The Bane That Is Social Media

[Bact PhD]

In a 5-4 move, Supremes prevent Texass social media regulations from taking the effect.

www.npr.org/2022/05/31/1102289944/supreme-court-blocks-texas-social-media-law-from-taking-effect

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas social media law from taking effect that intended to punish online platforms for removing political speech.

The vote was 5-to-4, with the court's three most conservative justices filing a written dissent that would have allowed the Texas law to start. In a surprise move, liberal Justice Elena Kagan joined in the dissent, but she did not explain her rationale.

The Texas law bars Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media sites from blocking content based on viewpoint. Gov. Greg Abbott maintained that the law was a justifiable response to "a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas."

Maybe Flori-DUH’s will go bye-bye, too —?

[LFC]

Man, that's scary.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 1, 2022 0:06:04 GMT Bact PhD said:

In a 5-4 move, Supremes prevent Texass social media regulations from taking the effect.

www.npr.org/2022/05/31/1102289944/supreme-court-blocks-texas-social-media-law-from-taking-effect

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas social media law from taking effect that intended to punish online platforms for removing political speech.

The vote was 5-to-4, with the court's three most conservative justices filing a written dissent that would have allowed the Texas law to start. In a surprise move, liberal Justice Elena Kagan joined in the dissent, but she did not explain her rationale.

The Texas law bars Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other popular social media sites from blocking content based on viewpoint. Gov. Greg Abbott maintained that the law was a justifiable response to "a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas."

Maybe Flori-DUH’s will go bye-bye, too —?

The government is telling business what it can and can't do?  And conservative justices think that's ok?  

[LFC]

Jun 1, 2022 13:41:39 GMT goldenvalley said:

The government is telling business what it can and can't do?  And conservative justices think that's ok?  

If it's not beneficial to their cause then yes. More than that, HELL yes! Still I would love to know why Kagan thinks the government has the right to control how a business handles something that, to those who use it, is a free service. The others? Yeah, well they're just core partisan hack SCOTUS.

[pnwguy]

Jun 1, 2022 19:35:23 GMT LFC said:

If it's not beneficial to their cause then yes. More than that, HELL yes! Still I would love to know why Kagan thinks the government has the right to control how a business handles something that, to those who use it, is a free service. The others? Yeah, well they're just core partisan hack SCOTUS.

My guess is that Kagan looks at certain businesses as de facto monopolies (which they tend to become with the dismal anti-trust enforcement of the past 40 years).  At what point do they mimic regulated monopolies like electric utility businesses? Seems like the way a more liberal jurist might see the issue.

[LFC]

Devin has been getting a sweet return on his T3 (Trump Taint Tonguing) investment.

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is pulling a salary of $750,000 a year as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind TRUTH Social, according to an SEC filing from last month.

The filing came not from TMTG, Trump’s company, but from Digital World Acquisition Corp. TMTG plans on going public by merging with Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Nunes’ base salary of $750,000 salary is a steep jump from the $174,000 he made as a congressman until he resigned his seat at the end of 2021. After two years on the job, Nunes is slated to get a raise to $1 million per year, per the filing.

The filing, which does not include a copy of Nunes’ employment agreement, offers a glimpse at the rest of Nunes’ compensation package. However, it lacks the details to piece together its total value.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 7, 2022 20:27:55 GMT LFC said:

Devin has been getting a sweet return on his T3 (Trump Taint Tonguing) investment.

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is pulling a salary of $750,000 a year as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind TRUTH Social, according to an SEC filing from last month.

The filing came not from TMTG, Trump’s company, but from Digital World Acquisition Corp. TMTG plans on going public by merging with Digital World, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Nunes’ base salary of $750,000 salary is a steep jump from the $174,000 he made as a congressman until he resigned his seat at the end of 2021. After two years on the job, Nunes is slated to get a raise to $1 million per year, per the filing.

The filing, which does not include a copy of Nunes’ employment agreement, offers a glimpse at the rest of Nunes’ compensation package. However, it lacks the details to piece together its total value.

wow this SPAC stuff is amazing.  What a scam for all involved.

[LFC]

Why is this criminal (still under indictment) getting involved in Twitter's business? Bonus points for lying about Twitter's actual statements on spam accounts.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday stepped into the Elon Musk/Twitter battle by launching an investigation into whether Twitter is hiding the extent of its spam-account problem. Paxton announced the investigation in a press release that echoes Musk's claims and sent Twitter a letter demanding the same types of data on fake accounts that Musk hasn't been able to get.

"Twitter has received intense scrutiny in recent weeks over claiming in its financial regulatory filings that fewer than 5 percent of all users are bots, when they may in fact comprise as much as 20 percent or more," Paxton's announcement said. Paxton's press release says that an inaccurate estimate of bot accounts may "inflate the value of the company and the costs of doing business with it, thus directly harming Texas consumers and businesses."

Though Paxton's press release didn't mention Musk, the "intense scrutiny" has been driven by Musk claiming that Twitter's spam-account estimate is wrong. Additionally, Paxton's concern that incorrect spam data would "inflate the value" of Twitter comes amid Musk's attempts to get out of or renegotiate his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter—Musk agreed to pay $54.20 per share, and Twitter's stock price was $39.59 at market close on Monday.

Paxton launched his investigation hours after Musk threatened to pull out of his Twitter purchase deal in a letter that claimed the company violated the merger agreement by refusing to provide the data behind its spam estimates. Paxton's announcement also came a week after the US Supreme Court blocked a Texas law that prohibits social media companies from moderating content based on a user's "viewpoint."

Paxton and Musk mischaracterize Twitter spam estimate

Paxton's press release echoes Musk by inaccurately describing Twitter's spam-account estimate. Twitter does not claim that "fewer than 5 percent of all users are bots." What Twitter says is that fewer than 5 percent of monetizable daily active users (mDAUs) are spam or fake, and the company defines mDAUs as "accounts who logged in or were otherwise authenticated and accessed Twitter on any given day through twitter.com, Twitter applications that are able to show ads, or paid Twitter products, including subscriptions."

While Paxton's announcement conflates "all users" with Twitter's mDAU statistic, the Civil Investigative Demand his office sent is more precise. It asks for 23 types of documents, including ones showing "Twitter's 'average monetizable daily active users' for each month from 2017 to the present" and documents on the number of inauthentic Twitter accounts.

[LFC]

TRUTH Social is becoming QAnon Central.

The online QAnon movement and many of its Donald Trump-adjacent conspiracy theorists have found a happy home on Trump’s glitch-ridden, generic Twitter app, TRUTH Social.

According to a new VICE News report out today, there was some initial frustration within the online QAnon shitposting community about the flood of bizarre technical issues that made up the TRUTH Social app’s rollout. Individual users across the board who were hoping to create an account on the platform found themselves, at least initially, funneled into a series of indecipherable waiting lists and faced confusing logistical errors while attempting to download and start posting on the app.

The app’s rollout was mostly spearheaded by none other than Devin Nunes, who served as the public-facing comms guys for several weeks as users and developers alike navigated a not only snaggy debut, but also struggled with finalizing basic user terms, which clogged up the much-hyped launch of what is now Trump’s off-brand Twitter website.

But now that the technical difficulties have been supposedly sorted, VICE reports that QAnon content is not only prolific on the social media site, but is also being amplified by Trump’s account on the platform.

“​​It reminds me of what used to be on Twitter, in terms of tone and topic, prior to the platform banning QAnon content, with numerous accounts spreading QAnon content,” Alex Kaplan, who works as a researcher at Media Matters, told VICE News. “The community has also been excited by Truth Social, seeing it as another place to congregate since mostly being on Telegram and Gab since Twitter’s QAnon crackdown following the January 6 insurrection.”

And in a move that should surprise nobody, TRUTH Social is banning any talk about the hearings on the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection and the attempted Trump coup.

The irony is rich: Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat claiming it is “free from political discrimination,” has reportedly banned users who posted information from Thursday’s congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — in which the former president is a key focus.

That’s according to several posts on Twitter by users who claimed Truth Social was censoring them. Reps for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns and operates Truth Social, did not respond to a request for comment.

Travis Allen, whose Twitter bio describes him as an information security analyst, on Thursday evening posted a screenshot from the Truth Social app that said “Account suspended,” and he wrote: “My Truth Social account was just permanently suspended for talking about the January 6th Committee hearings.”

He added, “So much for ‘free speech.’ This is censorship!” Allen did not provide details about what allegedly led to Truth Social kicking him off the platform.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 14, 2022 16:03:08 GMT LFC said:

TRUTH Social is becoming QAnon Central.

The online QAnon movement and many of its Donald Trump-adjacent conspiracy theorists have found a happy home on Trump’s glitch-ridden, generic Twitter app, TRUTH Social.

According to a new VICE News report out today, there was some initial frustration within the online QAnon shitposting community about the flood of bizarre technical issues that made up the TRUTH Social app’s rollout. Individual users across the board who were hoping to create an account on the platform found themselves, at least initially, funneled into a series of indecipherable waiting lists and faced confusing logistical errors while attempting to download and start posting on the app.

The app’s rollout was mostly spearheaded by none other than Devin Nunes, who served as the public-facing comms guys for several weeks as users and developers alike navigated a not only snaggy debut, but also struggled with finalizing basic user terms, which clogged up the much-hyped launch of what is now Trump’s off-brand Twitter website.

But now that the technical difficulties have been supposedly sorted, VICE reports that QAnon content is not only prolific on the social media site, but is also being amplified by Trump’s account on the platform.

“​​It reminds me of what used to be on Twitter, in terms of tone and topic, prior to the platform banning QAnon content, with numerous accounts spreading QAnon content,” Alex Kaplan, who works as a researcher at Media Matters, told VICE News. “The community has also been excited by Truth Social, seeing it as another place to congregate since mostly being on Telegram and Gab since Twitter’s QAnon crackdown following the January 6 insurrection.”

And in a move that should surprise nobody, TRUTH Social is banning any talk about the hearings on the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection and the attempted Trump coup.

The irony is rich: Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat claiming it is “free from political discrimination,” has reportedly banned users who posted information from Thursday’s congressional hearing on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — in which the former president is a key focus.

That’s according to several posts on Twitter by users who claimed Truth Social was censoring them. Reps for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns and operates Truth Social, did not respond to a request for comment.

Travis Allen, whose Twitter bio describes him as an information security analyst, on Thursday evening posted a screenshot from the Truth Social app that said “Account suspended,” and he wrote: “My Truth Social account was just permanently suspended for talking about the January 6th Committee hearings.”

He added, “So much for ‘free speech.’ This is censorship!” Allen did not provide details about what allegedly led to Truth Social kicking him off the platform.

Alternative facts rule Truth Social.

[indy]

Speaking of Truth Social...

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC, -0.47% fell 5% in premarket trades Monday after the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that is buying the company behind Donald Trump's Truth Social said a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of New York has issued subpoenas that seek many of the same documents demanded in a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission that was disclosed on June 13. The federal grand jury is also seeking information on Digital World's filings, communications with or about multiple individuals, and information regarding Rocket One Capital. Digital World said the subpoenas, and the investigations by the Department of Justice and the SEC, "can be expected to delay effectiveness of the registration statement, which could materially delay, materially impede, or prevent the consummation" of its pending merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social. Digital World also said that board member Bruce J. Garelick told the company he planned to resign as of June 22. He states his resignation "was not the result of any disagreement with Digital World's operations, policies or practices," according to the filing. Digital World shares have fallen 45.9% this year.

www.marketwatch.com/story/digital-world-shares-fall-after-it-discloses-subpoenas-from-grand-jury-in-the-southern-district-of-new-york-2022-06-27

[LFC]

Jun 27, 2022 12:11:58 GMT indy said:

Speaking of Truth Social...

Buying Trump Media & Technology? Who's purchasing Trump now in hopes for a big payoff after 2024?

[pnwguy]

Jun 27, 2022 13:45:50 GMT LFC said:

Jun 27, 2022 12:11:58 GMT indy said:

Speaking of Truth Social...

Buying Trump Media & Technology? Who's purchasing Trump now in hopes for a big payoff after 2024?

MBS?  He's already purchased the son-in-law and might want to solidify his portfolio.

[LFC]

Jun 27, 2022 17:54:00 GMT pnwguy said:

Jun 27, 2022 13:45:50 GMT LFC said:

Buying Trump Media & Technology? Who's purchasing Trump now in hopes for a big payoff after 2024?

MBS?  He's already purchased the son-in-law and might want to solidify his portfolio.

Good guess. I don't suspect Putin has a lot of extra cash to spread around right now.

[LFC]

One FCC Commissioner is warning people not to trust the Chinese company behind TikTok due to personal data concerns. He had me at "Chinese company."

TikTok promises to keep its U.S. users’ data safe and sound are not satisfying at least one member of the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a blistering letter Wednesday that the Chinese company has proved it can’t be trusted with the information users give it, and should bundled up and tossed out the airlock.

Carr posted an open letter sent to both Google and Apple on his Twitter account Tuesday. In it, he called on the companies to jettison the TikTok app from their app stores. Carr cites multiple cases of the company being exceptionally data-hungry. Most recently, BuzzFeed News reported that the Chinese government had gained access to American users’ data despite TikTok’s claims that it kept U.S. user info on servers on U.S. soil, far from from the prying eyes of Beijing. Carr said in his letter that both Apple and Google parent company Alphabet should remove TikTok from the app stores or else send him a letter by July 8 explaining themselves.

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. In his letter, Carr said the extraordinarily popular social app, which as been downloaded 19 million times across both Google and Apple’s platforms in the first quarter of this year alone, “poses an unacceptable national security risk” because of its data harvesting activities combined with China’s ever-expanding surveillance state.

The commissioner further claimed that the company’s alleged abuse of user data “puts it out of compliance” with both companies’ app store policies. In particular, he cites guidelines requiring apps to show how and where they will use personal information.

If it's true that they harvested password data and personal messages then they should be banned outright. There is no legitimate reason for harvesting this kind of data, especially passwords.

The commissioner admitted he doesn’t have high expectations that either company will censor the hugely popular TikTok app on their platforms because of the “deep relationships in supply chain ties that Apple and Google have into China.” Still, he hopes the companies will look at the issue “neutrally through the application of their policies.”

The FCC commissioner also cited 2020 reports that TikTok got its hands on persistent user data by circumventing Google’s safeguards and was gobbling up passwords and personal messages from iOS devices. TikTok agreed to pay $92 million in 2021 for collecting massive amounts of private information and user data and sending it to Chinese servers.

[LFC]

Hmmmmm.

Former President Donald Trump, his son Don Jr., and other Trumpworld figures made quiet exits last month from the board of a troubled social media venture launched to give the former president an online outlet.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune first reported the resignations.

TPM reviewed a copy of a Florida corporate filing from Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) which attests to the changes.

Filed on June 8, the document shows the company seeking to amend its application for authorization to do business in Florida. It specifically sought to remove Trump, Don Jr., Kash Patel, and Wes Moss from the company’s board. It also sought to remove Scott Glabe as the company’s general counsel and Andrew Northwall as its chief operating officer.

TRUTH Social, owned by TMTG, issued a statement on the platform calling the reports “fake news” and disputing that Trump had departed.

“Donald Trump remains on the board of Trump Media and Technology Group,” the statement read in part.

TPM called the Division of Corporations at Florida’s Department of State, and was told that the changes described in the filing did in fact refer to departures from the company’s board.

It’s not clear why the departures took place when they did.

[indy]

Yeah, on Friday, June 8th, TMTG makes changes to the board and Monday, June 10th, they receive notice from the SEC they are expanding the investigation into TMTG. Mere coincidence, I'm sure.

ETA: I suspect that Devine Nunes is about to find out why getting involved with Trump only ever works out for Trump, if it even works out at all.

[pnwguy]

Jul 8, 2022 14:50:05 GMT indy said:

Yeah, on Friday, June 8th, TMTG makes changes to the board and Monday, June 10th, they receive notice from the SEC they are expanding the investigation into TMTG. Mere coincidence, I'm sure.

ETTD ETA: I suspect that Devine Nunes is about to find out why getting involved with Trump only ever works out for Trump, if it even works out at all.

FIFY

Everything Trump Touches Dies, to use the title of a Rick Wilson book.

[LFC]

Elon Musk is bailing on the Twitter deal. His attempts at Trumpsucking didn't help him any.

The Ballad Of Elon Musk

As predicted, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now actively trying to break his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, and it looks like sucking up to MAGALand failed to win him the allies he seemed to chase on the PR front:

[indy]

The funniest part of this is Trump calling someone else a bullshit artist. Although, come to think of it, Trump doesn't really qualify as an artist. Or does he? Just too hard to tell.

[pnwguy]

Jul 11, 2022 15:18:33 GMT indy said:

The funniest part of this is Trump calling someone else a bullshit artist. Although, come to think of it, Trump doesn't really qualify as an artist. Or does he? Just too hard to tell.

Is a manure spreader a farm implement? There is an art to his feces distribution, to be so caught up in it that he doesn’t break down while delivering it. He appear to have already convinced himself.

[LFC]

Zuck Says Instagram Is Going to Suck Twice as Much Next Year

Despite the surge of public backlash over Instagram’s recent changes, fueled by internet powerhouses Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is unmoved. He said the photo-sharing app, if it can still be called that, will show twice as much AI-recommended content by the end of next year in the interest of, you guessed it, money.

In an earnings call on Wednesday, one day after Instagram head honcho Adam Mosseri posted a Reel to try to quell the online backlash from the app’s users, Zuckerberg explained that social feeds across the company’s apps would shift from being driven “primarily by people and accounts you follow” to increasingly also being driven by content recommended by AI, even if you don’t follow the users who created the content.

Specifically, the Meta CEO said that he expects AI-recommended content from people you don’t follow to make up about 30% or more of users’ Facebook and Instagram feeds by the end of 2023. Your feeds are currently made up of about 15% AI-promoted content, according to Meta.

“Social content from people you know is going to remain an important part of the experience and some of our most differentiated content, but increasingly we’ll also be able to supplement that with other interesting content from across our networks,” Zuckerberg stated, according to a transcript of the earnings call.

The clearest example of this shift on Instagram is the sudden abundance of Reels—which many have criticized for being random, not catered to their interests, or reposted from TikTok—in user feeds. However, Zuckerberg said that the AI recommended content spectrum is much broader, encompassing “texts, images, links, group content, and more.” In other words, although you might be annoyed by the random Reels all over your feed, it’s only the beginning.

“Building a recommendation system across all these types of content is something we’re uniquely focused on,” the Meta chief said.

The reasons why Meta is insisting on shaking things up on its platforms and building a so-called “discovery engine” are like a Reel on repeat by this point. For one, it’s terrified of TikTok, which has ridden its recommendation system to global success. In response, Meta has tried to do one of the things it’s best at: copying features. Users are resistant, though, as the “Make Instagram Instagram Again” movement backed Jenner and Kardashian shows.

Secondly, there’s the money problem. On Wednesday, Meta reported its first ever revenue decline in its decade as a public company, losing 1% in revenue and 36% in profit year-over-year. In addition to these financial hits, Meta is also suffering from the same reduced demand in digital advertising affecting peers including Google, Twitter, and Snap. Meta affirmed on Wednesday that it expects the weak demand for advertising to continue in the current quarter.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 28, 2022 19:23:03 GMT LFC said:

Zuck Says Instagram Is Going to Suck Twice as Much Next Year

Despite the surge of public backlash over Instagram’s recent changes, fueled by internet powerhouses Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is unmoved. He said the photo-sharing app, if it can still be called that, will show twice as much AI-recommended content by the end of next year in the interest of, you guessed it, money.

In an earnings call on Wednesday, one day after Instagram head honcho Adam Mosseri posted a Reel to try to quell the online backlash from the app’s users, Zuckerberg explained that social feeds across the company’s apps would shift from being driven “primarily by people and accounts you follow” to increasingly also being driven by content recommended by AI, even if you don’t follow the users who created the content.

Specifically, the Meta CEO said that he expects AI-recommended content from people you don’t follow to make up about 30% or more of users’ Facebook and Instagram feeds by the end of 2023. Your feeds are currently made up of about 15% AI-promoted content, according to Meta.

“Social content from people you know is going to remain an important part of the experience and some of our most differentiated content, but increasingly we’ll also be able to supplement that with other interesting content from across our networks,” Zuckerberg stated, according to a transcript of the earnings call.

The clearest example of this shift on Instagram is the sudden abundance of Reels—which many have criticized for being random, not catered to their interests, or reposted from TikTok—in user feeds. However, Zuckerberg said that the AI recommended content spectrum is much broader, encompassing “texts, images, links, group content, and more.” In other words, although you might be annoyed by the random Reels all over your feed, it’s only the beginning.

“Building a recommendation system across all these types of content is something we’re uniquely focused on,” the Meta chief said.

The reasons why Meta is insisting on shaking things up on its platforms and building a so-called “discovery engine” are like a Reel on repeat by this point. For one, it’s terrified of TikTok, which has ridden its recommendation system to global success. In response, Meta has tried to do one of the things it’s best at: copying features. Users are resistant, though, as the “Make Instagram Instagram Again” movement backed Jenner and Kardashian shows.

Secondly, there’s the money problem. On Wednesday, Meta reported its first ever revenue decline in its decade as a public company, losing 1% in revenue and 36% in profit year-over-year. In addition to these financial hits, Meta is also suffering from the same reduced demand in digital advertising affecting peers including Google, Twitter, and Snap. Meta affirmed on Wednesday that it expects the weak demand for advertising to continue in the current quarter.

UGH. If I wanted TikTok, I would HAVE freaking TikTok (I can’t be the only person saying this)! Instagram has become almost unusable as a vehicle to share photos.

In the effort to do anything and everything to “maximize user engagement” on FB and Instagram, Zuck may well kill the goose that laid the golden eggs. Teenagers are the most fickle creatures, and I am betting that today’s teen TikTok users will neither stick with that nor magically migrate onto Meta’s platforms (too many are already referring to “Boomerbook”). Even many of the middle-aged are reducing or eliminating their engagement with the platforms.

[LFC]

Meta wants to copy their same awful ideas for Instagram into Facebook. The original concept of it as a great way to share among a community of family and "friends" is getting crushed and shunted into a second tier position over "Look at what we want you to see!" And due to TikTok they're really pushing video.

If you have Facebook’s app on your phone—and I don’t recommend that you do—sometime this week you’ll find things look quite a bit different.

Once self-described as “a social utility that connects you with the people around you,” the network has decided to downplay that whole friendship thing and instead remodel itself on the video app TikTok.

To that end, the app is rolling out a new homepage “uniquely personalized to you through [Facebook’s] machine learning ranking system,” which is to say, a stream of posts, many from strangers, heavily weighted toward video and selected by an algorithm designed to antagonize, arouse, absorb, and addict you. Your high school friends’ baby pics, your uncle’s political Minions memes, your mom’s strangely consistent public diary of her daily bike rides—these will be significantly cordoned off in a secondary feed.

It sounds like a near-reversal of Facebook’s last big tweak to its feed, in 2018, which founder Mark Zuckerberg said would “encourage meaningful interactions between people” and “[focus] on bringing people closer together.”

The reasoning behind this shift for Facebook is easy to divine: It’s intended to increase user engagement, to get us to click more ads and buy more stuff, and, with any luck, to slow the graying of the network’s user base. But from the user’s perspective, it’s yet another reminder that all the big ideas for “fixing” social media are bad.

The average American adult will tell you that social media is a net negative for our society. Polling shows most of us think social media is divisive and untrustworthy, that too much of its content is offensive, that it makes our country worse. But we keep on using it, and we keep on arguing without resolution over how to make it better. The ideas on offer are a sorry lot—often unpopular, unworkable, or unconstitutional—while changes that could actually improve these sites run counter to their business interests and, thus, are not on offer.

The article states that there aren't really any good solutions to this. Social media is all about driving ad revenue via increasing screen time and upsetting people. Sharing baby pictures or being in groups with shared interests is mostly worthless to them though one company did try to monetize a database of people's images and IDs.

I’m not sure there are any large-scale fixes for social networks that would fare much better. Social media’s dysfunction is a chicken-and-egg problem: Its design encourages bad but profitable behavior, and we engage in that behavior, which turns a profit, which signals to the designers to encourage more of the same, and then we… well, you get it.

[LFC]

"Truth" Social is trying to embrace QAnon. Talk about a match made in hell.

Donald Trump’s social media platform Truth Social and its leadership have made direct appeals to supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory as part of a strategy to increase its user base. Kash Patel, who has sat on Truth Social’s board, suggested in June that the platform was trying to “incorporate” QAnon “into our overall messaging scheme to capture audiences.”

According to Trump, Truth Social, which was launched by his company Trump Media & Technology Group in February, was created to “fight back against Big Tech.” It aimed to become a home for Trump, who was banned from Twitter, and right-wing audiences who falsely believe mainstream social media platforms were censoring them by enforcing rules on misinformation and extremism.

Soon after Truth Social’s launch, one of the first accounts reportedly created there was “@q,” possibly by the platform’s developers. (In response to someone posting that “the admins … made that account,” the account wrote it was “accurate.”) The account began to promote QAnon not long after it was created and was likely trying to sound similar to its namesake “Q” -- the conspiracy theory’s central figure who had posted on the message board site 8kun but had gone silent between December 2020 and this past June.

Shortly after, Patel and Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes started promoting the account. (Patel served as a senior adviser to Nunes when the latter was a member of Congress and there has been reporting that he may have been removed from the Truth Social board. He also served in the Trump administration as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense.)

Around the same time, QAnon influencers discovered the account and hyped it, believing it was connected to the 8kun Q. In late February, Patel posted that he was “having a beer with @q right now,” with a tagged photo showing a person’s arm in a flannel shirt. The same day, the Truth Social @q account wrote that it was “kashin’ out with @kash,” including a photo of someone in a “Kash’d Out” shirt holding a beer.