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Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by rvz on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @10:44AM (#32565639)
Twitter Inc. is indeed in very serious trouble if you have someone like Mudge whistleblowing.

Now looking at the chaos, damage control and the PR disaster that is happening at Twitter HQ after this, I have zero confidence in whatever Twitter HQ and the CEO is saying other than admitting their total incompetency towards how they handle information security at the company. All attempts to make this disaster disappear will not only fail, but will eventually backfire.

So what else was Twitter lying about?

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by winternett on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @11:09AM (#32566015)
Well, it's not even trending on Twitter, which is not really surprising.

There is nothing more evident about the fatal flaws in social media than when news concerning a platform is suppressed on the cited platform.

It highlights the failure of democracy they always purport, and it shows that they really shouldn't display a social "trending" page, because it is subject constantly to the politics and profit making of each platform.

Twitter's trending timeline had long been regarded as an accurate beacon of real life trends, but that really needs to be reevaluated by everyone as the company has regularly displayed "somewhat questionable" behavior in how they manage timelines alone. There is no real way this wouldn't trend somehow on Twitter in my opinion, as it's been on the front page of CNN and many other sites for a long time now.

The security breaches are factual, they have published many incidences of it themselves over years... Their actual reputation for lax security is what works against them most, but it's all on record.

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by wpietri on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @12:15PM (#32567130)
> There is nothing more evident about the fatal flaws in social media than when news concerning a platform is suppressed on the cited platform.

I just looked at the Trending panel and "Mudge" is #12 for me, with 4333 tweets. #11 is "Taco Tuesday", with 4172 tweets. #7 is "Virgo" with 98,500 tweets. So I'm not seeing a lot of evidence of suppression. I think it's just a pretty niche story. I think the allegations are important and worth investigating, but the specific nature of them looks way more interesting to tech insiders than general-audience users.

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by winternett on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @12:44PM (#32567558)
Everyone has a different trending timeline on Twitter which is now more based on who they follow. The trending timeline is "baked" and dictated also by moderators and paid promotion often... It's why topics like "K-POP" trend so much, even for people that don't even listen to it at all.

If you follow tech personalities, there's a higher chance you'll see the news.

On my music account on Twitter, I don't follow tech personalities and tech news outlets, but I do follow CNN Breaking News, and nothing about this major story has popped up all day long.

This is how the Twitter trending timeline is artificially baked... This story is a very big deal for everyone on Twitter, yet only a fraction of its user base will see the story. Privacy is important to every user on the platform, you'd think Twitter leadership at least would be trying to get a grip on the story first within the platform in a very public manner.

It happens on every major social platform at key points too, highlighting the conflict in their ability to maintain proper social credibility as platforms that report on trends that news channels and other institutions regularly cite.

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by wpietri on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @05:25PM (#32571759)
Given that you understand Twitter ranks based on interests, what's your evidence that this was "suppressed"? Rather than just ranked according to people's interests?

You seem to be saying that people should be interested in this story. I'm not sure I agree, but I definitely believe most Twitter users won't be. Is it a good headline? Sure. But does it have much direct and immediate relevance to their personal lives? Not for most Twitter users.

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by nr2x on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @01:05PM (#32567851)
You really think just after paying an FTC fine, staring down SEC actions, and a huge legal fight with Musk…Twitter is going to “suppress” the content to keep this a secret?

Sure.

Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by smsm42 on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @01:56PM (#32568599)
I don't have any factual evidence on the either side (I don't use Twitter at all, I even have Nitter extension to never visit that site even when linked to) - but I absolutely can believe they'd go for "all in" strategy, and keep messing with the feeds even in light of all that. If they felt they have the right and responsibility to control the information and shape the discussion on the Internet, they'd still feel that now, despite all the "mistakes were made" - in fact, they'd probably feel more urge to control things as they feel more threatened. And why not reduce the "misinformation" about their supposed wrongdoings - when all the most truest information about it has been already disseminated by them, why allow "irresponsible parties" to "misinform" the public? Surely it should be stopped. It's the way they always have been thinking, why would they change now?
Re:Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless cybe... by winternett on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @01:18PM (#32568036)
Yea. It works as damage control for credibility, which is under threat not only by the musk suit, but because of the last huge data breach they had.

Just an opinion mind you, but not from a hater or a "dunce".

This is a huge story of significant relevance to Twitter and all users on the platform.

"Suppressing unfavorable news" these days is just as big and profitable an industry as disinformation is.