Social Media Watch Thread

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 25 Jan 2021 16:45

Interesting developments regarding SM's ability to censor/censure :
Facebook's oversight board to decide on Trump ban
Trump will remain suspended while the board, a recently created body that can overrule the company's decisions on content, reviews the decision.

Not easy to copy/paste with all the interspersed ads, pls follow the link to read in full.

kit · Post by **kit** » 27 Jan 2021 15:25

https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/ ... d-facebook

The Aussies template for starters

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 28 Jan 2021 08:18

The Twitter Employee Who Banned Trump Has Been EXPOSED

Guess who?
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.
.
.
Hint: It's an Indian Hindu....
.
.
.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 28 Jan 2021 14:36

Quite funny.
A Trump supporter fact checking ? Thats even more funny.

Twitter should have banned Trump for uncivilty, ad homenim attacks, slander, racism and spreading falsehoods long ago. They would have done it if he wasn't POTUS. It was important to let the world see what the POTUS really is, but that went both ways until one day, the cup runneth over. Good riddance !

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 28 Jan 2021 14:48

Be careful what you wish for. Censorship and banishment can easily become a two way street.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 28 Jan 2021 15:04

Isn’t the above gent that quack Dinesh Dsouza who was convicted of illegal contributions? He is a rabid India baiter using all the standard tropes...

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 28 Jan 2021 20:49

Anybody following the news where a reddit sub /r/wallstreetbets caused a what 1000% i think rise in the Gamestop stock

Essentially a bunch of the sub members started buying gamestop stock purely on hype created in the sub, raising the market value, forcing the billionaire hedge funds to buy gamestop (to cover their short positions) and as a result increasing the stock even further. The hedge funds took on huge losses after everything was said and done, cannot make this stuff up

AkshaySG · Post by **AkshaySG** » 28 Jan 2021 21:47

m_saini wrote:Anybody following the news where a reddit sub /r/wallstreetbets caused a what 1000% i think rise in the Gamestop stock

Essentially a bunch of the sub members started buying gamestop stock purely on hype created in the sub, raising the market value, forcing the billionaire hedge funds to buy gamestop (to cover their short positions) and as a result increasing the stock even further. The hedge funds took on huge losses after everything was said and done, cannot make this stuff up

Yes but it was te other way round... It was the absolute ridiculous and downright manipulative short that hedge funds tried to do on Gamestop that presented this opportunity .. Essentially

Hedge fund Melvin Capital and others shorted Gamestop to 140% of available stock ( they borrowed stock to short) and were trying to drive it into the ground

WallstreetBets and other internet forums saw this insane short and decided to buy Gamestop shares to 1. Prevent the short, 2.Screw the Hedge fund, 3. Maybe make some quick money

Then the investors seeing their shorts crash made a mistake.. Instead of selling at 20-30 % loss they decided to push the stock even further and further so that they could sell at a higher price and cover their losses when their options expired at the end of this week .

This meant that the shares that people on WallstreetBets and other forums had bought also soared and people started getting 100X if not more returns on their investments.. This started a buying frenzy which pushed the stock to crazy heights

Around yesterday or day before Wall St finally understood they're getting screwed and started to push the full might of their media empire against the internet... So you has CNBC, journalists, talking heads etc etc just keep talking about how dangerous this is and how this should be banned even though they're as quiet as a church mouse when it's Wall St screwing over average Americans

Now late last night and today morning they've coerced the trading Apps like Robinhood, Ameritrade to refuse to sell more GME, AMC etc which has made people even angrier.. For a lot of people now it's less about the profit and more about teaching Wall Street a lesson. Plenty of celebrities and CEO's are also supporting the internet against Wall St in this crusade.

Meanwhile Melvin Capital the original "shorter" are completely screwed their company portfolio dropped from 13 Billion $ to around 5 Billion $ and they're having to sell long time options in companies like Amazon, Alibaba etc to make up the money they lost this week

I too bought 50 shares when they were 20 bucks a share for around 1k $... Right now that price is ~ 400 bucks a share and my portfolio has whooshed to 20,000 $.

AkshaySG · Post by **AkshaySG** » 28 Jan 2021 21:54

vimal wrote:The Twitter Employee Who Banned Trump Has Been EXPOSED

Guess who?
.
.
.
.
Hint: It's an Indian Hindu....
.
.
.

I wouldn't trust Dinesh D'Souza as far I could throw him... Fact checking is something beyond his comprehension and even if you may agree with the party he supports, as an individual he's a modern crackpot

A big drinker of the American Excellence kool-aid and spends most of his time making shows/docs about why America (specifically Christian America) is the greatest of them all and all other countries, religions etc should learn from it and that it it is their duty to teach the world. Never misses a chance to shit on India and Hindus either

His films are so laughably inaccurate that even your average Bollywood masala has 100x the credibility.

One would do well to let him die into obscurity.

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 28 Jan 2021 22:00

AkshaySG wrote:
Yes but it was te other way round... It was the absolute ridiculous and downright manipulative short that hedge funds tried to do on Gamestop that presented this opportunity .. Essentially ,.......

Ah thanks for the background info! Just goes on to show how insanely powerful SM can be and that it can and often has very real impact on real life.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 28 Jan 2021 22:08

AkshaySG wrote:Hedge fund Melvin Capital and others shorted Gamestop to 140% of available stock ( they borrowed stock to short) and were trying to drive it into the ground

Still trying to figure this one out. I was looking to short Gamestop, and was offered a 28% rate to borrow the stock. At that rate, you can only short so much and for so long. Exactly how was this fund able to short so much is something of a mystery. Perhaps an insider was involved.

ArjunPandit · Post by **ArjunPandit** » 28 Jan 2021 22:27

interesting thing happening in us markets..with regards to some stocks...we have seen such mania in past..but some are definitely getting rich...wall street hedge funds getting bloodied nose first time by main street folks ganging up...in brf terms, guerilla war against wall street as wall streeters have rules to follow results to show and times to square positions..it will be interesting to see this game...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/amcs-pande ... 1611787370
https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/the-journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/gamestop-i ... _lead_pos6

some stock market bubble crash is due in these small pockets...
i accidentaly posted this in indian economy thread...

ArjunPandit · Post by **ArjunPandit** » 28 Jan 2021 22:30

vera_k wrote:
AkshaySG wrote:Hedge fund Melvin Capital and others shorted Gamestop to 140% of available stock ( they borrowed stock to short) and were trying to drive it into the ground
Still trying to figure this one out. I was looking to short Gamestop, and was offered a 28% rate to borrow the stock. At that rate, you can only short so much and for so long. Exactly how was this fund able to short so much is something of a mystery. Perhaps an insider was involved.

there are shadow/dark pools where stocks are always available for large institutions.

there is a lot of things at play. more than manipulation by either side, it is more like maniacal trading. if you look at trading volume of these stocks that would give you an indication. Same for stocks like AMC, and MAC and blackberry.

ArjunPandit · Post by **ArjunPandit** » 28 Jan 2021 22:31

m_saini wrote:Anybody following the news where a reddit sub /r/wallstreetbets caused a what 1000% i think rise in the Gamestop stock

Essentially a bunch of the sub members started buying gamestop stock purely on hype created in the sub, raising the market value, forcing the billionaire hedge funds to buy gamestop (to cover their short positions) and as a result increasing the stock even further. The hedge funds took on huge losses after everything was said and done, cannot make this stuff up

billionare hedge funds have quarter ends, and regulations, these robinhood traders didnt have anything till robinhood blocked them from some of these stocks today...it is just a tahirir square for these big funds..

la.khan · Post by **la.khan** » 29 Jan 2021 10:55

So, @TrueIndology/@BharadwajSpeaks is gone again from Twitter?

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 29 Jan 2021 13:35

WSB is hitting all the shorted shares hard, GameStop, AMC, Nokia, even American Airlines.

This is like a nuclear strike on hedge funds.

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 29 Jan 2021 19:40

The dude who started the GME buying frenzy has held the stock for over 2 years. Literal insanity lol how do you even make such calls?

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 29 Jan 2021 22:51

m_saini wrote:The dude who started the GME buying frenzy has held the stock for over 2 years. Literal insanity lol how do you even make such calls?

In the words of r/wallstreetbets

Be a retard, Apes together strong, Diamond hands and YOLO.

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 30 Jan 2021 02:37

Reposting from the politics thread;

Please do not engage or view anti-dharmic content on SM. Just report as hateful content and downvote it. Each view makes them richer and more powerful.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 30 Jan 2021 06:48

AkshaySG wrote:
...
I wouldn't trust Dinesh D'Souza as far I could throw him... Fact checking is something beyond his comprehension and even if you may agree with the party he supports, as an individual he's a modern crackpot

A big drinker of the American Excellence kool-aid and spends most of his time making shows/docs about why America (specifically Christian America) is the greatest of them all and all other countries, religions etc should learn from it and that it it is their duty to teach the world. Never misses a chance to shit on India and Hindus either

His films are so laughably inaccurate that even your average Bollywood masala has 100x the credibility.

One would do well to let him die into obscurity.

+1

Don't fall into this childish and dangerous trap of 'whoever says something at this moment against someone I don't like is now my BFF.'

Dinesh D'Souza is the worst kind of anti-Indian scum you can think of.

BRFites should have more sense and standards than run around unthinkingly to desperately hug a white or coconut person who just happens to say something, just for that moment, against those that they don't like. We did this earlier with that unstable loony-tune Christine Fair. Now we have lowered the threshold to Dinesh bleddy D'Souza?

When you feel India is friendless and desperate, recognize that it is your own problem, not India's. And this is Bharat-rakshak, not your-hangups-rakshak. India is a great and powerful country, which doesn't need any chavanni-athanni scumbag to be its friend. Any country or organization would be blessed to have India's goodwill and friendship.

ArjunPandit · Post by **ArjunPandit** » 30 Jan 2021 06:57

Thakur_B wrote:
m_saini wrote:The dude who started the GME buying frenzy has held the stock for over 2 years. Literal insanity lol how do you even make such calls?
In the words of r/wallstreetbets

Be a retard, Apes together strong, Diamond hands and YOLO.

Another thing is a lot of them are college students jobless folks... Youth has that

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 30 Jan 2021 23:59

Tanaji wrote:Isn’t the above gent that quack Dinesh Dsouza who was convicted of illegal contributions? He is a rabid India baiter using all the standard tropes...

He is much worse than illegally contributing. He called for the US to take over India.

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 31 Jan 2021 00:20

Ok, I made a mistake by referencing DD here. But is he wrong here? Was it really that Indian girl who behind the decision to ban Trump?
Also, for the record Kyle Kulinski also wanted US to invade India to sort out the caste system.

m_saini · Post by **m_saini** » 31 Jan 2021 01:19

Global tax on tech giants now ‘highly likely,’ German minister says after Yellen call

Speaking to CNBC’s Annette Weisbach on Thursday, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said it was now “highly likely” that a deal on tax will be struck before a summer deadline at the OECD level.

"I’m really confident that we’ll get an agreement,” he said, just one day after speaking to new U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen via telephone.

Yellen backed calls for a new global levy on tech giants during a Senate confirmation hearing last week. She’s also pledged that the U.S. will actively participate in the negotiations with other OECD nations, after the previous administration decided to pull out of the talks in the summer of 2020.

Tanaji · Post by **Tanaji** » 31 Jan 2021 01:26

vimal wrote:Ok, I made a mistake by referencing DD here. But is he wrong here? Was it really that Indian girl who behind the decision to ban Trump?
Also, for the record Kyle Kulinski also wanted US to invade India to sort out the caste system.

This is not how decisions are taken in professional companies. First the moderation group must have come to the conclusion that it is right and proper to ban Trump for violation of terms and conditions of service. They would have reached that conclusion 2-3 years ago itself but it would not have been politically expedient at the time. Next it would have gone through multiple levels of sign off and teams of lawyers examining every dot and t was crossed. The CEO would have then signed it off after learning the Dems now control the house and the senate.

That lady is just the public face and fall guy patsy that will suffer the wrath of Trumpers as the Twitter management is too lilly livered to face then themselves or fire her if things went south.

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 31 Jan 2021 02:13

^^ Great, now we have both the left and the right hate Indians.

here is her tweet explaining the decision. @jack also has a long thread about the same.
https://twitter.com/vijaya/status/1347686841881821184

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 01 Feb 2021 04:37

Rise and Fall of the Vijayanagar Empire | History of Medieval India

Large dose of Marxist propaganda where Hindus need to be secular while pissfuls just be like pissful. It even goes on to exonerate the Gilani brothers who betrayed their own King to help the pissful forces.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 01 Feb 2021 07:14

vimal wrote:^^ Great, now we have both the left and the right hate Indians.

here is her tweet explaining the decision. @jack also has a long thread about the same.
https://twitter.com/vijaya/status/1347686841881821184

Wait a minute. You are asking us to trust @jack as.. (never mind) now are you? She was made the patsy last time around as well when @jack axx carried that placard "Smash Brahminical Patriarchy" or some inane brown stuff like that.

mukkan · Post by **mukkan** » 01 Feb 2021 21:46

https:/www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knew-calls-for-violence-plagued-groups-now-plans-overhaul-11612131374

In future, whatsapp groups also will get blocked. GOI is sleeping at the wheel. in 2024, they will control or block messages which they don't like.

kancha · Post by **kancha** » 02 Feb 2021 00:20

Centre directs Twitter to block over 200 accounts for provocative tweets linked to farmers' protest

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has directed Twitter to block around 250 tweets and Twitter accounts which were spreading fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets on January 30

The list includes many high profile accounts, including that of Caravan India, which have been withheld in India on orders of the govt

kancha · Post by **kancha** » 02 Feb 2021 00:56

kancha wrote:Centre directs Twitter to block over 200 accounts for provocative tweets linked to farmers' protest

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has directed Twitter to block around 250 tweets and Twitter accounts which were spreading fake, intimidatory and provocative tweets on January 30
The list includes many high profile accounts, including that of Caravan India, which have been withheld in India on orders of the govt

Of course the accounts are only withheld and not suspended, so they may yet come back

ankitash · Post by **ankitash** » 02 Feb 2021 01:01

kancha wrote:
kancha wrote:Centre directs Twitter to block over 200 accounts for provocative tweets linked to farmers' protest

The list includes many high profile accounts, including that of Caravan India, which have been withheld in India on orders of the govt
Of course the accounts are only withheld and not suspended, so they may yet come back

They're back already

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 02 Feb 2021 01:40

Why Twitter Blocked Accounts Linked to Farmers' Protests in India—Only to Reverse Course

After the blockages drew widespread condemnation online, Twitter said it had unblocked all the accounts late on Monday. According to Twitter, company representatives had met with Indian government officials to convey that the tweets constituted free speech and are newsworthy.

If this is correct, and Twitter is refusing to abide by government directives, GoI needs to invoke the option of taking Twitter offline in India. Taking Twitter offline is a much better option than blocking the entire internet and harming other lawful activities that rely on the internet.

vimal · Post by **vimal** » 02 Feb 2021 01:50

So, a guy tweeting about infrastructure project is not free speech or newsworthy.

mappunni · Post by **mappunni** » 02 Feb 2021 02:27

vera_k wrote:Why Twitter Blocked Accounts Linked to Farmers' Protests in India—Only to Reverse Course

After the blockages drew widespread condemnation online, Twitter said it had unblocked all the accounts late on Monday. According to Twitter, company representatives had met with Indian government officials to convey that the tweets constituted free speech and are newsworthy.
If this is correct, and Twitter is refusing to abide by government directives, GoI needs to invoke the option of taking Twitter offline in India. Taking Twitter offline is a much better option than blocking the entire internet and harming other lawful activities that rely on the internet.

It's about time the Government of India shows who the Boss is! But I doubt anything will come off it unless the RSP who is usually as dead as Dodo acts.

vera_k · Post by **vera_k** » 02 Feb 2021 02:42

Another option is to subject platforms to liability upon countermanding a government directive. Lawyers and little guys can recover at least some of the costs that the platforms are externalizing.

kancha · Post by **kancha** » 02 Feb 2021 10:58

vera_k wrote:Why Twitter Blocked Accounts Linked to Farmers' Protests in India—Only to Reverse Course

After the blockages drew widespread condemnation online, Twitter said it had unblocked all the accounts late on Monday. According to Twitter, company representatives had met with Indian government officials to convey that the tweets constituted free speech and are newsworthy.
If this is correct, and Twitter is refusing to abide by government directives, GoI needs to invoke the option of taking Twitter offline in India. Taking Twitter offline is a much better option than blocking the entire internet and harming other lawful activities that rely on the internet.

In a way, the GOI has forced them to openly declare which side they are on, perhaps much before they may have intended to. It is a good thing in the medium to long term, IMO

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 02 Feb 2021 20:50

https://swarajyamag.com/insta/amid-big- ... sory-board

Tech entrepreneur and Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has been appointed to the reconstituted National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) led by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Strat News Global has reported.

Vembu was recently conferred with the Padma Shri.

Along with Vembu, the other new members of the NSAB include former ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan, IIM Bangalore faculty Anshuman Tripathy, and former ambassador to France and the United States Arun K Singh.

Each member of the NSAB is responsible for bring specialised expertise to the table and is assigned a study, which is then analysed by the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and ministries for implementation.

Incidentally, Vembu's appointment comes at a time amid widespread fears of rising interference and selective censorship by Big Tech Silicon Valley firms.

Over the years Twitter has been accused of rampantly suspending Right Wing twitter accounts in India and stifling conservative voices globally.

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 02 Feb 2021 22:03

TW, FB, WA, LI are the giants and undisputed leaders in their space. Some are not first movers, but they correctly read the market and came up with the best product. It would need a big jolt to change this from here on. Google tried with G+ and failed miserably.

I am not convinced that merely having Indian versions of the same apps will make a difference. Most of these apps are just copies, some even with similar sounding names. They add a feature or two and call it innovation. That will not fly anymore.

For Indian apps, the only way I see forward is if top folks like Modi and others completely switch to these apps.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 02 Feb 2021 22:06

KJo wrote:TW, FB, WA, LI are the giants and undisputed leaders in their space. Some are not first movers, but they correctly read the market and came up with the best product. It would need a big jolt to change this from here on. Google tried with G+ and failed miserably.

I am not convinced that merely having Indian versions of the same apps will make a difference. Most of these apps are just copies, some even with similar sounding names. They add a feature or two and call it innovation. That will not fly anymore.

For Indian apps, the only way I see forward is if top folks like Modi and others completely switch to these apps.

Not just app ...

We need a very important regulation on OTT, SM, Data protection and algorithm transparency.

We need also criminal liability for these platforms