CEO Mark Zuckerberg was silent for weeks following the attacks, yet the world has refused to let this story go. Here is a summary of three extraordinary weeks for Facebook. It’s now three weeks since Christchurch, and those directly impacted are preparing to face the accused in court this morning, still incredibly raw. Haji Daoud … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shareholders approve of sale of TradeMe to private equity firm, family ties between Shane Jones and logging boss, and Newsroom journalists detained in Fiji. TradeMe shareholders have given overwhelming backing to a takeover offer from a British private equity firm called Apax Partners, reports Business Desk. It’s the … Read more
If Facebook’s announcement that it’ll ban praise and support for white nationalism and separatism sounds familiar, that’s because it is, writes Paul Brislen for RNZ. Nearly two weeks after the terrorist attack in Christchurch was aired live on Facebook, the company has finally responded in public. From next week it will implement a ban on “praise, support … Read more
Decisions about what speech gets regulated should made by the people affected by these rules. That’s the whole point of democracy, write two Canadian professors. When it comes to dealing with online hate speech, we’ve ended up in the worst of all possible worlds. On the one hand, you have social media platforms like Facebook … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Remembrance service in Christchurch to be broadcast nationwide, skepticism about social media extremism crackdown, and warnings made before bridge collapsed. All eyes will turn to Christchurch today once more. A National Remembrance Service will be held to mark two weeks since the mosque attack, which took 50 … Read more
One of the most powerful tools of the 21st century is being allowed to operate with impunity and it’s hurting humankind, according to a silicon valley-based New Zealand AI expert. Artificial intelligence expert Sean Gourley is in the business of creating machines that can read and write. The Kiwi is the founder and CEO of … Read more
The product used to broadcast the murder of 50 innocents is one of Facebook’s least popular and least profitable. What makes it so special that it can’t just hit pause? In the days since a terrorist opened fire in Christchurch, in part motivated by his ability to break new ground in very literally weaponising social … Read more
The former NZ PM says the global policy boss for the online behemoth has contacted her saying he wants to visit NZ, following an angry backlash against the platform over its livestream of a mass terrorist murder at a Christchurch mosque. Toby Manhire reports Helen Clark has joined the chorus condemning Facebook and other online … Read more
The Christchurch Mosque Shootings saw journalists scrambling the country over to cover the unfolding horror. New Zealand’s subreddit experienced an unprecedented rush too, swamping the volunteer moderators and exposing them to some of the worst reactions on Reddit. We speak to the moderators of r/newzealand. Almost as soon as news broke that a gunman had … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Christchurch attacks become political footballs overseas, major tech companies like Facebook under pressure, and concerns raised over continued spread of measles. The Christchurch mosque attack has become a political football in the upcoming Turkish election campaign. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made inflammatory comments and played footage … Read more
If the big sites ignore your complaints, come straight to us, say Netsafe. Alex Casey reports Netsafe have seen a spike in complaints lodged about offensive content following the white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch on Friday, with the majority of reports being made about content on social media sites. “We’ve received hundreds of reports … Read more
In New Zealand we’re waiting to see if the all-powerful Facebook boss means what he says about ‘moral responsibility’, writes Toby Manhire More than four days have passed since the world’s weakest man launched an assault that took the lives of 50 people at prayer in Christchurch. He did it with a camera stuck to … Read more
A coalition of major New Zealand advertisers is building a coalition to demand change from the tech giants. New Zealand’s biggest advertisers are working both individually and collectively to try and force change from the tech giants in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks. At midday on Monday the Association of New Zealand Advertisers … Read more
An open letter from the CEOs of Spark, Vodafone and 2degrees to the global CEOs of Facebook, Twitter and Google To: Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO, Facebook Jack Dorsey, CEO, Twitter Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google A call from the companies providing internet access for the great majority of New Zealanders, to the companies with the … Read more
Imposing a Digital Services Tax will concentrate the tech giants’ minds on their woeful response to the Christchurch massacre, writes Terry Baucher. What to do about Facebook, Google and Twitter’s reprehensible failure to stop the live-streaming of a terrorist atrocity and the dissemination of vile images? How about a 20% Digital Services Tax, for starters … Read more
New Zealanders were furious with news organisations that broadcast video and manifesto related to the atrocity in Christchurch. But what about the online giants which made it all accessible? I’m sitting in a hotel room in Singapore, having just left Facebook’s APAC HQ, about to attend a news conference organised by Google, thinking about Christchurch. … Read more
Yesterday Google went down. Today it’s Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Please call an internet plumber immediately. The shit hit the fan about 2.30 yesterday afternoon. Here at Spinoff Towers we were about to launch our webseries On the Rag. “Can anyone send an attachment?” Fucking Gmail was down. I woke up this morning bleary after … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan stares into the abyss that is Google and wonders if we are about to experience the birth of a new, even more terrifying capitalism. I feel it most when I’m at the supermarket. I’m standing there looking at jellymeat but at the same time, I’m aware of being embedded in a web of … Read more
A new study analysing the number of racist versus supportive comments in two large online forums reveals some sobering facts about Māori experiences online. To illustrate the difference in the Māori and Western/Pākehā worldviews about the power of speech, it’s worth looking at two different whakataukī or proverbs. The first is the old adage that … Read more
Does yesterday’s surprise announcement around the tax status of digital giants indicate a willingness to tackle the vast problems they create? Yesterday was just another Monday for the global tech giants: a select committee in the UK referred to Facebook as “digital gangsters” (not in an admiring way) for their response to privacy concerns, speculation … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tax on tech giants proposed but doesn’t go far, peace may be breaking out in China stoush, and the incredible story of two brothers vs the Avondale Business Association. The government has made a big announcement on taxing internet giants, but there are a lot of … Read more
Last year was tough for online privacy: new breaches, new laws, and way too many emails about privacy policies. James Ting-Edwards from InternetNZ takes us through the challenges and what they mean for New Zealanders online. Modern online devices and services are built and funded through the information we share with them. Apps that help … Read more
Social media has provided access to more information than ever, but at the same time it’s harder than ever to tell what’s real and what’s fake. InternetNZ policy advisor Nicola Brown looks back at the year Fake News broke the internet. Bad news spreads fast. In 2018 we saw what might be the breaking point of … Read more
I’ve worked at parliament for three different MPs over five years. For the first time, I’m now working for a woman MP, and the kind of messages sent to her online are shocking. “Hey, what are you up to tonight?” “Is that your boyfriend?” It’s 9.37pm and I assume my MP has had the gall … Read more
New Year, new you? We hear that a lot in January. The focus tends to be on the body, but what if you have a shit personality online? What can you do to fix that? Emily Writes can help. I think 2019 should be the year that people who are assholes in comment sections try … Read more
We love to hate the media but it’s social media we should be concerned about, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. This piece was originally published on December 9, 2018 About halfway through Before Sunrise – a 1990s romantic comedy that has the same significance for Gen-Xers as the Vietnam war did to the Boomers and Harry Potter does … Read more
Livestreams posted on Facebook by our major news organisations have been overrun by an army of anti-1080 activists. Hayden Donnell goes in search of the source of the spam campaign. This post was originally published August 23, 2018 Yesterday the government announced new wheel clamping regulations. As it often does, the Herald posted live video … Read more
Inside a Facebook group where anti-vaxx propaganda is promoted as information for ‘informed consent’. Published 25 January, 2018 Not long after my son was born dry patches of irritated skin began to appear on his face. I lathered the little guy up with all types of oils and creams but nothing worked so, like most … Read more
That one of the world’s biggest companies rides roughshod over a New Zealand court name suppression tells you all you need to know about the giants of Silicon Valley, argues Toby Manhire. Imagine if a media company told you the name of the man accused of killing Grace Millane. Imagine if, in defiance of a … Read more