Social Media & Big Tech news and discussions

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caltrek
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Post by caltrek »

I guess Russia and Facebook are deciding to "unfriend" each other. ;)

Facebook Won’t Let Russian Advertisers Create or Make Run Ads ‘Anywhere in the World’
by Jay Peters
March 4, 2022

https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/4/22962 ... -ads-world

Introduction:
(The Verge) Facebook is cutting off ads in Russia. It’s pausing ads that target people in the country and is no longer letting advertisers in Russia “create or run ads anywhere in the world, including within Russia,” the company announced on Friday. The moves mark a big escalation of its actions against the country and could help prevent Russian misinformation tied to its invasion of Ukraine from appearing in Facebook ads.

Russia earlier on Friday began blocking Meta-owned Facebook entirely in the country, preventing many Russians from posting to social media amid the crisis. “As a result of the Russian government’s decision to block access to Facebook in the Russian Federation, soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” Facebook said on its page cataloging its response to the invasion. The block could also prevent Russians who are protesting the war from posting on the social network.

Facebook's decision late Friday follows similar moves from Google, Twitter, and Snapchat, which have all paused ads in Russia.
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caltrek
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In the propaganda wars now being waged through the internet, individuals on the ground such as Diana Totok (see below) may very well help to further tip the scales in favor of Ukraine.

This 19-year-old Ukrainian Refugee Filmed the ‘Horror’ so that Future Generations Can See What She Went Through
by Alex Henderson
March 11, 2022

https://www.alternet.org/2022/03/this-1 ... t-through/

Introduction:
(Alternet) Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, more than two million Ukrainians have left their country in order to escape Vladimir Putin’s bombs and bullets. One of them is 19-year-old Diana Totok, who is now in neighboring Romania — and Totok has been filming the events with her smartphone and posting them on TikTok so that future generations can see what she has lived through.

Totok told The Guardian, “It feels just like a horror movie, and I don’t know — filming is just one of the ways I can just put everything that’s going on in my mind, like, in order.”

The Guardian’s Matilda Boseley, in an article published on March 11, notes, “Two weeks earlier, the 19-year-old’s biggest worry had been making a good impression at her new internship.” But that was before Russian forces attacked Mykolaiv, Ukraine, where she lived with her mother, Svetlana Totok, her 17-year-old sister Darina Totok and her father, who is a pastor. The father is still in Ukraine, while Diana, Svetlana and Darina Totok are in Romania — and one of the videos Diana Totok has posted shows her parting company with her father at the Ukraine/Romania border.

Boseley explains, “The video cuts there. Totok saved the final goodbyes for the family alone. She and her sister, 17-year-old Darina, got on a train with their mother, travelling into the depths of Romania, praying that their father would live to see them again.”

Diana Totok is hoping that 20, 30 or 40 years from now, her videos will live on as a document of the hell that Ukrainians are going through in 2022. Although plenty of black-and-white footage from World War II remains, Totok notes that there were no smartphones back then.
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caltrek
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How Russians are Evading the Internet Blockade
by Margaret Harding McGill
March 12, 2022

https://www.axios.com/vpns-evading-russ ... 72675.html

Introduction:
(Axios) Tools to sidestep internet restrictions have surged in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine and the government's decision to block some social media services, including Facebook.

Why it matters: Finding ways around Russia's internet blockade could enable its citizens to stay connected to the rest of the world and gather information from sources beyond state-owned outlets.

Catch up quick: Virtual private networks, or VPNs, enable users to hide their locations to evade location-based restrictions and make browsing more private by encrypting internet traffic.

By the numbers: Demand for VPNs surged by 1,092% in Russia on March 5, the day after Russia blocked access to Facebook, according to Top10VPN.com.
  • Demand in Ukraine climbed 609% higher than before the invasion began, according to the site, which tracks search volume data.
  • Downloads of eight popular VPN apps in Russia grew from 12,848 on Feb. 15 to 415,547 on March 7, according to data from Apptopia.
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caltrek
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I suppose it is rather predictable of me that I would be doing some research on Telegram. Below is an interesting article I have found in that regard. Infobae is not a familiar source to me, so I can't vouch for it.

Telegram and WhatsApp in Russia Feel the Pressure but Still Dodge the Ban
March 19, 2022

https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/03/19/t ... e-the-ban/

Introduction:
(Infobae) Messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram have avoided Russia's blockade unlike some of the biggest social networks in the world, in a subtle tolerance that experts warn could suddenly end.

Years of tension between Moscow and US companies Facebook and Twitter ended in confrontation following the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with platforms targeting Russian media with state ties, prompting Russia to restrict them in response.

YouTube, which also globally removed media channels linked to the Kremlin, was also facing a direct threat of being blocked on Friday after Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor accused the site owned by the giant Google of “anti-Russian” behavior.

Messaging applications, in any case, until now remain undefeated in part because WhatsApp, owned by Meta, is less suitable for mass communication, while Telegram's ability to disseminate information to huge groups has been useful to both independent media and the Kremlin itself.

“I think it is unlikely that Russia will ban Telegram because there are few platforms where they can operate,” said Sergey Sanovich, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, who recalls that in 2020 authorities aborted efforts to block the service.
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caltrek
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Spotify Will Suspend Its Services in Russia in Light of Free Speech Crackdown
by Taylor Hatmaker
March 25, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/25/spoti ... crackdown/

Introduction:
(TechCrunch) Spotify will discontinue access to its streaming services in Russia in light of the country’s dramatic new restrictions on free speech.

In early March, the Russian parliament enacted a new law that criminalizes sharing what the government deems to be “false information” about Russia’s operations in Ukraine. The new restrictions also punish any speech that undermines the military, including describing the war in Ukraine using the word “war.”

Western news outlets including CNN, ABC and the BBC pulled their broadcasts and operations within Russia in response to the law, which can carry up to a 15-year prison sentence. While Spotify is primarily a music streaming platform, the company is increasingly investing in podcasts that incorporate politics and current events — a direction that’s already entangled it in a number of controversies.

“Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region,” a Spotify spokesperson told TechCrunch. “Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk.”

After considering different paths, Spotify opted to “fully suspend” its service in Russia, a process that will be complete by early April after the company wraps up logistics related to the move.
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And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future
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caltrek
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‘Don’t Leave the Space Open’ — How the West Can Defeat Putin in Cyberspace and Beyond
by Konstantin Kakaes
March 26, 2022

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... e-00020656

Introduction:
(Politico) any aspects of Russia’s war against Ukraine have surprised analysts in the West, from the fact that the Russian offensive ran aground to the lack of a cyberwar to the fact that the invasion happened at all. But Molly McKew isn’t one of those people — she’s been arguing for years that Russia was at war with the West and that the primary battlefield was the information space and cyberspace.

Since those warnings now seem prescient, I went back to her this week to ask what has surprised her about this conflict. One of those things is good news — that the West, led by the United States, has learned some important new tricks to counter the Russians, from dismantling their cyber networks to undermining disinformation with real information.

“I think the reason we haven’t seen as much happening in the cyber domain as was anticipated is that a lot of work has been done to be sure that that was not going to happen,” she told me.

McKew writes on Russian influence and information warfare for the website greatpower.us. She is a former adviser to the Georgian government and to former Moldovan prime minister Vladimir Filat, and in 2016-17 she was the strategic director of a British government-funded project to strengthen independent Russian language news and media in the Baltic states. She just returned from a reporting trip to Lithuania and Estonia and has traveled extensively in Ukraine to research security cooperation and patterns of Russian hybrid activity.

McKew argues that the U.S. and the rest of the West now need to apply the lessons they’ve learned about winning in the cyberspace to the other fronts of the confrontation with Russia. If tactics that have succeeded in cyberwar and information war are adopted more broadly, she says, the tide of the war can turn.
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Congressional Chair Asks Google and Apple to Help Stop Fraud Against U.S. Taxpayers on Telegram
by Cezary Podkul
March 28, 2022

https://www.propublica.org/article/cong ... n-telegram

Introduction:
(ProPublica) The chairman of a congressional subcommittee has asked Apple and Google to help stop fraud against U.S. taxpayers on Telegram, a fast-growing messaging service distributed via their smartphone app stores. The request from the head of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis came after ProPublica reports last July and in January revealed how cybercriminals were using Telegram to sell and trade stolen identities and methods for filing fake unemployment insurance claims.

Rep. James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., who chairs the subcommittee (which is part of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform), cited ProPublica’s reporting in March 23 letters to the CEOs of Apple and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The letters pointed out that enabling fraud against American taxpayers is inconsistent with Apple’s and Google’s policies for their respective app stores, which forbid apps that facilitate or promote illegal activities.

“There is substantial evidence that Telegram has not complied with these requirements by allowing its application to be used as a central platform for the facilitation of fraud against vital pandemic relief programs,” Clyburn wrote. He asked whether Apple and Alphabet “may be able to play a constructive role in combating this Telegram-facilitated fraud against the American public.”

Clyburn also requested that Apple and Google provide “all communications” between the companies and Telegram “related to fraud or other unlawful conduct on the Telegram platform, including fraud against pandemic relief programs” as well as what “policies and practices” the companies have implemented to monitor whether applications disseminated through their app stores are being used to “facilitate fraud” and “disseminate coronavirus misinformation.” He gave the companies until April 7 to provide the records.

Apple, which runs the iOS app store for its iPhones, did not reply to a request for comment. Google, which runs the Google Play app store for its Android devices, also did not respond.
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Elon Musk snaps up $3bn Twitter stake

Published
1 hour ago

Elon Musk has taken a 9.2% stake in Twitter, according to a US securities filing.

The news sent Twitter shares soaring about 25% in pre-market trading.

The Tesla founder bought 73,486,938 Twitter shares on 14 March, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stake is worth $2.89bn (£2.20bn), based on Twitter's closing price on Friday.

The stake makes him one of the largest shareholders in the company and is more than four times the 2.25% holding of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60979656
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andmar74
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Some people seem to be thrilled if Elon would remove any "censorship" from Twitter.
I think people fail to realize that some censorship is necessary.
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