renee.diresta

@renee.diresta@threads.net

NEW 📖 Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality
✍🏼Studies influence, propaganda, abuse at SIO
🦹🏻‍♀️ Recurring Twitter Files supervillain

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renee.diresta, to random

This is an interesting interview with Dorsey in which he spills the 🫖 on his departure from Bluesky, which, for those who were on it early, was clearly a response to some moderation kerfuffles and ref-working early on.

Decentralized protocols are largely not subject to ref-working, for better or worse (forthcoming article on this!). That is true. But there are some coherence issues...

https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana

renee.diresta, to random

To catch everyone up:

  1. an NPR “whistleblower” wrote an article in The Free Press alleging anti-conservative bias at NPR three weeks ago
  2. the brand new CEO of NPR, Katherine Maher, had a bunch of tweets that revealed her to be progressive; opportunity!
  3. Rufo et al began to run their playbook: make the target a liability & discredit them
  4. when NPR’s board didn’t cave, they began to go after Wikipedia (she prev headed it) & Signal (she’s on the board)
  5. the BS went off the rails…
renee.diresta, to random

Catching up on one of my inboxes where crank mailing lists have sold the addresses to other crank mailing lists…

Your water is flooded with cancer, ibuprofen will kill you, and The AI is coming for antivaxxers...

renee.diresta, to random

Elon’s lawsuit against CCDH was just tossed — in a win for free speech. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.416212/gov.uscourts.cand.416212.75.0.pdf

renee.diresta, to random

This is going to happen more and more often as 3 things intersect:

  1. Generative AI tools have taken the cost of creation to zero. Text & images are effortless. Video…give it a year. Audio has been somewhat gated but companies are now competing.
  2. Social media already took the cost of distribution to zero. Content will largely be distributed over social.
  3. We live in a very low trust moment. Ppl will choose their own reality based on whether they already believe the claim/trust the messenger.
renee.diresta, to random

Idk what to think…I just got this URGENT text message and yet I see no “”election interference””… 🤔

renee.diresta, to random

Matt Taibbi has now gone on the Hill TV and claimed that my work is sponsored by DHS and State (it is not), so my calls to use section 230 to “bring these companies to heel” were an “overt threat” (I said no such thing; he lied about this below). CHD is quoting the appearance for their audience. This repetition is how they launder their lies into reality for their followers.

RE: https://www.threads.net/@renee.diresta/post/C4tpJ5NxuA5

mollyjongfast, to random

Wouldn’t the solution be to have more verified mainstream media Content on social media?

renee.diresta,

No; it’s not as simple as just seeing the content. It has a lot more to do with who these communities trust. There’s an increasing number of people who trust the podcast and influencer ecosystem, which some don’t even really see as “media.” It’s “people like me giving me news.”

bernybelvedere, to random

This is Catturd's new pinned post.

renee.diresta,

Paranoid victimhood + total ignorance of how algorithmic curation works.

renee.diresta, to random

Fascinated by Amazon leaderboards and product categorization for purely selfish reasons this time

RE: https://www.threads.net/@renee.diresta/post/C61juPfRBcL

renee.diresta, to random

I got an unexpected front row seat to the beginnings of ongoing conspiracy theorist rumblings about Signal last month because one thing paranoid cranks on Twitter love to do is play the “Transitive Property of Bad People” game.

Attacking Signal took off with a vengeance bc NPR didn’t cave and fire Katharine Maher, their new CEO, who is also on the Signal board. To punish Maher, rw activists mad at NPR began to go after all her affiliations. This is provocateur’s playbook 101. But anyway…

renee.diresta, to random

New work on SIO blog: “How Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Continues on Social Platforms”

We looked at threat indicators that Meta posted in its Q3 2023 transparency report (attributed to China, Russia, & Iran), noticed that some platforms had not taken down attributed accounts, found more accounts that appeared to be linked, and followed along for several months to see what happened.

https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/how-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-continues-social-platforms

renee.diresta, to random

📣 Some personal news: 1 month from today, my book is out! 🎉 Bookthreads

🏢 It’s ab propaganda, influence, influencers, & institutions.

🪡It explains why people increasingly live in bespoke realities.

🤑 And it breaks down how paranoid cranks run smear campaigns for clout, money, and power.

I wrote the book during a wild year in which Jim Jordan subpoenaed me & Stephen Miller sued me —to shut me up. It’s time to tell the story.

Preorders are open —and really matter! https://amzn.to/4bbiDJD

renee.diresta, to random

AI generated image followed by Meta AI’s generated summaries of the comment conversations about it. There are thousands of comments and “hey this is AI” is not rising to the level of notice.

(Shrimp Jesus, flight attendants, and maimed children are out; elderly quadruplets are in.)

renee.diresta, to random

This man unblocked me after NINE YEARS to imply I ran some kind of deep state sinister smear campaign targeting him. 💀

Literally nine years ago this happened and I never interacted with him again.

Incredible.

Fragile man boosts fragile man.

(Nassim Taleb, Paul Thacker, and Michael Shellenberger for the bullshit sandwich.).

renee.diresta, to random

Get Him To The Grift

RE: https://www.threads.net/

renee.diresta, to random

There is no magical network that functions well absent moderation because the issue is people — and Jack knows that. He didn’t want to deal with thorny complaints because it’s easier to have a blanket “do nothing” policy than to bear responsibility/make hard calls.

I’m very interested in devolving control to users, middleware, and other mechanisms for reducing interpersonal issues. But that future requires acknowledging clearly that there are real trade-offs to moving away from centralization.

RE: https://www.threads.net/@documentingmeta/post/C6yYPxNrjIr

renee.diresta, to random

I am on Meet the Press today! It’s a v good episode on threats to democracy in the 2024 election. The 1st segment is so important – four Secretaries of State discussing threats to election workers, and how they are keeping both elections & their people safe. I’m in the 2nd, w/ @anneapplebaum2000, talking about propaganda & autocracies. The episode really pulls together different aspects of the challenge.

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/may-26-the-threat-to-democracy-211655237643

renee.diresta, to random

Matt Taibbi writes first and asks questions after. It’s like journalism but in reverse.

RE: https://www.threads.net/@renee.diresta/post/C7SmBj0xTnD

renee.diresta, to random

🧵 I wrote ab the “is Signal secure?” manufactroversy on X. The Guardian wanted an explainer on why Elon & Jack were “concerned” about Signal. The answer, though, has nothing to do w/Signal’s product. It was part of an extended fight over whether woke NPR should be defunded & the CEO fired. Why? Because the CEO of NPR is on the board of Signal; by the Transitive Property of Bad People, Signal is thus compromised.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/18/npr-elon-musk-signal

renee.diresta, to random

Successful influencers create content for their audience, but also for the algorithm. If the algo changes they evolve - almost like species in an ecology. We’ve seen these shifts happen before –the FB Watch tab, for example, delivered massive reach to ppl who had very small followings.

This time what’s interesting is that it’s unconnected content. In the long run I’m a bit skeptical. It’s entertainment, but it’s not very “social” media. Ppl will wonder what ppl they chose to follow are doing…

RE: https://www.threads.net/@andreboso/post/C7lgP1Ioyil

renee.diresta, to random
  1. Good headlines
  2. This point about it taking a defamation lawsuit to make any headway in getting liars to stop is very real. Counterspeech is supposed to mitigate the need for suits but it isn’t working as well these days — factions just dismiss fact-checks and evidence as some kind of fabrication that corporate mind-control media wants you to believe.
renee.diresta, to random

Good. More of this. Hold the perpetrators of the Big Lie accountable — their lies about innocent people have profound costs.

RE: https://www.threads.net/@nycsouthpaw/post/C7pV3XGxOWS

renee.diresta, to random

🧵A sweeping essay by @anneapplebaum2000 covers how Russia, China, and Iran’s propaganda operations have morphed over the last few years. It covers their intersection with American conspiracy theorist communities online — and, most importantly, the conspiracy theorists in power in the far-right wing of the Republican Party. The men who hold gavels in the House of Representatives. 1/2

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-party-relations/678271/

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-party-relations/678271/

renee.diresta, to random

These articles!! How do you write this story without noting what his alt-mouthpiece Children’s Health Defense pushes out daily? His starring role in a measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 80+ kids? “His anti-vaccine views are his best-known position, but our colleague Jess Bidgood points out that Kennedy’s overall campaign is more traditionally populist”. 🫥

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/14/briefing/robert-f-kennedy-jr-2024-election.html

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