Workers in Turkish factories, construction sites and fields have become the unlikely stars of TikTok, revealing harsh and dangerous conditions in posts with millions of views. Turkey, ranked among the '10 worst countries in the world for workers', is one of TikTok’s largest user bases, with approximately 19.2 million users. Its algorithm can allow a labourer with a handful of followers to reach millions if their posts land on the 'discover' page. But despite the grim reality evident in these videos, creativity and humour shine through the cracks
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‘I felt I existed in this world’: TikTok gives a voice to Turkey’s labourers
Workers have become unlikely stars of the video app, while revealing harsh conditions
Agricultural workers throw their buckets into the air at the end of harvest like at a graduation ceremony. A construction site turns into a concert hall, with workers wearing strands of hemp as wigs and singing into bits of plastic piping instead of microphones. A market stall becomes a runway as fruit vendors strut their stuff: a bunch of bananas as headgear, leeks dangling from their necks.
With posts from factories, fields and construction sites, workers in Turkey are going viral on TikTok. The app’s staples such as challenges, dancing and comedy abound, but amid the joy it is hard not to miss the criticism of dire working conditions.
Continue reading...Instagram ‘pushes weight-loss messages to teenagers’
Researchers find minimal interactions by teen users can trigger a deluge of thin-body and dieting images
Instagram’s algorithms are pushing teenage girls who even briefly engage with fitness-related images towards a flood of weight-loss content, according to new research which aimed to recreate the experience of being a child on social networks.
Researchers adopting “mystery shopper” techniques set up a series of Instagram profiles mirroring real children and followed the same accounts as the volunteer teenagers. They then began liking a handful of posts to see how quickly the network’s algorithm pushed potentially damaging material into the site’s “explore” tab, which highlights material that the social network thinks a user might like.
Continue reading...Biden says Facebook isn’t ‘killing people’ but Covid misinformation causes harm – video
Joe Biden has tempered his assessment that social media platforms are 'killing people' by hosting misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccines, saying that he hoped they would not take it 'personally'. He added that vaccine misinformation on Facebook can harm people and the point of his rhetoric was to ramp up pressure on the companies to take action and save lives
Continue reading...Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people, report finds
CCDH finds ‘disinformation dozen’ have combined following of 59 million people across multiple social media platforms
The vast majority of Covid-19 anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories originated from just 12 people, a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) cited by the White House this week found.
Related: ‘They’re killing people’: Biden slams Facebook for Covid disinformation
Continue reading...‘They’re killing people’: Biden slams Facebook for Covid disinformation
False claims about vaccines has proliferated on the social network, and on other sites including Twitter and YouTube, says president
Joe Biden says social media platforms such as Facebook “are killing people” for allowing disinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform, as the administration continued criticising the company.
“They’re killing people. ... Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people,” the US president told reporters at the White House on Friday, when asked about disinformation and what his message was to social media platforms such as Facebook.
Continue reading...Famous, but not ultra famous: meet the internet’s ‘in-betweeners’
They’re known by their faces, work, or names, and live a life of semi-stardom – all because they showcased their craft on the internet
You probably know Sarah Bahbah by her name, or her work – but you probably wouldn’t be able to pick her out in a crowd. You may have seen her recent cover shot of DJ Khaled for GQ; or you may know her other visual art work – like her subtitle series, which uses cinematic stills with her inner dialogue as captions, featuring big names like Noah Centineo and Dylan Sprouse. But a few years ago, the 29-year-old was relatively unknown. Then, all of a sudden, she posted a collection of photographic stills based on sex and takeout, and woke up to find herself near famous.
Now she has more than a million followers on Instagram, but Bahbah first recognized her new level of fame when she started to pass the barbecue test – that is, when you are invited to a gathering where you don’t know anyone, and a stranger asks if you’re familiar with your own work. “It’s happened numerous times,” she says. “I would just be sitting there listening to someone talk about my work, in this room full of strangers. That’s such a cool feeling to have – knowing that no matter where you are in the world, because of the internet, people discover you on their own terms and connect to your work.”
Continue reading...FinTok: how TikTok is helping young people use cash wisely
It’s not just jokes and emojis – the video-sharing platform can help users learn how to manage money
Sea shanties and viral dance trends have helped make TikTok a hit since the start of the pandemic. In 2020, the social media app, which allows users to create and share one or more 60-second films soundtracked with music clips, surpassed 2bn global downloads.
In the financial world, TikTok has a reputation for promoting volatile cryptocurrencies and activist investing – interest in Dogecoin and GameStop has been fuelled by the platform. But, beyond the jokes and rocket emojis being shared by some users, there is a wealth of practical personal finance videos that are teaching young people how to use their money better.
Continue reading...‘Where else can I make a month’s rent in two days?’: the unlikely stars of OnlyFans
Clarita needed to put herself through nursing school; Lex wanted to boost his income as a labourer – now they are erotic influencers on the subscriber site
In many ways, Lex Lederman, 28, is a classic American family man. He owns a farm in New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife and three children (plus a sizable company of chickens, pigs and geese). He’s teaching himself home renovation (plumbing, electrics, how to lay floors) and regularly helps out with homeless food charities, refugee relief, and the local high school football team. But this lifestyle has only become possible since he quit his construction job for a full-time career on OnlyFans – the content subscription service where he uploads erotic pictures and videos for his predominantly gay male fanbase.
One of the biggest tech success stories of the last few years, OnlyFans was founded by British entrepreneur Tim Stokely in September 2016. “You could see the explosion of influencer marketing, but the influencers were getting paid via ad campaigns and product endorsements,” he explained in an interview earlier this year. “Our thinking was always, OK, what if you could build a platform where it’s similar to existing on social media, but with the key difference being the payment button?” Stokely is now worth an estimated $120m (£86m).
Continue reading...‘Southgate You’re the One’: social media reacts to England’s win
Fans share jokes and clips including a stadium rendition of Whole Again and mocking Boris Johnson’s shirt
As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.
Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.
Continue reading...French court convicts 11 of harassing teenager who posted anti-Islam videos
Case involving Mila, who was sent more than 100,000 abusive messages, has fuelled debate about free speech.
A French court has convicted 11 people for harassing a teenager online over her anti-Islam videos in a case that has led to a fierce debate about free speech and the right to insult religions.
The prosecutions were part of a judicial fightback against trolling and online abuse after the girl, known as Mila, had to change schools and accept police protection because of death threats.
Continue reading...Could Chrissy Teigen just try sending a text next time? | Harron Walker
After apologizing on Monday, Teigen was accused of bullying Michael Costello, who then was accused of bullying Leona Lewis. Maybe it’s time to pause the posts
In 2018, the New Republic deputy editor Katie McDonough wrote a piece for Jezebel that I spiritually consult to this day. (Full disclosure: I was a Jezebel contributor at the time.)
“Why tweet when you can text?” she asked, and … well, that’s basically it. Sometimes, you can just text the thing you want to tweet.
Continue reading...‘It is obscene’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pens blistering essay against social media sanctimony
The novelist describes helping two writers who went on to insult her online, and condemns era of ‘angels jostling to out-angel one another’
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has written a detailed essay about the conduct of young people on social media “who are choking on sanctimony and lacking in compassion”, who she says are part of a generation “so terrified of having the wrong opinions that they have robbed themselves of the opportunity to think and to learn and to grow”.
Titled It Is Obscene, the essay was published by the Nigerian novelist and feminist on her website on Tuesday night. It attracted so much attention that her website temporarily crashed.
Continue reading...Nigeria suspends Twitter after president’s tweet was deleted
Information minister blames use of platform for ‘activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence’
Nigeria’s government has announced an indefinite suspension of Twitter in the country, two days after the social media company removed a post from president Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists.
The information minister, Lai Mohammed, said the government had acted because of “the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence”.
Continue reading...Facebook to suspend Trump’s account for two years
Decision follows oversight board recommendation over ex-president’s post on Capitol attack
Facebook is suspending Donald Trump’s account for two years, the company has announced in a highly anticipated decision that follows months of debate over the former president’s future on social media.
“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols. We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, said in a statement on Friday.
Continue reading...Twitter deletes Nigerian president’s ‘abusive’ Biafra tweet
Muhammadu Buhari’s comments come amid escalating violence and resurgence in secessionist sentiment
Twitter has deleted a tweet by Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari in which he threatened to punish pro-Biafra groups blamed for escalating attacks on government and security authorities.
The social media firm said Buhari’s tweet violated its “abusive behaviour” policy, leading to a 12-hour suspension of his account.
Continue reading...Overconfident of spotting fake news? If so, you may be more likely to fall victim
Study suggests people who are most sure of their ability to discern fact from fiction are less likely to do so
Are you a purveyor of fake news? People who are most confident about their ability to discern between fact and fiction are also the most likely to fall victim to misinformation, a US study suggests.
Although Americans believe the confusion caused by false news is all-pervasive, relatively few indicate having seen or shared it, something the researchers suggested shows that many may not only have a hard time identifying false news but are not aware of their own deficiencies at doing so.
Continue reading...EU cites ‘anti-vaccine campaign’ as reason to toughen social media code
European Commission proposes more factchecking and algorithm changes to tackle disinformation
A “massive anti-vaccination campaign” has been cited by the European Commission as a reason for social media platforms to intensify their factchecking and revise the internal algorithms that can amplify disinformation.
Under a revised code of practice proposed by Brussels, companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter would need to show why particular material is disseminated and prove that false information is being blocked.
Continue reading...Spanish aid volunteer abused online for hugging Senegalese migrant
Luna Reyes targeted by far-right supporters after footage of gesture goes viral
The image captured the raw humanity of the moment: a Red Cross volunteer tenderly consoling a Senegalese man moments after he stepped foot in Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta.
Hours after the footage went viral, however, Luna Reyes set her social media accounts to private after she was targeted by a torrent of abuse from supporters of Spain’s far-right Vox party and others incensed by the unprecedented arrival of 8,000 migrants in Ceuta.
Continue reading...The new food stars of TikTok
The app’s snappy videos are the new gateway to food fame. Its breakout stars explain the secrets of their success
When Poppy O’Toole was made redundant from her job as junior sous chef at the AllBright private members club in Mayfair during the first wave of the pandemic, she expected to return to work soon enough. “I thought, I’ve got three weeks to cook some nice food at home,” 27-year-old O’Toole remembers, “and be back in work in a few weeks.”
With lockdown opening up in front of her, O’Toole decided to upload the recipes she was cooking for herself on to the video-sharing app TikTok. “I’d always wanted to do the social media thing,” she says, “but I never had time, because I worked 70-hour weeks.” On 1 April 2020, O’Toole uploaded her first TikTok video under the handle @poppycooks. “Hi everyone … I’m going to start cooking at home doing TikToks,” said O’Toole. She captioned the video “hope this TikTok doesn’t flop like my career”.
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