Elon Musk has shot down rumors that his social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) will implement an “X coin” to reward creators. An X account with the handle “X News Daily” said in a new post that the social media platform “might be looking at launching [a] coin for creators!” Musk, however, replied […]
The post Elon Musk Shoots Down Rumors of ‘X Coin’ To Reward Creators on His Social Media Platform appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
Google and other major platforms on the web will need to update their service policies in order to comply with EU standards in its Digital Services Act by Aug. 28.
Google plans to update some of its service policies in order to comply with the European Digital Services Act (DSA) according to a blog post on Aug. 24.
The BigTech giant says it has made “significant investments” in various areas in order to comply with the European Union’s DSA’s specific requirements.
It plans to expand its Ads Transparency Center, expand reachers’ access to data, expand its transparency research, add more visibility for content moderation, create a new Transparency Center for its policies and conduct more in-depth risk analysis.
The post also expressed that Google has voiced concerns about the potential “unintended consequences of some of these measures:
“... such as the risk of making it easier for bad actors to abuse our services and spread harmful misinformation by providing too much information about our enforcement approach.”
The intention of the EU’s DSA was to consolidate content regulations across the region and form more specific processes for content moderation online. It also categorized 17 online platforms as very large online platforms (VLOPs) and 2 as very large online search engines (VLOSEs).
General requirements for sites in these categories include prevention and removal of illegal posts and a way to report them, targeted advertising being banned based on a user’s sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or political beliefs, targeted ads to children being restricted and data sharing with researchers and authorities, among others.
Related: Google upgrades search engine with AI-powered enhancements
The VLOPs included: Alibaba AliExpress, Amazon Store, Apple AppStore, Booking.com Facebook, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Shopping, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Wikipedia and Zalando.
The two VLOSEs it categorized were Bing Search and Google Search.
All the platforms mentioned in these categories had until Aug. 28 to meet the obligations of the DSA. Google called its updates “compliance at scale.”
TikTok, also mentioned by the DSA as a VLOP, also released a statement on Aug. 4 saying it also prepared for the measures. It added a new way to report illegal content, gave more information on its content moderation methods, made its recommendation system more transparent and updated its ad policy for teens.
Users took to Reddit to discuss the upcoming implementation of the DSA. Some praised the regulations for being something that is “needed” to keep BigTech in line, while others said these policies limit free speech.
In the middle ground, one user argued that it’s “too early to make a fair judgment.”
Despite these updates pointing towards a more safe internet, on Aug. 21 Google took to its blog to respond to accusations of ads tracking data of children, which were published in a lengthy report.
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According to Musk, users will have to rely on the “mute” function instead.
X owner Elon Musk revealed in an Aug. 18 post on the social media site formerly known as Twitter that he intends to delete the block feature for users on the app.
Block is going to be deleted as a “feature”, except for DMs
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 18, 2023
The comment came in response to a post from the “Tesla Owners Silicon Valley” account, which questioned why users didn’t simply employ the “mute” feature instead of the block one.
Other users were quick to reply, and as of the time of this article’s publication, it appears as though the vast majority of comments on the original post ar from those explaining why the block functionality is important to them.
Related: Vitalik Buterin calls X’s Community Notes an example of ‘crypto values’
“Blocking is bidirectional,” posted “Cheryl B.” on X, adding, “they can’t see my posts and I don’t have to see or hear from them either. Posts or DM’s.”
This isn’t the first time Musk has floated the idea. On June 7, the billionaire responded to a post from self-proclaimed journalist Andy Ngo with a similar sentiment:
Blocking public posts makes no sense. It needs to be deprecated in favor of a stronger form of mute.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2023
A litany of users across the app blame Musk’s intention to delete the block feature on its negative effect on users who subscribe to the company’s “Blue” service, a subscription service implemented by Musk to replace the app’s former verification service.
In April 2022, for example, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney called people who supported the “Block the Blue” campaign, a user-led effort to block Blue subscribers on sight, “losers and goons.” Sweeney went on to state that X/Twitter should employ a meritocracy-based verification system.
Musk’s one word reply: “Exactly.”
Exactly
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 22, 2023
While most users expressing concern over the block feature’s impending deletion appear worried over the potential for unfettered harassment, the crypto community seems to be focused on the increased opportunity for scam accounts, spam and bots to perpetuate.
Scam accounts now in the comments pic.twitter.com/P3uGjAUIlJ
— Satoshi Club (@esatoshiclub) August 18, 2023
Elon getting ready to drop the worse update of all time pic.twitter.com/41RA9Tcuxt
— Jawn (@Jawnxwick) August 18, 2023
Cointelegraph reached out to X for comment and received an immediate autoreply response: "We’ll get back to you soon.” This article will be updated with any commentary Cointelegraph receives.
The Ethereum co-founder said the algorithm behind X’s tool to rate content as helpful and provide context was “surprisingly close to satisfying the ideal of credible neutrality.”
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has offered an analysis of the Community Notes tool from X — formerly Twitter — comparing the feature to an example of “crypto values” on social media.
In an Aug. 16 post on his personal website, Buterin said that given X’s Community Notes were shown or not shown based “entirely by an open source algorithm,” the platform tool was “the closest thing to an instantiation of ‘crypto values’ that we have seen in the mainstream world.” Community Notes, a Twitter feature launched in the U.S. as Birdwatch in October 2022 — prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the firm — was aimed at allowing contributors to rate tweets as “helpful” and offer context.
“It’s not perfect,” said Buterin on the algorithm behind the feature. “But it’s surprisingly close to satisfying the ideal of credible neutrality, all while being impressively useful, even under contentious conditions, at the same time.”
The Ethereum co-founder provided a detailed analysis of the Community Notes algorithm, including it not “naively taking an average score from people’s votes” to determine how helpful a comment may be to users, as well as detecting major political divides on content. The feature has allowed additional context for seemingly misleading photos used as previews for stories and COVID-19 misinformation.
“I would say that the ‘theorycel aesthetic’ side of crypto [referencing this tweet] is necessary precisely to distinguish protocols that are actually trustless from janky constructions that look fine and seem to work well but under the hood require trusting a few centralized actors - or worse, actually end up being outright scams,” said Buterin.
He added:
“It’s the closest that very-large-scale applications are going to get within the next couple of years, and we can see that it provides a lot of value already.”
Related: Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum ‘fails’ without these 3 important ‘transitions’
Buterin went as far as to suggest that Musk may have ordered people working on the platform to remove certain Community Notes that may have been against his business interests, such as criticizing China’s government. Despite the Ethereum co-founder’s suggestion and criticism of “highly contentious actions” at Twitter following Musk’s takeover, the X CEO called the post a “great analysis.”
Great analysis of @CommunityNotes by @VitalikButerin https://t.co/DXiGAWqSvn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 16, 2023
Musk, who described himself as a “free speech absolutist” prior to his takeover of Twitter in October 2022, may have been behind adding a five-second delay for links to news organizations, including The New York Times, and Facebook, according to a Washington Post report. Buterin’s analysis came as Musk was engaged in an online squabble with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over the two billionaires planning a mixed martial arts fight at some point in the future.
Magazine: Decentralized social media: The next big thing in crypto?
The San Diego State University team uncovered nearly a million dollars were scammed from victims via the Lists feature on Twitter — now called X.
Researchers from San Diego State University in California developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system to identify, track and expose free cryptocurrency giveaway scams on X (formerly Twitter).
Called GiveawayScamHunter, the automated system discovered 95,111 scam lists between June 2022 and June 2023 that were created from 87,617 accounts on the X social network.
The researchers used the tool to autonomously extract website and wallet addresses associated with the scams. In doing so, they were able to collect 327 scam giveaway internet domains and 121 new scam-related cryptocurrency wallet addresses.
Related: Blockchain Capital’s X account hacked to promote token claim scam
The first step to approaching the problem involved identifying a new vector of attack for cryptocurrency giveaway scams: Twitter Lists. Due to the permissionless nature of the Lists feature on the social network, it presents a simple networking tool for scammers to exploit.
To determine which lists dealt with giveaway scams, the team trained a natural language processing tool on data from previously identified giveaway scams.
The researchers were able to identify nearly 100,000 instances of giveaway scam lists using this method, which allowed them to compile data on previously unreported scam websites and wallets.
Using this data, the team gleaned numerous insights into how these scams unfold, how scammers target victims and the approximate number of victims scammed during the one-year study period.
Per the paper:
“By tracking the transactions of the scam cryptocurrency addresses, this work uncovers that over 365 victims have been attacked by the scam, resulting in an estimated financial loss of 872K USD.”
The scientists reported their results and the associated accounts, domains and wallet addresses to both X and the cryptocurrency/blockchain community. However, according to their paper, 43.9% of the associated accounts remain active as of its Aug. 10 publication — though the researchers do note that the majority of these are likely spam accounts not in active use.
The Blue subscription was launched as a way for users to buy the blue checkmark for their profile but later evolved to share ad revenue as well.
After a major rebranding of the popular social media platform Twitter to X, Elon Musk has now rebranded the popular Twitter Blue subscription services to X Premium.
The X Premium subscription services come with an ad revenue sharing model that will make all eligible X Premium subscribers eligible for a share of the ad revenue based on their engagement on the platform.
Only those X Premium subscribers will be eligible for ad revenue who receive at least 15 million total impressions on their posts in the last three months, have at least 500 followers, and must be at least 18 years old. Musk also notified that all ad revenue generated from non-subscribers will be kept by the platform.
To be eligible for your ad revenue share, you must be an X Premium (Blue) subscriber.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 5, 2023
The ad money will otherwise be kept by X if you are not an X Premium (Blue) subscriber.
This program is open to everyone.
X started sharing ad revenue in a surprise move last month where many Twitter users reported receiving their share of the revenue. On July 28, the ad revenue feature went live for all Blue subscribers. In a Twitter conversation, Musk noted that the revenue will be determined from the time he first promised it in February.
Twitter just paid me almost $25,000. pic.twitter.com/oIJ2Ycymzb
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) July 13, 2023
The ad revenue is shared based on advertisements posted in the comments of the user tweet replies. This format is quite similar to TikTok where instead of posting ads on the main feed, the platform usually posts them in the comments. Thus both X and TikTok incentivize users with more comments and reply activities under their posts.
However, within a week, the X support account notified that it has been overwhelmed by the number of premium subscribers and thus might take some time to review and pay out eligible accounts.
The number of people signing up for ads revenue sharing has exceeded our expectations. We need a bit more time to review everything for the next payout and aim to get all eligible accounts paid as soon as possible.
— Support (@Support) August 5, 2023
Thank you for your patience!https://t.co/5n4lo5H2yf
Musk has been very vocal about making X into an “everything app.” Just weeks after his takeover, Musk launched a Twitter Blue subscription that allowed users to buy blue tick verification marks from Twitter, with the product later evolving into a premium service that made way for subscribers to earn a portion of the ad revenue.
Magazine: How smart people invest in dumb memecoins — 3-point plan for success
The move appears to be related to cancellations, and people that were fired or mistreated at work for liking or posting certain content.
Elon Musk stated that his social media company X (formerly Twitter) will fund the legal bills of any user that was treated unfairly by their employer for engaging with content on the platform.
In an April 5 X thread announcing the move, Musk said that lawsuits of any scale will be supported:
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill. No limit. Please let us know.”
If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
No limit.
Please let us know.
The post appears to have been received well, and has more than 200,000 likes at the time of writing, with a flood of people putting their hands up for funding for potential lawsuits.
For example, The Libs of TikTok, a right-wing content account, highlighted a case in which a Limited Run Games employee Kara Lynne (@Kara_Creates) was reportedly fired for following the account on X.
In potentially putting his money where his mouth is, Musk responded by asking: “Kara, is that accurate?” with Lynne then stating: "The situation is slightly more complicated than the headline. But yes."
Kara, is that accurate?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2023
Musk is a self-described “free speech absolutist” who holds a clear disdain for cancel culture, and this latest move seems to fall in line with his push to shift X away from content censorship, particularly relating to political and ideological views.
In December, Musk tweeted that “cancel culture needs to be canceled,” and under his ownership, X has gone on to reinstate a number of accounts that were banned for policy violations under the previous ownership.
Related: No crypto plans for X: Elon Musk debunks scam token claims
The latest announcement from Musk comes as changes continue to unfold at X.
The platform underwent a full rebrand from Twitter to X in July as part of a push to become an “everything app”.
The revenue-sharing model was also recently introduced for users, while on Aug. 2, X also rolled out an option for the premium Blue service subscribers to hide their verified checkmarks.
Threads will copy and become better and better too. pic.twitter.com/KfP2Xney6J
— Mark Zuckerberg (Parody) (@MarkCrtlC) August 6, 2023
Magazine: How smart people invest in dumb memecoins — 3-point plan for success
New research finds that Twitter bot accounts may have lifted the prices of digital assets listed on embattled crypto exchange FTX and traded by its hedge fund arm, Alameda Research. The study, conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), examined more than three million tweets between January 1, 2019, to January 27, 2023, that […]
The post FTX and Alameda Research May Have Used Social Media Bots To Manipulate Crypto Market, Says New Study appeared first on The Daily Hodl.
If the suit is successful, X will have to turn over data in order for AFP to determine how much compensation it will seek.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) announced a lawsuit against X, the company formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 2, citing Europe’s “neighboring rights” legislation.
According to a press release, AFP is asking the courts to force X — which the press release refers to as “Twitter” throughout — to disclose data related to the number of times articles have been shared on the platform:
“This move is aimed at compelling Twitter, in accordance with the law, to provide all the necessary elements required for assessing the remuneration owed to AFP under the neighbouring rights legislation.”
The European Union’s neighboring rights legislation was updated in 2019 to include news organizations and the works they publish. By law, social media organizations operating in the EU can’t legally reproduce news content without an agreement with the original publisher.
Essentially, EU law seeks to enforce a system similar to copyright royalties for entertainment media. Social media organizations and other outlets that reproduce or facilitate the reproduction or sharing of copyrighted material, including news articles, would have to make payments on a per-use basis.
The law’s scope includes video, images and audio files as well. Though it’s unclear exactly what specific media AFP is claiming was reproduced on X, the law does specify that hyperlinking, specific words and “very short” text snippets are exempt.
Related: Subscribers on X (formerly Twitter) can hide their blue checkmarks now
This could indicate that AFP is seeking redress over shared images, videos or text snippets it feels exceed the limit of “very short.”
As for X, owner Elon Musk was quick to respond to reports of the lawsuit on the app, calling it “bizarre.”
This is bizarre. They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don’t!?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2023
This isn’t the first time AFP has tussled with Big Tech over the neighboring rights law. Google was forced to strike a deal over neighboring rights with the French media outlet in 2021 after a two-year legal battle.
The study also questioned whether FTX or Alameda had any role in coordinating Twitter bot activity for its own gain.
Crypto-spouting Twitter bots could be playing a much larger role in artificially inflating the price of altcoins than previously understood, a new study has suggested.
Using a sample of various FTX-listed cryptocurrencies in a study published Aug. 2, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) said it analyzed over 3 million tweets posted between Jan. 1, 2019, to Jan. 27, 2023, surrounding 18 altcoins.
The study found that Twitter bot activity played a crucial role in amplifying the value of these cryptocurrencies, including The Sandbox (SAND), Gala (GALA), Gods Unchained (GODS) and LooksRare (LOOKS), with half of the coins showing signs of price influence as a result of tweet bot activity.
It also found that these inauthentic tweets would increase after FTX posted about the token on social media, which it said raises questions about whether FTX or Alameda Research could have played a role in coordinating the bot activity.
"In fact, for half of the FTX listed coins in the sample, inauthentic tweet volume showed signs of forecasting subsequent price. This suggests that inauthentic networks successfully and deliberately deployed to influence changes in FTX coin prices," it said, adding:
“It begs the question, did FTX or Alameda engage in coordinated inauthentic activity on social media to artificially inflate market values?”
The study also looked into the impact of bot activity and Elon Musk's crypto-adjacent tweets on two recent memecoins, suggesting the prices of Pepe (PEPE) and PSYOP have been influenced by both these factors.
NCRI detected a surge of newly created bot accounts before the launch of PEPE — which all went on to tweet about one of the two coins.
Pepe Coin and PSYOP leveraged memes and were also boosted by two of Musk’s tweets that seemingly gave a nod to each of the tokens, the study said.
Related: X’s ad revenue sharing: Crypto payments on the horizon?
Musk’s May 13 tweet of a Pepe meme caused the token's price to jump over 50% within 24 hours.
Explaining Constitutional Amendments pic.twitter.com/oYkMPBe9Zi
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 13, 2023
Alongside Musk’s tweets, account creation surges took place a day prior to Pepe’s April 17 launch which suggested an orchestrated effort to use bots to amplify the token’s popularity.
The study’s researchers said this phenomenon could also affect stocks and other securities. They pointed to the social media frenzy in 2022 surrounding so-called “meme stocks” such as Gamestop and AMC.
Magazine: How smart people invest in dumb memecoins — 3-point plan for success
