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☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

YouTube's Ad Blocker Detection Believed to Break EU Privacy Law

By K.G. Orphanides — November 7th 2023 at 16:52
A complaint filed with the EU’s independent data regulator accuses YouTube of failing to get explicit user permission for its ad blocker detection system, potentially violating the ePrivacy Directive.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The New Era of Social Media Looks as Bad for Privacy as the Last One

By Vittoria Elliott — November 1st 2023 at 21:00
The slow-motion implosion of Elon Musk’s X has given rise to a slew of competitors, where privacy invasions that ran rampant over the past decade still largely persist.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

TikTok Streamers Are Staging ‘Israel vs. Palestine’ Live Matches to Cash In on Virtual Gifts

By David Gilbert — October 26th 2023 at 18:03
TikTokkers are using a little-known livestreaming feature to falsely represent Israelis and Palestinians—and the company is taking a cut of costly in-app gifts viewers give to participants.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild

By Matt Burgess — October 25th 2023 at 11:00
Inauthentic accounts on X flocked to its owner’s post about Ukrainian president Vlodymr Zelensky, hailing “Comrade Musk” and boosting pro-Russia propaganda.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Hamas Threat of Hostage Execution Videos Looms Large Over Social Media

By David Gilbert — October 23rd 2023 at 21:02
Hamas has threatened to broadcast videos of hostage executions. With the war between Israel and Hamas poised to enter a new phase, are social platforms ready?
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Who’s Responsible for the Gaza Hospital Explosion? Here’s Why It’s Hard to Know What’s Real

By David Gilbert — October 18th 2023 at 21:27
A flood of false information, partisan narratives, and weaponized “fact-checking" has obscured efforts to find out who’s responsible for an explosion at a hospital in Gaza.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Elon Musk’s Main Tool for Fighting Disinformation on X Is Making the Problem Worse, Insiders Claim

By Vittoria Elliott, David Gilbert — October 17th 2023 at 22:20
X is promoting Community Notes to solve its disinformation problems, but some former employees and people who currently contribute notes say it’s not fit for that purpose.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

A Graphic Hamas Video Donald Trump Jr. Shared on X Is Actually Real, Research Confirms

By David Gilbert — October 11th 2023 at 19:39
A video posted by Donald Trump Jr. showing Hamas militants attacking Israelis was falsely flagged in a Community Note as being years old, thus making X's disinformation problem worse, not better.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Elon Musk Is Personally Undermining X’s Efforts to Curb Israel-Hamas War Disinformation

By David Gilbert — October 10th 2023 at 15:19
X’s Trust and Safety team says it’s working to remove false information related to the Israel-Hamas war. Meanwhile, Elon Musk is sharing conspiracies and chatting with QAnon promoters.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Israel-Hamas War Is Drowning X in Disinformation

By David Gilbert — October 9th 2023 at 15:53
People who have turned to X for breaking news about the Israel-Hamas conflict are being hit with old videos, fake photos, and video game footage at a level researchers have never seen.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

How X Is Suing Its Way Out of Accountability

By Vittoria Elliott — August 15th 2023 at 11:00
The social media giant filed a lawsuit against a nonprofit that researches hate speech online. It’s the latest effort to cut off the data needed to expose online platforms’ failings.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

How Threads' Privacy Policy Compares to Twitter's (and Its Rivals')

By Reece Rogers — July 6th 2023 at 23:46
Want to try out Meta’s new social media app? Here’s more context on what personal data is collected by Threads and similar social media apps.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Don't Join Threads—Make Instagram's 'Twitter Killer' Join You

By Lily Hay Newman — July 6th 2023 at 18:53
Meta’s Twitter alternative promises that it will work with decentralized platforms, giving you greater control of your data. You can hold the company to that—if you don't sign up.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Inside 4chan’s Top-Secret Moderation Machine

By Justin Ling — June 5th 2023 at 10:00
Internal company documents reveal how the imageboard’s chaotic moderation allowed racism and violence to take over.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Meta’s $1.3 Billion Fine Is a Strike Against Surveillance Capitalism

By Matt Burgess — May 22nd 2023 at 14:38
The record-breaking GDPR penalty for data transfers to the US could upend Meta's business and spur regulators to finalize a new data-sharing agreement.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Buffalo Mass Shooting Victims' Families Sue Meta, Reddit, Amazon

By Justin Ling — May 15th 2023 at 20:14
The families of victims of a mass shooting in Buffalo are challenging the platforms they believe led the attacker to carry out a racist massacre.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Twitter’s Encrypted DMs Are Deeply Inferior to Signal and WhatsApp

By Andy Greenberg — May 11th 2023 at 04:11
The social network’s new privacy feature is technically flawed, opt-in, and limited in its functionality. All this for just $8 a month.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

A US Bill Would Ban Kids Under 13 From Joining Social Media

By Matt Laslo — April 26th 2023 at 19:28
The legislation would insert the government into online platforms’ age-verification efforts—a move that makes some US lawmakers queasy.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Montana’s Looming TikTok Ban Is a Dangerous Tipping Point

By Lily Hay Newman — April 15th 2023 at 00:28
The state is poised to be the first in the US to block downloads of the popular app, which could ignite a precarious chain reaction for digital rights.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

LinkedIn Verification Now Lets You Verify Your Job and Account

By Lily Hay Newman — April 12th 2023 at 14:23
To beat back fake accounts, the professional social network is rolling out new tools to prove you work where you say you do and are who you say you are.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

How Good Smile, a Major Toy Company, Kept 4chan Online

By Justin Ling — March 29th 2023 at 14:26
Documents obtained by WIRED confirm that Good Smile, which licenses toy production for Disney, was an investor in the controversial image board.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The TikTok Hearing Revealed That Congress Is the Problem

By Dell Cameron — March 24th 2023 at 00:42
The interrogation of CEO Shou Zi Chew highlighted US lawmakers’ own failure to pass privacy legislation.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

TikTok Paid for Influencers to Attend the Pro-TikTok Rally in DC

By Matt Laslo — March 23rd 2023 at 21:50
The embattled social media company brought out the checkbook to ensure at least 30 of its biggest assets—creators—were in DC to help fend off critics.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The TikTok CEO’s Face-Off With Congress Is Doomed

By Matt Laslo — March 22nd 2023 at 11:00
On Thursday, Shou Zi Chew will meet a rare united front in the US Congress against the Chinese-owned social media app that has lawmakers in a tizzy.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Senator Warner on the Restrict Act and a US TikTok Ban

By Dell Cameron — March 16th 2023 at 16:59
WIRED spoke with the coauthor of the Restrict Act, a bipartisan bill to crack down on tech from six “hostile” countries.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isn’t About Privacy

By Matt Laslo — February 23rd 2023 at 12:00
Lawmakers are increasingly hellbent on punishing the popular social network while efforts to pass a broader privacy law have dwindled.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

A New Lawsuit Accuses Meta of Inflaming Civil War in Ethiopia

By Vittoria Elliott, Dell Cameron — December 14th 2022 at 00:27
The suit claims the company lacks adequate moderation to prevent widespread hate speech that has led to violence and death.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Here’s How Bad a Twitter Mega-Breach Would Be

By Lily Hay Newman — November 18th 2022 at 01:41
Elon Musk laid off half the staff, and mass resignations seem likely. If nobody’s there to protect the fort, what’s the worst that could happen?
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Twitter’s SMS Two-Factor Authentication Is Melting Down

By Lily Hay Newman — November 15th 2022 at 01:08
Problems with the important security feature may be some of the first signs that Elon Musk’s social network is fraying at the edges.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Elon Musk's Twitter Blue Verification Is a Gift to Scammers

By Matt Burgess — November 10th 2022 at 16:25
Anyone can get a blue tick on Twitter without proving who they are. And it’s already causing a ton of problems.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

If Musk Starts Firing Twitter's Security Team, Run

By Lily Hay Newman — October 28th 2022 at 22:55
What's next for the social network is anyone's guess—but here's what to watch as you wade through the privacy and security morass.
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

The $1 Billion Alex Jones Effect

By Chris Stokel-Walker — October 13th 2022 at 16:33
The Infowars host now knows the cost of “free speech”—but does the landmark judgment signal a crackdown on disinformation?
☐ ☆ ✇ WIRED

Meta Just Happens to Expand Messenger’s End-to-End Encryption

By Lily Hay Newman — August 11th 2022 at 11:00
The company says an expansion of privacy features in Messenger is unrelated to a high-profile Nebraska abortion case.
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