Slack Blog: Slack removes hate groups. “Today we removed 28 accounts because of their clear affiliation with known hate groups. The use of Slack by hate groups runs counter to everything we believe in at Slack and is not welcome on our platform.”
content removal
City A.M.: Google removed 2.3bn ‘bad ads’ last year in fight against fake news and fraud
City A.M.: Google removed 2.3bn ‘bad ads’ last year in fight against fake news and fraud. “Google removed 2.3bn ads last year for violating its policies on fraud and misinformation, the company said today. The total number of ads removed, which equates to roughly 75 ads per second, is almost 1bn lower than last year.”
Sunlight Foundation: Three attacks on public information highlighted in Gov404, our new Web censorship tracker
Sunlight Foundation: Three attacks on public information highlighted in Gov404, our new Web censorship tracker. “Today the Web Integrity Project (WIP) released Gov404: The Web Integrity Project’s Censorship Tracker. Gov404 is a new tool tracking removals of online resources and reductions in access to content on federal websites, uncovered through our work and the work of others. We hope Gov404 will be a useful resource for researchers and journalists exploring how the federal Web is being altered, sometimes in response to policy shifts, and sometimes not. We’ve highlighted some of the most important trends we’ve found in our Gov404 release post.”
BBC: YouTube backtracks after Pokemon ‘child abuse’ ban
BBC: YouTube backtracks after Pokemon ‘child abuse’ ban. “Google has backtracked after ‘mistakenly’ deleting the accounts of several prominent YouTubers over incorrect child abuse fears. Popular YouTubers Mystic7, Trainer Tips and Marksman, who have more than 3.5 million subscribers between them, were among those who had their accounts deleted after posting videos of themselves playing Pokemon GO.” Wow, this is a Facebook-level content removal goof.
Facebook: Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Moldova
Facebook: Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior From Moldova. “Earlier this week, we removed 168 Facebook accounts, 28 Pages and eight Instagram accounts for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting people in Moldova. This activity originated in Moldova, and used a combination of fake accounts and some authentic accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing. Given the upcoming elections in Moldova, we wanted to let people know about the action we’ve taken and the facts as we know them today.”
Global Times: Google pays 7,600-USD fine to Russia over banned information
Global Times: Google pays 7,600-USD fine to Russia over banned information. “Google has paid a fine of 500,000 rubles (around 7,616 U.S. dollars) for failing to remove search links to banned information, Russia’s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor said Friday.”
BetaNews: Download your Flickr photos NOW if you don’t want to lose them
BetaNews: Download your Flickr photos NOW if you don’t want to lose them. “Three months ago, Flickr announced sweeping changes to its different accounts, the most significant of which was the news that anyone with a free account would be limited to storing 1,000 photos online. If you are a Flickr user with a free account, you may well have already noticed that you are unable to upload any more photos — the new limit kicked on in January 8. But in under two weeks, Flickr will not only prevent you from uploading photos that tip you over the magic number, it will start actively deleting files to keep you within the 1,000 limit.”
