Twitter, Yelp see disturbing increase of hate and racist posts

If Elon Musk didn't own Twitter, would anybody pay any attention to what the embattled world's richest man has to say about race?

Last Sunday, Musk tweeted that  “the media” and “elite colleges and high schools” of being “racist” against white and Asian people.

The CEO of Twitter, Tesla and Space X wrote, “The media is racist.” He then added, “For a *very* long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians. Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America. Maybe they can try not being racist.” 

Musk provided no evidence to back up his view. His statement came in a screed defending Scott Adams, the creator of comic strip Dilbert, which has been dropped by a number US newspapers because of Adam's racist views, specifically against Blacks.

Brian Levin, a civil rights attorney and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University said, in response to Musk’s tweets told CNBC:

“Systemic racism requires not only widespread bigotry to be held within a group but also a structural component that allows discrimination and oppression to be imposed on a minority because of an advantage of access and power. A white billionaire from South Africa who recently lost a high profile racial discrimination case may not be in the best position to offer counsel.”

Tesla is being sued by the California Civil Rights for alleged bias against Black workers and is being investigated by the EEOC, the federal agency responsible for enforcing civil rights laws against workplace discrimination.

Since Musk took over Twitter, besides restoring Donald Trump's account, who was banned by Twitter in 2021 for allegedly advocating violence and accused of spreading misinformation.

Trump's reinstatement got the headlines in the US, but overall, hate speech has soared on the social media platform and has reopened the platform to international terrorist groups to spread misinformation and to recruit, according to the New York Times. 

The increase in hate postings in such a short time is alarming, say researchers.

“Elon Musk sent up the Bat Signal to every kind of racist, misogynist and homophobe that Twitter was open for business,” said Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “They have reacted accordingly.”

YELP'S ANTI-ASIAN REVIEWS

Twitter is not the only social media platform seeing a rise in hate.

Last year, Yelp, known for its customer-written restaurant reviews, removed more than 2,000 racist business reviews before they went online — a nearly tenfold jump over 2021. 

More specifically, much of the hate appeared to target Asian-owned restaurants and businesses. In 2021, Yelp proactively removed only nine posts that included anti-Asian hate. In 2022, it removed 475.

The sharp increase in Yelp's hate reviews perhaps reflects improved efforts by the platform to combat racist content and shows how even a non-political site known primarily for reviews of restaurants and repair services can be twisted into a weapon to further inflame those prone to hate Asians and hurt the Asian and Asian American entrepreneurs.

Yelp began tracking the hate-inspired reviews in in 2020, just prior to the surge of anti-Asian attacks and harassment, which AANHPI community advocates attribute was inspired by the anti-Chinese rhetoric coming out of the Trump administration.

Therefore, the increase in racist restaurant reviews isn’t surprising, according to University of Michigan marketing professor Justin Huang, told  KTLA, a Los Angeles radio station. He recently authored a study that found Asian restaurants saw an 18% drop in customers compared with non-Asian restaurants in the same communities in 2020, equating to more than $7 billion in lost revenue.

In total, Yelp said, it removed 26,500 business reviews last year that violated its rules about hate speech, threats or lewdness, an overall increase of 1,300 over the year before.

Noorie Malik, Yelp’s vice president of user operations, that the company is “aggressive” when it comes to taking down “unreliable” reviews, including those that contain hate speech.

“The trust and safety of the Yelp community is a top priority,” Malik wrote in a statement emailed to the AP. “Which is why we continue to heavily invest in both technology and human moderation.”

SPREAD OF ONLINE HATE

Hate speech incites violence and intolerance. The devastating effect of hatred is sadly nothing new. However, its scale and impact are now amplified by online social media platforms. Hate speech – including online – has become one of the most common ways of spreading divisive rhetoric on a global scale, threatening peace around the world, according to a United Nations report on Hate Speech.

The explosion of hate speech, further exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic, represents an unprecedented challenge for our societies, says the UN report. "Although hate speech has always existed, its ever-growing impact fueled by digital communication can be devastating not only for those targeted, but also for societies at large."

Yelp's actions against hate contrasts with the policies of Twitter's Musk, who fancies himself as a free speech champion.

The UN's High Commissioner Volker Türk who heads up Office of the High Scommissioner of Human Rights, had recently penned an open letter to Musk, emphasized that free speech did not mean “a free pass to spread harmful disinformation that results in real world harms."

Volker writes that human rights law is clear: "Freedom of expression stops at hatred that incites discrimination, hostility or violence. We see too often that the spread of hatred and hate speech against people of African descent, and other groups, not only undermines their rights but creates major fissures in societies. These are increasingly difficult to overcome and a source of various forms of destabilisation within countries.”

In a detailed statement, more than two dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts - including representatives from three different working groups and multiple Special Rapporteurs - called out chief executives of social media companies  by name, saying that the companies they lead “must urgently address posts and activities that advocate hatred, and constitute incitement to discrimination, in line with international standards for freedom of expression.

READ the United Nations report on Hate Speech

The experts consulted by the UN say that allowing and tolerating incitement to hatred and expression, or advocacy of hatred against ... marginalized groups, “not only encourages the perpetrators, but also constitutes a continuous source of chronic race-based traumatic stress and trauma.”

The presence of racial hatred further undermines confidence on the part of those impacted, in using social media and seeking justice.

“It is especially alarming” considering that so many youngsters “live a significant part of their lives” online, they added.

In the letter addressed to Twitter's Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, who heads Google’s parent company Alphabet, Apple’s Tim Cook, “and CEOs of other social media platforms”, should “centre human rights, racial justice, accountability, transparency, corporate social responsibility and ethics, in their business model.”

The letter continued, “We urge all CEOs and leaders of social media to fully assume their responsibility to respect human rights and address racial hatred.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

United Nations report on Hate Speech

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Why was Congress talking about Chrissy Teigen?

OPINION

Oh, my! We knew Donald Trump had thin skin but we didn't know how paper thin until today. 

Rather than tackle topics such as violence, education, health, foreign policy or immigration, Republicans, in the majority in the House in the 118th Congress, spent six hours grilling social media executives trying to prove collusion between Twitter and Democrats. Their uninformed efforts backfired spectacularly.

How the lawmakers are wasting taxpayers' money was on full display during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday regarding Twitter’s supposedly left-leaning bias and the social media corporation's alleged politically motivated censorship at the social media site.

Among the GOP's goals is to expose President Biden's son;s, Hunter Biden, alleged business dealings in Ukraine and China while Biden was President Obama's Vice President and to expose the social media corporation's alleged left-leaning bias. the hearing took an awkward turn to Chrissy Teigen's tweet (See below). 

Her tweet was in response to a series of 2019 tweets posted by Trump in which he called John Legend, Teigen's husband, "boring" and called her "his filty mouthed wife."

Trump's tweet was sent to his followers but did not send it to Teigen.

Trump's White House staff asked Twitter to eliminate the tweet from Chrissy Teigen, an Asian American model with 12.9 million followers on her Twitter account.

Twitter found that Teigen's tweet did not meet the criteria requiring a posting to be removed and left it online, angering Trump and his right-wing allies.

Responding to the televised questioning during which her name and tweet was brought up, Teigen tweeted only "I ... oh my god."

Despite Republican allegations, Twitter’s algorithm promotes tweets from right-leaning political parties and news outlets more than from the left, according to its own research which was recently peer-reviewed in PNAS journal. The authors of the study also found that content from right-wing news media was also amplified more than outlets with non right-wing ideologies.

In fact, prior to the Jan. 6 Insurrection, Twitter employees tried to ban the dangerous inflamatory tweets leading up to the attack on the Capitol. However, Twitter allowed the hate and conspiratorial tweets to fester and inflame uninformed radicals to the events of Jan. 6.

During the Congressional hearing, disputing the GOP's allegation of Twitter's bias against conservatives, Democrats on the committee which included progressive Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, found plenty of examples of Twitter's actions countering that allegation.

In questioning of a Twitter employee who was monitoring inappropriate tweets, the New York City Congressmember was able to confirm that Twitter actually changed its original criteria so that Trump's more outrageous tweets Including a posting on July 14, 2019, when Trump told Democratic congressmembers, AOC and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, to “go back” to their countries in a series of racist tweets.

“So much for bias against the right-wing on Twitter.” Ocasio-Cortez concluded her remarks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

BTS' anti-hate tweet is the most shared tweet of the year

South Korea's BTS is one of the most popular pop-singing groups in the world.

The K-pop boy band BTS' tweet against anti-Asian hate is the most shared tweet of 2021. According to Twitter their message was shared over a million times.

BTS’ heartfelt tweet came as violence against Asian Americans was rising around the country as DonaldTrump repeatedly used phrases such as “China/Chinese virus” and “kung flu” to refer to the coronavirus. Among the tragedies was a series of shootings in Georgia March 16 that left eight dead, six of whom were of Asian descent.

In their tweet, the group, consisting of members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, recounted the hate and ignorant bias that they personally experienced.

"We recall moments when we faced discrimination as Asians. We have endured expletives without reason and mocked for the way we looked," the group wrote.

"We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected."

The group posted the tweet on March 29, following a series of shootings earlier that month at Atlanta area spas killing 8 people, six of whom were Asian women.
There were more than 9,000 incidents of hate targeting Asian Americans from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic through June 2021, according to the community-based organization #StopAAPIhate which collated the self-reported hate incidents, ranging from verbal harassment to the mass shooting in Georgia.

Additionally, the hashtag #BTS was the most used hashtag by Twitter users, speaking to the international popularity of the South Korean group and the group's vast "Army" of fans.

For those who can't read or enlarge the letter, here's an enlarged reproduction:

Indian American takes helm of Twitter as founder Jack Dorsey steps down

Parag Agrawal is Twitter's new CEO.

Another Indian American immigrant is taking the helm of a tech company. Parag Agrawal was named CEO of Twitter after serving as the social media company's Chief Technology Officer.

Agrawal's promotion was announced Tuesday after Jack Dorsey decided to step down as CEO of Twitter, a company he founded in 2006 in San Francisco.

"I've decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter's CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I'm deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It's his time to lead," said Dorsey.

"I want to thank the Board for their confidence in my leadership and Jack for his continued mentorship, support, and partnership," said Agrawal. "I look forward to building on everything we have accomplished under Jack's leadership and I am incredibly energized by the opportunities ahead. By continuing to improve our execution, we will deliver tremendous value for our customers and shareholders as we reshape the future of public conversation."

Agrawal joins a cadre of Indian Americans leading high profile U.S. tech companies. including Sundar Pichai of Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and IBM’s Arvind Krishna, Adobe's Shantanu Narayen and VMWare's Raghu Raghuram.

Dorsey's departure and Agrawal's promotion comes as Twitter is being questioned about its role in spreading falsehoods and acting as the medium for the spread of the lies of radical rightwingers, white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

Twitter headquarters in San Francisco.

Upon the announcement of Agrawal's promotion conservatives began spreading tweet he sent in 2010 that read "If they are not gonna make a distinction between muslims and extremists, then why should I distinguish between white people racists."

As some Twitter users pointed out, the 11-year-old tweet was quoting a segment on “The Daily Show,” which was referencing the firing of Juan Williams, who made a comment about being nervous about Muslims on an airplane.

It didn't take long before the tweet went viral and people began trolling Agrawal. What people missed was that at the time of posting his tweet in 2010, Agrawal, 37, had already clarified his comments to a Twitter user. "I was quoting Asif Mandvi from The Daily Show. The article you are reading seems too deep for my current mental state," Agrawal said.

In a later tweet on the same thread from the timeline, the Twitter CEO had further said, "I am amused by people that pass judgement on people for passing judgement. I was attempting to do the same to amuse myself.”

The 37-year old Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 and has served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) since October 2017. As CTO, he has been responsible for the Company's technical strategy, leading work to improve development velocity while advancing the state of Machine Learning across the company. 

Prior to being appointed CTO, Parag had risen to be Twitter's first Distinguished Engineer due to his work across revenue and consumer engineering, including his impact on the re-acceleration of audience growth in 2016 and 2017. 

Parag holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

A shameless appeal: The Olympics from an AAPI lens; follow me on Twitter and at my blog, Views From the Edge

Tennis star Naomi Osaka was chosen to light the Olympic Flame to begin the Games.

FRIENDS,

If you haven't read these stories about AAPI Olympians, you haven't been following "Views From the Edge", my blog with an Asian American & Pacific Islander spin.

A wrapup of the Tokyo Olympics where AAPI left their mark.:

Sky is the limit for 13-year old skateboarder

For karateka, the journey is as important as the quest for a medal

Libero is unsung hero of the U.S. women's volleyball; men disappointed in showing

Taiwanese American fencers lead U.S. team to a bronze medal

Asian Canadian swimmers secure medals for their country

Hmong American Suni Lee wins gold for women''s all-around gymnast

Japanese American swimmer wins silver in 1,500m freestyle 

Paige McPherson battles her way to fourth in taekwando

Filipino American cyclist pedals her way to seventh in road race

Surfing super star Carissa Moore brings medal home to Hawaii

Huge upset as Naomi Osaka beaten on Olympic tennis

With Simone Biles out, all eyes turn to Suni Lee

Filipino American fencer Lee Kiefer wins gold and makes history

Despite surge of hate, AAPI athletes proud to represent United States

Volleyball bonds Shoji brothers with other AAPI teammates

Naomi Osaka lights torch at Olympic stadium

U.S. fencing team has led by Asian Americans

Hawaiian skateboarder jumping and rolling towards an Olympic medal

U.S. AAPI shuttlers hope for first medal in badminton

British Golf Open champion Colin Morikawa flying to Tokyo

Asian Americans form nucleus of US. table tennis team

That's a lot of articles on one event, but they all have the local community angle; and for me, that community is the AAPI community. 

I'm a former journalist and government employee based in California. I've written movie scripts and was an editorial writer and had a column in a local mainstream newspaper (the good old days) after years as the editor of one of the most widely distributed ethnic newspapers in the United States. One thing I learned while writing those editorials and opinion pieces is that my opinion is as valid as anybody else's.

Besides sports, I also cover politics, pop culture, history, architecture, social and educational issues, and, once in a while, offer my personal view of what-the-hell is going on in the U.S. during these trying times. I don't want to sound like a braggart because normally, I'm very modest (if I don't say so, myself), but even if I don't have the fancy degrees or mega-platforms of other pundits, my focused voice is still a voice not often heard among the major media outlets.

I'm Filipino American so my coverage might appear to skew towards Filipino Americans, (thanks to Google metrics) but I try to give all the AAPI ethnicities and nationalities as much coverage as my one-man operation can allow and it all depends on the breaking news of the day or the issues boiling to the fore.

My No. 1 goal is to disseminate pertinent information in plain everyday language and try to avoid the esoteric rhetoric of "officialese" or "government-speak" so better resourced organizations and individuals can choose to act on the news -- or not. The choice is up to you.

So I'm asking for your help. If you like what I'm trying to do, follow me. Please no monetary donations. I don't have the bandwidth to deal with money. My payment is just for you to "follow" me, and if you like, retweet my postings. My articles are free and available for reprints.

If I've managed to pique your interest, stay current and follow me on Twitter or go directly to my blog, Views From the Edge. for more in-depth postings.

Presidential campaigns use Twitter for an town hall with AAPI communities

Presidential campaigns used social media to reach out to the AAPI electorate.

By Amy-Xiaoshi DePaola

ASAM NEWS

The Democratic presidential candidates took to Twitter to discuss AAPI-centered policy and and issues Thursday  afternoon.

The event was hosted by APIAVote and moderated by NBC Asian America, and included questions from NBC journalists and Asian American advocacy groups, such as The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, AAPI-Data, and the Asian American Journalists Association.

The participants were the campaigns of former Vice President Joe Biden; former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg; former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard; Sen. Amy Klobuchar; Sen. Bernie Sanders); businessman Tom Steyer, and Sen. Elizabeth Warr

Candidates answered questions such as how the AAPI community would be actively involved in policy decisions and the political landscape.

“We are one of the fastest-growing populations in the US, yet we are often left out of policy discussions and decision making,” the first question said. “How will you ensure #AAPI communities will have a seat at the table? How will you ensure we have a voice within your administration?”

All candidates said they would appoint diverse members in their administrations and in the courts, as well as listening to local leaders and communities, with Buttigieg and Warren pointing to Asian Americans in their own campaign staff.

“I’m proud to have the first Asian American campaign manager of any major presidential campaign,” Warren said in reference to Roger Lau.

Out of all the candidates, Warren broke down varied data on income equality among Asian Americans, with Hmong and Burmese women making around 50 cents a year, less than other Asian American populations and far less than white men.

“Income inequality in Asian-American communities has nearly doubled, and it’s now higher within the AAPI community than in any other racial or ethnic community,” she said in a press release after the event. “AAPI data helps us identify what’s broken, so we can decide how to fix it.”

However, Gabbard noted her status as “the only AAPI candidate running for President,” calling her district “the most diverse” with a majority Asian American population. The other Asian American candidates, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), have exited the race. (Yang’s campaign was going to be participating in the Twitter town hall, but dropped out in wake of their campaign suspension.)

PEW Research reports that Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the U.S., growing 72% between 2000 and 2015. In comparison, Hispanics are the second-fastest, increasing 60% during the same time span, with Asian immigrants are projected to overtake Latino immigrants in 2055 and become U.S.’s largest immigrant group.

'Sad Dad,' doughnut store owner, isn't sad anymore

The power of social media was proven again when a doughnut shop owner's son, Billy By, tweeted a picture of his father in an empty establishment, with the post "My dad is sad cause no one is coming to his new doughnut shop."

It didn't take long for the word to get out in Missouri City, Texas. Social media users flocked to the store by the hundreds. to show their support by buying all of their product. By day's end, the store had sold out.

Review website Yelp has been overcome with positive reviews.

“This is one of the best donut places I have ever been to! The owner is extremely nice and caring, and makes delicious donuts.  I highly recommend stopping here whenever you get the chance! If I lived in this area, I would be coming here every weekend. The prices are great, and knowing that is a mom and pops store is comforting and fulfilling,” one user, Don P, wrote.

“I don't even live in Texas  but I saw a post about it on social media so when my family came to Texas to visit relatives I had to come,” another person with the username Leopard G wrote.

Billy tweeted an update in gratitude.

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Who is Gary Lee? Another MLK Day, another President

GARY LEE started his Twitter account, @whoisgarylee,  only three days ago and it was an instant hit.

Lee, who worked under President Barack Obama, left the White House in 2011 to pursue an advanced degree in South Korea. He recalls on his last day, he was summoned to the Oval Office to have the customary photo with the President.

Upon arrival, President Obama greeted him in Korean. It surprised Lee and all he could do was respond in delight. That exact moment was captured by White House photographer Pete Souza.

RELATED: Some thoughts on MLK Day 2018: Be not afraid

Lee was a low-level staffer yet Obama, the most powerful man in the world at the time and had bigger issues to tackle, had taken the time to practice the Korean pronunciation of "hello."

Contrast that with the current White House occupant who blusters, uses coarse language and proclaims, "I'm the least racist person." Yeah, right!

Now, I'm crying, too. That's how a REAL President is supposed to act!
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DHS plans to monitor social media activity of immigrants

LOST AMIDST the cyclone of issues swirling around the White House and its current occupant, mainstream media hasn't had time to focus on a policy that allows the government to monitor the social media accounts and internet search history of legal immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security intends to launch this highly questionable and threat to privacy in October 18, the same day that the latest iteration of President Donald Trump’s travel ban is set begin.

This policy would mean the government will be able to delve into an immigrant's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts in hopes finding somewhere among the selfies and food porn a smidgen of anti-government sentiment such as "Trump (fill in the blank)."

"This chills and deters the free speech and association not just of these immigrants and visitors, but also of all the U.S. citizens who communicate with them," said Adam Schwartz in a statement from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates for free speech  rights online.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published the new rule in the Federal Register last week, saying it wants to include "social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results" as part of people's immigration file, according to Buzzfeed which first broke the story.

"DHS published this notice in the Federal Register on Sept. 18 to comply with the administrative requirements of the Privacy Act to help address these requirements, not launch a new policy initiative," the agency said. "DHS, in its law-enforcement and immigration-process capacity, has and continues to monitor publicly-available social media to protect the homeland."

The policy applies to not just immigration applicants, but also to naturalized U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.

In a statement issued Thursday (Sept. 28), the ACLU said that the new rule “makes clear that the government intends to retain the social media information of people who have immigrated to this country, singling out a huge group of people to maintain files on what they say."

"This would undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the free speech that's expressed every day on social media. This collect-it-all approach is ineffective to protect national security and is one more example of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant agenda."” said Faiz Shakir, ACLU national political director.

The new policy will require immigrants during the vetting process for visas to disclose their social media accounts of the last five years . The agency will now collect inforation including “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results” on immigrants, including permanent residents and naturalized citizens.

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LOL - Trump blocks Chrissy Teigen

CHRISSY TEIGEN has joined an exclusive club. Donald Trump has blocked her on Twitter!

This - apparently - was the last straw.

There's no love lost. The super model and social media queen is not losing any sleep over it.

The Lip Sync Battle hostess, who is part Thai, and her husband singer John Legend have been trolling Trump for years, even before he ran for president.

Speaking to USA Today in February, Teigen said she has "actually been a big Donald Trump hater [for a long time]. I've been trolling him for about five to seven years now. I've been doing this forever, and I take pride in that."

Things got serious for Teigen when Trump declared his candidacy for president.

And then, Donald Trump became the White House occupant.

Teigen is the latest high-profile star to be blocked by the POTUS, joining Rosie O'Donnell and Stephen King. Some Twitter users who've been blocked have filed a lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the president can't stop people from communicating with him, reports The Washington Post.

Tiger only wonders - why did it take so long?

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