Did Tesla “invent electricity?
Another social media poster, this one about Tesla, makes the rounds and most of it is misleading or wrong.
Social and media: Social media bots now the most powerful of “media barons”
Social media bots now control and censor the media to ensure that everything is going to be proper and nice (except it doesn’t achieve that). The effect, as this publisher notes, is that social media bots are now the most powerful media barons in history.
Social: Are the FBI and CIA secretly controlling content and censorship on social media?
Twitter has employed a large number of ex-FBI agents while Facebook/Meta employs a large number of ex-CIA staff. And puts them in roles to police “misinformation” – basically, censorship tsars.
Social: Social media influencers charged in “pump and dump” stock trading scheme
Group of social media influencers charged with running a “pump and ump” stock trading scam where they acquired stocks and then used their platforms to promote demand, driving up the price – and then selling the shares. The SEC, DoJ say it was a $100 million financial fraud.
Social: Congress proposes to ban TikTok
This would be a HUGE benefit to Twitter, which is well situated to turn into a TikTok replacement. I believe Musk is aware of this and is likely lobbying Congress on this issue: The proposed legislation would block all transactions from any social media company in or under the influence of China and Russia. Source: US lawmakers unveil bipartisan bid to ban China’s TikTok | South China Morning Post
Social media: “Everyone’s Over Instagram” is probably true
Instagram is seeing a rapid decline in usage. Still photos have been replaced by short form video (see TikTok). Users are abandoning IG as fewer and fewer post photo updates, and even fewer have their posts seen by others thanks to “The Algorithm” that decides what gets shared and what does not get shared. The result is fewer and fewer “likes” and comments, leading to less engagement, leading to users asking, “Why am I spending time with this anymore?”
Meta (Facebook, IG) is not doing so well anymore.
Crime: Facebook collected personal income tax and refund data from popular tax prep software
Tax prep software like H&R Block has been sending personal information, in many cases, including your income and refund amounts – directly to Facebook and Google. Unbelievable.
Spin: Why misinformation didn’t wreck the midterms
Two years ago, we were told by multiple “sides” that misinformation and disinformation on social media threw election results. Two years later, oddly, everyone is pretending the same misinformation and disinformation no longer is an issue – which is not very believable. And then spin: “The amount of content we saw that you could call kind of election disinformation was actually larger than what we saw in 2020 — but overall, the effects were much more muted,” Source: Why misinformation…
The primary purpose of Twitter is to make a fool of oneself :)
The primary purpose of social media is to enable pundits to say things and make utter fools of themselves 🙂
Social media: The media resents having lost control
Propaganda used to require access to a printing press or broadcast license. Social media changed all that – in an instant, anyone can be a propagandist and publish their messaging for free, potentially to large audiences.
The elite have lost their eliteness and their control over propaganda. They are not happy about that.