Meta is failing to enforce its own rules against anti-trans hate speech on its platform, a new report from GLAAD warns. The LGBTQ advocacy group found that “extreme anti-trans hate content remains widespread across Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.”
The report documents dozens of examples of hate speech from Meta’s apps, which GLAAD says were reported to the company between June 2023 and March 2024. But though the posts appeared to be clear violations of the company’s policies, “Meta either replied that posts were not violative or simply did not take action on them,” GLAAD says.
The reported content included posts with anti-trans slurs, violent and dehumanizing language and promotions for conversion therapy, all of which are barred under Meta’s rules. GLAAD also notes that some of the posts it reported came from influential accounts with large audiences on Facebook and Instagram. GLAAD also shared two examples of posts from Threads, Meta’s newest app where the company has tried to tamp down “political” content and other “potentially sensitive” topics.
“The company’s ongoing failure to enforce their own policies against anti-LGBTQ, and especially anti-trans hate, is simply unacceptable,” GLAAD’s CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement.
Meta didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But GLAAD’s report isn’t the first time the company has faced criticism for its handling of content targeting the LGBTQ community. Last year the Oversight Board urged Meta to “improve the accuracy of its enforcement on hate speech towards the LGBTQIA+ community.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/anti-trans-hate-is-widespread-on-facebook-instagram-and-threads-report-warns-215538151.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Launched just a few months ago in July, Threads underwent a massive surge in signups with Twitter, or…
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The Threads social network has somewhere around 100 million users, and a good many of them are posting screenshots of the ticket that shows when they joined the service.
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Threads was missing a lot of features users would expect from a service similar to Twitter’s (now X’s) when it launched. Over the past few months, however, it has been been rolling out more and more new features to give users a more robust experience, including polls, an easy way to post GIFs and the ability to quote posts on the web. Still, since it doesn’t have an API, third-party developers can’t conjure features specific to their services that would make the social network a more integral part of people’s everyday lives. An example of that is local transportation agencies being able to automatically post service alerts when a train is delayed. According to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, though, Threads is working on an API for developers — he just has concerns about how it’s going to be used.
As first reported by TechCrunch, Mosseri responded to a conversation on the platform about having a TweetDeck-like experience for Threads. In a response to a user saying that Threads has no API yet, the executive said: “We’re working on it.” He added that he’s concerned that the API’s launch could mean “a lot more publisher content and not much more creator content,” but he’s aware that it “seems like something [the company needs] to get done.”
Mosseri previously said that Threads won’t amplify news, which may have been disappointing to hear for publishers and readers looking to leave X. Instead, he said, Threads wants to “empower creators in general.” More recently, in an AMA he posted on the platform, Mosseri said that that his team’s long-term aspiration is for Threads to become “the de facto platform for public conversations online,” which means being both culturally relevant and big in terms of user size. He said he believes Threads has a chance of surpassing X, but he knows that his service has a long way to go. For now, he keeps his team focused on making people’s experience better week by week.
Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that Threads has “just under” 100 million monthly active users. Like Mosseri, he is optimistic about its future and said that there’s a “good chance” it could reach 1 billion users over the next couple of years.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-head-says-threads-is-working-on-an-api-for-developers-140049094.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Having recently become available to access on the web, a new and possibly even more important feature has been confirmed to be on the way to Threads. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed via Threads that the X (formerly Twitter) competitor will soon gain the ability to search for keywords. And, if you happen to […]
Come comment on this article: The keyword search function is already being tested on Threads
Threads by Instagram will get a web version as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Earlier this month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised a web version with better search functionality, and Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said that one is in testing. Currently, a full version of Threads is only available on iOS and Android, with limited read-only functionality on browsers.
A web version is near the top of the list of most-desired features for Threads, but the company is exercising caution with the release. “It’s a little bit buggy right now, you don’t want it just yet,” Mosseri said Friday on Instagram. “As soon as it is ready we will share it with everybody else.”
Threads recently added new features to Threads like the ability to set notifications and view posts in chronological order. The company also started labeling state-controlled media outlets after some were seen posting propaganda. Another new update is the “repost” tab makes it easier to see all reposted content. (X, previously called Twitter, recently renamed “retweets” to the more generic “reposts,” ironically following Threads’ lead.)
A web version would be coming at a good time for Threads. After a torrid launch with over 100 million users signing on in the first week, the number of daily active users (DAUs) dropped down to 80 percent by mid-August. Still, Threads is by far the most successful alternative to X, which counted around 238 million DAUs in August 2023 and 364 million monthly active users, X reported last year.
In any case, the launch of a web version will be particularly useful for social media power users, just when Twitter has put one of its key tools for those folks, Tweetdeck, permanently behind a paywall.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-web-app-could-arrive-this-week-082645402.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Threads is about to get vastly more useful as Meta has started rolling out the option to see a chronological feed of posts from the people you follow. Many observers said this was a key feature Threads needed to truly compete with Twitter, long a vital source of real-time information. But as Twitter (sorry, X) owner Elon Musk continues to reduce his app to rubble, Threads is looking like a more viable destination for up-to-the-minute news and updates. You'll need to update to the latest version of Threads to see the chronological feed, but since this is a gradual rollout, it might not appear for you immediately.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the rollout of the chronological feed on his Instagram broadcast channel (Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, said a while back that such an option was on the way). The Meta CEO added that Threads has gained another vitally important feature in the form of translations. Zuckerberg said there was more to come, hopefully including the ability to post to Threads from the web, direct messages, improved accessibility, better search and a TweetDeck-like way to keep tabs on Threads posts.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-adds-a-chronological-feed-as-twitter-burns-to-the-ground-152817251.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics
Instagram Threads is Instagram’s answer to Twitter. It has many of the same features, including a verified badge. Here’s how to get one for yourself!
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If you want to get a glimpse of Mark Zuckerberg's "privacy-focused" vision for Facebook, then look no further than Instagram's new social app: Threads. This new standalone, camera-first messaging app is an extension of Instagram's Close Friends featu…
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Imagine if instead of pulling your phone out to look at a notification you could just look at your sleeve? These color-changing threads, developed by researchers at UC Berkeley, could one day make that a reality.
The post These threads can change color and could one day make your shirt a display appeared first on Digital Trends.