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Tag: social media

  • How major US stock indexes fared Friday 10/21/2022

    How major US stock indexes fared Friday 10/21/2022

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    Stocks closed higher on Wall Street Friday, notching sizable weekly gains for major indexes.

    The benchmark S&P 500 rose 2.4% Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also gained ground. Social media companies were broadly lower after Snapchat’s parent company issued a weak outlook and the Washington Post reported that Elon Musk plans to slash about three-quarters of the payroll at Twitter after he buys the company.

    The yield on the two-year Treasury note fell to 4.49% on hopes that the Federal Reserve might consider slowing down its future rate increases after making another big hike next month.

    On Friday:

    The S&P 500 rose 86.97 points, or 2.4%, to 3,752.75.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 748.97 points, or 2.5%, to 31,082.56.

    The Nasdaq rose 244.87 points, or 2.3%, to 10,859.72.

    The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 37.85 points, or 2.2%, to 1,742.24.

    For the week:

    The S&P 500 is up 169.68 points, or 4.7%.

    The Dow is up 1,447.73 points, or 4.9%.

    The Nasdaq is up 538.33 points, or 5.2%.

    The Russell 2000 is up 59.84 points, or 3.6%.

    For the year:

    The S&P 500 is down 1,013.43 points, or 21.3%.

    The Dow is down 5,255.74 points, or 14.5%.

    The Nasdaq is down 4,785.26 points, or 30.6%.

    The Russell 2000 is down 503.07 points, or 22.4%.

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  • Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

    Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

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    Elon Musk plans to cut most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.

    Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.

    San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

    While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk’s planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned. Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company’s staff in the past, but he hadn’t given a specific number — at least not publicly. The report comes after Musk said he is “obviously overpaying for Twitter right now.”

    “A 75% headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “That said, you can’t cut your way to growth.”

    Ives added that such a drastic reduction in Twitter’s workforce would likely set the company back years.

    Musk: “Long-term potential”

    On Tesla’s earnings conference call on October 19, Musk said he sees long-term value in Twitter, but added that he believes he and other investors are paying too much for the business. 

    It’s possible that Musk may need to sell more Tesla shares to fund the deal, Ives noted in his research note. Ives added that the CEO may need to sell as much as $10 billion worth of shares to secure the financing.

    “As we have discussed, the $44 billion Twitter price tag is simply a train wreck for an asset that we peg fair value in the $30 billion range best case in the midst of Everest-like uphill growth challenges,” Ives added.

    Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter’s own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users. With as drastic a reduction as Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which the Tesla CEO himself has said he’ll address if he becomes owner of the company.

    After his initial $44 billion bid in April to buy Twitter, Musk backed out of the deal, contending Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform. Twitter sued, and a Delaware judge has given both sides until October 28 to work out details. Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.

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  • Social media stocks slip amid Musk, Snap news

    Social media stocks slip amid Musk, Snap news

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    Shares of social media companies are tumbling before the market open on Friday after a slew of news in the sector that concerned investors, including a report that Elon Musk may cut almost 75% of Twitter‘s workforce and Snap’s muted fourth-quarter outlook.

    Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to a Thursday report by The Washington Post.

    Wedbush’s Dan Ives said in a client note that Twitter Inc. is due for some job cuts, but that the reported figure may not be the best approach.

    “Musk cannot cut his way to growth with Twitter and a number in the 75% zip code would be way too aggressive in our opinion out of the gates,” he wrote.

    A Delaware judge has given Musk and Twitter until Oct. 28 to work out details of the proposed $44 billion deal. Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.

    Shares of Twitter dropped more than 4% in premarket trading.

    Elsewhere in the sector, Snap Inc.’ stock slid more than 28% after the company behind Snapchat gave a lackluster forecast for the fourth quarter and its third-quarter revenue missed Wall Street’s view.

    Snap reported third-quarter revenue of $1.13 billion, below the $1.15 billion that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research expected.

    While the Santa Monica, California-based company said in a letter to investors that it wasn’t giving a formal fourth-quarter outlook, it did say that it’s highly likely that year-over-year revenue growth will slow during the period. Snap said its internal forecasts are for year-over-year revenue growth to be about flat.

    A JPMorgan analyst note said that Snap is experiencing weaker demand due to macro pressures, platform policy changes and competition.

    “We appreciate management’s efforts to control what they can—cutting costs & doubling down on more resilient performance-based ads—but trends remain choppy, and the macro backdrop is likely even tougher into 2023,” the note said.

    Adding to the mix are concerns about the way social media platforms are being used as the mid-term elections near. While platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube say they’ve expanded their work to detect and stop harmful claims that could suppress the vote or even lead to violent confrontations, a review of some of the sites shows they’re still playing catchup with 2020, when then-President Donald Trump’s lies about the election he lost to Joe Biden helped fuel an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

    Shares of Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook, declined 4.4% before the opening bell.

    The flurry of news weighed on others in the sector as well, including Google parent Alphabet Inc., off 2%, and Pinterest Inc., down 8%.

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  • Social media platforms brace for midterm elections mayhem

    Social media platforms brace for midterm elections mayhem

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    A Facebook search for the words “election fraud” first delivers an article claiming that workers at a Pennsylvania children’s museum are brainwashing children so they’ll accept stolen elections.

    Facebook’s second suggestion? A link to an article from a site called MAGA Underground that says Democrats are plotting to rig next month’s midterms. “You should still be mad as hell about the fraud that happened in 2020,” the article insists.

    With less than three weeks before the polls close, misinformation about voting and elections abounds on social media despite promises by tech companies to address a problem blamed for increasing polarization and distrust.

    While platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube say they’ve expanded their work to detect and stop harmful claims that could suppress the vote or even lead to violent confrontations, a review of some of the sites shows they’re still playing catchup with 2020, when then-President Donald Trump’s lies about the election he lost to Joe Biden helped fuel an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

    “You would think that they would have learned by now,” said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of a group called the Real Facebook Oversight Board that has criticized the platform’s efforts. “This isn’t their first election. This should have been addressed before Trump lost in 2020. The damage is pretty deep at this point.”

    If these U.S.-based tech giants can’t properly prepare for a U.S. election, how can anyone expect them to handle overseas elections, Beirich said.

    Mentions of a “ stolen election ” and “voter fraud” have soared in recent months and are now two of the three most popular terms included in discussions of this year’s election, according to an analysis of social media, online and broadcast content conducted by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs on behalf of The Associated Press.

    On Twitter, Zignal’s analysis found that tweets amplifying conspiracy theories about the upcoming election have been reposted many thousands of times, alongside posts restating debunked claims about the 2020 election.

    Most major platforms have announced steps intended to curb misinformation about voting and elections, including labels, warnings and changes to systems that automatically recommend certain content. Users who consistently violate the rules can be suspended. Platforms have also created partnerships with fact-checking organizations and news outlets like the AP, which is part of Meta’s fact-checking program.

    “Our teams continue to monitor the midterms closely, working to quickly remove content that violates our policies,” YouTube said in a statement. “We’ll stay vigilant ahead of, during, and after Election Day.”

    Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced this week that it had reopened its election command center, which oversees real-time efforts to combat misinformation about elections. The company dismissed criticism that it’s not doing enough and denied reports that it has cut the number of staffers focused on elections.

    “We are investing a significant amount of resources, with work spanning more than 40 teams and hundreds of people,” Meta said in a statement emailed to the AP.

    The platform also said that starting this week, anyone who searches on Facebook using keywords related to the election, including “election fraud,” will automatically see a pop-up window with links to trustworthy voting resources.

    TikTok created an election center earlier this year to help voters in the U.S. learn how to register to vote and who’s on their ballot. The information is offered in English, Spanish and more than 45 other languages. The platform, now a leading source of information for young voters, also adds labels to misleading content.

    “Providing access to authoritative information is an important part of our overall strategy to counter election misinformation,” the company said of its efforts to prepare for the midterms.

    But policies intended to stop harmful misinformation about elections aren’t always enforced consistently. False claims can often be buried deep in the comments section, for instance, where they nonetheless can leave an impression on other users.

    A report released last month from New York University faulted Meta, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube for amplifying Trump’s false statements about the 2020 election. The study cited inconsistent rules regarding misinformation as well as poor enforcement.

    Concerned about the amount of misinformation about voting and elections, a number of groups have urged tech companies to do more.

    “Americans deserve more than lip service and half-measures from the platforms,” said Yosef Getachew, director of Common Cause’s media and democracy program. “These platforms have been weaponized by enemies of democracy, both foreign and domestic.”

    Election misinformation is even more prevalent on smaller platforms popular with some conservatives and far-right groups like Gab, Gettr and TruthSocial, Trump’s own platform. But those sites have tiny audiences compared with Facebook, YouTube or TikTok.

    Beirich’s group, the Real Facebook Oversight Board, crafted a list of seven recommendations for Meta intended to reduce the spread of misinformation ahead of the elections. They included changes to the platform that would promote content from legitimate news outlets over partisan sites that often spread misinformation, as well as greater attention on misinformation targeting voters in Spanish and other languages.

    Meta told the AP it has expanded its fact-checking network since 2020 and now has twice as many Spanish-language fact checkers. The company also launched a Spanish-language fact-checking tip line on WhatsApp, another platform it owns.

    Much of the misinformation aimed at non-English speakers seems aimed at suppressing their vote, said Brenda Victoria Castillo, CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, who said that the efforts by Facebook and other platforms aren’t equal to the scale of the problem posed by misinformation.

    “We are being lied to and discouraged from exercising our right to vote,” Castillo said. “And people in power, people like (Meta CEO) Mark Zuckerberg are doing very little while they profit from the disinformation.”

    ———

    Follow the AP’s coverage of misinformation at https://apnews.com/hub/misinformation.

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  • Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

    Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.

    Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.

    San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

    While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk’s planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned. Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company’s staff in the past, but he hadn’t given a specific number — at least not publicly.

    “A 75% headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “That said, you can’t cut your way to growth.”

    Ives added that such a drastic reduction in Twitter’s workforce would likely set the company back years.

    Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter’s own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users. With as drastic a reduction as Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which the Tesla CEO himself has said he’ll address if he becomes owner of the company.

    After his initial $44 billion bid in April to buy Twitter, Musk backed out of the deal, contending Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform. Twitter sued, and a Delaware judge has given both sides until Oct. 28 to work out details. Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.

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  • Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

    Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce

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    SAN FRANCISCO — Elon Musk plans to lay off most of Twitter’s workforce if and when he becomes owner of the social media company, according to a report Thursday by The Washington Post.

    Musk has told prospective investors in his Twitter purchase that he plans to cut nearly 75% of Twitter’s employee base of 7,500 workers, leaving the company with a skeleton crew, according to the report. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberations.

    San Francisco-based Twitter and a representative for Musk attorney Alex Spiro did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

    While job cuts have been expected regardless of the sale, the magnitude of Musk’s planned cuts are far more extreme than anything Twitter had planned. Musk himself has alluded to the need to cull some of the company’s staff in the past, but he hadn’t given a specific number — at least not publicly.

    “A 75% headcount cut would indicate, at least out of the gates, stronger free cash flow and profitability, which would be attractive to investors looking to get in on the deal,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “That said, you can’t cut your way to growth.”

    Ives added that such a drastic reduction in Twitter’s workforce would likely set the company back years.

    Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter’s own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users. With as drastic a reduction as Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which the Tesla CEO himself has said he’ll address if he becomes owner of the company.

    After his initial $44 billion bid in April to buy Twitter, Musk backed out of the deal, contending Twitter misrepresented the number of fake “spam bot” accounts on its platform. Twitter sued, and a Delaware judge has given both sides until Oct. 28 to work out details. Otherwise, there will be a trial in November.

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  • Tech earnings are coming and they probably won’t be pretty | CNN Business

    Tech earnings are coming and they probably won’t be pretty | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    After months of layoffs, hiring freezes and other cost-cutting measures, big tech companies are set to provide the most detailed look yet at just how bad things have gotten for their businesses amid fears of a looming recession.

    Snapchat’s parent company, which tanked much of the tech sector in May with a warning about a worsening economy, is set to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Apple

    (AAPL)    , Amazon

    (AMZN)    , Facebook

    (FB)    -parent Meta, Microsoft

    (MSFT)    , Twitter

    (TWTR)     and Google-parent Alphabet

    (GOOGL)     will each report earnings results the following week.

    “People probably should be bracing themselves for these results,” said Scott Kessler, technology global sector lead at research firm Third Bridge Group.

    For years, the giants of Silicon Valley seemed almost immune to swings in the global economy. Even amid a pandemic, a trade war and other geopolitical uncertainty, the biggest names in tech only seemed to grow bigger and richer. But like other sectors in recent months, they have faced a variety of new challenges.

    Rampant inflation is eating away at consumers’ paychecks and reducing their ability to spend freely on tech products and services. Increased costs and recession fears have cut down on demand for online advertising and enterprise tech services. And other macroeconomic issues such as continued supply chain snarls and higher interest rates are stunting growth, analysts say.

    To make matters worse, tech companies must also confront the growing strength of the US dollar, which is currently trading at its highest level in two decades. That can mean sales made overseas are not worth as much, according to Angelo Zino, senior industry analyst at CFRA Research. A stronger US dollar may also make hardware products from companies like Apple less affordable for foreign consumers, which, as Zino points out, is problematic given “most of these companies are generating more than half their revenue outside the United States.”

    In a striking shift, most of the big tech companies are now expected to report slowing profit and revenue growth, or even year-over-year declines, for the three months ending in September, according to analyst estimates.

    Amazon

    (AMZN)    , which is projected to be in the best shape, is expected to post essentially flat sales from the year prior. Meta’s revenue is projected to fall 5% year-over-year, marking the company’s second consecutive quarterly revenue decline. Net income at Meta, Amazon

    (AMZN)    , Google and Snap is also expected to be down from the year prior.

    These dour projections come after many tech businesses were already showing signs of weakness in the prior quarter. Meta in July posted its first year-over-year quarterly revenue decline since going public in 2012 in large part due to decreased demand in the online advertising market that fuels its core business. Twitter

    (TWTR)    , Snap, Google, Apple and Microsoft all also reported that shrinking ad budgets had taken some toll on their June quarter earnings.

    “We compare investor negative sentiment on tech today to what we have seen only 2 other times in our decades of covering tech stocks: 2008 and 2001,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors this week, referring to two prior recessionary periods.

    Many of the issues currently weighing on tech companies are unlikely to let up anytime soon, which is why industry watchers will be paying close attention to the guidance these companies offer for the rest of 2022.

    “More than anything, people really want a good understanding about what to expect” from the final three months of this year, which has “historically been the most important quarter for these companies,” Kessler said. Investors will likely want to know, for example, whether the online ad market has begun to stabilize ahead of the crucial holiday season.

    Negative results or future outlook could lead to increased pressure on tech firms to focus on their core businesses and cut back on big bets that aren’t expected to quickly product returns. Some of that is already underway.

    In recent weeks, Google announced it would shut down its gaming service Stadia, Amazon said it would stop testing a home delivery robot and Meta shut down its newsletter product, Bulletin.

    Meta may be in a uniquely difficult position. Last October, Facebook rebranded as Meta and ramped up investments to build a future version of the internet called the metaverse, which isn’t expected to be fully realized for years, if ever. But the Wall Street Journal reported last month the company was quietly reducing staff — and some analysts expect more cuts to come.

    “I do think you’ll see them announce cost cuts. I think they’ll reduce the workforce,” Zino said. “Meta is really boxed in a corner here. Their core business is in an environment where they’re not going to see much growth at all … and they don’t have any major revenue center outside of advertising.”

    What a difference a year makes.

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  • ‘Happy Diwali for Rishi Sunak’: Twitterati have a field day as UK PM Lizz Truss resigns

    ‘Happy Diwali for Rishi Sunak’: Twitterati have a field day as UK PM Lizz Truss resigns

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    It ended just as everyone was predicting: Liz Truss has resigned as UK’s prime minister, just 44 days since taking over the top job, thereby making her stint at 10 Downing Street the shortest one in British parliamentary history. After a stormy session at the House of Commons yesterday over an anti-fracking law, her fate was sealed. But some say her fate was sealed the moment her Chancellor of Exchequer, and close personal friend, Kwasi Kwarteng, presented that disastrous mini-budget, which sent the markets into a tailspin and the British pound to record lows against the US dollar. 

    Now comes the big question. With Truss’ departure, is it time for Rishi Sunak to finally take over the reins of the prime ministership? As per a report in the British newspaper The Times, Sunak’s supporters feel that because he was a runner-up to Truss to take over the leadership of the Conservative Party, it is only natural for him to succeed Truss, now that she is out. 

    In fact, many social media users have already taken to Twitter, sharing their views on who should be UK’s next PM.

    A user named Michael Otadende posted a video of Rishi Sunak counting flaws in Liz Truss’s economy related policies. In the caption he wrote, “Remember when Rishi Sunak told everybody about the pitfalls of Liz Truss’ plans?”

    Another user named Arjun too seemed quite confident about Sunak’s appointment when he wrote that it’s going to be a Happy Diwali for Rishi Sunak.

    Veteran journalist and commentator Piers Morgan too weighed in and said that Rishi Sunak is the right person to now lead the country and restore some kind of stability and integrity into the parliamentary pricess. “These are serious times and we need a serious & competent Prime Minister,” his tweet added.

    However, not all are in favour. Brexit Party Member, Ben Habib sounded not too keen over Sunak’s appointment as he wrote that Sunak borrowed more than any chancellor in history and exited during an energy crisis, with supply chains broken and record levels of tax and inflation which were all created by him. “Appoint him as PM at your peril @Conservatives”

    Susan Dalgety said that she doesn’t care whether Rishi Sunak is “up for the job” or Penny Mordaunt fancies a shot as it is not about the personal ambitions of second-class politicians, but about the lives and future of UK and its citizens. “There must be a general election, not a Tory coronation.”

    Also read: Rishi Sunak increasingly looks like a better fit as British PM; Liz Truss must save her chair

    Also read: Liz Truss resigns as UK PM; Rishi Sunak not yet confirmed to succeed

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  • TikTok to raise age requirement for hosting livestreams and add adult-only streams

    TikTok to raise age requirement for hosting livestreams and add adult-only streams

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    TikTok will increase the minimum age requirement for livestreaming from 16 to 18 beginning on Nov. 23, and it will soon allow users to target adult audiences with stream content. The changes are part of the social media giant’s efforts to improve community safety.

    “The foundation of TikTok is built on community trust and safety,” TikTok said on Monday. “To protect our users and creators and support their well-being, we constantly work to evolve the safeguards we put in place.”

    Currently, any user over the age of 16 with at least 1,000 followers is able to host a TikTok livestream, or LIVE. Users who are 18 years old or older are also able to send and receive tips, allowing users to earn gratuities for their content.

    The new adult audience feature for livestreaming is intended to “protect the younger members of our community as they start and build their online presence,” TikTok said, citing adult comedy routines and sensitive story content that would be better suited for users above the age of 18.

    TikTok said it will add updated keyword features to further improve livestream safety.

    “LIVE creators can already use our keyword filtering tool to limit comments they feel aren’t appropriate,” the social media company said. “In the coming weeks, we’re rolling out an updated version of this feature that will send a reminder to people and suggest new keywords they may want to consider adding to their filter list.”

    TikTok also announced a new multi-guest LIVE experience, which will allow up to five others to join a user’s livestream, and has already been rolled out on the app. 

    “We have a vibrant and inspiring community on TikTok, and it’s important that our platform remains a safe, supportive, and joyful place for our community,” TikTok said.

    TikTok, which originated China, has gained immense popularity since its debut in North America in 2017. As of August, more than two thirds of American teenagers have used TikTok, according to Pew Research data. The app has even been utilized by American politicians in electoral campaigns, prompting TikTok to ban campaign fundraising on the platform. 

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  • Social Media Hype About Winter Weather Is Coming – How To Be Ready

    Social Media Hype About Winter Weather Is Coming – How To Be Ready

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    It was a bit chilly for our morning walk here in Georgia so I peddled away on my exercise bike in the basement. In that moment, I was reminded that we are approaching the cold season in the United States. It also means your annual dose of winter weather social media hype and misinformation. Here are some things to be ready for.

    Meteorologist Chris Robbins actually wrote the perfect piece on this topic a few years ago on his iWEATHERNET.COM platform. In his article “Beware of Snow Hype & Weather Hoaxes on Social Media,” Robbins, whom I spoke with before writing this essay, noted that the winter season brings the usual batch of “viral” 10-day out snowstorm maps, wishcasting, and general misunderstanding of winter weather forecasting. Weather model information is generally available to everyone, but I constantly tell my classes at the University of Georgia that posting a model graphic does not make you a good weather forecaster. It makes you a good “copy – paste” person. Understanding the nuances of the atmosphere, the models, and communication strategies is vital.

    A 2019 study published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences confirmed a basic tenet first established by the legendary meteorologist and father of chaos theory, Edward Lorenz. There is a limit on the predictability of weather, and according to the study, it is around 9 to 10 days. A press release issued by Penn State University provided the following statement by the late Fuqing Zhang – “I think in the future we’ll refine this answer, but our study demonstrates conclusively there is a limit, though we still have considerable room to improve forecast before reaching the limit.” In other words, there a limits to forecasts even with the perfect model and input because of the nature of trying to predict changes in the atmospheric fluid on a rotating planet. While meteorologists understand this, many people truly believe answers to the following questions are possible 10 days out – “Will the hurricane go exactly down that straight line towards City X? or “Will it snow in the left corner of my backyard near the dog’s water bowl?” Weather forecasting today is actually quite good as long as you understand the limitations. I have explored that topic in a previous Forbes essay.

    This is exactly why Chris Robbins wrote, “For example, in the Southeast, we understand that significant winter weather events are exceedingly rare during the month of December….an exciting model forecast for heavy snow in Alabama or Georgia 10-days in advance in mid-December will be tempered by the unfavorable snow climatology for this area.” A good forecaster will consider such factors and will understand, as Robbins continued that, “Odds are, the model will flip-flop with future runs as it ingests more and better data.” We live in an area of “social media-rologists” who yearn to be the “first” to tell you about the big snow storm. However, the old saying is true, “Just because you see it on the Internet, it doesn’t make it true.”

    A 2022 study entitled, “The disaster of misinformation: a review of research in social media,” mentioned that retweet counts, early information, content credibility, emotions, and a desire to inform their circles were motivations for retweeting information. Others have hypothesized that social media prowess and “being first” feeds psychological needs around ego and narcissism. These days people try to attract “likes” and “shares” often at the expense of meteorological credibility. Unfortunately, the average person may not be able to decipher what should be shared (or when) and that can have bad effects downstream. Such carelessness leads to misguided expectations and misperceptions about the efficacy of weather forecasting.

    Some other things to be aware of this winter season are “high-end” bias, wishcasting, and static information gathering. The “high-end” bias effect is what I define as people seeing a forecast for 3 to 6 inches of snowfall for there area then criticizing the forecast because“only” 3 inches falls. I have noticed a tendency for people to focus on the high-end of the range in the same way that people incorrectly focus on the center line of the hurricane cone rather than the entire cone. For snow lovers, the desire for the “high-end” is likely a reflection of wishcasting. Secretly, I think people enjoy the, at times, irrational bread hoarding.

    Static weather information gathering is also problematic. People often see a forecast or their little App icon on a particular day and assume that will be the absolute outcome five days later. Sure, it is a forecast, but they evolve. It is important to watch the “evolving forecast” rather than act exclusively on the one you saw five days ago. This tendency is challenging here in the South for winter weather events, and it also held true recently with Hurricane Ian in Florida.

    My colleague Rick Smith is a meteorologist at the National Weather Service – Norman. He wrote the perfect elixir below for forthcoming winter weather social media virus. I encourage everyone to study it carefully.

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    Marshall Shepherd, Senior Contributor

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  • Iran’s Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without hijab, in Tehran

    Iran’s Elnaz Rekabi, who competed without hijab, in Tehran

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian competitive climber Elnaz Rekabi received a hero’s welcome on her return to Tehran early Wednesday, after competing in South Korea without wearing a mandatory headscarf required of female athletes from the Islamic Republic.

    Rekabi’s decision not to wear the hijab while competing Sunday came as protests sparked by the Sept. 16 death in custody of a 22-year-old woman have entered a fifth week. Mahsa Amini was detained by the country’s morality police over her clothing — and her death has seen women removing their mandatory hijabs in public.

    The demonstrations, drawing school-age children, oil workers and others to the street in over 100 cities, represent the most-serious challenge to Iran’s theocracy since the mass protests surrounding its disputed 2009 presidential election.

    Supporters and Farsi-language media outside of Iran have worried about Rekabi’s safety after she choose to compete without the hijab.

    Rekabi on Wednesday repeated an explanation posted earlier to an Instagram account in her name that described her not wearing a hijab as “unintentional.” The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights group describe as coerced confessions on state television — the same cameras she addressed on her arrival back home.

    Video shared online showed large crowds gathered early Wednesday at Imam Khomeini International Airport outside of Tehran, the sanctioned nation’s main gateway out of the country. The videos, corresponding to known features of the airport, showed crowds chanting the 33-year-old Rekabi’s name and calling her a hero.

    She walked into one of the airport’s terminals, filmed by state media and wearing a black baseball cap and a black hoodie covering her hair. She received flowers from an onlooker, and then repeated what had been posted on Instagram that not wearing the hijab was “unintentional” and her travel had been as previously planned.

    Rekabi described being in a women’s only waiting area prior to her climb.

    “Because I was busy putting on my shoes and my gear, it caused me to forget to put on my hijab and then I went to compete,” she said.

    She added: “I came back to Iran with peace of mind although I had a lot of tension and stress. But so far, thank God, nothing has happened.”

    Outside, she apparently entered a van and slowly was driven through the gathered crowd, who cheered her. It wasn’t clear where she went after that.

    Rekabi left Seoul on a Tuesday morning flight. The BBC’s Persian service, which has extensive contacts within Iran despite being banned from operating there, quoted an unnamed “informed source” who described Iranian officials as seizing both Rekabi’s mobile phone and passport.

    BBC Persian also said she initially had been scheduled to return on Wednesday, but her flight apparently had been moved up unexpectedly.

    IranWire, another website focusing on the country founded by Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who once was detained by Iran, alleged that Rekabi would be immediately transferred to Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison after arriving in the country. Evin Prison was the site of a massive fire this past weekend that killed at least eight prisoners.

    In a tweet, the Iranian Embassy in Seoul denied “all the fake, false news and disinformation” regarding Rekabi’s departure. But instead of posting a photo of her from the Seoul competition, it posted an image of her wearing a headscarf at a previous competition in Moscow, where she took a bronze medal.

    Rekabi didn’t put on a hijab during Sunday’s final at the International Federation of Sport Climbing’s Asia Championship.

    Rekabi wore a hijab during her initial appearances at the one-week climbing event. She wore just a black headband when competing Sunday, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail; she had a white jersey with Iran’s flag as a logo on it.

    Footage of the competition showed Rekabi relaxed as she approached the climbing and after she competed.

    Iranian women competing abroad under the Iranian flag always wear the hijab.

    “Our understanding is that she is returning to Iran, and we will continue to monitor the situation as it develops on her arrival,” the International Federation of Sport Climbing, which oversaw the event, said in a statement. “It is important to stress that athletes’ safety is paramount for us and we support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation.”

    The federation said it had been in touch with both Rekabi and Iranian officials, but declined to elaborate on the substance of those calls when reached by The Associated Press. The federation also declined to discuss the Instagram post attributed to Rekabi and the claims in it.

    South Korea’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged the departures of the Iranian athlete and her team from the country without elaborating. On Wednesday, a small group of protesters demonstrated in front of Iran’s Embassy in Seoul, with some women cutting off locks of their hair like others have in demonstrations worldwide since Amini’s death.

    So far, human rights groups estimate that over 200 people have been killed in the protests and the violent security force crackdown that followed. Iran has not offered a death toll in weeks. Demonstrations have been seen in over 100 cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Thousands are believed to have been arrested.

    Gathering information about the demonstrations remains difficult, however. Internet access has been disrupted for weeks by the Iranian government. Meanwhile, authorities have detained at least 40 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have repeatedly alleged the country’s foreign enemies are behind the ongoing demonstrations, rather than Iranians angered by Amini’s death and the country’s other woes.

    Iranians have seen their life savings evaporate; the country’s currency, the rial, plummeted and Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers has been reduced to tatters.

    ———

    Associated Press writer Ahn Young-joon in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • Saudis Sentence U.S. Citizen To 16 Years Over Tweets: Family

    Saudis Sentence U.S. Citizen To 16 Years Over Tweets: Family

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An American citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.

    Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

    There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials.

    State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters in Washington, confirmed Almadi’s detention Tuesday.

    “We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington DC as well and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We have raised this with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.”

    It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts critical of the government.

    Saudi authorities have tightened their crackdown on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seeking to open up and transform the ultraconservative kingdom but has adopted a hard line toward any criticism.

    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – SEPTEMBER 27: The new Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman meets with King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz (not seen) after the change in the cabinet with the Royal Decree of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on September 27, 2022. The new cabinet, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Khalid bin Salman became the Minister of Defense. (Photo by Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

    Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

    A Saudi court recently sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for allegedly damaging the country through her social media activity. A Saudi doctoral student at Leeds University in England was sentenced to 34 years for spreading “rumors” and retweeting dissidents, a case that drew international outrage.

    Ibrahim says his father was detained over 14 “mild tweets” posted on Twitter over the past seven years, mostly criticizing government policies and alleged corruption. He says his father was not an activist but a private citizen expressing his opinion while in the U.S., where freedom of speech is a constitutional right.

    President Joe Biden traveled to the oil-rich kingdom in July for a meeting with Prince Mohammed, in which he said he confronted him about human rights. Their meeting — and a widely criticized fist-bump — marked a sharp turnaround from Biden’s earlier vow to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

    Ibrahim said his father was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Oct. 3 on charges of supporting terrorism. The father was also charged with failing to report terrorism, over tweets that Ibrahim had posted.

    His father was also slapped with a 16-year travel ban. If the sentence is carried out, the 72-year-old would be 87 upon his release and barred from returning home to the U.S. unless he reaches the age of 104.

    Ibrahim said Saudi authorities warned his family to stay quiet about the case and to not involve the U.S. government. He said his father was tortured after the family contacted the State Department in March.

    Ibrahim also accused the State Department of neglecting his father’s case by not declaring him a “wrongfully detained” American, which would elevate his file.

    “They manipulated me. They told me to stay quiet so they can get him out,” Ibrahim said, explaining his decision to go public this week. “I am not willing to take a gamble on the Department of State anymore.”

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  • Kakao co-CEO resigns after mass outage locked 53 million users out

    Kakao co-CEO resigns after mass outage locked 53 million users out

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    A top executive at Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, will step down. His resignation comes after a fire at a data center led to a mass outage over the weekend and disrupted services for its messenger’s 53 million users worldwide.

    Co-CEO Namkoong Whon apologized following the outage and said he would resign.

    “I feel the heavy burden of responsibility over this incident and will step down from my position as CEO and lead the emergency disaster task force overseeing the aftermath of the incident,” Namkoong said at a press conference at the company’s office in the outskirts of Seoul on Wednesday.

    “We will do our best to restore our users’ faith in Kakao and make sure incidents like these never happen again,” he said, according to a CNBC translation.

    Namkoong was appointed CEO in March, according to the company’s website. Kakao reported 47.5 million monthly active users in Korea during the second quarter. That’s more than 90% of South Korea’s population of 51.74 million people, as of Nov. 1, 2021.

    Hong Eun-taek, who led the company alongside Namkoong as co-CEO, will remain the sole head of the company, according to a company filing.

    “We sincerely apologize to all those that have suffered from the disruptions during the outage,” Hong said as he bowed alongside Namkoong.

    Shares of the company traded 4% higher in Korea’s morning session ahead of the press conference.

    This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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  • Kanye West’s biggest challenge with owning Parler may come from Elon Musk | CNN Business

    Kanye West’s biggest challenge with owning Parler may come from Elon Musk | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    One week ago, Kanye West was temporarily suspended from Twitter for posting antisemitic tweets. Now, the rapper has agreed to acquire Parler, an alternative social platform popular with conservatives, to prevent ever having “to fear being removed from social media again.”

    West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, is just the latest controversial figure to bet on a nascent, alternative set of social media platforms favored by conservatives and members of the far-right who profess to feel outrage over content moderation on more mainstream services.

    After being banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump backed Truth Social, an alternative to Twitter. In a slide deck, Trump’s digital media company touted the ambitious possibility of creating not just alternatives to the major social media platforms but also to cloud computing products like Amazon Web Services and payment service Stripe.

    Separately, Peter Thiel, an influential venture capitalist and Republican donor, invested in Rumble, a conservative alternative to YouTube. Other services, including Gab and Gettr, are also part of what Ben Decker, CEO of digital threat analysis company Memetica, calls an “alt social media ecosystem,” fueled by “the deplatforming of high-profile conservative” figures from other larger platforms in recent years.

    There are a range of potential reasons why West — an erratic figure known for chaotic business dealings — may have wanted to acquire Parler, a platform that’s been home to election denialism, antisemitism and adherents to the conspiracy theory QAnon. He was likely frustrated with his antisemitic comments being removed from Twitter

    (TWTR)     and Instagram, and for being permanently suspended from the latter. West is also friends with conservative political commentator Candace Owens, who has reportedly encouraged the rapper’s political involvement and whose husband is Parler’s CEO.

    In a statement included with the Parler announcement on Monday, West alluded to the need for a different, safe space for conservatives, a camp with whom he identifies. “In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” he said. West also discussed his planned Parler takeover with Trump, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN Monday, although it was unclear if the two spoke before or after the news of the rapper’s acquisition was made public.

    But to the extent he is serious about the acquisition, which remains very much unclear, West faces an uncertain path forward that mirrors the challenges for other services promising unfettered “free speech.”

    For starters, the audience for these alternative platforms remains far smaller than the mainstream services they are competing with. Even if all 40,000 of Parler’s estimated daily active users followed West on the platform, his audience would pale in comparison to the 31.4 million followers he has on Twitter, not to mention Twitter’s more than 200 million daily active users.

    And despite professing to provide an unrestricted home for fringe content, some services, including Parler, have had to make concessions on content moderation to be allowed on the major app stores. Apple said last year that it had approved Parler’s return to the iOS app store following improvements the company made to better detect and moderate hate speech and incitement, and Google did the same last month. But even with app store approvals, large marketers tend to shy away from running ads alongside content that even whiffs of controversy.

    Perhaps the biggest wild card of all comes from West’s friend and fellow erratic rich guy, Elon Musk. The billionaire Tesla CEO appears closer than ever to taking over an already established platform, Twitter, with plans to cut back on its content restrictions. (Following the Parler announcement, Musk tweeted, and later deleted, “fun times ahead!” along with a meme showing the two men’s smiling faces superimposed over a cartoon.)

    Various regulations and business interests may keep Musk from fully committing to letting anything stay on Twitter, in the same way it has for Parler and others. But it might not take much to get right-leaning users, including influential figures, to return to Twitter. Musk has said he would restore Trump’s account on the platform; and while the former president has said he will stick to Truth Social, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t at least be tempted to return to Twitter’s much larger megaphone.

    Shares of the investment vehicle set to take Trump’s Truth Social public slid when Musk first announced his plan to buy Twitter, and fell again earlier this month when Musk revived his proposal to buy it. Likewise, Rumble, which only recently went public via a similar path, saw its stock decline recently when Musk said the deal was back on.

    Many of the right-leaning figures who have championed alternative platforms have cheered Musk’s plan to take over Twitter, a sign that they might abandon their dedication to a right-leaning social media ecosystem if a more mainstream platform was willing to welcome them back. Radio personality Joe Rogan — who previously discussed a move to Gettr — said in a text message to Musk in April, “I REALLY hope you get Twitter. If you do, we should throw one hell of a party.”

    Social platforms are attractive in large part because they enable conversations and connections between lots of different kinds of people. With alternative conservative platforms, many users may be discouraged by the echo chamber. “If you go to these platforms, there is one conversation happening,” said Darren Linvill, a Clemson University professor who studies disinformation and inauthentic behavior on social media. Conservative users uninterested in politics may also avoid the alternative platforms because of other objectionable content they host, according to experts who study the space.

    Putting the political discourse aside, many such platforms also suffer from technical issues and poor user interfaces. Unlike their mainstream rivals, these newer services lack sufficient resources to fix those issues. That could only make it harder to compete with a Musk-owned Twitter.

    “Elon Musk could buy Twitter and say, ‘Trump, you’re back, Kanye, you’re back,’ and then Kanye is stuck owning a relatively defunct, somewhat irrelevant platform,” said Decker. “The question is going to come down to how serious Elon Musk is about any of this.”

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  • Saudis sentence U.S. citizen to 16 years in prison over tweets, his family says

    Saudis sentence U.S. citizen to 16 years in prison over tweets, his family says

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    An American citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.

    Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

    There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials.

    Saudi Arabia Rights
    In this photo provided by Ibrahim Almadi, Saad Ibrahim Almadi sits in a restaurant in an unidentified place, in the United States, on August 2021. Almadi, 72, who is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S., was arrested in Saudi Arabia last November and was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets critical of the Saudi government. 

    Ibrahim Almadi / AP


    State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters in Washington, confirmed Almadi’s detention Tuesday.

    “We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington, D.C., as well and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We have raised this with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.”

    It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts critical of the government.

    Saudi authorities have tightened their crackdown on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seeking to open up and transform the ultraconservative kingdom but has adopted a hard line toward any criticism.

    A Saudi court recently sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for allegedly damaging the country through her social media activity. A Saudi doctoral student at Leeds University in England was sentenced to 34 years for spreading “rumors” and retweeting dissidents, a case that drew international outrage.

    Ibrahim says his father was detained over 14 “mild tweets” sent over the past seven years, mostly criticizing government policies and alleged corruption. He says his father was not an activist but a private citizen expressing his opinion while in the U.S., where freedom of speech is a constitutional right.

    President Joe Biden traveled to the oil-rich kingdom in July for a meeting with Prince Mohammed, in which he said he confronted him about human rights. Their meeting — and a widely criticized fist-bump — marked a sharp turnaround from Biden’s earlier vow to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

    Ibrahim said his father was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Oct. 3 on charges of supporting terrorism. The father was also charged with failing to report terrorism, over tweets that Ibrahim had posted.

    His father was also slapped with a 16-year travel ban. If the sentence is carried out, the 72-year-old would be 87 upon his release and barred from returning home to the U.S. unless he reaches the age of 104.

    Ibrahim said Saudi authorities warned his family to stay quiet about the case and to not involve the U.S. government. He said his father was tortured after the family contacted the State Department in March.

    Ibrahim also accused the State Department of neglecting his father’s case by not declaring him a “wrongfully detained” American, which would elevate his file.

    “They manipulated me. They told me to stay quiet so they can get him out,” Ibrahim said, explaining his decision to go public this week. “I am not willing to take a gamble on the Department of State anymore.”

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  • Take note: Utah Jazz may have lost their hashtag to Apple

    Take note: Utah Jazz may have lost their hashtag to Apple

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    SALT LAKE CITY — Take note: The Utah Jazz evidently need a new hashtag.

    The team’s long-used hashtag — #TakeNote — was used by Apple CEO Tim Cook in a tweet on Tuesday, accompanied by an Apple logo emoji. It raises questions about how the phrase will be used in the team’s marketing plans going forward.

    “That was weird. I saw that when you all did,” Jazz owner Ryan Smith said Tuesday at a Salt Lake City news conference unrelated to hashtag matters. “Got to look into it.”

    Cook and Smith are friends; Cook has even sat courtside with Smith for at least one Jazz game.

    Apple Inc. unveiled the latest innovations with its iPad and Apple TV products on Tuesday, and Cook’s early morning tweet with the hashtag and a short video that also made use of the “Take Note” phrase was basically the kickoff to his company’s announcements.

    The Jazz have “#TakeNote” on multiple displays in their arena, plus they have used it on merchandise. The team started using the hashtag in 2016, got away from it briefly and began using it again in 2019.

    And just last week, the Jazz announced a partnership with Utah-based company Chatbooks — including a promotion where Chatbooks would “display a collage of fans’ social media photos” on the video boards hanging over center court.

    The plan was to tell fans to post photos on social media with the #TakeNote hashtag to have them considered for those collages.

    ———

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

    Family: Saudis sentence US citizen to 16 years over tweets

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An American citizen has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, tortured and sentenced to 16 years in prison over tweets he sent while in the United States, his son said Tuesday.

    Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a 72-year-old retired project manager living in Florida, was arrested last November while visiting family in the kingdom and was sentenced earlier this month, his son Ibrahim told The Associated Press, confirming details that were first reported by the Washington Post. Almadi is a citizen of both Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

    There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials.

    State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel, speaking to reporters in Washington, confirmed Almadi’s detention Tuesday.

    “We have consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington DC as well and we will continue to do so,” he said. “We have raised this with members of the Saudi government as recently as yesterday.”

    It appeared to be the latest in a series of recent cases in which Saudis received long jail sentences for social media posts critical of the government.

    Saudi authorities have tightened their crackdown on dissent following the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is seeking to open up and transform the ultraconservative kingdom but has adopted a hard line toward any criticism.

    A Saudi court recently sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison for allegedly damaging the country through her social media activity. A Saudi doctoral student at Leeds University in England was sentenced to 34 years for spreading “rumors” and retweeting dissidents, a case that drew international outrage.

    Ibrahim says his father was detained over 14 “mild tweets” sent over the past seven years, mostly criticizing government policies and alleged corruption. He says his father was not an activist but a private citizen expressing his opinion while in the U.S., where freedom of speech is a constitutional right.

    President Joe Biden traveled to the oil-rich kingdom in July for a meeting with Prince Mohammed, in which he said he confronted him about human rights. Their meeting — and a widely criticized fist-bump — marked a sharp turnaround from Biden’s earlier vow to make the kingdom a “pariah” over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

    Ibrahim said his father was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Oct. 3 on charges of supporting terrorism. The father was also charged with failing to report terrorism, over tweets that Ibrahim had posted.

    His father was also slapped with a 16-year travel ban. If the sentence is carried out, the 72-year-old would be 87 upon his release and barred from returning home to the U.S. unless he reaches the age of 104.

    Ibrahim said Saudi authorities warned his family to stay quiet about the case and to not involve the U.S. government. He said his father was tortured after the family contacted the State Department in March.

    Ibrahim also accused the State Department of neglecting his father’s case by not declaring him a “wrongfully detained” American, which would elevate his file.

    “They manipulated me. They told me to stay quiet so they can get him out,” Ibrahim said, explaining his decision to go public this week. “I am not willing to take a gamble on the Department of State anymore.”

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  • Why Influencers Are the Perfect Marketing Strategy For Your Brand

    Why Influencers Are the Perfect Marketing Strategy For Your Brand

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    At least 93 percent of marketers have included influencer marketing in their brand strategy. Additionally, In 2020, the average number of social media accounts for a millennial or Gen Z-er was 8.4 personal accounts, which means that it’s more important than ever for brands to embrace a cross-channel marketing approach to stay competitive. The influencer marketing industry is projected to reach $16.4 billion by the end of 2022.

    Successfully connecting influencers and brands requires a specific list of criteria. When we hit upon the “perfect” influencer relationship, both the creator and the brands benefit tremendously.

    It’s not always easy to find the right influencers for your brand. Still, these are a few of the key things we look for when establishing brand-influencer relationships at ConvertSocial, after analyzing our own experience with more than 20,000 influencers.

    1. They’re from an industry-relevant niche

    It doesn’t matter how high their follower count is or how viral their content goes; if an influencer isn’t relevant to a brand’s sphere, the relationship won’t be a great fit.

    Creators within a specific niche of your industry tend to have a much more significant impact on the brands they work with because their audience, content and reputation are all built on a targeted passion. This means that content is more targeted, and every campaign is more impactful.

    Related: What to Know About Influencer Marketing in 2022

    2. Their voice and personal brand resonate with the company’s image and values

    Remember that the influencers you choose are extensions of your brand. They are ambassadors of your core values and mission, so your company should only choose creators with similar values. Smaller-scale influencers who feel accessible to your audience and champion the same causes as your brand are the perfect ambassadors to maximize your company’s ROI.

    In addition, it’s important to remember that new influencer categories are cropping up as the industry expands. No matter the brand niche, there are now influencers who are gaining a following in that sphere. From “finfluencers” (financial influencers) to “skinfluencers” (skincare influencers), there’s a creator for every niche, so hold out for the ones that resonate best with your brand.

    3. They’re charismatic, trustworthy and know how to build emotional connections

    Creators should have that “something extra” that makes them unique and able to establish a genuine emotional connection with their followers. When an influencer has charisma and empathy, it converts to the kind of loyalty and trust that will keep the audience coming back again and again.

    Many brands are turning to micro-influencers (those with 10,000-100,000 followers) because they tend to have an aura of authenticity and credibility that differs from celebrities and macro influencers. They tend to feel more relatable and attainable, so followers feel they have a certain level of authority in their niche.

    Related: Overcoming Language Barriers, Regional Influencer Marketing Boosts Brand Growth Exponentially

    4. They can proactively produce balanced content that sells

    It’s essential that creators aren’t advertising in every post. We usually aim for a goal of no more than 15 percent of sales-type content per influencer. This goal is based on thousands of in-depth interviews conducted with creators, which works well for us.

    Influencers should be excited about creating quality content around your brand. The best ones will have natural selling skills that allow them to introduce the benefits of your product in a way that feels like a friend sharing their knowledge about something they love.

    It’s often best to have a collaborative conversation about ad campaigns so that you and your influencer partner can craft highly relevant content to their audience and effectively introduce your product in the best possible light.

    Related: 7 Steps to Becoming a Seven-Figure Influencer in Your Niche

    Three more considerations when choosing influencers

    First, remember that a high follower count is not the most critical metric. Creators demonstrating high levels of community engagement will be far more likely to have a higher ROI. Ask creators for their engagement statistics (e.g., likes, comments, shares, clicks, story polls, etc.), and double-check their numbers. It’s usually a red flag if an influencer hesitates to share their statistics with you.

    Second, expertise and relevant experience can be huge boosters. The more authority an influencer has in their niche, the easier it is to convert that into audience trust and loyalty to your brand. For example, a fitness influencer who is a registered dietitian or physical therapist has a higher level of authority than someone who has been going to the gym for a few years.

    Third, cross-platform content creation has a significant impact on revenues. An influencer having accounts on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, TikTok or YouTube drastically increases revenues. For instance, our ConvertSocial statistics confirmed that a creator with 2-3 social media accounts could bring in up to three times more revenue than a creator with only one account. Four or more accounts increase revenues tenfold!

    Leverage the influencer community to your advantage

    Statistics show that influencer marketing ROIs are up to 11 times greater than banner ads, and 92 percent of consumers trust online word-of-mouth recommendations over other ad formats.

    The influencer marketing channel is growing extremely fast and shows no signs of slowing down. This means that now is the best time to jump on the trend and capitalize on the success that partnering with the perfect influencer can bring.

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    Ksana Liapkova

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  • Opinion: The chilling problem with Kanye West’s definition of ‘free speech’ | CNN

    Opinion: The chilling problem with Kanye West’s definition of ‘free speech’ | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Kara Alaimo, an associate professor in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, writes about issues affecting women and social media. She was spokeswoman for international affairs in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    The conservative social media company Parler announced on Monday that it is being purchased by Kanye West, who was temporarily suspended from Twitter this month for an antisemitic tweet. A statement from Parler’s parent company announcing the deal described West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, as having taken “a groundbreaking move into the free speech media space” where “he will never have to fear being removed from social media again.”

    In a release by Parler, West said that “in a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves.”

    This development means several social media companies could soon be left in the hands of mercurial, mega-rich men who have pledged to promote “free speech,” including the kind of extreme views that got West temporarily booted from Twitter. Elon Musk is currently in the process of buying Twitter, though Twitter said in a recent court filing that federal authorities (it was not clear which ones) are investigating Musk (while Musk’s attorney said this filing was designed to distract from Twitter’s own legal issues).

    For his part, Musk has said Twitter should be “an inclusive arena for free speech.” And former President Donald Trump, who was thrown off Twitter and Facebook in January 2021, founded the company that created Truth Social, which describes itself as a “free speech haven.”

    If West and Musk go through with their deals, these three social media platforms are likely to serve as ecosystems for conservative thought. This will likely make the views of those who remain on them more extreme — which could have a radical effect on our politics. That’s because when people who think similarly come together, they reaffirm and heighten one another’s initial beliefs.

    While men such as West, Musk and Trump claim to promote free speech by not favoring the moderation of problematic content, here’s what lack of moderation really does: It drives away the people victimized by abusive content such as West’s tweet.

    A 2020 study of women in 51 countries by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that 38% have been victims of online violence, from stalking to doxxing to violent threats. As Amnesty International and others have found, women of color are most affected. Antisemitic content is also rampant online. A 2021 report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that a sample of 714 anti-Jewish posts on five social networks had been viewed 7.3 million times.

    When women become victims of online hate, they often “shut down their blogs, avoid websites they formerly frequented, take down social networking profiles, (and) refrain from engaging in online political commentary,” according to University of Miami law professor Mary Anne Franks.

    In practice, what these so-called free speech policies really boil down to is an ugly form of censorship that scares away the voices of people who are attacked by users of these platforms.

    West has already described Parler as a place where conservative views can flourish, and nonconservatives are unlikely to flock to Truth Social, given its association with Trump. If women, people of color and others start fleeing Twitter, that could leave it as a platform for conservatives as well. This would likely make the views of those who remain even more zealous.

    “When like-minded people get together, they often end up thinking a more extreme version of what they thought before they started to talk to one another,” Harvard University law professor Cass Sunstein writes in “On Rumors: How Falsehoods Spread, Why We Believe Them, and What Can Be Done.” Sunstein says this happens because their exchanges heighten their preexisting beliefs and make them more confident.

    So, when conservatives get together on social media, we can expect them to become more far right. And just as Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk-show hosts radically altered the political landscape in the 1990s in ways that laid the groundwork for Trump’s presidency, the far-right views nurtured on these social networks could have a huge impact on our country’s politics. It isn’t hard to imagine that the people who commune on these sites could band together to support and elect political candidates who share their worldviews.

    We can also expect these male owners to use their platforms to amplify their own views — even when they’re sexist, misogynistic, racist or otherwise hateful.

    If West comes to own Parler and Musk takes the reins of Twitter, an already-extant conservative ecosystem will be supercharged on social media. These men’s “free speech” policies are likely to drive away people victimized by hate online. Those who remain in these conservative spaces will become even more extreme as a result of their interactions, which could cultivate a dangerous far-right ideology that has far-reaching effects on our politics.

    Just think about the way these owners already post, with Musk recently suggesting China control Taiwan and Russia keep part of Ukraine and West releasing a music video showing a doppelgänger of ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s then-boyfriend, Pete Davidson, being kidnapped and buried. If this is a glimpse of what social networks will look like in the future, we should all be very scared.

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  • Report: Taliban killed captives in restive Afghan province

    Report: Taliban killed captives in restive Afghan province

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    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban captured, bound and shot to death 27 men in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley last month during an offensive against resistance fighters in the area, according to a report published Tuesday, refuting the group’s earlier claims that the men were killed in battle.

    One video of the killings verified by the report shows five men, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. Then, Taliban fighters spray them with gunfire for 20 seconds and cry out in celebration.

    The investigation by Afghan Witness, an open-source project run by the U.K.-based non-profit Center for Information Resilience, is a rare verification of allegations that the Taliban have used brutal methods against opposition forces and their supporters, its researchers said. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed a tighter and harsher rule, even as they press for international recognition of their government.

    David Osborn, the team leader of Afghan Witness, said the report gives the ”most clear-cut example” of the Taliban carrying out an “orchestrated purge” of resistance fighters.

    Afghan Witness said it analyzed dozens of visual sources from social media — mostly videos and photographs — to conclusively link one group of Taliban fighters to the killings of 10 men in the Dara District of Panjshir, including the five seen being mowed down in the video.

    It said it also confirmed 17 other extrajudicial killings from further images on social media, all showing dead men with their hands tied behind their backs. Videos and photos of Taliban fighters with the bodies aided geolocation and chrono-location, also providing close-ups of the fighters at the scene. These were cross-referenced with other videos suspected to feature the group.

    “Using open-source techniques we have established the facts around the summary and systematic execution of a group of men in the Panjshir Valley in mid-September,” Osborn said. “At the time of their execution, the detained were bound, posing no threat to their Taliban captors.”

    Enayatullah Khawarazmi, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the defense minister, said a delegation is investigating the videos released on social media. He said he was unable to give further details as the investigation is ongoing.

    Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban-run government, was not immediately available for comment.

    Last month, Mujahid was reported as saying the Taliban had killed 40 resistance fighters and captured more than 100 in Panjshir. He gave no details on how the 40 men died.

    The force fighting in the mountainous Panjshir Valley north of Kabul — a remote region that has defied conquerors before — rose out of the last remnants of Afghanistan’s shattered security forces. It has vowed to resist the Taliban after they overran the country and seized power in August 2021.

    Ali Maisam Nazary, head of foreign relations at the National Resistance Front for Afghanistan, said: “The Taliban committed war crimes by killing POWs that surrendered to them point blank and the videos are evidence of this.”

    Afghan Witness said it has credible evidence of a further 30 deaths due to last month’s Taliban offensive against alleged resistance fighters in Panjshir.

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