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EMPLOYEES WEIGH UP A BAN
Twitter employees debate banning Libs of TikTok
Leaked internal chats reveal that Twitter employees are discussing permanently banning Libs of TikTok, a popular account that reposts controversial content and commentary from the left.
“Twitter employees are currently debating whether to ban us. We have screenshots of their internal discussion,” Libs of TikTok wrote on Twitter.
The screenshots were posted on their official Substack. The Libs of TikTok founder says that they verified the validity of the Slack messages, blurring out the names of employees who made the comments. Libs of TikTok said the screenshots were sent to them by a Twitter employee who wishes to remain anonymous.
“There are a few tweeps (that’s what Twitter employees call themselves) involved in this exchange. As you can see, they’re weighing the pros and cons of banning us,” Libs of TikTok wrote on Substack.
“One of them expresses concern that a ban will only validate the charge that Twitter is biased against conservatives,” the account wrote, referring to an employee that said, “But if we deplatform this account, we might erode trust in our platform from users who already think we’re irredeemably biased against conservatives.”
“I mean we successfully deplatformed Trump – I don’t think deplatforming Libs of TikTok is going to cause a mass exodus but I guess it may not be in our ‘fiduciary’ interest to enact a ban on a high profile account right now,” another wrote.
Another employee weighed in, saying they don’t see how Libs of TikTok, which they allege “exists solely to generate targeted violence at marginalized people,” continues “to be allowed to post.”
Libs of TikTok recently posted photos of ads for a series of drag queen events for kids. The tweet was mass-reported resulting in the temporary suspension of the account last week.
Media Matters employees took a particular interest in the tweets, alleging that the person behind Libs of TikTok was going to get someone killed.
Ari Drennen posted a screenshot of the tweet that led to the suspension along with a screenshot alleging “Proud Boys” turned up at a Drag Queen Story Time event at the San Lorenzo Public Library.
The Libs of TikTok accounts posted that it is receiving death threats. Someone sent an Instagram DM that they had sent a “pipe bomb for literally supporting nazi bigots,” adding “please kill yourself at your earliest convenience.”
Tesla CEO and expected soon-to-be owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, has questioned Twitter about why the people aren’t banned for making death threats against Libs of TikTok.
Reclaim The Net accepts no advertising and is funded entirely by the community. If you support free speech, the eradication of cancel culture and restoring privacy and civil liberties, please become a supporter here.
INVESTIGATION
SEC continues to target Truth Social deal
The federal securities regulators are investigating a merger between an acquisition company and Donald Trump’s Truth Social, according to a filing made with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.
We obtained a copy of the filing for you here.
The financial prospects of Truth Social are reliant on the merger with Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC). The investigation is supposed to determine whether negotiations between the two sides began before DWAC went public.
The investigation into Truth Social was started after a request from Senator Elizabeth Warren who last year wrote a letter to the SEC Chair Gary Gensler saying that she was, « concerned for some time about the misaligned incentives underlying SPAC deals, which are often structured to exploit retail investors to the benefit of large institutional investors such as hedge funds, venture capital insiders, and investment banks. »
We obtained a copy of that letter for you here.
DWAC had already revealed that it was being investigated. The Monday filing says that the SEC has expanded the investigation by requesting “additional documents and information.”
The securities regulator say it wants to know if DWAC conducted due diligence in deals with other companies other than Trump’s, its relationships with other companies, “certain elements of the transaction history for equity,” and other forward-looking statements.
Truth Social officially launched a few months ago on iPhone devices. Last month, it announced beta testing of the web app.
AD BOYCOTT
Anti free speech campaigners have hurt GB News revenue, CEO suggests
UK TV station and streaming channel GB News has faced a year-long ad boycott since its launch a year ago. The boycott even began before the station officially launched. Its CEO Angelos Frangopoulos said that the boycott is a threat to free speech.
“Commercially, this is a very serious matter. This does cause damage to the GB News business model, there is no two ways about it,” he said. “And that is something that the advertising industry itself needs to acknowledge.”
The former Sky News Australia chief executive noted that advertisers were boycotting the channel despite it following the rules by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom.
“Being part of a regulated environment should give an advertiser and a brand confidence that a broadcaster is meeting the legal requirements around impartiality,” he added, in an interview with The Telegraph.
“To then ignore that and apply what could be perceived to be some kind of commercial pressure to change that content, I think is quite dangerous for public debate and freedom of speech.”
The boycott campaign was launched by Stop Funding Hate, a campaign group that has previously targeted newspapers for promoting conservative views and launched the campaign against GB News before the channel was even launched.
Frangopoulos said that he was talking to brands and agencies who are still participating in the boycott.
“Quite frankly, it’s all perception and not reality,” he explained. « The battle GB News had before launch was a perception that was set by a hashtag on Twitter. Who do you trust: a hashtag on Twitter, or Ofcom? »
« HARASSMENT »
Fact checkers accuse Christina Pushaw of harassment for criticizing and showing reporter’s emails on Twitter
Fact-checking website Politifact has accused Florida’s Gov. Ron Desantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw of instigating harassment after she criticized their reporting on Twitter. Pushaw shared an email from a reporter, pointing out what she calls “incompetence and bias.”
In the article, titled “PolitiFact reporters face online harassment; we keep fact-checking anyway,” Politifact’s chief editor Angie Drobnic Holan singled out Pushaw, accusing her of harassing reporters.
Holan said that Pushaw has a habit of posting emails she has received from reporters on Twitter, which they see as an attempt to get followers to harass the reporters.
« Reporters have alerted a press secretary that we’re writing about their boss and simply asked for comment. Within minutes, she’s published the email and slammed the reporters as incompetent, while trying to rally an online mob to attack the reporters – who are just doing their jobs, » Holan wrote.
She added: « Rather than responding to journalists’ press inquiries in a standard manner, Pushaw will attack them on Twitter, urging online mobs to vilify things that are legitimate practices of journalism.”
Responding to the article on Twitter, Pushaw wrote: « So now it’s ‘harassment’ to point out that an email from a reporter reveals incompetence and bias? But the same reporters can baselessly accuse my boss all day of much worse, with zero pushback and full support from their editors? Nah, we are not playing that game anymore.”
In another tweet, Pushaw said that Holan’s argument means Politifact reporters are harassing Gov. DeSantis.
« Fact check: Pointing out bias isn’t harassment. Also, disagreeing with regime narrative enforcers isn’t harassment. But if you think criticism is ‘harassment,’ then by your own standards, @PolitiFact is HARASSING @GovRonDeSantis… » she wrote.
Online fact-checkers are particularly controversial as their rulings on stories are often used as the basis for social media platforms to censor content if it contradicts the decision of a fact-checker.
BAD FOR PRIVACY
Google plots to curb the effectiveness of ad-blockers
It’s common for corporations to take actions that ultimately are to the detriment of most consumers and Google is one of the world’s biggest. The tech giant is making changes to its Chrome Web Store, specifically an end to supporting Manifest v2 (Mv2) extensions, which will make it more difficult for adblockers to operate.
Currently, Mv2 supports all extensions on the Chrome Web Store, including ad-blocker extensions such as uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, etc. Ad-blockers are extremely popular features of the Chrome Web Store with millions of currently active users due to their functionality in blocking ads and maintaining privacy. However, starting in January 2023, Google will shift from Mv2 to Mv3, making most of these popular features obsolete.
The shift wouldn’t make it entirely impossible to adapt existing extensions; however, Mv3 would certainly reduce the functionality of ad-blockers and limit innovation in the ad blocking space.
Google, however, argues that Mv3 will continue supporting developers and will go further to protect sensitive consumer data while maintaining the same level of efficiency for extensions.
Simeon Vincent, a Chrome developer advocate, stated, “… these changes were meant to give developers a safer way to create safer and more performant ad blockers.”
A real-world consequence of this change was explained by Jean-Paul Schmetz, CEO of Ghostery. Schmetz talked to The Register about Facebook as an example, specifically the process of liking posts. While one part of the network request was harmless the other notified Facebook which posts a user saw which allowed them to target ads.
Ghostery’s ad-blocking capabilities restricted the network request, allowing users to continue liking posts while maintaining their privacy. In regards to this capability, Schmetz said, “… that is definitely something that’s going to go away with Manifest v3, the ability to modify the request as it leaves the browser.”
While these changes may seem counterintuitive to a majority of people, they make sense for Google. Google is, in fact, an ad company, and continuing to support ad blocking services takes away from their revenue.
Despite this, Chrome continues to enjoy popularity as it dominates the market – though private alternatives such as Brave are growing daily.
REINSTSTED
Professor fired for blog posts doubting « systemic racism » is allowed to return
Last year, Rima Azar, a professor of health psychology at Canada’s Mount Allison University, was suspended without pay over personal blog posts where she used what were described as “unkind words,” calling Black Lives Matter a “radical group,” and cast doubt on the existence of systemic racism.
Not only was she suspended but she was also forced to attend diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
The university’s student union president said it was « unprofessional to comment on students’ beliefs” and that students have a “right to a safe learning environment.”
The Mount Allison Black Students’ Union had called for Azar’s termination, arguing that it was “disappointing and offensive to have our experiences ridiculed by an accredited professor.”
Arbitration hearings into the issue were held earlier this year behind closed doors. The result of the hearings was Azar getting her job back.
In a joint statement, Azar and Mount Allison University said that “all matters in dispute between them have been resolved.”
“All parties have agreed that fostering a respectful and inclusive learning environment — one which also recognizes academic freedom — is of the utmost importance,” the statement added.
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