The saffron party is also enrolling social media ‘Yodha’ (warrior) to spread the achievements of the Pushkar Singh Dhami government and defuse propaganda of opposition parties in the state…reports Asian Lite News
Amid restriction by Election Commission on rallies and roadshows, the BJP is using different social media platforms in Uttarakhand to reach out to maximum voters before polling day. Apart from constituency specific groups on social media, the Uttarakhand BJP is also using its pages of district and block units on different social media platforms to reach out to voters.
It is learnt that the BJP has made over 10,000 WhatsApp groups in the state and other social media platforms like telegram. The party also actively uses its district and block units on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to reach out to people.
Amid restriction of public rallies and roadshows, the BJP is also holding virtual rallies in three to four assembly constituencies every day.
“Every day we are organising virtual rallies in three to four assembly constituencies. We have set up a studio in Dehradun from where senior leaders and one of our candidates address voters of a particular constituency. A link is sent to all the voters of that particular assembly seat on their mobile phones to join the rally,” Uttarakhand IT department convener Shekhar Verma said.
Polls
The saffron party is also enrolling social media ‘Yodha’ (warrior) to spread the achievements of the Pushkar Singh Dhami government and defuse propaganda of opposition parties in the state. The BJP has launched a campaign ‘Dev Bhoomi ke Digital Yodha’ to enrol volunteers and made an appeal to youth to join the campaign to become cyber ‘yodha’.
Polling for the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly will be held on February 14 and counting of votes will be held on March 10. The ruling BJP is leaving no stone unturned to retain power in the state. The BJP has set a target of winning over 60 seats. In the last assembly polls in 2017, the BJP won 57 seats.
The prince’s Instagram and Facebook pages appeared still to be open, though the Instagram was set to private…reports Asian Lite News
His accuser Victoria Giuffre has said that she had sex with the prince while aged 17 after meeting him through the late US financer and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein…reports Asian Lite News
Queen Elizabeth II’s second son Prince Andrew has deactivated his social media accounts, users said Wednesday, as he faces a US civil case for sexual assault.
Andrew’s official Twitter account @TheDukeOfYork now opens with a message saying “This account doesn’t exist”.
His YouTube account also comes up with an error message and a picture of a monkey.
The prince’s Instagram and Facebook pages appeared still to be open, though the Instagram was set to private.
The Daily Mail cited a source close to the 61-year-old prince as saying these accounts have also been removed and are no longer live.
This comes after announcements last week that the prince has ceased using his HRH, or His Royal Highness, title, and has also given up honorary military titles bestowed by the Queen.
The move effectively removes him from official royal life.
His accuser Victoria Giuffre has said that she had sex with the prince while aged 17 after meeting him through the late US financer and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The prince denies the allegations but lost a bid to dismiss the civil suit.
Andrew withdrew from public life as a royal in 2019 after a widely ridiculed BBC interview where he sought to vindicate himself of the accusation that he sexually assaulted a minor.
Since then he has been occasionally photographed driving or riding around the Queen’s private estate in eastern England, Sandringham.
He did not appear in the official wedding photographs when his daughter Beatrice got married in 2020.
In other signs of social ostracism, the York Racecourse in northern England has announced it is renaming an event called The Duke of York Stakes — even though this refers to an earlier bearer of the title.
And a police station in Devon in southern England has removed a plaque saying it was opened by the Duke of York, citing a complaint from a member of the public, the BBC reported this week.
Armed forces minister James Heappey on Wednesday said Andrew had kept “horrifically ill-advised” company, and the US case would overshadow celebrations later this year for his mother’s 70 years on the throne.
The decision to strip former Royal Navy helicopter pilot Andrew of his honorary military titles was reportedly made by the Queen and senior members of the royal family.
His nephew, second-in-line to the throne Prince William was asked by a reporter on Wednesday if he supported his uncle, during a visit to a London museum.
But William made no response. William’s father, Prince Charles, ignored a similar question last week.
The authorities used a phrase common among China’s internet police that refers to tracking down the actual person behind a social media account: “touching the ground.”…reports Asian Lite News.
A new set of documents show how Chinese officials tap private businesses to generate content on demand, draw followers, track critics. That operation increasingly plays out on international platforms like Twitter and Facebook which the Chinese government blocks at home, New York Times reported.
The documents which were part of a request for bids from contractors offer a rare glimpse into how China’s vast bureaucracy works to spread propaganda and sculpt opinion on global social media, the report said.
In May, Shanghai police posted a notice online seeking bids from private contractors for what is known among Chinese officialdom as public opinion management. Officials have relied on tech contractors to help them keep up with domestic social media and actively shape public opinion via censorship and the dissemination of fake posts at home. Only recently have officials and the opinion management industry turned their attention beyond China, New York Times reported.
Shanghai police is looking to create hundreds of fake accounts on Twitter, Facebook and other major social media platforms. The police department emphasizes that the task is time-sensitive, suggesting that it wants to be ready to unleash the accounts quickly to steer the discussion, the report said.
“Bot-like networks of accounts such as those that the Shanghai police wants to buy have driven an online surge in pro-China traffic over the past two years. Sometimes the social media posts from those networks bolster official government accounts with likes or reposts. Other times they attack social media users who are critical of government policies”, the report said.
“Bot networks that have been linked to China’s government stand out for their lack of engagement with other accounts, disinformation experts say. Though they can be used to troll others and boost the number of likes on official government posts, most of those automated accounts have little influence individually since they have few followers”, it added.
The authorities used a phrase common among China’s internet police that refers to tracking down the actual person behind a social media account: “touching the ground.”
With growing frequency, the country’s internet police has hunted down and threatened internet users who voice their opinions. At first, its agents focused on local social media platforms. In 2018, they began a new campaign to detain users of Twitter inside China – account owners who had found ways around the government’s blocks – and force them to delete their accounts, the report said.
Now, the campaign has extended to Chinese citizens who live outside of China. The document spells out how the Shanghai police wants to discover the identities of people behind certain accounts and to trace their users’ connections to the mainland. Its officers can then threaten family members in China or detain the account holders when they return to the country in order to compel online critics to delete posts or even entire accounts, New York Times reported.
Three weeks after the Shanghai police department’s request became public, a company called Shanghai Cloud Link won the bid, the documents show. In its pitch, the company listed itself as having just 20 employees. According to the LinkedIn page of its founder, Wei Guolin, the company works with multinational firms and provides services in “digital government” and “smart cities”.
Wei did not respond to a request for comment. The Shanghai Pudong Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed request for comment.
“Work like what Shanghai Cloud Link pitched is likely just the tip of the iceberg. Local governments and police across China have put out similar requests for services to influence overseas social media, but often in vague terms. Occasionally, specifics are revealed. In 2017, for instance, the police in Inner Mongolia purchased software that allowed government trolls to post directly to multiple social media sites, inside and outside of China, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times, the report said.
In another case, a contractor had downloaded hundreds of access credentials for Facebook’s public feed, allowing it to collect data about who commented on which posts and when. Facebook did not immediately comment, the report said.
In previous Chinese information campaigns, bot-like accounts have been used to add an unrealistic number of likes and retweets to government and state media posts. The contrived flurry of traffic can make the posts more likely to be shown by recommendation algorithms on many social media sites and search engines, New York Times reported.
In recent weeks, a similar pattern emerged from a network of bot-like accounts amplifying evidence that was issued by state-media journalists, purporting to show that tennis player Peng Shuai was safe, freely eating dinner in Beijing and attending a youth tennis tournament, the report said.
The legislation will be released in draft form this week, and is expected to be introduced in Parliament early next year…reports Asian Lite News
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is all set to introduce a new anti-troll Bill that would force online social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to reveal the identities of anonymous users, in an effort to crack down on online trolling.
According to ABC News Australia, the new laws would require social media companies to collect the details of all users, and allow courts to force the social media firms to hand over the identities of users to aid defamation cases.
“Companies would be required to create a complaints process for people who feel they have been defamed online. The laws would allow courts to force companies to handover the identities of users if people wanted to pursue legal action,” the report said on Sunday.
The legislation will be released in draft form this week, and is expected to be introduced in Parliament early next year.
“The rules that exist in the real world must exist in the digital and online world. The online world shouldn’t be a wild west, where bots and bigots and trolls and others can anonymously go around and harm people and hurt people,” Morrison was quoted as saying in the report.
Under the new law, if the user is unwilling to take down the content, or the complainant wants to take further action, the company asks a user for their consent to release their personal details.
“If the user does not consent to their details being released, a court order can be made requiring the company to release them — allowing the complainant to pursue defamation action,” the report noted.
“We will be looking for test cases that can reinforce these laws. So if the digital companies or others think they’re only just going to have to be dealing with perhaps someone of little means seeking to pursue this, then we will look for those cases,” said Morrison.
“We will back them in the courts and we will take them on.”
Both Twitter and Facebook were yet to comment on the draft laws.
The proposed legislation is part of a larger effort to overhaul Australia’s defamation laws.
The UAE Embassy in Washington, D.C., has launched a new campaign “50 Years | 50 Faces,” honouring the country’s 50th anniversary and telling the story of the UAE’s friendship with the US across five decades…reports Asian Lite News
The groundbreaking campaign is part of the UAE’s “Year of the 50th” celebration, which is taking place through March 2022.
The celebration will highlight the UAE-US relationship, which has been guided over the last 50 years by deep friendships, shared values and a common vision for a better future. Through a series of 50 short videos that will be featured on a story hub at “UAEUSAUnited.com” and promoted by the Embassy’s social media platforms, Emiratis, UAE residents and Americans, will share their personal experiences as they relate to the meaningful relations between the UAE and US.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US,
The stories reflect the breadth and depth of the UAE’s history and relations with the US – and range from 15 to 50 years old, and everywhere in between.
“We’ve captured some of the special ‘moments’ that reflect aspects of the 50-year-old UAE-USA relationship, as told by individuals. Their accounts are unique, personal and unexpected, and tell the story of a friendship that has withstood the test of time,” said Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to the US, whose own story about first coming to Washington, D.C. and forging friendship on his college soccer team is featured.
“As the UAE approaches its National Day, ‘50 Years | 50 Faces’ is a fitting tribute to the UAE’s founding father, Sheikh Zayed, and his vision for a more open, globally engaged and inclusive society,” continued Ambassador Al Otaiba.
The videos will feature contributions from Emirati and American officials, thought leaders, academics and students in subjects that include space, education, the arts and culture, religion and diplomacy.
One of the featured videos launching today tells the story of when, nearly 50 years ago, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan held an extraordinary meeting with three of NASA’s Apollo 15 astronauts, who had just returned from a historic visit to the surface of the Moon. The story of this astounding meeting, as told 47 years later by former NASA scientist Farouk El-Baz is one example of the people-to-people connections illustrated by the 50 Years | 50 Faces project.
In addition to Farouk El-Baz, the launch of 50 Years | 50 Faces will feature the following individuals and their stories: – UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba recalling the friendships he formed through his love of soccer while studying at Georgetown University.
– Deeply personal moments shared by former US Ambassador to the UAE Marcelle Wahba, about the days following 9/11/2001.
– New York University Abu Dhabi Professor Michele Bambling’s work alongside Emirati students who delved into their family archives to curate the groundbreaking “Lest We Forget” project.
– Middle East pitmaster Hattem Mattar and his journey to bring Texas-style brisket to the UAE.
Additional videos will be added to the story hub UAEUSAUnited.com over the coming days and weeks. For more information, or to view the videos, visit uaeusaunited.com/50-years-50-faces
Davis said Facebook is largely supportive of the U.K.’s safety legislation and is interested in regulation that gives publicly elected officials the ability to hold the company accountable…reports Asian Lite News
British lawmakers grilled Facebook on Thursday over how it handles online safety as European countries move to rein in the power of social media companies.
Facebook’s head of safety said the tech giant supports regulation and has no business interest in providing people with an “unsafe experience.”
Representatives from Google, Twitter and TikTok also answered questions from a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the British government’s draft legislation to crack down on harmful online content. It comes days after the companies testified before American lawmakers and provided little firm commitment for U.S. legislation bolstering protection of children from online harm, ranging from eating disorders, sexually explicit content and material promoting addictive drugs.
Governments on both sides of the Atlantic want tougher rules for protecting social media users, especially younger ones, but the United Kingdom’s efforts are much further along. U.K. lawmakers are questioning researchers, journalists, tech executives and other experts for a report to the government on how to improve the final version of the online safety bill. The European Union also is working on digital rules.
Antigone Davis, Facebook’s head of global safety who addressed the British lawmakers via video conference, defended the company’s handling of internal research on how its Instagram photo-sharing platform can harm teens, including encouraging eating disorders or even suicide.
“Where does the buck stop?” asked Damian Collins, the lawmaker who chairs the committee.
“It’s a company filled with experts, and we all are working together to make these decisions,” Davis said. She added that “we have no business interest, no business interest at all, in providing people with a negative or unsafe experience.”
Davis said Facebook is largely supportive of the U.K.’s safety legislation and is interested in regulation that gives publicly elected officials the ability to hold the company accountable.
She said she doesn’t agree with critics that Facebook is amplifying hate, largely blaming societal issues and arguing that the company uses artificial intelligence to remove content that is divisive or polarizing.
“Did you say that Facebook doesn’t amplify hate?” Collins asked.
“Correct,” Davis said, adding, “I cannot say that we’ve never recommended something that you might consider hate. What I can say is that we have AI that’s designed to identify hate speech.”
She declined to say how much dangerous content those AI systems are able to detect.
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told the U.K. committee this week that the company’s systems make online hate worse and that it has little incentive to fix the problem. She said time is running out to regulate social media companies that use artificial intelligence systems to determine what content people see.
Haugen was a Facebook data scientist who copied internal research documents and turned them over to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They also were provided to a group of media outlets, including The Associated Press, which reported numerous stories about how Facebook prioritized profits over safety and hid its own research from investors and the public.
In one of several pointed exchanges Thursday before the parliamentary committee, Scottish lawmaker John Nicolson told Davis that “all this rather suggests that Facebook is an abuse facilitator that only reacts when you’re under threat, either from terrible publicity or from companies, like Apple, who threaten you financially.”
Lawmakers pressed Facebook to provide its data to independent researchers who can look at how its products could be harmful. Facebook has said it has privacy concerns about how such data would be shared.
“It’s not for Facebook to set parameters around the research,” said Collins, the committee chairman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2MQ4E1j_-I
The U.K.’s online safety bill calls for a regulator to ensure tech companies comply with rules requiring them to remove dangerous or harmful content or face penalties worth up to 10% of annual global revenue.
British lawmakers are still grappling with thorny issues such as ensuring privacy and free speech and defining legal but harmful content, including online bullying and advocacy of self-harm. They’re also trying to get a handle on misinformation that flourishes on social media.
Representatives from Google and its YouTube video service who spoke to U.K. lawmakers Thursday urged changes to what they described as an overly broad definition of online harms. They also appeared virtually, and the tenor of lawmakers’ questions wasn’t as harsh as what Facebook faced.
In any case, the details of the movement of units or battalions or even the personnel going on leave should not be shared on social media platforms, the alert said…reports Asian Lite News.
Amid heightened security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and western borders after Taliban took over Kabul, Intelligence agencies in their fresh report to the government, have suggested that security personnel must avoid using various social media sites at sensitive locations especially border areas.
The sources quoting the latest Intel input, said that the surveillance agencies have noticed several attempts to ‘infiltrate’ in the social media groups on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and other social networks by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with pseudo identities.
Sources also said that the high-ups in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) must communicate with the field formations only on the secured communication network and must use the government email network by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The security personnel have also been dissuaded from making WhatApp calls and calls from other social networks to communicate with their families or even with their colleagues especially if they are posted or deployed on sensitive locations.
In any case, the details of the movement of units or battalions or even the personnel going on leave should not be shared on social media platforms, the alert said. A senior official in the forces said that these do’s and don’ts have been part of the protocol for every personnel and had been adhered to by everyone in the forces.
The intelligence agencies have confirmed reports that ISI has been trying to infiltrate WhatsApp groups of security forces to gather sensitive information.
The agencies have noticed that multiple groups with pseudo identity have been trying to infiltrate Facebook, WhatAapp, Telegram, Signal, WeChat etc, and they have been asked not to accept any invitations on the social network by unidentified numbers or groups.
IGCF discusses the issues faced by the social media influencers
The featured talks included ‘Influencers’ Forum: Infodemic’ and ‘Youth forum: The fifth generation of ideas’, among others…reports Asian Lite News
The 10th edition of the International Government Communication Forum (IGCF 2021) hosted a series of key discussions on the sidelines of the two-day forum to raise awareness and understanding about the significant role played by public communications and empower the youth, social media influencers and government communication departments.
The featured talks included ‘Influencers’ Forum: Infodemic’ and ‘Youth forum: The fifth generation of ideas’, among others.
Influencers Forum: Infodemic.
The session was moderated by popular TV presenters Haitham Alhammadi and Nada Al Shaibani. Both emphasised the importance of cooperation between government communication departments and social media influencers, which could limit the infodemic, reaffirming the role of media institutions that are founded on the principles of accuracy and credibility.
Participants of the session, including prominent social media influencers from across the Arab world, media figures and students, lauded them for sharing their industry perspectives.
Haitham said, “There are many social media influencers who post news without verifying its authenticity and source to increase their following which is one of the major reasons behind the infodemic.”
Nada Al Shaibani argued, “Many users on social media are influenced by what celebrities post. The race to gain followers and lack of credibility are top problems of social media influencers. This may lead to crisis and false news.”
Participants also noted the criteria needed to integrate influencers into government communication departments — post a thorough analysis of their profiles, the type of content they create on their social platforms, and the efforts they undertake to verify the accuracy and authenticity of the content they post.
IGCF discusses the issues faced by the social media influencers
The fifth generation of ideas.
The ‘Fifth generation of ideas’ session was moderated by TV presenter Marwan Al Shehhi and YouTube Content Creator Maitha Mohammed. They both speakers highlighted the role the youth play in helping achieve national identity of a country.
Al Shehhi stressed that the youth are the foundation of the future and they continue to help in the move to increase the knowledge of the younger generation, especially with the rapid advancement of technological innovations, including the emergence of social media platforms.
Maitha Mohammed shined the light on the tools and skills that are needed to invest in the youth – empowering them with the required skill sets like time management and setting priorities, which can help in the move to achieve their goals.
The session also reviewed the challenges resulting from the pandemic, both positive and negative impacts caused by these extraordinary times. Both speakers agreed that the pandemic encouraged today’s youth to evaluate and prioritise their goals, while others had their projects and ambitions hindered by the pandemic.
EFSAS said in a statement that it hosted a gripping webinar on Tuesday titled “Terrorism and Technology” on the side-lines of the 48th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva….reports Asian Lite News
Experts at the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) have underlined that during its aggressive offensive against government forces in Afghanistan, the Taliban mobilised support using social media channels and platforms.
Malaiz Daud, Research Fellow at Barcelona Centre for International Affairs and Research Fellow at EFSAS, contended that social media channels and platforms had been of key relevance for the Taliban in communicating with and mobilising supporters during the most recent military offensive that resulted in effectively all of Afghanistan falling to the Taliban. WhatsApp was, in particular, seen as decisive for the efficient coordination of military operations.
EFSAS said in a statement that it hosted a gripping webinar on Tuesday titled “Terrorism and Technology” on the side-lines of the 48th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
A high-level panel of scholars, researchers, former diplomats and policy analysts discussed how terrorism has evolved in regard to technology. The event was moderated by Junaid Qureshi, Director EFSAS and was joined by a large number of attendees, including human rights activists, NGO representatives and researchers, the statement added.
Daud — who formerly served as Chief of Staff for Afghanistan’s former president Ashraf Ghani — made the argument that the Taliban’s growing use of social media did not reinvent the group’s social network – rather, it expanded the use of preexisting networks into the digital sphere. This increasingly digital use of existing networks was also used by anti-Taliban forces as anti-Taliban forces focused on co-opting popular Afghan online personalities into their online campaigns.
Dr Weeda Mehran, a lecturer at the University of Exeter and specialist in warlordism and conflict and peacebuilding in Afghanistan, explained the evolvement of the Taliban’s media strategy. During the Taliban rule in the 90s, the approach was restrictive, with limited media usage and official messages distributed through radio channels. After the Taliban was ousted from Afghanistan, its media strategy shifted. To gain resonance with the Afghan population, an increase in media presence purposed the attraction of followers, recruits, sympathisers and empathisers.
In line with Dr Mehran, another expert Dr Krona concluded that online activities also were of key importance for the recent successes of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Despite the growing use of emerging technologies by terrorist organizations, Dr Krona asserted that States maintain technological superiority over non-State actors. Making use of this superiority, Dr Krona proposed, is going to be particularly pivotal in Central and South Asia in the years to come.
For groups such as ISKP (Islamic State Khorasan Province), Dr Krona described online networks as having emerged as key components in the creation and sustenance of popular support for terrorist fighters. Al-Qaeda, which Dr Krona viewed as having more of a long-term strategy for survival than the Islamic State, has also used online networks to build connections with Muslim communities all over the world and establish affiliates beyond the Middle East.
Dr Paul Stott, head of Security and Extremism at UK’s leading think tank Policy Exchange and Research Fellow at EFSAS, began his speech describing how historically, technology has been an important tool for terrorist groups, giving the example of the IRA in Northern Ireland.
In contemporary times, this asymmetric warfare where the power of belligerents differs significantly has become even more acute, with Dr Stott using the example of the recent victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan, where the terrorist entity acquired a great number of military hardware from the US troops who left, making them the best-equipped terrorist group in history, the statement read.
Panelists further deliberated upon the trajectory of terrorist groups utilisation of drone technology, with Dr Stott arguing that lamentably it is a matter of time to have a terrorist drone attack orchestrated in Europe, given its great utility for terrorist actors. As concluding remarks, Dr Stott alluded to the infamous phrase of the world fighting ‘forever wars’, which in our contemporary reality has become ‘forever jihads’. (ANI)
In the Twitter’s porn drainage, a number of accounts share child porn regularly, DisinfoLab said in a report. This not only violates the latest IT Rules in India, but it is also in violation of Twitter’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy….reports Asian Lite News
Twitter is not only violating its own policies, but also breaking the law of land in India.
Various categories of pornography or explicit content that Twitter prohibits on its platforms such as child sexual exploitation and bondage porn exist after the implementation of its new policies, DisinfoLab said in a report.
In the Twitter’s porn drainage, a number of accounts share child porn regularly. This not only violates the latest IT Rules in India, but it is also in violation of Twitter’s ‘zero-tolerance’ policy.
On February 25, 2021, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) released the latest Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules. Among other things, the latest IT Rules stipulate that government would make necessary guidelines to put an end to child pornography, rape, and gang-rape imageries, videos and sites in content hosting platforms and other applications. The Rules also called for the accountability of social media platforms about the presence of pornography and spreading of fake news.
However, despite specific and clear instructions, and unlike other social media platforms such as FB, IG & YT; Twitter doesn’t seem to have even attempted to address these concerns, in particular, about hosting and dissemination of pornographic content.
The videos are otherwise also in violation of Twitter’s ‘gory’ category of ‘permissible porn’, and given the explicit nature of such content, could be very easily identified through any worthwhile filtering mechanism. Worse, the child porn on Twitter is accessible to any user, even to young users of Twitter – or to a casual user on the internet, who doesn’t have a Twitter account, the report said.
The policy on non-consensual nudity is rendered ambiguous considering the conditions laid down for posting consensual adult content and pornography. Sharing of non-consensual adult videos/images of people, especially women and children, are commonplace on Twitter. Deep-Fake and Morphed pics of actresses and public figures are widely circulated and misused on the platform without the knowledge of the featured individual/individuals, the report said.
While Twitter does have a mechanism for users to ‘report’ such violations, its implementation is opaque and arbitrary, it said.
On similar content, it may choose to block one account while similar others continue to operate. Surprisingly, Twitter has offered no tech solutions to identify and filter such content, as other social media platforms have, the report said.
Unless reported by the users, such content can easily be shared under the heading of sensitive content, it added.
This policy comes under the Ads Help Center of Twitter that prohibits paid promotion of adult sexual content such as pornography, escort services, nudity, sex toys, and other activities involving sexual arousal etc., the report said.
While Twitter does adhere to this part of bargain, now accepting paid promotions, it nonetheless allows for the promotion of such products and services organically, i.e., through regular posts, it said.
It means while Twitter may not officially promote the content, it would let it be promoted by third parties. This is in league with the ambiguity Twitter follows regarding the NSFW content in general, the report said.
Several ‘Bluetick’ (verified) accounts and porn stars freely share explicit videos and pictures with no censorship from Twitter, Disinfo Lab said.
Twitter allows such accounts on its platforms, which, while does not violate their policies, breaks the law of land as these handles are accessible by the Indian users.
It is important to mention that Twitter, like the other social media platforms, does possess technical capabilities to restrict the access of some of its content/ handle to specific geographical locations. Therefore, it does not seem to be an issue of technical limitation.
Twitter doesn’t only allow the presence of such content, but also helps in its spread. The Twitter algorithm governing ‘suggestions’ would guide you to multiple accounts of same niche (porn content) if you happen to search or look at one of the handles. It essentially amplifies the availability of such explicit content to the users, the report said.
Adding to that, since Twitter’s target demography age range starts from youngsters to generate more users, the age requirement to operate a Twitter handle is rather low. The minimum age prescribed by Twitter to be eligible for making an account is 13 years. However, despite having a low age bar for user base, Twitter does not have a policy specific to preventing the underage users from viewing such explicit content.
Any user who allows the option of “display media that may contain sensitive content” can view such contents marked as sensitive, which includes content depicting pornographic media. No age screening or verification is conducted, and no warning message appears, the report said.
social media
‘Sensitive Media Policy’ – how sensitive?
Twitter’s latest sensitive media policy released in November 2019 states that “You may not post media that is excessively gory or share violent or adult content within live video or in profile header, or List banner images. Media depicting sexual violence and/or assault is also not permitted”.
It implies that any graphic content that involves physical fights, physical child abuse, violent crimes, and bondage content (full or partial nudity) such as simulated sexual acts, sexual intercourse (human, animation or depictions of animals with human-like features) and violent sexual conduct (rapes or unconsented sexual acts and even sexualized crimes) is not allowed. However, the platform does allow graphics with the following exceptions: artistic, medical, health, or educational content.
The adult entertainment industry has been operating on the US-based social media platform without any impediment. In fact, ever since Facebook and Instagram put a ban on nudity and sexual content, it has created an outcry in the adult content industry, which heavily depends on such platforms for its sustenance. Twitter therefore became a useful tool, according to the report.
While it is not clear whether Twitter is wilfully ignoring the law of the land, i.e., Indian prohibition on public sharing of porn content, or it has been oblivious; it continues to be the hub of vulgar and pornographic content available online. Surprisingly, such content is openly available on Twitter, including explicit porn prohibited by law.
In a nutshell, Twitter, while allowing a teenager to open an account, doesn’t restrict their access to the explicit content. Moreover, Twitter also doesn’t restrict the spread of porn content to India, where it is prohibited by law.
Twitter claims to have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards child pornography – and yet seems to make zero efforts to counter this menace. It’s important to remember that this content is available to even under age users, as Twitter doesn’t filter ‘sensitive content’ to even young users, the report said.
Equally shocking is freely available ‘rape videos’ on Twitter, which is prohibited even under Twitter’s policy of ‘gory content’. Even those video posts, which have words that could trigger filter mechanism are freely available, including the gang-rape video of a young girl, the report said.
Twitter has a full-fledged porn industry — from live web cam to other ‘off-line services’. Numerous NSFW content selling websites openly advertise themselves on Twitter, including those who show their registration in India, it added.
These activities are not run in hiding but in broad day light, advertising with hashtags! Live porn is openly sold on Twitter using the #IndianCamGirl hashtag involving a nexus of ‘service providers’, it said.
The fact that the hashtag started in 2017, involves several Influencers, and is used regularly is a testament to Twitter’s unwillingness to address these concerns.
In the garb of such ‘services’, personal data of the users are being mined, to be used for criminal activities from ‘sextortion’ to rape, to sexual exploitation of minors, leading to grave consequences, including suicides.
Anti-social/anti-India elements are taking advantage of this ‘free porn’ environment of Twitter, weaponising the content. An elaborate psy-war is being waged to damage India’s communal harmony, particularly between Hindus and Muslims, the report said.
“Hundreds of fake handles are running coordinated campaigns, dehumanising the women of both religions. These handles pretend to be Hindus (#hstuds) when demeaning Muslim girls (#mslut); and Muslim (#mstud), while demeaning Hindu girls (#hslut),” it added.
The behavioural pattern of these handles – creation date, activity, location and hashtag – clearly establishes an organised campaign designed to harm social harmony. Surprisingly, despite obvious Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour (CIB), Twitter doesn’t seem to take any actions, the report said.
What does Twitter do and What could Twitter do?
Worth noting that these syndicate accounts, the service providers, and likely consumers exhibit a pattern in their behaviour. Scores of accounts that we saw had unvarying message format. Worth also noting that pattern identification is one of the useful tools which Twitter deploys to identify suspected behaviour – from bot to organized campaigns, and usually suspends handles.
The ’verification’ syndicate creates definite patterns if Twitter was looking for. These handles also use hashtags to amplify their content and reach (e.g. #IndianCamGirl), and these hashtags are rather popular ones. The accounts of these service providers (web-cam accounts) using this hashtag, mention a set of handles in their tweets as verification authorities.
Finding patterned behaviour from hashtag is one of the easiest things identify, and should there be need, to deal with it.
That Twitter has allowed this syndicate to flourish could not merely be the question of capability but also of intent, as these users are likely to be most loyal users, and in good numbers. Thanks to this blissful ignorance of Twitter, a full-blown porn economy operates right under the shadow of Twitter – selling and promoting porn through ‘live webcam’, the report said.
Twitter has a base of 17 million users (as of June 2021) in the country. Within such a high demographic usage, it becomes even more crucial to keep in check the fake news, morphed pictures, photos of child abuse, rape clips, sex abuse videos, and similar other content that are shared rampantly on the platform.
However, this seems to be merely another PR exercise with neither competence nor intent is shown to be doing tackling this menace. In June 2021, the National Commission for Women (NCW) called out Twitter for sharing pornographic content and demanded the removal of such content via a press notice. Yet in complete disregard to NCW as well as to India’s IT laws, Twitter not only continues to keep its eyes shut but has also been seem to be enabling such content, which is increasing despite all the laws and policies in place, the report said.
