Social Media News
News Detectives interviews a libertarian social media expert and fellow substacker. Plus - how Yubo helped the Uvalde shooter, New York's dystopian crackdown on social media, and why Elon might walk.
Social media. Love it or hate it - this digital tool is here to stay.
The question going forward is will social media remain a productive, positive place for people online? Was it ever good for us to begin with? Will social get better?
The industry makes its way into news headlines every day. Twitter, Facebook and TikTok dominate, followed by Instagram, LinkedIn, and….wait for it….Truth Social.
Tomorrow - News Detectives 🔍 will interview a social media expert (and fellow substack writer) who is also politically active in libertarian causes such as free speech and free markets.
We will ask our guest about Musk’s Twitter takeover, Facebook, the metaverse, censorship, and more.
Be watching for this audio podcast conversation coming out to subscribers this Wednesday evening (June 8).
Meanwhile, let’s look at some social media news…
~ New York Requiring Social Media Companies to Report ‘Hateful Conduct’
“It is a rather controversial move, given the varying interpretations of what constitutes “hate speech” in a world where far-left radicals consider “misgendering” someone an intrinsically “hateful” act.
The announcement comes weeks after the Democrat governor announced an executive order establishing a police unit dedicated to combatting “hate speech.”
~ Elon Musk Might Bail on Twitter Buyout Due to Those Nasty Fake Profiles
“Huge bot networks have been detected in the past, including some spanning over 500,000 fake accounts within a single cluster alone. Back in 2019, Wired reported that bot profiles were dominating political news streams, with bot profiles contributing up to 60% of tweet activity around some events, while in 2017, researchers from the University of Southern California and Indiana University found that around 48 million Twitter accounts were automated – amounting to 15% of active Twitter accounts.
Despite these findings, Twitter has consistently maintained that only 5% of accounts on its platform are fake, and that number has remained static since the company went public back in 2013.
Which seems unlikely, right? I mean, how can that figure remain static all the way through?
Based on this, and the fact that Twitter’s ad business relies on the accuracy of its audience reach data, Musk would appear to have a case in arguing that if Twitter can’t provide more accurate figures, or a better explanation of its assessment, then that is a breach of the deal’s terms.
Musk has equated this to buying a house which turns out to be infested with termites.”
~ What’s Yubo, the ‘Tinder for Teens’ Social Networking App Used by the Uvalde School Shooter?
“Formerly known as Yellow, Yubo is a social media platform that mixes livestreaming with social networking. Based out of Paris, France and founded in 2015, it's a mobile-only platform, meaning that it requires an iOS or Android device in order to join the network.
Yubo's user base is made up mostly of teens and young adults. According to TechCrunch, the company says 99 percent of its users are part of Gen Z and range from 13 to 25 in age. Mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates that the Yubo app has been downloaded more than 18 million times in the U.S.
For a while, Yubo earned the tagline of "Tinder for Teens." Yubo's developers first developed the app to connect Snapchat users after realizing young people were looking to make new connections on the platform. Snapchat is generally meant as a social platform for users and people they already know. Users and their posts are not publicly searchable like they would be on platforms like Twitter or Facebook.”