Tag: block”
Microsoft says Activision deal block is “darkest day” of doing business in the UK
There’s a steady drip of news as the tech giant tries to clear its huge deal — here’s what’s new
SCOTUS Will Decide Whether Public Officials Can Block Naysayers on Social Media
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two First Amendment rights cases this fall after San Diego board members blocked parents for raising concerns on their social media accounts. A second case was filed against the city manager in Port Huron, Michigan for blocking a resident who raised Covid-19 concerns on his Facebook…
Jodeci, SWV, & Dru Hill Unleash ‘Summer Block Party Tour’ Dates
This summer will see three of R&B’s most iconic groups join forces to heat up the block!
For, as reported, Jodeci are embarking on the ‘Summer Block Party Tour’ along with SWV and Dru Hill.
Upon its announcement, the must-see trek sent fans into a frenzy – especially on the heels of the buzz SWV generated as part of hit Bravo series ‘SWV &
» Read more about: Jodeci, SWV, & Dru Hill Unleash ‘Summer Block Party Tour’ Dates »
The post Jodeci, SWV, & Dru Hill Unleash ‘Summer Block Party Tour’ Dates appeared first on ..::That Grape Juice.net::.. – Thirsty?.
Supreme Court could decide if government officials can block social media users
The Supreme Court is set to hear two cases that could decide if the First Amendment allows government officials to block users on personal social media accounts where they post about their work.
The cases are O’Connor-Ratcliff v. Garnier and Lindke v. Freed, both concerning public officials who use social media. The first involves two elected school board members who blocked parents who left repetitious comments on their posts. The second involves James Freed, the city manager of Port Huron, who blocked accounts and deleted comments from his Facebook page. Neither case applies to whether platforms can ban or otherwise moderate users, an issue that the Supreme Court is likely to take up at a later point.
Public officials blocking users…
Council loses court bid to block asylum seekers plan for Essex base
Dril and other Twitter power users begin campaign to ‘Block the Blue’ paid checkmarks
On Thursday, April 20, Elon Musk made a rare move: He delivered on a promise.
Since acquiring Twitter in October of last year, Musk has been open about his disdain for Twitter’s old verification system. Musk has made it clear that “legacy verified” users would eventually lose their checkmarks. And, after missing the originally scheduled date on April 1, yesterday Musk finally removed the blue checkmark from all accounts unless they opted to pay for it via the $8 per month Twitter Blue service.
There are up to about 630,000 subscribers to Twitter Blue at this time, according to independent research Travis Brown, who has been tracking the data.
Now, that it’s finally happened though, the campaign to “Block the Blue” – that is, any user still with a blue checkmark which signifies they are paying Musk for it – is in full swing.
“99% of twitter blue guys are dead-eyed cretins who are usually trying to sell you something stupid and expensive, and now they want to pay a monthly subscription fee to boost their dog shit posts front and center,” Twitter user @dril told me in an email when I asked about his thoughts on the #BlockTheBlue campaign.
“blocking them and encouraging others to do the same on a massive scale is the complete opposite of what they want,” he continued. “Its funny.”
That’s big coming from @dril. Part of the “Weird Twitter” subculture of funny shitposting accounts, @dril is a legend on Twitter and his reach goes far beyond any niche community. His tweets are regularly used as replies and memes. Screenshots of his tweets often spread on other platforms. His content empowered him to co-create an Adult Swim show. @dril has built a following of more than 1.76 million followers just with his funny Twitter posts over the years and he’s done it almost completely anonymously – he finally confirmed his identity just earlier this month.
To stress how important @dril is to Twitter, let’s put it this way: Last month, Platformer reported on a secret “VIP” list of just 35 popular accounts that Musk wanted to promote to users via the algorithm to encourage more use of the platform. That list included NBA star LeBron James, President Joe Biden, YouTube’s most subscribed creator Mr. Beast, and @dril.
“I am actively rooting for the downfall of twitter,” @dril tells me. “I hope to sabotage their efforts to become profitable, no matter how futile, in the hopes that they will eventually close up shop and release us all from this toilet.”
Despite 15 years of apparent neutrality, @dril was one of the earliest – and certainly biggest – Twitter users to encourage those on the platform to block anyone with a paid bluecheck. This account that was once all about pure comedy is now at the center of a protest movement.
“absolutely block on sight,” @dril tweeted back in November, when Musk’s Twitter Blue first launched. Included in the tweet was a screenshot of the label Twitter use to put on Blue subscribers in order to differentiate the paid checkmarks from the old “legacy verified” users.
But, @dril is far from the only big Twitter user to follow this new unwritten “Block the Blue” rule on the platform. NBC News reporter Ben Collins, Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic’s Alejandra Caraballo, and countless other highly-followed Twitter accounts have already shared their intention to block all Twitter Blue subscribers.
There’s even a Twitter account for the campaign, @BlockTheBlue, which is run by the creator of the automated Twitter account blocking app The Block List.
The Block List creator tells me that the app has unfortunately since shut down due to Twitter’s move from its free API plan to its high-priced new enterprise plans for API access, starting at $42,000 per month. However, before the app was killed off, more than 10,000 users were able to get in 610,677,100 automated blocks on Twitter Blue subscribed accounts. And, he’s still using the @BlockTheBlue account to urge users to manually block blue checkmarks.
The checkmark stands for something very different now
To be clear, as Max Collins of the hit 90s rock band Eve 6 puts it, Block the Blue is not “just a petty retaliation” against Musk.
“Verification used to mean a person was like an actor or a journalist or something and now it means they’re a white nationalist with 30 followers or they’re hawking crypto or something,” said Collins, who is also blocking the blue from his band’s @Eve6 account, which he runs.
Collins isn’t exaggerating about the types of users subscribing to Twitter Blue either. Disinformation and extremism researchers, like Shayan Sardarizadeh of BBC, have noticed neo-nazis and white supremacists getting verified by Twitter to spread their hate messages.
“Twitter blue subscribers are without fail the dumbest and most boring twitter users,” Collins told me, moving on to the other, non-straight-up-hate accounts who subscribe. “I’ve gotten really good at being able to tell who pays for their blue check just by the quality of their replies to my tweets.”
Many who are blocking Twitter Blue subscribers have shared that same sentiment. Paid checkmarks on the site often have very little presence on the platform – and Mashable previously reported, nearly half of all subscribers have less than 1,000 followers – and create low-quality content.
Eve 6 frontman Collins said even before Twitter Blue subscribers were the only ones left with a blue checkmark, you could tell they paid for the account due to their content. For example, Collins told me that if someone was in his replies and “completely misunderstood an obvious joke and he had a blue check, chances are he paid for it.”
Of course, not all accounts with a blue checkmark fit the above descriptions. Recent Twitter Blue unsubscribers note that Twitter doesn’t remove the checkmark right away. Some former Twitter Blue subscribers have noted that they canceled their paid subscriptions months ago, yet the blue checkmark remains stuck on their account in some apparent glitch. The feature has also been popular among some specific communities like sex workers and users who post long form videos. Still, those saying they’ll block the blue have reflected they’ll continue on with the blocking.
Under the old Twitter, the company provided blue checkmark badges to “notable” users on the platform. These users included Hollywood celebs, musical artists, pro athletes, and media figures. While the Musk fans who criticized the old system often focused on the “elitism” of the checkmarks, the real reason Twitter created verification is far from nefarious.
Celebrities and other well-known users were often impersonated by scammers or others looking to hurt their brand. After facing a lawsuit from former baseball player Tony La Russa over a fake account, old Twitter decided to roll out its new verification feature in 2009. Twitter quickly grew in popularity with celebrities and musical artists due to the move and in turn many promoted Twitter as the sole way for the public to interact with them on social media.
That now seems to be changing under Musk. Since the removal of the checkmark, a number of celebrities have announced that they were leaving the platform or were considering a move.
And others, including the one of the platform’s biggest self-made users @dril, are looking forward to seeing the fallout.
“everyone has always Hated twitter, even before the day elon dragged a sink into the main office while grinning like a doofus,” @dril explained. “nobody respects it, it is almost certainly responsible for a sharp increase in overall human misery, and if my brand must suffer so that this entire Shit hole will perish, that is fine to me.”
UPDATE: Apr. 21, 2023, 4:15 p.m. EDT Shortly after this story was published, Twitter suspended the @BlockTheBlue account. It’s currently unclear why.
Daily Crunch: Citizen Lab claims Apple’s ‘Lockdown Mode’ helped block spyware attack by hacker group NSO
Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Daily Crunch: Citizen Lab claims Apple’s ‘Lockdown Mode’ helped block spyware attack by hacker group NSO by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Universal Music Asks Streaming Services To Block AI Access To Its Songs
UMG has been sending takedown requests to the streamers “left and right,” FT quoted an unnamed source as saying. “We have become aware that certain AI systems might have been trained on copyrighted content without obtaining the required consents from, or paying compensation to, the rightsholders who own or produce the content,” the company said in an email from last month, according to the report. “We will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights and those of our artists.” The website drayk.it delivered users a custom Drake song, although it has since been shut down.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Record labels demand streaming providers block AI music scraping
Universal Music Group wants music streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify to block AI services from scraping melodies and lyrics. The group, representing about one-third of the record industry, says AI companies like OpenAI are training their algorithms on its artists’ intellectual property without authorization or compensation.