NEW RESOURCES

University of Queensland: UQ sheds light on campaign spending trends. “The social media spending trends of candidates seeking to secure votes in the upcoming Federal election will be highlighted by a data dashboard created by University of Queensland academics. Experts in political and computer sciences have joined forces to build the UQ Election Ad Data Project to map and analyse data on Facebook election advertising during the 2022 campaign.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

New York Times: Mark Zuckerberg Ends Election Grants. “Mark Zuckerberg, who donated nearly half a billion dollars to election offices across the nation in 2020 and drew criticism from conservatives suspicious of his influence on the presidential election, won’t be making additional grants this year, a spokesman for the Facebook founder confirmed on Tuesday.”

Engadget: Meta will close a loophole in its doxxing policy in response to the Oversight Board. “Meta has agreed to change some of its rules around doxxing in response to recommendations from the Oversight Board. The company had first asked the Oversight Board to help shape its rules last June, saying the policy was ‘significant and difficult.’ The board followed up with 17 recommendations for the company in February, which Meta has now weighed in on.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Reuters: Facebook takes down Brazil environmental disinformation network with ties to military. “Facebook owner Meta Platforms said on Thursday it had removed a network of social media accounts with ties to the Brazilian military that posed as fake nonprofits to play down the dangers of deforestation. Although the individuals involved in the network were active military personnel, Meta’s investigation did not find enough evidence to establish if they were following orders or acting independently, said a person with knowledge of the matter.”

Ars Technica: Project “Zuck Bucks”: Meta plans virtual coin after cryptocurrency flop. “Meta has drawn up plans to introduce virtual coins, tokens and lending services to its apps, as Facebook’s parent company pursues its finance ambitions despite the collapse of a project to launch a cryptocurrency. The company, led by chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, is seeking alternative revenue streams and new features that can attract and retain users, as popularity falls for its main social networking products such as Facebook and Instagram—a trend that threatens its $118 billion-a-year ad-based business model.”

Washington Post: Some women shared the messages they get on Instagram. It’s not pretty.. “Women on Instagram are exposed to an ‘epidemic of misogynist abuse,’ according to a new report… In one shocking statistic, the CCDH found that Instagram didn’t act on 90 percent of abuse sent via direct message to the women in this study, despite the messages being reported to moderators.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: Instagram beyond pics: Sexual harassers, crypto crooks, ID thieves. “A platform for everyone to seamlessly share their best moments online, Instagram is slowly turning into a mecca for the undesirables—from sexual harassers to crypto ‘investors’ helping you ‘get rich fast.’ The Gram today has a dark side that goes beyond fancy filters and reels. The network is being actively abused by shady marketers to promote obscene content or by Bitcoin investors with dubious whereabouts.”

New York Times: Adults or Sexually Abused Minors? Getting It Right Vexes Facebook. “The company reports millions of photos and videos of suspected child sexual abuse each year. But when ages are unclear, young people are treated as adults and the images are not reported to the authorities.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Streetsblog NYC: Opinion: Fake Plates are Hiding in Plain Sight on Facebook, Yet Authorities Do Little . “For a certain kind of person, license plates are a pain. If you want to drag race, leave the scene of a crash, avoid bridge tolls, park illegally, or ignore speed cameras, license plates mean you can get busted. That’s where fake temporary tags come in. These paper license plates are almost totally unregulated. The NYPD is well aware of the problem — Det. Thomas Burke appeared on NBC News last year to say that the plates even facilitate drive-by shootings. The Port Authority, according to that report, complained to eBay and Craigslist, asking them to quit selling fake tags. But today, the market has moved to Facebook Marketplace and fellow Meta app Instagram.”

Evening Standard: Instagram ‘failing to protect women in the public eye from misogynist abuse’. “A study by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which included input from several women in the public eye such as actor Amber Heard and broadcaster Rachel Riley, suggests that Instagram was failing to remove accounts that sent abuse to women, in violation of the site’s rules.”

CNBC: Meta’s A.I. exodus: Top talent quits as the lab tries to keep pace with rivals. “At least four prominent members of Meta AI have departed in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter and LinkedIn analysis. Between them, the scientists have published dozens of academic papers in world-renowned journals and made multiple breakthroughs that Meta has used to enhance Facebook and Instagram.”

Toronto Star: Social media is too important to public discourse to let Facebook call the shots. “Social media takes social discourse and similarly externalizes it, placing the conversations, expressions, pronouncements and debates into the space of the web. The public sphere is now no longer quite an abstract idea of what is being said by the chattering classes, but a collection of things happening on screens. It all sounds a bit abstract, but more plainly: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and more own a big chunk of public discourse. The effects of that are clear: an intensified, polarized political discourse, and a frazzled attention economy that can be upended by a bizarre event at the Oscars or whatever is exercising people that week.”

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