Here's a pretty broad hint that the "LoTT" account Bluesky banned was in fact impersonation -- from their thread about why they haven't taken action on a certain other anti-trans hate account (which is real, not impersonation)
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Here's a pretty broad hint that the "LoTT" account Bluesky banned was in fact impersonation -- from their thread about why they haven't taken action on a certain other anti-trans hate account (which is real, not impersonation)
"We recently introduced a new system to detect impersonation. This tool automatically flagged some accounts that were taken down, then reinstated. Other prominent impersonation accounts were quickly removed, contributing to a false perception that we take action based on behavior outside of Bluesky."
Bluesky Safety (@safety.bsky.app)
We recently introduced a new system to detect impersonation. This tool automatically flagged some accounts that were taken down, then reinstated. Other prominent impersonation accounts were quickly removed, contributing to a false perception that we take action based on behavior outside of Bluesky.
Bluesky Social (bsky.app)
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Erin Kissanereplied to The Nexus of Privacy last edited by [email protected]
Yes, that's my interpretation as well. I had thought there had been some cross-platform verification (in the form of gloating) by the LoTT entity, but I didn't go look at any tweets myself, so maybe that was just hangers-on plus no public denial/repudiation by LoTT of the Bsky account.
(That said, I did *not* take the ban as a demo of Bsky banning on off-platform evidence. LoTT breaks ToSes on the reg, so that seemed highly likely.)
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@thenexusofprivacy I need to do some writing about it, but I'm extremely short on time rn—but informally, I don't think there's any way a pressure campaign works to change the orientation of a platform specifically designed to route around affective voice and pressure campaigns.
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The Nexus of Privacyreplied to Erin Kissane last edited by
Time will tell. A pressure campaign on Bluesky did work last year (I talk about it the "What's past is prologue" section of Bluesky and the Battle of Wormtongue but it's a different situation now. At the end of the day they are who they are but they are also looking to build a sustainable business so we shall see.
Also, when I think about whether it's worth putting time into an activism campaign, there's more to it than the chance of whether it accomplishes its immediate top-level goal. Pressuring Bluesky is deepening intersectional aliiances (lots of folks are highlighting the parallels between how Bluesky has treated Black, trans, and Palestinian users), increasing the cost to Bluesky if they wind up not taking action, and highlighting the need for (and hopefully leading to more people working on) alternatives.
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Erin Kissanereplied to The Nexus of Privacy last edited by
Maybe it did! I think causation is really difficult to establish, and there's a reading of all the docs that suggests that they essentially did what they'd already planned on doing at some point, and that doing (any) comms was the main thing that changed, there, and possibly the timeline. I was then and am still leery of assuming that user pressure actually changed anyone's minds.
