SOCIAL
Twitter Adds New Feed Sorting Options to Communities

I’m still not sold on Twitter Communities, and the potential for it to become a major element of the app experience.
That’s not to say it’s not going to be valuable, nor that some Communities will end up being popular. But how many Twitter users are really, actively engaging in Communities, or even want to, given the app’s ‘global public square’ ethos?
Regardless, Twitter seems determined to push ahead with the project, with its latest Communities addition being algorithmic sorting within Communities streams.
a new way to view your Communities timeline: sort Tweets by For you (most relevant to you) or Latest (most recent)—the choice is yours!
we’re testing this on iOS, Android, and web to see if it improves your Communities experience ???? let us know what you think pic.twitter.com/ygWXfBxbQf
— Twitter Communities (@HiCommunities) June 1, 2022
As you can see in this example, now, users have the option to sort their Communities feed by either ‘For you’ (sounds familiar), which will display the top tweets in each community, based on your engagement history, or ‘Latest’, so the newest community contributions appear at the top.
As explained by Twitter:
“The setting each person chooses will become the new default every time they visit that Community. The setting is unique to each Community and can be changed at any given moment, giving people the ability to choose and customize how they view each of their Communities separately based on their preference.”
That could make it easier to engage in your chosen communities, especially in more popular groups, by surfacing the most relevant tweets for you. If, of course, Twitter’s algorithms are any good at highlighting the best tweets to each user.
Thus far, Twitter’s algorithm matching hasn’t shown much nous for personalization, with, generally, the people you engage with most or the most popular tweets taking priority in algorithm-defined feeds.
That makes sense, but there’s not a lot of advanced learning being applied – Twitter’s not great, for example, at showing you content that you may be interested in based on your previous activity.
The Spaces tab is a good example of this – tap over to the Spaces tab right now and I’m tipping you’ll have trouble finding in-progress Spaces relevant to you, with the listing simply showing the most popular Spaces broadcasts at any given time.
As TikTok has shown, algorithm personalization is key to maximizing user engagement, with the TikTok system able to adjust to your preferences very quickly, and keep feeding you more of what you like. Twitter’s systems are nowhere near that, with its ‘Accounts to Follow’ and ‘Topics’ recommendations regularly being way off anything close to relevant for most users.
That’s a large reason why Twitter has failed to capitalize on its position as the key source for real time discussion. Twitter has access to more trending conversations than any other platform, but it’s never found a great way to highlight those chats to each individual user. It still could, theoretically, and maybe that’s part of Elon’s grand plan. But without that capacity, most of these types of ‘top tweets’ displays don’t really push the needle on engagement.
Still, maybe that’ll be different in Communities, where you’re already interested in the main topic anyway, and maybe that will help to uncover more relevant, more interesting discussions.
Right now, based on anecdotal evidence, Communities, in general, doesn’t appear to be taking off, but Twitter has said that it’s happy with Communities take-up, and it could still become a thing, if Twitter can find more ways to maximize engagement.
Though that could be even more difficult now, with Twitter refocusing its resources on its core elements, and shifting away from experiments.
As reported by Bloomberg:
“Executives told workers of plans to pull back resources for some long-term ambitions, including audio spaces, newsletters and communities, in favor of focusing on more immediate needs, like user growth and personalization efforts, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Maybe, then, this could be one of the last Communities updates for some time – and maybe, that new focus on personalization will yield real results on this front.
Confusing times at tweet HQ, which makes it harder to know what to expect.
Communities users can choose between timeline sorting options via the upper right-hand function menu in each Community.
SOCIAL
Paris mayor to stop using ‘global sewer’ X

Hidalgo called Twitter a ‘vast global sewer’ – Copyright POOL/AFP Leon Neal
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Monday she was quitting Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which she described as a “global sewer” and a tool to disrupt democracy.
“I’ve made the decision to leave X,” Hidalgo said in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde. “X has in recent years become a weapon of mass destruction of our democracies”, she wrote.
The 64-year-old Socialist, who unsuccessfully stood for the presidency in 2022, joined Twitter as it was then known in 2009 and has been a frequent user of the platform.
She accused X of promoting “misinformation”, “anti-Semitism and racism.”
“The list of abuses is endless”, she added. “This media has become a vast global sewer.”
Since Musk took over Twitter in 2022, a number of high-profile figures said they were leaving the popular social platform, but there has been no mass exodus.
Several politicians including EU industry chief Thierry Breton have announced that they are opening accounts on competing networks in addition to maintaining their presence on X.
The City of Paris account will remain on X, the mayor’s office told AFP.
By contrast, some organisations have taken the plunge, including the US public radio network NPR, or the German anti-discrimination agency.
Hidalgo has regularly faced personal attacks on social media including Twitter, as well as sometimes criticism over the lack of cleanliness and security in Paris.
In the latest furore, she has faced stinging attacks over an October trip to the French Pacific territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia that was not publicised at the time and that she extended with a two-week personal vacation.
SOCIAL
Meta Highlights Key Platform Manipulation Trends in Latest ‘Adversarial Threat Report’

While talk of a possible U.S. ban of TikTok has been tempered of late, concerns still linger around the app, and the way that it could theoretically be used by the Chinese Government to implement varying forms of data tracking and messaging manipulation in Western regions.
The latter was highlighted again this week, when Meta released its latest “Adversarial Threat Report,” which includes an overview of Meta’s latest detections, as well as a broader summary of its efforts throughout the year.
And while the data shows that Russia and Iran remain the most common source regions for coordinated manipulation programs, China is third on that list, with Meta shutting down almost 5,000 Facebook profiles linked to a Chinese-based manipulation program in Q3 alone.
As explained by Meta:
“We removed 4,789 Facebook accounts for violating our policy against coordinated inauthentic behavior. This network originated in China and targeted the United States. The individuals behind this activity used basic fake accounts with profile pictures and names copied from elsewhere on the internet to post and befriend people from around the world. They posed as Americans to post the same content across different platforms. Some of these accounts used the same name and profile picture on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). We removed this network before it was able to gain engagement from authentic communities on our apps.”
Meta says that this group aimed to sway discussion around both U.S. and China policy by both sharing news stories, and engaging with posts related to specific issues.
“They also posted links to news articles from mainstream US media and reshared Facebook posts by real people, likely in an attempt to appear more authentic. Some of the reshared content was political, while other covered topics like gaming, history, fashion models, and pets. Unusually, in mid-2023 a small portion of this network’s accounts changed names and profile pictures from posing as Americans to posing as being based in India when they suddenly began liking and commenting on posts by another China-origin network focused on India and Tibet.”
Meta further notes that it took down more Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior (CIB) groups from China than any other region in 2023, reflecting the rising trend of Chinese operators looking to infiltrate Western networks.
“The latest operations typically posted content related to China’s interests in different regions worldwide. For example, many of them praised China, some of them defended its record on human rights in Tibet and Xinjiang, others attacked critics of the Chinese government around the world, and posted about China’s strategic rivalry with the U.S. in Africa and Central Asia.”
Google, too, has repeatedly removed large clusters of YouTube accounts of Chinese origin that had been seeking to build audiences in the app, in order to then seed pro-China sentiment.
The largest coordinated group identified by Google is an operation known as “Dragonbridge” which has long been the biggest originator of manipulative efforts across its apps.
As you can see in this chart, Google removed more than 50,000 instances of Dragonbridge activity across YouTube, Blogger and AdSense in 2022 alone, underlining the persistent efforts of Chinese groups to sway Western audiences.
So these groups, whether they’re associated with the CCP or not, are already looking to infiltrate Western-based networks. Which underlines the potential threat of TikTok in the same respect, given that it’s controlled by a Chinese owner, and therefore likely more directly accessible to these operators.
That’s partly why TikTok is already banned on government-owned devices in most regions, and why cybersecurity experts continue to sound the alarm about the app, because if the above figures reflect the level of activity that non-Chinese platforms are already seeing, you can only imagine that, as TikTok’s influence grows, it too will be high on the list of distribution for the same material.
And we don’t have the same level of transparency into TikTok’s enforcement efforts, nor do we have a clear understanding of parent company ByteDance’s links to the CCP.
Which is why the threat of a possible TikTok ban remains, and will linger for some time yet, and could still spill over if there’s a shift in U.S./China relations.
One other point of note from Meta’s Adversarial Threat Report is its summary of AI usage for such activity, and how it’s changing over time.
X owner Elon Musk has repeatedly pointed to the rise of generative AI as a key vector for increased bot activity, because spammers will be able to create more complex, harder to detect bot accounts through such tools. That’s why X is pushing towards payment models as a means to counter bot profile mass production.
And while Meta does agree that AI tools will enable threat actors to create larger volumes of convincing content, it also says that it hasn’t seen evidence “that it will upend our industry’s efforts to counter covert influence operations” at this stage.
Meta also makes this interesting point:
“For sophisticated threat actors, content generation hasn’t been a primary challenge. They rather struggle with building and engaging authentic audiences they seek to influence. This is why we have focused on identifying adversarial behaviors and tactics used to drive engagement among real people. Disrupting these behaviors early helps to ensure that misleading AI content does not play a role in covert influence operations. Generative AI is also unlikely to change this dynamic.”
So it’s not just content that they need, but interesting, engaging material, and because generative AI is based on everything that’s come before, it’s not necessarily built to establish new trends, which would then help these bot accounts build an audience.
These are some interesting notes on the current threat landscape, and how coordinated groups are still looking to use digital platforms to spread their messaging. Which will likely never stop, but it is worth noting where these groups originate from, and what that means for related discussion.
You can read Meta’s Q3 “Adversarial Threat Report” here.
SOCIAL
US judge halts pending TikTok ban in Montana

TikTok use has continued to grow apace despite a growing number of countries banning the app from government devices. — © POOL/AFP Liam McBurney
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a ban on TikTok set to come into effect next year in Montana, saying the popular video sharing app was likely to win its pending legal challenge.
US District Court Judge Donald Molloy placed the injunction on the ban until the case, originally filed by TikTok in May, has been ruled on its merits.
Molloy deemed it likely TikTok and its users will win, since it appeared the Montana law not only violates free speech rights but runs counter to the fact that foreign policy matters are the exclusive domain of the federal government.
“The current record leaves little doubt that Montana’s legislature and attorney general were more interested in targeting China’s ostensible role in TikTok than they with protecting Montana consumers,” Molloy said in the ruling.
The app is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance and has been accused by a wide swathe of US politicians of being under Beijing’s tutelage, something the company furiously denies.
Montana’s law says the TikTok ban will become void if the app is acquired by a company incorporated in a country not designated by the United States as a foreign adversary.
TikTok had argued that the unprecedented ban violates constitutionally protected right to free speech.
The prohibition signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte is seen as a legal test for a national ban of the Chinese-owned platform, something lawmakers in Washington are increasingly calling for.
Montana’s ban would be the first to come into effect in the United States – Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV
The ban would make it a violation each time “a user accesses TikTok, is offered the ability to access TikTok, or is offered the ability to download TikTok.”
Each violation is punishable by a $10,000 fine every day it takes place.
Under the law, Apple and Google will have to remove TikTok from their app stores.
State political leaders have “trampled on the free speech of hundreds of thousands of Montanans who use the app to express themselves, gather information, and run their small business in the name of anti-Chinese sentiment,” ACLU Montana policy director Keegan Medrano said after the bill was signed.
The law is yet another skirmish in duels between TikTok and many western governments, with the app already banned on government devices in the United States, Canada and several countries in Europe.
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