How the truth was murdered

A new social media platform wants to enforce "kindness." Can that ever work?

Sponsored by Dassault Systèmes The Download Your daily dose of what's up in emerging technology 10.07.20 Good morning! Today: how the truth was murdered, a new social media platform thinks it can enforce "kindness", and Facebook says it will extend its QAnon ban. Get your friends to sign up here to get The Download every day. How the truth was murdered   Hundreds of thousands of Americans are dead in a pandemic, and one of the infected is the President of the United States. But not even personally contracting covid-19 has stopped him from minimizing the illness in Twitter messages to his supporters.  Meanwhile, suburban moms steeped in online health propaganda are printing out Facebook memes and showing up maskless to stores, camera in hand and hell-bent on forcing low-paid retail workers to let them shop anyway. Armed right-wing militias are patrolling western towns, embracing online rumors of “antifa” invasions. And then there’s QAnon, the online conspiracy theory that claims Trump is waging a secret war against a ring of satanist pedophiles. Many Americans, especially white Americans, have experienced the rise of online hate and disinformation as if they’re on a high bridge over that flooding river, staring only at the horizon. As the water rises, it sweeps away anything that wasn’t able to get such a safe and sturdy perch. Now that bridge isn’t high enough, and even the people on it can feel the deadly currents. A lot of people believe that this rising tide of disinformation and hate did not exist until it was lapping at their ankles. Before that, the water just wasn’t there—or if it was, perhaps it was a trickle or a stream.  But if you want to know just how the problem got so big and so bad, you have to understand how many people tried to tell us about it. Read the full story. —Abby Ohlheiser A new social media platform wants to enforce “kindness.” Can that ever work? The idea: As people tire of the relentless negativity of social media, a new invite-only social media platform called Telepath thinks it has an answer. Its big selling point is an in-house content moderation team enforces kindness, and users are required to display their real names. A point of contention: The name policy is meant to help the content moderation team fully focus on spotting abuse rather than playing whack-a-mole with burner accounts. It’s also a way to humanize conversation. But the policy has already invited some criticism from onlookers who feel it might endanger women and marginalized communities. Experts say there’s little evidence people behave better when using their legal names. Another issue: The value of “kindness” is one we can surely all get behind. But it’s extremely vague and subjective, especially when protecting some people can mean criticizing others. Questioning a certain point of view—even in a way that seems critical or unkind—can sometimes be necessary. Telepath thinks the invite-only model will help address this. But it could exacerbate a lack of diversity. Read the full story. —Tanya Basu Facebook says it will extend its QAnon ban The news: Facebook announced on Tuesday that it will remove “any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.” QAnon, the pro-Trump conspiracy theory centering on the belief that the president of the United States is at war with a secret satanic pedophile ring run by liberals, has grown into an “omniconspiracy” in recent months. Accordingly, it has become a powerful distributor of conspiratorial thinking on a variety of topics—including misinformation about the pandemic and the presidential elections.   The context: This goes further than the less intense ban announced in August. At the time, Facebook said it would remove pages, groups, and accounts containing “discussions of potential violence.” By then, QAnon had inspired a growing list of destructive, sometimes violent, acts. In 2019, the FBI concluded that QAnon was potentially capable of inspiring violence.   Why now? QAnon flourished for years on social media before this summer, and many critics felt that Facebook’s partial ban was too little, too late. But it was likely prompted by the theory’s staggering growth on social media since March. Today’s announcement referred to QAnon’s involvement in spreading dangerous misinformation during the wildfires in the western United States as another reason for the more aggressive ban. Read the full story. —Abby Ohlheiser We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction in these weird times. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)   + Meet the Fat Bear Week champion.    + A comedian selects the 10 funniest videos of all time.    + You can invite an elephant to a video call thanks to this new service in northern Thailand which is (of course) called Elephant in the Zoom.    + You can watch pro wrestlers battle it out on passenger trains in Japan.    + I want this house in the Finnish Archipelago.    + Beautiful aerial photos.   + A man made a private Disney World in his backyard for his grandkids (and let’s be honest, himself too).   + An ode to the silky, fiery Sichuan dish mapo tofu. (NYT $) Sponsor Message Science powering a sustainable and resilient world Join Dassault Systèmes at Science in the Age of Experience – an exclusive, virtual science and technology event, starting October 13, 2020. Hear how industry leaders, renowned scientists/academics, government leaders, heads of private institutions and Dassault Systèmes executives and experts will set the course for a more efficient, innovative and sustainable future. Some of the most highly sought-after leaders in science and technology will join us – including our conference keynote, Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Frances Arnold of Caltech. Request registration. The top ten must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 House Democrats say big tech companies need to be broken up  A subcommittee on antitrust completed a 16-month investigation into Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google. (CNBC)   + Facebook took down a Trump post saying covid-19 is “less lethal” than flu. (WP $)   + Facebook’s endless quest for engagement is at the root of many of the harms it causes. (Ars Technica)   + Turkey’s government told Facebook it had to appoint local representatives. It refused. (Duvar)  2 Another Trump adviser has covid-19 Stephen Miller joins the long and growing list. (Axios)   + Several top military officers have had to go into quarantine. (WSJ $)   + Europe is experiencing “pandemic fatigue”, says the WHO. (BBC)   + Trust in science seems to be rising. (Ars Technica)  3 QAnon isn’t quite what you think  Believers don’t buy all of its outlandish claims. It’s not a homogenous group—and that’s partly why it’s so hard to combat. (Wired $)   + Some believe that Trump is an immortal alien. (Vice)  4 The US Labor Department is probing Microsoft’s diversity efforts It’s worried it might be discriminating against white people (who form more than half of its workforce), basically. Pathetic. (Axios)    5 Inside the shadow industry of “black hat” Amazon consultants  Many of them are hiding in plain sight on Facebook groups. (NBC)   + Amazon is investing in technology to track and counter employee efforts to form unions. (Recode)   + EU lawmakers want to know if Amazon spies on politicians. (The Guardian)  6 How ICE unleashed fury upon a journalist on Twitter Talia Lavin questioned whether an ICE official had a Nazi tattoo, then all hell broke loose. (The Nation)   + The IRS is being investigated for using location data without a warrant. (Vice)  7 An Uber engineer says it’s time to treat drivers as employees  The convenience is only possible because drivers sit around, unpaid, waiting for rides. (TechCrunch)   8 Britain is getting ready for its space race 🚀 The nation is doubling down on spaceports and satellites as Brexit looms. (NYT $)   9 There’s a frenzy of activity on dating apps right now 💑 Understandably, some people are just sick of being at home on their own all the time. (NYT $)   10 A chastity device for men came with a pretty devastating security flaw Permanently “locked out” of your own penis. Imagine. (TechCrunch) Don't settle for half the story.  MIT Technology Review delivers insights on today's technologies and their impact upon our collective future through a trustworthy lens you won't find anywhere else. Get unlimited access when you subscribe today. Take a stand “It really was abandonment.” —Lucia Dorado, a freshman student at Manchester Metropolitan University, tells the New York Times how students have been imprisoned and left to fend for themselves as the virus rips through 90% of universities in the UK. Top image credit: Najeebah Al-Ghadban Please send mapo tofu to hi@technologyreview.com. Follow me on Twitter at @charlottejee. Thanks for reading! —Charlotte Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you'd like to see more? Sign up for free Leading with Innovation. Join us online, October 19-22. *View this in a browser You received this newsletter because you subscribed with your email address  Follow us: MIT Technology Review One Main Street Cambridge, MA 02142

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