Renee DiResta / is on Nostr

Main character of 5 Twitter Files fantasy epics.
Runs the world from Stanford Internet Observatory. Propaganda, trust & safety.
🐘@noupside elsewhere

Last Notes

2024-10-17 12:27:21

Listening to Salman Rushdie speak about free speech at a conference at Vanderbilt today. He notes he has left Twitter - “a room full of people you don’t want to be in” - and life is more peaceful without it. He notes that publishing the Satanic Verses would have been more dangerous today - in 1989, information spread more slowly. Fax machines spread propaganda against his work then, but it would be “exponentially more now.”
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/463776679_2111433995926367_5342693618989612911_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=O9aduMW4mn0Q7kNvgE9zYDG&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=Atv7sfsiyNB0apsoI1bi-zd&oh=00_AYCp15u70-yaGt015DjmTyrxjxW2s5Cvsvgaw_ZaSGBErw&oe=6716EF68

2024-10-12 01:04:57

Here’s my contribution to The Discourse on the insane rumors that have become reality among a subset of X users
1. The platform privileges rumors. This has always been structurally true but “policy shapes propagation” & Elon’s policy changes juices it.
2. This is not accidental. Rumors are useful for political propaganda. MAGA elites now amplify & legitimize them. It’s not just “more visible,” it’s normalized.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/10/rumors-x-twitter-musk/680219/

2024-10-12 01:04:57

- reply

Gift link for article above:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/10/rumors-x-twitter-musk/680219/?gift=ymYfi5fGEGbizA5HTnXX5zjAmXR1NZs0LbMPkOPtIIw&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

2024-10-12 01:04:57

- reply

More context in here invisiblerulers.com
https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/462610518_1233491941276663_2401879744304785847_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=s9vqF6sDD70Q7kNvgEykpm0&_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com&_nc_gid=AbPJoN5RndfwqVV-wrXpHRA&oh=00_AYCHV_DezUjdPyCPmFx2EFlk7cLMGUOCaj6hgW0TLCNIwA&oe=670FE1CF

2024-10-12 01:04:57

- reply

3. Since the rumors are useful, MAGA elites ref-work to ensure they remain prevalent. This has been Jim Jordan’s project for the better part of a year now. Recognize what that committee’s goal was. What the lawsuits were for.
4. Community Notes can’t keep up. A valuable tool, but always intended to be supplemental.
5. People disgusted by this are moving into new platforms as the market provides. So are advertisers. X will continue to spiral if it doesn’t change course…but again, see 3.

2024-10-05 04:42:08

Meta’s Movie Gen: ‘AI models designed to create & manipulate 🎥, 🔊, & 🖼️, incl creating realistic video from a single photo of a person…models outperform other video-synthesis models when evaluated by ppl, pushing us closer to a future where anyone can synthesize a full vid of any subject on demand.’
The use cases will all be as wholesome as making women from photos drink pumpkin spice lattes.
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/10/metas-new-movie-gen-ai-system-can-deepfake-video-from-a-single-photo
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2024/10/metas-new-movie-gen-ai-system-can-deepfake-video-from-a-single-photo/

2024-09-23 20:16:09

Get familiar with how this works, because it is about to happen around a lot more rumors as stories about voting machines and “fraud” and illegal voters proliferate in the lead-up to Election Day
RE: https://www.threads.net/@edeggans/post/DALw4UPRH8F

2024-09-23 20:16:09

Another interesting case study in the rise of autonomous agents and proof-of-personhood arms race https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-poker-bots-artificial-intelligence-russia/

2024-09-19 03:30:02

This is a hell of an essay.
https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/wanderland/exotic-cat-eaters-springfield-ohio/

2024-09-17 02:30:15

FB just nuked RT.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/meta-bans-rt-other-russian-state-media-networks-2024-09-17/

2024-09-17 02:30:15

FB just nuked RT.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/meta-bans-rt-other-russian-state-media-networks-2024-09-17/

2024-07-19 06:00:02

If Biden drops out and Kamala becomes the D candidate, the “DEI” meme attacks are going to be nonstop across the entire MAGA faction to shift the announcement energy to negative immediately.
The play works by creating a negative association for a term, giving it the most expansive definition possible, and encouraging the faction to participate in the attacks. Opportunity to own one’s enemies and level up on community clout.
What will the counter memes be?

2024-07-02 16:30:03

This incident alone should have been disqualifying but post-COVID ppl have been afraid to call it out. I spend time on it in my book because THIS measles outbreak - with its 80+ dead children - signficantly shaped social media platforms’ policies toward anti-vaccine propaganda, long prior to COVID.
RE: https://www.threads.net/@davidcorn1/post/C87FELqRrIt

2024-06-15 00:30:03

- reply

I just wrote a book, as it happens: Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality
And it’s about exactly this story, and the inability of institutions to withstand pressure campaigns. 🫥
https://a.co/d/i91Wm03

2024-05-09 23:30:03

This is an interesting interview with Dorsey in which he spills the 🫖 on his departure from Bluesky, which, for those who were on it early, was clearly a response to some moderation kerfuffles and ref-working early on.
Decentralized protocols are largely not subject to ref-working, for better or worse (forthcoming article on this!). That is true. But there are some coherence issues...
https://www.piratewires.com/p/interview-with-jack-dorsey-mike-solana