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Tech NewsNews
Walmart Wants to Get Its Greasy Hands on TikTok
The uncool bidders for extremely cool video app TikTok now reportedly include, uh, Walmart. TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance is exploring options to offload the app, which is based in the US, amid threats by Donald Trump’s administration to somehow “ban” it if control isn’t transferred to a US company. Per the New York Times, Walmart … Continued
By Tom McKay -
How To
How to Turn Off Comments on Your Tweets, Instagrams, and Videos
Not everything you share on social media needs a reply. Most sites and apps let you limit who can comment on your posts, which is for the best. Here’s how you can restrict the feedback loop on some of the biggest social platforms. Twitter Twitter just rolled out the option to limit who can and … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech NewsFacebook
Report: Facebook Chose Not to Take Down Militia Group That Brought Guns to Kenosha Protests
Facebook received reports in advance about the Kenosha Guard, a self-proclaimed militia that urged gun owners to “defend” Kenosha, Wisconsin against Black Lives Matter protesters on Tuesday. It chose not to do anything, according to a report by the Verge, until nine hours after one of the armed vigilantes that swarmed the streets of Kenosha … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Terrorist Used Drone to Spy on Mosque Before Killing 51 People, Streaming Live on Facebook
Brenton Tarrant, the terrorist who livestreamed his massacre of 51 people on Facebook in March 2019, used a drone to spy on one of the two New Zealand mosques he attacked, according to newly public revelations by prosecutors this week. The news of Tarrant’s drone operation paints a disturbing picture of the extensive planning and … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPolitics
‘Cocaine’ Trends on Twitter During Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention kicked off on Monday, with a star-studded line-up including a fossil fuels distributor, the St. Louis couple that pointed their guns at civil rights protesters, and the father of a shooting victim who says the way to stop school shootings is to arm teachers. But if you were on Twitter last … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsHellfeed
Mods? MODS!?: Facebook’s QAnon Ban Is Too Little Too Late
Content and moderation decisions by tech companies are increasingly the focus of unending kicking and screaming—to the point where it’s now essentially a campaign plank for at least one of the U.S.’s major political parties. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, and Google are also trying to convince the public how well they’re dealing with the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPolitics
President Trump Endorses Bigot Who’s Been Banned From a Dozen Tech Platforms
President Donald Trump congratulated anti-Muslim hatemonger Laura Loomer over Twitter last night for winning the Republican primary in Florida’s 21st congressional district. Ironically, Loomer is banned from Twitter, but she likely heard about the tweet anyway, thanks to Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican who’s endorsed Loomer and her hateful ideology. Trump’s interest in Loomer may … Continued
By Matt Novak -
How To
How to Clean Up Your Social Media Accounts Without Deleting Them
There are many reasons to avoid wanting a social media digital paper trail of your entire life. Maybe there are posts there you think your new employer won’t like, or that your new partner’s parents won’t like, or even ones that you don’t believe in anymore. But wiping the slate clean and starting again is … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech News
Tiktok’s Latest Suitor Is Oracle, a Company With Close Ties To CIA and NSA
Oracle has expressed interest in buying TikTok from Chinese-based tech company Bytedance according to a new report from the Financial Times. The move comes after President Donald Trump’s threat to ban the popular video app. The Trump regime is allegedly concerned about the privacy of Americans on TikTok and the ways that the Chinese government … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsNews
Donald Trump, the ‘Professional at Technology,’ Is Now on TikTok Rival Triller
In case we needed further proof that President Donald Trump really does not like TikTok, here’s the latest: Trump and his team have created a verified account on TikTok rival Triller, and are apparently trying to figure out how video-sharing apps work. It appears that Trump’s account was created on Saturday, one day after Trump … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook’s Latest Strategy: Throw Apple Under The Bus
It’s been a tough time for for Apple. Just a few weeks ago CEO Tim Cook testified under oath that his company’s app store policies—including the sky high tax that gives Apple 30% of any in-app purchases—were fair game, only to be slammed with an antitrust suit from EU authorities less than a day later. … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Will Now Tell You Where That Viral Covid-19 Story Came From
Back in June, Facebook rolled out a new feature that tells its mobile app users if an article they are about to share is more than three months old. While users aren’t prevented from sharing an older article, Facebook said at the time it was an attempt to get people to stop and think about … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Says Covid-19 Shutdowns Hurt Its Ability to Fight Suicide, Self-Injury, Child Exploitation Content
Facebook said Tuesday it can’t moderate its own site or its subsidiary Instagram as effectively as possible for certain categories of rule violations during the novel coronavirus pandemic, while almost nobody got the chance to appeal its moderators’ decisions in the second quarter of 2020. Per the latest version of its Community Standards Enforcement Report, … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsTwitter
Why Some of You Might Be Seeing a New ‘Quotes’ Section Underneath Tweets
Apparently, some more metrics on our tweets is exactly what is missing from our lives during a global pandemic. Or at least that’s what Twitter thinks. As reported by the Verge, Twitter is testing a new feature that would show users the amounts of “Retweets with comments” on each tweet. Strangely though, this metric, which … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsFacebook
What Is QAnon And Why Did Facebook Ban One Of Its Largest Groups?
Facebook has banned one of the largest groups devoted to the far-right, rabidly pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, Business Insider reported on Friday. A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that the group, titled “Official Q/QAnon,” was removed for “repeatedly posting content that violated our policies” on Thursday. Those rule violations included bullying and harassment, hate speech, … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Trump’s New Facebook Ads Claim He’s Peacenik Who Also Loves Assassinations
Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is running new Facebook ads that insist the president is an advocate for peace and will stop America’s so-called “forever wars.” Oddly enough, the ads also acknowledge that Trump dabbles in political assassinations. In fact, those assassinations are central to Trump’s idea of “peace,” and in many ways, Trump’s entire foreign … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Does Bare Minimum to Temporarily Slow Down Pro-Trump Misinformation PAC
In its latest spin around the misinformation merry-go-round, Facebook has temporarily restricted a pro-Trump super PAC that’s spent nearly $10 million in the 2020 election cycle from placing ads for repeatedly sharing lies, the company told Gizmodo in a statement. The group in question is the Committee to Defend the President, which happens to sound … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook Finally Deletes a Trump Post Over Coronavirus Misinformation
Facebook has finally done the least it could do, for the first time ever deleting a post by Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the novel coronavirus. Twitter in turn restricted Trump’s re-election campaign account from tweeting at all until it deleted an identical post. Trump’s official Facebook account uploaded a series of clips from … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Trump Admin Moves to Boot GOP FCC Commissioner Who Hinted Its Social Media Order Is ‘Gibberish’
The White House has yanked its nomination to give GOP Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O’Rielly another term at the agency, offering no explanation as to why. O’Rielly is one of the three Republicans on the FCC’s five-member commission, having held the role since 2013, and has usually been a reliable backer of conservative policy priorities … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPolitics
Twitter Trends Are a Crime Against Me, the President, Tweets President
Today in squirmy little squids squirting clouds of ink: Twitter trends that make the president look bad are somehow illegal, according to the president. “So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called ‘Trending’, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one,” Donald Trump tweeted on Twitter, the site where he tweets anything he … Continued
By Tom McKay