 |
Friday, October 20, 2017
 |
A big week for tech blowback: Regulation, broken promises, and Facebook victimhoodAmong many weeks of bad press for the big tech companies, this week stands out. By Ricardo Bilton. |
 |
The Honest Ads Act would force Internet companies to change their disclosure practices by January 2018Plus: A former Russian troll speaks out; a definition of disinformation; Wikitribune’s preferred news sources. By Laura Hazard Owen. |
What We’re Reading
BuzzFeed / James Ball
A suspected network of 13,000 Twitter bots pumped out pro-Brexit messages in the run-up to the EU vote →
“The new evidence of botnet activity in the EU referendum raises serious questions for Twitter, including whether the tech giant has any evidence as to who was behind the bots, and whether or not the site was aware of significant Brexit bot activity at the time.”
The Awl / Sylvia Killingsworth
Lockhart Steele fired from Vox Media →
“In what appears to be the first and probably not the last repercussion of last week's Shitty Media Men list, and the larger floodgates of assault and harassment survivors speaking out against their attackers, Lockhart Steele, Vox Media's editorial director and former Curbed CEO and founder, has been fired, effective immediately.”
Boing Boing / Cory Doctorow
Facebook’s security is like a “college campus,” but they face threats like a “defense contractor” →
That’s according to Facebook security chief Alex Stamos in a leaked recording.
MIT Technology Review / Rachel Metz
Smartphones are weapons of mass manipulation, and this guy is declaring war on them →
"It's so invisible what we're doing to ourselves. It's like a public health crisis. It's like cigarettes, except because we're given so many benefits, people can't actually see and admit the erosion of human thought that's occurring at the same time."
Axios / Ina Fried
Five other times Twitter pledged to crack down on abuse →
This is at least the sixth time in the last four years that Twitter has promised to take a harder line against abuse.
Columbia Journalism Review / Anna Clark
Some of the best opioid coverage is not where you’d expect →
One word: Obituaries.
Medium / Mary Hamilton
Mary Hamilton: 13 things I learned from six years at the Guardian – →
Among her lessons, Hamilton, former executive editor of audience at the Guardian, says that quality journalism can be a strategy. “Making good stuff that people want to read — or watch — is a valid strategy, if it also includes monetising that attention effectively.”
Columbia Journalism Review / Matthew Kassel
The beat reporter behind BuzzFeed’s blockbuster alt-right investigation →
“I think he saw, more clearly than any other reporter on the beat, what an important culture it was,” said Ben Smith, BuzzFeed's editor in chief.
Twitter / Twitter Safety
Twitter released a calendar of the upcoming changes it will make to its safety rules →
Next up on its agenda: expanding its definition of non-consensual nudity.
Digiday / Lucia Moses
‘We’re cleaning up the mess’: Publishers prepare for a post-autoplay world →
Autoplay is out. “Intent to watch” is in.
Recode / Peter Kafka
Facebook and Apple can’t agree on terms, so Facebook’s subscription tool will only launch on Android phones →
“The issue: Apple wants to take as much as 30 percent of any subscription revenue Facebook helps generate. Facebook wants all of the money to go to publishers. People familiar with both companies say they've been discussing the impasse for months.”