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Virginia shooting: Lessons for social media companies
The shooting last night of two journalists in Virginia, US, has again sparked debate about the policies of social media companies. The shooter Vester Lee Flanagan shot the murders and uploaded them on Twitter and Facebook. Twitter suspended his account within 8 minutes of the video being uploaded, and Facebook too removed his profile and…
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Steps taken by Twitter to combat abuse
Since early this year, Twitter has been on a mission to finally tackle the horrendous abuse and harassment that the platform has become infamous for. Ever since its CEO admitted in a leaked memo that the company “sucks” at dealing with abuse, it has made a slew of changes in the way the platform operates…
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How to Report a Twitter Status (Tweet)
You must be logged into Twitter to report an item. Step 1 Click the ellipsis under the tweet for more interaction options Step 2 Click Report in the drop-down Step 3 Specify the problem with the tweet, in this case It’s abusive or harmful Click Next Step 4 Specify how the tweet is problematic, in…
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Bike rage and the aggressive cyclist lobby
Over the last few days the OHPI Facebook page has received a number of comments relating to what is called “bike rage”. These comments come from an organised group of people who are trying to raise issues related to the rights of cyclists to use the roads. There has been significant commentary in the past…
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The Indian response to @shamiwitness and the abuse of social media
There is a buzz here in India at the news that an Indian man, Mehdi Masroor Biswas, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday morning for operating the popular pro-ISIS Twitter account @shamiwitness. The account shared links to beheading videos and interviewed foreign fighters before they left to join ISIS and after they arrived.…
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Hate page administrator close accounts after threats of violence
This briefing relates to a recent incident on an anti-Muslim hate page. The administrator(s) of the page took a stand to differentiate opposition to Islam from the spread of violence and hate against Muslims. This is an important distinction between attacks on ideas, which are protected under the principles of freedom of expression, and attacks…
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Anti-Semitism in Social Media Includes Twitter
Originally published in English as: Manfred Gerstenfeld, “Anti-Semitism in Social Media Includes Twitter: Interview with Andre Oboler of Online Hate Prevention“, Israel National News (Arutz Sheva), September 8 2013. This interview is has also published in German, French, and Italian. Interview with Andre Oboler of Online Hate Prevention: “Twitter does not have a mechanism for flagging problem content.…
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Twitter to be sued over #GaysMustDie
Twitter is to be sued in France over a hash tag “Gays must die”. A number of activists are questioning why Twitter rather than the users involved are being sued, the reason is that without first suing Twitter, it is impossible to get enough information on the users to take appropriate action against them. Twitter…