Send Link mailing list submissions to
[email protected]
To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
[email protected]
You can reach the person managing the list at
[email protected]
When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of Link digest..."
Today's Topics:
1. Russia blocks Signal (Stephen Loosley)
2. World Federation of Advertisers discontinues small brand
safety initiative (Stephen Loosley)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2024 17:36:09 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Russia blocks Signal
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Russia blocks Signal messaging app as authorities tighten control over
information
Share: AP Updated August 10, 2024
https://apnews.com/article/russia-crackdown-signal-messenger-blocked-2adc9c67fc749727c41375f5b5ffb2a3
MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia?s state communications watchdog said Friday it has blocked
access to the Signal messaging app, the latest move in the authorities? efforts
to tighten controls over information amid the fighting in Ukraine.
The agency, Roskomnadzor, said it made the decision because of Signal?s
?violation of the requirements of Russian legislation which must be observed to
prevent the messenger?s use for terrorist and extremist purposes.?
Signal uses end-to-end encryption, making it difficult for the Russian
government to intercept communications.
Russian authorities expanded their crackdown on dissent and free media after
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
They have blocked multiple independent Russian-language media outlets critical
of the Kremlin, and cut access to Twitter, which later became X, as well as
Meta?s Facebook and Instagram.
In the latest blow to the freedom of information, YouTube faced mass outages on
Thursday following repeated slowdowns in recent weeks.
Russian authorities have blamed the slowdowns on Google?s failure to upgrade
its equipment in Russia, but many experts have challenged the claim, arguing
that the likely reason for the slowdowns and the latest outage was the
Kremlin?s desire to shut public access to a major platform that carries
opposition views.
-
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2024 18:30:24 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] World Federation of Advertisers discontinues small
brand safety initiative
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
`
World Federation of Advertisers discontinues small brand safety initiative
after Elon Musk?s X sues
AP Updated 2:14 AM GMT+10, August 10, 2024
https://apnews.com/article/x-twitter-advertiser-lawsuit-garm-discontinues-e64b99a501d9f69abbeebc1c479688d7
NEW YORK (AP) ? A small brand safety initiative is ceasing operations ? days
after being targeted by social media platform X in a lawsuit alleging the group
helped coordinate a ?massive advertiser boycott? after billionaire Elon Musk
bought the company in 2022.
The World Federation of Advertisers has confirmed that it?s discontinuing its
Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative.
https://wfanet.org/leadership/garm/about-garm
In a Friday statement, the advertising group said that recent allegations
?unfortunately misconstrue (GARM?s) purpose and activities? ? adding that this
?caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances.?
X, formerly Twitter, sued the World Federation of Advertisers and member
companies Unilever, Mars, CVS Health and Orsted on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, took particular aim at GARM?s
alleged role that X says contributed to an advertising pause after Musk
acquired the company for $44 billion in October 2022.
X alleged that advertisers conspired with and through GARM ?to collectively
withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue? from the company. The suit
also alleges that the defendants violated antitrust laws in the process, citing
recent findings from the Republican-led U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
Parents of 3 students who died in Parkland massacre, survivor reach large
settlement with shoo?No small group should be able to monopolize what gets
monetized,? X Ceo Linda Yaccarino wrote on the platform Thursday, in response
to a post from the Judiciary Committee GOP that celebrated the news of GARM
discontinuing operations. She called the move a ?necessary step in the right
direction.?
GARM?s end may mark a victory for X right now, but the company could still face
a lengthy battle in court with the group of advertisers it?s sued. And whether
any of GARM?s digital safety work will continue through the larger World
Federation of Advertisers organization was not immediately clear.
GARM was founded in 2019. The initiative was employed by a small team of two, a
spokesperson for the World Federation of Advertisers confirmed to The
Associated Press.
Since its launch, the group noted in its Friday announcement, GARM worked to
enhance transparency in social media ad placements by providing voluntary tools
?to help advertisers avoid inadvertently supporting harmful and illegal
content.?
This helped reduce such ads from 6.1% in 2020 to 1.7% in 2023, the World
Federation of Advertisers said.
This week?s lawsuit from X center on the early days of Musk?s takeover of the
platform formerly known as Twitter, and not a more recent dispute with
advertisers that came a year later.
In November 2023, a number of advertisers began fleeing X over concerns about
their ads showing up next to pro-Nazi content and hate speech on the site
overall.
Musk later said those advertisers were engaging in ?blackmail? and, using a
profanity, essentially told them to go away. He?s since attempted to walk back
those comments some.
--
------------------------------
Subject: Digest Footer
_______________________________________________
Link mailing list
[email protected]
https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
------------------------------
End of Link Digest, Vol 381, Issue 8
************************************
