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How could a policy intended to protect against doxxing and harassment go so wrong, so quickly?Last week, Twitter announced it would start penalizing users who tweet “private media”, or images of other users shared without their consent, “that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate and reveal the identities of individuals”. The platform would allow users to report other users sharing their images. If a review concluded the complaint had merit and the image wasn’t used for a journalistic or public interest purpose, those accounts would be deactivated. Activists swiftly warned that the policy as it was published would backfire. The policy was vague and had been put together without much input from the communities most vulnerable to harassment and doxxing, the activists argued. They had little faith in Twitter’s reporting and appeals process, which they described as unreliable, automated and allowing for little discussion about the enforcement of policies.And indeed, hours after the policy became public, users affiliated with far-right movements like the Proud Boys and others espousing QAnon conspiracies put out calls to their followers, urging them to weaponize the new rules to target activists who had posted about them.On 1 December, for example,…

James Martin/CNET Twitter has begun testing an overhauled process for users to report harmful tweets, with the goal of simplifying the process by asking users to describe what they're seeing, the social network said Tuesday.Instead of requiring users to identify which Twitter rule a tweet violates, Twitter's new "symptoms-first" approach asks them what they felt was wrong with a tweet, relieving them of the burden of interpreting Twitter's rules. Twitter likened the new approach to an emergency room situation in which a doctor asks where the patient is feeling pain rather than asking if they have a broken leg. Get the CNET Now newsletter Spice up your small talk with the latest tech news, products and reviews. Delivered on weekdays. "What can be frustrating and complex about reporting is that we enforce based on terms of service violations as defined by the Twitter Rules," senior Twitter UX manager Renna Al-Yassini said in a blog post. "The vast majority of what people are reporting on fall within a much larger gray spectrum that don't meet the specific criteria of Twitter violations, but they're still reporting what they are experiencing as deeply problematic and highly upsetting."The testing, which will begin with a…

You may not have heard of messaging service Quill, but it was positioned as a Discord- or Slack-style app for team communications that tried to be less noisy and more structured. The platform only launched this past February, but today Twitter has announce it is purchasing Quill and shutting it down this weekend. Twitter's tech GM Nick Caldwell announced the move this morning, and Quill confirmed the news in a blog post on its own site. The fact that it's shutting down this weekend is a stunningly fast turn-around; Quill is offering details on how to export data, which any team using it will probably want to do ASAP. (They'll also want to go and find a new messaging service to use post-haste.)  The app had billed itself as "messaging for people that focus," and it's not clear how that mission will continue as part of Twitter. Caldwell said that the goal was to have the Quill team help "make messaging tools like DMs a more useful & expressive way people can have conversations." Chances are good this is more of an acqui-hire situation, in which Twitter wanted to have the Quill team working on Twitter's existing products. Given how…

I closed my DMs, changed my notification settings, and got my life back. Escape the harassment, at least somewhat, by changing your Twitter notifications. Credit: Bob Al-Greene / Mashable Essentials Week spotlights unexpected items that make our daily lives just a little bit better.I’m in a love-hate relationship with Twitter. I love the online friendships I’ve fostered through K-pop fancams, Gossip Girl memes, and media industry woes. And I hate the fact that everything I’ve learned about NFTs has been against my will because some cryptoperson tweeted it into the ether and it has now been retweeted onto my timeline. In the spirit of truthfulness, I feel extremely validated by retweets, likes, and positive replies. I am a Virgo. I run solely on coffee and validation from others. But, ultimately, I hate how addicted I am to this app. My iPhone tells me that I currently spend more than 15 hours a week on Twitter, or just a little over two hours a day — and that’s not accounting for all of the hours I put in on my desktop throughout the work day. I’m not alone in my habitual need to stay chronically online. The average person spends two hours and 24…

by Tony Crumpton - Assoc. Editor - Sunday, December 5, 2021, 9:05 PM Some things don't last forever. Elite defensive coordinator Brent Venables is leaving Clemson to become the new head coach at Oklahoma. The Oklahoma private plane picked him up on Sunday night and there will likely be a Monday press conference to officially announce his reunion with the Sooners. Check out some of the reactions on Twitter from the big hire by the Sooners: NO ONE BETTER. . .#LEGEND https://t.co/f9JkmCW07R— ?? DJ Uiagalelei ?? (@DJUiagalelei) December 6, 2021 So happy for coach. He deserves it more than anyone. Hardest working man I have ever known. Y'all take care of him!! @OU_Football— Xavier Thomas (@atxlete) December 6, 2021 Much love Coach V ???? @CoachVenables— KJ Henry (@thekjhenry) December 6, 2021 Yall better party bout this one, hes that dude ?? https://t.co/6NgU4jPoBE— KJ Henry (@thekjhenry) December 6, 2021 would love for @CoachVenables to stay here forever because of who he is, but you gotta be so happy for this man and his family. nobody more deserving! https://t.co/LTAwoG5EXG— ???????????? ?????????????? (@D_Rench_) December 6, 2021 Nothing but love for you Coach ! https://t.co/7pA27gDvfn— TGroovy???? (@_TreWilliams) December 6, 2021 ??— Joe Castiglione (@soonerad)…

Alec Baldwin's main Twitter account has been deleted days after his first sit-down interview since the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.Baldwin, 63, had two verified Twitter accounts, one of which he was particularly active on. It is that account, @AlecBaldwin, which has been shut down and deleted from the social media platform.In November, the account switched its settings to 'private', meaning the only those users allowed to follow the account were able to see any new tweets or postings, but that account has now disappeared entirely. A second account, @AlecBaldwln____, still appeared to be active on Monday although the most recent tweet was from October 19th with any prior content being from June. In November, Baldwin’s Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Foundation account set its account to private too. By Monday morning, that account, along with Hilaria's personal Twitter accounted was also deleted. Hilaria has though kept her gushing Instagram page, where she frequently posts videos of her children and photos of herself and Alec, active. At present, it is not known what prompted the actor and his wife to delete their although the timing coincides perfectly with last week's sit down TV interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in which Baldwin gave his version of what happened…

A Fine Gael TD has claimed victory online after a bizarre online sparring match with outspoken MMA fighter Conor McGregor. he controversial fighter from Crumlin took to Twitter to vent his views on Covid-19 vaccines and his belief that Ireland should leave the EU last night.  He also posted a photo of Fine Gael spokesperson on European Affairs Neale Richmond cheering at a football match at the Aviva stadium, implying that the politician was under the influence of ecstasy. “Were you on E in the Aviva last week?” McGregor posted on his official Twitter account @TheNotoriousMMA. He added; “Happy, sweaty sap. Mandate vaccine is coming per EU. But which one even? 1st? 2nd? Boost? Omicron? And the message to be delivered by the same people will just do as they are told.” But the TD shot back with a barb of his own, tweeting: “Here champ. It’s Neale,” referring to McGregor’s misspelling of his name.  "But when you’ve picked up that missing ‘e’ that was right in front of you, you’ll see that EU membership has been good for Ireland & the vaccines have ensured lots of Irish people haven’t died when you were off on some yacht in the Med.” But Richmond’s coup…

| India's all-round bowling show limited New Zealand to 62 in their first innings in Mumbai| Blackcaps TwitterAfter Ajaz Patel bagged a record 10-wicket haul in India’s first innings effort of 325 in the ongoing second India-New Zealand Test in Mumbai, the hosts bundled out Blackcaps for a paltry 62 to take a massive 263-run lead. It was the lowest ever Test innings total for any team against India. Responding to India’s first-innings score of 325, New Zealand were dented quite early by Mohammed Siraj, who sent back Will Young and Daryl Mitchell in the fourth over of the innings. He castled Ross Taylor with a peach off the very first ball of his next over, to leave the Blackcaps at 17/3.Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4/8), Axar Patel (2/14), and Jayant Yadav (1/13) then ran through the middle and lower order, to bundle the visitors out for 62. It was the lowest ever Test innings total for any team against India, the previous being South Africa’s 79 all-out in Nagpur in 2015. Overall, it was New Zealand’s sixth-lowest total in Test cricket.Unplayable delivery!Great awareness! pic.twitter.com/CMvcmfo67r — Lodu_Lalit (@LoduLal02410635) December 4, 2021Taylor's reaction tells you all! pic.twitter.com/g8xhN16KLP — Lodu_Lalit (@LoduLal02410635) December 4, 2021What was…

New Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has begun restructuring the company and two senior executives have already stepped down as part of the reorganisation plan. According to a report in The Washington Post citing an internal email, Twitter's Chief Design Officer Dantley Davis, who joined the company in 2019, and Head of Engineering Michael Montano, who joined in 2011, have quit. "Dantley's departure is singularly focused around shifting our organisational model around a structure that has one lead manager supporting a key company objective," a Twitter spokesperson was quoted as saying in media reports late on Friday. "We don't have further details to share on these changes out of respect for the individuals involved," the spokesperson added. In an email Agrawal had written that the company has recently updated its strategy to hit ambitious goals, "and I believe that strategy to be bold and right". "But our critical challenge is how we work to execute against it and deliver results -- that's how we'll make Twitter the best it can be for our customers, shareholders and each of you." He added. According to Twitter, "Parag is focused on operational excellence and setting Twitter up to hit its goals and these changes…

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