by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Online Marketing, Social Media, World
San Francisco : As Facebook, Google and Twitter prepared to face questioning on November 1 into Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the tech giants were planning to tell the lawmakers that the Russian content on their respective platforms reached more users than reported earlier.
According to a report in The Washington Post late on Monday, Facebook was planning to tell lawmakers that 126 million of its users might have seen content produced and circulated by Russian operatives — many times more than the company had previously disclosed about their reach.
Facebook had previously reported that nearly 10 million users had seen those ads.
Similarly, Google also acknowledged that it had found evidence that Russian operatives used the company’s platforms to influence American voters.
Google said in a blog post that it had found 1,108 videos with 43 hours of content related to the Russian effort on YouTube. It also found $4,700 worth of Russian search and display ads.
“Further, Twitter would also tell Congressional investigators that it has identified 2,752 accounts controlled by Russian operatives and more than 36,000 bots that tweeted 1.4 million times during the election. The company previously reported 201 accounts linked to Russia,” the report added.
After scrutiny by the Congressional investigators, the tech giants have been working hard to make political ads more transparent.
Facebook has vowed to make political ads more transparent, allowing users of the social network to know more about the advertisers which may include their identity and location.
“We’re going to require more thorough documentation from advertisers who want to run election-related ads,” Rob Goldman, Facebook’s Vice President of Ads said in a statement last week.
“We are starting with federal elections in the US, and will progress from there to additional contests and elections in other countries and jurisdictions,” Goldman added.
As part of the documentation process, advertisers may be required to identify that they are running election-related advertising and verify both their entity and location.
To help protect integrity of user experience on Twitter, the microblogging site has banned advertising from all accounts owned by Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik with immediate effect.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Online Marketing, Social Media, Technology
San Francisco : In a bid to increase transparency on its platform, Twitter has announced to publicly disclose all ads — including political and issue-based ads — and the identity of who bought them.
In the wake of Russia’s alleged use of social media platforms to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election, two Democratic senators introduced last week the “Honest Ads Act”, a bill which requires tech companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter to disclose political ads purchased on their platforms.
“In the coming weeks, we will launch an industry-leading transparency centre that will offer everyone visibility into who is advertising on Twitter, details behind those ads, and tools to share your feedback with us,” Twitter posted late on Tuesday.
The transparency centre will show all ads that are currently running on Twitter, including “Promoted-Only” ads, how long ads have been running and ads targeted to you as well as personalised information on which ads you are eligible to receive based on targeting.
People can also report inappropriate ads or give negative feedback for every ad running on Twitter, whether the ad targets them or not.
“To make it clear when you are seeing or engaging with an electioneering ad, we will now require that electioneering advertisers identify their campaigns as such. We will also change the look and feel of these ads and include a visual political ad indicator,” Twitter said.
Twitter has already turned over to the US Senate 201 profile names of accounts associated with alleged Russian effort to meddle in the presidential election last year.
The move came after critics said that the tech giant was not taking the congressional probe seriously enough.
Twitter was also criticised for reportedly deleting tweets and other user data useful to investigators looking into Moscow’s suspected manipulation of the social media service during the 2016 election.
The Senate has invited Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, to a public hearing set for November 1.
“We will make new updates first in the US and then roll them out globally. We look forward to engaging with Members of Congress and other key stakeholders on these issues as the legislative process continues,” Twitter posted.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Social Media, Technology
San Francisco : After Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced plans to act more aggressively on violence and sexual abuse, the micro-blogging website has now detailed new rules it will implement soon.
In an internal email which was obtained by Wired.com, Twitter’s head of safety policy has emailed members of its Trust and Safety Council on new rules to promote free speech and curb violence and sexual harassment.
“We hope our approach and upcoming changes, as well as our collaboration with the Trust and Safety Council, show how seriously we are rethinking our rules and how quickly we’re moving to update our policies and how we enforce them,” Twitter said on Wednesday.
“We will immediately and permanently suspend any account we identify as the original poster/source of non-consensual nudity and/or if a user makes it clear they are intentionally posting said content to harass their target,” the email read.
“If the account appears to be dedicated to posting non-consensual nudity then we will suspend the entire account immediately,” it added.
On hate symbols and imagery, it said: “We are still defining the exact scope of what will be covered by this policy. At a high level, hateful imagery, hate symbols, etc will now be considered sensitive media (similar to how we handle and enforce adult content and graphic violence)”.
On violent groups, Twitter said it will take enforcement action against organisations that use or have historically used violence as a means to advance their cause.
“Consistent interpretation and enforcement of our rules is our objective. We also need to remove the burden of reporting from those who are targeted. We’ve prioritised the work,” Dorsey said in a tweet.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, News, Politics, Social Media
Sharad Pawar
Mumbai : Coming out in support of young victims of social media trolls, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday exhorted them to speak out against the wrong policies of the government and oppose growing incidents of intolerance and fascism across India.
In an unique initiative, Pawar met around 35 youngsters who have been threatened on social media and/or booked by police for speaking out their minds against the government and its policies on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook or other public and community fora in the past few weeks.
Seeking to create the right atmosphere to put the youngsters at ease, Pawar made it clear at the start of the three-hour interactive session: “You can bluntly criticize me — Say anything you want freely. Tell me honestly where my party or I am going wrong.”
Many of them displayed courage and gave an earful, mainly on NCP politics, to the 76-year-old Pawar who listened intently without interruption while some aides made notings of the suggestions expressed.
“It was an absolutely free and candid exchange of views between the NCP chief and the youngsters who gave their frank opinions on a wide range of issues confronting the country, especially on the reduced tolerance levels, the attacks on freedom of thought, speech and expression,” senior NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad told IANS.
Another party leader who was present on the sidelines said the exercise was part of a long-term strategy to attract the liberal-minded youths to the NCP fold, infuse fresh thinking of GenNext vis-a-vis traditional politics and rejuvenate the party before the 2019 elections.
The youth recounted the harassment they have faced in recent weeks at the hands of the law-enforcing agencies who allegedly ‘snoop’ on writings and views posted on various social media, the notices sent by the police department in Mumbai and other parts of the state.
Besides, they gave examples of how they are systematically trolled on social media for airing their opinions against the government policies and the rulers, being ridiculed, threatened and abused, and efforts made to silence them.
Several of them expressed concerns over the growing levels of intolerance that have gripped various sections of society which have even manifested in the killings of people with liberal views, the most recent being journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Some others voiced distress over what they termed “a grim economic scenario”, with “salaries getting slashed or jobs lost”, the “misplaced priorities of the government” which focused more on issues not concerned with public welfare activities, and the general situation that has created an uncertain future for the youth.
“Continue expressing yourself against anything you feel is going wronga I am solidly behind you and you have nothing to worry,” advised Pawar, who later hosted lunch for the invitees at the Y.B. Chavan Centre.
“When the youth of Maharashtra are speaking up for protecting democracy, it is wrong to target them and suppress their voice. The people of the state will not tolerate any attempts to curb the freedom of expression,” Pawar remarked at the end of the discussions.
The meeting came against the backdrop of notices sent to over two dozen youths, including journalists, by the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police in connection with some fake accounts on Facebook and probing what has been touted as “objectionable content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi” among others.
After an account under the fictitious name of ‘Dev Gaikwad’ was detected a few weeks ago, police got into action by arresting one persons and slapping notices on several persons summoning them for investigations in the matter.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Social Media, Technology, World
Washington : Twitter has turned over to the US Senate 201 profile names of accounts associated with alleged Russian effort to meddle in the presidential election last year.
The handover took place this week, Xinhua quoted US media reports saying on Friday. It was part of the social networking service’s effort to aid in the Russian probe.
Those handles were previously not submitted partly due to legal privacy issues, the reports said.
The move came after critics said that the tech giant was not taking the congressional probe seriously enough.
Twitter was also criticised for reportedly deleting tweets and other user data useful to investigators looking into Moscow’s suspected manipulation of the social media service during the 2016 election.
The Senate has invited Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, to a public hearing set for November 1.
—IANS
