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The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

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Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#161
post #120

Why is anyone surprised that the major/globally operating social media companies have extensive internal systems for controlling the content that appears via their platforms? Irrespective of whether or not you agree with individual decisions, the fact that such systems exist should not be a surprise. These companies operate within legal frameworks across multiple jurisdictions that have endless variations of restrict…

It’s not the fact that these systems exist, it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

> it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years

When ? I haven't seen any evidence of this.

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#163

None of this is new information. There is an entire help page about this https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-reach... The only new info I learned was Libs of TicTok apparently got special protections not afforded to regular users

It’s marketing material, content moderation and free speech is a super hot topic.

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not the fact that these systems exist, it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

> it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years When ? I haven't seen any evidence of this.

First hit on google: https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2018/Setting-t...

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#165
post #120

Why is anyone surprised that the major/globally operating social media companies have extensive internal systems for controlling the content that appears via their platforms? Irrespective of whether or not you agree with individual decisions, the fact that such systems exist should not be a surprise. These companies operate within legal frameworks across multiple jurisdictions that have endless variations of restrict…

It’s not the fact that these systems exist, it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

> Abusive and spammy behavior. When abuse or manipulation of our service is reported or detected, we may take action to limit the reach of a person's Tweets. Learn more about actions we take, including temporary and permanent account suspensions, and limiting account functionality.

https://twitter.com/ashleyfeinberg/status/160101566099344998...

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#166
post #120

Why is anyone surprised that the major/globally operating social media companies have extensive internal systems for controlling the content that appears via their platforms? Irrespective of whether or not you agree with individual decisions, the fact that such systems exist should not be a surprise. These companies operate within legal frameworks across multiple jurisdictions that have endless variations of restrict…

It’s not the fact that these systems exist, it’s that Twitter denied that they did for years, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

This seems to say what they did wasn't how Twitter defines shadow banning.

https://twitter.com/bendreyfuss/status/1601019554980761600?s...

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#167
This all seems like a major publicity stunt. We all know that Twitter is filtering users. The question is why they are filtered. There's a clear bias to specifically show right wingers being banned but other independent sources say it is roughly even. I don't want to really see political leanings so much as I want to see the content that caused them to be flagged in the first place. If someone promotes Nazism or some other universally hated sentiment I don't care which party they belong to.

I want to know WHY these people were flagged.

Without that being said I can't read these (and the previous posts) as any more than propaganda. It has a right wing bias and that feeds into a prior narrative but we all know that social media is amazing at causing selection bias. If they really want to show that Twitter's prior policies favored the left wing then they need to show more data and fewer direct examples. There's been this narrative that most employees at Twitter are left wing therefore filters target right wingers but that is naive unless we assume all Twitter employees' voices are equal and equally contribute to the creation of these filters.

This isn't so much whistleblowing as it is propaganda. Musk wants to drive eyeballs and the master of hype is doing what he does best. Lord around a nothing burger and promises the moon. He's just using that right wing prior that many have and exploiting that with selection bias without actually demonstrating that there is a bias.

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#168
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right it's not. I gather if you want to get two sides to talk who aren't talking, i.e. those who support that message vs. those who don't, you need to appeal to both.

I think there might be a reason two sides aren't talking. Conservatives: Rope, tree, journalist: some assembly required Fuck Joe Biden Fuck your feelings These are all t-shirt slogans you can buy at conservative political events, and they're quite widespread rather than exceptional. Also conservatives: Why am I being shadow banned, this is viewpoint discrimination! To be clear, there are obnoxious people and outright…

[deleted]

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A shadowban has the property that it's hidden from the user. Elon seems to want to make these kinds of actions transparent, like, for instance, deboosted tweets being visible as deboosted by their creator/other users, which is a pretty big difference. This difference is already visible in initial intent: Twitter hid what they were doing https://twitter.com/Twitter/status/1022658436704731136 , while Elon is explicitly…

Problem is that there is a reason shadow bans exist. It prevents nefarious actors from easily probing the limits of their content moderation processes. It really is funny how Musk is just taking Twitter back to the start.

It's already easy to check to see if you or your post is shadowbanned.

Re: The Twitter Files Part 2: Twitter's Secret Blacklists

#170
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is, and none of this is new information, given this article from 2020: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgxd3d/twitter-insider-acces... A more pressing question, IMO: one of the screenshots shows a “direct messages” button. Does Weiss and/or Taibbi have unrestricted access to read users DMs right now?

why do you want to distract readers with BS like access controls imposed on the journalists? the head of twitter security testified to Congress how twitter had poor security controls and audibility across the company. If that button does allow ability to read DM, Twitter employees have surely abused that for ages without repercussions. Let’s stay focused on the important details rather than worrying about established…

> If that button does allow ability to read DM, Twitter employees have surely abused that for ages without repercussions.

How many employees have access to the tool? Do all users see that button? Seems pretty likely they’d have tiered access levels, no? What if access to user DMs was a hugely restricted piece of functionality and Musk just said “screw it” and gave it to two non-employees on a whim?

You’re writing off a potentially huge breach in user trust, not to mention legal repercussions.

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