Today, Meta’s Oversight Board released its first emergency decision about content moderation on Facebook, spurred by the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The two cases center around two pieces of content posted on Facebook and Instagram: one depicting the aftermath of a strike on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza and the …
Read More »Worried About Deepfakes? Don’t Forget “Cheapfakes”
Over the summer, a political action committee (PAC) supporting Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis uploaded a video of former president Donald Trump on YouTube in which he appeared to attack Iowa governor Kim Reynolds. It wasn’t exactly real—though the text was taken from one of Trump’s tweets, the …
Read More »Israel–Hamas Conflict Sparks Meta Oversight Board’s First Emergency Case
Today, Meta’s Oversight Board announced it would take on two expedited cases, the first ever, both dealing with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The case will look at two posts that were initially removed from and then reinstated on Instagram and Facebook for violating Meta’s policies against sharing …
Read More »Elon Musk’s Media Matters Lawsuit Will Have a ‘Chilling Effect’
On Monday, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America (MMFA), a nonprofit, alleging that a recent report showing big name advertisers appearing next to antisemitic content on X was an attempt to “destroy” the company by encouraging advertisers to pull their money. Shortly after, Texas Attorney General Ken …
Read More »A Watchdog Group Calls for an Investigation of X’s Sneaky New Ads
In October, X rolled out a new ad format that appeared to serve paid-for posts without labeling them as ads. Experts speculated that the posts might violate US laws against deceptive advertising. Today, the ad industry watchdog Check My Ads filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commission, asking that …
Read More »Big Tech Ditched Trust and Safety. Now Startups Are Selling It Back As a Service
Massive layoffs across the tech sector have hit trust and safety teams hard over the past year. But with wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East and more than 50 elections taking place in the next 12 months, experts worry that a nascent industry of startups created to keep …
Read More »Where the Hell Is X CEO Linda Yaccarino?
Linda Yaccarino has been the CEO of X since June, but you’d never know it. Elon Musk, the company’s owner, CTO, and super-user, still remains the gravitational force at its center. In an all-hands meeting last week, the transcript of which was published by The Verge, Musk said almost twice …
Read More »The New Era of Social Media Looks as Bad for Privacy as the Last One
When Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, experts warned that his proposed changes—including less content moderation and a subscription-based verification system—would lead to an exodus of users and advertisers. A year later, those predictions have largely borne out. Advertising revenue on the platform has declined 55 percent since …
Read More »Inside Elon Musk’s First Election Crisis—a Day After He ‘Freed’ the Bird
The day after Elon Musk closed his deal to buy Twitter, the company’s Seattle office held a Halloween party for employees and their children. Rebecca Scott Thein dressed in bright green to play an alien to her daughter’s Buzz Lightyear. Thein, whose job at Twitter (now X) was to help …
Read More »X's New Ads May Violate Federal Law
Last week, Mashable reported that on X (formerly Twitter), users were noticing a new type of advertisement: Minus a regular handle or username, the ad’s headline looks like a normal tweet, with the avatar a miniature of whatever featured image appears in the body of the post. There is no …
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