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.
I wonder how much the Roblox money spigot has sprayed on KOSA architects to keep the game out of the legislation's wide net.
Doesn't matter. It won't work. The net is wide enough that they can put anything they want in it, so that when new "threats" emerge (like sites that give useful info on things like contraception and safe sex, ones that answer questions about LGBTQ+ people, and maybe someday even news sites that aren't run by right-wing lunatics) they can use their friendly Supreme Court to shut them all down.
I admire what Blumenthal and his cosponsors are trying to do, but there are better ways to go about it. If they think the Republicans aren't going to weaponize this and twist it to their own ends, they're being painfully naive. (See also: USA PATRIOT Act.)
Elon Musk Posts AI-Generated Propaganda in Push to Get Trump Elected
Elon Musk shared an AI-generated video of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris saying ridiculous things that went viral over the weekend. The video led to a discussion about what role fake images play in persuading potential voters. While it’s unlikely many people thought this new video of Harris was real, it’s just the latest example of Musk trying to put his thumb on the scale to elect Donald Trump.Trump supporters have been on the defensive ever since Biden stepped aside and endorsed Harris, who’s currently surging in the polls amid a wave of relief throughout the country. Trump seemed unstoppable for months, but the vibe has shifted considerably, with regular people simply pointing out the innate weirdness of guys like vice presidential nominee JD Vance. Republicans are absolutely terrified, to put it mildly.
But now Musk and his fellow weirdos are hitting back, doing everything they can to paint Harris as bad or unreasonable, including with the AI video the billionaire shared on Friday with the caption “This is amazing.”
The video starts with the fake Harris mispronouncing her own name, a common error that normally would signal with AI although that may not always be a strong signal to Trump supporters that it’s not real. Trump himself regularly mispronounces her name and recently admitted at a rally that he knows the correct pronunciation but doesn’t use it.
From there, the video is just a litany of racist claims and absurd misinformation.
“I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire. I’m both a woman and a person of color So if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist,” the fake Harris says in the video.
Musk’s sharing of the video was clearly just a bid to help elect a fascist, but some Democrats set their sights on the wrong target by overreacting and threatening to ban politically themed AI videos altogether in response to the tweet. California Gov. Gavin Newsom took things the furthest when he said he’d introduce legislation in the coming weeks.
“Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal. I’ll be signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is,” Newsom tweeted.
Musk shot back in his characteristically embarrassingly way.
“I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America,” Musk tweeted back.
As horrible as Musk is, he’s right in this very specific case. Even fans of Musk, some of the dumbest and most credulous people around, couldn’t have thought this video was showing things that Harris actually said. And there needs to be space within a free society for people to make parody videos making fun of elected officials.
That said, there also needs to be guardrails for the use of AI in all kinds of spheres, including political messaging. We can’t allow AI tech to be used to actively stop people from exercising their rights. As one recent example, someone from the Dean Phillips campaign created an AI-generated recording of Biden that was sent out via robocalls in New Hampshire during the primaries. The fake Biden was telling people not to vote because it wasn’t necessary, and that’s obviously something that can’t be allowed.
Musk has spent recent years trying to push candidates from the extreme right into office, even becoming a big Trump supporter after ridiculing him in the past. But Musk isn’t a man of principle beyond his own interests, and he believes Trump can provide tangible financial benefits and the racist policies that Musk wants to see enforced at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Musk shared an incredibly racist tweet Monday that would’ve been shocking in a previous era, but now just acts as background noise on the Nazi-friendly site formerly known as Twitter. And it’s not going to stop, even if Harris wins in November.
As horrible as Musk is, he’s right in this very specific case. Even fans of Musk, some of the dumbest and most credulous people around, couldn’t have thought this video was showing things that Harris actually said.
The author needs to spend more time on the internet because I saw this video shared unironically on social media by people who genuinely thought it was real.
Like half of facebook now is just ridiculous AI pictures with endless comments from boomers who don’t recognize them as such, the currency of the internet is unchecked credulousness these days.
We need a lawsuit.
That has got to be slander or libel, no?
Elon Musk Posts AI-Generated Propaganda in Push to Get Trump Elected
“I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America,” Musk tweeted back.
I’m having a hard time putting into words just how much I’ve come to loathe this man.
If there is a benevolent god out there, I beseech you, let Zuckerberg whoop his ass. I think recalling that image would at least bring me a sliver of happiness to the end of my days.
Billionaires won't save us.
But what if we ask them very nicely and not tax them?
Do we talk Cybertrucks here?
My wife saw her first one in our neighborhood. Matte black.
"It looks like if you gave some kids a cardboard box and told them to make a car."
We do but I think there should be a dedicated Elon Musk thread that covers his companies and his ineptitude.
I don't think Musk deserves his own thread, or indeed to breathe the same oxygen as the rest of us. Therefore I submit that he should be very comfortable in the loath thread.
We do but I think there should be a dedicated Elon Musk thread that covers his companies and his ineptitude.
I think they're calling it X now?
Justice Department sues TikTok, accusing the company of illegally collecting children’s data
The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.
The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.
The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. It also says the companies failed to honor requests from parents who wanted their children’s accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the firms knew they belonged to kids under 13.
“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.
TikTok said it disagreed with the allegations, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”
“We offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors,” the company said in a statement.
The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
A weekend of rioting throughout the UK, spread in part by misinformation on X that is amplified and supported by the site's owner:
Dude's an open f*cking fash, and at some point, the people in charge need to wake up to that.
Dude's an open f*cking fash, and at some point, the people in charge need to wake up to that.
He's still making them money... so they're ok with it.
Prederick wrote:Dude's an open f*cking fash, and at some point, the people in charge need to wake up to that.
He's still making them money... so they're ok with it.
Yeah, the cryptofash are supposed to do what about the open fash?
Apropos of nothing... where's Musk's plane right now?
Seems like Google is in some hot water...
The Justice Department and several dozen state attorneys general won a sweeping victory against Google Monday as a federal judge ruled that the search giant illegally monopolized the online search and advertising markets over the past decade.
In a 286-page ruling U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., ruled that Google locked up some 90 percent of the internet search market through a partnership with Apple to be the default search provider in its Safari web browser, alongside similar agreements with handset makers and mobile carriers such Samsung and Verizon. Mehta also found that Google disadvantaged Microsoft in the market for ads displayed next to search results, allowing it to illegally dominate that market as well.
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote.
Suck it, Google!
(aint-nothin-gonna-happen.gif)
Seems like Google is in some hot water...
“Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta wrote.
Oh, SURE!
BTW, from that monopoly ruling:
History repeating. Or rhyming. Or something.
Microsoft really played the long game on this one
Musk’s X sues Unilever, Mars and CVS over ‘massive advertiser boycott’
Elon Musk’s social media platform X on Tuesday sued a global advertising alliance and several major companies, including Unilever, Mars and CVS Health, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to shun the social network and intentionally causing it to lose revenue. The company formerly known as Twitter accused the defendants of a “massive advertiser boycott”.
X filed the lawsuit in federal court in Texas on Tuesday against the World Federation of Advertisers as well as the companies individually.
The lawsuit said advertisers, acting through a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media, collectively and maliciously withheld “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X. The company said they acted against their own economic self interests in a conspiracy against the platform that violated US antitrust law.
n a statement on Tuesday about the lawsuit, X’s chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, said: “People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should monopolize what gets monetized.”
The World Advertising Federation, Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Ad revenue at X slumped for months after Musk bought the company in 2022. Brands had been wary of rapid changes initiated under Musk’s ownership. Watchdog groups have catalogued a sharp rise in antisemitic content on X, including ads running beside posts expressing pro-Nazi sentiments, after Musk gutted the social network’s content moderation teams. A suit filed by X against one such organization, Media Matters, is scheduled for trial in April 2025.
That is the most ridiculous excuse for a lawsuit I believe I have ever heard.
"THESE PEOPLE STOPPED LETTING ME EXTORT MONEY FROM THEM!"
I f*cked around and now you expect me to also find out?
I want to be the invisible hand in the free marketplace of ideas!
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