
A thread for updates on the various ways the internet is destroying everything and the undying hellsites of social media. Let's all laugh at the abyss.
What we still haven’t learned from Gamergate
We, as a community, are a lot closer to this, and it doesn't necessarily apply to quite such an extent, but that's a fascinating article.
Yeah the James Gunn thing was clearly the same weaponization of twitter.
Whelp. One of my boomer aunts is posting an alternate Pledge of Allegiance in which we are to grovel and prostrate ourselves before the Almighty Flag and our brave soldiers.
It is some straight up insane fascistic rhetoric.
This same aunt was your stereotypical flower child that, for some unknowable reason, took a hard right turn in about... oh... 2008 or so.
Curious if anything significant happened that year...
"do no evil"
Conservatives push false claims of voter fraud on Twitter as Iowans prepare to caucus
The claims of voter fraud were false, proved untrue by public data and the state’s top election official.
That didn’t stop them from going viral, as right-wing activists took to Twitter over the weekend to spread specious allegations of trickery in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.
The episode showcased the perils of conducting elections in the age of social media, where volume is more important than veracity.
The Iowa Democratic Party, in partnership with national Democratic officials, has labored to make the caucuses more transparent and to fend off the sort of confusion and conspiracy theories that marred the process in 2016. The Democratic National Committee has its own unit tracking viral disinformation and flagging falsehoods to campaigns, as well as to technology companies that have pledged to clean up their platforms after they were enlisted by Russian actors to boost Donald Trump in his campaign against Hillary Clinton.
But their efforts falter in the face of falsehoods pushed by users with massive online audiences, which social media platforms often refuse to remove, arguing they should not serve as the Web’s arbiters of truth. On Monday, Twitter affirmed its mostly hands-off approach, maintaining the false claims about Iowa’s voter rolls did not qualify as a form of voter suppression.
“The tweet you referenced is not in violation of our election integrity policy as it does not suppress voter turnout or mislead people about when, where, or how to vote," said spokeswoman Katie Rosborough.
The claims on the eve of the caucuses came from a pair conservative activists.
Tom Fitton, the president of the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, wrote Sunday morning that “eight Iowa counties have more voter registrations than citizens old enough to register.”
That notion, based on a Judicial Watch report purporting to find similar irregularities in hundreds of counties across the country, is false, according to state officials and a Washington Post review of the most up-to-date data.
Of the eight Iowa counties listed by Judicial Watch, a single one — Lyon County — has more registered voters than adult residents, based on five-year estimates released by the Census Bureau in 2018. The estimates, however, do not account for population growth over the past two years. And the total number registered comprises active and inactive voters.
“Their data is flawed, and it’s unfortunate that they’ve chosen caucus day to put out this deeply flawed data,” said Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Iowa secretary of state.
Flaws in the data did not stop other conservative activists from pushing the misleading conclusion. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, a group mobilizing young conservatives, followed up Sunday afternoon to proclaim that, “One day before the Iowa Caucus, it’s been revealed that EIGHT Iowa counties have more adults registered to vote than voting-aged adults living there.” He asked users to retweet to show their support for a national voter-identification law.
And retweet they did. By Monday, the two tweets together had more than 100,000 interactions, meaning retweets, likes and replies. Among the users amplifying the falsehood were Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, and Mimi Walters, a Republican former congresswoman from California. Analysis by VineSight, a group tracking online falsehoods, said that some of the amplification came from accounts exhibiting signs of automation and that few of the users appeared to be from Iowa.
Early Monday, Iowa’s secretary of state, Republican Paul Pate, weighed in to debunk the allegation.
“False claim,” he wrote. “Here is a link to the actual county-by-county voter registration totals. They are updated monthly and available online for everyone to see.”
He included a link to his office’s website, as well as the hashtag #FakeNews.
Pate’s post gained virtually no amplification.
Paul Pate's tweet had no comments, 16 retweets, and 18 likes.
Prederick wrote:
I'm frankly shocked no one has sued them over unlicensed use of photos. They are using photos that they probably don't have the rights for to make money. I'm guessing there are literally billions of cases there.
Prederick wrote:Prederick wrote:I'm frankly shocked no one has sued them over unlicensed use of photos. They are using photos that they probably don't have the rights for to make money. I'm guessing there are literally billions of cases there.
I suspect their defense would rest on some form of "public domain" argument, in that if you post your picture in the town square, don't be surprised when people look at it.
I mean I can't stand anti-vaxxers but I don't see any problem with not giving your kid Tamiflu. It was doctor prescribed and when the alternative is death, you ought to do it. But being dumb is not a crime and the loss of the kid is punishment enough.
Lemme guess, the anti-vaxxers think it gives you autism... f*ckwads!
I mean I can't stand anti-vaxxers but I don't see any problem with not giving your kid Tamiflu. It was doctor prescribed and when the alternative is death, you ought to do it. But being dumb is not a crime and the loss of the kid is punishment enough.
Lemme guess, the anti-vaxxers think it gives you autism... f*ckwads!
Except the one who received the most severe punishment is the kid who died. And they had no input into whether they got to take a medicine that could have saved their life. I have a feeling also that these types of parents will still blame the doctor and/or Western medicine for their kids death.
I mean I can't stand anti-vaxxers but I don't see any problem with not giving your kid Tamiflu. It was doctor prescribed and when the alternative is death, you ought to do it. But being dumb is not a crime and the loss of the kid is punishment enough.
Lemme guess, the anti-vaxxers think it gives you autism... f*ckwads!
You just inadvertently made a strong argument for universal healthcare where the parent has no say in the care.
A Conversation with Anita Sarkeesian
The thing about YouTube is that they have algorithms that keep you on the site, because that is a part of the business model. To keep you on the site, they feed you more and more extreme material. You watch one of my videos and it says “You like feminism? Here’s a whole bunch of anti-feminist videos. You’re going to love this.” You can very easily go down a rabbit hole. But a more subtle example is that you might see let’s say a video of Joe Rogan and you’re like, “Oh cool, this guy is interesting. He interviews interesting people.” And then you start to watch all of his programming and you start to see who he brings on. And while you think what he’s saying is totally reasonable, but his guests might say some things that are a little extreme, a little wacky, or a little conspiracy theorist and might begin to think, “But if this guy who I’ve been watching for a while thinks he’s cool, then maybe he is.” And then you go down that rabbit hole. You start listening to other folks who are more and more and more extreme in their beliefs when it comes to accusing people of color and women and trans folks for all that is wrong in the world, who really believe in maintaining the power of white men above all else. These are wild conspiracy theories and the more you engage with this material, the more it becomes normal.
This part of our online discourse is a huge problem and it is right-wing radicalizing for especially young men. Or men who just feel a little disaffected, because they’re getting the answers to the problems that are legitimate in their life, but they’re getting these really harmful, wrong answers to their questions. They don’t have a job? Well these people are going to say it’s because Mexicans are coming over and taking them. They don’t have a girlfriend? It’s because women are Female Doggoes. And your boss is a woman? She must’ve slept with someone to get that position. Like it’s all of these really old, oppressive narratives that are being used to explain what I think are probably really valid concerns for a lot of people living in this country today or globally in various ways. In terms of employment, in terms of wellness and satisfaction and all of these other political issues – it’s taking people down this really terrifying path that leads to electing Trump. That leads to massive online harassment campaigns. That leads to the adoption of really dangerous ideologies.
I criticized ‘South Park’ for spawning a generation of trolls. And so the trolls came for me.
“Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right,” the show declares smugly, spewing racial slurs and casual homophobia. Any criticism of the show is cast as hysterical: “Why are you taking it so seriously? They’re just jokes!”
South Park soothes away any self-reflection to protect a worldview that is safely unchanged. Shhhhh, it whispers, rubbing your back. No one is better than you. Deep down, everyone is as bad as your own laziest, most selfish impulses.
'I brainwashed myself with the internet'
Nearly 45 weeks pregnant, she wanted a "freebirth" with no doctors. Online groups convinced her it would be OK.
By February 2019, Judith had become unbearably anxious. The 28-year-old Pacific coast native’s due date had come and gone. Just two days shy of 45 weeks pregnant, her belly was stretched so far that it shined, her body was swollen, and nearly everything — from her toes to her hair — ached.
For women who haven’t gone into labor by 42 weeks, just about every medical and birth professional recommends induction — a jump-start to labor from medicines that ripen the cervix or contract the uterus. But Judith, an artist and freethinker who believes in “all that hippy jazz,” had a different kind of birth plan — one that dismissed medical recommendations and relied on nature and intuition, that rejected a sterile hospital for a warm pool in her own home and that avoided doctors and midwives. Instead, Judith wanted to be with only her husband and her closest friend, a plan known as freebirth, or unassisted birth, by the tiny subculture of women who practice it.
Judith couldn’t tell many people about that plan — her husband was supportive, but most of her other family and friends would understandably worry. Instead, Judith, who asked that her full name not be published, spent the last several months of her pregnancy immersed in online spaces where women celebrated her decision and offered support and tips. Private Facebook groups, Instagram accounts, podcasts and online courses had taught Judith everything she thought she needed to know about how her baby would come into the world.
There were doubts — sprouted from seeds planted by real-life friends who knew about her plan and doctors whom Judith had to see to sign up for state insurance benefits. But Judith had fortified herself against the creeping unease with the stories she read online from freebirthing mothers and the real-time support she received on Facebook. With a little help from algorithms that nudged increasingly questionable information and sources her way, Judith had become a part of the internet’s most extreme pregnancy communities.
Any lingering fears were wiped away the moment Judith’s birth started, a month late but on its own.
Judith was elated. She would get to have her baby at home, after all. She told her Facebook groups the good news, that she had lost her mucus plug and that contractions had started. She also asked a question.
“Do babies get more still trying to drop down?” she posted. “I’m getting a couple kicks but nowhere near usual movement.”
While group members filled her post with reassuring comments, telling her to trust herself, her body and her intuition, Judith put down her phone to do the work of birth. She walked and danced for hours through contractions and floated in a pool that her husband filled with water. She listened to music, and as a friend who was a doula massaged her back, she took minutelong naps between contractions.
“I’m doing it,” she thought. Her body was working just as it should, as the stories she'd obsessively read promised that it would.
Until it wasn’t. As the pain increased and the breaks between contractions shortened, Judith tried to keep the vision of her intended birth in mind, but 10 hours into labor, things began to spin out of her control.
She was vomiting and scared. The contractions were coming so hard and fast that she couldn’t right herself before the next wave would hit. She tried to monitor the baby’s heart rate, but she couldn’t stay still or quiet long enough to register a reading on the fetal stethoscope she’d bought. Then her waters broke, and with them came a burst of dark brown meconium, which she recognized as stool that can be dangerous to a baby if inhaled. Judith knew she needed help.
On all fours, Judith rode in the back seat while her husband drove to a nearby hospital, where a team of nurses and doctors attached a monitor to her belly and made quick preparations to deliver her baby. But as Judith rode the wave of another contraction, the room quieted and a doctor stepped forward. There was no heartbeat.
“There's something different about the wail of a mother who's lost her baby,” Judith said. “Your whole responsibility is to protect your child, and I didn’t before he even had a chance to breathe.”
...
As Judith mourned, women from all over the world offered condolences in her Facebook groups. But not everyone was there to give support. For at least one member, Judith was to be an example.
Within hours of Judith’s stillbirth, a blogger in the anti-home birth constellation published an article about it without reaching out to her. It was clear from the post, which included screenshots but blacked out Judith’s name, that one of her Facebook groups had been infiltrated by an opponent of the freebirth movement, someone who had seen Judith’s tragedy unfold and leaked photos of her chats.
With that betrayal, Judith left all of her pregnancy Facebook groups. Knowing that it was being spied on, the administrator of Ten Month Mamas shuttered the group, explaining in a final post that what had once been an “intimate and wonderful” group was no longer "a safe place for parents to share.”
No longer a safe place...
The lack of self awareness is just tragic.
A group called MassMove has formed on reddit to combat disinformation sites based in the US. So far they have found over seven hundred "local news" sites that are complete fabrications. These sites are just beginning to gain traction on Facebook, where MassMove started tracking likes. So far, thousands of Facebook accounts are involved.
From what I understand, the disinformation campaign is in the early stages, currently building trust, but not yet pushing an agenda on Facebook. Looking at the articles on their sites makes their agenda clear, though. The impostor sites are very hard to spot until you start sorting their articles by subject matter. The group assumes they are building the sites by scraping real local news sites and adding their own political content.
Here's the latest info from one person who has taken it upon themselves to spread the word. Their posts have been deleted in the politics subreddit, which I find a little odd.
The Atlantic has also reported on the domestic disinformation campaign. It is well-funded, and it is using tried-and-true tactics stolen from successful Russian propaganda efforts in the US.
Inside a pro-Trump YouTube disinformation network that spans Vietnam to Bosnia
Good read, thank you.
But skip the comments. They could be mistaken for theatrics bought by the parties at the center of the article.
This is the conclusion of a series of videos Destin (Smarter Every Day) made about disinformation on the Internet. This one focuses on Reddit. It’s all good stuff, but the best part is near the end. He describes some great approaches to defang trolls by tailoring your own posts to be troll-proof to combat the specific ways trolls work online conversations.
Alex Jones is apparently planning to literally eat his neighbors.
Alex Jones is apparently planning to literally eat his neighbors.
The fake Disney+ Twitter account works fast.
I’m no fan of Jones, but it’s a bit of a disingenuous take. The specific part about him eating his neighbors is from a hypothetical apocalypse scenario where his family has run out of food, he was talking about how he’d rather eat his neighbors than let his kids starve to death.
That said, he still should definitely not have custody of his kids. Despite this fake cannibalism stuff, he is still a dangerous sociopath.
While we’re on the subject, I highly recommend the podcast Knowledge Fight.
I’m no fan of Jones, but it’s a bit of a disingenuous take. The specific part about him eating his neighbors is from a hypothetical apocalypse scenario where his family has run out of food, he was talking about how he’d rather eat his neighbors than let his kids starve to death.
I don't think that's much of an improvement, really, though I agree that it is less dire than him making active plans to eat his neighbors this week. I still think it's supremely f*cked up, though I suppose it falls in the grand tradition of genteel people who get very upset when told that they weren't allowed to be cannibals after shipwrecks.
I’m no fan of Jones, but it’s a bit of a disingenuous take. The specific part about him eating his neighbors is from a hypothetical apocalypse scenario where his family has run out of food, he was talking about how he’d rather eat his neighbors than let his kids starve to death.
That said, he still should definitely not have custody of his kids. Despite this fake cannibalism stuff, he is still a dangerous sociopath.
While we’re on the subject, I highly recommend the podcast Knowledge Fight.
Not better.
I established my opinion on this long ago, same as him and I decided I’ll take Quietus before I ever go there. It was a psychopathic thing to say.
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