Tiktok Blocks QAnon Hashtags

  • TikTok has blocked a number of hashtags related to the QAnon conspiracy theory from appearing in search results, amid concerns over the spread of misinformation.
  • It comes days after Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-related accounts.
  • QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory whose followers support US President Donald Trump. They believe the President is battling a clandestine “deep state” network of political, business and media elites.
  • Videos using the “QAnon” hashtag, have millions of cumulative views and can still be found if a user’s algorithm directs them to the associated content.

UK Home Secretary Demands Full Explanation From Twitter and Instagram Following Rapper’s Anti Semetic Tweets

iOS 14 Users Report Camera Being Used by Instagram Without Permission 

  • Many users of iOS 14  devices have reported that they were seeing the green “camera on” indicator while using Instagram when they were just scrolling through their feeds, not taking a photo or video.
  • An Instagram spokesperson said that the behavior was a bug and that it’s being fixed. The app’s ‘Create Mode’ is accessible from the Instagram camera which could set off the camera indicator, and swiping into the app’s Camera from Feed may also trip it up.
  • “We only access your camera when you tell us to — for example, when you swipe from Feed to Camera. We found and are fixing a bug in iOS 14 Beta that mistakenly indicates that some people are using the camera when they aren’t,” the spokesperson said. “We do not access your camera in those instances, and no content is recorded.”

Google Amazon and Wish remove White Supremacist Memoribilia 

  • Amazon, Google and Wish have removed neo-Nazi and white-supremacist products being sold on their platforms following an investigation by the BBC. 
  • White-supremacist flags, neo-Nazi books and Ku Klux Klan merchandise were all available for sale. Algorithms on Amazon and Wish also recommended other white-supremacist items. All three companies said that racist products were prohibited on their platforms.
  • Oren Segal from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an anti-hate organisation, said the companies needed to “constantly be on top of what the algorithm is recommending”.

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