Social Media Platforms ... Sinking Profits

"For the big companies it's reasonable to assume that the rising tide that has been floating their boats for the past 5 years is just now a lot choppier."

"They clearly need to trim and to rationalize projects that they just haven't had to do for a decade-and-a-half because the environment was so munificent."

Jo-Ellen Pozner,  assistant professor of management, Santa Clara University, Leavey School of Business

The Twitter profile page belonging to Elon Musk is seen on an Apple iPhone mobile phone.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

 

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft Corp. fell short of projections in recent earning, sending shares plunging, shaving hundreds of millions to billions from their market valuations. So far this year Meta (Facebook, Instagram) has lost over 72 percent of its value. Investors appear uncomfortable with chief executive Mark Zuekerberg's investments in an immersible digital world; the metaverse. Meta Platforms Inc is set to cut thousands of workers. 

Before that, it was Elon Musk's decision to cut Twitter Inc.'s staff in half after acquiring the network. Apple Inc. Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. all have slowed or paused in their hiring. Elon Musk sold another batch of Tesla shares in a bid to help fund his Twitter buyout. He disposed of 19.5 million shares to the value of $3.95 billion. Tesla's chief executive, the single-largest shareholder, gave assurances he was finished offloading.

It was important, he said, to avoid an "emergency sale" should he need to close the Twitter acquisition as he struggled to bring in aditional equity partners, back in August. Tesla stock lost $60 billion in market capitalization, tumblding 56 percent this year, since peaking a year ago. Twitter is losing money, facing annual interest payments of close to $1.2 billion. Several major companies halted their ads on the platform since Musk took over as they wait to see how his leadership evolves.

"It looks like Musk is preparing for things to stay bad at Twitter for the next year. He's preparing for Twitter to be a money  hole", remarked Gene Munster of Loup Ventures, once the stock sales became public.

Meanwhile, his moves to cut costs -- including firing half the staff and asking afterward whether some he had fired would please come back -- and overhaul of the platform's operations resulted in several tumultuous weeks at Twitter. Some of the employees are not quite certain whether they remain employed, or whether they've been let go. Some Tesla shareholders worry that the CEO has spread himself too thin, leading to selling off more stock.

"It's hypothetically possible that he could use more of his Tesla stock to bail out Twitter, or turn to his cadre of co-investors, who would probably have no trouble finding the money." 

"The saying ,'if you owe the bank $100, that's your problem, but if you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem' might apply here,"

"[Investors and other lenders could take over the company if Twitter went through a bankruptcy proceeding, with Musk still serving as its chief executive.] Bankruptcy would also allow Musk to refinance the debt, which would make the company more financially stable." 

Andy Wu, assistant professor, Harvard business school

Twitter headquarters is shown in San Francisco on Nov. 4, 2022. Jeff Chiu/AP

Broadcasting Hate

"Holocaust distortion trails world events and shifts in form depending on current affairs, areas of deep public concern and the evolving news agenda."

"[Holocaust distortion in 2021 was often linked to anti-lockdown protests, including antisemitic] associations of Jews with disease."

"[Telegram social media platform] does not have a policy to take action on Holocaust denial or distortion, creating a safe haven for those who wish to deny or distort the genocide."

UNESCO Study

"Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have made misinformation the problem that it is today by promoting sensational posts with their algorithmic feeds."

"This is far less relevant on Telegram where people get only the content they explicitly subscribe to."

"[Telegram is] a platform for free speech, including that we do not agree with. That said, we must ensure our apps remain accessible on all platforms in order for everyone to peacefully express opinions."

"Posts that glorify or encourage violence are explicitly forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and are removed by our moderators through a combination of proactive moderation in public spaces and user reports."

Remi Vaughan, spokesperson. Telegram

"We can clearly see that we have a major problem of lawless zones -- of networks that ensure privileged platforms for haters."

"And it's a violence that circulates sometimes without any regulation or moderation by Telegram. And we must not let that take hold."

"[There is] a fragile equilibrium [between responsibility and freedom of expression -- but it's always fragile in democratic societies]."

Audrey Azoulay, director general, UNESCO

Arolsen Archives

A new study led by the United Nations' cultural arm UNESCO, published in partnership with the World Jewish Congress, based on a review of nearly 4,000 Holocaust-related posts out of Facebook, Instagram Telegram, TikTok and Twitter elicited the impression that "a certain rapprochement exists between conspiracy COVID-skeptical but also racist and antisemitic theories" which had been seen to emerge in recent years.

It was the messaging platform Telegram, however -- a major source of news and information in Russia along with much of the world -- that was recognized as singularly rife with Holocaust denial and distortion, to the extent that close to half of public content users fall into these categories in greater portion than what appears on other platforms. Those posting such scurrilous content have ways to evade moderation with the use of inside jokes, memes and references mocking or glorifying genocide.

Key words were selected by researchers meant to include a diversity of ways enabling people to discuss the Holocaust online. Generic words inclusive of "Holocaust", along with other commonly used words and phrases relating to antisemitism and Holocaust denial. Content in English, French, German and Spanish were examined. Percentages of Holocaust denial content was found to vary by language and platform. Some 49 percent of content on public Telegram channels mentioning the Holocaust denies or distorts its history.

 

The Telegraph app running on a computer  Associated Press

Roughly half of the posts in French and English deny or distort history, whereas in German, that number rises to a whopping 80 percent. The very country that gave rise to the most virulently horrendous persecution of Jews, making an art form of predatory, defamatory slander, paving the way for the organized, industrialized institution of the Final Solution, has bred the most egregious numbers of Holocaust-denying citizenry.

On the other hand, 19 percent of all public Holocaust=related content on Twitter either denies or more commonly, distorts historical facts, according to the study. As does 17 percent on TikTok, eight percent on Facebook, and three percent on Instagram. Holocaust distortion is defined in the study as the significant and deliberate misrepresentation of historical facts which can include deflecting responsibility for the Holocaust toward its victims. Efforts to minimize the Holocaust's impact or the role of those complicit in carrying out the Final Solution as well as "smearing" victims or "celebrating" perpetrators.

Claims that the genocide of Jews ever in actual reality took place, or that call into question the means or intention of the genocide are considered core Holocaust denialism. UNESCO states that it has joined with the World Jewish Congress to "work in partnership" with Facebook and Tiktok for the purpose of redirecting users searching for terms related to the Holocaust, to websites dedicated to facts relating to the roots, processes and consequences of the Holocaust.

People at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa. Photo by Julie Oliver/Postmedia 

Flagging Virulent Anti-Semitism on Social Media Platforms

"If we can come up with something that's common to everybody, it will make life much easier for the providers [social media web giants] to co-operate with us."

"People often innocently retweet something without understanding the implications of it [underlying racism and anti-Semitism]."

"If the media platform lets them know that, they can make a conscious decision whether or not they want to retweet it, knowing that it's been flagged as being anti-Semitic content or other types of racist, misogynistic, etc., content."

"Over the last several years, there has been an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents across the globe, with many originating online. As social media posts do not stop at international borders, members of the national legislatures of Australia, Canada, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States have come together across party lines to launch the Inter-Parliamentary Task Force to Combat Online Antisemitism."

"[Online hate, including antisemitic animus], is growing exponentially. Posts are viewed across national borders and impact people in many jurisdictions. Social media platforms have failed to adequately address hatred on their own. But they cannot be expected to create different policies in every separate country. By working together, we can create international definitions and recommendations for regulating social media platforms that can then be reviewed and hopefully implemented by each individual country."

Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Parliament of Canada

 

Anthony Housefather Mount Royal, QC

Mr. Speaker, “Am Yisrael Chai. We are a Jewish nation that will stand tall.... Terrorism...will not take us down.” These were the defiant words of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein this weekend after a gunman with an assault rifle opened fire at his synagogue, after he saw his friend Lori Gilbert-Kaye lying dead on the floor, after he saw eight-year-old Noya Dayan carried away bleeding, after he himself had been shot and wounded, and yes, six months after 11 other Jews were killed at another shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Before these murders, attacks on Jews at prayer did not happen in North America. Now, with neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville chanting, “Jews will not replace us”, with an anti-Semitic cartoon being run in the New York Times and with B'nai Brith reporting that over 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents occurred in Canada in 2018, we need a national action plan on anti-Semitism, and we need it now.

A new task force has been launched to target anti-Semitism's growing prevalence on social media platforms. Politicians from Australia, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States have joined in a concerted effort to prod and influence the media giants of the Internet to become more vigilant about reacting to and identifying overt strains of anti-Semitism they allow free reign to on their platforms. Two members of Canada's Parliament have now joined with other legislators in the formation of an international push to curb the proliferation of anti-Semitic content online.

 

The task force has the following goals:

• Establishing consistent messaging and policy from Parliaments and legislatures around the world in order to hold social media platforms, including Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Google, accountable;

• The adoption and publication of transparent policies related to hate speech;

• Raising awareness about antisemitism on social media platforms and its consequences in order to acknowledge the tremendous responsibility that comes with the power the platforms hold;

• Emphasizing that if one minority cannot be protected by hate speech policies, then none can be. This Task Force will therefore serve as a means for protecting all minority groups from online hate; Underscoring that the fight against antisemitism is a non-partisan consensus in democratic countries.

 

Online incidents of anti-Semitism outlined by a British report released this summer, were on the rise in the United kingdom, driven in part by conspiracy theories claiming Jews are responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether this was in evil collusion with Beijing has not yet been revealed. But China, no doubt, breathes a sigh of relief that COVID-19 can in theory be dubbed the Jewish COVID and not the Wuhan Disease. 

 

According to human rights advocacy group B'nai Brith, anti-Semitic incidents in Canada have increased overall, with an 11 percent rise in online harassment, not too squeamish about advocating genocide. The manner in which various countries measure and define the pathology of anti-Semitism is recognized as a barrier to mounting a convincing argument for their respective legislatures to commit to passing similar laws which would then pave the way to collectively pressure social media web giants to act on the matter, which should be resolved.

The need to address online hate messages and offer popular media platform sites improved tools to report instances of flagrant hate messages has long predated this current allied initiative on anti-Semitism. Social media companies have faced sustained pressure from various sources to become more committed to addressing online hate. Twitter began flagging some tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year, for ostensibly violating its policies, including potential threats of harm against identifiable groups.

 

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

However, when Twitter's attention has been drawn to tweets that are blatantly and violently human rights-offensive and urged to take action, as for example when Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweets for the destruction of Israel, or makes use of vicious and racist language to describe the state of Israel, Twitter responds that those remarks reflect "foreign policy sabre-rattling" and as such fail to fall into the basket of hateful, racist or anti-Semitic violations of human rights.

 

Conservative MP Marty Morantz who has partnered with Mr. Housefather on this Canadian arm of the international group, explains that though the task force is focused on anti-Semitism its work is more inclusive: "Hate against one group online is really a concern to all groups. We need to emphasize that if we can't protect one minority, we can't protect any of them." A distinction, Mr. Morantz stated, must be recognized between free speech and speech that defies existing criminal laws, with a focus on the latter. 

 

Many anti-racism demonstrators targeted the blatant pro-Nazi sentiment present among the white nationalist and supremacist groups. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)