Facebook, Apple, and Google are all at the center of an online attack. Hackers have obtained access to user accounts, which they use to post racist, anti-gay, and anti-Semitic slurs. The sites have imposed a ban on posting fighting words, obscenity, and pornography.
Amazon
Parler, a free social network favored by far-right activists and politicians, was knocked off its pedestal after it was deemed to be inciting violence and other illegal activity. In response, tech giants including Google, Apple, and Amazon took action against Parler.
Parler’s CEO said he expected the site to be offline for up to a week. The company is looking for a new hosting service to bring the app back to life. However, many users feel that the shutdown was an overreaction.
Apple
Parler, the conservative social networking app, is a big hit with right-wing supporters of President Donald Trump. Amid Twitter’s suspension of President Trump, Parler became a major platform for right-wing agitators to connect with their followers.
It’s not surprising that Parler has been the target of scrutiny. Apple, Google, and Amazon have all targeted the site for promoting violent speech and planning illegal and dangerous activities.
In January, Amazon booted Parler from its cloud hosting service. That’s been followed by a ban on the Parler app from the App Store. And now the company has been forced to find a new web hosting service for the site.
Parler is an online social networking site that caters to conservatives. It is particularly popular among Trump supporters. The site claims to promote free speech. But the platform was knocked offline earlier this week, in part because it failed to take content on the site more seriously.
Parler became a hotbed of misinformation and falsehoods. It also served as a forum for racist and transphobia. As a result, it was targeted by Google, Apple, and Amazon. All three tech giants suspended it.
Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were blocked from posting “indefinitely”
On June 2, Facebook executives announced a temporary suspension of two of President Trump’s social media accounts. They said they would review the situation and decide whether the suspension was appropriate. The company has already received more than 9,000 comments on its decision.
Facebook has also suspended Trump’s Instagram account. He hasn’t been able to use both of his official Twitter accounts since Wednesday. But he’s still able to post to his personal account.
The announcement of the suspension of Trump’s accounts is the most comprehensive action that the social networking giant has taken in its four-year history. And it’s a move that comes at a time when the president is preparing to hold a series of rallies in the next few months.
Hackers have access to an archive of posts
Earlier this week, a group of hackers gained access to an archive of posts on Parler. The archive contained a variety of user data including videos and geolocation information. Despite the data being publicly available, some users are concerned that it could be exploited by extremists.
The social network Parler has been offline since Monday. While it is a popular right-wing social network, some conservatives are worried that the files accessed by the hackers will be used against them.
Rules ban fighting words, obscenity and pornography
The best way to get a leg up in a city with a tidal wave of activity is to adopt a sensible set of rules. In this regard the city of St. Paul isn’t the only one to pick up the slack. Other jurisdictions have jumped on the content-specific train as well. Whether the city has been the sexiest is debatable.
One could not help but wonder if the city has been on a shaky foot since the start of the 21st century. The city is awash in a sea of redundancy, and that is not a good thing. One of the city’s most prominent residents, mayor Paul Scheer, was recently reprimanded by a city councilman for a lack of leadership and a plethora of bureaucracy. To combat this a new suite of rulemaking czars is a step in the right direction.
Users share racist, anti-gay and anti-Semitic slurs
A new report shows Twitter users are sharing racist, anti-gay and anti-Semitic slurs at a much higher rate than in the past. While this doesn’t mean people are hurling epithets at each other, it does show how pervasive hate speech can be. In fact, a single racial slur in capital letters was retweeted more than five thousand times over the course of 16 hours.
However, an analysis by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that uses social media analytics tools to track tweets with slurs against Black, Asian, and Latino people, showed a 39% increase in racial epithets, and a 53% rise in transphobic slurs. It also showed that tweets with the most slurs tended to have the highest engagement.
Trump could give Parler its mojo back
Trump supporters are flocking to a new social network, Parler. In the past week, it has gained a new user base of 1.5 million. The popularity of Parler comes as the Trump campaign weighs the advantages of using other platforms to promote its message.
Despite its popularity, Parler is not available through Apple or Google’s app stores. It’s not even available on Amazon Web Services. That means it won’t have access to the Web browser or app store it needs to keep it running.
