Octopus Overlords

stessier wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 12:17 pm Related.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/202 ... x-bizarre/

"This is bizarre," Musk wrote. "They want us to pay *them* for traffic to their site where they make advertising revenue and we don’t!?"
[snip]
These rights were designed to reduce the "value gap" between publishers and the online platforms that profit off of promoting publishers' content.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 12:38 pm
There has to be some rationale somewhere that I'm just not getting.

News organizations like AFP pushed for the neighboring rights legislation as the bulk of online ad revenue shifted away from news publishers to giant social media platforms. The concern remains that if platforms don't share ad revenue, quality news organizations will be forced out of business.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 11:04 am I'm reading up on it, and it just seems... odd. The premise (as I read it - most stories are about FB/Google, not the logic behind the law) is that people used to pay for news (IE - print newspapers, etc), but now they find the content via social media and the news site doesn't get the revenue . So, they seem to be saying, since social media has their content, social media should pay for it. It just doesn't make sense to me, though, as what they're trying to get tech companies (not just social media - this includes search engines) to pay for isn't stories, it's links. It's links on social media where one person reads a story and shares the link to the story with others, and it's the news sites themselves putting the links out there. It's also links to stories in search engines.

These aren't where people are reading the stories, these are where people are finding the stories to read on the original site. They're trying to get tech companies to pay news services for giving them free advertising. It sounds, honestly, like another case of the tech-clueless trying to legislate tech.

There has to be more to it, as what I've written above just doesn't make any sense.

I mean, it's not like Facebook has full news stories posted so that readers don't have to deal with paywalls. You know, like that one site... Octopi Something .

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:49 pm If they really want money, tell them to fix online advertising. Once the ads aren't flashing, popping up, playing audio, or running on software (as opposed to being a simple image), I'll turn my ad blockers off and happily feed them credit for my eyeballs.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 2:32 pm

Unwanted sound, drain on resources, and blind acceptance of advertisers that may include malware are my requirements.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:49 pm I wonder how long it will be before traffic drops so much that the news companies are lobbying to reverse this.

Rumpy wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 3:21 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:49 pm I wonder how long it will be before traffic drops so much that the news companies are lobbying to reverse this.

I give it 6 months to a year. Then they'll say: This was a bad idea. We're not getting the views we used to get before the Bill went into effect.

stessier wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 3:27 pm

Rumpy wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 3:21 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:49 pm I wonder how long it will be before traffic drops so much that the news companies are lobbying to reverse this.

I give it 6 months to a year. Then they'll say: This was a bad idea. We're not getting the views we used to get before the Bill went into effect.

They don't care about views and the bill doesn't try to get them more views. They are saying that the advertisers aren't coming to the News sites because they are going to Big Tech instead - doesn't matter how many views the News sites are getting. It's strictly about a transfer of money from one group to another.

A famous video game influencer known for streaming on Twitch is in custody after a giveaway event attracting thousands of young people sparked pandemonium in Manhattan's Union Square.

The Friday afternoon event advertised by Kai Cenat, one of the most popular streamers online, grew out of control well before its scheduled 4 p.m. start time. Police estimates suggest the crowd size eventually climbed to a "couple thousand people."

Cenat had told his online followers to come out to Union Square where he would be handing out free PlayStation consoles and gift cards, among other items.

What exactly turned the crowd unruly isn't quite clear, but by 3:30 p.m. people were seen chucking garbage at police and taking down barriers around the perimeter. Witnesses reported seeing others throwing chairs and bottles. One person had a bruise on his face and he said he was pushed to the ground.

The commotion prompted the highest level of police mobilization by the NYPD. According to a spokesperson, the department called on an estimated one thousand officers to respond to the escalating situation.

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 12:59 am Or whether this event was cleared with officials.

The event was spontaneous and came together without a city permit, Chief Maddrey said. The police learned of the gathering from a social media post around midday, he added. By 3 p.m., he said, “the post had gone viral.”

At that point, he said, “the event grew exponentially, rapidly, vast.”

About a week after X commandeered the popular @X account from longtime Twitter user Gene X Hwang, another user has reported that X has taken over his popular account, @music.

"16 years ago, I created @music and have been running it ever since," Jeremy Vaught, director of engineering at the nonprofit Life Happens, posted on X. "Just now, Twitter/X just ripped it away. Super pissed."

Vaught is mostly a Musk fan, as he's interested in Musk's electric cars and space developments. He said that this experience with X hasn't tainted his opinion of Musk or his relationship too much with X as a platform. He's holding out hope that Musk has a long-term plan for where Musk is taking X, but like many users, he's struggling to adjust to the rebranding. Vaught still refers to the platform by its original name.

"Twitter's not dead to me at this point," Vaught told Ars, even if "it's a super huge bummer" to lose the @music account. "Sixteen years is a long time to invest in something and then just have it ripped out from underneath you," Vaught said.

Alefroth wrote: Sat Jul 08, 2023 4:16 pm I've got no desire to use Threads on a mobile device. I hope they have a browser version in the works.

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 1:01 pm "There is no problem until it's my problem."

Elon Musk bragged about lifting '45 lb weights' on Friday. Now he says he has to get an MRI on his neck and back and may need surgery before his cage match with Zuck.

"If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill," Musk said in a post on X late on Saturday, adding that there will be no limits to funding the bills.

"And we won't just sue, it will be extremely loud and we will go after the boards of directors of the companies too," Musk said later in response to a post about nothing changing behavior in the U.S. faster than a threat of legal action.

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 6:33 pm [
Does that include the people that Musk himself fired for posting on TwitX?

I'd really like to see Musk sue himself and go after his board of directors. Or at least kick his own ass in a cage match.

gilraen wrote: Mon Aug 07, 2023 9:11 pm Is he going to fund their legal bills like Trump promised to fund the legal bills of guys getting arrested for punching protesters at his rallies?

The social media app targeted news sites including The New York Times and Reuters as well as competing social media platforms such as Facebook, Threads, and Bluesky by slowing down the load times for links posted on Twitter.

All affected sites take longer to load than other sites such as The Washington Post and USA Today, meaning the slowdown is affecting the targeted sites’ bottom line. A page’s load speed affects an article or site’s search engine rankings, with quickly loading sites appearing higher on Google which prioritizes sites that load in no more than 2.5 seconds.

A page’s load speed affects an article or site’s search engine rankings, with quickly loading sites appearing higher on Google which prioritizes sites that load in no more than 2.5 seconds.

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Aug 15, 2023 9:13 pm

A page’s load speed affects an article or site’s search engine rankings, with quickly loading sites appearing higher on Google which prioritizes sites that load in no more than 2.5 seconds.

How does that affect Google page rankings? Does Google time the page load time directly, or does it somehow pass its links through XTwitter? If it's the redirect that they're slowing down, wouldn't that just delay the 'start' of the timer?

Blackhawk wrote:

A page’s load speed affects an article or site’s search engine rankings, with quickly loading sites appearing higher on Google which prioritizes sites that load in no more than 2.5 seconds.

How does that affect Google page rankings? Does Google time the page load time directly, or does it somehow pass its links through XTwitter? If it's the redirect that they're slowing down, wouldn't that just delay the 'start' of the timer?

At least two brands have said they will suspend advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after their ads and those of other companies were run on an account promoting fascism. The issue came less than a week after X CEO Linda Yaccarino publicly affirmed the company’s commitment to brand safety for advertisers.

The nonprofit news watchdog Media Matters for America documented in a report published Wednesday that ads for a host of mainstream brands have been run on the account, which has shared content celebrating Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Ads for brands including Adobe, Gilead Sciences, the University of Maryland’s football team, New York University Langone Hospital and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association were run alongside tweets from the account that had garnered hundreds of thousands of views, CNN observed.

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Aug 16, 2023 10:49 pm Awkward:

At least two brands have said they will suspend advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after their ads and those of other companies were run on an account promoting fascism. The issue came less than a week after X CEO Linda Yaccarino publicly affirmed the company’s commitment to brand safety for advertisers.

The nonprofit news watchdog Media Matters for America documented in a report published Wednesday that ads for a host of mainstream brands have been run on the account, which has shared content celebrating Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Ads for brands including Adobe, Gilead Sciences, the University of Maryland’s football team, New York University Langone Hospital and NCTA-The Internet and Television Association were run alongside tweets from the account that had garnered hundreds of thousands of views, CNN observed.