Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 8
Posts 1 - 8

So können nützliche Apps das Autofahren erleichtern

(This is how useful apps can make driving easier)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 19.8.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | (mental) health, law, smartphone, threat
Summary | It is prohibited to take a smartphone into your hand while driving - not to text, not to call, and not to check notifications or the time. One can use their smartphone via voice control or if it is mounted on the dashboard as a navigational unit. More and more car-targeted apps are becoming voice operated so as to make them useful for drivers.
Image Description | Images of hand-held and dashboard-mounted smartphones inside cars showing maps and the Facebook logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), logo, smartphone

Germany Tells Sites to Delete Hate or Pay Up

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 30.6.2017
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, fake news, law, threat
Summary | Germany has the strictest policies when it comes to illegalizing slanderous, threatening, and extremist language from public spaces. Germany has just passed a law that allows them to fine Facebook as much as 57 million dollars if they do not remove offensive content quickly enough from the platform. While some may say this is censorship , German lawmakers claim that respectful online encounters are a necessity for free speech to thrive. Facebook is now working on improving the flagging process for offensive material and are also using artificial intelligence to remove fake news.
Image Description | Blurry man looking at a smartphone with the Facebook logo in the background.
Image Tags | Facebook, logo, male(s), smartphone

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

WhatsApp Introduces End-to-End Encryption

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 5.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, privacy, threat, WhatsApp
Summary | Facebook has introduced end-to-end encryption for all WhatsApp communication including one-on-one and group chats and multimedia data sent in chats. This is a step to protect user privacy because breaches have happened in the past. The federal government however opposes this step because it denies the police access to communications which may be crucial to crack criminal cases.
Image Description | WhatsApp and Facebook logos.
Image Tags | Facebook, logo, WhatsApp

So gefährlich ist die dunkle Seite der Online-Werbung

(This is how dangerous the dark side of online advertising is )

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 11.5.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, Google, law, marketing, threat
Summary | Hackers have found new ways to enter people's computers more effectively. Online advertisements can run a malware script as soon as one is on the website where the advertisement is shown - without clicking on it. This is dangerous for all websites that display advertising - the biggest advertisers online being Facebook and Google.
Image Description | Image of the Google headquarters with a male silhouette in front of it.
Image Tags | Google, logo, male(s)

Das Monster lebt

(The monster is alive)

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Newspaper | Die Zeit
Date | 31.5.2017
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | censorship, cyberbullying, Facebook, law, threat
Summary | Facebook is hiring thousands of new employees to battle cyberbullying on their platform and to remove offensive material as quickly as possible. But a couple thousand are not very many people to combat wrongdoings of 2 billion users. German politicians are trying to make Facebook comply with local laws about removing illegal content from the internet but Facebook is nowhere near fulfilling those requirements.
Image Description | A photograph of a man holding a smartphone showing the Facebook logo and the face of a monster.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), logo, male(s), smartphone

2016: the year Facebook became the bad guy

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 12.12.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | cyberbullying, Facebook, fake news, law, threat
Summary | 2016 has been a bad year for Facebook. Many scandals surrounded the company. It became clear that Facebook is now longer just an advertizing machine with access to almost 2 billion people world-wide but that it also curates what news media most of these people perceive - whether Facebook wants to accept this or not. They no longer just have to deal with sensoring nudity and human rights violations content but also fake news. While Zuckerberg denies that the fake news bubbles have influenced the presidential elections, his company at the same time makes tons of money selling exactly this persuasive power to advertisers.
Image Description | The Facebook reaction emojis and dislike (thumb-down) emojis, glasses in front of like buttons, and a man holding a smartphone with the Facebook logo in the background.
Image Tags | emojis, Facebook, logo, male(s), smartphone

Tackling abuse on social media is a monumental task - but billion dollar companies should be up to it

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Newspaper | Telegraph
Date | 15.3.2017
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, cyberbullying, law, social media, threat
Summary | Social media have a huge problem with trolling, cyberbullying, and sharing of criminal content. It is however extremely difficult for providers to find such content before it is reported or seen by many. Especially in verbal abuse, the line between joking and slander is blurred and human language is too messy to be able to flag down such instances with algorhythms.
Image Description | Getty image of the Facebook logo on a hand-held smartphone and a laptop and a photograph of a screen showing the Twitter logo.
Image Tags | Facebook, hand(s), logo, Twitter

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