DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Federal judge tosses Elon Musk’s case against hate speech watchdog CCDH
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit by Elon Musk’s X that had targeted a watchdog group for its critical reports about hate speech on the social media platform. In a blistering 52-page order, the judge blasted X’s case as plainly punitive rather than about protecting the platform’s security and legal rights. X has blamed CCDH’s reports, which showcase the prevalence of hate speech on the platform, for amplifying brand safety concerns and driving advertisers away from the site. In the suit, X claimed that it had suffered tens of millions of dollars in damages from CCDH’s publications. “If CCDH’s publications were defamatory, that would be one thing, but X Corp. has carefully avoided saying that they are,” Breyer wrote.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, ”, Charles Breyer, ” Breyer, X, CCDH’s, Musk, Alex Jones, Breyer, “, CCDH, X’s, Imran Ahmed, @CCDHate, @ElonMusk’s @X, ” Ahmed, Ahmed, “ X Organizations: CNN, Court, Northern, Northern District of, Twitter, X Corp, Center Locations: Northern District, Northern District of California, Newtown , Connecticut, California, San Francisco

☆ Lawsuit by Elon Musk's X was an attempt to punish free speech, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-25 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewA lawsuit that Elon Musk's X filed last year against a research group was thrown out Monday, with US District Judge Charles Breyer saying, "This case is about punishing the Defendants for their speech." But Breyer wrote "there can be no mistaking" that the real motive of the suit was to bully X's critics into silence. Related storiesWhen asked for comment on the decision, the press email for X replied, "Busy now, please check back later." Musk has previously said he's a "free speech absolutist" and that his "thermonuclear" lawsuits against media-watchdog groups are about "protecting free speech."

Persons: —, Elon Musk's X, Charles Breyer, X, Breyer, Musk, Imran Ahmed, lawfare Organizations: Service, US, Northern District of, Business, X Corp, Media Matters Locations: Northern District, Northern District of California

☆ Climate deniers are turning to new tactics, spreading a wave of misinformation on YouTube, watchdog says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Rachel Ramirez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Researchers gathered transcripts from more than 12,000 videos posted between 2018 and 2023 across 96 YouTube channels that have promoted climate denial and misinformation. “The climate movement has won the argument that climate change is real, and that it is hurting our planet’s ecosystems,” he told CNN. As the impacts of the climate crisis — from scorching heat waves to fierce storms — affect a broader swath of the global population, narratives that deny the existence of climate change are becoming less effective. “There aren’t many companies that would be happy about seeing their advertising appear next to clear climate denial content,” Ahmed said. “We’re asking other platforms that claim to be green in one breath not to profit from, to revenue share, and therefore, reward or to amplify clear climate denial content that contradicts scientific consensus,” Ahmed added.

Persons: you’ve, Imran Ahmed, CCDH, it’s, ”, ” Ahmed, Charlie Cray, Michael Mann, ” Mann, “ We’re Organizations: CNN, YouTube, Pew Research Center, Greenpeace, University of Pennsylvania, Google

☆ Online hate watchdog moves to dismiss lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Nonprofit online watchdog the Center for Countering Digital Hate on Thursday hit back at Elon Musk’s X in a motion to dismiss the social media company’s August lawsuit. CCDH claims that X’s lawsuit is “riddled with legal deficiencies” and attempts to punish the nonprofit for its First Amendment protected speech, according to its Thursday filing in the Northern District Court of California. X and a lawyer representing the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on CCDH’s Thursday filing. In its complaint against CCDH, X alleges it has lost “at least tens of millions of dollars” in advertising revenue. “Instead, X Corp. has ginned up baseless claims purporting to take issue with how the CCDH Defendants gathered data that formed the basis for their research.”

Persons: CCDH, Musk, —, “, ” Musk, X, ”, Imran Ahmed, ” “, ” Ahmed, Elon, California’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Nonprofit, Elon Musk’s, X Corp, Twitter, Court, “, Defamation League, Whites, CNN Locations: New York, Northern, California, Israel

CNN —Dozens of young Americans have posted videos on TikTok this week expressing sympathy with Osama bin Laden, the notorious terrorist who orchestrated the September 11 attacks, for a two-decade-old letter he wrote critiquing the United States, including its government and support of Israel. TikTok is hugely popular with young Americans, with a majority of Americans under 30 using the app at least once a week, according to a KFF survey. The attack was orchestrated by Bin Laden, the former leader of the al Qaeda terrorist group who was killed in a US special forces raid in 2011. “There’s no proof it was written by bin Laden and some of the things that he focuses on are inconsistent with his other writings,” he told CNN. New data from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday shows TikTok is rapidly becoming a place where more and more young Americans get their news.

Persons: Osama bin Laden, TikTok, Bin Laden, influencer, ”, al, Andrew Bates, “, ” Bates, ” Imran Ahmed, ” Ahmed, Peter Bergen, Bergen, bin Laden, Pew Organizations: CNN, Israel, Hamas, Center, CNN National Security, Guardian, Pew Research Center Locations: United States, Israel, New York City , Washington, Pennsylvania, America, New York, American, al Qaeda, Palestine, TikTok

☆ Elon Musk's X restructuring curtails disinformation research, spurs legal fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

It also shows a majority of survey respondents fear being sued by X over their findings or use of data. European Union regulators are also currently investigating X's handling of disinformation, which was the focus of multiple stalled or canceled independent research studies, the survey found. She helped conduct the research survey for the coalition, a global group with more than 300 members, that works to advance the study of technology's impact on society. 'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. Short-form video app TikTok announced an academic research API earlier this year, but its onerous terms and conditions limit its usefulness for researchers, said Megan A.

Persons: Elon, Musk's, Josephine Lukito, Musk, Carlos Barria, Lukito, Tim Weninger, Megan A, Brown, X, CCDH, Imran Ahmed, Bond Benton, Linda Yaccarino, Sheila Dang, Zeba Siddiqui, Martin Coulter, Supantha Mukherjee, Kenneth Li, Anna Driver Organizations: Social, Reuters, Twitter, Coalition for Independent Technology Research, Center, Union, University of Texas, San, EU, Reuters Graphics, REUTERS, University of Notre Dame, New York University, Tech Policy Press, Facebook, Montclair State University, Sprinklr, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, quantifies, U.S, Australian, Austin, San Francisco, San Francisco , California, China, Sprinklr, London, Stockholm

“Getting information from social media is likely to lead to you being severely disinformed,” said Ahmed. Everyone from US foreign adversaries to domestic extremists to internet trolls and “engagement farmers” has been exploiting the war on social media for their own personal or political gain, he added. “Bad actors surrounding us have been manipulating, confusing and trying to create deception on social media platforms,” Dan Brahmy, CEO of the Israeli social media threat intelligence firm Cyabra, said Thursday in a video posted to LinkedIn. The dynamic simultaneously highlights the business models of social media and the role the companies play in carefully calibrating their users’ experiences. ‘Be very cautious about sharing’Despite giving the impression of reality and truthfulness, Brookie said, individual stories and combat footage conveyed through social media often lack the broader perspective and context that journalists, research organizations and even social media moderation teams apply to a situation to help achieve a fuller understanding of it.

Persons: ”, Gazans, Pepe, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed, “, Dan Brahmy, ‘, ’ Graham Brookie, Islamophobic, Elon Musk, it’s, ” Imran Ahmed, ” Brian Fishman, ” Linda Yaccarino, “ We’ve, Andy Stone, Snapchat, TikTok, ” Ahmed, ” Brookie, Brookie Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, —, Twitter, European Union, Facebook, YouTube, Center, LinkedIn, Digital Forensic Research, Atlantic Council, European Commission, European, Digital Services Locations: New York, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, London, Egypt, Islamophobic, Washington ,, United Kingdom, United States

☆ Elon Musk's X sued this nonprofit after it exposed hate speech, and its new research shows little has changed
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Hate speech continues to flourish on the messaging service formerly known as Twitter, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The CCDH said Wednesday that X fails to remove posts that contain hate speech despite being notified that the content violates the company's current hateful conduct guidelines. About 140 of those 300 posts contained antisemitic content, including images of Nazi swastikas, messages supporting Holocaust denial and notes promoting conspiracy theories related to Jews. The CCDH said it reported the posts to X via the company's user-reporting tools on Aug. 30 and 31. Major companies like Apple and Disney ran online ads on X that appeared next to the hateful content, the CCDH report said.

Persons: CCDH, X, Imran Ahmed, Adolf Hitler, CCDH's Ahmed, Ahmed, they've, Elon Musk, Jonathan Greenblatt, Musk, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: Center, Apple, Disney, Walt Disney, CNBC, Anti, Defamation League, ADL Locations: U.S

☆ Elon Musk threatens to sue the ADL for lost X ad sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —X owner Elon Musk is threatening to sue the Anti-Defamation League for defamation, claiming that the nonprofit organization’s statements about rising hate speech on the social media platform have torpedoed X’s advertising revenue. But the organization noted it recently met with X leadership, including CEO Linda Yaccarino, who Musk hired to help revive ad revenue. A #BanTheADL campaign has spread on X, and the ADL accused Musk of “lifting” the campaign. The ADL and other similar organizations, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate, have found that the volume of hate speech on the website has grown dramatically under Musk’s stewardship. Still, two brands last month paused their ad spending on X after their advertisements ran alongside an account promoting Nazism.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Yaccarino, Jonathan Greenblatt, ”, ” Musk, X, CCDH, Imran Ahmed, ” Ahmed Organizations: New, New York CNN, Defamation League, Twitter, @ADL, ADL, Anti, Defamation, X, Center, CNN Locations: New York

☆ Elon Musk blames ADL for lost revenue, says he opposes antisemitism 'of any kind'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Doha Madani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk on Monday posted that he was against antisemitism and blamed the Anti-Defamation League for lost advertising revenue since his acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter. "If this continues, we will have no choice but to file a defamation suit against, ironically, the 'Anti-Defamation' League," Musk wrote. An email to attorneys representing Musk and X asking whether a complaint has been drafted was not immediately returned. X filed a lawsuit last month against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit organization that monitors hate speech and disinformation. The ADL also posted a report in March accusing the platform of failing to take action against hate speech.

Persons: Elon Musk, Porte, Musk, CCDH, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed Organizations: SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Viva Technology, Porte de, Defamation League, ADL, Defamation, League, NBC, Center, Northern, Northern District of, ADL Center for Technology, Society, Montclair State University, GLAAD, Social Media Locations: Paris, France, U.S, America, Northern District, Northern District of California

☆ Facing lawsuit from Musk, nonprofit head says he won't stop exposing Twitter's problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

And he's insisting that researchers at his nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate remain equally unafraid. Earlier this week, the company formerly known as Twitter filed a lawsuit in federal court against the CCDH, after the organization in June published research that Musk didn't like. Rather, Ahmed told staffers in a meeting after he heard about the lawsuit that they should "double down" on probing X. Lawyers representing X alleged in this week's lawsuit that the CCDH improperly obtained access to social media analysis tool Brandwatch and also illegally scraped data from Twitter using other methods. The CCDH said it obtained the tweets using a data-scraping tool and Twitter's search function.

Persons: Elon Musk, Imran Ahmed, Musk, Ahmed, I've, Jo Cox, there's, X, Brandwatch, He's, TikTok Organizations: Center, Twitter, CNBC, Washington , D.C, University of Cambridge, Labour Party, X Locations: Warsaw, Poland, Washington ,

☆ Nonprofit sued by Elon Musk's X claps back: It's 'straight out of the authoritarian playbook'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Gabriel Rivera | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's X Corp. sued a nonprofit, alleging it made false claims about harmful content on Twitter. The nonprofit's CEO, Imran Ahmed, said the lawsuit was "straight out of the authoritarian playbook." The nonprofit that Elon Musk's X Corp. sued on Monday isn't holding back in its criticism of the billionaire. "Elon Musk didn't like the reflection he saw in the mirror, and so he sued the mirror," Ahmed wrote on X. Advertisers left in part due to rising concerns about hate speech and misinformation circulating on Twitter under Musk's direction.

Persons: Elon, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed, Musk, X Organizations: Elon Musk's X Corp, Twitter, Morning, Center

☆ Democrats press Musk on X's 'hostile stance' toward independent research of its platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Three Democratic lawmakers are pressing Elon Musk on his social media platform's "hostile stance" toward independent research efforts after X, formerly known as Twitter, sued a nonprofit research group that found an increase in hate speech after the billionaire's takeover. The lawmakers pointed to X's recent lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, after the nonprofit found an increase in hate speech on the platform in the wake of Musk's takeover. This time, they added a question about whether X had successfully reduced hate speech and extremist content on its platform and if that had been verified by any third parties. The company added that values of platform safety and free expression are not in conflict with one another. X also alleged that CCDH had scraped its platform, in violation of its terms of service.

Persons: Elon Musk, Lori Trahan, Adam Schiff, Sean Casten, Linda Yaccarino, X, CCDH, Brandwatch, Imran Ahmed Organizations: Democratic, Twitter, X Corp, CNBC, Center, Bloomberg

☆ Twitter sues watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington, DC CNN —Twitter has sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit group that has criticized the company’s handling of hate speech, following through on a litigation threat that had been publicly revealed just hours before. The lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco federal court accuses CCDH of deliberately trying to drive advertisers away from Twitter — recently rebranded as “X” — by publishing reports critical of the platform’s response to hateful content. It specifically claims CCDH violated Twitter’s terms of service, and federal hacking laws, by scraping data from the company’s platform and by encouraging an unnamed individual to improperly collect information about Twitter that it had provided to a third-party brand monitoring provider. The complaint accuses CCDH of engaging in a wide-ranging campaign to silence users of Twitter’s platform by calling attention to the views they post on social media. But Monday’s complaint does not appear to include such an allegation.

Persons: CCDH, Ahmed, ”, Elon Musk, ” Ahmed, Musk, ‘ I’m, Imran Ahmed, Twitter, “ Organizations: DC CNN, Twitter, Center, CNN Locations: Washington, San Francisco

☆ Twitter, now called X, sues researchers who showed rise in hate speech on platform after Musk takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, filed a lawsuit on Monday in federal court, accusing British researchers of unlawfully accessing data and selectively picking posts to show a rise in hate speech on the platform after Elon Musk acquired the company last year. The suit, against the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, focused on research the organization published in June. In one report, the CCDH looked at 100 different accounts subscribed to Twitter Blue and found that Twitter failed to act on 99% of hate posted by users. Other CCDH research indicated that Twitter failed to act on 89% of anti-Jewish hate speech and 97% of anti-Muslim hate speech on the platform. It also sued Israel-based Bright Data over alleged unauthorized scraping and selling of content and user data pulled from the platform.

Persons: Elon, Elon Musk, Elon Musk's, Imran Ahmed, Ahmed, Ye, West, Satya Nadella Organizations: X Corp, Twitter, Elon, SpaceX, Facebook, Bright Data, U.S, Ninth Circuit, LinkedIn Locations: Northern California, Dallas, Texas, Israel, U.S

☆ Twitter, now X, threatens suit against nonprofit studying hate speech and misinformation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's latest legal adversary: a nonprofit that studies hate speech and misinformation on social media. On July 20, X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, sent a letter to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, or CCDH, threatening to sue the British research nonprofit. The letter follows CCDH research published in June, which studied the propagation of hate speech on the social media platform since Musk's buyout. Other CCDH research found that the social media company failed to act on 89% of anti-Jewish hate speech and 97% of anti-Muslim hate speech on the platform. The letter from X Corp. to CCDH is one of a handful of legal threats or actions by the company in recent months.

Persons: Elon Musk's, CCDH, Musk, Imran Ahmed, Elon Musk, Ahmed, Satya Nadella, Wachtell, Lipton, Katz Organizations: X Corp, Twitter, Center, Meta, Rosen

☆ Twitter threatens to sue hate-speech watchdog group
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In a July 20 letter shared publicly Monday, Twitter threatened to sue the Center for Countering Digital Hate, accusing the group of a campaign to hurt Twitter by driving away its advertisers. The CCDH has published numerous reports about various social media companies’ approach to everything from vaccine misinformation to online racism and antisemitism. Since taking over Twitter, Musk has slashed roughly 80% of the company’s staff, including many working on the platform’s content moderation teams. Threatening lawsuits has become a favored tactic for Musk as Twitter faces continued pressure. Earlier this month, Twitter threatened to sue Facebook-parent Meta over the launch of its competing app, Threads, accusing the company of copying Twitter’s product through trade secret theft.

Persons: DC CNN — Elon Musk, “, Twitter, Alex Spiro, Musk, CCDH, Spiro, ” Spiro, Imran Ahmed, ”, Spiro didn’t, — Organizations: DC CNN, Twitter, Safety, Defamation League, Tufts University, University of Southern, Facebook, Microsoft Locations: Washington, University of Southern California, Redmond, Wash

☆ Opinion: Twitter is gone. Now we’ll see how many people make X their ‘ex’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Opinion Bill Carter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

For a whole lot of people, the latter best describes how they are feeling about Twitter, the live social conversation app. Having overseen — devised, really — the demise of Twitter, Musk has also created a reasonable chance that he could now be in charge of a complete brand blowout, should this daring reboot eventuate in extinction for X. The app formerly known as “Twitter” had almost 370 million users globally in December of last year, after Musk paid (overpaid) $44 billion to buy it. Less than a year later, it is already down to 353 million users, and Statista projects the number will decline to 335 million in 2024. Threads reached 100 million users in five days, which was surely the biggest case in history of rustling wandering strays from the herd.

Persons: Bill Carter, Bill Carter Fred Conrad, it’s, Elon Musk, —, Musk, anoint, Molotov, Imran Ahmed, “ Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Twitter ”, can’t Organizations: The New York Times, CNN, HBO, Twitter, Black, Center, San Francisco, SpaceX, Meta, Facebook, SNL, Nike

[1/2] People wait for their turn to get fuel at a petrol station in Peshawar, Pakistan January 30, 2023. If we don't have LCs (letters of credit) open right now, we might see shortages in the next fortnight," a senior official at one of the oil companies told Reuters. Oil traders, however, are shunning countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to an acute shortfall of foreign exchange. State-owned refiner Pakistan State Oil (PSO) and Pakistan LNG Ltd have left a flurry of fuel tenders unawarded in the last couple of months. Pakistan bought only 223,000 tonnes of gasoline in December versus 608,000 tonnes in the same period a year earlier, data from Kpler showed.

☆ TikTok may push potentially harmful content to teens within minutes, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —TikTok may surface potentially harmful content related to suicide and eating disorders to teenagers within minutes of them creating an account, a new study suggests, likely adding to growing scrutiny of the app’s impact on its youngest users. The CCDH said the app recommended videos about body image and mental health about every 39 seconds within a 30-minute period. TikTok said it continues to roll out new safeguards for its users, including ways to filter out mature or “potentially problematic” videos. TikTok said it does not allow content depicting, promoting, normalizing, or glorifying activities that could lead to suicide or self-harm. Still, the CCDH says more needs to be done to restrict specific content on TikTok and bolster protections for young users.

☆ Why extremism experts say it's worth discussing the Colorado shooting suspect's pronouns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

Attorneys for the alleged gunman in the deadly shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado said in court filings the suspect is nonbinary and uses “they” and “them” pronouns. In court appearances this week, Aldrich’s lawyers and District Attorney Michael Allen used he/him pronouns for Aldrich, but Aldrich’s attorneys referred to their client as “Mx. It’s unclear whether the public defenders were accidentally using he/him pronouns for Aldrich, and their office has not returned a request for comment. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office said, regarding the suspect’s pronouns, “The defendant will be identified as the defendant throughout proceedings,” but declined to comment further on both legal teams using he/him pronouns for Aldrich in court. Holt said the response from Carlson is another part of why he believes it’s worth questioning the suspect’s claim.

Jones and Infowars had already been banned from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Google Play, Vimeo, Pinterest, Mailchimp and LinkedIn. But Ye’s interview had more than 3.1 million views as of publication. On other platforms, clips of the interview got millions more. Twitter suspended Ye later that night after Ye tweeted an image that contained a swastika. He showed clips of Ye praising Hitler, and Foreman speculated that his channel might get a “strike” from YouTube as a result.

☆ Elon Musk's 'amnesty' pledge brings back QAnon, far-right Twitter accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Brandy-Zadrozny-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Brandy Zadrozny | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

A “general amnesty” has restored hundreds of accounts of right-wing activists and QAnon adherents, according to data reviewed by NBC News. The reinstatement of far-right accounts has coincided with a series of bans of left-wing accounts, leaving users unsure of how the company is now applying its rules. It’s a dangerous combination.”The reinstatements and bans come as researchers continue to monitor an uptick in hate speech, and high-profile users leave the platform. Among the spammers, copyright rule-breakers, adult-content creators and high-profile accounts, Twitter has reopened the door to a growing and emboldened community of trolls, white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and extreme right-wing activists. Those reinstatements also come after Twitter dramatically reduced its staff, including those dedicated to dealing with abuse and hate speech.

Search resuls for: "Imran Ahmed"

23 mentions found