Thursday, February 1, 2018

More Idiocy from Twitter


Please note that my Twitter account remains suspended because I supposedly incited ethnic hatred by questioning the truth of an anti-Trump story told by actor Mark Ruffalo. To add insult to injury, I got this stupidity in my email folder yesterday. If you click on the link to sample Russian bot accounts and their tweets, you'll se that one of them is from AFTER the election. Nothing like retroactively affecting the election . . . is there anything Putin can't do?


  
  
Twitter
  
Dear Lewis Amselem, 
  
As part of our recent work to understand Russian-linked activities on Twitter during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, we identified and suspended a number of accounts that were potentially connected to a propaganda effort by a Russian government-linked organization known as the Internet Research Agency. 
  
Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing you because we have reason to believe that you: 
  
• Were following one or more of these accounts at the time the accounts were suspended; 
  
• Replied to or mentioned one or more of these accounts during the election period; or 
  
• Retweeted, quote tweeted, or liked content from one or more of these accounts during the election period. 
  
This is purely for your own information purposes, and is not related to a security concern for your account. We are sharing this information so that you can learn more about these accounts and the nature of the Russian propaganda effort. You can see examples of content from these suspended accounts on our blog if you're interested. 
  
People look to Twitter for useful, timely, and appropriate information. We are taking active steps to stop malicious accounts and Tweets from spreading, and we are determined to keep ahead of the tactics of bad actors. For example, in recent months we have developed new techniques to identify accounts manipulating our platform, have improved our process for challenging suspicious accounts, and have introduced new measures designed to identify and take action on coordinated malicious activity. In 2018, we are building on these improvements. Our blog also contains more information about these efforts. 
  
People come to Twitter to see what's happening in the world. We are committed to making it the best place to do that and to being transparent with the people who use and trust our platform. 
  
Twitter 


31 comments:

  1. My wife received the same, or substantially similar, email from Twitter -- and she is certainly no Trump supporter (she's a registered Democrat, alas, but our marriage has managed to survive for many years).

    Anyway, just ignore that email. It almost certainly was generated by an algorithm and emerged from some kind of statistical report about Twitter connections. These days, it doesn't even take six degrees of separation -- one or two will probably do it.

    And with so many Russian trolls and bots on Twitter, I'm guessing almost anyone who has talked politics has unknowingly interacted with one of them at some point.

    My wife has control of the tweeter machine in this house. I have little interest and even less time to take up the habit. I think that for some people, Twitter is more addictive than nicotine.

    But I do think it's time for you to push back harder on your suspension, because that was just wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Who? Twitter? I guess one could purchase stock and then launch a shareholder lawsuit. But I don't see how twitter has any legal obligations to anybody but their shareholders.
      They suck... they will eventually fail because they suck so badly. But for now, they decide what's 'propaganda' and what isn't. Truly they're in a fantastic position to meet their San Francisco desires, yet Trump still won the election, largely on account of Twitter. It must hurt in a way that no faked "russian crisis" can account for, so I'll just live that happy thought.

      - reader #1482

      Delete
    2. Sue to get names of the ones who issued this e mail. Sue to to get them to reveal the actual process of suspension and the names of who decides. Twitter is has to be some kind of legal entity and if so should be identifiable/liable in court for it's activities. This is not to say you'll win, but it may help establish who these people are.

      Delete
    3. True.. one can sue anybody for anything... fair enough.

      Delete
  3. Oh dear, Big Brother in action. What an insolent letter. "People come to Twitter to see what is happening in the world...." Or rather, what one of these mind-control tools wants you to see. I ignore Twitter and Facebook and all the others and live happily without them.
    Swedishlady

    ReplyDelete
  4. Twitter is absolutely infested with bots of all sorts, by no means limited to Russian ones, and the infuriating thing is how amazingly obvious the vast majority of those bots are.

    I could throw together some very basic pattern-matching and regular-expression filtering on a lazy weekend afternoon, and thereby easily get rid of two-thirds of the bot nonsense.

    I presume that Twitter employs engineers who could just as easily do the same thing, if ordered to do so, but Twitter clearly refrains from that sensible course of action.

    One may only assume that TWTR corporate would panic if the bots were plucked out of their network, as without the constant background chatter of the bots, Twitter's overall traffic and posting counts would plummet.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This civil war against the Left will be fought on many fronts and media control will be at the top.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. whitewall,
      It is and has been one of their bases of power. It has led them on to victory for nearly 50 yrs, but it also has led them to defeat (see Hillary) and extreme vulnerability. Think of athletes who read and start to believe their press clippings.

      Delete
  6. Zo, Comrade, zey 'ave seen our leetle game. But zey do not suspect our Slovenian gambit, eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, the Slovenian gambit. With all the hubbub about supposed Russians, they missed the fact that Trump has been in bed with the Slovenians! Well, one Slovenian. Actually, I suppose she is a US citizen now, but hey. Trump is in bed with her!

      Delete
    2. Ethnic Slovenian, at least.

      I wouldn't jump into bed with her. I plead the Seventh Commandment.

      Delete
  7. Just imagine the post office opening all our mail and then deciding if it should be delivered. By the bye, Rep. Schiff has publically questioned if Nunes is a Russian agent. Things are getting nutty?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a government entity, the Post Office isn't allowed pull the type of shenanigans that a Twitter or a Facebook can.

      If you really believe Twitter does not serve people well, start a competitor.

      I agree Nunes is almost certainly not a Russian agent. Partisanship is sufficient to explain his actions.

      I also agree with Swedishlady and F, at least in that I don't use Twitter/Facebook at all.

      Delete
    2. Twitter, FB etc are weapons of mass distraction.

      Delete
  8. "People look to Twitter for useful, timely, and appropriate information."


    Hmm, they don't seem to know what "twit" means.

    Twit \Twit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Twitted; p. pr. & vb. n.
    Twitting.] [OE. atwiten, AS. [ae]tw[imac]tan to reproach,
    blame; aet at + w[imac]tan to reproach, blame; originally, to
    observe, see, hence, to observe what is wrong (cf. the
    meanings of E. animadvert; akin to G. verweisen to censure,
    OHG. firw[imac]zan, Goth. fraweitan to avenge, L. videre to
    see.

    To vex by bringing to notice, or reminding of, a fault,
    defect, misfortune, or the like; to revile; to reproach; to
    upbraid; to taunt; as, he twitted his friend of falsehood.
    [1913 Webster]

    This these scoffers twitted the Christians with.
    --Tillotson.

    ReplyDelete
  9. One must wonder if the Russian Twitterites also received such messages. And following on that, does Twitter's Mismanagement feel (as opposed to think) that the Diplomad is actually Russian because he opposed Hillary?

    OMG! Does this mean that Twitterdom believes that, like Georgia, North Carolina is in Russia?

    Green Bear

    ReplyDelete
  10. Because the 1st Amendment only pertains to speech the left agrees with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How does the First Amendment apply to Twitter? They are allowed (within limits) to set their own standards, it's a private company. They are allowed to make those standards in relation to the behavior of certain accounts. Were you saying the government should control the speech of private corporations more closely?

      Delete
    2. Could depend on whether the government is granting them a monopoly, or refusing to take steps to combat anticompetitive practices. So far, there's seems to be competition surviving out there.
      Now Trump appears to be using Twitter as his near-exclusive communications mechanism, maybe that would trigger something? :)

      Delete
    3. Maybe. If POTUS only drinks Coke, and visibly, does Pepsi have a case?

      Delete
  11. The only cure for Twitter is molotov cocktails into its headquarters. Pour encourage les autres. Polite measures will not work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could just set up a competitor. You don't believe in competition?

      Delete
    2. c'mon one-brow... what about 'direct action'? Rise Up!
      gotta break a few of them tweety bird eggs to make a twitter omelette!

      Delete
    3. I strongly prefer non-violent direct actions.

      Delete
    4. Nice idea Dwan.

      Delete
  12. paul_vincent_zecchinoFebruary 3, 2018 at 2:42 PM

    These patronizing, smug, smarmy, condescending little twitter twerps have it coming.

    They fancy themselves masters of the Universe by virtue of their ability to mash a few keys and temporarily squelch truth-tellers.

    They've engendered a great deal of resentment on part of the citizenry, and are about to experience push back.

    They won't like it. Nor will they like it when the headcutters and demshevik gangsters of whom they're so fond come for them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Promoting it to the people who do not belong to your target audience will be an utter waste of time and hard work.brsm.io/twitter-followers-retweets/

    ReplyDelete
  14. The post is written in very a good manner and it contains many useful information for me. top twitter trends

    ReplyDelete