Day: January 13, 2021

John Matze said the best thing would be if Parler could get back on Amazon. Social media platform Parler, which has gone dark after being cut off by major service providers that accused the app of failing to police violent content, may never get back online, said its CEO John Matze. As a procession of business vendors severed ties with the two-year-old site following the storming of the U.S. Capitol last week, Matze said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he does not know when or if it will return. “It could be never,” he said. “We don’t know yet.” The app said in a legal filing it has over 12 million users. Matze said that Parler was talking to more than one cloud computing service but refused to disclose names, citing the likelihood of harassment for the companies involved. He said the best thing would be if Parler could get back on Amazon. Parler on Monday filed a lawsuit against the company, which Amazon said has no merit.

via nbcnews: Parler CEO says social media app, favored by Trump supporters, may not return

The encrypted messenger is the latest social network under pressure to clamp down on extremist content. Scores of posts and online groups containing violent content linked with the recent riots in Washington have been removed from Telegram, the encrypted messenger, according to the company. Yet despite the move, Telegram remains rife with far-right and white supremacist groups, with several of their channels garnering tens of thousands of subscribers, according to a review of the network by POLITICO. Several channels specifically associate themselves with the Proud Boys white supremacist movement, while others urge people to take up arms ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. In recent days — following the closure of Parler, the social network that caters primarily to the right wing, and efforts by Facebook and Twitter to scrub their platforms of hateful material, far-right users have flooded other social networks like Telegram, which has seen 25 million new users sign up worldwide over the last three days, according to the company’s chief executive. These companies have responded by removing some harmful material. Telegram said that while it welcomed peaceful discussions about potential real world protests on its platform, it regularly removed content that was connected directly to violence. “In the past 24 hours alone, we have blocked dozens of public channels that contained calls to violence, and continue monitoring the situation closely,” Mike Ravdonikas, a Telegram spokesperson, told POLITICO, though would not say how any channels had been removed. “Our terms of service expressly forbid public calls to violence.”
TikTok too. Telegram is not the only social network to struggle with a wave of far-right content that has engulfed these new platforms after Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube clamped down on such material. TikTok, the video app popular amongst teens, has similarly seen an influx of right-wing militia groups, some of which have used the Chinese-owned social network to mobilize support for their cause, including potentially offline protests ahead of January 20, according to Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog group. After POLITICO flagged several pro-militia and violent posts that had appeared on TikTok to the company, the social network removed those posts. But hashtags supportive of Donald Trump’s false claims that the recent U.S. presidential election had been fraudulent were still prevalent across the platform, based on a review of online material. “TikTok stands firmly against violence, both online and off,” Jamie Favazza, a TikTok spokesperson, said in a statement. “We’ve updated our previous dangerous individuals and organizations policy to focus more holistically on the issue of violent extremism.”

via politico: Telegram tries, and fails, to remove extremist content

Von Telegram Messenger LLP – <a href=”//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Javitomad” title=”User:Javitomad”>Javitomad</a>, Gemeinfrei, Link

Beim Sturm auf das Kapitol waren nach ersten Erkenntnissen auch Anhänger der Verschwörungstheorie beteiligt – für QAnon ist Trump eine Art Retter. Twitter setzt erneut ein Zeichen und löscht Tausende Konten. Nach der Erstürmung des US-Kapitols durch Anhänger des scheidenden Präsidenten Donald Trump hat Twitter mehr als 70.000 Konten der Verschwörungstheorie “QAnon” gelöscht. Nach den “gewalttätigen Ereignissen in Washington” habe man Konten gesperrt, die “QAnon”-nahe Inhalte im großen Umfang geteilt hätten, und in erster Linie zur Verbreitung von Verschwörungstheorie dienten, hieß es in einer Mitteilung des Kurzmitteilungsdienstes. In vielen Fällen habe eine Person mehrere Konten verwaltet. Den persönlichen Account von US-Präsident Donald Trump, dem die QAnon-Anhänger nahe stehen, hatte Twitter bereits am Wochenende dauerhaft gesperrt. (…) “QAnon” ist eine Verschwörungstheorie, die ihren Ursprung in Internetforen hat und auf kryptischen Botschaften eines angeblichen Politik-Insiders beruht. Anhänger glauben etwa, dass der noch amtierende US-Präsident Trump einen geheimen Kampf gegen einen “Staat im Staate” (“deep state”) führt und angeblichen systematischen Kindesmissbrauch unter anderem durch Politiker der Demokraten aufzudecken versucht. “Q” taucht immer wieder auf Mit “deep state” ist eine geheime Zusammenarbeit von Bürokraten, Geheimdienstmitarbeitern und Militär gemeint. Auch Trumps Falschbehauptungen über angeblichen Wahlbetrug wurden in der Szene aufgegriffen und weitergesponnen. Das “Q” findet sich bei vielen Kundgebungen des Präsidenten auf Fahnen und Bannern.

via dw: Twitter löscht mehr als 70.00 Accounts von QAnon-Anhängern

QAnon followers know him as “Neon Revolt.” In real life, he’s a failed screenwriter from New Jersey named Robert Cornero, Jr. Neon Revolt, one of the most prominent QAnon influencers who has spread conspiracy theories and fomented violence among his hundreds of thousands of loyal followers on far-right social network Gab, has been unmasked as a failed Hollywood screenwriter Robert Cornero Jr. from Neptune City, New Jersey, has been identified by researchers working for fact-checking group Logically, who found that the company used to publish a book by Neon Revolt about QAnon was registered in Cornero’s name and to his family’s home address. Cornero moved from New Jersey to Studio City in California over a decade ago to pursue a career as a scriptwriter. And even though he had never had any success producing a script of his own, he set up a website called Hacking Hollywood, where he offered to coach aspiring screenwriters. (…) “Neon is one of the most prominent QAnon influencers in that community, writing extremely long screeds on his blog that tie together countless elements of various plots and conspiracy theories that have nothing to do with each other,” Mike Rothschild, a conspiracy theory researcher who is currently writing a book about QAnon, told VICE News. “His persona is that of a paranoid and xenophobic embittered screenwriter flying the flag of traditional conservative values in the liberal cesspool of Hollywood.” In 2019, Cornero leveraged his position of trust among his followers when he launched a crowdfunding campaign to write a QAnon book. He raised $150,000 and ultimately produced the 660-page “Revolution Q: The Story of QAnon and the 2nd American Revolution,” which has become one of the most influential texts among the QAnon community. But rather than giving copies to the people who had donated money toward the book’s production, Cornero turned around and sold the book back to the same followers who had already given him money. The book is still available to buy on Amazon.

via vice: One of QAnon’s Biggest Influencers Is a Failed Hollywood Screenwriter

siehe auch: QAnon-Bewegung: Einer der Strippenzieher wurde offenbar identifiziert. Sie verbreiten krude Verschwörungstheorien, rufen immer wieder zur Gewalt auf und ihre Anhänger gehörten zu den ersten, die vergangene Woche das US-Kapitol in Washington, D.C. stürmten. Die sogenannte QAnon-Bewegung zählt mittlerweile zu den größten Bedrohungen, denen sich die USA derzeit stellen müssen. Nun soll einer ihrer prominentesten Hintermänner identifiziert worden sein. In Verschwörer-Kreisen ist er unter dem Pseudonym “Neon Revolt” bekannt. In dem rechtsextremen Netzwerk Gab sollen ihm mehr als 600.000 Anhänger folgen, während er wilde Theorien verbreitet und seine Gefolgschaft immer wieder zu Gewalt anstachelt. Nun wurde die Identität von “Neon Revolt” offenbar aufgedeckt. Wie “Vice” berichtet, handelt es sich bei dem Mann hinter dem Pseudonym um Robert Cornero Jr., einen erfolglosen Drehbuchautor aus Neptune City, New Jersey. Logically, eine Organisation, die sich auf das Überprüfen von Fakten spezialisiert hat, habe eine auf Corneros Namen registrierte Firma entdeckt, die ein Buch von “Neon Revolt” über die QAnon-Bewegung veröffentlichte.