Cobrapost stings Narendra Modi again, alleges 'misuse' of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter

Investigative website Cobrapost today alleged that IT companies are misusing social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to artificially boost politicians popularity and malign their rivals, with many firms claiming to be working for BJP and Narendra Modi.

The sting, Operation Blue Virus, claims to have exposed about two dozen little known IT firms across the country, which in the garb of providing reputation management services on social media, also offer fake fan following and posting defamatory content using IP addresses of others by hacking into them.

"An undercover operation by Cobrapost exposes how IT companies across the country are using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to help politicians artificially boost their popularity and malign their opponents," Cobrapost Editor Aniruddha Bahal told a press conference.

The website said it has uncovered about two dozen such firms, which are running this "shady" online reputation management business offering clients fake fan-following on Facebook and Twitter and are doing negative publicity against a political leader or a party, or a corporate house, at the behest of their opposite camp, all for money.

Bahal said Cobrapost Associate Editor Syed Masroor Hasan approached over two dozen IT companies asking them that his master (referred to as Netaji) wants to launch a campaign on social media before coming assembly elections and his rival's reputation has to be destroyed with negative publicity.

All the firms that Hasan visited offered to create a fan following (not necessarily genuine) on Facebook and Twitter, in lakhs to destroy the reputation of a political opponent of the politician, Hasan was supposedly representing, with negative publicity, Bahal claimed.

"Operation Blue Virus also reveals BJP is leading from the front in its social media campaign, if the claims of the companies exposed are to be believed. So is its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, with scores of companies working overtime for him," Cobrapost said in a release.

When asked about the reasons behind the name of only Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi figuring in conversations and not that of any other politician, Bahal said that his name cropped up in around 5-6 of the total stings that were conducted.

"Lots of people asked me if we are targeting certain people. We are not doing that. It is not a fishing expedition also. But, we believe that if somebody is doing it than we should come out with it. There is no guarantee that these firms are not working for any other party," he told reporters.

The services that these companies offered Hasan include generating fake following by creating fake profiles or buying likes from the community of netizens, create a good fan following on Twitter, by buying packages of followers and deleting negative comments.

They also offered negative publicity against "Netaji's" opponent, employing methods not necessarily ethical or legal.

They would post negative content online from countries like the US or Korea, to avoid detection of its source, use assembled computers for negative campaign and destroy them after the project is over and use proxy codes in a way that their locations change every hour, making detection difficult.

These firm also claimed to create fake profiles of Muslims to engage Muslims and change their views about Netaji and his party and offered to make the promotional videos go viral on YouTube, Bahal said.

Many of these malpractices violate various laws, such as the Information Technology Act 2000, the Representation of the People Act 1951 and the Income Tax Act 1961, and are as such punishable under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, Bahal said.

More: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/cobrapost-stings-narendra-modi-again-alleges-misuse-of-facebook-youtube-twitter/1201271/0

Cobrapost busts the social in social media

Millions of 'followers' and 'likes' among online propaganda managed by IT companies, finds Operation Blue Virus

Social media campaigns of political leaders, corporate houses and even NGOs are often make-believe bubbles created to mislead people and sometimes even to slander opponents, according to investigative and news portal cobrapost.com.

The website on Friday exposed nearly two dozen IT and consultancy service companies in Bangalore, Mumbai and NCR region to whom social media campaigns are outsourced. For a price – ranging from a few lakhs to a few crores – these companies, cobrapost reported, create millions of fake ‘followers’ and fake ‘likes’ for their clients, add false blog posts, send promotional SMSes, and use the reach of sites, such as facebook and Twitter to spread propaganda and smear campaigns. To hedge themselves and prevent detection, these companies use proxy codes, servers in international locations, wireless or separate internet connections obtained using fake IDs. Sometimes, they even launch ‘project-specific’ companies that are wrapped up once the ‘project’ (read smear campaign/propaganda) is over. Some IT and services companies even claimed to Cobrapost that they would manage booth-level voting by showing data of voters at the booth level and claiming to intimidate them by various means.

Cobrapost’s revelations, dubbed Operation Blue Virus, essentially mean that with money in hand, any person or corporate entity, can create an impression of immense popularity and a larger-than-life persona in the online world.

“We call it going by the mob mentality … to put it in simple language … if 50 people like a page, 20 others will like the page just because these 50 are doing that,” Mahendra Bedekar of Mumbai-based Tridat Technologies told Cobrapost’s associate editor Syed Masroor Hasan, who went undercover and approached these companies on behalf of a ‘Netaji’ for online reputation management and to spread a smear campaign against Netaji’s rival.

To malign rivals, Bangalore-based Trikam Patel, co-founder of Triams, told Hasan that he will deploy dubious means to dig up the person’s past for dirty details. “You need a devil’s mind for that … that kind of job is done by goons … I know many friends who run detective agencies … I will approach them and get two fellows on the job … what is the subject of his interest … where does he go … where he does come from … what are his personal relations … they will give us all kinds of information on the fellow … we will store it in our database,” Patel told Hasan.

Among the users of these services, the companies said, are political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, big and small corporate houses, NGOs and even tainted government officials. Citing the Muzaffarnagar riots, Cobrapost said that these online media campaigns are even used to fan communal violence. Cobrapost linked the business of online reputation management to “Goebbellian propaganda” to “sway” the opinion of “gullible public”.

More: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-cobrapost-busts-the-social-in-social-media-1926731

Twitter seeks up to $1.61 billion in IPO

Twitter announced an expected share price on Thursday of between 17 and 20 dollars for its eagerly-awaited initial public offering, which will see the microblogging company valued as high as 11.1 billion dollars.

In an official prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it hoped to raise 1.6 billion dollars from the share offering, up from a previous 1 billion dollars.

Twitter said it would offer 70 million shares for between 17 and 20 dollars each, plus an over-allotment of a further 10.5 million shares if the initial launch goes well.

The prospectus did not give a date for the launch, but The Wall Street Journal said that trading could begin as early as November 7.

The largest shareholder according to the prospectus is the investment firm Rizvi Traverse, which holds 17.9 per cent of the company’s shares, followed by co-founder Evan Williams with a 12 per cent stake.

More: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/twitter-seeks-up-to-161-billion-in-ipo/article5271276.ece

Facebook lets beheading clips return to social network

Facebook is allowing videos showing people being decapitated to be posted and shared on its site once again.

The social network had introduced a temporary ban in May following complaints that the clips could cause long-term psychological damage.

The US firm confirmed it now believed its users should be free to watch and condemn such videos. It added it was, however, considering adding warnings.

One suicide prevention charity condemned the move.

"It only takes seconds of exposure to such graphic material to leave a permanent trace - particularly in a young person's mind," said Dr Arthur Cassidy, a former psychologist who runs a branch of the Yellow Ribbon Program in Northern Ireland.

"The more graphic and colourful the material is, the more psychologically destructive it becomes."

Two of the firm's official safety advisers have also criticised the decision.

Facebook allows anyone aged 13 and above to be a member.

Its terms and conditions now state that it will remove photos or videos that "glorify violence" in addition to other banned material, including a woman's "fully exposed breast".

New rules

The BBC was alerted to Facebook's change in policy by a reader who said the firm was refusing to remove a page showing a clip of a masked man killing a woman, which is believed to have been filmed in Mexico.

It was posted last week under the title, Challenge: Anybody can watch this video?

Some Facebook users complained about a video showing a decapitation being allowed to remain on the site

"Remove this video too many young innocent minds out there shouldn't see this!!!" wrote one user in the comments section below.

"This is absolutely horrible, distasteful and needs to be removed... there are too many young minds that can see this. I'm 23 and I'm very disturbed after seeing a couple of seconds of it," wrote another.

The social network later confirmed it was allowing such material to be posted again.

"Facebook has long been a place where people turn to share their experiences, particularly when they're connected to controversial events on the ground, such as human rights abuses, acts of terrorism and other violent events," said a spokeswoman.

"People are sharing this video on Facebook to condemn it. If the video were being celebrated, or the actions in it encouraged, our approach would be different.

"However, since some people object to graphic video of this nature, we are working to give people additional control over the content they see. This may include warning them in advance that the image they are about to see contains graphic content."

The firm also disabled the adverts for third-party products that had been appearing alongside the video.

Advisers concerned

Facebook originally pulled decapitation videos after the Family Online Safety Institute - a member of its Safety Advisory Board - complained that they "crossed a line".

The charity's leader Stephen Balkam told the BBC he was surprised by the latest development.

"I would have expected a heads-up on this," he said.

"I went to have a look at the video and there's no warning label nor is there any condemnatory context. It's just sort of up there and the first image you are presented with is a woman's head being held by a guy.

"I'm very unhappy that these have gone back up and that they have gone up without any warning. First thing tomorrow morning I intend to raise this with Facebook."

Another of the board members, London-based Childnet International, said it also had concerns.

"Such content should be taken down," said its chief executive Will Gardner.

"There is a need to raise issues happening around the world, there is that argument, but some content is horrific.

"We would want to see steps to try and protect people from coming across such content. I'll tell Facebook what our view is, absolutely."

'Profoundly shocking'

Decapitation videos are available elsewhere on the net - including on Google's YouTube - but critics have raised concern that Facebook's news feeds and other sharing functions mean it is particularly adept at spreading such material.

Some psychologists have raised concerns that watching graphic violence can harm the viewer

"I have seen some of these videos - they are profoundly shocking," said John Carr, who sits on the executive board of the UK government's Council on Child Internet Safety.

"Facebook has taken leave of its senses. Those videos will fuel countless nightmares among the young and the sensitive."

The idea of Facebook issuing a blanket ban had, however, concerned some freedom-of-speech campaigners who had suggested it was the responsibility of parents - not the company - to protect children on the internet.

However, the French digital rights group La Quadrature du Net said it was still concerned that Facebook was reserving the right to take down the videos if it took issue with the way they were presented.

"It shows how much Facebook is in power to decide whatever will or will not be expressed through its network," said the organisation's co-founder Jeremie Zimmermann.

"It plays a profoundly anti-democratic role when it makes any such choice, whatever the limits are and whatever the good reasons it uses to make the decision. Only a judicial authority should be able to restrict fundamental freedoms according to the rule of law."

1 in 3 won't spend time with their Facebook friends in person

One in three people admit they do not like their Facebook friends enough to spend time with them in real life, a new survey has found.

In fact, people would only spend time with an average of ten per cent of people on their list of Facebook friends.

Users of the social networking site are reluctant to delete people from their friend list because they are too scared to miss out on gossip, according to the survey of 2,863 adults over the age of 18.

Some even dislike quite a few of their so-called mates and only remained connected through Facebook to see their photos, in case they needed to contact them or because they were related, 'metro.co.uk' reported.

Few people felt intimidated by the prospect of having to cut a relationship online, with one in four frightened by the potential consequences of doing so.

Around a fifth of the people surveyed admitted they used Facebook as a way to spy on their kids and other family members.

"It seems with the results of this study, the old saying about keeping your friends close, but your enemies even closer, is definitely alive and well even in today's society with our reliance on the internet," said George Charles, marketing director of VoucherCodesPro in UK, which conducted the study.

Credits: indianexpress

Facebook asks if you 'really' like it

In a first-ever self examination survey, Facebook will be gauging its users’ attitudes towards the site, and how the attitudes evolve over time.

The social media giant has formed its first ‘feedback panel’, where people will be surveyed for six months to check their level of satisfactions with the site and why they change.

According to Huffington Post, the site will be analyzing how users respond to ads and stories in their News Feed in a bid to learn which ads make its members happiest.

Facebook’s product manager for ads in News Feed, Fidji Simo said that the site wants to understand how users feel about ads, so that as the company grows its business, it is able to maintain the right balance between the advertisers’ needs and the users’ experience.

The site will be inviting certain members of its community and the participants will also be asked if they observe variation in the quality and quantity of ads delivered to them, and how they predict their Facebook usage might change in the future.

As Facebookers are the most irritated by ads, according to the ACSI 2013 survey; developer of the feedback panel and a user experience researcher at Facebook, Judd Antin explained that the real purpose of the survey is to connect changes in attitudes over time to the experience which might be driving those changes.

The report said that the first feedback panel will be limited to English-speaking users in the US, though it will include a cross-section of people who are representative of Facebook’s US population as a whole.

Credits: dnaindia