Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards - X’s deepfake porn feature clearly violates app store guidelines. Why won’t Apple and Google pull it?
5 months ago by Sahwa to c/technology
I see a lot of people hate The Verge and I don’t understand why. Is it perfect? No. But, I think they have a pretty solid ethics policy and they call out bullshit.
I like 404 better but Verge is by no means bad.
Maybe there was an issue with them that I don’t know about? Idk!
IIRC the initial response to extremely valid criticism of the video was also terrible, and they threw the video host under the bus for a rushed video that should've never been produced under the circumstances it was (granted he was part of the terrible response to criticism)
Yeah. I just looked it up. That video was dumb and bad. Shouldn’t have made it up, but the article is still on their site. They did issue a retraction and update the story to correct the inaccuracies.
I don’t know if it warrants the Lemmy hate but I also know that Lemmy hates anything corporate so it is what it is. I’ll still read The Verge as long as they follow their own ethics policy.
Paywalls mostly (speaking for myself).
That and, back in the day, they trashed Samsung for making big phones, then praised Apple for making objectively less functional ones (no stylus, no Note like features). We started calling them iVerge back then, for favoritism to Apple. Even as an Apple guy, I found it annoying.
Google "verge pc build". They ran a video of a guy, completely unqualified, building a "$2000 PC", and doing almost everything wrong. And then the guy called people racists for dunking on him. There's layers to the story. The Verge has been a joke of tech reporting for years.
Found it. Yeah that video was bad.
To their credit, they did issue a retraction and repost the story with correct steps.
The copyright strikes were definitely a dumb way to handle it.
Idk if true or not but in an Arstechnica story, The Verge’s editor in chief apparently asked the Vox lawyers to rescind the copyright strikes.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m defending them. The video should never have made it up in the first place, but people make mistakes. If you own it and apologize, I’ll give you a second chance.
I don’t always agree with their take on a topic, but for the most part I have found them to be factual.
I do also agree with many Ed Zitron takes about them tho. They could be doing a better job on AI, but over the last few weeks I’ve seen an improvement there.
TLDR: that PC build from 8 years ago was dumb and extra embarrassing, they should feel bad for it, but I still think some if the hate they get is unjustified.
Not just blackmail, if either had the balls to ban twitter I don't imagine the large orange fascist would keep his mouth shut and not retaliate. So it's also extortion!
I thought him and musk had a falling out?
It was performative after Musk's sieg heil crashed Tesla sales.
Musk still donates to them I assume it's not that bad as much as Musk just needed to be told not do that thing where everyone hates him so close to Trump
Musk has already said that he intends to go all in to get Republicans elected in 2028. He and Trump's heads may be too big to fit in the same room, but he knows which side his bread is buttered on.
MUSK, ellisons, THIEL, probably the sackler family, and the couple that is giving him 600mil plus, and of course murdoch and PUTIN.
they staged the falling out, they are much intertwined with each other, besides epstein file implicates them both so musk has incentive to keep trump form turning against him.
If you have an Apple account take a min to report it.
Thanks, this is very helpful!
It’s only allowing me report apps I’ve installed so I’m wondering if I should very briefly install the app to allow that. I’m generally cautions of allowing dodgy apps on my devices.
You don't have to open it. Therefore not being able to grant it permissions to access info.
*I mean that theoretically but it's worth a shot.we can also review bomb it on the App Store.
Perfect. Done. Thank you very much. I really appreciate it.
I wouldn't even download apps you don't feel comfortable with because the permissions they are granted are agreed-upon at the time of download and you are also boosting the download and usage metrics simply by installing it and opening it once.
It's also extremely unlikely that an application such as X could ever be reported enough to have anything happen. I'm sure it's on a manually approved list
Yes, I feel the same way you do. I really don't want to add to the download metrics. I'm making an exception this time. Some good journalists, for example Richard Chambers (Ireland), have downloaded it to test and debunk claims made by Musk about safeguards. I think their contribution was a net positive. So there are cases where it's worth doing.
I did not need to open the app once. Just downloading it allowed me to complain to apple using the link above. I feel when it comes to a CSAM factory such as this (possibly even trained on CSAM material), and with EU headquarters in my country (Ireland), I have to report it so Apple cannot claim ignorance. Who knows, maybe a whistleblower will someday tell us how many reports there were. Unfortunately our leaders are not leading on this issue, so the social contract is broken and we should all (IMO) do much more than posting on social media. My personal discomfort is less important.
They pulled Tumblr over cartoon porn, but using AI to sexually abuse actual women and children is all good, apparently.
It's because they fear what Musk might do.
Twitter should be banned for making CSAM.
Because billionaires like these two, and the corporations that they run, believe they’re largely not accountable to the law nor cultural pressure. They exist in a cloud of privilege that never holds them to account for truth, justice nor anyone’s wellbeing as long as the investors get paid. They are sociopaths.
I've been an Apple user since the 80s, I used to be penpals with their CFO Ellen Hancock. Would get care packages from their PR team full of promo items. Exchanged emails with Wozniak and Jobs. I was deeply obsessed.
Obviously things have drifted away from the core "underdog" vibe that Apple exemplified for so long, as their popularity and device adoption surged, they've been less of the Apple I knew.
But Cook's behavior this year has me realizing I've bought my last Apple device. Bring on Linux in every form.
I know I don't matter at all, but it would have taken epic amounts of bullshit to make me sour on them, and here we are.
Your individual change is a drop in the ocean but everyone making that change is a tidal wave. I have very recently moved to linux after almost 30 years using windows. It is an incredible set of OSs with brilliant support from a fantastic community and it keeps getting better.
We need to make the change and encourage others too.
You're not alone. Used to be the biggest Apple fan, worked there for nearly ten years until 2023.
Last year I made the cut, the new PC I bought was custom built and is running Linux. My MacBook Air is running Asahi Fedora Remix primarily and the iPhone was sold on. Disconnecting from iCloud was a pain, getting pictures off of their system took me three months but it was worth it. Self hosting my stuff now and 2026 is the year to switch my family and friends over as well.
I used Apple with an Apple 2, then once bought an Apple laptop just before they switched to intel cpus as an experiment. For reference I had already been running Linux for years at the time, so that was a test. It lasted three or four months before I ran back to Kde, couldn't stand how rigid, awkward and closed the interface was. As an aside, it was pretty much impossible to extract my data from their "photos" app. They renamed everything and dumed it in a maze of illegible directories.
That was my last contact with Apple.
Even Microsoft felt more user friendly to me.
I recently saw a video about what changed and it’s very clear that it is almost entirely Tim Cook’s fault. He’s a rotten snake who no one ever seemed to really like and who was constantly wrong about nearly everything and yet was left in charge and, with zero surprise whatsoever, immediately and consistently fucked it all up.
He was handed a roadmap to making money without sacrificing quality or much integrity(corporations seem hell-bent on making sure they always suck a little bit at the very least) and he threw it away to be a little bitch instead.
Yep, sounds like Tim Apple. XD Could you send a link to the video? Sounds interesting.
I’ve completely lost the video, sorry.
It talked about how he has always been far more obssessed with shareholder value than quality and affordability for the customer.
Apple used to make products that got cheaper over time but under Cook they’ve been sky-rocketing in price.
It also talked about how he was so concerned with pennies that he sought to put a stranglehold on the design team, the people who came up with the entire aesthetic that is Apple a huge reason why they’ve sold so well.
I’ve no clue why he was chosen to lead the company because he’s just a massive idiot who was handed an easy win, hell he was handed something that had already won and has done so much to break what he was given.
Ah, that's alright. There's definitely been a ton of videos covering this massive blunder at this point.
I think I found it: Here
Is it this?
Just finishing off setting up ElementaryOS on my wife's early 2015 MacBook Air. It's based on Ubuntu LTS, but with a custom theme to make it macOS-esque. Seems pretty good so far, but time will tell if she enjoys using it.
Edit: Everything but the webcam just worked out of the box. The webcam was a motherfuck though. Took the better part of 3hrs trawling forums to find the full instructions for installing the kernel module to get it running....
I mean Grok is literally being used to make CSAM so it should not only be taken down but the law should get involved in any reasonable country.
how many times do we have to say it
the law is optional for corporations and the rich
the law is for oppressing the poor and justifying it
It's just crazy dude. Give pedos an opportunity, and they WILL take advantage of it. You could be making an image hosting app for frickin octogenarians and they'll somehow discover it and use it as their spank bank. I hate that shit.
The thing is though… is it actually CSM according to the law if there is no real child involved along the way? At least some countries might need a law change first before tackling this.
Edit: I checked the local law where I’m located and it’s “images or videos depicting a minor during a sexual act”. I’d argue these AI generated images aren’t of minors because they don’t exist. We probably need new laws first unless it’s provable that the images represent a specific real life minor.
The thing is though… is it actually CSM according to the law if there is no real child involved along the way?
Legally, yes. The law in the UK also includes images of children that are drawn or computer generated.
Japan had legal Child Porn until disconcertingly recently.
Good. I also read a bit more into it and while I’m not located in the UK apparently there is a specific extension to the law that also includes drawings and “collage” type edits. It doesn’t mention AI yet but surely this should count.
RIP my search history. But I’m glad we don’t need to wait for the law to catch up (in some places). Now all we have to do is scream from the rooftops that the laws need to be applied. Or even better: sue someone.
Do you need a back brace to stand up straight, buddy? Because at this point, I am certain you haven’t got a single vertebra.
Just want to make sure this line gets the attention it deserves.
here you go >> https://archive.ph/WtSlJ
That’s…actually a pretty good idea.
More views, more ads. Go ahead make them richer.
Time to find out if they are into sph.
Everyone watched as Tim Apple bowed and kissed the ring. 'Coward' was already his namesake.
Because they are indeed cowards.
"Coward" implies that they want to do good, but are too scared to do so. There's no reason to think that, and indeed we shouldn't. They want money and Elon makes them money; that's all there is to it. If ethics mattered to them at all, they wouldn't have been able to climb to the position of CEO of a major corporation in the first place.
Funny how it’s the other way around when it comes to hardware. Headphone jack removal and fingerprint reader, Droid did both first.
With software, copying Apple is everyone’s game. Samsung were caught red handed literally telling their designers where they could copy Apple more. They’re only just getting around to the important bits. Software updates, and synergy with a computer (which unfortunately is Windows, not Linux).
The ”Droid” you’re talking about isn’t Google.
Conflating the company Google, Android operating system and every company that makes phones running Android is a common mistake people make.
Because money. And the laws are useless against them.
And the blackmail in daily life
Because, it's NEVER been about protecting kids, or other vulnerable people. The filthy rich don't give one flying fuck about vulnerable people.
Not them.... their family members. Spouses, siblings, parents, kids. There are no rules any more.
In elons case he actually would love that, he's fucked
I don't know man, C level executives are all about the money, they would sell out their moms to make a buck.
If it doesn't hurt their position in the company, they wouldn't give a single fuck. They literally kissed the ring of a dictator, they'd dance to any tune to make the line go up.
They are not cowards, they don't give a single shit about it. There isn't enough backlash to effect Google so Google doesn't care. That is how corporations deal with every subject. They don't treat child porn differently becuase it's one of the more henious offenses; it's simply another rule broken and it is delt woth the same way as anyother broken law or rule: ignore it or throw money at it and admit no wrong doing.
It’s the opposite. They are cowards. Any move to do the right thing makes you a target for oh dear leader (who is also a pedophile). So they ignore it because it’s more profitable to avoid falling out with the administration. The only value a corporation has is greed.
Hit their bottom line!
All sorts of weird precedents are being set in the shameless kowtowing to the deluded traffic cone
Lawyers are going to be making any kind of weird argument based on some precedent set during this presidency for decades
Time to spread vids of Cook and Pichai 69ing
this was as close as I could get without burning too many rainforests--maybe people with better AI skillz can get an actual image of them fucking
hopefully more leftists/progressives will wake up about how trusting these companies with "censorship" and having closed source proprietary tech/platforms so entangled in our lives is a bad thing. Most in my experience just complain about how we need to tax them without really thinking about how we can disentangle them from our lives. The past 20 years have been this weird bubble where the largest creators of capital (silicon valley) were not explicitly sided with the auth right wing. People have gotten too use to this especially with personal data and just expecting the state to save them.
I like to think this will cause open source solutions and federated ecosystems to become more popular. Maybe i'm a doomer but we will just get more tiktoks about trump is bad and "late stage capitalism". People I think just will never sacrifice convenience in life, its why authoritarianism seems to always win.
Why would respecting the guidelines upset "the right"? Are they all pedophiles?
Apple's keyboard doesn't even have the word pedophile. Kind of ironic isn't it?
No, I don't think that's what's happening here. I think people are theorizing that X is very likely to respond to pressure from Google and Apple threatening to deplatform them, and loudly complaining about them not applying their own rules equally is a great way to remind their internal lawyers to put pressure on them (insulting the CEOs is just a nice bonus).
Frankly, if the fallot here is a relaxed adult policy, that's still a win. LGBTQIA advocacy groups tend to get lumped in as 'adult', which is a problem for trans-affirming suicide prevention hotlines trying to save lives.
As for your slippery slope question, that Pandora's box is already open. Just half a year ago Mastercard and VISA put the strongarm on Valve and itch.io to let the payment processors ban any game they choose under the guise of pornography censorship. Pressuring a platform to censure an app 'for the sake of the children' just isn't the virgin ground you seem to think it is.
There is another battle: There is a fight to open up app installation on phones. The EU recently forced Apple to allow other app stores on iOS and Apple is fighting this as hard as you would expect. Apple & Google are taking 30% of each sale in their stores and are making bank. One of the arguments they are pushing is "safety". Only apps on their vetted app stores are safe, every other store is unsafe and so on. If they allow a child porn app in their store, all of their arguments in this debate are invalid. And that is also an important fact for that debate.
But Xitter disabled image gen now.
Sure, yes, with any niche app, they would've pulled it from the store and never allowed it again.
Sadly I'm hoping they do it so Musk will poor money into allowing side loaded apps in Android and iOS permanently
If you want to get it banned, make some deepfake porn of them and their family members and watch how fast it disappears.
Sometimes I have the impression X is doing everything to be removed to the App Store so Musk can sue and get rid of the guidelines. And as we can see here we can do even CSAM on his social network and no one do anything, this should be a matter of law, not a private company like Google or Apple.
X is a propaganda tool. If they remove that then they also risk opposing the larger objectives of the USA.
Right in the name
They’re guidelines
fancytalk for a double standard
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this is actually a pretty wild headline to appear on the verge frontpage
good on them
save