Such a great talk with @tilmonedwards.com! The @internetisscary.org is such a fantastic project that needs to be shared widely.

🎙️ NEW EPISODE with Sean Edwards from @internetisscary.org Sean shares practical insights on protecting yourself online, while keeping the conversation accessible and actionable. Perfect for anyone looking to build confidence in their digital life! 🎯 (1/2) #Cybersecurity #DigitalSafety #TechTalk

We just published some new artwork for each of the personas, so here's a thread introducing our cast of characters:

Emily is right. In the attention economy, getting mad amplifies the message that you're mad about. Share something constructive instead. 💯

These hashtags are filled with bots trying to build followings so that they can sell the accounts to spammers or spread disinformation and hate #NoDemUnder5k #NoDemUnder20k #NoDemUnder10k #BlueWave #FollowBack #BlueCrew #Follow4Follow Read more ⬇️

Yes, they really call it "mind dominance"

Not all animal rescue content is what it seems. Scammers are deliberately putting animals in danger to film "rescue" videos for views and donations. Learn how to spot fake rescue content and protect animals from exploitation.

These hashtags are filled with bots trying to build followings so that they can sell the accounts to spammers or spread disinformation and hate #NoDemUnder5k #NoDemUnder20k #NoDemUnder10k #BlueWave #FollowBack #BlueCrew #Follow4Follow Read more ⬇️

🧵 to read more about the dangers of follow farming hashtags

follow back parties is how bad actors make their way into communities and hide in plain sight. be careful with things like #nodemunder1k

A close parallel is the "pitted car window" panic of 1954, one that went all the way up to the white house. Suddenly, MYSTERIOUS PITTS were appearing on windshields! But pitted windshields have always been common, except people never looked for them, until then. www.npr.org/sections/npr...

🚫 DO NOT SHINE LASERS INTO THE SKY! 🚫 🚫 DO NOT SHINE LASERS INTO THE SKY! 🚫 🚫 DO NOT SHINE LASERS INTO THE SKY! 🚫

Welcome to THE INTERNET IS SCARY, we're here to combat misinformation, deception, scams, and a variety of other online bad behavior. If you're a media organization, grant program, educator, sponsor, or otherwise would like to help with this mission, please contact [email protected]

Here's a great thread on how to identify the actual Russian Trolls 👇🧵

🚨 YouTube creators are losing their channels to scammers posing as brand reps from major companies. 🚩 Sponsorship opportunities 🚩 Signing anything before the first meeting 🚩 Urgency or "Exploding Offers" Learn how to protect yourself:

Looks like we struck a nerve with the scammers on Facebook! Let's look at this message 🚩 FEAR ("your account will be disabled") 🚩 URGENCY ("You have 24 hours") 🚩 "I'm from Facebook Sup-Team" 🚩 "Group Terms of Service © 2024 Inc" Thanks "Mieczysław Fiks" for a great example of a Facebook page scam 👇

“Rules lawyering” is the art of technically following the letter of the law while brazenly violating its spirit. Watch out for: 🚩 Antisocial behavior that isn't "technically" a violation of the rules 🚩 Pretending that moderation is a court of law 🚩 Off-platform coordination and strategizing

somethingawful had the best and smartest rule in the history of any online space: it's against the rules to try to find a grey area in the rules. If you have to argue that what you posted is fine, it's actually not fine, goodbye.

“Rules lawyering” is the art of technically following the letter of the law while brazenly violating its spirit. Watch out for: 🚩 Antisocial behavior that isn't "technically" a violation of the rules 🚩 Pretending that moderation is a court of law 🚩 Off-platform coordination and strategizing

"Values" that you believe only when they're convenient aren't values at all, they're preferences. What are your actual values? The things you believe when no one is watching. Go write them down on paper, and then read them back to yourself.

@internetisscary.org has a post related to this

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Tentatively hoping to start alpha testing on the @identivine.com verification service this weekend. Ramp-up is going to be pretty slow, so I don't kill the service under load. Last call for early testers: docs.google.com/forms/d/1vBI...

Attention Economics 101 - all attention is good attention.

If a notorious contrarian/heterodox grifter actually does come here, one could keep in mind that yelling abuse at him, whether or not it is deserved, is putting money in his pocket, as he’ll just use it as fodder for the heterodox-victim grift.

Your favorite influencer doesn't see the avalanche they create. One complaint from them = thousands of angry DMs for their target. How fans become unwitting weapons in the attention economy, and why you might be part of the problem. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

That's why the solution is and remains, "If the vibes seem off even a little bit, just block."

This is a great video from @hankgreen.bsky.social about LLM bots ⬇️ But we're only noticing the most egregious and sloppy examples! How many humans do you think are on this site to relentlessly disagree with anyone and everyone?

In his latest video, @hankgreen.bsky.social talks about a phenomenon you may have noticed here: LLM-driven bots programmed to relentlessly disagree with anyone and everyone.

When you joke online, who's really laughing? In 2024, the line between satire and extremism is thinner than ever. Here's why 🚩'I was joking!'🚩 might not be the justification you think it is ⬇️

This is a really good thread on why these types of accounts exist and what the goal is! Manipulating the temperature of the conversation and setting people on edge serves a *lot* of purposes. #BadActorBingo

hey bsky I heard you like verification maybe you'd like verification that actually does something? I dunno, seems like it might be cool

i believe the way those work is they're hooked up to chatgpt or something like that and they just reply in really high volumes; you can identify them by looking at their reply tab and seeing if they're talking faster than anyone could reasonably type.

this is kind of a niche issue but: if you are getting weird and hostile responses that feel a little off, there are some folks on here making accounts that automatically reply to large quantities of posts in a vaguely hostile manner. you can ignore them, and also, it's not personal

We're preaching to the choir here, but here's another take on why Bluesky is different from the others.

We're back for a second round of scammer content: What happens after the scam? More scams! Read more about the recovery scams that target scam victims here.

Romance scams are insidious in their willingness to lead their victims on for months or even years. Learn how to identify the signs here.

lol China's state media is sad about Bluesky because it's not an easy propaganda distribution channel like X (and Facebook) www.semafor.com/article/11/2...

Great advice to address the Edwards Laws of Online Discourse. "Bypassing" acknowledges that you're probably not going to convince the person who's spreading misinformation. But you may help inform the dozens of silent bystanders who read your conversation later.

"Bypassing" is a new way to counter misinformation without direct confrontation. Instead of refuting a false claim, bypassing shares accurate info with a positive message that counters the falsehood’s implications.

It's usually impossible to tell the difference between a genuine false flag troll and a zealous true believer. But watch out for: Purity tests 🚩 Dogpiling 🚩 Cynicism and defeatism 🚩 Screenshot-worthy bad behavior 🚩 CIrcular arguments about minor differences 🚩

It is a good thing to debate ideas with collaborative people who share your constructive goals. But "debate" online can also be a tactic to undermine your values. Read about it here ⬇️

Anyone can make a substack and write something that looks like a column. http://internetisscary.org/2024/11/21/substack-is-just-tumblr/

Regarding that post that's been going around...