6 ms·

I don't believe the point was ever to convey an complete understanding of the system, but to allow for the identification of "red flags": Specific functions tha

by 34679 4y ago

I don't believe the point was ever to convey an complete understanding of the system, but to allow for the identification of "red flags": Specific functions that would be deemed controversial or counter to equal opportunity speech.

madeofpalk 4y ago
Is the idea somewhere in the-algorithm there's a function called `derankGOPMembers()`? Twitter's been pretty transparent in how it "deranks" certain accounts [1]. What more would come from opening the code that certainly not include the actual database of "no no terms" (if you were to believe that exists)? [1] https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2022/our-ongoing-approach-to-the-war-in-ukraine https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2022/our-ongoi...
- 34679 4y ago
  The idea is that people should be able to find out if there is such a function. It's taking a stance that Twitter has nothing to hide. In my opinion, it's a great way to build trust with users, something that all of the popular social media platforms lack.
- arthurcolle 4y ago
  take a look at the Twitch leak sometime. There was a hard-coded list of bad words (largely racial epithets & other 4chan constructions). Presumably there is a way to create some kind of config file to penalize "bad users" of Twitter, I know these things existed in other orgs I've worked at
- EricE 4y ago
  Twitter is transparent in how they do shadow bans? They still deny they are a thing but it's clear to see the network effects of them. Twitter is transparent - that's the most hilarious thing I have read today!
  - madeofpalk 4y ago
    Has there ever been any actual indication of twitter shadow bans being a real thing, or are we putting it in the same "weird conspiracy theory" category as "facebook listens using microphone to target ads"? I follow a few people in "gamer/twitch twitter" and every now and then this meme pops up of twitter secretly deranking "go live" twitch.tv tweets, which is much more palatable to these people than the reality of just no one caring about their boring tweets.
    - charcircuit 4y ago
      Yes, there is. I had a friend accidently shadow ban himself by posting nsfw art without marking it as nsfw. After that his future posts wouldn't show up when searching hashtags he had tweeted on. He had to make a new account until the older one was good again.
    - KrishnaShripad 4y ago
      > Has there ever been any actual indication of twitter shadow bans being a real thing Please stop living in this bubble. There have been plenty of reports of Twitter shadow banning speech it doesn't like. It has even suspended accounts multiple times only to reinstate them by saying it was an "algorithm error" or it being "wrongly flagged". In India we regularly see Twitter suspending accounts that have not violated any Indian law. All because it doesn't align with the left-leaning ideology of Twitter. Even trends are boosted to favor left-leaning news portals over right-leaning news portals (which is visible in the trends section). An example: https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/bringbacktrueindology-twitter-suspends-rw-account-amid-spat-with-ips-official-d-roopa-netizens-outraged https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/bringbacktrueindology-... ^ This account specifically was suspended a total of 3 times. Ultimately the anonymous account owner decided to come out in the open and open a Twitter account in his real name. He got banned again very recently. In all those instances, there was not even one tweet of his that "crossed the line" when it came to anything illegal. Be it speech, instigation of violence or even a curse word. Nothing at all. The suspension was purely ideological.
      - 4y ago

by 34679 4y ago

madeofpalk 4y ago

Is the idea somewhere in the-algorithm there's a function called `derankGOPMembers()`? Twitter's been pretty transparent in how it "deranks" certain accounts [1]. What more would come from opening the code that certainly not include the actual database of "no no terms" (if you were to believe that exists)? [1] https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2022/our-ongoing-approach-to-the-war-in-ukraine https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2022/our-ongoi...

34679 4y ago
The idea is that people should be able to find out if there is such a function. It's taking a stance that Twitter has nothing to hide. In my opinion, it's a great way to build trust with users, something that all of the popular social media platforms lack.
arthurcolle 4y ago
take a look at the Twitch leak sometime. There was a hard-coded list of bad words (largely racial epithets & other 4chan constructions). Presumably there is a way to create some kind of config file to penalize "bad users" of Twitter, I know these things existed in other orgs I've worked at
EricE 4y ago
Twitter is transparent in how they do shadow bans? They still deny they are a thing but it's clear to see the network effects of them. Twitter is transparent - that's the most hilarious thing I have read today!
- madeofpalk 4y ago
  Has there ever been any actual indication of twitter shadow bans being a real thing, or are we putting it in the same "weird conspiracy theory" category as "facebook listens using microphone to target ads"? I follow a few people in "gamer/twitch twitter" and every now and then this meme pops up of twitter secretly deranking "go live" twitch.tv tweets, which is much more palatable to these people than the reality of just no one caring about their boring tweets.
  - charcircuit 4y ago
    Yes, there is. I had a friend accidently shadow ban himself by posting nsfw art without marking it as nsfw. After that his future posts wouldn't show up when searching hashtags he had tweeted on. He had to make a new account until the older one was good again.
  - KrishnaShripad 4y ago
    > Has there ever been any actual indication of twitter shadow bans being a real thing Please stop living in this bubble. There have been plenty of reports of Twitter shadow banning speech it doesn't like. It has even suspended accounts multiple times only to reinstate them by saying it was an "algorithm error" or it being "wrongly flagged". In India we regularly see Twitter suspending accounts that have not violated any Indian law. All because it doesn't align with the left-leaning ideology of Twitter. Even trends are boosted to favor left-leaning news portals over right-leaning news portals (which is visible in the trends section). An example: https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/bringbacktrueindology-twitter-suspends-rw-account-amid-spat-with-ips-official-d-roopa-netizens-outraged https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/bringbacktrueindology-... ^ This account specifically was suspended a total of 3 times. Ultimately the anonymous account owner decided to come out in the open and open a Twitter account in his real name. He got banned again very recently. In all those instances, there was not even one tweet of his that "crossed the line" when it came to anything illegal. Be it speech, instigation of violence or even a curse word. Nothing at all. The suspension was purely ideological.
    - 4y ago