solarbird | Fascism Watch for 1 July 2024: Let’s go through some tech bullshit, shall we?

Not just Twitter this time, though I assure you, there is plenty of Twitter. But let’s start with my favourite article of the last few weeks: I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again. I love this article and I love it very much. It is distilled catharsis. Enjoy.

Now to get into some of Elon Musk’s Twitter fascism before moving on to other items:

In 2023, Brazilian Police discovered Neo-Nazi groups using social media to incite kids to commit school massacres. Twitter was the only company resisting their removal in a meeting with social media firms.

Yeah, you read that right. Elon Musk’s Twitter resisted removing attempts by nazis to get children to commit school massacres.
Related: Neo-Nazis Are All-In on AI – Extremists are developing their own hateful AIs to supercharge radicalization and fundraising—and are now using the tech to make weapon blueprints and bombs. And it’s going to get worse.
Tell me something I didn’t know: QAnon conspiracy theories are surging on Elon Musk’s X. Here’s proof. (Far-right conspiracy theorists have returned in droves after Musk took over the former Twitter.)
Radicalized by the right: Elon Musk puts his conspiratorial thinking on display for the world to see. Anybody else remember his commentary just a few months ago that copyright doesn’t matter because we’ll have an Artificial General Intelligence god before the cases can get through court? I sure do! Everybody tried to laugh and shrug it off, but I think he believes it.
Naturally, Republicans want to help: Missouri AG sues Media Matters as Republicans take on critics of Musk’s X – Move follows similar lawsuit by Texas attorney general, raising fear that news outlets could be next targets. Criticising the God King will be punished, but not as much as exposing his nakedness.
Elon Musk’s X revenue has officially plummeted, new documents show, which is nice, but old news. It hasn’t continued to fall. This is because there are too many people still on it, and if you’re one of them:
You are the fuel that energises Elon Musk’s hate machine.

See also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, see also, there’s probably more but you get the idea.

Well, that was a lot. Let’s see what else we have.

Ah, this one’s good: Research finds pattern of YouTube recommending right-leaning, Christian videos. It does that to me, too. It really wants people to find fash content. I wonder if it’s related to the politics that lead to Tech Company Hit With DOJ Fine After Racist ‘Whites Only’ Job Posting and Stanford’s top disinformation research group collapses under right-wing pressure. I’m pretty fucking sure it is.

Here’s the least surprising thing ever: Someone managed to get Gab’s AI’s setup prompt. It is, naturally, everything you’d expect out of a fascist site.

Meanwhile, Meta accused of trying to discredit ad researchers – Meta allegedly tried to discredit university researchers in Brazil who had flagged fraudulent adverts on the social network’s ad platform. Fundamentally, Meta doesn’t like people saying things about it that it doesn’t like, and will absolutely throw its weight at people. See also A local news site was critical of Facebook—then Meta banned all their links.

If you’re wondering, the story that pissed them off was When Facebook fails, local media matters even more for our planet’s future.

Clearly, Google was fine with it: U.K. forces Google to remove websites selling gender-affirming medications. TERF Island is go go go.

Finally, to come back aground and close with more general news – stuff that isn’t actually directly fash / far-right / fundamentalist related, but is still tech bullshit:

OpenAI and Anthropic are ignoring an established rule that prevents bots scraping online content because of course they are, did you really think they’d respect you or your rights?
Microsoft removes documentation for switching to a local account in Windows 11 because by god they are going to spy on you as much as they can in every way that they can; my netbook is now running PopOS Linux.
Windows 11 is Now Automatically Enabling OneDrive Folder Backup Without Asking Permission, because did you really expect any better.

We’ll close on some better news, from CheckMyAds: Google’s breaking down, but we need to keep our eye on the ball. They’re doing some good work. You might give them a looking-over, maybe sign up. I did.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.