deerstalker
https://www.blackenterprise.com/bots-in-blackface-the-rise-of-fake-black-people-on-social-media/
If you follow Donald Trump’s Twitter feed, you may have noticed several prominent accounts that appear to be profiles belonging to black people–high up on his Twitter feed of responses. Some of these accounts have thousands and thousands of followers. Others even have the blue Twitter check mark next to their account names. Yet, exactly who is behind these accounts is ambiguous. The rise of bots in the guise of black people on social media remains a worrisome issue heading into the 2020 elections.
Take for instance, the Twitter account @RyanHillMI, aka Ryan Hill. This account has a blue check mark which, supposedly, means it was vetted by Twitter and confirmed to be an actual person. Yet, a Google (or Bing) search on ‘Ryan Hill Michigan’ only yields results of a white, male lawyer in Michigan, and nothing about a young, black man in the Michigan area—which the @RyanHillMI’s avatar depicts.
I reached out to the Ryan Hill account on Twitter. I asked him (it?) about doing an interview and providing some background information. The conversation turned bizarre as you can see from the below screenshot (these are his remarks to my inquiries):
I also contacted Twitter and asked the company about assigning a blue check to an account a journalist could not find much information about. I was told I would receive an answer. I am still waiting.
Needless to say, the account raises some suspicion about authenticity. If it is indeed some sockpuppet account posing as a black person to influence politics—it wouldn’t be the first time some vested interest engaged in ‘bot blackface.’
Perceptive social media users have even unearthed fake black accounts using Google’s reverse image search feature. One such Twitter account, @Mike47441781, was proven to use a stock image as the account’s avatar.
Shireen Mitchell is the founder of Digital Sisters and Stop Online Violence Against Women. She’s done in-depth research about the use of impostor black accounts pushing political agendas across social media.
Mitchell says the activity behind these fake accounts boils down to “getting people not to vote for Democrats.” She points out that social media is the ultimate affordable platform for white supremacists.
As one of the authors of Stop Online Violence Against Women’s report on targeted black voter suppression on social media, Mitchell and her team reported on the Russian Internet Research Agency’s purposeful political ad targeting to black Americans.
“The 3,500 ads on Facebook by the Russian Internet Research agency were centered largely on Black American Culture over all other identity and race-based narratives. While the race-based focus of the Russian-purchased ads has been acknowledged in some reporting and previous studies, it has not been pointed out in the media that the themes of Black Identity and culture were the focus of the majority of the ads with the intent to engage in voter suppression of Black voters,” stated Mitchell and the other report authors in a press release.
“The sobering analysis in this report documents that Russian ads were overwhelming focused on Black American Culture, and often specifically on Black women with the goal of voter suppression,” says Jessie Daniels, Professor of Sociology at The City University of New York, and a Fellow at The Data & Society Research Institute. “This report is an urgently needed reminder that we ignore the way racism is woven into technology at our own peril.”
The report found that Russian actors specifically manipulated topics such as Hillary Clinton’s “super predator” comment from 1996; and issues related to race and policing, immigration, and guns. You can read the entire report here.
Much of the controversy over fake black social media accounts also surrounds the American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) movement. ADOS activists claim that African American voters should vote for politicians that support policies beneficial and exclusive to the African American community, such as reparations.
Buzzfeed reported that social media ADOS activist accounts are often accused of being bots and “Russian trolls”:
Some Twitter users still doubt the authenticity of some of the accounts tweeting about the movement. One user account questioned if she’d have to mute #ADOS and posted a screenshot of an account created in 2009. “This might be important,” the user said. “I saw a warning the other day that the new bot movement is old accounts that have been dormant. This account was created in 09 but just started tweeting literally 15 mins ago.”
Clearly, there are concerted efforts to splinter the powerful black voting bloc and to keep black people from voting. It’s important that black people stay vigilant over whose information to trust on social media.
One professor offered a few tips to NPR on how to pinpoint possibly fake black profiles:
–Beware of accounts that regularly use stereotypical quote-unquote black language. These accounts typically use language they think black people use.
–Check the number of tweets and followers on an account.
–Check how long ago an account was created.
–Check the type of tweets or posts the account has on its timeline.
If you follow Donald Trump’s Twitter feed, you may have noticed several prominent accounts that appear to be profiles belonging to black people–high up on his Twitter feed of responses. Some of these accounts have thousands and thousands of followers. Others even have the blue Twitter check mark next to their account names. Yet, exactly who is behind these accounts is ambiguous. The rise of bots in the guise of black people on social media remains a worrisome issue heading into the 2020 elections.
Take for instance, the Twitter account @RyanHillMI, aka Ryan Hill. This account has a blue check mark which, supposedly, means it was vetted by Twitter and confirmed to be an actual person. Yet, a Google (or Bing) search on ‘Ryan Hill Michigan’ only yields results of a white, male lawyer in Michigan, and nothing about a young, black man in the Michigan area—which the @RyanHillMI’s avatar depicts.
I reached out to the Ryan Hill account on Twitter. I asked him (it?) about doing an interview and providing some background information. The conversation turned bizarre as you can see from the below screenshot (these are his remarks to my inquiries):
I also contacted Twitter and asked the company about assigning a blue check to an account a journalist could not find much information about. I was told I would receive an answer. I am still waiting.
Needless to say, the account raises some suspicion about authenticity. If it is indeed some sockpuppet account posing as a black person to influence politics—it wouldn’t be the first time some vested interest engaged in ‘bot blackface.’
Perceptive social media users have even unearthed fake black accounts using Google’s reverse image search feature. One such Twitter account, @Mike47441781, was proven to use a stock image as the account’s avatar.
Shireen Mitchell is the founder of Digital Sisters and Stop Online Violence Against Women. She’s done in-depth research about the use of impostor black accounts pushing political agendas across social media.
Mitchell says the activity behind these fake accounts boils down to “getting people not to vote for Democrats.” She points out that social media is the ultimate affordable platform for white supremacists.
As one of the authors of Stop Online Violence Against Women’s report on targeted black voter suppression on social media, Mitchell and her team reported on the Russian Internet Research Agency’s purposeful political ad targeting to black Americans.
“The 3,500 ads on Facebook by the Russian Internet Research agency were centered largely on Black American Culture over all other identity and race-based narratives. While the race-based focus of the Russian-purchased ads has been acknowledged in some reporting and previous studies, it has not been pointed out in the media that the themes of Black Identity and culture were the focus of the majority of the ads with the intent to engage in voter suppression of Black voters,” stated Mitchell and the other report authors in a press release.
“The sobering analysis in this report documents that Russian ads were overwhelming focused on Black American Culture, and often specifically on Black women with the goal of voter suppression,” says Jessie Daniels, Professor of Sociology at The City University of New York, and a Fellow at The Data & Society Research Institute. “This report is an urgently needed reminder that we ignore the way racism is woven into technology at our own peril.”
The report found that Russian actors specifically manipulated topics such as Hillary Clinton’s “super predator” comment from 1996; and issues related to race and policing, immigration, and guns. You can read the entire report here.
Much of the controversy over fake black social media accounts also surrounds the American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) movement. ADOS activists claim that African American voters should vote for politicians that support policies beneficial and exclusive to the African American community, such as reparations.
Buzzfeed reported that social media ADOS activist accounts are often accused of being bots and “Russian trolls”:
Some Twitter users still doubt the authenticity of some of the accounts tweeting about the movement. One user account questioned if she’d have to mute #ADOS and posted a screenshot of an account created in 2009. “This might be important,” the user said. “I saw a warning the other day that the new bot movement is old accounts that have been dormant. This account was created in 09 but just started tweeting literally 15 mins ago.”
Clearly, there are concerted efforts to splinter the powerful black voting bloc and to keep black people from voting. It’s important that black people stay vigilant over whose information to trust on social media.
One professor offered a few tips to NPR on how to pinpoint possibly fake black profiles:
–Beware of accounts that regularly use stereotypical quote-unquote black language. These accounts typically use language they think black people use.
–Check the number of tweets and followers on an account.
–Check how long ago an account was created.
–Check the type of tweets or posts the account has on its timeline.
Disney+ revealed the first trailer and poster for The Mandalorian, a new live-action Star Wars series launching on the streaming service this fall, and it teases a galactic adventure.
Bounty hunting is a complicated profession. @TheMandalorian, an original Star Wars series, starts streaming November 12, only on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/CTpflCJSJe
— Disney+ (@disneyplus) August 24, 2019
The Mandalorian’s new promo art was announced on Friday at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, The Wrap reported. At the expo, which will be held from Aug. 23 to Aug. 25, fans will learn more details about the show, which is set after the events of Return of the Jedi and follows a lone Mandalorian gunfighter who travels outside the Republic’s reach.
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Disney+ uploaded The Mandalorian poster on Instagram, which shows the Mandalorian walking in a dry terrain and his ship, the Razor Crest, behind him, said a Star Wars press release. The Mandalorian, which is executive produced by Jon Favreau and stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, and Carl Weathers, will be available to stream on Disney+ starting Nov. 12.
Werner Herzog is calling “The Mandalorian” “a phenomenal achievement” after joining the cast of the streaming series set in the “Star Wars” universe. Herzog, who just released the documentary “Meeting Gorbachev,” does have a confession: He’s never seen a “Star Wars” film. pic.twitter.com/9yhzXuI3M4
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) May 4, 2019
In May, filmmaker Werner Herzog said The Mandalorian was a “phenomenal achievement.” The director, who previously worked on Aguirre, the Wrath of God, told The Associated Press that he will most likely appear in two or three episodes of the show as “a character in whom you cannot trust.”
It’s unclear what type of villain Herzog will play in the live-action Star Wars series, however, the actor is very happy to be part of The Mandalorian’s cast.
“[The] Mandalorian was filmed not like all the other Star Wars or other big event films — green screen, green screen everywhere — and the camera motion-control moving there. The camera, that could even be hand-held and move in between us, sees the same landscape,” Herzog explained. “It’s not green-screen and artificiality. It brings movie-making back where it should be.”
Disney+ is launching on Nov. 12 and it will be available for $6.99 a month or as part of a $12.99 bundle with ESPN+ and Hulu. For more information on subscriptions, visit Disney+’s website here.
More on Geek.com:
- Werner Herzog: ‘The Mandalorian’ Is a ‘Phenomenal Achievement’
- ‘Star Wars Resistance’ Finale Sets Up ‘The Rise of Skywalker’
- Mattel Unveils Fashionable ‘Star Wars’ x Barbie Dolls
Writer: Dana Schwartz // Artist: Reilly Brown // Marvel
I’ll Give You Everything I Have
If there is one thing that this comic taught me it is this: If you’re desperate enough to get a mercenary, you’ll find one. (Yes, even if they don’t have a mailbox.) If you want to read something that simultaneously both drags millennials and grows your soft spot for the Merc with a Mouth, you need to read this year’s Deadpool Annual. In this year’s adventure, Deadpool is approached by an eight-year-old boy who cannot escape the dreadful pull of his nightmares. Wade is summoned by cries and cuteness and sets off on an adventure to relieve the child of his burdens.
You Owe Me 7 Dollars
Deadpool Annual 2018 takes the nuances of storytelling (the humor, the heartbreak, the character dynamics) and creates a world where readers can laugh and within five seconds gasp and grab their chest. Unlike plenty of other Deadpool comics, this entry is more about the dialogue and the tenderness we often forget Wade has. The fighting is limited, the wit is brought forward, and each panel feels like a surprise. What we do not get in blood splatter we receive in emotional attachment. This is one of the rare times I see Deadpool move with intention instead of impulsivity. Violence is not even used as a first option but rather a “if the moment calls for it”. Deadpool Annual 2018 gives an added depth to a character we know and love.
Don’t get me wrong, Wade stay strapped, Katana in the back, fourth wall stay broken.
The Schwartz-Brown team takes the sentimental values we love and throws it in the mixing pot for readers to enjoy. My favorite part about this comic is the physical representation of nightmares. Deadpool Annual breaks down nightmares into the physical and psychological. It tests the ideologies of the subconscious. What we are force fed in our lives runs rampant even in the dream world. Dreams have the ability to be excessive and carries with them the power to hold us hostage throughout the day. Deadpool Annual gave me the heart to believe that without my knowledge Wade could be out here wrestling with the burdens in my subconscious. Ain’t that the most beautiful thing a Merc could do for a fan?
9.2 Sentimental Slices out of 10
Reading Deadpool? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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The post Deadpool Annual 2018 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas has immortalized Aaliyah with a wax figure, revealing the new figure in a ceremony with her family and fans on Wednesday.
The figure comes just over 18 years after the late singer died in a tragic accident. Her brother, Rashad Haughton, was also on hand for the unveiling and gave a brief speech.
But the star by far was the figure itself.
“…Rather than being a recreation of any one particular Aaliyah moment, (this) was instead designed with a message to her fans in mind,” says Adam Morey, Studios Manager at Madame Tussauds Las Vegas,“It’s a message that hopefully reflects her everlasting legacy.”
The new statue captures a moment of the late singer’s straight from Aaliyah’s “Try Again” music video in 2000. The figure can be seen sporting her signature leather pants and metallic bra, belt and choker set.
“It was clear right away it would be the ‘Try Again’ look for our Aaliyah figure,” Morey said. “The look has the sexy, edgy, timeless vibe we try to imbue in the Las Vegas attraction within all our creative choices. Mining popular culture as only Madame Tussauds can, our desire to honor Aaliyah and the look in this way was only confirmed as we see today’s Hollywood stars like KeKe Palmer, Kim Kardashian, Zendaya, also paying homage by recreating their own favorite moments of the Princess of R&B.”
The post Aaliyah’s Wax Figure Unveiled At Madame Tussauds In Las Vegas appeared first on Essence.