Social Media

  • Nearly 90 French organisations are leaving X

    Steve WoodsMedia, Politics, Social Media, Tech

    X logoIn an opinion piece which appeared on Tuesday in Le Monde (paywalled), 86 French associations and federations announced they are collectively leaving X, a cesspit of far-right intolerance, ignorance, paranoia, misinformation, flat-out lying, and malicious abuse formerly known as Twitter, on 20th January, the date of convicted felon and sexual predator Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th United States president. By supporting the “Hello leave X” initiative, they are also appealing to the public to leave the platform en masse.

    The LDH (Ligue des droits de l’Homme – Human Rights League) jointly set up the HelloQuitteX collective in partnership with the CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique – National Scientific Research Centre) and was also asked to sign the opinion piece initiated by the poverty and homeless charity Emmaüs France. Moreover, it decided not to post any more content on X due to both the configuration of its algorithms, which encourage the proliferation of hateful content and spread conspiracy theories and climate scepticism, and the lack of moderation.

    The LDH believes that X is no longer the digital street (however imperfect) that it could have been, due to the manipulation of the conditions for making public debate possible by Elon Musk and, as a result, the lack of visibility of the principles that it upholds in defending human rights and equality.

    It is also a basic call to arms for democracy, implying the solidarity of all stakeholders in civil society and politics who share the same values. This entails promoting and advocating digital spaces that respect and ensure the protection of pluralism, respectful debate and reason.

    The LDH is therefore inviting all those who share these values to leave en bloc if possible on 20th and follow them on Mastodon or Bluesky instead.

    In other news, the German army has announced it is also abandoning X. Auf Wiedersehen, Elon!

  • More than 60 academic institutions quit X

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics, Social Media, Tech, Uncategorized

    German emergency exit signMore than 60 German and Austrian universities and research institutions wanted to set an example and collectively announced that they were ceasing their activities on the X social media platform, a cesspit of far-right intolerance, ignorance, paranoia, misinformation, flat-out lying, and malicious abuse formerly known as Twitter. This withdrawal is a result of the lack of compatibility between the platform’s current orientation and the core values ​​of the institutions involved: cosmopolitanism, scientific integrity, transparency and democratic discourse.

    The changes to X – from the amplification of right-wing populist content to the restriction of organic reach – make further use untenable for the organisations involved. The institutions’ withdrawal underscores their commitment to fact-based communication and against anti-democratic forces. The values ​​that promote diversity, freedom and science are no longer present on the platform.

    Some institutions which have already ceased their activities on the platform also support the joint appeal, thereby reaffirming the importance of an open and constructive culture of discussion. This decision only affects the X-accounts of the institutions involved and not their communication via other social media channels. In the light of recent events, they will continue to closely monitor the development of the platforms and their algorithms.

    The institutions concerned are as follows:

    • Alanus Hochschule für Kunst und Gesellschaft;
    • Bauhaus-Universität Weimar;
    • Berliner Hochschule für Technik;
    • Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus – Senftenberg;
    • Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel;
    • Deutsche Ornithologische Gesellschaft;
    • Deutsche Sporthochschule, Cologne;
    • Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder);
    • Fachhochschule Dortmund;
    • FernUniversität in Hagen;
    • Freie Universität Berlin;
    • Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg;
    • Goethe-Universität Frankfurt;
    • HAWK Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen;
    • Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf;
    • Hochschule Anhalt;
    • Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg;
    • Hochschule Darmstadt;
    • Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar;
    • Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg;
    • Hochschule für Philosophie, Munich;
    • Hochschule Furtwangen;
    • Hochschule München;
    • Hochschule Neubrandenburg;
    • Hochschule Osnabrück;
    • Hochschule RheinMain;
    • Hochschule Ruhr West;
    • Hochschule für nachhaltige Entwicklung, Eberswalde;
    • Hochschule für Wirtschaft und Umwelt, Nürtingen-Geislingen;
    • Humboldt-Universität in Berlin;
    • Institut für Vogelforschung;
    • Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz;
    • Justus-Liebig-Gesellschaft;
    • Justus-Liebig-Universität, Gießen;
    • Katholische Hochschule Nordrhein-Westfalen;
    • Kirchliche Hochschule, Wuppertal;
    • Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenforschung;
    • Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde;
    • Medizinische Universität Innsbruck;
    • Philipps-Universität Marburg;
    • RWTH Aachen;
    • Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola;
    • Technische Hochschule, Cologne;
    • Technische Universität Braunschweig (Brunswick);
    • Technische Universität Darmstadt;
    • Technische Universität Dresden;
    • Universität Bamberg;
    • Universität Bayreuth;
    • Universität des Saarlandes;
    • Universität der Künste, Berlin;
    • Universität Duisburg-Essen;
    • Universität Erfurt;
    • Universität Greifswald;
    • Universität Heidelberg;
    • Universität Innsbruck;
    • Universität Münster;
    • Universität Potsdam;
    • Universität Siegen;
    • Universität Trier;
    • Universität Ulm;
    • Universität Würzburg;
    • Universität zu Lübeck; and
    • Westsächsische Hochschule, Zwickau.

  • English imperialism alive and well in Australia

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics, Social Media

    I’m currently in Australia for my niece’s wedding (which was wonderful, by the way. Ed.).

    This is the first time your ‘umble scribe has been to abroad an Anglophone country. Australia has sensibly adopted the metric system of weights and measures, something the Untied Kingdom has yet to do. In the lengthy deliberations about metrication, it was mooted that conversion of the currency to a decimal system was an essential first step. The UK did adopt decimal currency in 1971, a long time after it had first been proposed in 1824 (separately from the introduction of metrication. Ed.).

    Australia shares an alleged head of state, an unelected monarch, with the UK and this is reflected in currency, with coins showing the head of the Mountbatten-Windsor family, as can be seen from an Australian 50 cents piece.

    Australian 50 cents piece showing the profile of someone who called herself Elizabeth the second
    Elizabeth the what?

    Readers will note that Elizabeth is described as the second of that name by the Roman numerals.

    Your correspondent can’t help asking when were the dates for the reign of Elizabeth the first of Australia (hint: there are none. Ed.).

    On social media, your ‘umble scribe has also had it pointed out to him that within the UK, coins also bore the inscription Elizabeth II, even though someone called Elizabeth has never been crowned as ruler of Scotland, which can be regarded as equally insensitive to Scots and their history.

    But whether in Australia or the small group of islands off the western coast of Europe, it is apparent to all with open eyes – and an open mind – that English imperialism – i.e. a system in which a country rules other countries – is alive and well and likely to continue despite the efforts of the likes of Senator Lidia Thorpe.

  • Annoy Musk. Donate to Wikipedia

    Steve WoodsMedia, Open Source, Politics, Social Media, Tech

    Wikipedia logo and brandingOne of the greatest benefits to mankind of modern information technology and the internet is the ease of access to knowledge of all kinds. The charitable Wikimedia Foundation, which is the umbrella organisation for Wikipedia and its sister projects, has made a major contribution to this ease of access to information of all kinds for free and for any purpose.

    However, this has not met with everyone’s approval, particularly one excessively rich person of limited intelligence with a very big mouth.

    Step forward with no style at all man-baby Elon Musk. According to The London Economic, the wrecker of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has taken offence at Wikipedia’s editing policy and decided the best way to bend it to his will is to throw money at the problem in the form of bribery.

    Musk once offered Wikipedia $1 billion to change its name to ‘Dickipedia’; this is an offer he said still stands although he’s now offering $1 bn. to rename it Wokepedia, erroneously claiming this would be “in the interests of accuracy”.

    This is despite the fact that Wikipedia has a dedicated page entitled Wikipedia is Not For Sale, which categorically states the following:

    Wikipedia is not for sale. Wikipedia is a non-commercial website run by the Wikimedia Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in San Francisco. We are not looking to be acquired by the highest bidder. Our mission is to create a free online encyclopedia that anyone can access and contribute to.

    Wikipedia is currently running one of its regular fundraisers, so do the right thing: donate to Wikipedia; and annoy Elon Musk in the process.

    I have! 😀

  • Idiocy in public office

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Oddities, Politics, Social Media

    There are still over 3 weeks until the disgraced president-elect of the United States, the disgraced former 45th president, insurrectionist, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual predator, business fraudster, congenital liar and golf cheat, one Donald John Trump, (also known as the Felon of the Year. Ed.) is inaugurated for his second term as president of the United States.

    However, that has not stopped the so-called Tangerine Tyrant from upsetting other countries around the world, firstly in respect of trade tariffs and more recently in the field of territorial claims and a revived offer to purchase territory.

    As regards the latter, two instances are prominent: Panama and Greenland.

    As regards the former, Trump is of the opinion that Panama is charging US shipping ridiculous fees to use the Panama Canal, and in his usual bullying and bombastic manner, has threatened to seize control the canal if Panama does not reduce tariffs. Furthermore, he has intimated that China could exert increasing control over the canal. In response, Panama’s president José Raúl Mulino has called the claim of increased Chinese influence ‘nonsense‘.

    Even though the US largely built the canal in 1914 and administered territory – the Panama Canal Zone – either side of the passage for decades, Washington finally handed over full control of the canal to Panama in 1999 under treaties signed two decades earlier by then-US president Jimmy Carter and Panamanian nationalist leader Omar Torrijos.

    When it comes to Greenland, this is a long-term obsession of Trump’s. He first suggested the USA purchase this Danish autonomous territory during his first term pf office and has recently resurrected the idea. The Greenland prime minister has replied by stating categorically that it is not for sale.

    In both his election campaigns, Trump’s leading slogan has been to Make America Grate Again (or something akin thereto. Ed.) and as has been seen above, this has not gone down well outside the 50 states of the Union.

    Moreover, Trump’s bullying tactics have also not gone down well with the more progressive elements of American society, as can be seen by what some individual has done outside the orange one’s eponymous tower in New York.

    Chalk graffito reads Dear Panama and Greenland - Apologies he's an idiot - America

  • MP finally visits constituency

    Steve WoodsOddities, Politics, Social Media

    The seaside resort of Clacton in Essex has the singular accolade of being voted Britain’s worst seaside town by Which? However, its reputation sank even lower in July 2024 when it elected congenital liar, charlatan, grifter and BBC Question Time resident Nigel Paul Farage as its member of parliament.

    Even before his elevation to Halitosis Hall, the frog-faced fascist’s presence in town vexed some people: one even threw a milkshake at him; and not for the first time either!

    Thus far this fake man of the people has avoided holding a single constituency surgery citing dubious security reasons. Indeed, he has probably spent more time at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, home of the disgraced president-elect of the United States, disgraced former 45th president, insurrectionist, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual predator, business fraudster, congenital liar and golf cheat, one Donald John Trump, than he has done in the parliamentary constituency he’s supposed to represent and in the House of Commons where he’s supposed to speak on behalf of the good burghers of Clacton.

    Anyone would think he would be better titled the Dishonourable Member of Parliament for Mar-a-Lago. Indeed he was last there last week meeting Musk the man-baby along with Nick Candy, a man so trusting of giving so much of his money to the Farage Fan Club (which some call Reform UK) that they made him party treasurer.

    Some disturbing news came though on social media this morning: Farage has once again remembered where Clacton is, posting the following on the man-baby’s toxic right-wing social media echo chamber.

    Post reads You will never guess who is in Clacton today.
    A well-known annual visitor to Clacton with one who prefers Palm Beach, FL

    As Santa knows his way to Clacton better than its alleged parliamentary representative, what’s the betting that Farage grabbed a lift with him? All speculation is welcome in the comments below.

  • Musk’s Rothermere moment

    Steve WoodsMedia, Politics, Social Media, Tech

    Controversial is perhaps too polite a term to describe the political pronouncements of rich man-baby Elon Musk, particularly as he seems to favour marching on his right foot.

    Not content with being best buddies with his latest pal, the disgraced president-elect of the United States, disgraced former 45th president, insurrectionist, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual predator, business fraudster, congenital liar and golf cheat, one Donald John Trump and having a major influence on US politics before the Felon of the Year has even been asked to swear his oath of office, Musk is also now turning his attention to foreign policy.

    This was recently illustrated by his recent cosying up to the far right of British politics in the shape of talks about a significant donation to Reform UK, the private fiefdom (and fan club. Ed.) of the mountebank known the world as Nigel Paul Farage that masquerades as a regular British political party.

    Musk has now shifted his attention to the eastern shores of the North Sea and more specifically to Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently lost a vote of confidence, with a general election due to be held in February.

    Yesterday, Musk posted the following on his increasingly right-wing pretend social media platform.

    Post reads Only the AfD can save Germany

    The AfD (Alternative für Deutschland is described in Wikipedia‘s understated manner as a far-right and right-wing populist political party in Germany, although terming it Neo-Nazi would be more accurate given its rampant nationalism and racism.

    If one accepts that social media today has as much influence now as newspapers had in the decades after the first war, then a clear parallel can be seen between Musk and one Harold Sydney Harmsworth, also known as ‘Lord’ Rothermere, the proprietor of the Daily Mail in the 1930s, a decade when a disgruntled WW1 veteran was making political waves in Germany.

    Following the 1930 German federal election, in which Hitler’s Nazis won 107 out of 577 seats, Rothermere wrote in the Mail that Hitler’s party “represents the birth of Germany as a nation”. This was after the erstwhile Corporal Hitler had made clear his hatred of Jews and belief in racial supremacy in his book Mein Kampf.

    In 1934 fascism had spread to establish roots in Britain in the shape of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, which was founded in 1932 and otherwise known as the Blackshirts on account of their uniform.

    In 1934 Rothermere attached his name to what is doubtless the most notorious headline ever to appear in the Mail, which then as now was telling its gullible readers what to think in the form of a outpouring of praise for Britain’s then nascent fascist party.

    Daily Mail from 15th January 1934 with headline Hurrah for the Blackshirts written by Lord Rothermere

    Rothermere’s support for the Nazis and their policies were evident right up to the outbreak of war in 1939. When persecuted Jews started fleeing Germany after Kristallnacht in 1938, Rothermere’s Mail responded in typical racist fashion.

    Headline - German Jews pouring into this country

    Fortunately, Musk will not be able to distort German politics as he is attempting to do in the Untied Kingdom by waving large amounts of cash beneath politicians’ noses. Foreign political donations are expressly forbidden under German law. What is more, Section 25 (2) no. 6 of the Political Parties Act requires political parties to identify donors paying sums exceeding €500. Party statements of accounts must list donations and contributions paid by elected representatives/officials to an amount exceeding €10,000 euros per calendar year, stating the donor’s name and address and the total amount of the donation received. Furthermore, Single donations in excess of €50,000 euros must be reported immediately to the President of the German Bundestag, who will then give notice of the donation and the donor’s name, online and in a Bundestag printed paper as soon as possible.

    The time has long since past when the UK should have tightened up on political finance to be as rigorous as Germany.

    In the meantime, what effect will Musk’s endorsement of fascists have on the German election in February? One German commentator on social media has already remarked that, apart from financial power being equated with political power, one thing that is not happening in Germany is any discussion that these circumstances are inherently undemocratic and that this influence does not just start with party donations, does not end with the ownership and direct influencing of journalism and the media and thus represents a problem.

    Any thoughts? Leave a comment below.

  • Tech meets tasty

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Oddities, Social Media, Tech

    First came the emoticon – pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters — usually punctuation marks, numbers and letters — as an adjunct to written language to express a person’s feelings, mood or reaction, without needing to describe it in detail. From the start of the 2000s, this was followed by the emoji, a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages, likewise to express feelings, moods or reactions.

    Nowadays emojis are ubiquitous and not necessarily confined to electronic messages and web pages. They can be found on clothing, trinkets and, as your ‘umble scribe’s social media feed revealed at the weekend, baked goods. 😀

    Fruit biscuit with fruit resembling expression of disappointed emoticon/emoji

  • EU Commission fines Meta €797 mn.

    Steve WoodsPolitics, Privacy, Social Media, Tech

    Meta logoUS technology giants are finding out the hard way that their usual anti-competitive stateside business practices are frowned upon on this side of the Atlantic, particularly in the Berlaymont building in Brussels, headquarters of the EU Commision.

    A few months ago, X, the failing social media site formerly known as Twitter, was notified by the Commission that the latter was in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers (posts passim).

    This week it was the turn of Meta, the parent company of Facebook

    This week the Commission announced it had fined €797.72 million for breaching EU ant-itrust rules by tying its online classified advertising service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and by imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified advertising service providers.

    The Commission’s investigation found that Meta is dominant in the market for personal social networks, which covers at least European Economic Area (‘EEA’), as well as having national domestic markets for online display advertising on social media.

    In particular, the Commission found that Meta abused its dominant positions in breach of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) by:

    • Tying its online classified advertising service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook. This means that all Facebook users automatically have access and get regularly exposed to Facebook Marketplace whether they want it or not. The Commission found that competitors of Facebook Marketplace may be foreclosed as the tie gives Facebook Marketplace a substantial distribution advantage which competitors cannot match; and
    • Unilaterally imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified advertising service providers who advertise on Meta’s platforms, in particular on its very popular social networks, Facebook and Instagram. This allows Meta to use ad-related data generated by other advertisers for the sole benefit of Facebook Marketplace.

    The Commission has ordered Meta to bring the conduct effectively to an end and to refrain from repeating the infringement or from adopting practices with an equivalent object or effect in the future.

    The fine of €797.72 million was set on the basis of the Commission’s 2006 guidelines on fines.

    In setting the level of the fine, the Commission took into account the duration and severity of the infringement, as well as the turnover of Facebook Marketplace to which the infringements relate and which therefore defines the basic amount of the fine. In addition, the Commission considered Meta’s total turnover, to ensure sufficient deterrence for a company with resources as significant as Meta’s.

    Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, said: ” Today we fine Meta €797.72 million for abusing its dominant positions in the markets for personal social network services and for online display advertising on social media platforms. Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers. It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that other online classified ads service providers could not match. This is illegal under EU anti-trust rules. Meta must now stop this behaviour.”