Twitter suspends accounts skirting Trump ban

Twitter on Thursday confirmed that it pulled the plug on several accounts trying to skirt its ban on former president Donald Trump by promoting his blog posts.

The ex-president launched a page on his website earlier this week promising comment "straight from the desk of Donald J Trump."

The page was made public just before Facebook's independent oversight board on Wednesday upheld the platform's ban on Trump.

Twitter accounts with names playing on Trump themes and seeking to amplify the Trump website posts were taken offline, according to the platform.

"As stated in our ban evasion policy, we'll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account," a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.

Twitter said it permanently suspended Trump's account after the deadly January 6 Capitol riot because there was a risk he would further incite violence, following months of tweets disputing Joe Biden's presidential election victory.

False and misleading claims about American politics have plummeted, a trend for which Twitter and Facebook are keen to take credit.

With Trump muted, Biden less engaged on social media, and no election cycle underway, Americans are now living in a different media ecosystem.

"The single most important thing was de-platforming Donald Trump," said Russell Muirhead, a Dartmouth University professor and co-author of "A Lot of People Are Saying," a book whose title plays on one of Trump's most popular sayings, used when promoting unproven theories.

"It has removed a daily blizzard of misinformation from the ecosystem," Muirhead told AFP. "Not being bombarded is helping people's misinformation immune systems to reset themselves and recover."

Social media was long Trump's weapon of choice, letting him fire off comments without having to explain or back claims.

Twitter lets people leave tips for some tweeters
San Francisco (AFP) May 7, 2021 - Twitter on Thursday began letting some users add virtual tip jars to accounts so people can support their tweets by tossing in money.

A limited number of users around the world who tweet in English can add a "Tip Jar" feature to their profiles, according to Twitter senior product manager Esther Crawford.

The group included creators, journalists, experts, and non-profits.

"You drive the conversation on Twitter and we want to make it easier for you to support each other beyond Follows, Retweets, and Likes," Crawford wrote in a blog post.

"This is a first step in our work to create new ways for people to receive and show support on Twitter - with money."

A Tip Jar icon on a profile page indicates an option to be taken to services such as Patreon, PayPal or Venmo to send money to a creator, according to Crawford.

Twitter does not take any cut of tips, she said.

"Soon, more people will be able to add Tip Jar to their profile and we'll expand to more languages," Crawford said.

The one-to-many global messaging platform is keen to broaden its ranks of users and get people spending more time at the service.

Twitter last week reported weaker-than-expected earnings and disappointing user growth.

Twitter has struggled to expand beyond its core audience of celebrities, journalists and political leaders, even if it has become an important forum for policy debates.

Twitter has faced challenges in tackling misinformation and abusive content even as it strives to become a platform for political discourse.

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Facebook fights influence-for-hire campaigns
San Francisco (AFP) May 6, 2021
Facebook said Thursday that it had taken down nine deceptive online campaigns as marketing firms make a business of using fake accounts to sway opinions. The campaigns aimed posts or comments at people in Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Mexico, Palestine, Peru, and Ukraine, according to the leading social network. "All of the organizations targeted primarily or exclusively audiences in their own countries," Facebook head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said during a briefing. "Uk ... read more