With 25 days until Joe Biden becomes America’s next president, Politico writes that throughout the US government, “From lawmakers on Capitol Hill to antitrust enforcers at the Federal Trade Commission, Washington is training its sights on the world’s largest social network like never before.” Biden’s antitrust enforcers will take ownership of a lawsuit the FTC filed this month threatening to dismantle…
Tag: hate
‘Will Remote Work Kill Innovation?’ Ask Silicon Valley Experts
Remote work “is here to stay,” argues a new article in Silicon Valley’s newspaper The Mercury News (also re-published in the East Bay Times). But they’ve also asked industry professionals around Silicon Valley whether this will hurt our ability to innovate. Software engineer/entrepreneur Joyce Park (who’s worked in Silicon Valley over 20 years): “Fast feedback is what we’re all about in…
Key People Are Leaving Facebook and Torching the Company In Departure Notes
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: On Wednesday, a Facebook data scientist departed the social networking company after a two-year stint, leaving a farewell note for their colleagues to ponder. As part of a team focused on “Violence and Incitement,” they had dealt with some of the worst content on Facebook, and they were proud of their work…
Big Tech Firms To Face 6% Fines If Breach New EU Content Rules
Big tech firms such as Google and Facebook will face fines of up to 6% of turnover if they do not do more to tackle illegal content and reveal more about advertising on their platforms under draft European Union rules. Reuters reports: The EU’s tough line, which is due to be announced next week, comes amid growing regulatory scrutiny worldwide of…
YouTube Will Remind Users To ‘Keep Comments Respectful’ Before Posting
YouTube is taking new steps to weed out bullying, hate speech and other kinds of nasty comments. From a report: The company introduced a new feature that will remind users to “keep comments respectful,” when its automated systems detect a comment may be offensive. The change is rolling out now on Android, and will eventually move to other platforms, though it’s…
Facebook Removes Temporary Algorithm Change That Had Blocked Misinformation
Facebook’s employees and executives “are battling over how to reduce misinformation and hate speech without hurting the company’s bottom line,” reports the New York Times, after employees had spotted false and misleading election-related misinformation going viral on the site. The solution? Make temporary changes to the controversial algorithm “which helps determine what more than two billion people see every day” by…
Facebook Said It Would Ban Holocaust Deniers. Instead, Its Algorithm Provided a Network for Them
Last month, Facebook announced a crackdown: The platform would no longer permit content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust” as part of its larger policy prohibiting hate speech. From a report: While noting that successful enforcement could take time, Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president of content policy, explained the ban in a blog post. “Our decision is supported by the well-documented…
OpenStreetMap is Having a Moment
Joe Morrison: The first time I spoke with Jennings Anderson, I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. I mean that genuinely — I did not believe him. He was a little incredulous about it himself. I felt like he was sharing an important secret with me that the world didn’t yet know. The open secret Jennings filled me in on…
MSNBC: Parler Does Censor, Removes Users, and Really Hates Trolling
For seekers of a right-leaning free-speech utopia, “Parler may turn out to be, in the end, a false refuge,” warns Marc Ambinder at MSNBC: First — sorry, folks — Parler does censor. It removes users, regularly. It does not actually seem to tolerate hate speech, and because it’s a much smaller platform, it might even be more efficient in finding and…
Pakistan’s PM Asks Facebook To Ban Islamophobic Content
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan called on Facebook to ban Islamophobic content on its platform, warning of a spike in radicalization amongst Muslims, hours after he hit out at the French president for “attacking Islam.” Reuters reports: Pakistan summoned the French ambassador in Islamabad as anger spread on Monday over President Emmanuel Macron’s reaction to the murder last week of a…