Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

People are weird.

…and a burning sense of injustice to juice the soul.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Please don’t feed the bears.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2020 / Twitter Disinfo Open Thread: “We’re WORKING On It, Okay?”

Twitter Disinfo Open Thread: “We’re WORKING On It, Okay?”

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This post is in: , ,

Chorus from users: But STILL no edit button, Jack…

… Twitter confirmed that the leaked demo, which was accessible on a publicly available site, is one possible iteration of a new policy to target misinformation. The company does not currently have a date for a rollout of any new misinformation features.

In this version, disinformation or misleading information posted by public figures will be corrected directly beneath the tweet by fact-checkers and journalists who are verified on the platform, and possibly other users who will participate in a new “community reports” feature, which the demo claims is “like Wikipedia.”…

The leaked demo also shows an example of medical misinformation, including an example about the coronavirus by a verified Twitter account.

The impending policy rollout comes as the 2020 election season is ramping up, with Twitter playing a central role in some of the daily give-and-take between the candidates. On Thursday, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s campaign posted an edited video that made it seem as if there had been a long pause when he asked during Wednesday’s Democratic debate if the other candidates had ever started a business…

Some other websites have successfully used community moderation to regulate their platforms. Information on Wikipedia has been moderated by anonymous users since its inception in 2001. It is frequently vandalized in breaking news situations by political actors, which can sometimes lead more powerful moderators to temporarily lock down pages…

CORRECTION (Feb. 20, 2020, 5:16 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when Twitter will release new features to counter misinformation. There is currently no timeline; it is not scheduled to roll out on March 5.

Useful, probably unintentional, subtext: A vocal percentage of Twitter users either won’t read linked info, or choose to misunderstand it:

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  1. 1.

    Bill Arnold

    Since open thread, oh my. D.J. Trump administration is picking favorites among high-tech companies again, wielding enormous carrots and sticks.
    Trump Backs Supporter Larry Ellison in Court Fight With Google (Malathi Nayak, 20 Feb 2020)
    By “favorites”, in this case Larry Ellison is a big fund raiser for D.J. Trump:

    The Trump administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appeal by Alphabet Inc.’s Google, boosting Oracle Corp.’s bid to collect more than $8 billion in royalties for Google’s use of copyrighted programming code in the Android operating system.
    The administration weighed in on the high-stakes case on the same day that President Donald Trump attended a re-election campaign fundraiser in California hosted by Oracle’s co-founder, billionaire Larry Ellison.
    Ellison hosted a golf outing and photos with Trump. The event cost a minimum of $100,000 per couple to attend, with a higher ticket price of $250,000 for those who wanted to participate in a policy roundtable with the president, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported.

    For techies, this is the Java APIs case. (I’m a bit offended by the DJT adminstration’s support for Oracle’s(AKA Ellison’s) position in this case.)

  2. 2.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Here’s a test case already. I am seeing it widely reported that this tweet from Mike Bloomberg has been heavily edited.

    It’s been up all day. Just in case he takes it down, here’s a screenshot. Sorry, I don’t know how to capture the video, but I’m sure someone has already.

    Twitter Disinfo Open Thread: "We're WORKING On It, Okay?"

  5. 5.

    Bill Arnold

    Re the article in the top post, they will need to have a red team continually trying to game whatever measures they develop and deploy. This in the mockup/demo didn’t inspire confidence:

    “The more points you earn, the more your vote counts,” the demo reads.

    That sort of system would be gamed, e.g. by operators who build up accounts with good reputations then use those reputations maliciously, burning the accounts in the process.

  6. 6.

    CaseyL

    I think we’re going to lose all trust in social media just in time to have completely lost all the old media (newspapers and magazines). What fun.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    I don’t care about Twitter sorta-kinda-vetting tweets. When are we marching? This DNI thing better result in another article of impeachment or a crowd of a million people surrounding the White House.

  8. 8.

    dmsilev

    @Bill Arnold: If Oracle announced tomorrow that it was changing its name to Wayland-Yutari, that would represent only a 4.3% increase in the amount of evil associated with the company. Approximately.

  9. 9.

    senyordave

    @Bill Arnold: Ellison is a seriously bad dude, and I don’t mean it in the slang sense.  He is just bad.  Another billionaire whose two goals in life seem to be 1.  accumulate more wealth, and 2.  make sure people who aren’t wealthy will have to struggle more.  I strongly believe in karma and judgement day, and I think Ellison will not fare well in either department.

  11. 11.

    Bill Arnold

    I’m wondering how such a Twitter misinformation/disinformation alert system would scale. The examples are high-profile bluechecks. For example, a lot of twitter ops are attempts at sentiment shifting using large numbers of troll bots/cyborgs. Perhaps that is being treated as the different problem that it is, with one or more other teams/approaches.

  12. 12.

    Jeffro

    Ok back on topic: you know what would be helpful?  If BOTH parties were committed to this country’s citizens actually being educated, to facts, to science, to at worst NOT misleading people (see also Josh Hawley – “of COURSE I’ll protect your pre-existing conditions” and the entire GOP – “what Russian interference”?)

    It’s all one-sided, but this is what a social media company has to do when that one side is actively flat-out lying to Americans as part of its strategy for maintaining its hold on power.

    It’s like McCain in 2008, correcting that one wacko lady who thought Obama was a moooslim terrist was, potentially, the last gasp of a GOP politician working within a factual universe.  Actually, that WAS the last gasp for them, I guess.  After that, it was all ‘OMG the brown soshulist feminist Occupy peeples are coming for my last dime and also my nuts’ and so everything is justified now

    So I guess what I’m saying is, instead of trying to figure out how to make Twitter and other social media vet comments and disinformation…which is ok, it’s not the end of the world, it might help…let’s make sure we yell even louder about why we have to do this in the first place.  Well-funded corrupt forces are at work trying to cause all kinds of chaos.  Who benefits from that?  Certainly not the Dems…

  15. 15.

    Bill Arnold

    @senyordave:

    Ellison is a seriously bad dude,

    I’m avoiding criticizing companies currently, because I’m seeking a (tech) job. My main complaint in this case is that the DJT administration is trying to turn the big tech companies into Trump slaves, by using the gargantuan carrots and sticks available to a POTUS who believes that he can do anything he wants. Corporations/Boards of Directors will be increasingly nervous about offending DJT, and increasingly more eager to fluff him or otherwise gain his favor.

  16. 16.

    Wapiti

    I finished reading William Gibson’s latest novel, Agency.

    Near the end of the book one of the characters makes the comment, “Authoritarian societies are inherently corrupt, and corrupt societies are inherently unstable. Rule of thieves brings collapse, eventually, because they can’t stop stealing.”

    I wonder if it’s Gibson’s own construction, or if he picked it up from somewhere.

  21. 21.

    sukabi

    @Cheryl Rofer: some one has posted the “as shot” video of that moment…the question was asked and there was a brief period of silence, no individual close ups. And not the pregnant pause as Bloomberg’s team has portrayed.

     

    Yes, it’s deceptive as hell. Kinda like his “Obama  loves me” ads.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    I understand that tonight’s trumpov rally was especially insane, rambly, and also insane.

    It’s almost like it’s time for the Dems to call a big press conference, rally, both…something.  I’m good with talking about protecting pre-existing conditions all year too, I just think we can walk and chew gum and swing a bat at the same time.

  23. 23.

    Bill Arnold

    Another concern, and it’s a bit more abstract, is that the tech infrastructure for misinformation/disinformation alerts could be used by governments – “implement our checks and alerts (we know you can!) or we’ll shut off access to twitter in our country.”

  26. 26.

    Bill Arnold

    @Wapiti:

    “Authoritarian societies are inherently corrupt, and corrupt societies are inherently unstable. Rule of thieves brings collapse, eventually, because they can’t stop stealing.”

    I haven’t started Agency yet; how did you like it?
    It sounds parallel to Vernor Vinge’s throwaway in “A Deepness in the Sky”, about some extremely high tech surveillance devices:
    “Abused, they lead to ubiquitous law enforcement, and a quick end to civilization. Who will you sell them to?”

  30. 30.

    MobiusKlein

    I’ll have 2 cents of faith in the Twitter fake news detectors after they can block all the bitcoin fraud stuff.

    On many trump tweets, there will be a highest response.  Then a bot comes, steals the image and name, and dumps a ton of ‘bitcoin giveaway’ stuff, including testimonials about how they got bitcoin (or something)

    And they stay for hours, untouched.   Madness

  37. 37.

    Patricia Kayden

    We are now in a full-blown national security crisis. By trying to prevent the flow of intelligence to Congress, Trump is abetting a Russian covert operation to keep him in office for Moscow’s interests, not America’s. https://t.co/Vj6lUV5ZNu— John O. Brennan (@JohnBrennan) February 21, 2020

  38. 38.

    Kent

    I guess I’m not in the know.  What’s uniquely horrible about Ellison compared to other tech billionaires like Bezos or Zuckerberg?  All I really know about him is that he ruined the America’s Cup.

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott: That’s a good move.

    Now let’s see more joint appearances – doesn’t have to mean endorsements (not that anyone cares).  Let’s see that unity.

    A presidential candidate is a figurehead for a coalition of interests.  It’s past time for someone to step up and show that they ‘are’ that coalition.  Wilmer, Bloomberg, Buttigieg ain’t gonna cut it – they are not going to be able to unify the Ds like the others might.

    (no, Steyer, I’m not talking about you either)

  42. 42.

    Wapiti

    @Bill Arnold: It’s great; it builds off The Peripheral well.

    The discussion of the klept in future London strikes a little close to home (especially this year), but that’s a mark of Gibson’s later fiction.

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    @trollhattan:

    Mike Bloomberg can easily release the women who have accused him of sexual harassment—and who voluntarily want to speak about their experiences—from their non-disclosure agreements.

    Take a look at how simple and straightforward it would be: pic.twitter.com/XLncEnSXDF— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 21, 2020

    And she’s not even charging ex-Mayor Mike for that contract!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  45. 45.

    chris

    @Wapiti: The jackpot has been front of mind for the last few years. If we’re not in it we’re certainly close.

    Just got Agency and will savour it this weekend.

  46. 46.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jeffro:

    If BOTH parties were committed to this country’s citizens actually being educated, to facts, to science, to at worst NOT misleading people 

    Oh Jeffro.  Unfortunately 40+ years of GrOPer fuckery fly in the face of that desire. :)

  47. 47.

    mrmoshpotato

    @khead: Kittehs!  Thank you.  Now I want to go lay in a sunbeam by my window.

    (No, autoincorrect, I do not want to lay in a Sunbeam applicance.)

  48. 48.

    joel hanes

    @Kent:

    What’s uniquely horrible about Ellison compared to other tech billionaires like Bezos or Zuckerberg?

    Ellison is a malignant narcissist, like Trump.

    Like most billionaires, Bezos and Zuckerberg have their own pathologies, but neither of them fall into that category.

  49. 49.

    MisterForkbeard

    @joel hanes: I’ve met Ellison once. He struck me as extremely smart, overly convinced of his own cleverness, and very confident. He deserves some of that.

     

    He also set off a couple if personal warnings: seemed like he got confused a couple times (dude is pretty old), and he struck me as vaguely sociopathic.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    @MisterForkbeard: Yeah, he’s a weird dude. I know someone who dated him many years ago (not hard to find someone Ellison has dated, btw).

    She described him as generally a good guy whose wealth often occludes his sense. He’s a pretty liberal Democrat. If people were wondering why he was hosting a Trump fundraiser, you now see your answer.

    When justice goes to the highest bidder, everyone gets corrupted.

  51. 51.

    Martin

    @Another Scott: Yeah, Bloomberg had an easy win there. He had to know that ask was coming and gave the most weaselly answer. Releasing the NDAs couldn’t possibly have been more damaging then getting dunked on constantly by Warren, resulting either in him releasing the NDAs out of desperation for it to stop, or the NDA information coming out regardless.

    His ‘I worked hard for it’ was pretty fucking weak as well.

  52. 52.

    joel hanes

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Do you know about his house and how he lives ?

    Do you know he was utterly convinced that the allowable landing limits at SFO should have been changed specifically to suit his desired use of his private jet ?

    Do you know that, like Trump, no one actually likes him?

  53. 53.

    joel hanes

    @joel hanes:

    OK, I’m in over my head.  I have never met the man.

    But: I spent the first dozen years of my career working at Amdahl, in a CPU development team, and maybe a hundred of my teammates moved to Sun Microsystems when Amdahl succumbed in 1994.   Several dozen of those folks went to Oracle after Oracle bought up Sun in 2009, where they worked for Ellison for almost a decade before Oracle killed the SPARC architecture.   None of them have a single good word to say about Ellison as a CEO nor as a human being; almost every one I’ve talked to despises him.

  54. 54.

    Jay

    @Wapiti: 

    Adam Toonze’s “The Wages of Sin” is an Economic Study of Nazi Germany.

    He discovered that there were constant reasons why Nazi Germany couldn’t “do things” as well as even the Soviet Union. As an example, the Soviet Union built far more tanks, ships, aircraft and artillary than Nazi Germany, despite having a steel and aluminium industry 1/5th that of Germany.

    The reasons were:
    – corruption
    – mismanagement
    – top down micromanagement
    – “Fear of the Bosses”
    – outright criminality,

    which lead to other issues like the inability to rapidly change course once wheels had been set in motion and massive inefficiencies.

    Inspite of some of them falling out of favour with the Soviet State, the Soviet Union still used it’s engineers and designers brains, from the Gulags and Nameless Cities, unlike the Nazis. Many were “rehabilitated” during or after the War.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @joel hanes: I think (too lazy to look it up) that it was San Jose airport, not SFO, but otherwise 100% this. I’ll add that he was notorious for spreading herpes around Silicon Valley – he’s paid out multiple settlements to women he infected over a period of years. I know someone who has known him since she was a little kid (family friend), and although he’s always been kind to her personally, even she admits he’s a sociopathic dickhead.

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