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Tech NewsKlout Founder Tells the Slightly Dirty Secret of His Success
Klout, a website that defined the unctuous early days of social media, used to rate you based on your online presence. In its heyday, a high Klout score could get you special privileges – maybe a free soda – and bragging rights at the Rosewood hotel, the literal Hotel California where VCs checked you into … Continued
By John Biggs -
Tech NewsHaunted by Regret Over Killing Vine, Twitter Purportedly Eyes Acquiring TikTok
While we’re all waiting to see if Microsoft succeeds in striking a deal to buy TikTok, bam! Surprise! Another big tech company, although not nearly as big as Microsoft, has apparently entered the fray, saying that it too is interested in arguably one of the hottest apps currently on the market. That company is purportedly … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsSocial MediaWhat Is QAnon And Why Did Facebook Ban One Of Its Largest Groups?
Facebook has banned one of the largest groups devoted to the far-right, rabidly pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory, Business Insider reported on Friday. A Facebook spokesperson told Business Insider that the group, titled “Official Q/QAnon,” was removed for “repeatedly posting content that violated our policies” on Thursday. Those rule violations included bullying and harassment, hate speech, … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsSocial MediaPranksters Stream Porn During Zoom Hearing for Alleged 17-Year-Old Twitter Hacker
Pranksters disrupted judicial hearings on Wednesday for the 17-year-old Florida kid who allegedly hijacked the accounts of prominent Twitter users last month, according to multiple people on the teleconference call. There were several intrusions during the first attempt at the hearing, and it was finally stopped after pornography was streamed via Pornhub. The judge overseeing … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsCops Terrorize Black Family but Blame License Plate Reader for Misidentifying ‘Stolen’ Vehicle
The Aurora Police Department in Colorado is blaming its license plate reader for misidentifying a “stolen” vehicle after video went viral showing a Black family with young children being menaced and traumatized by several cops. It’s just the latest example of police terror that likely wouldn’t have drawn much attention if a bystander hadn’t recorded … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsTrump Admin Moves to Boot GOP FCC Commissioner Who Hinted Its Social Media Order Is ‘Gibberish’
The White House has yanked its nomination to give GOP Federal Communications Commissioner Mike O’Rielly another term at the agency, offering no explanation as to why. O’Rielly is one of the three Republicans on the FCC’s five-member commission, having held the role since 2013, and has usually been a reliable backer of conservative policy priorities … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsTwitter Finally Bans the Nazi. No, Not That One. No, the Other One.
Twitter has finally booted David Duke, a former KKK grand wizard and founder of the KKK revival group the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Why has it taken years for a company whose policies explicitly bar “individuals who affiliate with and promote” violent extremist groups? Gizmodo wondered about this earlier this month and asked Twitter, … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial MediaPresident Trump’s Department of Violent Goons Investigates Tweets of Portland Journalists
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent local police departments in Oregon at least three intelligence reports about the journalism and tweets of reporters in Portland over the past week, according to the Washington Post. The intelligence reports included tweets from journalists at the New York Times and Lawfare as well as other information, including … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsHow to Watch Tech CEOs Testify to Congress Today on YouTube, Facebook, and More
Big Tech companies will make history on Wednesday when some of the most powerful CEOs in the country testify to Congress. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Tim Cook of Apple, and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet/Google will get the spotlight starting at 12 p.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, July 29. And … Continued
By Matt Novak -
ScienceHealthTucker Carlson Defends Doctor Who Says Demons Steal Semen From People While They Sleep
Fox News host Tucker Carlson lashed out at tech companies and reporters Tuesday night, insisting that a pro-Trump group called “America’s Frontlines Doctors” was being censored and improperly ridiculed for their beliefs. Carlson, of course, is full of shit. The part Carlson didn’t mention on his show is that the beliefs being “censored” by platforms … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPoliticsTwitter Trends Are a Crime Against Me, the President, Tweets President
Today in squirmy little squids squirting clouds of ink: Twitter trends that make the president look bad are somehow illegal, according to the president. “So disgusting to watch Twitter’s so-called ‘Trending’, where sooo many trends are about me, and never a good one,” Donald Trump tweeted on Twitter, the site where he tweets anything he … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityTwitter Workers Also Abused Access to User Accounts, Including Beyoncé’s: Report
Twitter contractors with high-level administrative access to accounts regularly abused their privileges to spy on celebrities including Beyoncé, including approximating their movements via internet protocol addresses, according to a report by Bloomberg. Over 1,500 workers and contractors at Twitter who handle internal support requests and manage user accounts have high-level privileges that enable them to … Continued
By Tom McKay -
ScienceHealthMan With Sole Authority to Launch Nuclear Weapons Retweets Random Fistfight
President Donald Trump retweeted a random fistfight over the weekend in an attempt to make fun of people who wear masks during the pandemic, the latest sign that Trump is basically a bored troll who just so happens to have the sole authority to launch America’s many nuclear weapons. Trump, as everyone knows at this … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsSocial MediaDozens of Hacked Twitter Accounts Had Their DMs Exposed, Twitter Confirms
Twitter never fails to disappoint. Despite its best(?) efforts, the platform remains the same bot-riddled, neo-Nazi-friendly cesspool that’s full of the same harassment and hate we’ve come to expect. With that said, it might not be too surprising that the high-profile Twitter hacking incident from earlier this month—you know, the one that hit Kanye West … Continued
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Tech NewsTwitter Expects QAnon Crackdown to Affect 150,000 Accounts Across Network
When should Twitter have banned QAnon, the conspiracy theory that has thoroughly convinced people, mainly Trump supporters, of an omnipresent threat of Satanic child abusers? Was it when Reddit banned their QAnon subreddit for making “violent threats” in 2018? Was it when a group of armed Arizona veterans stormed a homeless encampment thinking they’d uncovered … Continued
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Tech NewsPoliticsNo, a Reporter Did Not Call the White House Press Secretary a ‘Lying Bitch’
An Al Jazeera reporter did not call White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany a “lying bitch” on Tuesday, despite claims to the otherwise by sizable contingent of pro-Donald Trump Twitter accounts. At a White House press conference late on Tuesday morning, Al Jazeera English reporter Kimberly Halkett asked McEnany whether the president was as focused … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsCNN Blurs Faces of U.S. Secret Police in Viral Video
CNN aired a viral video on Sunday of U.S. secret police kidnapping people in Portland, Oregon—a tactic that White House officials say could be coming to several other cities in the coming weeks. CNN made an odd journalistic choice to blur the faces of the police in the video, but CNN’s Jake Tapper took to … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsPrivacy & SecurityTwitter Says Attackers Downloaded Account Information, Which Includes Direct Messages, From Some in Hack
Twitter has released new details about the hack heard round the world this week, which is apparently a massive scam that aimed to get users to send bitcoin to a random cryptocurrency wallet. It was carried out by targeting some of the highest profile accounts on the social media network, such as those belonging to … Continued
By Jody Serrano -
Tech NewsSocial MediaTwitter Confirms 130 Accounts Were Hit in the Latest Hack
In the days since we saw some of Twitter’s highest-profile accounts taken over for what appears to be a massive cryptocurrency scam, we’ve come up with more questions than we’ve gotten answers. How, exactly, was that one Twitter employee actually involved? What sort of technical protections has the company come up with to keep this … Continued
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Tech NewsEverything We Know About the Big Twitter Hack of 2020
An apparent cryptocurrency scheme that bombed Twitter Wednesday saw the accounts of high-profile brands, crypto exchanges, businesspeople, celebrities, and politicians compromised in an unprecedented hack that raises serious concerns about the security flaws of the platform and what information could have been jeopardized in the incident. Right now, details about the specifics of the hack … Continued
By Catie Keck