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Social media platforms are set to be fined if they do not deal with misogynistic abuse and bosses could face jail - as the government draws up new measures.

A cross-party group of lords led by former culture secretary, Baroness Morgan, is proposing a new amendment to the Online Safety Bill which would legally require social media firms to prevent the online abuse and violence against women and girls.

The amendment to the bill, which is due to be debated on Tuesday, is backed by Tory and crossbench peers, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

It also means that companies who failed to remove misogynistic content would face fines worth up to 10 per cent their global turnover.

Bosses could even be jailed up to two years if the legal changes take place, which would treat online violence and abuse against women and girls in the same way as illegal child sexual abuse and terrorist content.

Last year, ministers rejected classing misogyny as a hate crime and instead the government compromised by creating a new offence of public sexual harassment.

In April it was feared thatWhatsApp could soon be banned if it refuses to comply with the new Online Safety Bill.

Under the Bill, tech companies will have a duty to find and remove illegal content being distributed through their social networking platforms.

But this could mean doing away with 'end-to-end encryption' - a security feature which scrambles messages to ensure that only the sender and recipient can read them.

Messaging services that use it, including WhatsApp, Signal, Viber and Element, have signed an open letter opposing the Online Safety Bill ahead of its final reading in the House of Lords.

'The UK government is currently considering new legislation that opens the door to trying to force technology companies to break end-to-end encryption on private messaging services,' it reads.

'The law could give an unelected official the power to weaken the privacy of billions of people around the world.

'We don't think any company, government or person should have the power to read your personal messages and we'll continue to defend encryption technology.'

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Government poised to fine social media platforms if they do not deal with misogynistic abuse - Daily Mail

The MIT Center for Constructive Communication (CCC) and the closely affiliated nonprofit Corticotoday announced the launch of a broad-based effort that draws on expertise in face-to-face human dialogue, digital networks, and machine learning to develop safe and trusted spaces for meaningful, nonpolarizing human connection and civic impact. This effort has attracted commitments of $21 million from philanthropic individuals and organizations, including a foundational gift from the international nonprofit Project Liberty. Of the total commitments, $8.5 million is directed to research conducted by CCC in collaboration with MITs Sociotechnical Systems Research Center, and the remainder to Cortico.

The goal is to develop and deploy technologies and methods to accelerate more trusted and meaningful communications within and across communities. Initial projects will research and experiment with new forms of social networks grounded in small group dialogue and decentralized social network designs, including the open-sourceDecentralized Social Networking Protocol(DSNP) that was released by Project Liberty in 2021. Other planned projects include the development of AI-powered sensemaking tools for community listening, as well as hardware to integrate real-life conversations with digital networks. These combined efforts focus on providing healthier alternatives to the current social media platforms controlled by dominant tech companies.

With growing evidence that social media is weakening our social fabric and threatening our democracy, its critical that we find new ways forward, says CCC Director Deb Roy, MIT professor of media arts and sciences and co-founder and CEO of Cortico. While we acknowledge that whatever new platform we develop wont be able to compete with social media platforms for entertainment value, they can provide alternative, scalable spaces for trusted and civil public discourse that is so critical for rebuilding a healthy democracy.The work enabled by this gift will advance CCCs research in sensemaking, machine learning, and digital design through a close collaboration with Cortico, which will work with CCC to develop prototypes that can then be translated into scalable solutions. These efforts involve launching pilot programs with a wide network of community organizations to evaluate which tools offer the greatest potential to create more trusted, less divisive communication.Research is based at the Media Lab with growing collaborations with the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center and the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.

This effort will draw on MITs strong cross-disciplinary research tradition to address the increasingly divisive nature of todays social media culture. I look forward to seeing how this collaborations in-depth research in AI, sensemaking, machine learning, and digital design will come together to help create more trusted social networks that will foster more meaningful and constructive dialogues, says Maria T. Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and vice president for research at MIT.

The effort will leverage a longstanding cooperative agreement between researchers at MIT and Cortico that enables collaboration on intellectual property, prototyping, and field pilots. In addition to Project Liberty, the effort is supported by Reid Hoffman, the Quadrivium Foundation, Yat Siu, the Knight Foundation, and Ray Chambers/MCJ Amelior Foundation.

Frank McCourt, founder and executive chairman of Project Liberty, sees support for this new effort as a critical investment to strengthen democracy that will highlight the importance of comprehensive, collaborative action. If we do this right, says McCourt, the dominance of a few Goliathan social media platforms will give way to a thousand Davids that support healthier digital communities and serve society at large.

"We at Project Liberty are committed to developing and delivering cutting-edge technology designed for the public good and helping to build an internet that puts people over platforms and enables constructive civic discourse, says Martina Larkin, CEO of Project Liberty. The work under way at MITs CCC and at Cortico, in collaboration with Project Liberty, will be critical to advancing this effort.

Fostering collaborations across the MIT campus and beyond, the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, based at the MIT Media Lab, leverages data-driven analytics to better understand current social and mass media ecosystems and designs new tools and communication networks to foster constructive dialogue, listening, and bridging across divides. To achieve this, CCC brings together researchers in AI, computational social science, digital interactive design, and learning technologies with software engineers, journalists, political scientists, designers, and community organizers. An important aspect of the center is its commitment to designing new models for more trusted and less toxic social networks.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Cortico maintains a long-term cooperation agreement with MIT that enables close collaboration with the MIT Center of Constructive Communication on intellectual property, prototyping, and field pilots. It is through Cortico that CCC deploys scalable projects into the field and works closely with experienced, locally based organizations and trusted influencers in underserved, marginalized communities across the country to help facilitate face-to-face conversation and surface diverse voices and nuanced perspectives needed to advance a more constructive and trusted public dialogue. To date, Corticos growing network has involved more than 10,000 participants throughout 38 U.S. states, working with more than 70 local and global organizations.

Project Liberty is an international nonprofit that describes itself as "accelerating the world's transition to an open, inclusive data economy that empowers people over platforms by working to mobilize the foundation of a new internet for the common good. Project Liberty is building a global alliance for responsible technology and bringing together technologists, academics, policymakers, civil society and citizens to build a safer, healthier tech ecosystem."

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MIT's Center for Constructive Communication takes aim at the ... - MIT Media Lab

The search for clues about what motivated a man to open fire on shoppers at a North Texas shopping mall is now focused heavily on social media.

NBC 5 Investigates has learned Allen Police detectives have obtained warrants seeking access to a number of the suspects accounts with major social media platforms. In warrant affidavits, investigators said they believe the accounts may provide a clearer picture of how and when the shooter began planning the assault on a crowd at the Allen Premium Outlets.

In one of the warrants, investigators describe images from a YouTube video entitled "Psychovision Face Reveal," posted on the day of the shooting. Investigators said they believe the video shows the gunman wearing a Scream mask,then removing the mask to reveal his face.

A link to that video was also posted on Russian social networking site OK.ru, where NBC 5 Investigates viewed it along with dozens of other posts on what appears to be the suspect's own page.

That page also contains images that suggest the shooter scouted the Allen outlet mall just weeks before the attack to see when it is busiest. Some of the posts include photos of what appears to be the shooters Nazi tattoos, along with posts containing a litany of grievances and rants about women and various ethnic and religious groups.

NBC 5 has learned police are working to gain access to a number of the Allen mall shooter's social media accounts. Search warrants obtained detail how police believe accessing those accounts may provide a clearer picture of how and when the gunman began planning the deadly attack.

We do know that he had neo-Nazi ideation, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Hank Sibley said at a news conference Tuesday.

Tom Petrowski, a former FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force supervisor told NBC 5 investigates he suspects the shooter may have turned to a foreign social media site to publish some of the content because it would be less likely that people who knew him would see the posts and alert authorities.

Putting this stuff on an obscure Russian platform, he knows that that's just not going to go anywhere, Petrowski said.

In hindsight, Petrowski said it seems easy to connect the dots in the social media posts about what the attacker was planning. But, he said its much more difficult for investigators to find those posts and take action before an event without help from the public, especially given the litany of disturbing posts he says now populate social media sites worldwide.

We look at things he was posting online and they're very troubling. But, the sad truth is the social media platforms around the world are just saturated with material like this, Petrowski said.

After reviewing some of the posts, Petrowski said it seems the shooter hoped investigators would find his Russian social media page after the attack. In one post it even appears he left a coded message for police a little more than two weeks ago. A note above that message seems to taunt authorities challenging them to solve the puzzle.

To me, it looks like he targeted the location rather than a specific group of people. He was very random. And the people he killed, it didn't matter the age, race or sex. He just shot people.

Authorities said Tuesday that they are continuing to review digital evidence to gather more information about the shooters ideology and motivations, but said the gunman appeared to fire randomly on the crowd.

To me, it looks like he targeted the location rather than a specific group of people. He was very random. And the people he killed, it didn't matter the age, race or sex. He just shot people, Sibley said.

Meanwhile, the search warrants obtained by NBC 5 Investigates also reveal more details about the weapons involved in the attack.

The warrant affidavits said the gunman was equipped with a tactical vest, 10 rifle magazines, an AR-15-style rifle, a handgun and six pistol magazines.

Authorities confirmed Tuesday that the shooter once had a Texas security guard's license but said the license had lapsed in recent years.

They also said they are trying to learn more details about the mans sudden departure from the U.S. Army and questions surrounding his fitness for duty.

The Army has said the suspect was discharged in 2008 before even completing basic training.

Questions about the shooters military background, and the social media posts, leave Petrowski wondering if a tragedy could have been avoided if only someone had seen the posts and spoken up.

We keep repeating the, you know, 'see something, say something' mantra, but that's really what it comes down to, he said.

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Allen Mall Shooter May Have Left Messages for Police in Social Media Posts - NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

As part of its broader roll out of a central location for creator analytics and tools, which is designed to make it easier to manage all aspects of your content in the app, LinkedIn has also now added some new topic and post prompts to help guide creators in building their in-app presence.

LinkedIn has been rolling out its new Analytics and tools dashboard to users that have had Creator Mode switched on over the last few months. Creator Mode provides a full overview of content performance, as well as the creator-specific tools available to you.

As you can see in these screenshots, Analytics and Tools, available on the left side panel of the app (to those with Creator More active), will show you content performance over time, and topics associated with your profile (which you can add to), as well as a full listing of the creator elements available to you in the app (e.g. LinkedIn Live, Newsletters, CTA links).

As noted, LinkedIns been rolling this out to selected users since February. But just recently, it added another element to the Creator Mode dashboard Conversations Happening Now, which includes a new Post Ideas listing.

As per LinkedIn:

In the Conversations happening nowsection, youll see a sample of posts that might be relevant to you and your audience. The posts that appear in this section are based on the content you have previously posted and topics your audience might be interested in. You can click on the post to review in more detail and consider reposting them with your own commentary to join the conversation.

The initiative is part of LinkedIns broader effort to prompt more users to post more often, with LinkedIn also experimenting with AI-generated post prompts to help get you thinking about what you might want to post to maximize engagement with your in-app audience.

Which, in some ways, feels a little inauthentic. The idea is that Creator Mode gives you a means to highlight your expertise and knowledge within your niche. But if LinkedIns doing all the curating for you, that feels like it could help people gain more notoriety with less oversight and insight, and without really understanding the full scope of the industry.

Which, of course, is even worse if you start using AI to create those opinion posts for you. That could see LinkedIn flooded with a lot of empty opinions based on such, as opposed to facilitating genuine insight, and respective interaction with actual experts.

Then again, your posts likely wont get attention if your opinions are rubbish, so there is some need for original thinking on top of these prompts. But it does seem like this could get misused by some to improve their standing without doing the actual research and having the experience required to make it look like you know what youre talking about.

But either way, it will help LinkedIn to increase engagement, which remains at record high levels, as the platform continues to grow.

Maybe, from LinkedIns perspective, thats enough of a win in itself and when coupled with the need for original insight to truly separate yourself from the crowd, itll be hoping that that will be enough to weed out the fakers in the app.

The new Conversations Happening Now element is available to English language users of Creator Mode if its not available in your tools as yet, its coming soon.

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LinkedIn Adds New Topic Prompts to Help Creators Build Their ... - Social Media Today

Back in the late 90s to early 2000s the internet and its artefacts were still in its nascency. Back then the overall impression of the world wide web was filled with intrigue, not fatigue. Back then we waited in agony to download music off illicit websites certain to willingly lace our PCs with the nastiest of viruses; while we prayed on bended knees to any-and-every deity that our dial-up connections survive the errant phone call from nosy-nobodies.

With the turn of the century came a slew of social media sites: Myspace, Hi5, Bebo, Orkut, Facebook, Twitter and the likes. They promised a new world, where long-lost high-school friends could connect with each other across continents. Where your friends and you could find solace in sharing every bit of your life with each other. Where everyone was truly connected to each other, and perhaps happier for it? Such was the allure of social media that even primarily image and video based platforms such as YouTube and Instagram eventually bent over backwards to integrate its features within their platforms.

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As I see it, such sites providing a human connect heralded the era of hyper-socialisation in the digital realm. Finally, those who had long dreamt of harnessing the power of the internet to turn the world into a global village had found their wildest dreams come true. But in hindsight, those were the very hands that creaked open Pandoras box.

Many foresaw the internet boom back then, but no one could have predicted just how ominously omnipresent the digital landscape would become in our day-to-day lives. Nearly 20 years later, we are glued to our mobiles, tablets and laptops. Inseparable from our online avatars. Our devices, just a step away from becoming full-fledged organic appendages. Instant gratification has become the name of the game.

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Much has been said and written about our constant interconnectedness brought about by the online world. Weve come a long way since the halcyon days of sporadic emails, clunky chat messengers, cringe-inducing online avatars and noisy dial-up modems. Were all living our virtual lives in the digital autobahn baby, all without any of the necessary safety measures. What started off as a seemingly innocuous endeavour in global interconnectedness has now become a worryingly vital part of daily life, for many if not all.

There are several reports and research documenting the detrimental impact of social media on our mental health. This one states, Intense use of SNS (Social Networking Sites) including using those in odd hours were found to be significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Another one claims prolonged social media use has been linked to biological and psychological indicators associated with poor physical health.

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While the allure of being constantly online is hard to resist, theres potentially something far more sinister pulling at our strings, like a ventriloquist beneath the hood of our favourite sites. Natasha Schll the author of Addiction by Design claims that several social media sites use methods similar to the gambling industry to keep users on their sites, she adds, In the online economy, revenue is a function of continuous consumer attention which is measured in clicks and time spent. So, dont be too hard on yourself if you find yourself obsessively swiping through an endless rabbit hole of reels, memes and photo dumps. Some of it is by design.

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However, this level of connectivity comes at a steep price. The incessant notifications and perpetual distractions can leave us feeling overwhelmed and disconnected from our immediate surroundings. Not only that, but social networking sites can also present an illusion of perfection that is usually untrue, which in turn can breed a host of body image issues. Moreover, we can often find ourselves caught in a delicate dance between staying connected and yearning for a moment of respite. A futile jig, where neither is achieved in the end.

Experts suggest our time on social media and social networking sites be limited to just 30 minutes. But you and I know that our numbers make for a far poorer reading than that. In my case, my phone usage from a couple of weeks ago shows I spent nearly 3-5 hours online daily. Now, I can try and justify it by chalking it off as a career hazard, but that would just be avoiding the alarmingly-sized elephant in the room: Im chronically online and something needs to be done about it.

From the moment my day begins, till I retire for the day, my mind is hooked on to a world that isnt tethered to the real realm. Beyond research and reports, personally, I find myself increasingly distracted, irritable and exhausted on days when I had to wade through the murky waters of social media. Much to the chagrin of my IRL (in real life) people, who for no fault of their own, found themselves interacting with a husk of a person.

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Now, before anyone comes to the conclusion that Im some doomsayer of social media, let me clarify that it is a powerful tool, especially when used for good. A pivotal scene from Jude Anthany Josephs recently released film 2018 recreates a real life instance of the brilliance of social media quite powerfully. During the 2018 Kerala Floods, the government found themselves critically short-staffed to handle a disaster of such magnitude. Lets not forget that it was the worst flood in the states history in nearly a century. Cue, enthusiastic Malayali youngsters who created WhatsApp groups to recruit volunteers for the relief and rescue efforts.

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Naturally, there was a deluge of fake news too, but these WhatsApp groups effectively transformed into mobile control rooms wherein volunteers tried their best to screen out any tips received, before passing on information that was accurate and relevant. Most importantly, rescuers received help from thousands of youngsters at a time when official communications were overwhelmed thanks to the accessibility of WhatsApp and social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

During the Covid19 pandemic, sites like YouTube, Instagram and Facebook became hotspots for virtual gatherings at a time of social distancing. Clubhouse was another app which took off during the lockdown, as it helped thousands, if not millions, of isolated people to interact with other humans.

Missing persons have also been found through the power of social media. Aside from that, these platforms are a great tool to explore ones creative senses, champion activism and even find love (if youre into that). So its not all doom and gloom in the digital realm. So, how do we strike a perfect balance?

At a time when everyone is online, moving offline feels like a privilege, if not an act of rebellion. Due to its overwhelming presence in all factors of life, taking your attention offline often can also seem like a deliberate attempt to move against the grain. But so be it, if thats what it takes to take care of oneself.

I wouldnt call myself a chronically online person, says Ishaan*, a practising lawyer, however, things changed after the pandemic where I had nothing to do but be online, even courtrooms had shifted online. He adds, I dont know (when it began), but I remember getting into constant arguments online, at the slightest hint of a trigger.

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I found myself becoming hypersensitive in real life too. Picking fights and getting into unwarranted arguments. I think thats when I decided to take stock of the impact my digital life was having on my real life he concludes.

Ishaan is one of many who have begun to re-negotiate their relationship with social media. And as expected, like any other addiction, it hasnt been an easy path. It took him several months and numerous ups and downs, to gain some control over his online activities. However, he feels it's all for the better, as he finds himself less irate and more present in the moment. Something that had been a fever dream for him for several years.

Beyond the digital landscape, it is crucial to find anchors in our actual physical world, especially for people of the generation that was raised by the internet. Finding a sense of community, fresh hobbies and a digital detox, are among several suggestions prescribed online (the irony isnt lost on me).

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As for me, I tried a digital detox last year wherein I deleted all social media apps off my phone for 3 months. I had the bright idea of going cold turkey and not too long after I began noticing the physical manifestations of my chronic online behaviour. Like a forlorn lover, my sorry thumbs twiddled away in search of apps that had long been binned. I found the intensity of these physical sensations ceased (though not entirely) after a couple of weeks, during which I took to old hobbies and interests like writing songs and working out. The biggest realisation from the detox was actually finding control of those phantasmal hours that were lost to endless doom scrolling.

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Funnily, after 3 months I reinstalled the apps for work. And no sooner, I returned to my previously wired-self once again. I managed to be mindful of my usage for a grand total of 10 days, after which I was back among my old habits.

For better or for worse, this chronically online world is our fait accompli. And were in for a bumpy ride.

*name changed due to privacy reasons.

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Beyond The Likes A Struggle To Rediscover Real Life, Away From The Online Hive - MensXP.com