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Twitter Censorship Social Networks

Twitter Announces New Blocking and Filtering Features (wired.co.uk) 119

Twitter just began rolling out "new ways to control your experience," promising the two new features "will give you more control over what you see and who you interact with on Twitter." An anonymous Slashdot reader quotes a report from Wired UK: First up, notification settings will allow those using Twitter on the web or on desktop to limit the notifications they receive for @ mentions, RTs, and other interactions to just be from people they follow. The feature can be turned on through the notifications tab. Twitter is also expanding its quality filter -- also accessible through notifications. "When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior," the company's product manager Emil Leong said in a blog post.

In December 2015, the company changed its rules to explicitly ban "hateful conduct" for the first time, while back in February last year, Twitter's then-CEO Dick Costolo admitted the network needed to improve how it handled trolls and abuse. In a leaked memo he said: "I'm frankly ashamed of how poorly we've dealt with this issue during my tenure as CEO. It's absurd. There's no excuse for it. I take full responsibility for not being more aggressive on this front. It's nobody else's fault but mine, and it's embarrassing."

Meanwhile, the Twitter account of Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales was hacked on Saturday.
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Twitter Announces New Blocking and Filtering Features

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  • but they will have to start throwing the violent element off Twitter, or they will be regarded as the dumpster fire of social media.
    • You mean they're not already?

      • by aliquis ( 678370 )

        I've your considered the "dump site" of social media, web media, the dump paper or television channel or whatever you've got to have done at-least one thing right.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

      Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Haha... banning of the "Violent" like those conservative gay black rooster loving 2nd amendment toting Trump supporters with small followings? Too little too late for Twitter. The awesome techies responsible for the initial success (imo) wisely left long ago. Twitters lunch has already been stolen, ate, and pooped back out again for them to scrub the toilet remnants of. A yawn, a stretch & a few keystrokes of code from Google and Twitters recent late-to-the-party "LIVE" run will gather dust.

      Bannings an

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        They state that the filter removes duplicates and bots from your timeline. It's a clever move because the harassers rely on retweets and repeats to crapflood their victims.

        Note that the filter doesn't ban anything, it just makes certain tweets not appear in your personal timeline.

    • by epyT-R ( 613989 )

      How can someone be violent on a website?

  • by Crashmarik ( 635988 ) on Sunday August 21, 2016 @03:06PM (#52743781)

    Seeing as they are shifting from a decentralized communication/discussion system to centralized advertising/propaganda delivery system, you have to wonder will the rubes using it keep using it ? Or even notice.

  • by Shadow of Eternity ( 795165 ) on Sunday August 21, 2016 @03:07PM (#52743785)

    Nyberg is not only a vicious troll but also a self-admitted child predator who's openly been given pictures of people's children for sexual gratification, and Quinn along with most of the others spend their entire time on twitter spewing racist and sexist hate at people inbetween rounds of doxings.

    Or is this actually about policing opinions and politics and not trolling and hate speech.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Gonna need some proof for that very serious allegation against Quinn.

      The Free Speech Warriors are out in force over this one. How dare people ignore them!

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        Ami we've been through this. I and others have repeatedly given you documentation of everything from her doxing and worse of "rival" feminists The Fine Young Capitalists as well as her involvement in attempting to swap Mike Cernovich, and then there's the matter of public record now of her toxic use of the legal system to continue her long history of domestic abuse against her ex.

        But because she has a vagina, calls herself a feminist, and cried victim first you and other SJWs rally around her like the secon

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          You have given us a bunch of shitty blog posts, all referring to each other. Show some archived tweets or something. Where are the responses from Twitter or whatever to the reports made over those posts?

          Just repeating the same lie a thousand times doesn't make it true.

          • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

            by Anonymous Coward

            You have given us a bunch of shitty blog posts, all referring to each other. Show some archived tweets or something. Where are the responses from Twitter or whatever to the reports made over those posts?

            Just repeating the same lie a thousand times doesn't make it true.

            So I went and looked this up and found evidence of quin participating in a doxing

            It took me less than 5 minutes to find

            The problem is that the archive of it reveals the victims name, and so I'm not going to link it

            Given that it took so little effort to find, it leaves me with a question... Are you just running damage control knowing that the evidence is out there and that people will be reluctant to link to it, or are you honestly ignorant of it?

            Please tell me you're just acting in ignorance, I'm not sure m

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              Well played, it's easy to find but you won't link to it because of your ethics, which GamerGate trolls are so well known for. And of course, no one else can prove a negative so no way to demonstrate beyond doubt that you are wrong.

              You can't link to it, it doesn't exist. Just like the review of her game by that journalist doesn't exist.

          • by epyT-R ( 613989 )

            You expect us to believe the shitty sob stories from her and her supporters, don't you? You know, the whole 'listen and believe' routine?

            Just repeating the same lie a thousand times doesn't make it true.

            Take your own advice.

            • I'm not asking you to believe anything. I'm asking you to prove the extraordinary claims you are making.

              Surely you don't expect people to take then on faith do you? Maybe you do, GamerGate has turned into a kind of religion.

              • by epyT-R ( 613989 )

                Great, but we must hold you to the same standard, yes? Since the social justice crowd initiated this, they can go first. If they're going to accuse whole groups of mass oppression in various communities, they should bring forth some evidence beyond "outcome is not equal, therefore bigotry = true".

                Religion? I would say gamergate has nothing on third wave feminism and black lives matter. They are the progressive counterparts to Ken Hovind and his banana. Unlike Hovind, though, their broken arguments and hypo

                • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                  I'm not making any claims here. I'm certainly not alleging mass oppression. I'm just asking you to support your position.

                  Stop avoiding the question. Support your position with evidence or abandon it, or just admit it's a religion and all done on faith.

                  • oh look another SJW story where AmiMoJo posts dozens of times defending the bad behavior of SJW's through a long series of logical fallacies and the ostrich head maneuver.
                  • by epyT-R ( 613989 )

                    No, you're defending the positions of those who are, however, and they have not provided facts or reasoned arguments for their positions. Since you defend them, it should be easy for you.

                    What do you want evidence of? shitty blog/video posts with bad argumentation and hypocritical statements? Try feminist frequency's videos for starters. Of course I am sure you are already aware of the content..

                    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

                      by pseudofrog ( 570061 )
                      AmiMoJo is asking for evidence regarding Shadow of Eternity's claims about Zoe Quinn. Curiously, nobody can provide it. Funny, huh?
                    • No no, it happened, it just wouldn't be ethical to provide evidence of accusations.

                    • It doesn't matter how often AmiMoJo is shown the evidence, s/he dismisses the source as it isn't a SJW media source (which of course would not publish about the issue). The evidence is incredibly easy to find, and claiming it doesn't exist because you don't like the source is what the poster above is pointing out.

          • Traditionally unreliable sources (like blogs and social media) are treated like gospel when it comes from leftists. Same sources, same material, same conversation, wrong person == unreliable in the SOCJUS world, even if it is fact.

            It's been played the same time over and over. Perhaps it's you that should reconsider repeating your lies a thousand times.

            • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

              I never, ever use blog posts as evidence. I only link to them when they lay out an argument in greater detail than a comment allows, or when they have multiple reliable references.

              Provide some evidence, or at least show where I have used blogs and social media as evidence in the way you suggest.

              • The evidence I have provided previously was of the exact type you just spoke of, yet you dismissed it. You don't want evidence of the bad behavior, you just want to stick your head in the sand and at like it doesn't exist. I have provided all the evidence needed, yet you continue to act like it doesn't exist.

      • Doesn't work that way. Oh, and get your facts straight, since Nyberg is a different person.

    • by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Sunday August 21, 2016 @05:35PM (#52744329) Journal

      Nyberg is not only a vicious troll but also a self-admitted child predator who's openly been given pictures of people's children for sexual gratification,

      Yep, and this has been documented repeatedly. If I'm not mistaken, she's even admitted to most of it.

      Nyberg, Quinn, Sarkesian, Shives...they're the new fascists.

      Don't agree with them? Then you're automatically a racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe etc etc etc. Look at what they tried to do to Dr. Phil Mason and tell me that's "fair play".

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Don't forget blaming people for what their followers do!

        Err, unless they like the person's politics, then it's just fine, carry on. Who'd bother to enforce the rules against anyone you agree with?

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        If you bother to check, it's all been debunked repeatedly. In fact, you can debunk it yourself right now. Just ask the people making these claims for some proof. They will refuse, or claim it's "easy to google", and then mod you -1 Troll for asking.

        Speaking of oppression, their claims remind of of the kind of thing North Korea says about people it doesn't like.

        • If you bother to check, it's all been debunked repeatedly.

          Thanks, but I know enough about Quinn, Shives, and Sarkesian to make an informed judgement. I've watched enough of their videos to know everything I need to know about them. Far from "debunking" the claims, I found them to be mostly accurate and well supported.

          Steve Shives, for example, will block you on Twitter just for messaging him and saying you liked his video but disagree with one of his points. That's all it takes. (Ask me how I know.) What a champion of free speech and discourse, eh? He won't debate

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            I've watched enough of their videos to know everything I need to know about them.

            Quinn does videos now? Where?

            What a champion of free speech and discourse, eh?

            Free speech doesn't require other people to listen to you. If he doesn't want to personally answer yet another random guy messaging him the same points and the same arguments about 1000 others already did, well too bad.

            Sarkesian is a con artist who rakes in money and produces almost none of what she promises to make.

            She has delivered all her Kickstarter material and a number of bonus videos, the most recent of which was published a few weeks ago. All the videos are on the Feminist Frequency YouTube channel [youtube.com]. She has delivered all the base goals and all the stretch goals. This

            • Free speech doesn't require other people to listen to you. If he doesn't want to personally answer yet another random guy messaging him the same points and the same arguments about 1000 others already did, well too bad.

              Ahhh, this is always the refrain of the authoritarian who is terrified of opposing views. Shives doesn't even allow commenting on most of his videos and he turns down every invitation to debate anyone who doesn't already share his whackadoodle views. He has openly stated that he would shut down other people's channels if he could, just because he doesn't like them. Not becuase they violate any rule or guideline, but just because he doesn't like what they say. Again, what a champion of free speech and discou

              • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

                Go to the Kickstarter page. Count the number of videos promised. Look at the proposed content. Compare to the YouTube channel.

                The facts are undeniable. She more than delivered.

      • Yep, and this has been documented repeatedly. If I'm not mistaken, she's even admitted to most of it.

        I just googled "nyberg" and then "sarah hyberg" on a whim. The first two links are posts on Breitbart by Milo. I can't be arsed to read those, because he's proven himself to be entirely happy to engage in libel. And the rest are a scattering of blog posts.

        I'm not going to delve into that obvious shit fest any further.

        It wouldn't be too much to ask for some actual evidence from a reasonably convincing source

        • It never ceases to amaze me that a group that seems to advocate "Realz before Feelz" seems to operate entirely on the latter, and oftentimes fabricates the former.
          • I also like how a bunch of completely unsourced accusations gets +5 informative but a demand for proof gets modded down. Particularly ironic since the gater crowd goes on about free speech so much. I guess free speech should only be allowed for libel of someone they don't like. Demands of evidence must be suppressed!

            • Um, no one on Slashdot has been censored, being marked down is not censorship and does not suppress your comment in any way. There is no conflict in downmodding AmiMoJo for yet again asking for the same evidence that has been given many times and poo pooed as just blog posts, even though there are plenty of citations for everything talked about.

        • What has Sarkeesian ever done to Phil Mason?

          What has Phil Mason ever done to Sarkeesian, except call her out for her dishonesty?

          • You said this:

            Nyberg, Quinn, Sarkesian, Shives...they're the new fascists.

            Don't agree with them? Then you're automatically racist/sexist/homophobe/transphobe etc etc etc. Look at what they tried to do to Dr. Phil Mason and tell me that's "fair play".

            That's literally a quote. You said precisely that.

            Now stop ducking and weaving, and awnser the question honestly. What have they (as you clealry claimed in that quote) done to Phil Mason. You told me to look at it.

            Look at what?

            Give me some evidence more convinci

  • These tools are NOT meant to let me block Twitter.
    I'm disappointed

  • by Anonymous Coward

    "When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see..."

    This works better than you might guess. I tried it out by sending a bunch of tweets from Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton through the filter. Out the other side came tweets from Neil deGrass Tyson and Stephen Hawking.

    I'm sold.

  • blocking Twitter.

  • Welcome to Whack-A-Mole, where you get to try to keep the entire internet from saying things that other people find objectionable.

    I understand their goal (and I even agree with it), but I suspect it's going to be a losing battle.

    The real problem is that there are a million billion trolls and they have nothing better to do than find ways to get around twitter bans and the algorithms that try to detect unwanted behavior.

    The tragedy of the commons, in other words.

  • ...when "hateful" is defined by a people with a certain set of beliefs.

    The DOJ should crush Twitter as tacitly accepting responsibility for their content.

  • Instead of helping users close their eyes and ears, Twitter needs to help users kick people out of their cocktail parties.
  • Twitter can fix Twitter with just a few lines of code
    https://jesterscourt.cc/2016/08/15/twitter-can-fix-twitter-just-lines-code/ [jesterscourt.cc]

    tl;dr:
    If you block someone that should also prevent them from @mentioning your user name
    • by allo ( 1728082 )

      Yeah, because forbidding certian words (names) in free speech is a good thing, because ... err wait ... i will come up with a reason soon!

  • Twitter has gone from openness to protection of the leftist message with these updates.

    If you're a minority, a certain leftist bent, or even a terrorist, they will let you harass to your heart's content. If you're anyone else, you get called on it.

  • If Twitter wants me to use it more they need to up the 140 character limit. I don't need 5000 characters, but 1000 feels reasonable. As a 49 year-old I'm incapable of writing like a 15-year-old. Nt only cn I nt wrt twts lik ths, I cant rd them eithr.
  • Twitter is losing users. The company thinks it's because people say nasty things to feminists. I think they are misdiagnosing the problem. The real problem with Twitter is that its primary function these days is social signaling [wikipedia.org] because that's really all you can do in 140 characters. That, and it also functions as a status symbol among minor celebrities, who like to increase their notoriety and number of followers through fake controversies and trolling. For both of those functions, it is actually essential

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