Digital Discourse Database

Number of Posts: 21
Posts 1 - 10

Names of the Brussels Victims Emerge Online, One by One

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 24.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, social media, texting, threat
Summary | In the aftermath of the Brussels airport terrorist attacks, cell phone service was unreliable so people worried about their loved one's went on social media in search for missing persons. Entire bulletin boards were created on Facebook where people posted pictures of the missing family members and friends. Shortly after, deaths were being published on Facebook and other social media.
Image Description | A Getty image showing the airport evacuation in Brussels and Twitter posts with pictures of missing persons.
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), Twitter

The Facebook Breakup

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | (mental) health, addiction, Facebook, research/study, threat
Summary | Many studies have been published about whether Facebook makes us happy or unhappy. Studies with both conclusions exist. They agree that Facebook notifications can cause a hormone release that boosts feelings of happiness for a moment, like all other addictive substances. Facebook has teams working on solustions on how to deal with accounts of users who pass away or how to assist people with avoiding their ex-partners on Facebook.
Image Description | An illustration of a vacuum cleaner vacuuming a broken heart, a team of designers working at Facebook, motivational posters from Facebook, and a smartphone showing the post-breakup settings Facebook offers.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Facebook will beam the web to Africa - a vital first step in helping people connect

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 24.2.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, smartphone, threat
Summary | Facebook, together with the French company Eutelsat, will put a satellite in orbit in order to give the internet to millions of sub-Saharan Africans. However, when you introduce social media into a poor country with low literacy, a country that does not know anything about free speech and freedom of expression, the consequences can be bad; it can lead to an explosion of hate speech (e.g. Myanmar, Lesbos). Therefore, connection alone is not the right solution.
Image Description | N/A

Please, Facebook, don't make me speak to your awful chatbots

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Newspaper | The Guardian
Date | 29.4.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | artificial intelligence, Facebook, threat
Summary | Chatbots are the future! Soon, you'll be able to do everything thanks to chatbots (e.g. order a pizza, schedule a meeting). With Facebook, the idea is to introduce third-party bots into Messenger. Existing chatbots are not perfect yet; they are still slow and don't always understand everything. Facebook's goal is to create something flawless, a platform for your phone where you'll be able to book a table, pay a bill, order a cab, check the weather, and manage your relationships.
Image Description | Photograph of Mark Zuckerberg speaking in front of a giant screen displaying the Messenger platform, photograph of engineer Charles Lawson lighting a robot's cigarette, screenshot of a tweet, photograph of a smartphone screen displaying WeChat.
Image Tags | male(s), smartphone, text, Twitter

Munich shooter's meticulous planning revealed: Teenager researched shooting sprees and even hacked into a Facebook account to lure children to McDonald's before murdering nine

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Newspaper | Mail Online
Date | 23.7.2016
Language | English
Country | UK
Topic Tags | Facebook, threat, youth
Summary | Munich killer created a fake Facebook account to lure children to the McDonald massacre. Sonobly spent months planning his murder; he was obsessed with mass murders. For instance, his Whatsapp profile picture was a picture of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer. Sonobly hacked Selina Akim's Facebook account and posted a message saying that there would be free food at the McDonald's restaurant near the Olympic stadium at 4pm.
Image Description | Photograph of the fake Facebook account, portrait of the killer, and several pictures of the massacre site.
Image Tags | Facebook, female(s), male(s)

In the Apple Case, a Debate Over Data Hits Home

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 13.3.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politics, privacy, research/study, smartphone, threat
Summary | Apple's refusal to aide the FBI with breaking into the phone of the San Bernardino attacker has unleashed a political debate among Americans. IT experts as well as lay people report that they have had discussions about the topic with other people, some say they have had fights over Facebook with family members about the issue. Polls show that the American people are hugely divided on the topic: 42% think Apple should cooperate with the FBI while 47% support Apple's stance to protect user privacy.
Image Description | Getty image of a protest crowd showing a man holding up his smartphone with the text: "Don't turn our phones into FBI drones".
Image Tags | female(s), male(s), smartphone, text

Tech industry slowly rallies behind Apple in iPhone fight

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Newspaper | USA Today
Date | 19.2.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, Google, law, privacy, smartphone, threat
Summary | The FBI had issues a court order to Apple to hack into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists. When Apple declined, other tech magnates like Google and Facebook sided with them saying that tech companies cannot be ordered to compromise their customers' privacy by the governement. Allowing this to happen now would set a problematic precedent for the future.
Image Description | Portrait of Mark Zuckerberg.
Image Tags | Facebook, male(s)

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

Facebook Groups Act as Weapons Bazaars for Militias

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Newspaper | The New York Times
Date | 6.4.2016
Language | English
Country | U.S.
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, marketing, threat
Summary | Since Facebook has enabled the transmission of payments via the site, it has seen an increase of commerce on the platform. Most worryingly, many Middle Eastern Facebook group pages advertise and apparently sell fire arms (everything from pistols over machine guns to missiles) via Facebook. Facebook has forbidden the sale of fire arms on their platform but they have to rely on users to report such cases.
Image Description | Images of the weapons on sale on Facebook, ISIS fighters, and refugee boats.
Image Tags | Facebook, male(s)

Hausdurchsuchungen wegen Hass-Postings auf Facebook

(House searches because of hate posts on Facebook)

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Newspaper | Welt
Date | 13.7.2016
Language | German
Country | Germany
Topic Tags | Facebook, law, politeness, politics, threat
Summary | The Bavarian police have issued multiple search warrants for the residence of people who have posted hateful comments on Facebook. In light of the recent refugee crisis, online hate has skyrocketed on Facebook with many people glorifying the Third Reich. Users who witness such behavior online are encouraged to report it both to Facebook and to the local police. Facebook has however been doing a poor job in keeping hate language off their platform.
Image Description | A tweet by a German government department explaining what a hate post is.
Image Tags | Twitter

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