Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 11
Posts 1 - 10

Germany vs. Twitter

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 21.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, threat, Twitter
Summary | The German government demands that Twitter remove illegal content (some offensive language is illegal in Germany) from the platform within 24 hours. If they fail to do so, Germany threatens to fine them up to 50 million euros. Now social media platforms have begun deleting German accounts which are even just coming close to illegal content so as not to risk a fine.
Image Description | Hand holding a lens over the Twitter logo.
Image Tags | hand(s), logo, Twitter

I'm O.K. - You're Pure Evil

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 17.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, politics, threat, Twitter
Summary | Social media has made the political discourse cruder. In order to be heard in the millions of users one needs to provoke in just 140 characters. This is a threat to democracy because violent statements about people in office have become the norm because it is appropriate on social media. But now even serious news outlets begin using similar language that does not help a healthy political discussion.
Image Description | Illustration of facial features with mouse cursor arrows.

A hunt for militants at a key location: the Internet

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Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 6.5.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, texting, threat, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube
Summary | The EU's police organization as well as the US government are targeting IS material online in their battle against terrorism. Attempts to intercept communication via encrypted instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram have failed. The IS also uploads video and other content to YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. These social media platforms report to have deleted hundreds of thousands of entries linken to the IS.
Image Description | Portrait of a high profile IS member.
Image Tags | male(s)

Naked Lady Politics

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 27.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | gender, politics, pornography, sexting, threat, Twitter
Summary | The author says that she teaches her daughter that the internet does not forget and that female nudity rarely benefits the nude woman in the long run. However, there seem to be contradicting cases. Women's and men's careers have been both destroyed and boosted by the leaking of nude images, sexting selfies, or revenge porn. Most recently, Donald Trump has been caught first defending his wife's honor and accusing Ted Cruz of posting nude footage of her modeling days to then later post images of his wife and Cruz's wife to make the point that his wife is hotter.
Image Description | Illustration with pin-up girl silhouettes.
Image Tags | female(s)

Twitter's new rules: An attempt to #StopHarassment

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 4.1.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, politeness, threat, Twitter
Summary | Twitter is taking steps to address the harrassment happening on their platform. They are planning to temporarily lock or permanently suspend accounts of users who use violent or hateful language. This is meant to target mainly terrorist organizations but some say that it would unjustly target republicans because negative statements about a minority group could be misconstrued as hateful. Twitter has faced criticism before about censoring republicans more than librerals.
Image Description | N/A

What Chatbots Reveal About Our Own Shortcomings

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 24.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, marketing, misunderstanding, threat, Twitter
Summary | Artificial intelligence is the new big thing but it is mostly geared towards commercial services like ordering pizza, etc. Microsoft for instance proudly announced that their AI assistant can now even understand slang inputs. But this way of learning from actual users has shown to be risky when Microsoft released their AI robot Tay on Twitter and people trolled them by teaching Tay offensive things.
Image Description | Illustration and a GIF of smartphones typing.
Image Tags | gifs, smartphone, text

China Disrupts WhatsApp Service in Online Clampdown

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 18.7.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | censorship, Facebook, Google, Instagram, privacy, threat, Twitter, WhatsApp
Summary | The Chinese government has partly shut down the use of WhatsApp within their borders. The app is widely used around the globe and was used by some in China do communicate with people outside of Chine with end-to-end encryption. Other popular social media platforms and internet sites like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are blocked under the "Great Firewall" in China.
Image Description | Woman using a smartphone and women standing in front of Facebook and Instagram logos as well as emojis.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, female(s), Instagram, logo, smartphone

Eager crowds are flattening Southern California's vibrant 'super bloom'

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Newspaper | Los Angeles Times
Date | 6.4.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Instagram, social media, threat, Twitter
Summary | Rare rainfalls in California have cause the 'super-bloom' in the deserts, drawing thousands of visitors to the national parks. This is the first time social media has had such a huge impact on visitor numbers: people are eagerly Instagramming the admittedly photogenic natural phenomenon. The only problem is that people are breaking park rules in order to get a good picture: many are straying off the tracks, trampling the delicate flowers. People have posted pictures of themseves with wildflower bouquet and lying or sitting on top of the flowers. Not all parks have this problem, but some people are destroying the flora just to get a good Instagram post.
Image Description | Photographs of the superbloom off of Twitter.
Image Tags | Twitter

Police charge student with tweeting a threat after white supremacist petition circulated

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Newspaper | Washington Post
Date | 17.1.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | law, politics, school, threat, Twitter
Summary | After a white supremacist leaflet has been circulated in a local high school, a student took to Twitter to announce that the school will be attacked. The police were able to identify the student and she was charged "on a juvenile citation with disruption of school activities" but was not incarcerated as she is a minor. The school spokesperson has voiced their great concern with the white supremacist material that has circulated in the school.
Image Description | White supremacist leaflet.
Image Tags | text

Twitter Addresses Troll Problem. Again.

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 15.11.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, Facebook, fake news, threat, Twitter
Summary | Twitter has a huge problem with trolls. Many users harrass other users on the platform and Twitter is always trying to do something about it with little success. But at least they are trying - Facebook is rejecting any responsibility for fake news spread on their platform.
Image Description | Getty image of the Twitter icon on a building.
Image Tags | logo, Twitter

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