Internet

The right-wing lurch of X under Elon Musk

Progressive accounts and fundraisers for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris have had their reach limited on X in recent days. Elon Musk has allowed US presidential candidate Donald Trump to have a free run on X even as he has been accused of throttling views he doesn’t agree with [File: Etienne Laurent and Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP] By Andy Hirschfeld Published On 13 Aug 2024 13 Aug 2024 Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, and changed its name to X, he has banned journalists critical of him, and been accused of censoring Democratic voices while simultaneously amplifying those of far-right extremists, even while claiming to be a “free speech absolutist”. While BlueSky, Meta’s Threads and others have gained from users disaffected with X, they pale in comparison to X’s hold on the information landscape. His history of censoring views he doesn’t agree with and his full-throated endorsement of Donald Trump has raised concerns that there will be an information void before the consequential United States Presidential election. After all, 65 percent of the platforms’ users go for news content according to a recent report from Pew Research. (…) On Monday, Elon Musk, who has no background in journalism, spent more than an hour interviewing former President Donald Trump on a myriad of issues. Musk gave Trump free rein to spread his message unfiltered and without a fact-checking apparatus to debunk his lies in real-time. Throughout the interview, Trump was allowed to make false and misleading claims ranging from tax policy to immigration. Trump repeated the false claim that the vice resident was appointed as Biden’s “border czar”. In 2021, Biden tasked the vice president with addressing the root causes of migration — why people want to leave their nation of origin in the first place —- not border security.

via al jazeera: The right-wing lurch of X under Elon Musk

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»Wednesday«-Schauspielerin Jenna Ortega löschte Twitter-Account wegen Deepfake-Pornografie

Auf Twitter sah Jenna Ortega reihenweise anstößige Inhalte – sie zeigten sie selbst, als Jugendliche. Die mit künstlicher Intelligenz generierten Bilder zwangen die Schauspielerin schließlich, ihren Account zu löschen. Schauspielerin Jenna Ortega hat schlechte Erfahrungen mit künstlicher Intelligenz gemacht. »Ich hasse KI«, sagte sie der »New York Times« . Als Teenager habe sie in den sozialen Medien anstößige Bilder von sich selbst gesehen, die andere Nutzer mit KI-Tools erstellt hatten. »Es ist erschreckend. Es ist korrupt. Es ist falsch«, sagte die 21-Jährige. Sie habe im Alter von 14 Jahren einen Twitter-Account erstellt, wie viele andere Künstlerinnen und Schauspieler. Die Plattform, die heute X heißt, zählt zu den weltweit größten sozialen Netzwerken. Später wurden ihr dort »schmutzig bearbeitete Inhalte« und pornografische Fotos ausgespielt, die sie als Jugendliche zeigten. (…) Auch abseits von KI-Technologie erlebte Ortega im Internet früh sexuelle Belästigung: Die erste Privatnachricht, die sie mit 12 Jahren selbst geöffnet habe, sei ein Foto der Genitalien eines Mannes gewesen. »Das war nur der Anfang von dem, was noch kommen sollte«, erzählte die Schauspielerin.

via spiegel: »Wednesday«-Schauspielerin Jenna Ortega löschte Twitter-Account wegen Deepfake-Pornografie

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Mangelnde Content-Moderation – Telegram-Chef Pavel Durow in Frankreich verhaftet

Nach der Landung seines Privatjets auf dem Flughafen Le Bourget ist der Milliardär Pavel Durow von der Polizei festgenommen worden. Es laufen Ermittlungen wegen seiner laxen Kontrolle der Inhalte auf Telegram. Der Gründer und Chef der Messaging-App Telegram, Pavel Durow, ist offenbar am Flughafen Le Bourget außerhalb von Paris festgenommen worden. Das berichtet der französische Sender TF1  am Samstagabend unter Berufung auf anonyme Quellen. Demnach soll der russische Milliardär in Begleitung einer Frau und eines Leibwächters mit seinem Privatjet aus Aserbaidschan gereist sein. Gegen 20 Uhr Ortszeit hätten ihn französische Sicherheitskräfte auf Grundlage polizeilicher Ermittlungen auf dem Rollfeld verhaftet. Nach den französischen Medienberichten geht es in den Ermittlungen um mangelnde Moderation von Inhalten auf Telegram. Zudem soll das Unternehmen bei der Zusammenarbeit mit den Strafverfolgungsbehörden nicht kooperativ gewesen sein. Nach Ansicht der Polizei ermögliche die Plattform mit ihrer liberalen Content-Policy, dass kriminelle Aktivitäten ungehindert aufgenommen und fortgesetzt werden können.

via spiegel: Mangelnde Content-Moderation Telegram-Chef Pavel Durow in Frankreich verhaftet

siehe auch: Chef von Messengerdienst Telegram in Frankreich verhaftet Der Russe Pawel Durow soll auf dem Flughafen festgenommen worden sein. Frankreich wirft dem Unternehmer fehlendes Eingreifen und unzureichende Kooperation vor. Der Gründer des Messengerdienstes Telegram, Pawel Durow, ist in Frankreich festgenommen worden. Der in Frankreich gesuchte Mann wurde am Samstagabend nach seiner Ankunft aus Aserbaidschan am Flughafen Le Bourget in Polizeigewahrsam genommen, wie die Sender TF1 und BFMTV sowie andere Medien unter Berufung auf Ermittlerkreise berichteten. Die russische Botschaft in Frankreich habe sich des Falls bereits angenommen, hieß es in einer Stellungnahme des Außenministeriums in Moskau. (…) Durow hatte Telegram mit seinem Bruder Nikolai gegründet, nachdem beide bereits das Netzwerk Vkontakte ins Leben gerufen hatten, eine Art russisches Facebook. Telegram ist in Russland eines der wichtigsten Online-Netzwerke, das auch von vielen Behörden und Politikern zur Kommunikation genutzt wird. Gleichzeitig ist es aber auch in westlichen Ländern äußerst beliebt. Besonders pikant ist, dass sich Telegram in der Ukraine großer Beliebtheit erfreut, womit es im russischen Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine von beiden Seiten für Mitteilungen genutzt wird; Telegram app founder Pavel Durov reportedly arrested at French airport Billionaire CEO, who was travelling aboard his private jet, was subject of arrest warrant, according to TV reports. Pavel Durov, billionaire co-founder and chief executive of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at the Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening, TF1 TV said, citing an unnamed source. Durov was travelling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France. The 39-year-old is understood to have been travelling from Azerbaijan and was arrested at about 8pm local time (6pm GMT). Durov was expected to appear in court on Sunday. The Russia-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.

File:Telegram app icon on smartphone screen (perspective render) (49896396508).jpg
By Yuri Samoilov – Telegram app icon on smartphone screen (perspective render), CC BY 2.0, Link

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Trump’s New Silicon Valley Supporters Really Want You to Forget He Called Nazis ‘Fine People’ – #Charlottesville #HeatherHeyer

Over the past few weeks, figures like Elon Musk have tried to minimize comments Donald Trump made about the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Some of Donald Trump’s biggest and newest supporters from finance and Silicon Valley, including Elon Musk and Bill Ackman, have spent the past several weeks trying to whitewash comments the former president and current Republican presidential nominee made in relation to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. In the past week, the Kamala Harris presidential campaign and President Joe Biden both highlighted Trump’s August 15, 2017 comment, when the former president said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the clashes that followed the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville. For years, Trump supporters have defended his comments, claiming he was speaking about a nonexistent group of nonracist rallygoers who were there just to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. While Trump did condemn the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who took part in the rally, those who covered the event have repeatedly pointed out that only extremists were involved in the march, including members of the so-called alt-right, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and far-right militias. Trump’s “fine people” comments were at best misleading and at worst tacit support for extremists, despite his subsequent disavowal. Trump has consistently been slammed by critics for his comments, but false claims from Trump supporters have persisted. They resurfaced earlier this year when a Snopes fact check titled “No, Trump Did Not Call Neo-Nazis and White Supremacists ‘Very Fine People.’” Snopes later added an editor’s note, clarifying that those covering the rally said it was “conceived of, led by, and attended by white supremacists, and that therefore Trump’s characterization was wrong.” But over the past few weeks, Trump’s supporters in Silicon Valley and Wall Street—some of whom began officially supporting the former president following his assassination attempt last month—have also tried to rewrite history.

via wired: Trump’s New Silicon Valley Supporters Really Want You to Forget He Called Nazis ‘Fine People’

Heather Heyer memorial 6.jpg
Von AgnosticPreachersKid – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

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Diddy Named as One of the Investors in Elon Musk’s Twitter Buyout

Other investors named include Bill Ackman, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud. A court filing has revealed that Diddy is among almost 100 entities that invested in Elon Musk’s controversial buyout of Twitter, which he has since renamed X. As first reported by The Washington Post, a federal judge ordered Musk’s company to reveal the list of shareholders in the company, which he purchased in October 2022 for $44 billion. Diddy’s ‘Sean Combs Capital, LLC’ is among the list of shareholders, which also includes Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud, and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman. (…) It’s unclear if everyone on the list is still a shareholder or to what extent they have involvement with the company in 2024. Musk has made major changes to the social media platform since he took over almost two years ago. He has repeatedly expressed his desire to make X the home of “free speech,” and he notably reinstated Donald Trump’s account after he was banned for his role in invoking the Capitol riot. These days, Musk mostly spends his time responding to racist dog whistles and classic right-wing ragebait.

via complex: Diddy Named as One of the Investors in Elon Musk’s Twitter Buyout

sieeh auch: One of Elon Musk’s Major Twitter Investors Has Been Accused of Sex Trafficking and Domestic Abuse Could this be Musk’s worst “friend”? (…) As the court filings stemming from reporter and author Jacob Silverman’s unmasking request reveal, Musk’s Twitter takeover was funded by everyone from Saudi prince and Harvard investor Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud to Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey to — perhaps most bizarrely — rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, whose involvement in the deal had been rumored by TMZ but never confirmed until now. In recent months, Combs has been in the news for being accused of a slew of serious crimes ranging from sex trafficking and domestic abuse to being involved in the conspiracy to murder Tupac Shakur. Though he’d been the subject of whisper network accusations and headline-grabbing violent altercations for years prior, the world was first made aware in stunning detail of the rapper’s alleged abusive proclivities last fall, when his ex-girlfriend and fellow musician Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against him claiming he’d physically and sexually assaulted her.

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World Bank halts paid advertising on X after CBS News finds its promoted ad under racist content

The World Bank has ceased all paid advertising on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which was formerly Twitter, after a CBS News investigation found promoted advertisements from the organization showing up under a racist post from an account that prolifically posts pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.  CBS News found a verified X account with more than 115,000 followers that had posted a racist image alongside a post praising Europe’s colonization of Africa. CBS News is not publicly identifying the accounts spreading racist content on X.  A promoted advertisement for the World Bank showed up in the comments section below the post.  “The World Bank Group had already reduced its paid marketing on X while working with the platform to implement the strongest safety protocols X offers for our content,” a spokesperson for the World Bank told CBS News on Friday, adding: “This latest incident is entirely unacceptable, and we are immediately ceasing all paid marketing on X.” (…) The account has shared dozens of  antisemitic and racist posts over the course of the past week alone, and CBS News found promoted advertisements from numerous businesses under multiple posts from the account as it shared pro-Nazi content, including one post showing archival video of Adolf Hitler with the caption: “We defeated the wrong enemy.” That post has garnered more than two million views on the platform, according to X’s own metrics.  CBS News has found more than a dozen accounts on X with the blue check indicating “verification” by the platform that have large followings and regularly post white nationalist or pro-Nazi content, and which have promoted advertisements from some recognizable brands showing up in their comments threads.

via cbs: World Bank halts paid advertising on X after CBS News finds its promoted ad under racist content

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Australien – Social-Media-App für Frauen schloss trans Frau aus: 10.000 Dollar Entschädigung

Eine Frauen-App wollte Roxanne Tickle wegen ihrer Geschlechtsidentität nicht akzeptieren. Die trans Frau klagte – und darf sich nun über eine Entschädigungszahlung freuen. Ein australisches Bundesgericht in Sydney hat am Freitag entschieden, dass eine Social-Media-App für Frauen nicht willkürlich trans Frauen ausschließen darf. Geklagt hatte Roxanne Tickle, die seit 2017 als Frau lebt und 2019 eine geschlechtsanpassende Operation durchgeführt hatte. Sie war im Februar 2021 der Frauen-Plattform “Giggle for Girls” beigetreten. Ihre Mitgliedschaft wurde aber im September des gleichen Jahres wegen ihrer Geschlechtsidentität gekündigt. Richter Robert Bromwich erklärte, die Klägerin sei wegen ihres Geschlechts indirekt diskriminiert worden. Nach australischem Recht sei sie eine Frau – und müsse daher auch so behandelt werden. Daher muss “Giggle for Girls” der trans Frau eine Entschädigung in Höhe von 10.000 Dollar (6.100 Euro) bezahlen sowie Gerichts- und Anwaltskosten erstatten. Richter Bromwich wies allerdings Tickles Forderung nach einer Entschuldigung durch das Portal zurück. Diese hätte, so der Jurist, keinerlei Wert, da sie nicht aufrichtig wäre.

via queer: Australien Social-Media-App für Frauen schloss trans Frau aus: 10.000 Dollar Entschädigung

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