GDPR and lost "likes" on JKR's Twitter posts

[Crimesean]

As most of us are aware, Twitter covertly removes "likes" from posts the moderators dislike but can't ban because they're well within the rules.

I'm not an expert in GDPR law, but since I own my Twitter account (or rather the information posted), is there scope for me/other GC feminists to demand that Twitter release data on likes removed and explain why?

I'll seek legal advice before acting (which I can afford - this isn't a plea for crowdfunding!) but am wondering whether anyone has tried this tactic previously?

You could only ask about your personal data, so your ‘like’ on the post. They are just going to provide the data you can see on your account. How do you prove you liked a post and it disappeared? And what happens if you do, they say ‘it’s a glitch it happens’ they dont have to explain anything. And that’s if they even respond to you. Whilst legally companies are supposed to typically the data provided is very superficial, you have to go back to them lots of times to get full data, and you have to do this before you escalate to the ICA. The ICO don’t care particularly if the data is trivial (which this is) and they won’t pursue the case. Legally you can only go after a company if the incorrect data caused you harm which this hasn’t.

Her post helped open a lot of women’s eye to what is happening, a few likes disappearing doesn’t change that.

Suggest you use that money on the current crowdjustice cases.

I'm not talking about large accounts with likes in the thousands, where you can't see the exact number. I'm referring to small accounts where you can see a post has say 41 likes, I hit like and it drops to 40! This has been happening on GC accounts for at least a year. It never happens when I like non-GC posts.

I too have liked a post and then see the number of likes drop by one at that very moment.
And I agree it is very odd how this only happens when I like certain posts; I've never seen it elsewhere...
I 'liked' Emma Watson's tweet referred to above, nope, no change but somehow there was a drop when I clicked 'like' on the many dissenting replies. Odd indeed.

twitter does probably remove likes because it has a bunch of algorithms to try to remove likes from bots. So for all mega-popular accounts (policiticans, popstars etc) it might be randomly removing likes if it thinks they come from a bot. but there is unlikely to be a human making this decision, and I don't know any evidence this is specifically about GC accounts. I bet you'd find it on big political accounts too.

Humans write the code for Twitter; how hard would it be to apply the rule 'remove likes from bots' to accounts on the TerfBlock list?

I remember deliberately spending a few weeks liking and checking the famous JKR Tweet, to find my "like" had been removed, so liking it again.

I must have clicked it probably 50 times. I gave up of course because I obviously have a life. Anyway I don't go on it at all now.

The JKR likes were capped at 250k likes and won't go higher, despite gaining probably more than a million likes. It's to stop the tweet from trending or coming up higher on the main home feed on twitter. They're trying to control content they don't like basically. Curiously the MAPs are fine and dandy, so is misogyny and death threats. All fine.

Not sure it's a case for an FOI though because they're not a public body and also GDPR probably not worthwhile.

The best you can do is stop paying Twatter any attention and stop giving it clicks.

@IvyTwines

My likes on JKR's famous tweet disappear, my likes on her other, non-women's-rights related tweets remain. The total number of likes were capped until the likes-removing issue went more mainstream and was commented on by some blue tick accounts, and then they were mysteriously allowed to rise for a while (like a swimmer slowing down in reverse). I've just looked today and my like has gone again.

OK, a test, go find one now that has "disappeared", like it and check your "likes" tab in your profile. All the tweets you've liked will appear there in order that you liked them. The one that "disappeared" won't appear after you relike it, why? Because all they did is stop tracking your likes.

Emma Watsons tweet has nearly a million likes in it. Thats 1 million x the twitter ID number for a tweet which is 19 bytes long = 18 Megabytes of data! They likely do all this checking client side, so the 1 million likes needs to be downloaded with the tweet. But, you click on a tweets likes, can you see them all when there are 1,000s? No, because they limit how many they send down or the website/app would be unusable on slow connections. Imagine if it took 36 seconds to view Emma Watson's tweet on a mobile connection of 1/2 Megabyte per second.

If I had to guess I'd assume they keep a subset of your last likes locally, and pass a subset of the tweets last likes when loaded. So if yours matches it shows as "liked", if not, it doesn't. This will mean a combination of how many tweets you "like" and how many more "likes" there are on the tweet loaded make it quite hard to predict if it will still show as "liked". But the older and more liked a tweet is, the more you "like", the more likely it is to show a tweet you've actually liked as not liked.

@Thelnebriati

Humans write the code for Twitter; how hard would it be to apply the rule 'remove likes from bots' to accounts on the TerfBlock list?

I manage the infrastructure for terfblocker - actually gone now, the latest blocklist is called @TransphobeB and managed by different people - but it runs on my server at home. Do you think I'll see Twitter IP addresses scraping the list? Or am I in cahoots with Twitter and passing them the data. Excited to be woven into this tinfoil hatted nonsense.

ool0n You liked a tweet saying that if a man says he is a woman, we have to accept it without question and you accuse us of lack of critical thinking?

So JKR tweets all cap at 250k, thousands of people report their like dropping off.

Emma Watson Tweet exceeds a million and.... It's just Tech shit and all that jazz.

Got it.

@DialSquare your fellow "GCs" here believe in a completely crazy conspiracy theory about Twitter stealing likes. I'm able to demonstrate why and how that is a crazy conspiracy theory. If you can't address that then fine.

You're excited by something.

I expect it's the opportunity to trash women.

Not sure why you're here on a feminism board? Boasting about your home servers and IT skills you choose to utilise against women you dislike and consider disobedient.

No, my other likes show. If I look up JKR's tweet using Twitter's search bar, the little red heart that should be there because I liked the tweets a few weeks ago is not. It has been mysteriously unliked. If I click the blank heart, it turns red, a 'like'. Off, on. And then a few days later, gone again. I've been on Twitter for many years. I have never experienced it with other, non-feminism-related tweets or accounts. Read through the comments beneath Rowling's tweet. This is really happening.

@Linguini Most liked tweet ever - 7.2M - JK Rowling's is small fry.
twitter.com/chadwickboseman/status/1299530165463199747

The fallacy in your thinking is that GC people being obsessed with an ancient tweet and their "likes" is somehow normal. I liked the tweet above, the like is "gone". I doubt most normal people ever go back to check old tweets, or if they do they don't construct a weird persecution narrative around it.

I'm not so Twitter so can't address it. Whether you think that is fine or not is irrelevant. I take issue with someone who believes that a man becomes a woman just because he says so, accusing others of a lack of critical thinking.

The fallacy in your thinking is....

🤣

@ool0n if people can say TWAW on Twitter, why are other people blocked for saying that TWATW, if that's what they equally believe?

Surely that stops debate and critical thinking?

@OvaHere

You're excited by something.

I expect it's the opportunity to trash women.

Not sure why you're here on a feminism board? Boasting about your home servers and IT skills you choose to utilise against women you dislike and consider disobedient.

I expect it's the fact that thinking Twitter is covertly stealing your likes is so ridiculous and absurd it beggers belief, let alone the notion some people are apparently prepared to spend money on a lawyer in the name of this absolute unadulterated nonsense conspiracy theory. At this rate, you'll be lucky if the lawyer laughs you out the office, an unscrupulous one might pretend to do some "investigation" to milk some cash out of you before they come back and tell you you're being absolutely fucking ridiculous.

It's a more realistic notion than people who think humans can change sex.

Pot meet kettle.

What ova said. I often find myself chuckling at the preposterous nonsense some people believe in.

OK, so it seems no one has any arguments to backup their faith that the sacred tweet of JKR is being treated differently. Now I change my view based on evidence, so I propose an experiment.

1. Create a new Twitter account / sock (GC people should have no problem with this step)
2. Like a random bunch of tweets from the time period of JKRs and with similar numbers of likes. Search for you -

twitter.com/search?q=and%20min_faves%3A250000%20until%3A2019-12-31%20since%3A2019-12-01&src=recent_search_click

1. Write down what was liked in a spreadsheet
2. Check in a week what, if anything, is "unliked"
3. Like/RT a bunch of random tweets in the next week
4. Check what, if anything, is "unliked"
5. Report findings
6. Profit!

Seriously, if you can objectively prove Twitter is treating her tweet differently then that would be newsworthy. I think this experiment would do that - can you come up with a better methodology?

Now I have better things to do so I should clarify I'm not going to bother doing this experiment, I'm high 90s percent certain they're not treating her tweet differently and no one has provided evidence that contradicts my view. (I'm rarely 100% certain of anything, but this would have to be them treating tweets reported a lot or considered "controversial" somehow differently. There is maybe a sliver of a possibility GC people are partially right I will concede. No chance the "TRAs stole my likes" conspiracy is right)

Seriously just go away. Nobody is going to be doing the homework you seem to think you can set for us. So what if women are discussing Twitter machinations between ourselves, erroneously or otherwise. Your pomposity is painful.

Now I change my view based on evidence

Hahahaha!!!!!

I assume the scolds will accuse me of being irrational, but suggestions that Twitter manipulate feeds and trends is quite widespread, not just on this issue, but particularly around US politics, MeToo accusations etc. We know from the Yaniv issue that bans seem top fall harshly on GC issues.

Twitter, Facebook, Quora, indeed all chat sites are dependent on moderation, some of which is carried out by algorithm. Reddit had huge problems over the influence Aimee Challenor held over sub-Reddits. Freedom of speech is in the hands of, largely unregulated, tech guys. To question some of the things that happen is not unrational. I am sure we will see more whistle blowers along the lines of Facebook's Frances Haugen come forward. There is a problem.

Simple experiment. Google almost any news story. You are almost guaranteed that the Guardian story will appear before the Mail. Yet the Mail online's readership is way higher than the Guardian. Similarly regular complaints of deboosting on You Tube. Attempts to restrict discussions on this site. And so on.

The scolds will say that this does not happen, because conveniently, their view of the world is being reinforced on social media....for now.