Page 12 - aruba-today-20210119

A12 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 19 January 2021
Extremists exploit a loophole in social moderation: Podcasts

By TALI ARBEL as a longtime QAnon fol-
AP Technology Writer lower and said in a recent
Major social platforms episode that her podcast
have been cracking down is “just my way of not be-
on the spread of misinfor- ing censored.” She said
mation and conspiracy she was kicked off Twit-
theories in the leadup to ter in January and booted
the presidential election, from Instagram four times
and expanded their ef- last year. She currently has
forts in the wake of the Jan. Instagram, Facebook and
6 Capitol riot. But Apple YouTube accounts; her
and Google, among oth- podcast is available on Ap-
ers, have left open a major ple and Google. Spotify re-
loophole for this material: moved the podcast Friday
Podcasts. after The Associated Press
Podcasts made available This combination of photos shows various podcasts, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021. inquired about it.
by the two Big Tech com- Associated Press X22 Report, RedPill78 and
panies let you tune into the like QAnon adherents, should not be treated any podcasts on Friday. (Ex- Hayes did not respond to
world of the QAnon con- support Trump. Podcast- differently than any other perts say that list measures requests for comment sent
spiracy theory, wallow in ing’s an intimate, human- content,” Segal said. “If a podcast’s momentum via their websites. Torres did
President Donald Trump’s izing mode of communi- you’re going to take a rather than total listeners.) not reply to a Facebook
false claims of a stolen cation that lets extremists strong stance against hate X22 Report said in Octo- message.
election and bask in other expound on their ideas for and extremism in the plat- ber that it was suspended Podcasts suffer from the
extremism. Accounts that hours at a time, said Oren form in any way, it should by YouTube and Spotify same misinformation prob-
have been banned on so- Segal of ADL’s Center on be all-inclusive.”Apple, and last week by Twitter. lem as other platforms,
cial media for election mis- Extremism. Spotify and Google curate It’s no longer available on said Shane Creevy, head
information, threatening Elsewhere on social me- lists of top podcasts and Facebook, either. It is sup- of editorial for Kinzen, a
or bullying, and breaking dia, Twitter,Facebook and recommend them to us- ported by ads for products startup created by former
other rules also still live on YouTube have been crack- ers. Apple and Spotify are such as survivalist food, un- Facebook and Twitter ex-
as podcasts available on ing down on accounts am- the dominant players in the licensed food supplements ecutives that offers a disin-
the tech giants’ platforms. plifying unfounded QAnon U.S., with other players far and gold coins, which run formation tracker to com-
Conspiracy theorists have claims that Trump is fight- behind, said Dave Zohrob, before and during the pod- panies, including some that
peddled stolen-election ing deep state enemies CEO of the podcast ana- casts. host or curate podcasts.
fantasies, coronavirus con- and cannibals operating a lytics firm Chartable. De- Several QAnon proponents Creevy points out that it’s
spiracies and violent rheto- child-sex trafficking ring. A spite its name recognition, affected by the crack- harder to analyze misin-
ric. One podcaster, Red- major talk radio company, Google remains a tiny pres- down sued YouTube in Oc- formation from video and
Pill78, called the Capitol Cumulus, told its hosts to ence. tober, calling its actions a audio than from text. Pod-
siege a “staged event” in a tone down rhetoric about Spotify said it takes down “massive de-platforming.” casts can also run for hours,
Jan. 11 episode of Red Pill stolen elections and violent podcasts that violate Among the plaintiffs are making them difficult to
News. The day before the uprisings or risk termination, its policies against hate X22 Report, RedPill78 and monitor. And podcasting
Capitol riot, a more popu- although it’s not clear what speech, copyright viola- David Hayes, who runs an- has additional challenges
lar podcast, X22 Report, impact that dictate has tions or break any laws, other conspiracy podcast in that there are no reli-
spoke confidently about had. using “algorithmic and hu- called Praying Medic that’s able statistics on their au-
a Trump second term, ex- Google-owned YouTube man detection measures” available on Apple and dience, unlike a YouTube
plained that Trump would axed “Bannon’s War to identify violations. Ap- Google, but not Spotify. stream, which shows views,
need to “remove” many Room,” a channel run by ple’s guidelines prohibit Melody Torres, who pod- or a tweet or Facebook
members of Congress to Trump loyalist Steve Bannon content that is illegal or casts at SoulWarrior Un- post, which shows likes and
further his plans, and said on Jan. 8 after he spread promotes violence, graph- censored, self-identifies shares, Creevy said.q
“We the people, we are false election claims and ic sex or drugs or is “other-
the storm, and we’re com- called for the beheading wise considered obscene, By Dave Green
ing to DC.” of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the objectionable, or in poor
Both are available on Ap- top U.S. infectious-disease taste.” Apple did not re- 7 5
ple and Google podcast expert. But podcast ver- ply to repeated questions
platforms. sions of Bannon’s show live about its content guide- 5 9 7 2
Podcasting “plays a partic- on at Apple and Google. lines or moderation.
ularly outsized role” in prop- Spotify took it down in No- Google declined to ex-
agating white supremacy, vember, according to one plain the discrepancy be- 8 1
said a 2018 report from the of its hosts. tween what’s available on
Anti-Defamation League. “Podcasts filled with hatred YouTube and what’s on 4 1 8 2 7
Many white supremacists, and incitement to violence Google Podcasts, saying
only that its podcast service 1 9
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