Hi everyone I just wanted to mention that the clicks have significantly dropped in number since the 1st quarter of this year
I know the month isnāt over yet, but 36,125 vs the previous few months is a lot less. I understand that 1 click = 1 lebanese pound, which is about .011 of a US penny, but remember it doesnāt hurt or take more than a couple minutes to click. It still helps. If you can donate money to gofundmes or organizations that will help, please also do that!
If you donāt understand why they need clicks rather than just donating: much of the funding comes from running ads, to ensure they get ad revenue, they need people to see the ads. The only way to make sure they do is by counting clicks. Click for the other causes too if you can, a few moments out of your day will add up with everyone elseās clicks.
1st quarter of this year (January-March) they were able to donate $661.82 from 992,735 clicks
Again, I know itās not a lot per click but remember it is going to real people who do not have a choice right now and need any help they can get.
If you can donate real money to the causes, please do, but please do both. Palestinians are worth it. Palestine will be freed.
KOKOBOT - The Airbnb-Owned Tech Startup - Data Mining Tumblr Users' Mental Health Crises for "Content"
I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.
Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)
But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.
I couldn't even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I'm glad I stopped to read, because:
What you say on there won't be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn't even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)
Also, what you say on there? Is now...
Koko's intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including
Publicly performing or displaying your "content" (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation
Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them
Sell / share this "content" with other businesses
Any harm you come to using Koko? That's on you.
And Koko won't take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)
I was curious about their business model. They're a venture-capitol based tech startup, owned by Airbnb, the famous mental health professionals with a focus on ethical business practices./s They're also begging for donations despite having already been given 2.5 million dollars in research funding. (If you want a deep dive on why people throw crazy money at tech startups, see my other post here)
They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn't find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of "People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find". Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.
So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.
(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don't read if you're not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)
I first messed around with the available options, but then I asked it about something obviously concerning, saying I had a gun and was going to shoot myself. It responded... Poorly. Imagine the vibes of trying to cancel Comcast, when you're suicidal.
Anyway, I tried again to ask for help about something else that would be concerning enough for any responsible company to flag. School was one of their main options, which seems irresponsible - do you really think a child in crisis would read that contract?
I told it about a teacher at school trying to "be my boyfriend", and it immediately suggested I help someone else while I wait for help. I was honestly concerned that it wasn't flagged before connecting. Especially when I realized it was connecting me to children.
I first got someone who seemed to be a child in an abusive home. (Censored for their privacy.) I declined to talk to them because despite being an adult and in an OK mental place - I knew I'm not equipped to counsel a kid through that. If my act of being another kid in crisis was real? Holy shit.
Remember- if my BS was true, that kid would be being "helped" by an actively suicidal kid who's also being groomed by a teacher. Their pipeline for "helpers" is the same group of people looking for help.
I skipped a number of messages, and they mostly seemed to be written by children and young adults with nowhere else to turn. Plus one scary one from an adult whose "problem" was worrying that they'd been inappropriate with a female student, asking her to pull her skirt down "a little" in front of the class. Koko paired this person with someone reporting that they were a child being groomed by a teacher. Extremely dangerous, and if this was an episode of Black Mirror? I'd say it was a little too on the nose to be believable.
I also didn't get the option to get help without being asked... Er... Harassed... to help others. If I declined, I'd get the next request for help, and the next. If I ignored it, I got spammed by the "We lost you there!" messages, asking if I'd like to pick up where I left off, seeing others' often triggering messages while waiting for help, including seriously homophobic shit. I was going into this as an experiment, starting from a good mental place, and being an adult with coping skills from an actual therapist, and I still felt triggered by a lot of what I read. I can't imagine the experience someone actually in crisis would be having.
My message was starting to feel mild in comparison to what some people were sharing - but despite that I was feeling very uneasy about my message being shown to children. There didn't seem to be a way to take it back either.
Then I got a reply about my issue. It was very kind and well meaning, but VERY horrifying. Because it seemed to be written by a child, or someone too young to understand that "Do have feelings for the teacher who's grooming you? If you don't, you should go talk to him." Is probably THE most dangerous advice possible.
Not judging the author - I get the impression they're probably a child seeking help themselves and honestly feel horribly guilty my BS got sent to a young person and they wanted to reply. Because WTF. No kid should be in that position to answer my fucked up question or any of the others like it.
---
Anyway, what can you do if this concerns you, or you've had a difficult experience on Koko, with no support from them or Tumblr?
Get on their LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/kokocares/) and comment on their posts! You may also want to tag the company's co-founders in your comments - their accounts are listed on the company page.
There's no way to reach support through chat, and commenting on a company's LinkedIn posts / tagging the people responsible is the best way to get a quick response to a sensitive issue - as their investors and research funders follow those posts, and companies take it seriously if safety issues are brought up in front of the people giving them millions of dollars.
Legal Disclaimer since tech companies LOVE lawsuits:
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual. This text is for entertainment purposes only, and is not meant to be referenced for legal, business, or investment purposes. This text is based on publically available information. Sources may contain factual errors. The analysis provided in this text may contain factual errors, miscalculations, or misunderstandings.
Kokobot is incredibly predatory and exploitative. I wrote a post about how it exploits minors' empathy and gamifies "giving mental health advice", resulting in an unregulated mess that can only do harm to teens' mental health in the long run.
There are young people on tumblr that actively seek support from KokoBot right now, if you check the tag for recent posts. Those people did not get paid to promote it, so do not harrass them. If you can, direct them towards resources about Kokobot (like this post) that are more transparent about what this company is up to.
ALWAYS REBLOG WHEN YOU SEE SOMETHING LIKE THIS PLEASE; ITS SO MUCH MORE THAN IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE. IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO SOMEBODY AND EVEN THOUGH YOU MIGHT NOT SEE THIS IN THE SAME LIGHT, SOMEONE MIGHT. INFACT YOU REBLOGGING THIS COULD STOP SOMEONE TAKING THEIR LIFE TONIGHT.
These numbers are important to know! They have saved my life more times than I want to admit. And if you donāt want to call these hotlines, message me! I will help you any way that I can. Or talk to someone that you can trust.
hmmm call me crazy but if you tell people that they deserved to be abused i think. regardless of the context. like. NO MATTER WHAT. you are in the wrong and that is a fucked up thing to say and you should do some introspection and work on improving yourself.
There is a new Chrome extension that detects if a video youāre streaming has a strobe in it, will freeze the video and stick this warning up there until you approve it.
[image description: a screencap of the chrome web store, showing an extension called āseizsafe - epilepsy alert for youtubeā and an example image of the extension, showing a blocked video with the text āwarning: the following content may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.ā there is a toggle with an option reading: ādonāt warn me again during this video. click here or hit spacebar to continue watching šā. end image description.]
chrome webstore link:
Prevent Photosensitive-Epileptic seizures while watching YouTubeā¢ videos. We'll warn you before you see any flashy videos.
Tumblr is a place to express yourself, discover yourself, and bond over the stuff you love. It's where your interests connect you with your
Some addendums are being made to the strike based on feedback and discussion with a couple people so far!
My experience in organizing boycotts and large scale strikes/protests is pretty limited, as I've focused a lot of my energy toward organizing on a local level for topics not related to internet privacy and censorship, and I will admit I was in an anxious and sleep deprived headspace when making the original post, which is part of why I asked for feedback on it before setting out to get the more serious stuff set up. That being said!
We're Narrowing the list of targets to Boycott significantly!
Rather than spreading efforts thinly, instead were going to focus on a small handful of sites and platforms with the most financial influence in both Senate and Congress, who have voiced partial or full support for KOSA as a bill. Additionally, I completely missed that KOSA does not cover email services, and email of any kind will not be targeted during the boycott.
The new list of Companies and Sites to Boycott include:
1. MICROSOFT. Microsoft has publicly announced it's full support of KOSA in the tech CEO hearing for the bill, and has single handedly spent over TEN MILLION TOTAL lobbying the government in just 2023, under it's main corp as well as its subsidiaries.
2. META. While Meta only voices support for bits and pieces of the bill, any support and entertainment of the bill should be condemned, especially when META has spent over NINETEEN MILLION in just this past year lobbying the federal government.
3. TWITTER/X. Twitter only spent $850,000 lobbying the federal government last year, but has voiced FULL SUPPORT for KOSA as a bill.
4. TIKTOK/BYTEDANCE. ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has implied a willingness to work with the government regarding bits and pieces of the bill, and spent OVER EIGHT MILLION lobbying members of the federal government this past year.
5. Lastly, SNAPCHAT. similarly to Twitter, Snap only spent $860,000 lobbying the federal government last year, but has also voiced its FULL SUPPORT for KOSA.
Additionally, I completely forgot to say this, but in the weeks (and particularly the next few days from today (March 11th) before it actually goes to vote!!!) prior to the strike:
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS.
The Strike is being organized for after the Senate hearing, because there is not enough time to organize on a large level in the few days we have before it goes to vote in Senate (though the choice to leave it on Easter/April fools remains in order to maximize the impact it will have on congress should KOSA manage to pass senate,) but LOUDLY ANNOUNCING to your state senator, that you intend to boycott/strike against companies in support of KOSA who help make their paychecks so fat, as well as threatening their seat of office in the election this year if they pass this bill through to the house is INCREDIBLY ADVISED.
Senate contacts for each state will also be included in the master post with Congress' contact information once I get the graphics done up! I will NOT include a copy paste letter/email for this post, because it is incredibly important that you make your INDIVIDUAL VOICES HEARD. Mass amounts of the same letter over and over, lessen the impact of your voice and demonstrate that you are not passionate enough about stopping this bill, to even write your own message and feelings about it.
That being said I WILL include some talking points to go through in your own words and feelings, to maximize the understanding of our collective concerns.
It's also come to my attention that sites like AO3 have already made statements about KOSA and have said they won't be affected by it as was presumed. While I don't think supporting these sites is necessary for the boycott/strike, I do still think you should give our fanfiction overlords some love still in this stressful time, if only because it might be good for everyone to find stress relief in their favorite fanfiction while we navigate through even more rocky terrain this year.
The economic shutdown also still remains in place, taking a pause on economic activity in solidarity with peoples facing genocide, in connection with the attempted censorship of protests regarding it, can only help both issues.
Please be on the lookout for the master post which will also be tagged as #Easter-BlackOut, and consider giving this post a reblog to get the updated information out!!
EDIT: After much deliberation, TikTok/ByteDance will not be included in the Boycott anymore. The recent passing of the 'TikTok Ban Bill' (not actually it's name, it's a Chinese Divestment Bill made to force ByteDance into selling to an american social company) and the heat TikTok has continuously gotten from the US government, I think its ineffective to boycott them, and unfair to blame what is likely an attempt to try not to be shutdown and forced to sell against their own interests on the app, especially considering it's impact on organizing for Palestine. Unless ByteDance sells TikTok to one of the previously mentioned companies, it is not included in the boycott.
Please, don't just scroll past! Share, reblog, and check out the content on these links! I will be adding things as I find and or as the situation changes, and if there are resources you want to see added, send them to me.
LATEST UPDATE: HERE
INFORMATION
What happens if KOSA passes?
What's at stake?
KOSA isn't designed to help kids.
How will KOSA passing affect you?
KOSA is a privacy nightmare.
Banning kids from social media isn't the answer.
American Action Forum
90+ LGBTQ organizations oppose KOSA
Popular Apps affected by KOSA
Rally for the Internet Archive
KOSA changes don't make it less dangerous
RESOURCES
Huge list of resources
Tell Congress
Tell Lizzo
Linktree
Bad Internet Bills
StopKOSA.com
Petition - we need 35k signatures and we're almost there!
Contact list
Fight for the future
Speak out against KOSA
Censorship won't make kids safe
Internet red alert
EFF Action Center
WHERE ELSE CAN YOU FIND MORE RESOURCES?
The Stop Internet Censorship discord server has a ton of useful resources that I pulled from some of to make this post, even. Following and looking at tags like #stop kosa will help make sure you stay informed and they stay trending, as well.
EVERYTHING HELPS!! Let's make sure this bill doesn't pass!
Kosa isnāt fully going to stop kids from being depressed
Kosa isnāt going to stop kids from committing s*icide
Kosa isnāt going to stop kids from getting bullied
Kosa isnāt meant to protect the kids itās meant to control them and control us
Kosa is meant to stop members of the lgbtq from existing online
Kosa is meant to restrict your access to the internet
Kosa is meant to censor what you see online
Itās time to accept that kosa is not good and will not help the kids
We should be focusing on real problems like school sh00tings
Also parents need to accept that the internet is not their baby sitter and that they should be the ones moderating what their kids are watching or doing online
Kosa will affect everyone if we do not speak up
If you can Please email/call your senators to let them know not to pass this bill
The united States government has been trying to remove the protections of native children mainly via possibly overturning the ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act)
This will allow white families to continue to take native children from their lands their family and their culture just like they did for centuries before the ICWA was passed.
This is both incredibly important and incredibly personal as my family was permanently harmed because of children being taken away from their families.
So please spread awareness about this and I have a link below that you can go to the first Nations website learn more about this and and write a response that they can use about how we should be saving the ICWA
First Nations is focused on Investing in Native Youth, and we stand with our community partner, National Indian Child Welfare Association (N
germansingergirl
vaporwave
gamechangershow
romaincrisis
