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Category Archives: Social Media

Growing Oct. 7 ‘truther’ groups say Hamas massacre was a false flag

Washington Post: “…The Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack is among the most well-documented in history. A crush of evidence from smartphone cameras and GoPros captured Hamas’s breach of the border — a strike Israel says left about 1,200 dead, the most deadly onslaught in the country’s history. But Oct. 7 denial is spreading. A small… Continue Reading

Find out what websites are Built With

“BuiltWith® covers 92,628+ internet technologies which include analytics, advertising, hosting, CMS and many more. See how the internet technology usage changes on a weekly basis. With BuiltWith.com technology trends data back to January 2000. BuiltWith® tracks over 2500 eCommerce technologies across over 26 million eCommerce websites backed with extensive exportable attributes including spend, revenue, employee… Continue Reading

Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat in 2024

NBC News – and the U.S. is less ready than ever: “Disinformation poses an unprecedented threat to democracy in the United States in 2024, according to researchers, technologists and political scientists.  As the presidential election approaches, experts warn that a convergence of events at home and abroad, on traditional and social media — and amid… Continue Reading

Big Tech Won’t Let You Leave. Here’s a Way Out

Wired [read free]: “The platform is the canonical form of internet business: a two-sided market that facilitates connections between end-users and business customers. Uber connects drivers with riders; Amazon and eBay connect sellers with buyers; TikTok and YouTube connect performers with audiences; social media connects people with something to say with people who want to… Continue Reading

Pro-China YouTube Network Used AI to Malign US Report Finds

The New York Times: [read free] “…Content from at least 30 channels in the network drew nearly 120 million views and 730,000 subscribers since last year, along with occasional ads from Western companies, the report found. Some of the videos featured titles and scripts that seemed to be direct translations of common Chinese phrases and… Continue Reading

Meta unlawfully ignores the users’ right to easily withdraw consent

Noyb.eu: “Since the beginning of November, Instagram and Facebook users who don’t want to be tracked have to pay a “privacy fee” of up to € 251.88 per year. While one (free) click is enough to consent to being tracked, users can only withdraw their consent by going through the complicated process of switching to… Continue Reading

The New Digital Dark Age

Wired: Online trust will reach an all-time low thanks to unchecked disinformation, AI-generated content, and social platforms pulling up their data drawbridges. “For researchers, social media has always represented greater access to data, more democratic involvement in knowledge production, and great transparency about social behavior. Getting a sense of what was happening—especially during political crises,… Continue Reading

Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement

Via LLRX – Jan. 6 was an example of networked incitement. The shocking events of Jan. 6, 2021, signaled a major break from the nonviolent rallies that categorized most major protests over the past few decades. What set Jan. 6 apart was the president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack… Continue Reading

Asking people to “do the research” on fake news stories makes them seem more believable, not less

Nieman Lab: “A new study asked thousands to evaluate the accuracy of news articles — both real and fake — by doing some research online. But for many, heading to Google led them farther from the truth, not closer… Media literacy proponents often advocate doing your own research — emphasis on the search, since Google… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 6, 2024

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 6, 2024– Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and… Continue Reading

Meet ‘Link History,’ Facebook’s New Way to Track the Websites You Visit

Gizmodo: “Facebook recently rolled out a new “Link History” setting that creates a special repository of all the links you click on in the Facebook mobile app. Users can opt-out, but Link History is turned on by default, and the data is used for targeted ads. As lawmakers introduce tech regulations and Apple and Google… Continue Reading