Tag: social media

Elon Musk Taps Jussie Smollett Hoaxer For Twitter Censorship Advice

Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk said he wants to bring free speech absolutism to the world, but he isn’t off to a great start after tapping a Jussie Smollett hoaxer for censorship advice.

“Talked to civil society leaders @JGreenblattADL, @YaelEisenstat, @rashadrobinson, @JGo4Justice, @normanlschen, @DerrickNAACP, @TheBushCenter Ken Hersch & @SindyBenavides about how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies,” the self-professed “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator” announced on Tuesday.

Rashad Robinson, president of the leftist group Color of Change, repeatedly tweeted his support for Smollet after the “Empire” actor falsely claimed to be the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime in 2019. At the time, Smollett claimed two assailants beat him up while screaming, “This is MAGA country.”

Politicians, celebrities, leftists, and the corrupt corporate media rushed to ally themselves with Smollett, who was later convicted of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for staging the alleged crime.

Even after evidence suggested Smollett was lying about the alleged attack, Robinson continued to express disdain for anyone who dubbed Smollett’s scheming a hoax.

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Destroying Western Values To Defend Western Values

So it turns out the US intelligence cartel has been working intimately with online platforms to regulate the “cognitive infrastructure” of the population. This is according to a new investigative report by The Intercept, based on documents obtained through leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, on the “retooling” of the Department of Homeland Security from an agency focused on counterterrorism to one increasingly focused on fighting “misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation” online.

While the DHS’s hotly controversial “Disinformation Governance Board” was shut down in response to public outcry, the Intercept report reveals what authors Lee Fang and Ken Klippenstein describe as “an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms” in order to “curb speech it considers dangerous”:

According to a draft copy of DHS’s Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS’s capstone report outlining the department’s strategy and priorities in the coming years, the department plans to target “inaccurate information” on a wide range of topics, including “the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, racial justice, U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to Ukraine.”

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The City of Charlottesville’s new online speech restrictions for employees is likely unconstitutional

The City of Charlottesville passed a new policy for city workers that prohibits them from commenting, offline and online, about a wide range of topics. The policy is a potential violation of employees’ First Amendment free speech rights.

The policy was passed in response to how the city handled Allen Groat, an analyst for the fire and police department, for his involvement in the January 6 2021 riot at the US Capitol. Groat tweeted that he would engage in a “show of force,” and posted a photo of himself and former head of the Proud Boys.

Groat was investigated but was not criminally charged. Mayor Lloyd Snook said that Groat was not going to be fired because he had not been criminally charged. In response to the outrage that followed, Mayor Snook said that the city would review personnel policy.

The new policy, as reported by Fire, which went into effect last week, “requires that employees refrain from conduct, on- and off-duty, that will undermine City government objectives or impair the proper performance of governmental functions.”

That includes conduct that “undermines close working relationships that are essential to the effective performance of an employee’s job duties,” as well as conduct that impairs “discipline or harmony among co-workers.”

The policy heavily restricts city employees from exercising their First Amendment rights. An employee could be punished even for criticizing dangerous working conditions.

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YouTube: Users will have to commit to WHO-approved practices to be labeled as “reliable” in algorithm

In an attempt to limit “health misinformation,” YouTube announced it will certify medical professionals as “reliable” and “authoritative” sources of information.

In a blog post on the platform’s website, its global head of YouTube Health Dr. Garth Graham said: “YouTube Health has been working on additional ways to help doctors, nurses, mental health professionals and healthcare information providers to bring high quality health information into the spaces that people visit throughout their day – like their favorite video-sharing app.”

To apply to be labeled as reliable, users have to submit their license and adhere to the “best practices” for sharing health information set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS), and the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

YouTube gives “authoritative” sources a boost in the algorithm and non-authoritative sources are suppressed.

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Donald Trump, Elon Musk, And Kanye West Preemptively BANNED From Far-Left Social Media Network Tribel

Woke alternative social media site, Tribel, has preemptively banned Donald Trump and his son, Elon Musk, and Kanye West from its platform.

This comes after liberals panic and foment fear over Musk’s takeover of Twitter.

This news was initially shared by far-left account Occupy Democrats, who said Tribel made this decision because these now-banned individuals are already guilty of spreading “dangerous” conspiracy theories and “fake news.” 

Tribel would later announce that Musk was banned from the platform too.

The leftist social media alternative seems to be on a banning spree this week. Which is rich considering it prides itself on and promises to promote a place of inclusion, tolerance, and free speech.

For example, Tribel says they do not censor speech, all while admitting they use an algorithm that is made to filter out fake news and hate.

The infamous LibsofTikTok went to Tribel to test out this so-called fake news and hate filtering algorithm herself. And made an account and posted “men cannot get pregnant.”

20 minutes later, LibsofTikTok was suspended.

LibsofTikTok reported “it appears @tribelsocial suspended my account. I can no longer access it. I’ve tried multiple times to log in. My account lasted less than 20 minutes. I’m being silenced.”

Tribal would then “celebrate” the LibsofTikTok suspension, writing on Twitter: “That was quick. Your transphobic posts were quickly suppressed by our system — and then we at @TribelSocial network gave you a swift boot. Take your bigotry back to Trump’s Truth Social or @kanyewest’s Parler.”

Ever since that incident with LibsofTikTok, Tribel has been trending on Twitter not just for its blatant censorship against conservatives and wrongthink, but also for its terrible cyber security issues and data harvesting.

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Left’s ‘Free of Hate’ Platform Full of Bigoted, Sexist Posts

A new lefty-led social media network is on the market, branding itself with a grand promise of something never attained by even the most well-funded and fully staffed social media platforms: to be a hate-free forum.

“We’re an innovative Twitter/Facebook alternative that’s free of hate, fake news & bots,” reads the Twitter bio for Tribel. Tribel’s Facebook page dubbed the new platform as a “social network that nurtures intelligence and kindness instead of hatred.”

And yet, roughly a year since its launch, unsurprisingly, the Tribel platform hasn’t yet made that utopian vision a reality.

“Lauren Boebert is an AJ char broiled boogedy~boogedy batshit crazy C–T. and and IDIOT,” one post from December reads.

“So what do we [do] about lindsay Gramme?,” wrote one user in August about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). “The scum sucking piece of hillbilly shit is calling for riots… McConnell too. Investigate his chinese asset wife for colluding with china and trading state secrets. Skanky fucking bitch needs to rot in a cell too, for life.” Another user commented, “These mother fuckers are terrorists and should be shot.”

“WHY MAKE ANY KIND OF DEAL WITH THIS DOUCHE BAG?…” a September post reads, referring to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). “…ITS TIME TO FUCK HIM UP. FIRST RUN HIM OUT OF THE DEM PARTY ALONG WITH THAT C–T SENIMA,” the poster added, an apparent reference to Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

“FUCK THIS TWAT!!!,” one user wrote in September, referring to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in a post about the congresswoman’s recent divorce filing.

“C–t!!!!!” a July post captioned next to a photo of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, that called out “weirdo christian bitches” in white overlay text.

Tribel operates in some ways like a Twitter-Facebook hybrid. Users have followers and followings, can post on each other’s pages, and can like, share, and comment on other’s posts. The platform’s differentiating factor, aside from calling itself the “the kinder, smarter social network,” is that posts within categories like “activism” and “social justice” are ranked by the number of likes they receive. Users who create popular posts earn “stars,” and can earn the coveted title of “star contributor.”

The platform’s founder, Omar Rivero, who is also co-founder of the left-wing organization Occupy Democrats, says the platform has over 400,000 users.

Ranking posts by likes does push the most agreeable content to the top of users’ feeds, like generic content dunking on Republicans and motivational spiels. But hoards of posts with derogatory language dwell beneath users’ neatly curated timelines.

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CNBC Journalist Duped By Pranksters Pulling ‘Internet Hoax’ Outside Of Twitter’s HQ

A CNBC journalist was duped by two pranksters outside of Twitter’s headquarters on Friday who were posing as data engineers who had just been fired.

The story comes after Elon Musk took over the company Thursday evening following his $44 billion acquisition being finalized.

Musk reportedly directed engineers from his electric car company Tesla, where he also serves as CEO, to take control of the social media company’s code away from Twitter’s engineers to evaluate potential changes to the system.

Musk also immediately fired leftist CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust, and safety, The Washington Post reported. The report said Musk also fired the company’s general counsel, Sean Edgett, who was escorted out of the building.

CNBC journalist Deirdre Bosa showed up to the offices Friday where she took a photograph of two men who were carrying boxes, claiming that they had just been fired.

“It’s happening,” Bosa tweeted. “Entire team of data engineers let go. These are two of them.”

“They are visibly shaken. Daniel tells us he owns a Tesla and doesn’t know how he’s going to make payments,” she claimed. “(To be clear – I don’t think the Tesla was top of mind, I think @elonmusk was).”

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The US Government Sees Silicon Valley As Part Of Its Propaganda Machine

The Biden administration is reportedly considering opening a national security review of Elon Musk’s business ventures which could see the plutocrat’s purchase of Twitter blocked by the White House, in part because Musk is perceived as having an “increasingly Russia-friendly stance.”

Bloomberg reports:

Biden administration officials are discussing whether the US should subject some of Elon Musk’s ventures to national security reviews, including the deal for Twitter Inc. and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, according to people familiar with the matter.

US officials have grown uncomfortable over Musk’s recent threat to stop supplying the Starlink satellite service to Ukraine — he said it had cost him $80 million so far — and what they see as his increasingly Russia-friendly stance following a series of tweets that outlined peace proposals favorable to President Vladimir Putin. They are also concerned by his plans to buy Twitter with a group of foreign investors.

The “group of foreign investors” the Biden administration is reportedly worried about oddly includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, who has already been a massive Twitter shareholder for years. The White House certainly never had a problem with foreign investors there before.

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Instagram to automatically censor “a predefined list of offensive terms”

Meta-owned Instagram plans to introduce new features that will censor “offensive” direct message (DM) requests and Story replies and warn users before replying to comments that “could be offensive.”

The feature that censors DM requests and Story replies that are deemed to be offensive is called “Hidden Words.” It was introduced last year but was only enabled when creators turned it on and only applied to DM requests. Instagram now plans to test automatically turning on Hidden Words for all creator accounts and expanding it to Story replies.

Hidden Words uses a “predefined list of offensive terms” and filters DM requests and Story replies that contain these terms into a separate hidden requests folder. Instagram says it worked with “leading anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations” to develop the list of terms.

Users of Hidden Words can also create their own list of custom words, phrases, or emojis that they want filtered from DM requests and Story replies. However, the predefined list of terms that was developed by Instagram and the anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations isn’t revealed to users.

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Psychology academic was suspended from Twitter after complaining about self-harm glorification on the platform

Pamela Paresky, visiting fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, was suspended from Twitter for saying that Twitter does not enforce its policy against self-harm.

“On October 3, I criticized Twitter for how it deals with self-harm—specifically that Twitter does not enforce its ‘gratuitous gore’ policy for self-harm images, nor does it enforce its policy of prohibiting tweets that ‘promote or encourage suicide or self-harm,’” she wrote in an article published by Wesley Yang’s newsletter Year Zero. “To illustrate how easy Twitter makes it to find posts with extremely graphic images and videos depicting severe self-harm (cutting), I tweeted some common self-harm codewords along with screenshots of a horrific self-harm post & accompanying comments.”

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