent suspension. Violent threats (direct or indirect): You may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism.
