Social Media & Big Tech news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[raklian]

The adage that money corrupts seems to have weight in this case.

[Time_Traveller]

Musk’s X to collect biometric information and employment data

FRI, SEP 1 2023

The X social media platform formerly known as Twitter will start collecting the biometric and employment information of its users, according to a Thursday update to the company’s privacy policy.

X said the changes have not currently been implemented and will come into effect on Sept. 29.

The firm’s recently updated privacy policy, which details how it collects and processes user information, now says that the company may store and use biometric data “for safety, security, and identification purposes.”

It is not clear how X plans to use the biometric information of users.

Platforms tend to rely on biometrics, such as fingerprints and facial scans, to authenticate people when they sign in, or, in the case of a bank or payment company, when users make a transaction.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/01/musks-x ... IR0Jk2bL0Y

[Powers]

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Facebook and Instagram may go ad-free... if you pay for a subscription

3 days ago

Meta could introduce a new subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram that’ll remove ads in users’ feeds - at least in Europe, to begin with.

According to an article from The New York Times, Meta is considering the paid subscription to curb concerns by EU institutions surrounding data privacy and ads. So far, there’s no information about any potential pricing or release dates, or even if the ‘product’ will actually be launched and released to the public.

The tech giant has been splashed across newsfeeds in a fight with EU regulators about privacy violations from ad-tracking services and how private data is handled. Earlier this year Meta was slapped with a record $1.3bn fine for the alleged mishandling of EU data, the third time Meta has been admonished by European regulating bodies.

https://www.techradar.com/computing/soc ... YJ1cam9ntY

[Time_Traveller]

Facebook and Instagram may go ad-free... if you pay for a subscription

3 days ago

Meta could introduce a new subscription tier for Facebook and Instagram that’ll remove ads in users’ feeds - at least in Europe, to begin with.

According to an article from The New York Times, Meta is considering the paid subscription to curb concerns by EU institutions surrounding data privacy and ads. So far, there’s no information about any potential pricing or release dates, or even if the ‘product’ will actually be launched and released to the public.

The tech giant has been splashed across newsfeeds in a fight with EU regulators about privacy violations from ad-tracking services and how private data is handled. Earlier this year Meta was slapped with a record $1.3bn fine for the alleged mishandling of EU data, the third time Meta has been admonished by European regulating bodies.

https://www.techradar.com/computing/soc ... YJ1cam9ntY

[Time_Traveller]

Twitter faces drop in downloads since its rebranding as X by Elon Musk

09/11/23

Twitter has faced a significant drop in download numbers under Elon Musk's ownership. This decline in app downloads has been attributed to Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as X.

It is also worth noting that Twitter's rebranding to X even triggered scam warnings on the Microsoft Edge browser last month. Now, a report by Apptopia claims the microblogging website's downloads dropped almost 30 per cent within two months of the rebranding.

X's declining downloads

Unsurprisingly, this was the lowest point in over a decade. The web version of X, which you can still access via twitter.com, saw a decrease in traffic as well. Reportedly, global visits declined by 10 per cent in August compared to the previous year.

Taking to his X account, analyst Eric Seufert shared a screenshot of graphs that highlight the drop in downloads Twitter faced after changing its name and logo. The graph showcases the daily download count for leading social media apps to check X's performance against similar apps.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/twitter-faces ... sk-1719343

[wjfox]

Twitter faces drop in downloads since its rebranding as X by Elon Musk

09/11/23

Twitter has faced a significant drop in download numbers under Elon Musk's ownership. This decline in app downloads has been attributed to Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as X.

It is also worth noting that Twitter's rebranding to X even triggered scam warnings on the Microsoft Edge browser last month. Now, a report by Apptopia claims the microblogging website's downloads dropped almost 30 per cent within two months of the rebranding.

X's declining downloads

Unsurprisingly, this was the lowest point in over a decade. The web version of X, which you can still access via twitter.com, saw a decrease in traffic as well. Reportedly, global visits declined by 10 per cent in August compared to the previous year.

Taking to his X account, analyst Eric Seufert shared a screenshot of graphs that highlight the drop in downloads Twitter faced after changing its name and logo. The graph showcases the daily download count for leading social media apps to check X's performance against similar apps.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/twitter-faces ... sk-1719343

Hardly surprising. I honestly think it's one of the worst rebrandings in corporate history. He took what's literally a household name and made it into what sounds like some obscure porn app.

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Twitter faces drop in downloads since its rebranding as X by Elon Musk

09/11/23

Twitter has faced a significant drop in download numbers under Elon Musk's ownership. This decline in app downloads has been attributed to Musk's decision to rebrand Twitter as X.

It is also worth noting that Twitter's rebranding to X even triggered scam warnings on the Microsoft Edge browser last month. Now, a report by Apptopia claims the microblogging website's downloads dropped almost 30 per cent within two months of the rebranding.

X's declining downloads

Unsurprisingly, this was the lowest point in over a decade. The web version of X, which you can still access via twitter.com, saw a decrease in traffic as well. Reportedly, global visits declined by 10 per cent in August compared to the previous year.

Taking to his X account, analyst Eric Seufert shared a screenshot of graphs that highlight the drop in downloads Twitter faced after changing its name and logo. The graph showcases the daily download count for leading social media apps to check X's performance against similar apps.

https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/twitter-faces ... sk-1719343

Hardly surprising. I honestly think it's one of the worst rebrandings in corporate history. He took what's literally a household name and made it into what sounds like some obscure porn app.

Agreed, soon he'll end up buying XXX too.

[wjfox]

Google accused of 'hobbling rivals' to gain search monopoly

13:43

– Google is in court for a high-stakes trial brought by the US government - prosecutors say the outcome will determine the future of the internet

– The tech giant is accused of 'hobbling rivals' to dominate the search market by paying to be the default option on products like Apple phones

– Google denies using illegal tactics and argues that its product is superior than the offer from rivals

– It's the first monopoly trial against a tech giant in decades and is seen as key test of whether the US government can curb Big Tech's power

– If the government wins, it could stop Google being the default search engine, impose fines or demand a total restructure of the company

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-66782668

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

A final, mortal blow for Twitter, or X, or whatever you want to call it.

Many people have tolerated the BS he's pulled so far, but having to pay money to even join the site will be its death knell.

[Time_Traveller]

A final, mortal blow for Twitter, or X, or whatever you want to call people have tolerated the BS he's pulled so far, but having to pay money to even join the site will be its death knell.

RIP I say, but I have slowly reduced my Social Medias to only one which I prefer to be honest.

[Powers]

There is a final step...

[Time_Traveller]

How Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Distort Reality to Sell Fantasy

SEPTEMBER 24, 2023

Four very powerful billionaires— Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, and Marc Andreessen— have created a world where “nothing is true and all is spectacle.” These technocrats are the new American oligarchs, controlling online access for billions of users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

History has proven that fantasy is both a brilliant marketing tool and a powerful political tool. In the world of politics, it allows two-thirds of the Republican Party to believe the 2020 election was stolen. In the commercial realm Musk floats the notion that we will escape our planet’s inevitable extinction by building a new civilization on Mars. Zuckerberg promises you can escape the dreary reality of your life by putting on the Meta Quest 2 VR helmet. Thiel thinks we can live to be 160 and Andreesen believes with his software powering drones and killer robots, we can fight wars without human casualties. But as a society, should we invest $20 trillion in fantasy worlds (missions to Mars, crypto currency, and the Metaverse) when real-world solutions to the critical problems of our planet are currently available? The plans for these fantasy projects have already drained billions of dollars of government and private capital.

When I was working for Bob Dylan & The Band in the 1960s, the role of much of the pop culture was oppositional to the politics of the time. Musicians sang in support of the civil rights movement, and filmmakers made antiwar movies. Movie studios have always made fantasy films. But starting in the late 1970s with Star Wars and Superman, the fantasy blockbuster began to dominate the movie business. And that success bled over into video games, music, and other forms of pop culture so that the ground was laid for the Metaverse, in which you could become a fantasy film character in your daily life. And as the fantasy/superhero genre came to dominate the movies and video games, pop culture’s countercultural role faded away.

For forty-five years (since Star Wars) the fantasy genre has dominated the entertainment industry. We have lived our lives in these fantasy worlds in increments — two hours in a dark theater watching Black Panther, three hours at a computer playing World of Warcraft, two hours at the roulette wheel in Vegas. But now we are entering an era when fantasy is 24/7. Fifty million Republicans are living the fantasy of Trump’s lies. All the tools for creating alternate realities are here (even if they are crude), and even Musk’s computer visualizations of life on Mars or Thiel’s imagining of eternal life seem a bit more plausible, thanks to the years of collective magical thinking. I am well aware that for many citizens the reality of 2023 America is painful, and so escape (either through entertainment or drugs) has real power. But to truly be free, we must embrace reality and try and change our collective course — not run from the truth.

The rise of fantasy culture in America began with science fiction novels. All of our Technocrats immersed themselves in science fiction reading during their somewhat awkward childhoods. Musk and Thiel were bullied incessantly. Andreessen and Zuckerberg both had fits of anger that they had a hard time controlling. Both Musk and Zuckerberg cite Iain Banks’s nine-book “Culture” series as a seminal influence on their thinking. Marc Andreessen loves the hard science fiction (post-Singularity) of Charles Stross and Richard Morgan. And Peter Thiel cites The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson as one of his favorite books. All four of them also claim The Lord of The Rings series had a profound influence on them. J. R. R. Tolkien’s books are an attempt to construct new myths to help modern man deal with the moral chaos of our contemporary society. They are essentially very conservative pleas to “return “the king” to his rightful throne. There is a sense that everyone has a place in this semifeudal society and should be content with that. The four men who sit on top of our neofeudal technological order, of course, share a desire to maintain their status quo.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/cu ... 7q7UQNGHfo

[Powers]

[wjfox]

Reddit to begin paying people for popular posts

1 hour ago

Reddit has unveiled plans to pay its top contributors cash for popular posts, starting in the US on Tuesday.

The social media site will split revenue with people who are awarded "gold" by other users, who pay a fee.

Gold awards will range in price from $1.99 (£1.63) to $49 (£40), with users receiving as much as half of that.

It marks a turnaround for the company since a backlash in June, when much of Reddit became inaccessible in protest of its senior management.

Ultimately, the majority of groups on platform returned - although some notable absences remain, such as the end of a long-standing subreddit dedicated to transcribing images on Reddit to make them more accessible for visually impaired people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-66925550