Tag: social media

Biden administration demands Facebook hands over data on “misinformation” and vaccine skeptics

The Biden administration continues to pressure Facebook to collaborate and help it achieve its goals, one of them being to counter COVID vaccine skepticism and get more people in the US vaccinated.

After Biden shockingly denounced Facebook and others as “killing people” because they are allegedly letting COVID misinformation run rampant on their platforms, that pressure now continues in media reports, like the one The Washington Post published, citing three anonymous administration sources.

According to them, The White House and Facebook have had a series of meetings whose aim was to get the social media giant to turn over massive amounts of user data to the government, apparently as a “good will gesture” – since there doesn’t seem to be any legal ground for such a request.

Instead, the “tense” meetings saw the administration’s COVID crew “begging” Facebook to give them access to data showing how many people on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp see content branded as coronavirus misinformation, how many are still undecided whether to get the jab, and also the efficiency of Facebook’s censorship algorithms, i.e., how many people still get to see content that it aims to block.

It’s not obvious why the officials quoted by the article thought Facebook was under obligation to do this, but they accused the company of “hiding, filibustering and deflecting” – while at the same time commending Google and Twitter for apparently being much more accommodating in similar meetings around the same subject.

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Facebook Caves, Bans Accounts Identified by White House

Facebook has taken action against the so-called “disinformation dozen,” a set of accounts publicly identified by the Biden White House as responsible for the majority of alleged coronavirus “disinformation” on the platform.

The Biden administration identified the accounts last month and publicly urged Facebook to take action against them. It appears Facebook has now succumbed to that pressure.

In a statement to CNN, a White House spokesperson said the administration would continue to push for more censorship from social media platforms, and continued to criticize Facebook.

“In the middle of a pandemic, being honest and transparent about the work that needs to be done to protect public health is absolutely vital, but Facebook still refuses to be straightforward about how much misinformation is circulating — and being actively promoted — on their platform,” said the spokesperson.

“It’s on everyone to get this right so we can make sure the American people are getting accurate information to protect the health of themselves and their loved ones — which is why the Administration will continue to push leaders, media outlets, and leading sources of information like Facebook to meet those basic expectations.”

Despite criticizing Facebook, the White House admitted last month that it is in regular contact with the platform to identify and remove posts.

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Twitter ‘Frog’ Account Successfully Negotiates With Taliban To Secure Safety Of Spanish Diplomats After Government Fails

A Spanish Twitter account with an Apu Apustaja frog avatar has successfully negotiated with the Taliban for fair and humane treatment of Spanish citizens at the nation’s embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Spanish government had seemingly failed to establish a clear and open line of communication with the Taliban, inspiring the owner of the frog-avatar account to take action.

“Nangarhar’s sweet district was completely conquered,” Taliban spokesperson Mansoor Afghan announced on August 14, to which the account @panamach2 reached out to respond using Google translate, “Hello brother, please don’t hurt the Spanish people at the embassy, we were forces in your country by America. We don’t like them either.”

Mansoor Afghan responded in English, “We are human beings, we all respect each other, we don’t say anything to any foreign troops.” The exchange was viewed as somewhat humorous by many Twitter users, with one pointing out that “a guy with a picture of pepe has done more for the spanish people in afghanistan than the spanish government.”

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Instagram blocks critical comments of Biden through it’s “disrespectful” content filter

Instagram introduced a selection of new tools this year, intended at assisting users in protecting their accounts against “harassment.”

However, the tool appears to be working to protect the Biden administration from some unwanted criticism. In response to President Biden’s handling of the Afghan evacuation, Instagram invoked a comment-censoring effort to protect him from “disrespectful” words.

Author and filmmaker Mike Cernovich was first to notice the censorship.

“We’re flagging comments that may be considered inappropriate or disrespectful,” Instagram told some users who tried to comment on President Biden’s posts.

During periods of increased attention, such as when something goes viral, Instagram developed capabilities for screening “abusive” direct message (DM) requests, as well as a mechanism for users to limit other individuals from publishing comments or sending DMs.

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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Reveals: ‘Taliban Can Stay On Platform, As Long As They Don’t Get Too Violent’

On Tuesday, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey said in a statement that the Taliban will be allowed to stay on its social media platform, as long as they don’t get too violent.

The company explains it will “proactively enforce our rules” however stopped short of saying it would blacklist the Taliban.

After receiving inquiries about whether Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid will be banned from Twitter in the wake of the terrorist group seizing control of Kabul last weekend, the company revealed that the Taliban will remain on the platform while Twitter “proactively” enforces its rules.

“We will continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation, and spam,” the statement reads.

“The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving. We’re also witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance. Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant,” according to the statement.

Social media users quickly took to Twitter to point out that the company appears to have a much harsher protocol for U.S. presidents than it does for the Taliban, as President Trump was banned earlier this year after holding a rally at the White House.

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Researchers spot deep fake profile photos linked to pro-China Twitter accounts

Researchers in the United Kingdom have discovered a coordinated network of “deep-fake” social media accounts pushing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s views in the guise of ordinary account-holders.

The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said it had discovered a network of social media accounts that “distort international perceptions on significant issues, elevate China’s reputation amongst its supporters, and discredit claims critical of the Chinese government.”

In a report published on its website, the CIR said pro-China accounts were part of a “coordinated influence operation” on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube that uses a mixture of artificial and repurposed accounts to post CCP propaganda.

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Yelp Removes Reviews Critical of Vaccine Mandates

Yelp is removing negative reviews of businesses that support vaccine mandates and passports.

In a press release, Yelp said it was monitoring business that are “requiring vaccinations for employees and/or customers” and are removing reviews critical of that policy.

“For businesses that activate ‘Proof of vaccination required’ and ‘All staff fully vaccinated’ on their Yelp page, we are putting protective measures in place to proactively safeguard them from reviews that primarily criticize the COVID health and safety measures they enforce,” Yelp stated.

Interestingly, in the very next sentence, Yelp equated its policy to fighting racism.

“We put a similar system in place when we launched our Black-owned attribute in June 2020, and followed the same process for our other identity attributes, such as Latinx-owned, Asian-owned, and LGBTQ-owned,” Yelp continued. “By proactively monitoring business pages that activated these identity attributes for any hateful, racist or other harmful content that violates our Content Guidelines, we thwarted and removed nearly 400 reviews for containing harmful content.”

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Dr. Shiva Discovers Existence of the Secretive Long Fuse Report — Exposes Twitter-Government Collusion — As Momentous Discovery as Pentagon Papers

Previously we reported on Dr. Shiva Ayyarurai was able to uncover Twitter’s “partner support portal.”

Dr. Shiva discovered that Twitter built a special portal offered to certain governmental entities so that government officials can flag and delete content they dislike for any reason, as part of what they call their “Twitter Partner Status.”

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, the man who invented email, ran for US Senate in Massachusetts as a Republican and made allegations of voter fraud on Twitter. These tweets were then deleted by the far-left tech giant.  Later it was discovered that they were deleted at the direction of government employees of the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s office. 

Discovering this, Dr. Ayyadurai filed a federal lawsuit by himself, alleging that his federal civil rights were violated when the government silenced his political speech in order to affect an election.

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YouTube suspends Sky News Australia in brazen and “disturbing” censorship

Sky News Australia, one of Australia’s most popular broadcasters, has been suspended from posting new content to YouTube for a week due to a supposed violation of YouTube’s guidelines on the spread of COVID-19 “misinformation.”

YouTube does not allow any video that conflicts with local health authorities or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical advice, although it does appear to be depending on who the “offender” is as to whether YouTube censors a video or channel.

Violations on YouTube are subject to a “three strikes” policy, with the first resulting in a one-week suspension, a second strike within 90 days leading to a two-week ban, and a third strike resulting in permanent removal from the site.

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