Tag Archives: trolls

AI Taylor Swift Porn Images Traced To 4chan Board

The New York Times reports: Images of Taylor Swift that had been generated by artificial intelligence and had spread widely across social media in late January probably originated as part of a recurring challenge on one of the internet’s most notorious message boards, according to a new report. Graphika, a research firm that studies disinformation, traced the images back to …

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Major Newspaper Chain Deletes All Comments Sections

Axios reports: MediaNews Group, the local newspaper company owned by Alden Global Capital, has shut down all of its comment sections as of July 1st, due to difficulties in moderating them, executives told Axios. MediaNews Group, also known as Digital First Media, is home to hundreds of weekly newspapers and dozens of daily newspapers, including major regional outlets such as …

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BBC: Twitter Is Losing The Battle Against Trolls

The BBC reports: Twitter insiders have told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolling, state-co-ordinated disinformation and child sexual exploitation, following lay-offs and changes under owner Elon Musk. Exclusive academic data plus testimony from Twitter users backs up their allegations, suggesting hate is thriving under Mr Musk’s leadership, with trolls emboldened, harassment intensifying …

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Fauci Blasts “Cowardly Trolls” For Harassing His Family

The Hill reports: Anthony Fauci in an interview with the BBC blasted the “cowardly” internet trolls who harass his wife and children, saying it’s a part of the backlash he’s experienced over the COVID-19 pandemic. “These people who troll about, they harass my wife and my children because they can figure out where they live and what their phone number …

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DeSantis Spox Falls For Fake Story On “Anti-Gay Dog”

The New York Daily News reports: Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw was ridiculed on social media this week after tweeting a fake news story about a gay-owned, anti-gay dachshund. On Monday, the conservative spokeswoman shared on Twitter the screenshot of a story, which was supposedly written by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz, titled “This dog is the new face …

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Musk: “Democrats Are The Party Of Division And Hate”

First, an update via Reuters: Elon Musk isn’t read more the most reliable merger partner. The billionaire Tesla boss is getting cold feet about his $44 billion deal to buy Twittet. The board of the social media firm would be foolish to tango with him – again – on different terms. Musk has been harping on Twitter’s user figures, saying …

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Pharma Douche Exits Prison Early For Halfway House

CNBC reports: Notorious “Pharma bro” fraudster Martin Shkreli was released from a federal prison in Pennsylvania on Wednesday and into a U.S. Bureau of Prisons halfway house at an undisclosed location in New York to complete the rest of his criminal sentence, his lawyer said. In a throwback to the days when Shkreli was one of the most prominent trolls …

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Cultist Who Trolled Biden Is Now Playing The Victim

The Oregonian reports: A Central Point father of four who wished President Joe Biden and the first lady a wonderful Christmas and added “Let’s go, Brandon,” at the end of a live streamed Santa tracker call told The Oregonian/OregonLive that he didn’t intend his parting message to be vulgar. “At the end of the day, I have nothing against Mr. …

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Twitter Tests Overhaul To Abuse Reporting Process

The Verge reports: Twitter says it is testing an overhaul to the process for reporting tweets, which it says will ultimately make it easier for users to alert the company to abusive or suspicious behavior. The approach being tested with a small group of users in the US streamlines the current reporting process so that a person reporting a tweet …

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Russian Troll Farms Target Western Comments Sections

The BBC reports: A major operation to influence public opinion saw comments posted on Western media articles in support of Russian interests, according to new research. Cardiff University’s Crime and Security Research Institute found 32 prominent media websites across 16 countries were targeted including Mail Online, the Express and the Times. The comments were fed back into Russian-language media outlets …

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Twitter Feature Will “Autoblock” Abusive Accounts

From Twitter’s corporate blog: Unwelcome Tweets and noise can get in the way of conversations on Twitter, so we’re introducing Safety Mode, a new feature that aims to reduce disruptive interactions. Starting today, we’re rolling out this safety feature to a small feedback group on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com, beginning with accounts that have English-language settings enabled. Safety Mode is …

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VIRAL VIDEO: Pro-Police Cultist Screams At NYC Cop

The New York Post reports: A loudmouth with a gigantic pro-police flag cursed out an NYPD cop in Rockefeller Center when the officer stepped in to settle a social-distancing dispute, according to cops and video. “Four years I had to put up with your shit!” the protester retorts as the cop steps in. “I am talking!” the officer then bellows, …

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RNC Unresponsive On Using Social Media Troll Bots

Axios reports: There is no U.S. law that prevents candidates, parties or political groups from launching their own disinformation campaigns, either in-house or through a contractor, so long as foreign money isn’t involved. It’s up to individual candidates to decide their tolerance for the practice. Broadly, U.S. campaign finance laws don’t regulate free social media accounts. Even a vast network …

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4chan Trolls Rig Drudge Poll For Marianne Williamson, Right Wing Sites Report That “The Public Has Spoken”

Media Matters reports: Users of the far-right message board 4chan organized to rig a Drudge Report online poll following the July 30 Democratic presidential debate. Multiple right-wing outlets touted the results. 4chan users similarly rigged previous post-debate Drudge polls. After the first night of the CNN debate, users on 4chan’s “/pol/” message board shared the poll and urged others to …

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Twitter Adds Option To Report Election Misinformation

Mashable reports: Twitter is stepping up its fight against misinformation and voter manipulation. In a blog post, Twitter announced a new reporting feature for tweets that attempt to spread false information about the electoral process. The new feature appears as a default option when a user elects to report a tweet. When reporting a tweet, a user can simply select …

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Rotten Tomatoes Moves To Thwart Right Wing Trolls

NBC News reports: Rotten Tomatoes is fighting back against trolls. The powerful movie review aggregation website announced Monday it would ban user comments before a film premieres in theaters. The move is in part a bid to crack down on what it called “non-constructive input, sometimes bordering on trolling, which we believe is a disservice to our general readership.” The …

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New Video Game Featuring Jesus, Hitler, Putin, And Trump Awards Points For Killing “Radical” LGBT People

From the game’s website: Jesus Strikes Back: Judgement Day is a heartwarming tale following a group of unlikely friends through a very crazy world. The game is guaranteed fun for all the family envisioning Jesus’s return to a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by radical socialism and religious fanatics. With the complete downfall of worldwide civilization and the freedom, liberty and independence …

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LOUISIANA: Troll Lawyer Who Wanted To Marry His Laptop Sues Town Library Over Drag Queen Story Hour

Lafayette’s Fox affiliate reports: Two Religious Organizations are suing in an attempt to stop Drag Queen Story Time at the Lafayette Library. The suit was filed in federal court in Lafayette by Warriors for Christ and Special Forces of Liberty. “By bringing this lawsuit, we are unapologetically and firmly defending the civil rights movement led by pastor Martin Luther King.” …

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Indicted Kremlin Troll Farm Boosted Pro-Trump Fake News Site With Millions Of Tweets Long After Election

Bloomberg reports: Russia’s social-media trolling operation began stepping up its Twitter presence to new heights in late July 2017 — more than eight months after sowing discord and disinformation in the 2016 presidential election. The burst of activity — revealed in a new, comprehensive dataset of nearly 3 million tweets — had an overriding focus over the ensuing three months: …

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Twitter Is Deleting One Million Fake Accounts A Day

The Washington Post reports: Twitter has sharply escalated its battle against fake and suspicious accounts, suspending more than one million accounts a day in recent months, a major shift to lessen the flow of disinformation on the platform, according to data obtained by The Washington Post. The rate of account suspensions, which Twitter confirmed to the Post, has more than …

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