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Twitter Is Limiting the Visibility of Prominent Republicans In Search Results (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VICE News: Twitter is limiting the visibility of prominent Republicans in search results -- a technique known as "shadow banning" -- in what it says is a side effect of its attempts to improve the quality of discourse on the platform. The Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, several conservative Republican congressmen, and Donald Trump Jr.'s spokesman no longer appear in the auto-populated drop-down search box on Twitter, VICE News has learned. It's a shift that diminishes their reach on the platform -- and it's the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility. The profiles continue to appear when conducting a full search, but not in the more convenient and visible drop-down bar. (The accounts appear to also populate if you already follow the person.)
Democrats are not being "shadow banned" in the same way, according to a VICE News review. McDaniel's counterpart, Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, and liberal members of Congress -- including Reps. Maxine Waters, Joe Kennedy III, Keith Ellison, and Mark Pocan -- all continue to appear in drop-down search results. Not a single member of the 78-person Progressive Caucus faces the same situation in Twitter's search. Presented with screenshots of the searches, a Twitter spokesperson told VICE News: "We are aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in our search box and shipping a change to address this." Asked why only conservative Republicans appear to be affected and not liberal Democrats, the spokesperson wrote: "I'd emphasize that our technology is based on account *behavior* not the content of Tweets."
Democrats are not being "shadow banned" in the same way, according to a VICE News review. McDaniel's counterpart, Democratic Party chair Tom Perez, and liberal members of Congress -- including Reps. Maxine Waters, Joe Kennedy III, Keith Ellison, and Mark Pocan -- all continue to appear in drop-down search results. Not a single member of the 78-person Progressive Caucus faces the same situation in Twitter's search. Presented with screenshots of the searches, a Twitter spokesperson told VICE News: "We are aware that some accounts are not automatically populating in our search box and shipping a change to address this." Asked why only conservative Republicans appear to be affected and not liberal Democrats, the spokesperson wrote: "I'd emphasize that our technology is based on account *behavior* not the content of Tweets."
Someone with top level DNS control route twitter.com to 127.0.0.1. I'm pretty sure violence would drop and IQ points would bump up.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
So Slashdot got bought by Fox News?
I'm sure they already know this, but the algorithm isn't designed to trip up GOP politicians. It says a lot more about how they choose to phrase their message and talk about issues, than any agenda seeking to silence them on Twitter.
When what you post is designed to be inflammatory and lower discourse and a system designed to combat that properly flags it, maybe its working as intended and you should look inwards? No matter where you stand, there are good and bad ways to engage in discourse. On all topics, with all points of view.
As I am told constantly by alt-right jackoffs, you can't believe anything you read on Vice.
You are welcome on my lawn.
See here if you don't know what it means. It's why we call women on food stamps "Welfare Queens"; e..g the word Queen was associated with Black woman and homosexuals, both bugaboos of the right.
These folks are getting banned because they've tip toed a little too close to outright racism and white supremacy. The Dems aren't being Shadow banned because, well, they don't have to use tricks to talk about their message (when they have one that is, the right wing of the party's only message so far has been that we should all feel bad for electing Trump so pretty please vote for us even though we're going to keep doing the same crap that Trump does economically only with more labor imports).
Seriously, our media needs to stop giving equal time to both sides. At a certain point both sides are not bad. One side is legitimately wrong. 20 years ago we figured out that trickle down economics doesn't work yet somehow we forgot that when the name changed to "Supply Side" and Laffer kept shopping around his curve. The result is a tax cut that's gone 86% to the top 1% and is going to cause rampant inflation when the treasury raises interest rates to offset the over reving to the economy that dumping $1 trillion supply side caused. Where the hell is the media to call the Republicans out on this? Oh yeah, they're owned by the same guys who got the tax cut...
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Specifically what behavior? (No, I didn't RTFA.)
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
It's likely illegal as well. News agencies are supposed to give both sides equal coverage, So purposely hiding search results for RNC candidates is likely breaking that. Whether Twitter and other social media outlets want to call themselves a news source, the fact is a lot of people are getting their "news" through these platforms so they should keep balanced.
Just more of social media being used to meddle with the election process.
Yeh, it's not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... is what you're incorrectly referring to. The fact is, it's most likely because of the racist, bigoted, misogynistic bullshit that flows freely from republican politicians. Maybe, you should try electing people who aren't fucking worthless pieces of shit.
https://xkcd.com/1357/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... 'nuff said.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Yes everything you don't agree with is a plot controlled by Putin. It's well known Twitter has left leaning policies (because most of their user base is SJW's and blacks). They bitch and moan because they'd rather live in a bubble than deal with the fact that other people might not share their opinions. So now they have their "safe" echo chamber to converse in without being traumatized by Republicans.
Private companies can do what they want.
However, they should also not lie to the public.
When they say "We are transparent about our political activity and contributions." and "We believe in free expression and think every voice has the power to impact the world.", yet they are "shadow banning" members of a single political party, things don't add up.
Quotes can be found here: https://about.twitter.com/en_u...
they are "shadow banning" members of a single political party, things don't add up.
"Shadow banning" is too strong a phrase to use.
Twitter is implying the effect is due to the behaviour of the accounts. Things would add up if the Republicans were recommending some kind of Twitter tactic to their candidates that's tripping Twitter's algorithms. Which doesn't seem at all unlikely.
I'm sure they already know this, but the algorithm isn't designed to trip up GOP politicians. It says a lot more about how they choose to phrase their message and talk about issues, than any agenda seeking to silence them on Twitter.
When what you post is designed to be inflammatory and lower discourse and a system designed to combat that properly flags it, maybe its working as intended and you should look inwards? No matter where you stand, there are good and bad ways to engage in discourse. On all topics, with all points of view.
Facebook blocked the political ads of Florida state representative Matt Caldwell, whose ad depicts Caldwell shooting a shotgun and talking about his support of the Second Amendment.
Everything about this ad was legal, appropriate, and not offensive in a violent, lurid, or sexual way. There was no innuendo or intent to deceive.
It's not "how they choose to phrase their message", it's the content, plain and simple.
Gun ownership has enough support in this nation to be a political issue that can be discussed, debated, and decided by the people.
If you are against gun ownership that's fine, but the political issue is legal and we should be talking about it.
Facebook is undermining the political process, the same way that the Russians did in *your* election.
Why does Facebook have to choose political sides at all?
Why can't their rules for allowed opinion be non political?
Why would Twitter want to help the enemy? When you consider your own people "enemy", then things are very far gone. Twitter is the de facto public square these days and having it under the control of the Left is going to turn out badly for everyone.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I see the Russian retards are out in force tonight.
Twitter is implying the effect is due to the behaviour of the accounts.
Yes, the behavior being detected is being a Republican.
...the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility... only conservative Republicans appear to be affected and not liberal Democrats
Hmm, any chance there could be a causal relationship?
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Where do you see it? Looking over your shoulder, AC?
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
It seems reasonable that any attempt to decrease twitter's liability as an attack vector for russia's campaign against american democracy would disproportionately effect those who amplified and benefited from that campaign.
This program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite, and viewers like you.
""The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.""
The issue on top of everything else is that these people don't even have the courage to admit they've done it until they're caught red handed.
Shadow banning is inherently slimey. I've never seen a need for it.
If someone is out of control or breaking the terms of service then you ban them or whatever. Everything out in the open and above board.
But doing in such a way that they don't even know they were banned?
Slime.
Any admin that does that is slime.
Yes, I know the argument of "what if they make a million sock accounts and keep spamming whatever?"... This is basically an argument of laziness. It also says something about your account creation process.
There are a million ways to address the problem. Account tiers that mature over time for example deals with the problem. You could have low level accounts put at the bottom of discussions and higher level accounts put at the top. Have the tier be based entirely on seniority thus accounts that are made and destroyed every two seconds won't impact the community because they'll only be noticed most of the time after they've been around for some time.
The rate of maturation can be set at whatever rate the admins can keep up with... is a week long enough? A month? A year?
And that's just ONE of a dozen different solutions that is more honest and forthright than a shadowban.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Once.
Trump is in this for himself and absolutely no one else. Be crystal clear about this. He lies without even knowing he lies because of his blinding narcissism.
Trump is not the person to do a "complete reset". The things he has accomplished (tax breaks for the rich, removal of environmental regulations, etc) benefit rich people like, you guessed it: himself.
Trump is doing over everyone and some people are crying out "Do me harder!"
It's so insane, and the insanity grinds on day after day, seemingly forever.
Private companies can do what they want.
However, they should also not lie to the public.
When they say "We are transparent about our political activity and contributions." and "We believe in free expression and think every voice has the power to impact the world.", yet they are "shadow banning" members of a single political party, things don't add up.
Quotes can be found here: https://about.twitter.com/en_u...
Not quite.
Once they start mediating content, they lose the immunity provisions of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
So if Facebook or Twitter wants to limit political content to only those viewpoints accepted by "progressives", Facebook or Twitter then becomes responsible and liable for ALL content posted to their system.
Of course, doing that will make "progressives" squeal like stuck pigs - because they know that Facebook and Twitter actually do push "progressive" views and aid in no-platforming opposing viewpoints.
Kinda indicative of the emptiness and reactionary nature of "progressive" policy ideas that they actually have a name, a process, and a fucking Wikipedia page for the methods "progressives" use to shut down debate. When your ideas suck, you have to shut other people up.
What we have are two porn stars claiming they had affairs with Trump over a decade before he ran for President - the sort of claim lots of rich and famous people routinely face when the people making the claims think they can get money that way because they think it will harm the person's image.
Secondarily to this, we have:
(1) Trump's lawyer having paid of ONE of them (Stormy), and Trump publicly denying he knew about the payoff BEFORE IT HAPPENED (this is routinely cleverly lied about in some media outlets) but admitting he knew about the payoff after it happened and admitting he repaid his lawyer.
(2) The other one (McDougal) apparently sold her claims to National Enquirer and rather than publish the story, they apparently re-sold the rights to Trump's lawyer with Trump's approval; THIS is what's on the Trump audio tape where Trump questions the expense and insists on a [traceable] check rather than [untraceable] cash.
If what Trump has done in either case here is illegal, most of the important people in NYC, Chicago, LA, SanFran, and Washington DC are all going to need bail bondsmen.
What either of these two cases has to do with Russian collusion in the 2016 election is simply beyond comprehension, but I presume MSNBC and CNN will be able to tie it all together - no doubt with an additional link to the missing Malaysian Boeing 777.
Of course, the big takeaway from all of this is that if any proof that these women were indeed involved in affairs with Trump a decade ago [which they both claim they consented to] would arise it would only re-affirm what we already know: President Trump has far better taste in Women than President Bill Clinton and unlike Bill, Don does not need to force himself on them.
You could have simply made the post "I'm a bigot" with nothing else and saved yourself the trouble. But I'm really liking the unhinged craziness of your post, I'm gonna lay down a frosty $20Cdn(actual value $13.73 USD), that you live in a major city and are politically insulated.
Om, nomnomnom...
It's okay. $20Cdn wouldn't even fill a gas tank half full in Canada OR the US these days. But, your bigotry is in full swing. Keep going, because you're an awesome recruitment tool.
Om, nomnomnom...
Please don't. You know the old saying, dogs that bark don't bite, and presidents you keep occupied with toys can at least not do anything worse.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Frankly, whenever a political "discussion" (not so much in the classical sense of an exchange of ideas and debate, more akin to a Jerry Springer show) happens here on /., the only thing you can sensibly do is grab a bag of popcorn and watch both sides of the fence yell increasingly ridiculous bullshit at each other, and enjoy the growing amusement of how The Party managed to trick the population into going at each other's throat instead of addressing the problem.
The only thing that comes to my mind when it comes to US politics is this song.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Does the /. zeitgeist even have a pulse anymore?
You know it's wrong, even if it favors your political tribe. Really, you do know it.
... if your actual goal was to make the largest number of people not give a flying $^& what or who you call "racist", you couldn't have chosen a better plan.
(I'm starting to think that is your goal, as you have been working on it for decades now.)
How the content is phrased is still content. Twitter says they are looking at account behavior, not tweet content. Thus, "how you say it", must be irrelevant. If not, Twitter is lying about not doing this based on content.
And since when do "normal people" become President? Becoming president requires a rare combination of talents and ambitions that is too exceptional to ever be "normal".
Login, logout, follow, unfollow, set avatar, edit bio... Did I miss anything? I don't use it myself so I'm just guessing.
"you don't hear democrats saying the stupid fucking asinine bullshit the average republican spouts every fucking day"
I was thinking you're a Democrat, but you claim they don't speak like you do.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Thanks for mentioning this. It is very easy to see for yourself. Whenever a Democrat is caught doing something bad, there is rarely a mention of the (D) party. However, when a republican is caught doing something bad, you can rest assured his political party will be mentioned in the first line and will probably be mentioned several more times in the article.
They can deny it. But we can see it with our own two eyes. It's my favorite example of bias but we all know it's way more than accidental bias. It's purposeful.
They are not a monopoly. Everyone accepts that various communication outlets are biased. Why are online communication channels any different than the older technologies?
Greed is the root of all evil.
When a site needs to resort to shadowbanning, you already know that site is dead or dying. It shows that the administrative staff don't have any actual control, nor did they have any clue in the first place.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Oh geez, i'm sorry... were you still talking? No one really gives a shit.
Bigoted? Yes i am.. i hate NAZI's and neo-Nazi sympathizers. And liars. If that makes me a bigot, so fucking be it.
There's nothing bigoted about not liking pieces of shit like you. You have no fucking clue of reality, and do everything you can to fool yourself into believing you're a decent person... or at least, not as bad as the other guy; but conservatives are worse: you don't even live in reality most of the time. You're tribal bullshit has fucked this country over, and every fucking day another dipshit, like you, pops their head out of their ass long enough to make people understand they weren't missing much when your head was still buried in your colon because of the stupidity you spout. If you fucking idiots would ever learn something, for once in your life, there might be a chance to make things better... but you can't. It may be genetic, it may just be your fucking assholes... but you just can't bring yourself to learn a damn thing.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
This is what i mean... conservatives can't understand the written word, probably because they're so fucking stupid. Sorry it was more than 5 words... i know that confuses you idiots.
If you can't understand what's written, and in context... grow a fucking brain. But, I am sorry; sorry you're such a fucking idiot. This must be the "all the little whiny fascists come by to say hi" thread.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
When typing @donaldjtrump @donaldtrump or @potus especially, there are protest personalities or in the @potus case Obama well ahead of President Donald J Trump. Of course @president Donald Trump is also not effective. An the “@“s above with or without spaces are equally frustrating. I’ve yet to find a term that brings up the actual presidential tag at the top of the list consistently.
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
And that ladies and gentlemen is the full-grown birth of someone who has TDS so bad, that they should go visit a shrink.
Om, nomnomnom...
They note that Twitter doesn't shadow ban at all, and to the extent that Twitter’s new algorithm doesn't auto-populate the search box with some links, that is only because they're trying to improve the quality of their data by not showing (by default) accounts that troll or help to spread false information.
You might as well attack Slashdot for hiding "Obama is a Kenyan muslim who is responsible for 9/11" posts, when they're voted as Troll/Flamebait.
Yep, that sure is easy, and also not happening.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Politics are extremely personal these days. Probably because the administration supports so much that attacks people personally.
Uh, the previous administration attacked people personally all the time. How do you not know this? He even engaged in actions that most sane people would label as "race baiting."
Om, nomnomnom...
He says as the blue swirl slowly spins down.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
I'd argue it's unethical for Twitter to allow people (and politicians) to sign up and then make their opinions much less visible without telling them so. If you're going to make certain specific people less visible, you shouldn't do it in secret.
Examine even your most deeply held beliefs. Nobody is always right.
Apparently, some right-wing racist idiot (pleonasmic, I know) got the idea to censor reality with mod-points...
Failing miserably, naturally.
For my ally is the Copy/Paste. And a powerful ally it is.
The Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel, several conservative Republican congressmen, and Donald Trump Jr.'s spokesman no longer appear in the auto-populated drop-down search box on Twitter, VICE News has learned.
It's a shift that diminishes their reach on the platform -- and it's the same one being deployed against prominent racists to limit their visibility.
Asked why only conservative Republicans appear to be affected and not liberal Democrats, the spokesperson wrote: "I'd emphasize that our technology is based on account *behavior* not the content of Tweets."
Act like a racist... get treated like one.
It's not Twitter's fault for Republicans getting tripped up by anti-racist algorithms.
But it is kinda funny. As in "We can all see your unwiped racist ass, Your Highness!" kinda funny.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Lefties like throwing their weight around.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/...
A far-right group wanted to hire some venues to host some talks in Auckland. The council owned venue refused them because of fears there would be violent left-wing protests their security staff wouldn't be able to cope with.
and violence then yeah, they do add up.
Alex Jones is a good example. He constantly talks about how evil George Soros is for being a billionaire but funny how he never calls the Koch brother's out. It is not a coincidence that Soros is Jewish. He talked about a left leaning political pundit drinking baby blood. It just so happens that again, the pundit is Jewish (blood libel). I've already given you the welfare queen example. And don't get me stated on "Some of them are good people"
If you want to be really scared look into some of the far right religious whack jobs that hang with our VP. They're Dominionists. That sounds harmless until you find out what it is. They want the Christian version of Sharia law and to take over the earth. When they talk about Holy Wars they are not speaking metaphorically...
I'm sorry, but there just comes a time to call a spade a spade. The Republican party has been openly cozying up with neo Nazis, white supremacists and hard right authoritarians. It's our media's job to call them out on it and so far they've shirked that responsibility in exchange for tax cuts for their corporate masters. Face it, you got sold out.
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Nope. It was actually you who did that labeling, and you haven't even been honest about politics in your own country, let alone another.
You seem to be fundamentally ignorant, otherwise you'd have actually shown where I was dishonest. Pretty shit attempt.
Om, nomnomnom...
Nice gaslighting. The only way one could feel personally attacked by the previous administration is if you were listening to Alex Jones, Glen Beck or, (inclusively) a nazi.
When you hold the left to their own standards, it suddenly isn't race baiting. And you haven't figured out why the "they're a nazi" stuff doesn't work anymore.
Om, nomnomnom...
Maybe they're not so happy with having a russian-controlled president and GOP. Maybe they would prefer the US to not be run by traitors.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
Uh huh. Because Twitter has never shadow banned in the past, and has only an unbiased criteria as to what counts as a 'troll' or a 'bot'. Someone should that to the people who have worked there.
ah, APK, i've missed you....
At least he's applying his name to his posts. For all I know, you're a seven year old monkey.
Generally, in a discussion involving a logged in user versus an AC, the logged in user has much higher credibility.
to match the pieces of sht that still use it. Fuck all you cunts.
Anyway, back to your point, watch out for propaganda. Keep an open mind and understand the value of critical thinking. Remember that the goal of our common enemy is to divide us.
Couldn't care less about pussygate, when articles like this sum up the situation so perfectly.
Russia, Russia, Russia! It's funny how the left has become the party of McCarthyism.
Yep, that sure is easy, and also not happening.
Except that it is. Twitter was so fucking obvious about it that they actually went and censored Republican politicians. How much more blatant can you be?
When I lived in Arizona, Senator Udall wrote a bill that intended to make it illegal to publish a representative's voting record. Government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" should be otherwise hidden from the people. Oy.
Yeah? Is it really all GOP members, like the person I responded to asserted?
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Well, how comforting. They didn't shadowban every GOP member. But if you want to get into parsing words, the person you responded to didn't say everyone would be banned. He said:
Nah, it's much easier than that. Just label all of your opposition deplorable racists. See? Problem solved....now you can ban anyone on the "other side".
Notice the word "anyone"? So just pick some prime targets, use the umbrella excuse "deplorable racist", and done.