Tag: protections
MPs call for workers’ rights watchdog amid weak enforcement of labour protections
Twitter removes hateful conduct protections for transgender users
![A person's face is half obscured in shadow. Their mouth is covered by the bright blue Twitter bird logo.](https://helios-i.mashable.com/imagery/articles/056aaWQZBrhgbV7e8VdhSj3/hero-image.png)
Twitter’s hateful conduct policy no longer provides specific protections for transgender users who are deadnamed or misgendered, following a quiet rollback from the social platform. The move was called out on Tuesday by LGBTQ advocacy organization Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
The provision was first added in 2018, stating, in part, “We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.” As of April 8, the policy no longer includes the second sentence, GLAAD found via the Wayback Machine.
In a statement issued Tuesday, GLAAD called the move “the latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alike.”
“The practice of targeted misgendering and deadnaming has been identified by the ADL and other civil society groups as a form of hate speech. Social media companies committed to maintaining safe environments for LGBTQ people should be working to improve hate speech policies, not deleting long-standing ones,” wrote GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
Media outlets and Twitter insiders have previously reported on Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s intention to review the provisions of the hateful conduct policy specifically related to trans users. Shortly after he took over the site, Bloomberg reported that Musk had already asked employees “to review Twitter’s hateful conduct policy, according to the people, specifically a section that says users can be penalized for ‘targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals.'” This came shortly before the billionaire disbanded the site’s Trust and Safety Council.
Twitter’s adjusted many of its user conduct policies over the last six months, in moves often described as being aligned with Musk’s “free speech” goals. This week, the platform announced it would no longer remove all tweets in violation of its hateful conduct policy, but instead add “warning labels” to the posts. Tweets with this label reportedly will have “limited visibility” to other users.
Last year, TikTok banned anti-trans conduct on its app, including deadnaming and misgendering. Meta platforms, like Instagram and Facebook, provide policies for gender- and sexuality-based harassment, and the company was reconsidering its moderation policies last year. None of the sites are doing enough to protect LGBTQ users, however, according to a 2022 study by GLAAD.
GLAAD’s recent statement also referenced the #StopToxicTwitter coalition, a network of more than 60 civil rights and civil society groups that have been pushing for the social media platform to ensure the safety of its users through pressure on its top advertisers. The organization noted that Musk’s history of anti-LGBTQ posting was particularly concerning, linking to recent tweets from Musk that implied doctors providing gender affirming care should go to prison.
In February, nonprofit research organization The Center for Countering Digital Hate issued a report that found the app was making up for its advertising losses by reinstating previously-banned, “problematic” tweeters that would guarantee greater user impressions through their posts. The findings added to an already documented rise in hate speech on the site, which has prompted some users to leave the site and organizations to advocate for support.
Advocacy groups plan to continue placing pressure on advertisers and industry leaders at this week’s POSSIBLE conference, a global marketing event billing Musk as a keynote speaker, GLAAD noted.
“This decision to roll back LGBTQ safety pulls Twitter even more out of step with TikTok, Pinterest, and Meta,” said Ellis, “which all maintain similar policies to protect their transgender users at a time when anti-transgender rhetoric online is leading to real world discrimination and violence.”
EFF Warns US ‘Deserves Stronger Spyware Protections Than Biden’s Executive Order’
“But that doesn’t mean there will be no government use of spyware in the United States….”
The executive order arrived only days before revelations that the United States, which was previously thought to have steered clear of some of the most infamous foreign spyware products, actually had a contract to test and deploy the notorious Pegasus created by Israeli company NSO Group. The contract was signed under a fake name on November 8, 2021 between an organization that acts as a front for the U.S. government and an American affiliate of NSO group. Only five days before, on November 3, 2021, the U.S. Commerce Department added NSO Group and other foreign spyware companies to a blacklist — the “Entity List for engaging in activities that are contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.” So the signing of this straw contract was in apparent breach of this ban. NSO Group is just one of the companies that should be covered by the new executive order….
Though the NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware has garnered particular attention for its widespread use against human rights advocates, journalists, and politicians, the executive order did not name any company specifically, keeping the policy broad. This may lead some government agencies to think that their purchase of foreign spyware might fly under the radar if it comes from another, smaller vendor, or the vendor can plausibly deny that it is really spyware that they are selling. We urge the Biden administration to publish a non-exhaustive list of spyware companies included as part of this ban. That would send a clear message to agencies who wish to exploit any ambiguity in order to skirt the law.
The EFF applauds the U.S. order for specyfing ways in which spyware is not to be used — including a ban on its use against journalists, activists, political figures, and any U.S. person “without proper legal authorization, safeguards, and oversight.”
And the EFF also notes positive signs of progress towards stopping government misuse of spyware:
Building upon the U.S. executive order, a global coalition of eleven countries, including Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, are working towards a common goal of countering the misuse of commercial spyware. This alliance is committed to establishing robust guardrails and procedures that uphold fundamental human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law, within each of their respective systems.
But the EFF also points out the biggest concern of the U.S. government appears to be with the dangers in spyware that’s foreign made. “While this signals discomfort with foreign-made spyware, no one should take this as an indication that the U.S. government is averse to using similar technologies developed internally, or indeed acquiring foreign spyware companies for domestic use.
“Given the government’s long history of using and abusing incredibly invasive techniques, people in the United States should push for robust human rights safeguards to ensure the government won’t proceed with only the minor restrictions of this executive order to rein them in.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
This Week in Apps: Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky, social apps’ teen protections, Twitter clients get help
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion, according to data.ai’s “State of […]
This Week in Apps: Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky, social apps’ teen protections, Twitter clients get help by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Section 230 liability protections on trial in Google Supreme Court case
The US Supreme Court today heard oral arguments from lawyers representing Google, the Department of Justice, and the family of a 23-year old woman killed in Paris by terrorists in 2015. The case, Gonzalez v. Google, represents a crucial legal landmark in how the US legal system holds large technology platforms like Google responsible for the content they host.
The family of Nohemi Gonzalez argues that Google acted as a recruiting platform for the Islamic State group, which the US State Department describes as a terrorist organization. By recommending Islamic State-related videos on YouTube, Google violated US laws against providing aid to terrorist groups, the family argues.
Big tech backs Google in defending internet liability protections
A week after Google filed a defense brief to the US Supreme Court, warning that altering Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) would “upend the internet,” a number of corporations —including Twitter, Meta and Microsoft, have filed their own legal briefs — supporting Google’s argument that narrowing the statute could have dire consequences for digital publishers.
Under the 1996 CDA statute, companies are protected against liability for user content, including comments, reviews and advertisements. However, the Supreme Court has been asked to consider whether Section 230 is still relevant and appropriate, given that it was enacted before the internet became such an integral part of daily life.
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Daily Crunch: Twitter layoffs violated federal worker protections, class action lawsuit alleges
Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Daily Crunch: Twitter layoffs violated federal worker protections, class action lawsuit alleges by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch