Mashable: Reddit bests Facebook by rolling out a superior deepfakes policy. “Basically, Reddit is quashing lies and disinformation on the site. Users cannot try to legitimately pass off as another individual or entity. For example, a user cannot register the username of a celebrity and truly pretend to be that celebrity on the site. While that’s the most weaponized scenario, Reddit is also specific in pointing out forgery and fake articles, and links are covered under this policy too.”
Decrypt: Commun’s launch kicks off new wave of decentralized social media
Decrypt: Commun’s launch kicks off new wave of decentralized social media. “Two weeks ago, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced intentions to create a set of standards for decentralized social media networks—with the hope of Twitter one day conforming to those standards. But while that’s in the distant future for Twitter, Commun, a fork of Steemit—a decentralized social media network that looks like Reddit—launched today.”
All I want for Christmas: A custom username for each subreddit (The Next Web)
The Next Web: All I want for Christmas: A custom username for each subreddit. “The holidays are upon us, ushering in the time of year we bug our friends and family for presents — but why not bug tech companies as well If you’ve ever used Reddit, you should join me and demand custom usernames for Christmas. But why, you ask? The answer is simple: shame, creativity, and the multiplicity of man.”
Quartz: How to avoid another Russian-troll misinformation nightmare in 2020
Quartz: How to avoid another Russian-troll misinformation nightmare in 2020. “We typically think of social media platforms—Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, etc.—as distinct from one another…. This is true for most users. But it’s also true for the trolls and bots that drive disinformation campaigns. This phenomenon helps explain what happened when the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) targeted US social media during and after the 2016 US presidential election.”
CNET: Reddit uncovers Russian campaign to spread leaked UK documents
CNET: Reddit uncovers Russian campaign to spread leaked UK documents. “A Reddit user who posted leaked UK government documents was part of a larger coordinated effort that appears to have originated in Russia, Reddit said in a security announcement Friday. A network of connected accounts re-posted the documents in several forums on the discussion website and manipulated Reddit’s voting system for highlighting popular content, all in an effort to bring more attention to the leaks.”
Rappler: CrowdTangle rolls out new, better search tool for fact checkers
Rappler: CrowdTangle rolls out new, better search tool for fact checkers. “Content discovery and social monitoring platform CrowdTangle announced on Saturday, December 7, that it is giving fact checkers access to a new search tool, which can find and measure public posts across several social media platforms…. This tool can search for public posts shared across Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter. It is still in beta and is only currently available to Facebook’s fact-checking partners.”
TechCrunch: Reddit’s monthly active user base grew 30% to reach 430M in 2019
TechCrunch: Reddit’s monthly active user base grew 30% to reach 430M in 2019. “In a year-end retrospective released this morning, Reddit says its user base grew 30% this year to reach 430 million monthly active users, as of the end of October. Its users also contributed 199 million posts, 1.7 billion comments and 32 billion upvotes, the company says.”
