CNET: Facebook’s oversight board unveils its first slate of cases. “Facebook’s content oversight board on Tuesday chose its first slate of cases for review, selecting six from more than 20,000 brought to the independent body since it opened its doors in late October. Three of the cases involve hate speech, which the social network restricts as part of its community guidelines. Five of the cases were brought by users, while one was brought by the company itself.”
banned content
NBC News: YouTube suspends OANN for violating its Covid-19 policy
NBC News: YouTube suspends OANN for violating its Covid-19 policy. “YouTube suspended the right-leaning One America News Network for one week on Tuesday after it posted a video that contained coronavirus misinformation. YouTube removed the video for violating a policy prohibiting the posting of content that spreads coronavirus misinformation. The one that One America News Network, or OANN, posted contained claims of a guaranteed cure for the disease.”
Reuters: Russia opens case against Google for not deleting banned content -TASS
Reuters: Russia opens case against Google for not deleting banned content -TASS. “Russia’s communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has opened a case against U.S. tech giant Google for failing to remove some content prohibited in Russia, the TASS news agency reported on Monday.”
BuzzFeed News: Facebook Has A Rule To Stop Calls To Arms. Moderators Didn’t Enforce It Ahead Of The Kenosha Shootings.
BuzzFeed News: Facebook Has A Rule To Stop Calls To Arms. Moderators Didn’t Enforce It Ahead Of The Kenosha Shootings.. “In August, following a Facebook event at which two protesters were shot and killed in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Mark Zuckerberg called the company’s failure to take down the event page asking militant attendees to bring weapons ‘an operational mistake.’ There had been a new policy established earlier that month ‘to restrict’ the ability of right-wing militants to post or organize in groups, Facebook’s CEO said, and under that rule, the event page should have been removed. BuzzFeed News has learned, however, that Facebook also failed to enforce a separate year-old call to arms policy that specifically prohibited event pages from encouraging people to bring weapons to intimidate and harass vulnerable individuals.”
Vice: YouTube Is Doing Very Little to Stop Election Misinformation From Spreading
Vice: YouTube Is Doing Very Little to Stop Election Misinformation From Spreading. “Here’s what happens if you post election disinformation on YouTube right now: The video will not be taken down, even if it includes multiple false claims. A small fact-checking label may be applied and the video probably won’t be promoted in YouTube’s recommendations or search results. But, the video will remain on the platform and it can still be monetized. That’s paraphrasing the real policies somewhat, but essentially this is how YouTube’s light-touch approach to moderation works, in the wake of the most hotly-disputed election results in U.S. history.”
Zuckerberg: Bannon’s beheading comments aren’t enough to ban him from Facebook (CNN)
CNN: Zuckerberg: Bannon’s beheading comments aren’t enough to ban him from Facebook. “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff at a company meeting on Thursday that Steve Bannon suggesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded was not enough of a violation of Facebook’s rules to permanently suspend the former White House chief strategist from the platform, according to a Facebook employee. Bannon was permanently suspended from Twitter last week after making the comments in a video.”
BBC: New EU drive to remove extremist web content
BBC: New EU drive to remove extremist web content. “The EU has been discussing such a regulation for more than a year, but the recent terror attacks in France and Austria have given it new urgency. Interior ministers said the text must be agreed soon with the EU Commission and European Parliament. They also urged more EU data-sharing and more systematic border checks.”
NPR: Twitter Permanently Suspends Steve Bannon Account After Beheading Comments
NPR: Twitter Permanently Suspends Steve Bannon Account After Beheading Comments. “Twitter permanently suspended an account associated with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon after he suggested in a video posted online Thursday that Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded.”
Washington Post: Facebook takes down a large network of pages tied to former Trump chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon for misinformation
Washington Post: Facebook takes down a large network of pages tied to former Trump chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon for misinformation. “Facebook took down a large network of pages tied to former Trump chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon for pushing misinformation about voter fraud and delegitimizing election results. Bannon’s page also incurred penalties, including not being allowed to post content, but was not removed from Facebook.”
NPR: Trump’s Ban On TikTok Suffers Another Legal Setback
NPR: Trump’s Ban On TikTok Suffers Another Legal Setback. “A federal judge in Pennsylvania has blocked the Trump administration from outlawing U.S. transactions with TikTok, which was set to take effect Nov. 12, the latest setback in the administration’s push to ban the Chinese-owned hit video app.”
Scientific American: Social Media Restrictions Cannot Keep Up with Hidden Codes and Symbols
Scientific American: Social Media Restrictions Cannot Keep Up with Hidden Codes and Symbols. “On the same day that President Donald Trump announced his COVID-19 diagnosis, Twitter reminded users of its policy that ‘tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed.’ The social media platform soon filled with posts accusing it of hypocrisy: threats targeting women and people of color have accumulated for years without removal, users said. But even as Twitter attempted to enforce its rules more stringently, thinly veiled posts slipped through the cracks.”
ABC News: Pakistan lifts brief ban on Chinese social media app TikTok
ABC News: Pakistan lifts brief ban on Chinese social media app TikTok. “Pakistan’s media regulatory agency said Monday it lifted a temporary ban on the Chinese social media app TikTok ‘with some conditions.’ However, it gave no further details.”
Insider: Etsy will remove all QAnon-related merchandise from the platform as tech companies fight the conspiracy theory’s growth
Insider: Etsy will remove all QAnon-related merchandise from the platform as tech companies fight the conspiracy theory’s growth. “Etsy’s QAnon content, which appears to already be absent from or unsearchable on the website [October 7], included shirts, bumper stickers, and jewelry.”
The Verge: Twitter will ban Holocaust denial posts, following Facebook
The Verge: Twitter will ban Holocaust denial posts, following Facebook. “Twitter will ban posts that deny the Holocaust, a company spokesperson confirmed today. The news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes two days after Facebook implemented the same policy.”
QAnon: YouTube moves to purge ‘harmful conspiracy theories’ (BBC)
BBC: QAnon: YouTube moves to purge ‘harmful conspiracy theories’. “YouTube has become the latest social media giant to announce a sweeping crack down on content linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. The company said it would ban material targeting a person or group with conspiracy theories that have been used to justify violence, such as QAnon.”