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The team at the newly popular Twitter alternative Hive is in over its head. The company has now taken the fairly radical step of fully shutting down its servers for a couple of days in response to concerns raised by security researchers who discovered a number of critical vulnerabilities on Hive, several of which they say remain unfixed. The issues they found would allow attackers access to all data, including private posts and messages, shared media and even deleted direct messages, as well as the ability to edit other people’s Hive posts. The researchers, a part of a German collective called Zerforschung, claimed they confidentially reported the security vulnerabilities to Hive’s team, noting it was initially difficult to reach a point of contact at the company. Several days later, Hive replied, claiming the issues to be fixed, a Zerforschung blog post explains. However, the researchers found this was not the case, so they took their concerns to the public, warning people against using Hive’s app. Shortly after, Hive announced it was temporarily shutting down its servers to address these problems. It also claimed, across several tweets, that they never told the researchers the issues were “fixed” but that they were

Twitter isn’t Iran’s biggest social network—WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram are more popular—but as in many other countries, it is used to share breaking news and real-time updates on events. It stops Iran from being an information black hole. “This is a pivotal space for people to express themselves, to connect with friends and family, to mobilize around demonstrations, and then also to hold governments to account,” Grothe says. “We really are seeing Twitter being used by folks on the ground,” Alimardani says.Videos and images shared by protesters have been used to shine a light on the actions of the Iranian police forces and officials. A BBC investigation has used social media data to help identify young people and children killed in the nationwide protests. There is no official record of those who have died during the protests, and HRANA estimates that only 3,400 people who have been detained by officials have been identified. More than 18,000 have been arrested.High-profile accounts both inside and outside Iran, belonging to those on the ground, members of the Iranian diaspora, and researchers, are sharing hundreds of videos of what is happening in Iran. For example, opposition activist collective 1500tasvir has seen its Farsi Twitter account grow

Elon vs. Apple — Musk: Apple threatened to pull Twitter from iOS and "mostly stopped advertising." Jon Brodkin - Nov 29, 2022 5:10 pm UTC Getty Images | Samuel Corum Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk yesterday asked if Apple "hates free speech"—because the iPhone maker isn't spending as much on Twitter advertising as it used to. "Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter. Do they hate free speech in America?" Musk wrote. "What's going on here @tim_cook?" Musk didn't explain how Apple's Twitter ad spending is related to its stance on free speech. But he subsequently wrote a series of tweets criticizing Apple's policies and claimed that Apple threatened to pull Twitter off the iOS App Store. "Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won't tell us why," Musk wrote a bit later. Musk did not provide further details on Apple's demands or explain how Apple conveyed the message to Twitter. "It's a real problem. Apple and Google effectively control access to most of the Internet via their app stores," Musk wrote today. Twitter moderation laxer under Musk Apple does pull apps from the iOS store for violating App Store policies, and many developers

By  |  Nov. 29, 2022 2:40 PM PST Photo: Tim Cook and Elon Musk. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan Twitter’s impending relaunch of its subscription product, Twitter Blue, could bring Elon Musk’s fight with Apple to a head. Twitter Blue Verified, as the product is called, had been scheduled to roll out on Friday but only on Apple’s iOS mobile software, according to a person briefed on the plans. (Late Tuesday, Twitter postponed the planned launch without setting a new date, according to a person briefed on the plans.) And because Twitter plans to launch the subscription offering via an update to Twitter’s iOS app, according to internal documents from earlier this month viewed by The Information, it needs Apple’s approval as part of the standard app review process. Twitter will update its Android app later, although the time frame couldn’t be learned.

Twitter’s revamped Blue subscription might not be available as an in-app purchase on iOS when it eventually relaunches so that it can dodge Apple’s 30 percent cut of App Store purchases, according to Platformer. When the new Blue was briefly available earlier this month, you could only purchase it through Twitter’s iOS app. But while Elon Musk is publicly tweeting his displeasure with Apple, it appears he wants to avoid having to pay Apple’s fees. Musk had said that the new Blue, which allows people to purchase a blue verification check mark, was set to relaunch on Tuesday after signups were paused following a wave of impersonators. But that launch has been delayed, Platformer says, and The Verge has also heard of the delay from a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Twitter employees have been told that there will be other changes to Blue, including a one-cent price increase from $7.99 to $8 and requiring phone number verification, Platformer reports.Over the course of this month, Musk has ramped up his tweets targeting Apple. On November 18th, he criticized the App Store’s cut by calling it a “hidden 30% tax on the Internet.” And on Monday, he claimed that

CNN Business  —  Twitter owner Elon Musk’s dictatorial management style risks driving the company headlong into unforced business blunders, content moderation disasters and the degradation of core platform features that help keep vulnerable users safe, according to a former top Twitter official who led the company’s content moderation before abruptly resigning this month. The social media company’s botched rollout of a paid verification feature “is an example of a disaster that slipped through” amid the chaos Musk brought to Twitter, and the prospect of further disasters made it impossible to stay, said Yoel Roth, the company’s former head of site integrity, during an onstage interview with the journalist Kara Swisher Tuesday in his first public appearance since quitting Twitter on Nov. 10. Roth and other colleagues tried to warn Musk of the “obvious” problems in his plan to offer a verified check mark to any user who paid $8 a month. But Musk charged ahead anyway through sheer force of will, leading to a wave of new impostor accounts posing as major brands, athletes and other verified users that soon forced Twitter to suspend the feature. “It went off the rails in exactly the ways that we anticipated,” Roth said.

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Mr Musk is the first influencer to become chief executive of their favourite platformBy Joe TidyCyber reporter Tuesday, 17 January 2023 is the day analysts predict Elon Musk will become the number-one influencer on Twitter.With 120 million followers, his account, @ElonMusk, is already the second most followed, after @BarackObama, the former US president's, which has 130 million.And following a meteoric rise in the month since he bought Twitter, Mr Musk's will inevitably overtake, statisticians at Social Blade say. This will be an unprecedented moment.The social-media industry has never before seen a platform with a chief executive who is also its biggest personality.So if Mr Musk is to become both Twitter's chief executive and its "chief influencer", what are the implications - for the billionaire and for the website? BBC News has asked experts for their thoughts on three key statistics. Your device may not support this visualisation Musk is gaining 270,000 followers a day In spite of recent controversies, Mr Musk's popularity on Twitter is undeniable and growing. Over the past 12 months, he has gained 268,303 followers a day, on average, according to Social Blade, and lost followers on only five days, which can

The antagonist at the center of one of baseball Twitter’s most juvenile skirmishes speaks with the remnants of a Texas drawl. He tells dad jokes and laughs easily, as he did when he answered the telephone the night before Thanksgiving and explained that he had just been “arguing with Mrs. Sugar Penis.”“It’s still brought up a couple times a week,” said Brian Thomas, a 53-year-old engineer and devout fan of the Texas Rangers, who is known more widely by his notorious nom de Twitter, @MrSugarPenis.To a tiny subset of Very Online baseball fans, the risqué handle needs no further elaboration. It was nine years ago when Thomas scrolled through his timeline and came across a Tweet promoting a column he found to be nonsensical. It was penned by the prominent national baseball writer, Ken Rosenthal.What followed was the kind of brief, snarky and hilarious exchange that has made users nostalgic for Twitter’s good ol’ days — or, perhaps more accurately, the slightly less cesspooley ol’ days — before the service’s future became a source of consternation following its purchase by billionaire Elon Musk. Rosenthal, at the time writing for Fox Sports, thought that he landed a knockout blow when he

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Lamar Jackson didn’t seem to handle losing to Jacksonville very well. He certainly didn’t want anyone blaming him for Baltimore’s 28-27 setback to the Jaguars that ended with Justin Tucker missing a 67-yard field goal.Jackson blasted a fan on Twitter for suggesting the Ravens let the star quarterback leave in free agency at the end of this season because “games like this should not come down to” Tucker. The fan added “Let Lamar walk and spend that money on a well-rounded team.”Jackson snapped back using profane and inflammatory language, saying the fan “never smelt a football field” before later deleting his response.“I don’t like losing,” Jackson said after the game. “Nobody likes losing, but it is what it is.”Jackson completed 16 of 32 passes for 254 yards and a touchdown. He also ran 14 times for 89 yards and lost a fumble. His receiving corps dropped at least four passes, including ones by Mark Andrews and Demarcus Robinson in the end zone.The Ravens (7-4) settled for three short field goals in five trips inside the 20-yard line and were 1 for 3 in goal-to-go situations.“Just have to score more points, try to score more points early

Dang it, dang it, dang it. They could have won that game, should have won that game, and by all accounts, the Raiders tried to give them that game. But of course, things ended up materializing quite differently than many of us anticipate... The Seattle Seahawks stayed at home following their bye and hosted the Las Vegas Raiders, who entered this game holding a 3-7 record. Things got going pretty quick for the Seahawks, as Quandre Diggs jumped Derek Carr’s first pass... and then intercepted another shortly later. Unfortunately, this defense wouldn’t keep up this torrid pace all afternoon, as the team ultimately fell to the Raiders in overtime. A disappointing ending, to be sure, but it was an exciting game nonetheless. Still, confidence is rapidly eroding in this once plucky team that is starting to look just a little bit... less plucky. The Seahawks are 6-5 which in a vacuum isn't terrible but back to back losses to the Bucs and Raiders is a bad, bad look. in this one in particular, offense wasn't clutch and the defense appears to have seriously regressed.— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) November 28, 2022 Seahawks absolutely had their chance to win that game in