Elon Musk's Twitter continues to be disturbing and entertaining in roughly equal measure.
With most of the site's engineers retiring or being fired, former employees warned that it was only a matter of time before systems started to break down, and now we see the first important example of this …
All movies in Twitter at first system crash
As with all major user-generated content platforms, there are automatic systems in place to detect copyright infringements. They use various matching algorithms to detect when copyrighted music and videos are posted and automatically respond to any agreements made with copyright holders.
In many cases, this will result in automatic removal of the material , and in other cases may result in the monetization of messages for the copyright owner. In any case, the failure to detect copyrighted material and take appropriate action leaves the platform open to potentially major lawsuits.
Twitter's infringement detection system appears to be down, according to Forbes.
Last night, it became apparent that Twitter's automated copyright warning/removal system was no longer working. A user went viral for downloading the entire “Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift” in two minutes within 50 tweets.
Twitter eventually responded by manually suspending the account, but even thereafter, the film itself remained available. Looks like movie studio and music label lawyers are busy.
Emergency services are concerned
Twitter has proven to be an invaluable tool for emergency services at all levels: federal, state, county and city. But as the verification system is broken and the reliability of the entire platform is now in jeopardy, there are concerns about the potential dangers this would pose.
The Washington Post reported on a number of examples, including this one:
For law enforcement trying to alert the public to an active crime scene, Twitter can be “essential,” said Salt's Brent Weisberg. Lake City Police. This was confirmed last week when officers investigated a potential bomb threat at the hospital and it took hours to determine the area was safe.
“Here you have a situation where thousands of people are involved in one particular location, and we needed to get information,” Weisberg said. The department posts were brief—announcing the operation and noting which street to avoid—and they were picked up by local reporters. If Twitter shuts down, “the consequences would be enormous,” [he added].
Trump will bring Twitter back
Last month, Musk promised that no suspended account would be reinstated until it was reviewed by the Content Moderation Board.
Twitter will generate content moderation advice from a wide variety of viewpoints.
No major decisions will be made regarding the maintenance or recovery of the account until this council is convened.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
It looks like the advice has been replaced by all of Twitter, bots and all.
The Restoration of Former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk), November 19, 2022
Musk has confirmed in a poll that Trump's account has been reinstated.
People have spoken.
Trump will be restored.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk), November 20, 2022
NPR's David Gura noted that Musk didn't appear to have read much of the Latin he was quoting.
Here is Alcuin's full quote with translation: pic.twitter.com/1QtIx81LY8
— David Gura (@davidgura), November 20, 2022
Whether Trump will actually tweet is an open question. Understandably, investors in Trump's own social media platform, Truth Social, pushed for a clause that would by contract restrict the former president's ability to tweet. Trump himself says he will not return to Twitter, and Musk (and probably most of us) doubts he can resist. (Musk subsequently deleted his tweet meme.)
Kanye West/Ye also returned with a post &# 8220;Shalom” tweet after his ban for intemperate antisemitic posts.
The head of the advertising department resigns; Musk asks her to come back, then fires her
Twitter Ads Head Robin Wheeler also had an interesting time recently:
- Musk used her to reassure advertisers that Twitter is still safe.
- Wheeler quit the next day
- Musk convinced her to come back
- A week later, he reportedly fired her
Wheeler confirmed this by referring to her past tense role by tweeting a welcome emoji taken by former Twitter employees who either jumped or were pushed.
CBS News Bay Area Stops Tweeting Then Returns
CBS News Bay Area stated live and confirmed with a tweet that it will stop using the platform, at least at the moment.
In light of the uncertainty around Twitter and because of the large cautions ty CBS News Bay Area is suspending its activity on the social networking site as we continue to monitor the platform.
— KPIX 5 (@KPIXtv) November 19, 2022
The monitoring didn't seem to take long, as the station returned less than 48 hours later.
< h2 id="h-elon-musk-s-twitter-antics-prompt-new-parody-site">Elon Musk's Twitter antics suggest new parody site
Finally, Twitter works great, it says in a new parody site modeled after Web3, Going Just Great. The new site certainly has a lot of stuff to work with …
