CNET: Byte has a bot problem after just two days. “Byte, the 6-second video app meant to fill the Vine-shaped hole in our hearts, reportedly has a bot problem just days after its release. The app was released on Friday for iPhone and Android, but users quickly returned with complaints about multiple bot-generated spam comments being left on their posts, according to a Sunday blog post from co-founder Dom Hoffman.”
comments
A Good Place: The Only Good Comments Section On The Internet (The Outline)
The Outline: A Good Place: The Only Good Comments Section On The Internet. “No matter where the comments live these days, it’s almost impossible to find a comments section where the unsolicited opinions that live there are actually positive, let alone helpful. Unless we’re talking about the comments on NYT Cooking, a digital collection of recipes from The New York Times.”
BuzzFeed News: Political Operatives Are Faking Voter Outrage With Millions Of Made-Up Comments To Benefit The Rich And Powerful
BuzzFeed News: Political Operatives Are Faking Voter Outrage With Millions Of Made-Up Comments To Benefit The Rich And Powerful. “A BuzzFeed News investigation — based on an analysis of millions of comments, along with court records, business filings, and interviews with dozens of people — offers a window into how a crucial democratic process was skewed by one of the most prolific uses of political impersonation in US history. In a key part of the puzzle, two little-known firms, Media Bridge and LCX Digital, working on behalf of industry group Broadband for America, misappropriated names and personal information as part of a bid to submit more than 1.5 million statements favorable to their cause.”
TechCrunch: YouTube tests profile cards that show users’ comment history
TechCrunch: YouTube tests profile cards that show users’ comment history. “YouTube commenters will now have their channel loyalty — or their tendency to troll — exposed, thanks to a new feature called profile cards, now in testing. Recently announced by way of YouTube’s Creator Insider channel, where the company shares updates and changes with its creator community, these new profile cards would appear whenever you clicked on a commenter’s name, and would list all their other recent comments on the channel.”
CNET: YouTube vowed to halt comments on videos with young kids. It hasn’t
CNET: YouTube vowed to halt comments on videos with young kids. It hasn’t . “Comment-enabled videos prominently depicting young kids are still easy to find on YouTube. A single YouTube search for one kids-focused subject — ‘pretend play’ — returned more than 100 videos with comments enabled, all prominently featuring infants, preschoolers and other children young enough to still have their baby teeth. After CNET contacted YouTube with a list of these videos, comments were disabled on nearly half of them.”
Harper’s Bazaar: Instagram rolls out an anti-bullying tool to help trolls question nasty comments
Harper’s Bazaar: Instagram rolls out an anti-bullying tool to help trolls question nasty comments. “Instagram has implemented a new tool to help eradicate bullying by making trolls question any prospective nasty comments.”
Gizmodo: Australian Court Rules Media Orgs Are Liable for Defamation Posted to Facebook by Random Users
Gizmodo: Australian Court Rules Media Orgs Are Liable for Defamation Posted to Facebook by Random Users. “An Australian Court has ruled that media organizations are liable for anything defamatory that’s published to the public Facebook pages of those media companies, even if it’s just posted by a random Facebook user.”
