Tag: influencers
Crowdfunding platform Buy Me a Coffee removes far-right influencers and QAnon accounts
Buy Me a Coffee, an online crowdfunding service for creators, has immediately reacted to a new report showing how far-right influencers were raising money on its platform.
Dozens of influential figures in the QAnon conspiracy community have been banned from the Buy Me a Coffee platform, which allows users to drop one-off payments as well as recurring subscriptions in order to support their favorite creators. Other prominent online right-wing figures, including some of those who took part in the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, have also been suspended from the platform.
The move from Buy Me a Coffee comes in response to a new report from Media Matters for America that detailed some of the largest QAnon figures on the platform. QAnon is a far right-wing conspiracy theory whose followers believe that former President Donald Trump is fighting a secret war against a globalist cabal of baby-eating human-traffickers made up of Hollywood elites and Trump’s political enemies. QAnon believers became increasingly violent over the years, prompting warnings from the FBI. Many social media platforms, like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, banned QAnon content over the past few years. (Twitter has since allowed many formerly suspended QAnon users back on the platform under its new owner, Elon Musk.)
According to Media Matters, some of the QAnon figures that were using Buy Me a Coffee include Charlie Freak, Liz Crokin, and RedPill78. Other far-right figures found in the report include Patrick Casey and Baked Alaska. The more than two dozen accounts in Media Matters’ report, including the ones just mentioned, have all been removed from the Buy Me a Coffee platform.
In total, these far-right accounts had raised close to $200,000 through Buy Me a Coffee before they were removed.
“We strongly condemn hate groups and have a moderation team who take them down on a daily basis, even before they make any money,” said Buy Me a Coffee CEO Jijo Sunny in a statement provided to Media Matters. “This is sometimes overridden when people pretend to be someone else to raise money. We will continue to be extra cautious and take action as soon as it’s noticed or reported.”
An Instagram-worthy vacation goes terrifyingly wrong in ‘Influencer’s trailer
Another influencer-themed horror flick is upon us.
Simply titled Influencer, Shudder‘s twisted new tale follows Madison (Emily Tennant), a social media influencer who’s on a solo vacation in Thailand. Ditched by her boyfriend, Madison is having a very un-hashtag-blessed vacay — until she meets CW (Cassandra Naud). CW shows Madison all of the coolest local spots to eat and drink, but her biggest surprise is yet to come. Together, they take a boat to a totally off-the-grid island, where the scariest thing isn’t the lack of Internet access. Will Madison ever make it home?
Influencer premieres May 26 on Shudder and AMC+.
Biden Wants to Create a Press Briefing Room for Influencers
How do you do fellow kids? In an effort to reach younger voters ahead of the 2024 election, President Joe Biden is looking to use social media influencers to tout his accomplishments through an exclusive briefing room.
Pet influencers are hotter than ever. But how do dogs do taxes?
A dog-tired husky with bright pink ears rests on the marble hotel floor, napping before his next meet-and-greet. Around him, the atrium echoes with the sounds of Louboutins click-clacking and businessmen chattering over overpriced cocktails. The stone resting spot isn’t as comfortable as the luxury pet bed he’s accustomed to, but the pup’s plush Louis […]
Pet influencers are hotter than ever. But how do dogs do taxes? by Amanda Silberling originally published on TechCrunch
A new French bill could send influencers to jail
Has anyone checked in on Emily Cooper from Emily in Paris fame? She might not be doing very well.
Motivated in part by a desire to protect people from the negative mental health repercussions tied to social media use, The National Assembly of the French parliament passed a bill on March 30 that introduces some new laws for influencers.
The bill would dramatically alter how French influencers post and would require platforms to build new tools to flag violations. The bill’s provisions include:
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Requiring that all influencers have to disclose if they’re using a filter.
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Requiring all influencers to disclose if their face or body has been photoshopped.
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Requiring all influencers to make it abundantly clear when their post is a paid promotion. France already requires sponsored content to be clear to users, but this legislation would require that the disclaimer be a banner across the photos and videos — not just included in the description.
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Requiring social media platforms to set up channels for consumers to report influencers.
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Subjecting influencers to the same rules as traditional media by limiting their promotions of financial products (hello, cryptocurrency bros), alcohol, tobacco, and more.
If the bill is passed by the Senate — and, according to TechCrunch, there’s a “high probability” that it will — influencers will face hefty consequences for failing to meet the new requirements: up to six months in prison and a €300,000 fine.
“The sector of commercial influence and content creation is not yet taken seriously enough,” Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire wrote, according to French news outlet RFI. He notes that while the social media creator industry “is a formidable creative vector” with economic benefits, it also suffers from “unclear” or even nonexistent rules.
To be clear, this bill is not yet law, and it’s unclear if other countries will follow suit. The U.S., for instance, is far more lax with its rules on influencers. The FTC requires that influencers disclose the material connections they have with brands they’re endorsing (i.e. influencers have to say if they’re being paid to post about a brand or product. Those disclosures have to be clear, unambiguous, and conspicuous, and they have to make those disclosures directly within their endorsements.
Scammers are Tricking Instagram Into Banning Influencers
While they also target TikTok and other platforms, takedown-for-hire scammers like OBN are proliferating on Instagram, exploiting the app’s slow and often ineffective customer support services and its easily manipulated account reporting systems. These Instascammers often target people whose accounts are vulnerable because their content verges on nudity and pornography, which Instagram and its parent company, Meta, prohibit…. In an article he wrote for factz.com last year, OBN dubbed himself the “log-out king” because “I have deleted multiple celebrities + influencers on Meta & Instagram… I made about $300k just off banning and unbanning pages,” he wrote.
OBN exploits weaknesses in Meta’s customer service. By allowing anyone to report an account for violating the company’s standards, Meta gives enormous leverage to people who are able to trick it into banning someone who relies on Instagram for income. Meta uses a mix of automated systems and human review to evaluate reports. Banners like OBN test and trade tips on how to trigger the system to falsely suspend accounts. In some cases OBN hacks into accounts to post offensive content. In others, he creates duplicate accounts in his targets’ names, then reports the original accounts as imposters so they’ll be barred for violating Meta’s ban on account impersonation. In addition, OBN has posed as a Meta employee to persuade at least one target to pay him to restore her account.
Models, businesspeople, marketers and adult performers across the United States told ProPublica that OBN had ruined their businesses and lives with spurious complaints, even causing one woman to consider suicide. More than half a dozen people with over 45 million total followers on Instagram told ProPublica they lost their accounts temporarily or permanently shortly after OBN threatened to report them. They say Meta failed to help them and to take OBN and other account manipulators seriously. One person who said she was victimized by OBN has an ongoing civil suit against Meta for lost income, while others sent the company legal letters demanding payment….
A Meta spokesperson acknowledged that OBN has had short-term success in getting accounts removed by abusing systems intended to help enforce community standards. But the company has addressed those situations and taken down dozens of accounts linked to OBN, the spokesperson said. Most often, the spokesperson said, OBN scammed people by falsely claiming to be able to ban and restore accounts…. After banning an account, OBN frequently offers to reactivate it for a fee as high as $5,000, kicking off a cycle of bans and reactivations that continues until the victim runs out of money or stops paying.
A Meta spokesperson told the site they’re currently “updating our support systems,” including a tool to help affected users and letting more speak to a live support agent rather than an automated one. But the Meta spokesperson added that “This remains a highly adversarial space, with scammers constantly trying to evade detection by social media platforms.”
ProPublica ultimately traced the money to a 20-year-old who lives with his mother (who claimed he was only “funnelling” the money for someone else). After that conversation OBN “announced he would no longer offer account banning as a service” — but would still sell his services in getting your account verified.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
TikTok Paid for Influencers to Attend the Pro-TikTok Rally in DC
TikTok’s Plan To Stave Off Government Intervention: Flood DC With influencers
Dozens of TikTok creators will descend on Washington for three days next week, according to a person familiar with the plans, who revealed details on condition of anonymity. The creators will hold a press conference on Wednesday on Capitol Hill, the person added. Another person familiar with the plans noted that TikTok was paying for the cost of sending influencers to D.C. It was not clear which influencers would be making the trip.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.