Neowin News Feed for: Racism

Meta fined by US government for implementing racist and discriminatory algorithms

Karthik Mudaliar — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 07:44:01 +0000

The US government has taken Meta to court and imposed a fine for violating the Fair Housing Act for implementing discriminatory ad targeting system based on their "race, color, religion, and more". Read more...

Ubuntu maker, Canonical, says it's trying to make 'inclusive language' stick

Paul Hill — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 18:32:01 +0000

Canonical has said that it has been replacing contentious terms in its code and documentation to make its project more inclusive. It said this isn't a cure-all but just a first step. Read more...

Twitter forced to share details about hate speech control after losing case in France

Usama Jawad — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 17:04:01 +0000

Twitter has been ordered to disclose the details and documentation about the manpower that it utilizes to combat hate speech in France after losing a court case against six plaintiffs in the country. Read more...

Black men identified as "Primates" by Facebook's not so intelligent AI

Sayan Sen — Sat, 04 Sep 2021 07:56:01 +0000

Facebook's AI mistook black men for "Primates" in a video on the social media's site. The company has apologized for this "unacceptable error" and has acknowledged the tech still needs more work. Read more...

Apple to invest a further $30 million on Racial Equity and Justice Initiative

Paul Hill — Tue, 31 Aug 2021 19:20:01 +0000

Apple has announced a further $30 million of investment through its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI) to help students and organizations tackle institutional racism in the U.S. Read more...

Ofcom: A third of users found hate speech on video sites in the last 90 days

Paul Hill — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 01:02:01 +0000

The UK's digital regulator Ofcom has published new findings about hateful content online. The statistics accompany new rules which could see adult websites introduce age-verification checks. Read more...

Instagram will now block accounts that send abusive Direct Messages

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 17:54:02 +0000

Following racist attacks on UK footballers, Instagram will now impose tougher penalties on people who send abusive messages in DMs and expand how users control their experience on the platform. Read more...

Twitter updates its policies to prohibit racism

Usama Jawad — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 06:20:02 +0000

Twitter has once again updated its platform policies to prohibit hate speech that dehumanizes people based on race, ethnicity, and national origin. Repeat offenders may get their accounts suspended. Read more...

Facebook will examine potential racial bias in its algorithms

Jay Bonggolto — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 04:14:01 +0000

Facebook will finally address racial issues on its platform, including Instagram, by creating new internal teams that will study how its algorithms impact minority users as compared with white users. Read more...

Cisco increasing its contributions to half a billion dollars to combat racism and COVID-19

Ather Fawaz — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 05:08:01 +0000

The California giant will be increasing its ongoing commitment to social responsibility programs to combat racism and further mitigate the effects of the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. Read more...

Twitter suspends accounts tweeting #dcblackout to curb misinformation

Ather Fawaz — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 08:02:01 +0000

The #dcblackout hashtag trended on Twitter and falsely claimed that authorities had blocked communications in Washington. Twitter suspended hundreds of accounts tweeting the hashtag. Read more...

Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, gets account taken over by hackers [Update]

Paul Hill — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 23:22:01 +0000

Hackers from Chuckling Squad took over Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's account on Friday. While they had control of the account, they posted racist comments and said there was a bomb at Twitter HQ. Read more...

Epik has “welcomed” Gab.com saying it has a right to be online

Paul Hill — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 18:20:01 +0000

The social networking site, Gab, has come back online after Epik decided to do business with it. Epik's founder did say, however, that Gab must monitor and "lightly curate" posted content. Read more...

Twitter digs deeper into toxic political discourse, partners with academic researchers

Sharath Ravishankar — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 22:16:01 +0000

Twitter has partnered up with researchers from Leiden University, Oxford University and the University of Amsterdam to better understand political discourse and hostility on the social media platform. Read more...

Uber executive resigns in the wake of racial discrimination investigation

Hamza Jawad — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 19:02:01 +0000

Uber's Chief People Officer has resigned from her post without mentioning any apparent reason. This resignation comes shortly after a probe into racial discrimination charges against her. Read more...

Ex-workers file suit against Tesla over racism

Paul Hill — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 13:44:01 +0000

Three ex-employees of Tesla have filed a suit against the company alleging they were the target of racism while at the company's Fremont factory. It's the second such case this year for Tesla. Read more...

PewDiePie bemoans foul play after DMCA takedown

Usama Jawad — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 09:58:02 +0000

Firewatch's developer recently filed a DMCA complaint against PewDiePie in protest of the YouTuber using a racial slur in an unrelated video. PewDiePie has now cried foul play over the DMCA takedown. Read more...

PewDiePie uses n-word while live streaming to millions

Richard Tyr Blewitt — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 15:36:01 +0000

The world's biggest YouTuber, PewDiePie, used a racial slur while live streaming himself playing PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. At least one game maker has launched a DMCA takedown in response. Read more...

Character skin tone changes with difficulty level in new South Park game

Usama Jawad — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 18:50:01 +0000

The developers of South Park: The Fractured But Whole have included a rather unique gameplay element to the title; increasing the difficulty level will darken the skin tone of your character. Read more...

Airbnb host must pay $5,000 for canceling a reservation using a racist comment

Mina Esapa — Thu, 13 Jul 2017 16:40:01 +0000

An Airbnb host who cancelled a customer's reservation and left racist remarks back in February has been ordered to pay $5,000 in fines and must also enroll in an Asian-American studies course. Read more...

Apple issues apology following allegations of racism against schoolboys

Usama Jawad — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 16:24:01 +0000

Apple has apologized to six black Australian students following allegations of racism, after they were turned out from the company's store based on the possibility that they "might steal something". Read more...

Student jailed for offensive comments on Twitter

Andy Weir — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:11:07 +0000

A student who made racially offensive comments on Twitter about footballer Fabrice Muamba, who suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during a televised match earlier this month, has been jailed. Read more...

Editorial: Racism in the video game industry

Garrett Dodd — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:02:24 +0000

With the recent talk of Capcom being linked to racism in its latest release of Resident Evil 5, I began to wonder about all of the other occurrences where a video game had been accused... Read more...

France, U.S. differ on Internet racism

Michael Stanclift — Thu, 17 Jun 2004 07:27:56 +0000

As if the United States and France didn't argue about enough things, here is one more to add to the list. Internet service providers could help fight the spread of hate in... Read more...