For a while, when iPhone users dictated the word ‘racist’ to their phone, they shortly saw the word ‘Trump’ being written before it changed back to ‘racist’.
Continue reading “The phonetic overlap between ‘Trump’ and ‘racist’”
Government involvement in content moderation raises serious human rights concerns in every context. Since October 7, social media platforms have been challenged for the unjustified takedowns of pro-Palestinian content—sometimes at the request of the Israeli government—and a simultaneous failure to remove hate speech towards Palestinians. More specifically, social media platforms have worked with the Israeli Cyber Unit—a government office set up to issue takedown requests to platforms—to remove content considered as incitement to violence and terrorism, as well as any promotion of groups widely designated as terrorists.
By Jillian C. York and Paige Collings for Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on July 26, 2024
Chinese social media, like Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, and Douyin, are full of hundreds of users with American cop profile photos with the aim of taunting Black users.
By Viola Zhou for Rest of World on May 23, 2023
OpenAI’s contractor workforce helps power ChatGPT through simple interactions. They don’t get benefits, but some say the work is rewarding.
By David Ingram for NBC News on May 6, 2023
Capitol Music Group faced a backlash for signing the artificial intelligence musician.
From BBC on August 24, 2022
Figuring out social media platforms’ hidden rules is hard work—and it falls more heavily on creators from marginalized backgrounds.
By Abby Ohlheiser for MIT Technology Review on July 14, 2022
Platforms like Tiktok, Twitch and Instagram use algorithmic filters to automatically block certain posts on the basis of the language they use. The Washington Post shows how this has created ‘algospeak’, a whole new vocabulary. So instead of ‘dead’ users write ‘unalive’, they use ‘SA’ instead of ‘sexual assault’, and write ‘spicy eggplant’ rather than ‘vibrator’.
Continue reading “Inventing language to avoid algorithmic censorship”
To avoid angering the almighty algorithm, people are creating a new vocabulary.
By Taylor Lorenz for Washington Post on April 8, 2022
For as long as I can remember, I’ve felt the duty of being that woman who sits in a meeting room in London, Geneva, New York, Berlin and Paris and talks about what digital rights mean for not just people of colour in Europe and North America, but across the rest of the world. Approximately 84% of the world’s poor live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and the digital divide remains steep but that’s only part of the story. These aren’t passive consumers of the web. They’re active prosumers. TikTok has been downloaded over 360 million times in South East Asia, a region of 658 million people. With social platforms, anyone with a phone can become a star, make money, connect with others, build a family of choice and acceptance, fall in love, and live a life they may not be allowed otherwise.
By Hera Hussain for Who Writes The Rules on August 23, 2021
Many people use filters on social media to ‘beautify’ their pictures. In this article, Tate Ryan-Mosley discusses how these beauty filters can perpetuate colorism. Colorism has a long and complicated history, but can be summarised as a preference for whiter skin as opposed to darker skin. Ryan-Mosley explains that “though related to racism, it’s distinct in that it can affect people regardless of their race, and can have different effects on people of the same background.” The harmful effects of colorism, ranging from discrimination to mental health issues or the use of toxic skin-lightening products, are found across races and cultures.
Continue reading “Photo filters are keeping colorism alive”
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok failing to act on most reported anti-Jewish posts, says study.
By Maya Wolfe-Robinson for The Guardian on August 1, 2021
The Plug and Fast Company looked at what happened to the 3.8 billion dollars that US-based tech companies committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion as their response to the Black Lives Matter protests.
Continue reading “Tech companies poured 3.8 billion USD into racial justice, but to what avail?”
Some refuse to choreograph Megan Thee Stallion song, highlighting how white users get credit for Black creativity.
By Kari Paul for The Guardian on June 24, 2021
Surveillance expert Chris Gilliard reflects on 2020’s racial justice protests, the hypocrisy of tech companies’ commitments, and where we are one year later.
By Chris Gilliard and Katharine Schwab for Fast Company on June 16, 2021
In this article for the Markup, Dara Kerr offers an interesting insight in the plight of TikTok’ers who try to earn a living on the platform. TikTok’s algorithm, or how it decides what content gets a lot of exposure, is notoriously vague. With ever changing policies and metrics, Kerr recounts how difficult it is to build up and retain a following on the platform. This vagueness does not only create difficulty for creators trying to monetize their content, but also leaves more room for TikTok to suppress or spread content at will.
Continue reading “At the mercy of the TikTok algorithm?”
A secretive algorithm that’s constantly being tweaked can turn influencers’ accounts, and their prospects, upside down.
By Dara Kerr for The Markup on April 22, 2021
Adolescents spend ever greater portions of their days online and are especially vulnerable to discrimination. That’s a worrying combination.
By Avriel Epps-Darling for The Atlantic on October 24, 2020
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