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Introducing Tumblcoin
Tumblr is reportedly proud to announce their newest feature: Tumblcoin. Tumblcoin is the latest in the entirely unstable cryptocurrency market. The social media and publishing platform claims that the currency is somehow assured by the platform’s unceasing flow of high-quality memes and low-quality shitposts. When pressed for details, staff was heard mumbling incoherently.
The new Chief Coin Officer of Tumblr eventually stepped up to explain: “As more users like, reblog, and create posts, more coins are mined for their portfolio. Because it’s so easy to keep creating new Tumblcoins, no one will ever be in short supply. We’ve also opened up the world’s first store that accepts TBC. You can now buy the hottest items any member of the Tumblr community could possibly want, like old Horse Friends or the world-renowned missing E.”
We’re taking steps to protect against future interference in our political conversation by state-sponsored propaganda campaigns
Hi Tumblr,
We’re all grappling with the influence that state-sponsored disinformation campaigns can have on our political conversations—and how wide-spread that interference turned out to be. So please take a moment to read this, think about it, and talk about it.
Last fall, we uncovered 84 Tumblr accounts linked to the Russian government through the Internet Research Agency, or IRA. These accounts were being used as part of a disinformation campaign leading up to the 2016 U.S. election. After uncovering the activity, we notified law enforcement, terminated the accounts, and deleted their original posts. Behind the scenes, we worked with the Department of Justice, and the information we provided helped indict 13 people who worked for the IRA.
Now that the investigations are done, we want to let you know how we’re going to help protect Tumblr in the future and what you can do to help.
Here’s what we know about these accounts
The IRA employs more than 1,000 people who engage in electronic disinformation and propaganda campaigns around the world using phony social media accounts. Their goal is to sow division and discontent in the countries they target. What makes them so difficult to spot is that they’re not spambots. They’re real people who get trained and paid to spread propaganda.
As far as we can tell, the IRA-linked accounts were only focused on spreading disinformation in the U.S., and they only posted organic content. We didn’t find any indication that they ran ads.
Remember, the IRA and other state-sponsored disinformation campaigns play off our zero-sum politics. They want to drive a wedge between us so that we spend our time fighting with each other instead of building towards the future. We’ll be watching for signs of future activity, but the best defense is knowing how they operate and how to judge the content you see.
What we’re doing in response to the interference
First, we’ll be emailing anyone who liked, reblogged, replied to, or followed an IRA-linked account with the list of usernames they engaged with.
Second, we’re going to start keeping a public record of usernames we’ve linked to the IRA or other state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. We’re committed to transparency and want you to know everything that we know.
We’ve decided to leave up any reblog chains that might be on your Tumblrs—you can choose to leave them or delete them. We’re letting you decide because the reblog chains contain posts created by real Tumblr users, often challenging or debunking the false and incideniary claims in the IRA-linked original post. Removing those authentic posts without your consent would encroach on your free speech—and there have been enough disruptions to our conversations as it is.
What we’re doing to stop future disinformation campaigns
You’ve probably read that U.S. intelligence officials expect foreign agents to try similar propaganda campaigns in the future. We’ll be monitoring Tumblr for signs of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, and if we see anything we will…
- Terminate the accounts and remove their original posts.
- Notify you if we determine that you’ve liked, reblogged, replied to, or followed a propaganda account.
- Add the username to the public record.
- Alert law enforcement.
There are also things you can do to help stop the spread of disinformation and propaganda.
- Be aware that people want to manipulate the conversation. Knowing that disinformation and propaganda accounts are out there makes it harder for them to operate. The News Literacy Project has this handy checklist for spotting their tricks.
- Be skeptical of things you read. Disinformation campaigns work because they know people don’t fact check. Look for reliable sources, and double-check that the source really says the same thing as the post. You can also check Snopes and Politifact. Both are award-winning resources and usually have the latest viral claim fact checked on the front page.
- Correct the record. When you see people spreading misinformation—even unintentionally—politely say something in a reblog or reply. If it’s your friend, send them a message to let them know.
One last note: Please vote.
Transparency won’t mean a thing if we don’t participate in the process. Whatever your political stance, voting ensures a government that represents your interests. For our U.S. users: You can register online or by mail, and many states are holding primaries right now.
100% ✊.This type of candor, transparency, and integrity is why I choose to come work at Tumblr every day. You can too.
NYC PHP Reboot - First up “Getting Specific About APIs” with Phil Sturgeon
tl;dr Come and join us for the NYC PHP meetup @ Tumblr on March 1st 2018.
When
March 1st 2018, 7pm - 9pm
Where
35 East 21st Street (21st & Broadway), New York, 10010
Details
The monthly NYC PHP Meetup is getting rebooted in 2018! The first meetup will be hosted at Tumblr HQ in New York City, with Phil Sturgeon as headline speaker and two or three lightning talks.
About Phil Sturgeon
When he’s not talking about falling off bikes Phil Sturgeon is passionate about building great APIs. Sometimes scientists forget to label their units and they crash satellites into planets. Phil’s science teacher always told him to label his units and JSON Schema is how you do that in a HTTP API, even AMQP too! Come and learn about the future of APIs and other PHP topics.
We want you - for lightning talks
We are looking for 2-3 lightning (10-15 min) talks about anything PHP related. If you’re interested, please get in touch with Oli Griffiths via Meetup, or @oligriffiths on Twitter. This is a great way to get into the speaking community, and to test out material you might like to submit to conferences.
What to bring
- A great attitude to all things PHP.
- Laptops are not necessary but we will have wifi capabilities if you want to hack along.
- Tumblr is generously providing pizza 🍕 and 🍺 beer/drinks.
How to RSVP
Please use Meetup to RSVP. Feel free to bring a guest if they’re not using Meetup, or encourage them to join so they can stay up-to-date.
- @oli