Octopus Overlords

Elon Musk’s latest tweak to Twitter, the former name of what he now calls X: Users will no longer be able to block other accounts — as Musk claims the feature “makes no sense.”

“Block is going to be deleted as a ‘feature’, except for DMs,” the tech mogul posted on X Friday. “Makes no sense.”

X/Twitter describes block as “a feature that helps you control how you interact with other accounts on Twitter. This feature helps people in restricting specific accounts from contacting them, seeing their Tweets, and following them.” Blocking other accounts is useful if someone is harassing, threatening or stalking you on the platform.

Instead of using the “block,” Musk suggested that X users can use the mute feature instead. However, the social network’s mute button simply removes an account’s posts from your timeline without unfollowing or blocking that account — whereas blocking an account prevents another account from viewing your public posts on X. When you “mute” X/Twitter accounts, they are still able to reply to your public posts (you just don’t get notification and they are hidden from your view by default).

It is impossible for Elon Musk to disable blocking without getting the app removed from the Apple and Google Play stores, per their Terms of Services

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 11:00 am With everyone sharing that news, I'm seeing this now appended to the news stories that are being Xeeted:

It is impossible for Elon Musk to disable blocking without getting the app removed from the Apple and Google Play stores, per their Terms of Services

Smoove_B wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 11:00 am With everyone sharing that news, I'm seeing this now appended to the news stories that are being Xeeted:

It is impossible for Elon Musk to disable blocking without getting the app removed from the Apple and Google Play stores, per their Terms of Services

Zaxxon wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 2:55 pm And for those not on there, I have a couple of invites. PM if you want out of the Bad Place.

Alefroth wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 9:20 pm Is there a browser based version? If so, I'd give it a go if you still have an invite.

Zaxxon wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 8:18 am

Alefroth wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 9:20 pm Is there a browser based version? If so, I'd give it a go if you still have an invite.

I don’t think there is.

Zaxxon wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:58 pm It’s run by Jack Dorsey, in some fashion.

Exodor wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 1:16 pm

Zaxxon wrote: Sat Aug 19, 2023 4:58 pm It’s run by Jack Dorsey, in some fashion.

He's on the board but I think it's as accurate to say he "runs" Bluesky as it is to say Linda Yaccarino "runs" Twitter.

X, which was formerly known as Twitter until its recent rebranding, is having a problem displaying old posts that came with images attached or any hyperlinks converted through Twitter’s built-in URL shortener. It’s unclear when the problem started, but it was highlighted on Saturday afternoon in a post by Tom Coates, and a Brazilian vtuber, @DaniloTakagi, had pointed it out a couple of days earlier.

As it is, it appears to affect tweets published prior to December 2014, judging by posts visible on my own account. No videos are affected (Twitter only added native image support in 2011 and built-in videos in 2016), but links to YouTube, for example, are now just text with a t.co URL that doesn’t work.

...

The timing for the cutoff in pictures and links that are broken seems related to changes Twitter made in 2016, adding “enhanced URL enrichment” to show previews for linked websites and native attachments that didn’t count against Twitter’s 140-character limit. According to developer documentation, the metadata for these additions “began emerging” in December 2014.

RunningMn9 wrote: Sun Aug 20, 2023 8:40 pm Logged in today, to be greeted with a feed that is suddenly and unexpectedly 98% pro-Tesla propaganda. I follow like five Buffalo Bills beat reporters. There are 10 TSLA posts for every Bills related post. I’m sure that’s an accident.

Elon Musk says that he plans to make another move that will complicate news media outlets effort to draw traffic to their content on Twitter/X.

He confirmed a report in Fortune that the platform will strip out the headline from story links so that the links are only from the article’s lead image.

“This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics,” Musk wrote on Twitter/X on Monday.

Victoria Raverna wrote: Tue Aug 22, 2023 8:35 pm What is to stop people from adding headline texts on the lead image to counter this? Is X going to use AI to remove text from the image?

X, the social network that you can access at twitter.com, is planning to collect users' biometric information, employment history, and educational history, according to an updated privacy policy. "Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes," the new policy says.

X posted the new version of its privacy policy yesterday, saying it will go into effect on September 29. The current privacy policy that doesn't include collecting biometric data and employment history will remain in effect until September 29.

The new policy says that X "may collect and use your personal information (such as your employment history, educational history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement, and so on) to recommend potential jobs for you, to share with potential employers when you apply for a job, to enable employers to find potential candidates, and to show you more relevant advertising."

The biometric data and employment history disclosures are listed in the section, "information you provide us." The policy does not say what kind of biometric data X would collect. We contacted X about the changes and will update this article if we get a response.

malchior wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:23 pm It's so stupid.

By the way, not sure if this has been discussed but I've noticed they've stopped marking Ad content as "Promoted". It just looks like any other Xweet now. I'm also seeing some general fuckery in the feed but it's to be expected at this point.

stessier wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 1:06 pm New Twitter privacy policy inbound!

X, the social network that you can access at twitter.com, is planning to collect users' biometric information, employment history, and educational history, according to an updated privacy policy. "Based on your consent, we may collect and use your biometric information for safety, security, and identification purposes," the new policy says.

X posted the new version of its privacy policy yesterday, saying it will go into effect on September 29. The current privacy policy that doesn't include collecting biometric data and employment history will remain in effect until September 29.

The new policy says that X "may collect and use your personal information (such as your employment history, educational history, employment preferences, skills and abilities, job search activity and engagement, and so on) to recommend potential jobs for you, to share with potential employers when you apply for a job, to enable employers to find potential candidates, and to show you more relevant advertising."

The biometric data and employment history disclosures are listed in the section, "information you provide us." The policy does not say what kind of biometric data X would collect. We contacted X about the changes and will update this article if we get a response.

ImLawBoy wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:43 pm Are people using biometrics to log into Twitter? I'm trying to figure out how they're getting biometrics.

I'm then wondering if their lawyers have familiarized themselves with the Illinois law regarding biometrics . . . .

ImLawBoy wrote: Thu Aug 31, 2023 2:43 pm Are people using biometrics to log into Twitter? I'm trying to figure out how they're getting biometrics.

I'm then wondering if their lawyers have familiarized themselves with the Illinois law regarding biometrics . . . .

in Newswire Published on July 18, 2023
Twitter Captured, Stored Illinois Users’ Biometric Data Without Consent, Class Action Says