All posts tagged: social networks

The Person Behind Those Viral Polycule Ads Says It’s Just a Joke

Published by skeptic

The flyer on a pole in San Francisco was very straightforward, if a little bewildering. It read, “Seeking New Polycule Member: We recently had a defector in our polycule and are seeking a new member.” A link at the bottom invited anyone interested to apply to join a polycule—a group of cohabitating adults all in a consensual romantic relationship. The ad seemed almost normal at first, inviting applicants to join a “fun-loving, diverse, ragtag bunch of lover people.” The more you read, the weirder it gets. The link went to an application page hosted on Notion, where responders could share information about themselves, like their hobbies, their waistline (in inches), and whether they were interested in being a part of a “breeding pool.” Courtesy of Danielle Egan “Please do not think of this as an application!” the website read. “We prefer to think of it more like the X-Factor, but for finding another soulmate.” This went viral, of course, spreading across X and Reddit. Some people saw it as a joke. Many were seemingly furious …

X copies Bluesky with a ‘Starterpacks’ feature that helps you find who to follow

Published by skeptic

Bluesky’s “Starter Packs,” the curated lists of suggested users to follow, have proven a popular way to help people connect with others on the social network — so popular, in fact, that X is now copying the feature. On Wednesday, X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, announced in a post that the Elon Musk-owned app will soon introduce its own version of these lists, which it’s calling “Starterpacks.” (How original!) The idea behind the new feature is to help users find accounts that match their interests across a range of categories, including News, Politics, Fashion, Technology, Business & Finance, Health & Fitness, Gaming, Stocks, Memes, and more. However, unlike Bluesky’s Starter Packs, which anyone on the platform can make and share with others, X created its own lists internally. As Bier explains in his post on X, the company “scoured the world for the top posters in every niche and country” over the past several months to compile its lists. In other words, the packs are based on X’s internal data — not on individual …

ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky after its verification

Published by skeptic

ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has now become the No. 3 most-blocked account on Bluesky, after receiving its official verification on Friday, according to third-party trackers. Bluesky users, unsurprisingly, are angry about the government account being hosted on the platform. Many are recommending that others block the account directly or subscribe to a block list that includes all of the U.S. government’s official accounts. The blocklist was introduced after the White House and other government agencies under the Trump administration signed up for Bluesky last October to post messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. The accounts that joined at the time included the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce, Transportation, the Interior, Health and Human Services, State, and Defense, in addition to the White House itself. The move made the White House one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky, and today it remains in the No. 2 position, just behind Vice President J.D. Vance, per stats shared on the tracking site Clearsky. (The site leverages Bluesky’s API to track which accounts are the most …

Why Are Grok and X Still Available in App Stores?

Published by skeptic

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok is being used to flood X with thousands of sexualized images of adults and apparent minors wearing minimal clothing. Some of this content appears to not only violate X’s own policies, which prohibit sharing illegal content such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), but may also violate the guidelines of Apple’s App Store and the Google Play store. Apple and Google both explicitly ban apps containing CSAM, which is illegal to host and distribute in many countries. The tech giants also forbid apps that contain pornographic material or facilitate harassment. The Apple App Store says it doesn’t allow “overtly sexual or pornographic material,” as well as “defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content,” especially if the app is “likely to humiliate, intimidate, or harm a targeted individual or group.” The Google Play store bans apps that “contain or promote content associated with sexually predatory behavior, or distribute non-consensual sexual content,” and well as programs that “contain or facilitate threats, harassment, or bullying.” Over the past two years, Apple and Google removed a …