Tag Archives: social media

Axios reports: Former President Trump wanted equity in Gettr, the new social media app launched by former Trump aide Jason Miller, sources tell Axios. The former president has yet to join the app, although sources say that conversations about his participation are ongoing. Discussions about equity are likely part of those conversations, and everything is a negotiation point. Miller has …

Engadget reports: It’s a who’s who of the biggest players on the internet, including Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Snap, Twitch, Telegram and TikTok. On the list are a number of smaller, pro-Trump sites that have sprung up in recent years, including Gab and Parler, as well as known cesspools 4chan and 8kun (formerly 8chan). Specifically, the Select Committee wants …

The New York Times reports: Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on global election-related matters, said five people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would allow the social network to shift some of its political decision-making to an advisory body. The proposed commission could decide on matters such as the …

The Washington Post reports: Facebook said Saturday evening that an article raising concerns that the coronavirus vaccine could lead to death was the top performing link in the United States on its platform from January through March of this year, acknowledging the widespread reach of such material for the first time. It also said another site that pushed covid-19 misinformation …

The Verge reports: Facebook’s head of security policy said the company is putting into place security measures for users in Afghanistan, including hiding “friends” lists and adding a tool to quickly lock down accounts. Nathaniel Gleicher said in a thread on Twitter that Facebook made the changes based on feedback from activists, journalists, and civil society groups. As the Taliban …

Via email from right wing columnist Erick Erickson: Twitter temporarily suspended me from Twitter and I know a lot of you originally came here because of Twitter links. Considering I have doubled down on truth telling, I suspect Twitter will ban me at some point for stating biological truths. This is just a reminder that your subscription to this email …

The Associated Press reports: Facebook already asks for your thoughts. Now it wants your prayers. The social media giant has rolled out a new prayer request feature, a tool embraced by some religious leaders as a cutting-edge way to engage the faithful online. Others are eyeing it warily as they weigh its usefulness against the privacy and security concerns they …

Vice News reports: Scammers are abusing Instagram’s protections against suicide, self-harm, and impersonation to purposefully target and ban Instagram accounts at will, with some people even advertising professionalized ban-as-a-service offerings so anyone can harass or censor others. It appears that in some cases, the same scammers who offer ban-as-a-service also offer or are at least connected to services to restore …

The New York Times reports: Fewer than half of all Americans age 18 to 39 are fully vaccinated, compared with more than two-thirds of those over 50, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And about 58 percent of those age 12 through 17 have yet to receive a shot at all. To reach these young people, the …

The Verge reports: Facebook content moderators in Europe and the US are calling on the company to put an end to overly restrictive nondisclosure agreements that discourage people from speaking out about working conditions. In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and the CEOs of Covalen and Accenture, moderators say these NDAs aren’t limited to user data and …

The Verge reports: Twitter is working on new upvote and downvote reactions for tweets to accompany the usual options to retweet and reply. Twitter confirmed it was testing the feature for a small group of users on iOS, and it’s already been spotted according to multiple tweets from users that are part of the test group. Twitter writes that iOS …

The Washington Post reports: “They’re killing people,” Biden said Friday on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One on his way to Camp David for the weekend. “Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.” Biden was asked to clarify those comments Monday after giving a speech about increasing support …

The New York Times reports: Facebook and the Biden administration engaged in an increasingly rancorous back and forth over the weekend after the administration denounced the social media giant for spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines. On Sunday, the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, reiterated warnings that false stories about the vaccines had become a dangerous health hazard. “These platforms have …

Axios reports: Facebook fired back on Friday evening after President Biden earlier said that social media platforms are “killing people” by allowing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on their sites.  “We will not be distracted by accusations which aren’t supported by the facts,” a spokesperson for the tech giant said in a statement Friday. The Facebook response followed Biden’s commentary on the …

The Verge reports: Facebook plans to pay out $1 billion to creators over the next year and a half as part of an effort to court content makers to its many services. The money will be awarded to creators who use Facebook products in different ways: on Facebook, creators can get a cash bonus for running ads on their videos …

Axios reports: “Oh f—, how did we miss this?” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked, looking around at the somber faces of his top executives, the N.Y. Times’ Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang write in their book, “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination,” out Tuesday. In an excerpt provided first to Axios, the authors write that the executives met …

Politico reports: Violent videos and misinformation are amplified by YouTube’s algorithm, despite the company’s rules meant to limit their spread, according to a Mozilla Foundation report published July 7. The foundation — a nonprofit that advocates on privacy issues — found 71 percent of all videos that volunteers reported as disturbing were recommended by the video-sharing platform’s algorithm. They included …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Facebook, Twitter, and Alphabet’s Google have privately warned the Hong Kong government that they could stop offering their services in the city if authorities proceed with planned changes to data-protection laws that could make them liable for the malicious sharing of individuals’ information online. A letter sent by an industry group that includes the internet …

Here’s what started it all: Some eye catching billboards urging businesses to consider a move to Ohio are garnering attention across New York City. There are three print billboard placements and 13 programmatic in Manhattan along with four print and seven programmatic in Brooklyn, and the marketing campaign is the brainchild of private nonprofit economic development corporation JobsOhio. One board …

The Insider reports: GETTR, the new social media platform set up by allies of former President Donald Trump, was been hacked on the day of its July 4 launch. The platform’s most popular verified users, mostly former Trump aides, had their accounts compromised. GETTR’s official support page was also targeted. Jason Miller, who founded the platform and was formerly a …