^CategorySocial Media

Cancel Culture society concept or cultural cancellation and social media censorship as canceling or restricting opinions that are offensive or controversial to the public

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post

Author
News
Date
January 13, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Alex Berenson, Big Tech, Child sex abuse, COVID 19 censorship, Facebook, Robert Flaherty, Tucker Carlson, Twitter, Twitter and Russian influence claims, Twitter files 13, Twitter files 14, White House}

Twitter files 13 and 14… plus the critical bigger picture

_{Growing distrust of mainstream media should be supplemented by scrutiny among users of Big Tech social media. They're not an answer to the problem.} _{News

January 13, 2023

6

Censorship, Social Media}

First, as Elon Musk continues to dump the files out the window at Twitter — to the dismay of the media elite that generally knew and approved of censorship of views other than their own, especially where COVID-19 or U.S. federal politics was concerned: Twitter files 13: Handled by independent journalist Alex Berenson — once banned from Twitter for criticizing the government response to the pandemic: “Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb secretly pressed Twitter to hide posts challenging his company’s massively profitable Covid jabs /To funnel his demands, Gottlieb used the same Twitter lobbyist the White House did – fresh evidence of overlap between the company selling mRNA shots and the government forcing them on the public.” 4/ In October Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
January 9, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Bari Weiss, Bias in media, Featured, Jack Dorsey, Karl D. Stephan, Twitter, Wilfred Reilly}

What? Twitter is “neutral”? A thoughtful engineer responds

_{Despite appearances, Twitter is not a conventional public square, but a private corporation} _{News

January 9, 2023

7

Censorship, Social Media}

This column by Texas State University engineering prof Karl Stephan is republished with thanks from Engineering Ethics (January 2, 2023) Back when I started this blog in 2006, the phrase “social media” was hardly used by anybody, according to Google Trends. It began to climb above 1% of its current frequency of use around 2008, possibly in connection with the elections of that year, and has been climbing ever since. Twitter, the social-media format that has become the default medium of choice for announcements by Presidents on down, was also founded in 2006. From an obscure techie-speak term, it has turned into a routine and near-universal medium of expression that its leadership has claimed is as neutral as they can make it. But Read More ›

An internet email symbol and a group of people are separated by a red prohibitory symbol No. restrictions on access to the global Internet. Censorship. Information control, society isolation policy

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
January 5, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Benjamin Weingarten, Facebook, Facebook censorship, Glenn Greenwald, Government management of news, Matt Taibbi, TikTok, Twitter files 11, Twitter files 12}

Big Tech Censorship Goes Well Beyond Twitter

_{Big Tech media is not, in itself, an answer to current legacy mainstream media if we would like to know information that our betters would prefer that we didn't} _{Denyse O'Leary

January 5, 2023

6

Censorship, Social Media}

The big news (if it is even news) is that most Big Tech media are involved in censorship of opinions disapproved by the governing elite. Elon Musk has certainly shone a light by buying Twitter and releasing the house files to independent journalists. Legacy media entities still refuse to cover the story seriously (probably because they cannot take inevitable further blows to their relevance, numbers, or prestige) First, some updates on the Twitter Files via indie journalist Matt Taibbi: Twitter files 11 deals with — among other things — the way Twitter was pressured in 2016 by political friends, then out of power, to discover that there was Russian involvement in the outcome of the U.S. 2016 election. Twitter was Read More ›

Hand in a white glove pulling curtain away

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post

Author
Nathan Jacobson
Date
January 1, 2023

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
bias, censorship, Fact checking, fake news, Google, Google search algorithms (bias), journalism, mob psychology, RankBrain, reliability, search engines, The Anointed, The Trust Project}

Google: Rank Censorship Behind the Scenes

_{We live under a state of highly sophisticated and ubiquitous suppression of disfavored voices} _{Nathan Jacobson

January 1, 2023

10

Censorship, Social Media}

One year ago today (January 1st, 2022) we saw behind the curtain at Google. With vast information scattered across a billion websites, whoever controls the search algorithm largely controls information. And if Google.com were a stage, the spotlight is centered squarely on the first result, with some ambient light spilling onto a few supporting roles. The second page results are essentially extras, unlikely to catch the attention of the audience at all. About 25% of web searchers click that first result. Another 50% follow one of the next half-dozen. A scant 6% will ever make it to the second page.* If your breaking news, breakthrough product, or bold opinion piece isn’t in a starring role on that first page, it will languish Read More ›

Hairdresser's hands with scissors. New normal concept. Copy space. Stay safe. Health protection equipment during quarantine Coronavirus pandemic. Covid 19

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 28, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
COVID censorship, David Zweig, John West on totalitarian science, Mainstream media and Twitter files, Matt Taibbi, Substack, Twitter, Twitter and COVID censorship, Twitter files 10, Twitter files 9, Vivek Murthy}

How Twitter Cut Off a Reasoned Discussion of the COVID Response

_{Three more takeaways (7-9) as the story gets deeper — and of greater concern to those who believe that a free flow of information makes for a healthier society} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 28, 2022

6

Censorship, Social Media}

First, last January, John West reflected at Evolution News and Science Today about the rise of totalitarian science, as shown by the way COVID was managed: The COVID era also has seen a dramatic rise of censorship in the name of science. We are told continuously now that “misinformation” or “disinformation” must be stopped. No decent person favors the spread of “misinformation.” But who is to judge what constitutes “misinformation”? Those warning of “misinformation” seem to assume that existing elites are always right, and so they should be in charge of determining what is true or false. But anyone conversant with the history of science or government knows that this claim can’t hold up to scrutiny. Neither elite scientists nor Read More ›

Washington DC - FBI Building on Pennsylvania Street

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 22, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Adam Sabes, Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, FBI and Twitter, Jake Gibson, Jeffrey A. Tucker, MSM and Twitter, Pieter Zatko, Stephen Green, Thursday Night Massacre, Tom Slater}

Three More Key Takeaways From the Twitter Files and Their Fallout

_{The FBI responds to the Twitter files: “Conspiracy theorists” are feeding the public “misinformation.” This isn't helping its reputation} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 22, 2022

6

Censorship, Social Media}

Key takeaways 1–3 are here. 4.Yes, the FBI finally responded to the Twitter files revelations about its cozy relationship with Twitter. And the response could be straight out of a bent cop novel: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is responding to Twitter Files revealing that the agency regularly contacted employees at the social media giant to notify them of accounts that “may” constitute violations of the company’s terms of service. FBI officials told Fox News that the agency didn’t ask Twitter employees to “take action” based on the information provided, and said the information was provided so that Twitter employees can make a determination on whether to take action. “We are providing it so that they can take whatever action Read More ›

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post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 20, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, Jack Dorsey, Jack Dorsey's regrets, Jay Bhattacharya, Meta and COVID censorship, Michael Goodwin, Michael Shellenberger, Twitter (and Elon Musk), Twitter and FBI}

Three Key Takeaways From the Twitter Files and Their Fallout

_{Twitter Files 7 dropped yesterday and it features the close relationship between Twitter and the FBI} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 20, 2022

5

Censorship, Social Media}

From the news: Do you think the pandemic response might have gone differently if voices such as yours were not suppressed? Yes… I do really believe censorship kills, and censorship killed during this pandemic. The policies could have been so much better… The policies that were adopted were incredibly damaging to the lives and livelihoods of so many people. 100million people thrown into poverty worldwide: that’s the estimate from the World Bank. Just the consequences of that itself are going to have tremendous effects on the lives and livelihoods of people going forward. And of course, all these children were robbed of an education for years. Those are absolutely monumental outcomes of the policies we adopted during the pandemic, and Read More ›

Man is using laptop with black keys, Social media and social networking. Marketing concept

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Author
Jonathan Bartlett
Date
December 19, 2022

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Babylon Bee on Twitter, Doxxing on Twitter, Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, Featured, Mastodon, Twitter and child porn}

Musk’s Tyrannical Turn With Twitter

_{While the political bias is gone, the ego bias seems to have just begun} _{Jonathan Bartlett

December 19, 2022

4

Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media}

I was hopeful when Elon Musk took control of Twitter. As a longtime Musk skeptic in many areas, I thought that his move into Twitter would actually be a good thing. First of all, it matches his background better than Tesla. Twitter is a software play, and Musk’s actual expertise is in building software. Second, Twitter is just about software, not artificial intelligence, which tends to be where Musk gets into trouble. Finally, Musk has at least claimed to be a libertarian, though this seems to be limited to situations where he simply decides that he doesn’t want to do what is required of everyone else. When Musk first took control, it looked positive. Despite the incessant screaming of the Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 13, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Bill Maher, Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, Freddy DeBoer, Matt Novak, Media decline, Michael Shellenberger, Miranda Devine, Newsbusters, Twitter files}

As the Twitter Files Drop, Ponder the Future of Mainstream Media

_{Mainstream media are largely ignoring the story for reasons that go to the heart of their own growing weakness and unstoppable decline} _{News

December 13, 2022

8

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

The Twitter files, as Elon Musk’s publication of Twitter’s internal censorship records — via dissident journalists — has come to be known, continue to drop. To recap, the drop started with the suppression of the story, on the eve of an election, about Hunter Biden’s seemingly incriminating laptop (Matt Taibbi). It continued with information about widespread shadowbanning (Bari Weiss), a practice the company denied it engaged in. Twitter files slice 3 and slice 4 (given by Musk to journalist Michael Shellenberger) address Twitter’s ban on former U.S. president Donald Trump. Slice 5 (Bari Weiss) detail doubts among Twitter employees about censoring on that scale: 7. There were dissenters inside Twitter. “Maybe because I am from China,” said one employee on Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 9, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Bari Weiss and Twitter, Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, Harriet Alexander, Jack Dorsey, Jay Bhattacharya, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, New York Post and Twitter files, Shadowbanning at Twitter, Twitter and child porn}

Update: Musk’s Second Salvo: Twitter Did Secretly Censor Users

_{Despite execs claiming that it didn’t. Elon Musk gave journalist Bari Weiss the story} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 9, 2022

5

Censorship, Social Media}

Readers may recall that Elon Musk, having bought Twitter, started opening some windows. It came out that the Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed for reasons that would never have passed muster with a story about any other political figure. There is good reason to believe that Twitter had a cozy relationship with the FBI in the matter. Now, it turns out that, contrary to denials by top execs, there were indeed secret blacklists at Twitter: Twitter kept a ‘secret blacklist’ of topics and accounts to prevent them from trending, according to data obtained by journalist Bari Weiss – with conservative commentators deliberately downplayed in what one called ‘Soviet-style bulls***’,’ while another said he was treated ‘with more censorship than Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 5, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Media, Social Media

Tagged
Andrew C. McCarthy, Blake Montgomery, Elon Musk and Twitter files, FBI and social media, Howie Carr, Jonathan Turley, Matt Taibbi and Twitter files, New York Post and Twitter files, Twitter files on Hunter laptop story}

Elon Musk Throws a Bomb at Media No One Should Trust

_{Musk’s release of the “Twitter files” on the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story has provoked media outrage and attempts to deflect the issues} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 5, 2022

6

Censorship, Media, Social Media}

By now, you’ve probably heard that Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, gave journalist Matt Taibbi inside information about Twitter’s suppression of an explosive story about Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. But here’s some background that may shed some light — especially on how legacy media have changed and how social media really work. First, a summary of the basic story from legal scholar Jonathan Turley: Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, the New York Post ran an explosive story about a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden that contained emails and records detailing a multimillion dollar influence peddling operation by the Biden family. Not only was Joe Biden’s son Hunter and brother James involved in deals with an array Read More ›

Unemployed hold cardboard box and laptop bag, dossier and drawing tube in box. Quiting a job, businessman fired or leave a job concpet.

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
November 23, 2022

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Elon Musk, Employees, Facebook, Finance, Futurism, Mark Zuckerberg, metaverse, Twitter}

Twitter Gets Blasted While Meta Struggles

_{While Musk’s every move is being scrutinized, Zuckerberg’s struggles fall to the wayside} _{Peter Biles

November 23, 2022

4

Social Media}

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and founder of PayPal, radically reorganized Twitter in October and November, and now, is the subject of much criticism from the media. He has laid off hundreds of employees and fired the advisory board. In addition, he reinstated the formerly suspended accounts of Jordan Peterson, parody news site The Babylon Bee, and most outrageously, former president Donald Trump. A few days ago, somehow it was assumed across the Twitter sphere that the entire platform was about to implode. I started seeing people post things like, “If this is my last tweet, I’m okay with that…” Not sure what was happening, I experienced a sudden flood of similar tweets prophesying the Twitter era’s impending Read More ›

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Author
Eric Holloway
Date
November 22, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Philosophy of Mind, Social Media

Tagged
CAPTCHA, Eliza effect, Featured, Terminator test, Turing Test}

CAPTCHA: How Fooling Machines Is Different From Fooling Humans

_{Automated censorship is intended to protect against a tidal wave of spam but it could certainly have other uses…} _{Eric Holloway

November 22, 2022

3

Artificial Intelligence, Censorship, Data Privacy, Philosophy of Mind, Social Media}

Readers of Mind Matters News have likely heard of the iconic Turing test. Computer pioneer Alan Turing famously invented a test to determine whether a program could pass as a human. The gist is, if a program can fool human testers into believing it is a human, then the program is intelligent. Not everyone is convinced. Thing is, it doesn’t take much to fool us humans! Take Eliza , a program of only a few hundred lines, written in the 60s, which fooled many people into believing it was a real human therapist. But what if we flip the Turing test on its head? Instead of a test where a program tries to pass as human, we use a test Read More ›

Hand touch metaverse infinite loop unlimited technology futuristic digital connection background of virtual reality cyberpunk world or internet game innovation cyber network and hologram experience.

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
November 20, 2022

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Elon Musk, Layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, metaverse, social media, Technology, Twitter}

Big Layoffs Ahead for Zuckerberg’s Meta

_{Employee downsizing at the social media giant casts doubt on its relevancy and future} _{Peter Biles

November 20, 2022

4

Social Media}

With recent headlines highlighting Elon Musk’s Twitter, Meta’s ongoing troubles have escaped some of the limelight, but are significant, nonetheless. This past week, Mark Zuckerberg announced over 11,000 layoffs across his company, focusing on recruiting and business, according to a memo. The layoffs will affect some 13 percent of the tech giant’s 87,000 employees. Meta, due in large part to its optimistic investment in the metaverse, plummeted in value this past year, and workers are feeling the consequences. While the tech industry is seeing high personnel cuts this year, Zuckerberg did not have to hire as many people as he did, and clearly depended too much on the metaverse project for profit, which looks like it won’t be nearly Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 20, 2022

Categorized
Censorship, Data Privacy, Social Media

Tagged
Babylon Bee on Twitter, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Twitter takeover, Norton on TikTok, TikTok and data privacy}

Why Do Twitter Jobs Matter More Than Data Privacy?

_{The Musk ‘n Twitter show won’t leave town any time soon and it obscures a much bigger, deeper issue} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 20, 2022

3

Censorship, Data Privacy, Social Media}

Elon Musk sure knows how to create a drama. First, a brief update because you probably had better things to do this weekend: Doom I! “1,200 Twitter Employees Resign, Company Closes All Offices” (Rolling Stone, November 18, 2022) Get this: “Twitter offices have been closed down and employees are resigning in droves, leading to growing fears that the service could shut down at any time.” (ScreenRant, November 18, 2022) “While it’s unlikely that Twitter will shut down entirely, departing employees are warning of service outages, glitches and safety risks. (NPR November 18, 2022) Worth noting: Musk has reinstated satire site Babylon Bee and Project Veritas, and, after conducting a poll, has also reinstated former U.S. president Donald Trump (who currently Read More ›

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
November 7, 2022

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Blue Checkmark (Twitter), Brian Moynihan, Elon Musk, Elon Musk and changes at Twitter, Facebook layoffs (2022), Jacob Carpenter, JacobCarpenter on Twitter, Steve Tollman, Twitter, Twitter blue check marks, Twitter layoffs (2022)}

Musk’s Day at Twitter Dawned: And So What Really Happened?

_{For one thing, many layoffs — but layoffs are currently widespread in Big Tech} _{Denyse O'Leary

November 7, 2022

4

Social Media}

Important people seem to be taking Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover very seriously indeed. Were those of us who have disregarded Twitter in the past wrong? Blind sided? Here’s U.S. President Joe Biden: “Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that spews lies all across the world, There’s no editors anymore in America.” Maybe, but no one is forced to join Twitter or even listen… Many traditional tech watchers are sounding an alarm over Musk’s post-takeover layoffs. But before we get into that, let’s note that other Big Techs are also currently laying off personnel in considerable numbers: November 4 has been called the worst day for layoffs in 2022 (Black Thursday) at Fortune: News of job cuts came down Read More ›

Annoyed black woman having video chat on smartphone at home

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
November 3, 2022

Categorized
Psychology, Relationships, Social Media

Tagged
Featured, iOS 16 iPhone, iOS 16 iPhone editing sent messages, Karl D. Stephan on editing text messages, Kim Komando, Text messages (editing after sending)}

Sorry! I Take It Back (But Only With iOS 16)

_{The new iOS lets you edit messages, but only within 15 minutes of sending them, and guess what—the recipient can see all your edits…} _{News

November 3, 2022

6

Psychology, Relationships, Social Media}

This article by Texas State University engineering prof Karl D. Stephan is republished with permission from MercatorNet November 1, 2022) Everybody has said something they later regret saying. If the person you’re talking to is right there in front of you, there’s nothing you can do to unsay it. As country singer Jon Langston says in one of his song titles, “I Can’t Take Back Words.” But according to tech guru Kim Komando, the new iOS 16 operating system for iPhones (version 8 and later) lets you do that with text messages—sort of. Ever since commercial text messaging became available on mobile phones in the mid-1990s, it has shared with verbal interchanges the fact that once you send a text, it’s Read More ›