Media

Tech Platforms Try To Limit The Taliban's Social Media Propaganda, But Won't Ban Them – NPR

Published

12 months ago

August 21, 2021

Harry Miller

The Taliban of today has a sophisticated social media presence. It has harnessed online platforms as a tool of propaganda and is now using it as a way to govern.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

With the Taliban now in power in Afghanistan, should they control the country’s official Twitter and Facebook accounts? That’s a question social media companies are confronting just as the international community weighs how they should view the Taliban. NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn reports.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: The last time the Taliban were in power 20 years ago was before Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The group sent reporters videotaped statements recorded in caves. Now they turn to YouTube, Instagram and Facebook to spread the word. The platforms ban Taliban content, but sometimes not before it’s viewed by thousands. The Taliban also use encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram.

RAFFAELLO PANTUCCI: They have found ways of, you know, mastering current social media and the current media environment in such a way to ensure that when people hear what the Taliban want to say, they hear it in the way that the Taliban wanted it to be heard.

ALLYN: That’s Raffaello Pantucci. He’s a fellow at the British think tank the Royal United Services Institute. He says the Taliban of the ’90s went around the country destroying television sets. Today, the spokesman for the Taliban has more than 300,000 followers on Twitter. Unlike other platforms, Twitter hasn’t banned the Taliban but says it will crack down on glorifications of violence. Afghanistan’s official presidential account on Twitter has been suspended and not handed over to the Taliban. That could change.

Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council says the social media platforms are in a tricky position.

EMERSON BROOKING: The platforms would desperately like the international community to act first. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter don’t want to be setting international precedent when it comes to recognizing or not recognizing the Taliban.

ALLYN: When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the internet barely existed there. A recent survey found that now 40% of residents have internet access and 90% have mobile phones. Pantucci says it’s unclear if the Taliban will eventually crack down on Afghans’ connection to the rest of the world.

PANTUCCI: So will we see sort of bans on, you know, faces, on soap operas, on sex and stuff like this? Music, for example, is something that the group is not particularly a fan of unless it’s religious music.

ALLYN: Pantucci says the Taliban hasn’t changed its fundamental belief system just because it’s on Twitter. He says the Taliban’s goal on social media right now is to try to appear legitimate. But if it wants, it could eventually cut the internet off completely.

Bobby Allyn, NPR News, San Francisco.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link

Media

Netflix is not in deep trouble. It's becoming a media company – CNN

Published

11 hours ago

August 7, 2022

Harry Miller

New York (CNN Business)Netflix has had a terrible 2022. In April, it said it lost subscribers for the first time since 2011. Its stock has tumbled more than 60% so far this year.

Yet its recent struggles may not be the start of a downward spiral or the beginning of the end for the streaming giant. Rather, it’s a sign that Netflix is becoming a more traditional media company.

Netflix (NFLX) was originally valued as a Big Tech company, part of the Wall Street acronym, “FAANG,” which stood for Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Netflix and Google (GOOG). Wall Street once valued the company at about $300 billion — a number on par with many Big Tech companies that Netflix’s business model ultimately couldn’t live up to.

“I think Netflix was extremely overvalued,” Julia Alexander, director of strategy at Parrot Analytics, told CNN Business. “Unlike those companies that have different tentacles, Netflix does not have a lot of tentacles.”

But Netflix was never really a tech company.

Yes, it relied on subscriber growth like many companies in the tech world, but its subscriber growth was built on having films and TV shows that people wanted to watch and pay for. That’s more a like a studio in Hollywood than a tech company in Silicon Valley.

Netflix looked a lot more like a tech company than, say, Disney, Comcast, Paramount or CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. But as those traditional media companies start to look a lot more like Netflix, Netflix in turn is starting to take page out of its rivals’ playbooks: It’s going to start serving ads and it has been releasing some shows over the course of weeks and months rather than all at once.

Netflix has said that its cheaper ad tier and clampdown on password sharing may come next year. It’s partnering with Microsoft (MSFT) for its ad business.

“I think in many ways the moves Netflix are making suggest a transition from tech company to media company,” Andrew Hare, a senior vice president of research at Magid, told CNN Business. “With the introduction of ads, crackdown on password sharing, marquee shows like ‘Stranger Things’ experimenting with a staggered release, we are seeing Netflix looking more like a traditional media company every day.”

Hare added that Netflix’s former business strategy, which was “once sacrosanct is now being thrown out the window.”

“Netflix once forced Hollywood deeply out of its comfort zone. They brought streaming to the American living room,” he said. “Now it appears some more conventional practices could be what Netflix needs.”

At Netflix right now, “a lot of these strategic moves are being made as they mature and move into the next phase as a company,” noted Hare. That includes focusing on cash flow and revenue rather than just growth.

“In other words, old school business,” he said.

— CNN Business’ Moss Cohen contributed to this report.

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link

Media

City of Brandon – August 7th Media Release – City of Brandon –

Published

12 hours ago

August 7, 2022

Harry Miller

For the last 24 hours:

Drinking in Public Leads to Multiple Criminal Charges:

At about 11:40 AM Saturday morning, it was reported that a male subject was acting bizarrely in and around the 700 block Rosser Ave. When located in the area, the 21 year-old was drinking an alcoholic beverage so was detained under the LGCCA. He was subsequently found to be in breach of multiple conditions of two separate Probation Orders. Search incident to arrest revealed a machete in his backpack. He disclosed taking an unknown quantity of unknown pills, so was released on appropriate police imposed conditions as he was receiving medical assessment and treatment. He is to appear in Court on October 3^rd, facing one count of possessing a weapon and six counts of failing to comply with a Probation Order.

Break & Enters:

An unlocked attached residential garage on Falcon Crescent was entered overnight on Friday and tools were stolen. Some of those were recovered strewn across neighbouring property.

A resident in the 300 block 27^th Street reported that the detached garage had been forcibly entered overnight Thursday – Friday. The complainant was unsure if anything had been stolen but the walk-through door frame had been damaged during the incident.

Theft With Threat:

At about 3:50 PM Saturday afternoon, it was reported that a resident in the 700 block 20^th Street had been robbed of a bicycle approx. 20 minutes prior, while in his back yard. Police attended and spoke with the victim who related that an unknown male came into his back yard and stole an old bicycle of no value, and brandished a knife while doing so. The suspect left without further incident. The suspect was described as Indigenous in appearance, 6’5”, skinny, wearing a blue hoodie, black bandana and hat. The knife was pulled from the front right pants’ pocket.

Arrest Warrants:

A 28 year-old female was encountered in the 700 block 18^th Street Saturday evening, with personal effects strewn about a business vestibule. A records query revealed a warrant for arrest for failing to comply with a Probation Order. She was arrested and released on scene with a court date of October 3^rd.

Just before midnight Saturday night, Brandon RCMP advised having a 51 year-old male in custody on the strength of a BPS held warrant for arrest for sexual assault. RCMP had attended to a complaint in Glenboro and encountered the accused. He is held in custody and will appear before the court later today.

Motor Vehicle Collision With Injuries:

At 11:15 PM Saturday night, 911 reported a two vehicle collision at the intersection of Russell Street and Madison Crescent. Two occupants were stuck in a vehicle that had rolled over onto its’ side. The investigation revealed that the driver of the rolled vehicle failed to stop at the stop sign. That driver was transported to BRHC by EMS with non-life threatening injuries. The second driver was uninjured.

Others:

Several people were detained from separate incidents, for their own safety or to prevent a breach of the peace, due to their level of intoxication. They will be held in custody until sober enough to care for themselves.

RELEASE AUTHORIZED BY:

A/Staff Sergeant Dallas Lockhart, #101

C Platoon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyone with information on any unsolved crime is asked to call Brandon Crime Stoppers at 204-727-(TIPS) 8477, www.brandoncrimestoppers.com or by texting BCSTIP and your message to CRIMES (274637). Crime Stoppers pays up to $2000.00 cash for information that leads to the solution of a crime.

CRIME STOPPERS 204-727-TIPS

Adblock test (Why?)

Source link