Social Media Watch Thread

The Strategic Issues & International Relations Forum is a venue to discuss issues pertaining to India's security environment, her strategic outlook on global affairs and as well as the effect of international relations in the Indian Subcontinent. We request members to kindly stay within the mandate of this forum and keep their exchanges of views, on a civilised level, however vehemently any disagreement may be felt. All feedback regarding forum usage may be sent to the moderators using the Feedback Form or by clicking the Report Post Icon in any objectionable post for proper action. Please note that the views expressed by the Members and Moderators on these discussion boards are that of the individuals only and do not reflect the official policy or view of the Bharat-Rakshak.com Website. Copyright Violation is strictly prohibited and may result in revocation of your posting rights - please read the FAQ for full details. Users must also abide by the Forum Guidelines at all times.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 34772
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

Image
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Bitter truth (on X )

Image
vera_k
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4413
Joined: 20 Nov 2006 13:45

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by vera_k »

Don't understand how a disclaimer is sufficient for a real-life event. An appropriate measure would be to treat it as a work of fiction, in which case the name "IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack" cannot be used.

Netflix will add disclaimers to Indian hijack drama after outrage over Hindu names
Mukesh.Kumar
BRFite
Posts: 1409
Joined: 06 Dec 2009 14:09

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Mukesh.Kumar »

vera_k wrote: 03 Sep 2024 20:15 Don't understand how a disclaimer is sufficient for a real-life event. An appropriate measure would be to treat it as a work of fiction, in which case the name "IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack" cannot be used.

Netflix will add disclaimers to Indian hijack drama after outrage over Hindu names
We have this habit of punching below our weight. In this case, while it is true that the terrorists did actually use these names, the way they have been portrayed, and the way that Indian authorities have been portrayed, makes it a soft propaganda piece for BIF.

The courts should have put an exemplary fine at 5% of Netflix annual revenue from India on Netflix. Do it once, follow through, and you will see how miraculously they bend over backwards to address Indian sensibilities. We cannot keep going after each and every infringement. Nip the problem in the bud in such a manner that no one transgresses next time.
ramana
Forum Moderator
Posts: 60224
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by ramana »

In March 2022, one of the hijackers was visited by unknown men in Karachi.
Soon after Netflix contacted Anubhav Sinha in Istanbul and had him direct the web series. He worked with Adrian Levy to recast the story to give it a different perspective. In his own words, Doval says "in the end we won."
He finishes the Open magazine interview with was it worth it?
This whole series is to put down NSA career.
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 790
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

Mukesh.Kumar wrote: 04 Sep 2024 12:10
We have this habit of punching below our weight... We cannot keep going after each and every infringement. Nip the problem in the bud in such a manner that no one transgresses next time.
+9000
Had similar thoughts back when Twitter banned DT and was also banning Indian military accounts and the whole Covid situation.
Doesn't have to be Twitter/Netflix either, just pick one from Insta, twitter, netflix, reddit, yt, google, apple etc and make an example out of them. The others will automatically fall in line. Otherwise it'll be just like the chinese strategy of death by thousand cuts
Mukesh.Kumar
BRFite
Posts: 1409
Joined: 06 Dec 2009 14:09

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Mukesh.Kumar »

m_saini wrote: 05 Sep 2024 03:01
Mukesh.Kumar wrote: 04 Sep 2024 12:10
We have this habit of punching below our weight... We cannot keep going after each and every infringement. Nip the problem in the bud in such a manner that no one transgresses next time.
+9000
Had similar thoughts back when Twitter banned DT and was also banning Indian military accounts and the whole Covid situation.
Doesn't have to be Twitter/Netflix either, just pick one from Insta, twitter, netflix, reddit, yt, google, apple etc and make an example out of them. The others will automatically fall in line. Otherwise it'll be just like the chinese strategy of death by thousand cuts
I checked. The government didn't do too badly.

In Oct 22, Indian government put a INR 1338 crore (~ USD 160 mil) fine on Google. Even accounting for lower revenues post pandemic in FY 21-22, Google's Indian revenue was INR 6400 crore (~USD 800 mil). Not a bad thing at all at about 20% of revenues of previous financial year.

If the government can go after Google, then we definitely can go after Wikipedia, Facebook, et al.
Wikipedia has USD 180 mil in revenue globally)
Facebook has USD 3 bil in revenue from India (USD 135 billion revenue)
Netflix has USD 250 mil in revenue from India (USD 376 billion revenue)
Amazon has USD 2.5 billion in revenue from India (USD 640 billion revenue)
Disney Hotstar has USD 5 billion in revenue from India (Global USD 24 billion)

All of them will need India as an engine for growth for the future and will not vacate the market. Target them, and use the funds generated as a reserve fund to boost development of the India stack by investing in Indian startups. It's a pity that a product like Koo had to close. The government could have given it tacit support by ensuring that all tender documents, Court proceedings, announcements were first published there and an hour later published elsewhere. What would it have costed to keep Koo alive? USD 15 million a year, that's chump change. I did rather see a Koo standing tall vs the general tamasha we do everywhere.

We seriously need to take a leaf out of the Chinese and Russian books. They have build a homegrown tech ecosystem as a result they are much more insulated from manipulations from Deep Tech.

We need our own equivalents of:
  1. WhatsApp/ Telegram/ WeChat
  2. Cloud Services- Azure/ AWS
  3. Mail services- Can the government support a firm like Zoho more?
  4. Twitter
  5. YouTube
  6. Tiktok
  7. Netflix alternative free of foreign funding
  8. Zoom
GoI could do well to create a think tank and focus on startups which could support this. Create it as an Accelerator program which will be given initial funding with the conditions that only the top ones will survive. Involve the big Indian firms in it at Series A stage (count investments into the companies from these accelerators by companies like Jio, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Zoho, HCL, Tech Mahindra et al) as R&D spend or alternative (tax breaks. Post Series A, let the market fight it out. India has a large market (Indian Tech spending to reach USD 139 billion in FY 24-25). Enough and more headroom to grow for entrepreneurial firms if supported at infancy and then let the market takeover. Startup INDIA is not doing a great job and needs to be more proactive.

Image
Manish_P
BRF Oldie
Posts: 6584
Joined: 25 Mar 2010 17:34

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Manish_P »

It might still go to the SC where the lords might rebuke the HC and ask it not to be narrow-minded

Delhi High Court warns Wikipedia: “If you don't like India…..”
The Delhi High Court issued a stark ultimatum to Wikipedia on Thursday, threatening to block the online encyclopaedia in India and issuing a contempt of court notice for non-compliance with a previous order. Justice Navin Chawla delivered the warning during a hearing related to a defamation case filed by news agency ANI against Wikipedia.

"If you don't like India, please don't work in India... We will ask government to block your site," Justice Chawla declared, as reported by legal news website Bar and Bench. The court's fury was provoked by Wikipedia's alleged failure to disclose information about editors who made controversial changes to ANI's Wikipedia page.

The case stems from edits referring to ANI as a "propaganda tool" for the Indian government. Previously, the court had directed Wikipedia to reveal details about three accounts responsible for these edits. ANI claimed in court that this information had not been provided, leading to the contempt proceedings.
chetak
BRF Oldie
Posts: 34772
Joined: 16 May 2008 12:00

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by chetak »

Image
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Manish_P wrote: 05 Sep 2024 18:36 It might still go to the SC where the lords might rebuke the HC and ask it not to be narrow-minded
Check out the wikipedia page on this. Interesting discussion on the talk page, specially by two editors - valjean and William <somelong name> III. Both very arrogant.
Mukesh.Kumar
BRFite
Posts: 1409
Joined: 06 Dec 2009 14:09

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Mukesh.Kumar »

OpIndia summarized an article on Wikipedia's bias. The main article is here.

The link to the research paper by Nupur J. Sharma are here and can be accessed from Scribd. Also available in Google Drive here.

And immediately, Facebook has banned sharing of the link calling it a misleading video. India, really needs to get it's own social media up and running if we have to survive in today's time.
Image

Not having your digital infrastructure is akin to handing over building, operation and control of your ports, airports and educational infrastructure to an external organization. We are willingly opening our days to Macaulay 2.0.
sanman
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4099
Joined: 22 Mar 2023 11:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanman »

Mukesh.Kumar wrote: 10 Sep 2024 10:37 OpIndia summarized an article on Wikipedia's bias. The main article is here.

The link to the research paper by Nupur J. Sharma are here and can be accessed from Scribd. Also available in Google Drive here.

And immediately, Facebook has banned sharing of the link calling it a misleading video. India, really needs to get it's own social media up and running if we have to survive in today's time.

Not having your digital infrastructure is akin to handing over building, operation and control of your ports, airports and educational infrastructure to an external organization. We are willingly opening our days to Macaulay 2.0.
Well, we've seen the big furor Wikipedia has triggered in Indian courts by refusing their directives on ANI.

If ANI can move the courts on Wikipedia, then OpIndia should try doing the same against Facebook.


OR Alternatively:

Just as US authorities are now talking about divesting Tiktok from Chinese ownership so that it can function independently in America, likewise we Indians should talk about doing the exact same thing for Facebook, Wikipedia, etc in India.
If US can justify this, then we can too.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Mukesh.Kumar wrote: 10 Sep 2024 10:37 OpIndia summarized an article on Wikipedia's bias. The main article is here.
The problem here is that OpIndia is on the sources blacklist. So no can use that as a source to edit Wikipedia pages.
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15177
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Suraj »

Is the source blacklist published publicly, and if so where, and on what legally defensive basis within the purview of freedom of speech as defined under the Indian legal system ?
sanman
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4099
Joined: 22 Mar 2023 11:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanman »

Vayutuvan wrote: 11 Sep 2024 03:50 The problem here is that OpIndia is on the sources blacklist. So no can use that as a source to edit Wikipedia pages.
It's on the blacklist because Indian Lefties lobbied to get it put there. Just part of the Lefty takeover of various sites.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Swarajya is on the graylist. They are not just Indian left who did it though they played their part. It is the Comintern and Chrislamaoists of Europe. They are the main motive force.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 04:28 Is the source blacklist published publicly, and if so where, and on what legally defensive basis within the purview of freedom of speech as defined under the Indian legal system ?
They have that list on Wikipedia itself. They say why they are on the blacklist or graylist. Wikipedia powers that be claim that it is a "transparent" process.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 04:28 Is the source blacklist published publicly, and if so where, and on what legally defensive basis within the purview of freedom of speech as defined under the Indian legal system ?
I found those lists on Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... al_sources
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15177
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Suraj »

It follows now whether a site can ban other sites as references and still claim the status of an objective source of fact under Indian law.

Does Indian law allow a site like Wikipedia to offer its services without posting a banner stating that it is simply an opinion / entertainment site and not a source of factual information ?
vera_k
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4413
Joined: 20 Nov 2006 13:45

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by vera_k »

The legal position is that a disclaimer can be used as a defense in the courts.

In the absence of an appropriate disclaimer, Wikipedia or similar can be sued on grounds.

IMO, since the socialist vs communist dogfight has long ago circumscribed freedom of speech, burying social media in the courts is the way to go. If the courts circumscribe the first amendment while wading through these cases, then it opens up space for domestic platforms to emerge as competitors. If not, it forces platforms to comply or quit, which again evens the playing field for local operators.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 08:38 It follows now whether a site can ban other sites as references and still claim the status of an objective source of fact under Indian law.

Does Indian law allow a site like Wikipedia to offer its services without posting a banner stating that it is simply an opinion / entertainment site and not a source of factual information ?
Interestingly, Wikipedia itself is not considered reliable by Wikipedia. :mrgreen:

Very clever.
kancha
BRFite
Posts: 1067
Joined: 20 Apr 2005 19:13

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by kancha »

The need for indigenous social media platforms and even our own equivalent of Big Tech giants cannot be emphasized enough. Much on the same lines as discussions on this page have been going on, sharing some thoughts chronicled some days back.
Unable to link the videos and screenshots used in the blog though

Blog Link
Twitter Link
The trigger was the massive outage of Microsoft devices some weeks ago. Have been having some thoughts since then. Let’s see how it goes..

First and foremost, here is a link to the outage of Microsoft devices due to some issue with CrowdStrike, for those who might have forgotten it : Microsoft Crowdstrike creates worldwide outage: Life across the globe comes to a standstill

So many parts of our lives came to a halt, because someone somewhere screwed up!

It was a major news headline for atleast a couple of days. And then, we moved on once things were back in order, dismissing this as a temporary hitch in our day-to-day existence.

Of course, it was inadvertent.

Such things happen at times and computers crash. Nothing more to it, even if this event let to a massive number of computers to crash near simultaneously!

Hence, no outrage.

However, given the fact that life in so many countries came to a grinding halt across various sectors due to this unintended outage, one question that bothers me is what if next time there is an INTENTIONAL outage??

When I say ‘Intentional‘, I don’t necessarily mean by some evil geniuses running the large corporations of the world, but also governments who have a lien on the day to day functioning of such companies by the virtue of they being geographically located there.

Why I say this is because, if I as a govt had the power to disrupt or monitor lives of people and countries who are of interest to me, why the hell would I NOT do that?

In fact, a prime example of that landed up on my TL not very long ago: This is RFK Jr. revealing that 37 hours after President Biden was installed into the White House, they opened an illegal portal between social media giants and the FBI, CIA, CDC, etc, to begin the rampant censorship of Americans! Arm-twisting / threatening by Govt forced them!
By the time Trump was out of office, he had been banned by FB, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat and the likes. Reddit even banned some Pro-Trump forums! (Source)

Mind you, FREE SPEECH is basically what the platforms deem to be ‘free’ as per their own policies. And of course, what the host govt deems to be ‘free’! The aftermath of Twitter acquisition by Elon Musk was their for all to see. I’ll still share two snippets of Vijaya being questioned:
One phrase that the lady in the second video used to address them was ‘You all as the Sinister Overlords’. Nothing could explain it better! And to think that these platforms actually shape narratives around the globe!

Just as another example, during the 2024 Indian General Elections, YouTube approved 48 advertisements in English, Hindi, and Telugu that violated YouTube’s OWN policies about advertising and elections misinformation! (SOURCE)

Talk about Sinister Overlords!
The thing is that even though the platforms themselves just are a source code running on its own, doing what it is supposed to do, but the people who created that damn code are still humans. Humans, with their own biases and leanings.

Humans who don’t even know they are biased!

Humans, who think that anyone who doesn’t think like them is a liar and NOT deserving of free speech.

Why?

Because they hold the power of denying them free speech just because they happen to have a divergent view from those who control the platforms!
Bottomline is that at the end of the day, even the ‘Cloud’ the we talk about when talking of the www, is actually a server farm located on a piece of land governed by the sovereign govt and administered by humans who are prone to their own biases and govt pressure. What we don’t realize is that by giving so much access to them into our daily lives, individually as well as collectively, we make ourselves potential targets for manipulation.

They may try to be ‘smart’ about that, but it does not change the fact that there is pretty much NOTHING that one can do to them because they are ‘merely following their own policies’!
I’ll close this blog post now by going back to the accidental Microsoft Outage of last month.

What if the next outage is NOT accidental?

What if the next outage is deliberate and focussed?

What if such things have already happened?

Food for thought, no?
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

vera_k wrote: 11 Sep 2024 09:03 In the absence of an appropriate disclaimer, Wikipedia or similar can be sued on grounds.
They covered their asses. Also Daily Mail, which is on the blacklist, played tit-for-tat and issued a notice to all their journalists and reporters that nothing should be sourced from Wikipedia. That is on Wikipedia itself. There is a lot of leeway there. There are many bigoted, racist folks who post bigoted racist stuff in talk pages and user pages. Bullying quoting some rule or other. They have many rules and templates etc. I am not sure whether the rules themselves have internal consistency. If somebody can program something to analyze the rules and bring out inconsistencies, that would be a god send. Also robot data mine Wikipedia - talk and user:talk pages - to point out bigotry, racism, propaganda, bullying, editors forming gangs (which is similar to trollfarms they complain about), perform sentiment analysis, look at bias of individual editors and how they form "ad hoc" groups to act against dissenting voices, ... Somebody maybe able sue the platform itself in CA, USA. Wikimedia Foundation is HQed there, IIRC SF.

But who will bell the cat? It is full time job for a largish group of folks with clout, money, platform, and resources.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 11 Sep 2024 23:01, edited 1 time in total.
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15177
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Suraj »

vera_k wrote: 11 Sep 2024 09:03 The legal position is that a disclaimer can be used as a defense in the courts.

In the absence of an appropriate disclaimer, Wikipedia or similar can be sued on grounds.
What disclaimer from Wikipedia do you mean ?
bala
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2939
Joined: 02 Sep 1999 11:31
Location: Office Lounge

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by bala »

Here is an idea, Vayu ji. We can use the open GEN AI platforms to create a bias on every farticle published by Western media - NYT, ABC, WaPo, Reuters, AP, NBC, BBC, Spiegel, etc and create an opposite farticle on the same topic. Need to use some "Bias" algo to do the work. For every farticle post the exact opposite to confuse the populace of the farticles from Western Media. This can be fully automated. Have bots that crowd out their feedback section and post the counter farticle link. College kids can be hired or better still have each college in India engaged on one publishing house at a time. The idea is sow mayhem into these farticle producers worldwide. Only then they will stop with their rubbish.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

bala wrote: 11 Sep 2024 22:58 Here is an idea, Vayu ji. ...
That is another way to do it. Easier but one might run into legal headwinds.
vera_k
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4413
Joined: 20 Nov 2006 13:45

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by vera_k »

Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 22:51 What disclaimer from Wikipedia do you mean ?
Some common disclaimers seen in media re "This is a paid advertisement", or "This is a work of fiction and resemblance to real events is unintentional".

Wikipedia currently does not have a disclaimer on pages. Wikipedia can therefore be sued in the absence of such a disclaimer on its pages. An appropriate disclaimer for a wiki page would be something like "This is user generated text that may or may not be true."
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

vera_k wrote: 11 Sep 2024 23:36
Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 22:51 What disclaimer from Wikipedia do you mean ?
Some common disclaimers seen in media re "This is a paid advertisement", or "This is a work of fiction and resemblance to real events is unintentional".

Wikipedia currently does not have a disclaimer on pages. Wikipedia can therefore be sued in the absence of such a disclaimer on its pages. An appropriate disclaimer for a wiki page would be something like "This is user generated text that may or may not be true."
But they list themselves as "not reliable" in their own list. Please find the link above. That means whatever they say cannot be taken seriously and they themselves are saying that.

Strange that you two guys are going at it without going through the link I gave above. :roll:
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... al_sources
Wikinews
WP:RSPWIKINEWS 📌 Generally unreliable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2024

Most editors believe that Wikinews articles do not meet Wikipedia's verifiability standards. As Wikinews does not enforce a strong editorial policy, many editors consider the site equivalent to a self-published source, which is generally unreliable. 1 HTTPS links HTTP links
Wikipedia (including The Signpost)
WP:RSPWP 📌 Generally unreliable +22[bq]
2024

Wikipedia is not a reliable source because open wikis are self-published sources. This includes articles, non-article pages, The Signpost, non-English Wikipedias, Wikipedia Books, and Wikipedia mirrors; see WP:CIRCULAR for guidance.[27] Occasionally, inexperienced editors may unintentionally cite the Wikipedia article about a publication instead of the publication itself; in these cases, fix the citation instead of removing it. Although citing Wikipedia as a source is against policy, content can be copied between articles with proper attribution; see WP:COPYWITHIN for instructions.
That essentially covers Wikinews and Wikipedia (in their opinion). IDK what The Signpost is. That probably doesn't matter. The above disclaimer seems to cover everything on Wikipedia.
-----------------
@vera_k saying that disclaimers have to be there on every article page is also not correct.

As far software is concerned, one doesn't have to give a disclaimer. If it displayed in the log, printed displayed on the screen (in the UI), at startup, or on demand in the About page is good enough.

For example, most engineering software comes with a disclaimer to the effect that users take the responsibility for every and all failures in real life. Because GIGO - if the user feeds garbage user gets garbage. For example, a real incident that had happened was where a rocket nose cone buckled and destroyed all the satellites it is supposed to deploy. Simulation people either fed wrong data, didn't set tight error thresholds, and/or interpreted the results incorrectly.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 12 Sep 2024 05:23, edited 1 time in total.
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

bala wrote: 11 Sep 2024 22:58 Here is an idea, Vayu ji. We can use the open GEN AI platforms to create a bias on every farticle published by Western media - NYT, ABC, WaPo, Reuters, AP, NBC, BBC, Spiegel, etc and create an opposite farticle on the same topic. Need to use some "Bias" algo to do the work. For every farticle post the exact opposite to confuse the populace of the farticles from Western Media. This can be fully automated. Have bots that crowd out their feedback section and post the counter farticle link. College kids can be hired or better still have each college in India engaged on one publishing house at a time. The idea is sow mayhem into these farticle producers worldwide. Only then they will stop with their rubbish.
@bala gaaru, it is better to go for bigger fish. Any sovereign state has the wherewithal to do what I suggested. If it is a democracy, it is even better. The government in question has the mandate of the citizenry.
sanman
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4099
Joined: 22 Mar 2023 11:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanman »

Like I said, ladies and gentlemen -- if US goes ahead and divests Tiktok in USA to take control away from Chinese ownership, then we should likewise also divest Tiktok in India and seize control away from Chinese ownership. And then after that opening move, we should then do the exact same thing for all the other social media platforms (Facebook, etc) one by one.

If we copy same US move against Tiktok, and US doesn't protest, then what grounds would US have to protest when we do same thing against other platforms?
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 790
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

sanman wrote: 12 Sep 2024 06:25 If we copy same US move against Tiktok, and US doesn't protest, then what grounds would US have to protest when we do same thing against other platforms?
This is just sad... that we're supposed to wait for US to do something to then do the same thing ourselves. Like a permission!

But then again I guess it'll make for good cope in future cause let's be honest, we're never going to able to bell wikipedia or any of the other western social media apps.

"oh we couldn't divest from western social media because US didn't divest from tiktok :cry: "
Suraj
Forum Moderator
Posts: 15177
Joined: 20 Jan 2002 12:31

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Suraj »

vera_k wrote: 11 Sep 2024 23:36
Suraj wrote: 11 Sep 2024 22:51 What disclaimer from Wikipedia do you mean ?
Some common disclaimers seen in media re "This is a paid advertisement", or "This is a work of fiction and resemblance to real events is unintentional".

Wikipedia currently does not have a disclaimer on pages. Wikipedia can therefore be sued in the absence of such a disclaimer on its pages. An appropriate disclaimer for a wiki page would be something like "This is user generated text that may or may not be true."
That is correct, and they can be legally required to emblazon that atop the site - at least in India.
uddu
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2489
Joined: 15 Aug 2004 17:09

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by uddu »

Vayutuvan wrote: 12 Sep 2024 05:13 From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... al_sources
Wikinews
WP:RSPWIKINEWS 📌 Generally unreliable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2024

Most editors believe that Wikinews articles do not meet Wikipedia's verifiability standards. As Wikinews does not enforce a strong editorial policy, many editors consider the site equivalent to a self-published source, which is generally unreliable. 1 HTTPS links HTTP links
Wikipedia (including The Signpost)
WP:RSPWP 📌 Generally unreliable +22[bq]
2024

Wikipedia is not a reliable source because open wikis are self-published sources. This includes articles, non-article pages, The Signpost, non-English Wikipedias, Wikipedia Books, and Wikipedia mirrors; see WP:CIRCULAR for guidance.[27] Occasionally, inexperienced editors may unintentionally cite the Wikipedia article about a publication instead of the publication itself; in these cases, fix the citation instead of removing it. Although citing Wikipedia as a source is against policy, content can be copied between articles with proper attribution; see WP:COPYWITHIN for instructions.
That essentially covers Wikinews and Wikipedia (in their opinion). IDK what The Signpost is. That probably doesn't matter. The above disclaimer seems to cover everything on Wikipedia.
-----------------
@vera_k saying that disclaimers have to be there on every article page is also not correct.

As far software is concerned, one doesn't have to give a disclaimer. If it displayed in the log, printed displayed on the screen (in the UI), at startup, or on demand in the About page is good enough.

For example, most engineering software comes with a disclaimer to the effect that users take the responsibility for every and all failures in real life. Because GIGO - if the user feeds garbage user gets garbage. For example, a real incident that had happened was where a rocket nose cone buckled and destroyed all the satellites it is supposed to deploy. Simulation people either fed wrong data, didn't set tight error thresholds, and/or interpreted the results incorrectly.
While installing the software the disclaimer pops up. So people are given an option to go through it. While using Wikipedia, nothing of that happens. Out of 99.999 percent of people using Wikipedia has never seen this Disclaimer.
uddu
BRF Oldie
Posts: 2489
Joined: 15 Aug 2004 17:09

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by uddu »

The Funny part is they are collecting money as donations from Indians and using the same money to go against Indians with 0 repercussions. They are the Judge Jury and Executioner of which and all newspaper and articles that are considered banned. Articles or publications that are not banned by Indian courts and with no restrictions are not allowed in Wikipedia.
sanman
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4099
Joined: 22 Mar 2023 11:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanman »

m_saini wrote: 12 Sep 2024 08:24
sanman wrote: 12 Sep 2024 06:25 If we copy same US move against Tiktok, and US doesn't protest, then what grounds would US have to protest when we do same thing against other platforms?
This is just sad... that we're supposed to wait for US to do something to then do the same thing ourselves. Like a permission!

But then again I guess it'll make for good cope in future cause let's be honest, we're never going to able to bell wikipedia or any of the other western social media apps.

"oh we couldn't divest from western social media because US didn't divest from tiktok :cry: "
What's your better idea, again?
Fine, we may not have to wait - but in the event that US does act first, then we can use that as cover to follow suit - I'm just saying.
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 790
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

sanman wrote: 12 Sep 2024 12:31 What's your better idea, again?
Fine, we may not have to wait - but in the event that US does act first, then we can use that as cover to follow suit - I'm just saying.
Better idea: if we're going to do something then we should just do it. without waiting for anyone. Brazil banned X and west have effectively banned RT, thats all the 'cover' anyone needs really.

But thats just it, i dont think we're ever going to do it so all of this is just moot. my guess is that the biases of wiki/social media isnt even on the radar of gov.

We're far more likely to see Wiki awarded for their "contribution to education" by us instead.
sanman
BRF Oldie
Posts: 4099
Joined: 22 Mar 2023 11:02

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by sanman »

m_saini wrote: 12 Sep 2024 18:49 Better idea: if we're going to do something then we should just do it. without waiting for anyone. Brazil banned X and west have effectively banned RT, thats all the 'cover' anyone needs really.

But thats just it, i dont think we're ever going to do it so all of this is just moot. my guess is that the biases of wiki/social media isnt even on the radar of gov.

We're far more likely to see Wiki awarded for their "contribution to education" by us instead.
That's not a proactive problem-solving outlook.
I think my approach is better. I'm saying that if political cover is available, we should use it to advantage. Nothing wrong in exploiting emerging opportunities and circumstances.

Either way, you're avoiding the substance of what to do in order obsess over the timing part.
Can't have a When if you don't have a What.
m_saini
BRFite
Posts: 790
Joined: 23 May 2020 20:25

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by m_saini »

sanman wrote: 12 Sep 2024 19:07

That's not a proactive problem-solving outlook.
I think my approach is better. I'm saying that if political cover is available, we should use it to advantage. Nothing wrong in exploiting emerging opportunities and circumstances.

Either way, you're avoiding the substance of what to do in order obsess over the timing part.
Can't have a When if you don't have a What.
have a great day! :)
Vayutuvan
BRF Oldie
Posts: 13502
Joined: 20 Jun 2011 04:36

Re: Social Media Watch Thread

Post by Vayutuvan »

uddu wrote: 12 Sep 2024 11:15 The Funny part is they are collecting money as donations from Indians and using the same money to go against Indians with 0 repercussions. They are the Judge Jury and Executioner of which and all newspaper and articles that are considered banned. Articles or publications that are not banned by Indian courts and with no restrictions are not allowed in Wikipedia.
True with that 99.99% part. I went looking for who are all on the unreliable list and this came up. I agree with milder regulation like a banner coming up on the top. Wikipedia has some very good parts, especially in the STEM area. I know that it is very good in Computer Science and Mathematics areas. It would be a big loss if the whole of Wikipedia gets banned in India.

The other alternative, of course, as I suggested is to data mine all the talk pages, meta wikis, templates, and then analyze them for bias. Something similar to what Sankrant Sanu did with Encarta but on a larger scale using better tools/ML/AI.
Post Reply