Aminu Adamu’s detention had sparked widespread outrage before Aisha Buhari withdrew complaint
Nigeria has freed a student charged with “criminal defamation” over a tweet he posted about the physical appearance of the country’s first lady.
Aminu Adamu was arrested at his university in northern Jigawa state on 18 November after Aisha Buhari filed a complaint and then remanded into custody until January.
Continue reading...US firm says network of bot accounts also hijacking hashtags in large-scale attempt to obscure coverage
An attempt to flood social media platforms with spam in order to drown out coverage of the lockdown protests in China was probably backed by the Chinese government, according to analysis by a US cybersecurity firm.
Recorded Future found that networks of coordinated bot accounts were targeting non-Chinese social media platforms to crowd out genuine posts about the demonstrations with spam content and by hijacking hashtags of names of Chinese cities. It said China’s government was most likely to be behind the tactic.
Continue reading...Revised online safety bill proposes fines of 10% of revenue but drops harmful communications offence
Social media platforms that breach pledges to block sexist and racist content face the threat of substantial fines under government changes to the online safety bill announced on Monday.
Under the new approach, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter must also give users the option of avoiding content that is harmful but does not constitute a criminal offence. This could include racism, misogyny or the glorification of eating disorders.
Continue reading...Activity indicates ‘first major failure’ to stop government interference under ownership of Elon Musk
Twitter has been flooded with nuisance posts designed to obscure news of the coronavirus lockdown protests in China, in an apparent state-directed attempt to suppress footage of the demonstrations.
Chinese bot accounts – not operated by humans – are being used to flood the social networking service with adverts for sex workers, pornography and gambling when users search for a major city in the country, such as Shanghai or Beijing, using Chinese script.
Continue reading...Twitter boss says he has ‘no mercy’ for those who capitalise on deaths of children, citing loss of son in 2002
Elon Musk has said he will not reinstate the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Twitter, saying he has “no mercy” for people who capitalize on the deaths of children for personal fame.
Twitter permanently suspended the accounts of Jones and his Infowars website in September 2018 for violating the platform’s abusive behavior policy.
Continue reading...‘The people have spoken,’ says site’s owner, having acknowledged during online poll that automated bots were voting too
Elon Musk has reinstated Donald Trump’s Twitter account after users on the social media platform voted by a slim majority to lift a ban on the former US president.
Trump’s account was suspended in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riot, for violating Twitter guidelines and because of the risk of “further incitement of violence”.
Continue reading...Social media giant ill-equipped to deal with traffic spikes after cuts imposed by Elon Musk, according to former employee
Twitter stands a 50% chance of a major outage that could take the site offline during the World Cup, according to a recently departed employee with knowledge of how the company responds to large-scale events.
The former employee, who was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of what was discussed, has knowledge of the workings of Twitter Command Centre, the platform’s team of troubleshooters who monitor the site for issues such as traffic spikes and data centre outages.
Continue reading...Reports show nearly 1,200 workers left company after demand for ‘long hours at high intensity’, while Musk starts poll on whether to reinstate Donald Trump
Elon Musk emailed Twitter staff on Friday asking that any employees who write software code report to the 10th floor of the office in San Francisco in the early afternoon, according to multiple news reports.
The billionaire said in a follow-up email, “If possible, I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding he would be at the company’s headquarters until midnight and would return Saturday morning, Reuters reported. The engineers should report at 2pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Users on gamer-focused platform manage to respond to posts despite government blocking all comments
The UK Treasury has opened an account on Discord to a torrent of abuse from users of the gamer-focused chat app – abuse they managed to send despite the government blocking all comments on the service.
As Twitter’s future looks increasingly uncertain, prominent users are preparing alternatives, directing followers to Facebook and Instagram accounts, handing out their Mastodon addresses, and setting up servers on chat apps such as Discord.
Continue reading...ACCC report says digital platforms expose users and businesses to ‘harms’ as it pushes for overhaul
Australia’s competition regulator has run out of patience with digital platforms such as Google and Facebook and has recommended new laws to clamp down on scams, address consumer complaints and rein in anti-competitive behaviour.
Releasing its fifth progress report on digital platforms since it began an inquiry in 2017, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has called for industry-specific legislation, saying it has identified “widespread, entrenched and systematic” consumer and competition “harms”.
Continue reading...As the brand-new CEO experiments with changes at the company, major brands pause spending on the platform
Elon Musk sought to reassure advertisers on Twitter on Wednesday that his chaotic takeover of the social media platform won’t harm their brands.
But his effort came after a day of changes to the platform’s account verification systems, and an acknowledgement from Musk that some “dumb things” might happen as he transforms the company.
Continue reading...Ramon Abbas, described by FBI as one of world’s most prolific money launderers, sentenced to 11 years
A social media influencer who called himself Ray Hushpuppi and flaunted a lavish lifestyle fuelled by his efforts to launder millions of stolen dollars has been sentenced in Los Angeles to more than 11 years in federal prison.
Ramon Abbas, 40, also was ordered by a federal judge to pay $1.7m in restitution to two fraud victims, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.
Continue reading...Harvesting data is the norm for social media apps, but the question that many have is where it goes and who has access to it
In 2021 Android phone users around the world spent 16.2tn minutes on TikTok. And while those millions and millions of users no doubt had an enjoyable time watching clips on the addictive social video app, they also generated a colossal amount of data.
TikTok collects information on how you consume its content, from the device you are using to how long you watch a post for and what categories you like, and uses that information to fine tune the algorithm for the app’s main feed.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Hollie Dance believes 12-year-old was ‘influenced, persuaded or peer-pressured’ into taking part in online challenge
The mother of Archie Battersbee, the 12-year-old boy who died in August after his life support was switched off, wants a coroner to consider what role exposure to TikTok videos may have played in his death.
Archie sustained a catastrophic brain injury on 7 April at his home in Southend, Essex, when a ligature was found over his head. His mother, Hollie Dance, believes he was injured as a result of taking part in an internet challenge known as the “blackout challenge” and wants the inquest into his death to scrutinise how social media may have contributed.
Continue reading...Users adopt Musk’s name after he announces suspension of accounts pretending to be someone else
Elon Musk has banned a US comedian’s Twitter account after taking on users who impersonate him on the platform.
Twitter’s new owner announced an immediate ban on accounts pretending to be someone else without flagging them as parodies. The move resulted in the removal of an “Elon Musk” account held by the comedian Kathy Griffin, who had changed her account name to match that of the Tesla chief executive.
Continue reading...Social media firm sets deadline for workers to name person to represent them at job consultations amid layoffs
Twitter staff who face losing their jobs in the UK have been given three days to nominate a representative for a formal consultation about their employment.
An email sent to staff from Twitter’s HR department on Saturday said they had until 9am on Tuesday to nominate any current employee. Staff can nominate themselves.
Continue reading...Internal chaos at the company – and the decimation of its staff – has created ideal conditions for falsehoods and hateful content
The mass layoffs at Twitter that diminished several teams, including staff on the company’s safety and misinformation teams, could spell disaster during the US midterm elections next week, experts have warned.
The company has laid off around 50% of its workforce, according to news reports; a figure that Musk and others have not disputed, amounting to an estimated 3,700 people.
Continue reading...Privacy policy update confirms data of continent’s users available to range of TikTok bases including in Brazil, Israel and US
TikTok is spelling out to its European users that their data can be accessed by employees outside the continent, including in China, amid political and regulatory concerns about Chinese access to user information on the platform.
The Chinese-owned social video app is updating its privacy policy to confirm that staff in countries, including China, are allowed to access user data to ensure their experience of the platform is “consistent, enjoyable and safe”.
Continue reading...Elon Musk says setting up process over those barred, including Donald Trump, will take ‘at least a few more weeks’
Banned Twitter accounts including Donald Trump’s will not be reinstated until after the US midterm elections at least, the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, has said.
The Tesla chief executive’s statement came as a study revealed that Twitter had taken down six disinformation networks on the platform linked to China and Iran that had been tweeting about the 8 November elections.
Continue reading...To mark the site’s takeover by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, we present a survey of its most media-friendly moments
Twitter has great influence for a social media platform. It has a comparatively modest 230 million users, given that the likes of Instagram, Facebook and TikTok have user bases that run into the billions. But Twitter is beloved of politicians, celebrities, commentators and journalists and can have a great impact on the political and news cycle as a result. Here are some of the best-known and notorious tweets in the company’s 16-year history.
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