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Twitter Faces Advertiser Boycott Due to Failures to Police Child Abuse Material

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Elon Musk Launches Hostile Takeover Bid for Twitter

Twitter’s no good, very bad year continues, with the company this week being forced to inform some advertisers that their ads had been displayed in the app alongside tweets soliciting child pornography and other abuse material.

As reported by Reuters:

Brands ranging from Walt Disney, NBCUniversal and Coca-Cola, to a children’s hospital, were among some 30 advertisers that have appeared on the profile pages of Twitter accounts that peddle links to the exploitative material.”

The discovery was made by cybersecurity group Ghost Data, which worked with Reuters to uncover the ad placement concerns, dealing another big blow to the app’s ongoing business prospects.

Already in a state of disarray amid the ongoing Elon Musk takeover saga, and following recent revelations from its former security chief that it’s lax on data security and other measures, Twitter’s now also facing an advertiser exodus, with big brands including Dyson, Mazda and Ecolab suspending their Twitter campaigns in response.

Which, really, is the least concerning element about the discovery, with the Ghost Data report also identifying more than 500 accounts that openly shared or requested child sexual abuse material over a 20-day period.

Ghost Data says that Twitter failed to remove more than 70% of the accounts during the time of the study.

The findings raise further questions about Twitter’s inability, or willingness, to address potentially harmful material, with The Verge reporting late last month that Twitter ‘cannot accurately detect child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity at scale’.

That finding stemmed from an investigation into Twitter’s proposed plan to give adult content creators the ability to begin selling OnlyFans-style paid subscriptions in the app.

Rather than working to address the abundance of pornographic material on the platform, Twitter instead considered leaning into it – which would undoubtedly raise the risk factor for advertisers who do not want their promotions to appear alongside potentially offensive tweets.

Which is likely happening, at an even greater scale than this new report suggests, because Twitter’s own internal investigation into its OnlyFans-esque proposal found that:

Twitter could not safely allow adult creators to sell subscriptions because the company was not – and still is not – effectively policing harmful sexual content on the platform.”

In other words, Twitter couldn’t risk facilitating the monetization of exploitative material in the app, and because it has no way of tackling such, it had to scrap the proposal before it really gained any traction.

With that in mind, these new findings are no surprise – but again, the advertiser backlash is likely to be significant, which could force Twitter to launch a new crackdown either way.

For its part, Twitter says that it is investing more resources dedicated to child safety, ‘including hiring for new positions to write policy and implement solutions’.

So, great, Twitter’s taking action now. But these reports, based on investigation into Twitter’s own examinations, show that Twitter has been aware of this potential issue for some time – not child exploitation specifically, but adult content concerns that it has no way of policing.

In fact, Twitter openly assists in the promotion of adult content, albeit inadvertently. For example, in the ‘For You’ section of my ‘Explore’ tab (i.e. the front page of Explore in the app), Twitter continuously recommends that I follow ‘Facebook’ as a topic, based on my tweets and the people I follow in the app.

Here are the tweets that it highlighted as some of the top topical tweets for ‘Facebook’ yesterday:

It’s not pornographic material as such, but I’m tipping that if I tap through on any of these profiles, I’ll find it pretty quick. And again, these tweets are highlighted based on Twitter’s own topical tweets algorithm, which is based on engagement with tweets that mention the topic term. These completely unrelated and off-topic tweets are then being pushed by Twitter itself, to users that haven’t expressed any interest in adult content.

It’s clear, based on all the available evidence, that Twitter does have a porn problem, and it’s doing little to address it.

Distributors of adult content view Twitter as the best social network for advertising, because it’s less restrictive than Facebook, and has much broader reach than niche adult sites, while Twitter gains the usage and engagement benefits of hosting material that other social platforms would simply not allow.

Which is likely why it’s been willing to turn a blind eye to such for so long, to the point that it’s now being highlighted as a much bigger problem.

Though it is important to note that adult content, in itself, is not inherently problematic, among consenting adult users at least. It’s Twitter’s approach to child abuse and exploitative content that’s the real issue at hand.

And Twitter’s systems are reportedly ‘woefully inadequate’ in this respect.

As reported by The Verge:

A 2021 report found that the processes Twitter uses to identify and remove child sexual exploitation material are woefully inadequate – largely manual at a time when larger companies have increasingly turned to automated systems that can catch material that isn’t flagged by PhotoDNA. Twitter’s primary enforcement software is “a legacy, unsupported tool” called RedPanda, according to the report. “RedPanda is by far one of the most fragile, inefficient, and under-supported tools we have on offer,” one engineer quoted in the report said.”

Indeed, additional analysis of Twitter’s CSE detection systems found that of the 1 million reports submitted each month, 84% contain newly-discovered material – ‘none of which would be flagged’, by Twitter’s systems.

So while it’s advertisers that are putting the pressure back on the company in this instance, it’s clear that Twitter’s issues stem far beyond ad placement concerns alone.

Hitting Twitter’s bottom line, however, may be the only way to force the platform to take action – though it’ll be interesting to see just how willing and able Twitter is to enact a broader plan to address such amidst of its ongoing ownership battle.

Within its takeover agreement with Elon Musk, there’s a provision which states that Twitter needs to:

“Use its commercially reasonable efforts to preserve substantially intact the material components of its current business organization.”

In other words, Twitter can’t make any significant changes to its operational structure while it’s in the transition phase, which is currently in debate as it headed for a courtroom battle with Musk.

Would initiating a significant update to its CSE detection models qualify as a substantial change – substantial enough to alter the operating structure of the company at the time of the initial agreement?

In essence, Twitter likely doesn’t want to make any major changes. But it might have to, especially if more advertisers join this new boycott, and push the company to take immediate action.

It’s likely to be a mess either way, but this is a huge concern for Twitter, which should be rightfully held to account for its systemic failures in this respect.

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TikTok’s popularity complicates possible U.S. ban

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TikTok’s popularity complicates possible U.S. ban

Data: AppTopia; Note: Musically became TikTok in the U.S. on Aug. 2, 2018; Table: Axios Visuals

The U.S. government’s threat to ban TikTok takes aim at what has become the most popular smartphone app in the country.

Why it matters: TikTok’s scale presents an enormous challenge to lawmakers trying to argue that the app’s national security threat outweighs the wishes of the millions of people and businesses that use the app.

  • The TikTok app has been downloaded more times in the U.S. than any other social app since it merged with U.S. lip-syncing app Musical.ly in August 2018, according to data from Apptopia.
  • The app is expected to generate more than $11 billion in U.S. ad revenue by 2024, far outpacing rivals like Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter, per eMarketer.
  • TikTok has also captured far more revenue than its competitors from in-app purchases, like coins that fans can use to tip their favorite creators, per Apptopia.

Driving the news: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to highlight the app’s growth in remarks prepared for his first-ever Congressional testimony on Thursday and released Tuesday night by the House committee he will address.

  • The company now counts more than 150 million monthly active users in the U.S., up from the 100 million users it first reported in 2020, executives confirmed to Axios.
  • Chew will also likely cite TikTok’s role in supporting small businesses — a message that’s also been used by tech rivals like Meta and Google when faced with regulatory pressure.
  • On Tuesday, Chew posted a TikTok video touting the app’s reach, asserting that 5 million U.S. businesses, a majority of which are small or medium-sized, use TikTok to reach their customers.

Be smart: Tuesday’s video is part of a broader consumer campaign that the short-video platform is beginning to push amid growing efforts by federal and state governments to limit or ban the app.

  • Last week, The Information reported that TikTok sent a message to some creators inviting them to join its top executives in Washington D.C. to support the company on Capitol Hill.
  • This week, TikTok is trying to appeal to users directly in the app. “Some politicians have started to talk about banning TikTok,” Chew said in the video posted Tuesday. “Now this could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”
  • He then directed users to leave comments about “what you want your elected representatives to know about what you love about TikTok.”

Between the lines: TikTok has ramped up its marketing efforts in recent weeks, buying prominent ad space alongside many of D.C.’s most prominent political publications.

  • While most of TikTok’s consumer messaging is focused on the ban risk facing the app, its Washington campaign has mostly focused on steps the company is taking to protect U.S. user data.

The big picture: Surveys indicate that the public remains mostly divided on whether the government should ban TikTok, but Republicans are much more likely to support a ban than Democrats.

  • Lawmakers that oppose the ban argue the government needs to find more convincing proof that TikTok is a national security threat before forcing the app’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell to a U.S. company or face a ban.
  • Lawmakers that support moves against TikTok say the app is a threat to U.S. user data privacy because of Chinese laws that require Chinese companies to share user data with China’s government.

Yes, but: Many lawmakers fall somewhat in the middle, arguing that lawmakers need to provide the public with more clarity about the actual national security risks.

  • “If you’re going to pull the plug on one of the largest digital communities in the country, you have to make a very clear case for why you’re doing that,” Rep. Jeff Jackson (D-N.C.), an avid TikTok user, told Bloomberg.

What to watch: TikTok’s U.S. tech rivals have been waiting in the wings, hoping their TikTok clones — like Reels on both Facebook and Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat’s Spotlight — could steal some market share from TikTok if it were banned.

  • Those services have all launched in the wake of former president Trump’s initial proposal to ban TikTok in 2020, and many have grown pretty sizable.
  • Google said last month that YouTube Shorts has crossed 50 billion daily views.
  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month that Reels plays across Facebook and Instagram “have more than doubled over the last year,” and people sharing Reels “has more than doubled on both apps in just the last 6 months.”

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WhatsApp Adds New Group Chat Controls, Additional Context Around Group Membership

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WhatsApp Adds New Group Chat Controls, Additional Context Around Group Membership

WhatsApp’s adding some new control options for group chats, which will provide more capacity to manage who can, and can’t, join a group, while it’s also providing new insights into groups in-common with other users, to provide more context for connection and discovery.

First off, on group controls – WhatsApp’s adding a simplified control panel UI to approve new chat members.

As you can see in this example, the new format will enable chat admins to approve and reject group chat applicants, while it will also show people that have been previously approved or rejected.

That could make it much easier to manage your group chats, and ensure you’re on top of all participating members – which will be handy for Communities, which WhatsApp added back in November, and enable users to connect around specific topics.

The idea is that this will expand WhatsApp usage beyond private chats, and facilitate a wider range of discussion. And with more social media engagement switching to private chats, it’s another means for Meta to align with that shift, and keep users engaged.

It’s a simple addition, in broader context, and could be beneficial for those trying to keep tabs on their group membership.

WhatsApp’s also adding a new ‘groups in common’ display, to help users glean more context about other members.

WhatsApp groups update

As per WhatsApp:

“With the growth of Communities and their larger groups, we want to make it easy to know which groups you have in common with someone. Whether you’re trying to remember the name of a group you know you share with someone or you want to see the groups you’re both in, you can now easily search a contact’s name to see your groups in common.”

The display could also assist in group discovery, helping you find more relevant Communities that you might also want to join to engage in related topics.

As noted, with more online interactions switching to private chats, and away from public posting on social platforms, Meta’s now trying to align with that change, and provide more ways to keep users engaged, and help brands also meet them where they’re active.

WhatsApp, which has seen big growth in US, is now a larger part of the equation, and with more people leaning into more private discussion spaces, it makes sense for Meta to provide more tools to facilitate such.

The next step is monetizing WhatsApp, which remains a work in progress – but Meta is indeed making progress on this front as well.

As such, group chats could be another way to help boost exposure for brand functionality in the app, which is why Meta will be keen to build on these tools wherever it can.

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LinkedIn Creates Profile Summaries, Job Listings Via Generative AI 03/22/2023

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LinkedIn Creates Profile Summaries, Job Listings Via Generative AI 03/22/2023

Microsoft-owned business and
employment-focused social platform LinkedIn is adding a new ChatGPT-powered tool Premium subscribers can access to create personalized writing suggestions for sections of their LinkedIn profile, as
well as other AI integrations.

LinkedIn Premium subscribers now have the option to “Enhance” their profile via AI-drafted options for the …



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