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?
23h 33m ago by reddthat.com/u/throws_lemy in technology from www.theverge.com
this is actually a pretty wild headline to appear on the verge frontpage
good on them
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!
An eon ago they made a PC building guide that was riddled with mistakes and had to pull it down again and I think that's still where most of that comes from.
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.
It goes earlier than that debacle for me but I honestly do not remember anymore.
If they've turned a new leaf then hey good for them.
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.
Money and mutually assured destruction (blackmail-able info).
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.
Oh, yeah, and a lot more than that. Most of those super-wealthy people don't want their names to be well-known, but that are still very active.
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.
https://reportaproblem.apple.com/
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
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.
believe they're largely are
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.
This was a really good article. The author is rightfully pissed off.
here you go >> https://archive.ph/WtSlJ
Thanks little kiwi ❤️
You can just enable ublock origin to bypass these verge popups
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
Everyone watched as Tim Apple bowed and kissed the ring. 'Coward' was already his namesake.
More proof that rules and guidelines only apply to those without power or privilege.
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.
Why won't Apple and Google pull it?
Google will pull it as soon as Apple does, they're a follower not a leader.
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.
It appears to demonstrate that it's very much profit over principles and values.
Because billionaires like to stick together because they think that they're better than all of us combined.
Post deepfake porn of them and their wives or husbands on X.
That’s…actually a pretty good idea.
More views, more ads. Go ahead make them richer.
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.
What's stopping people from making extremely cursed deepfakes of these idiots and spamming it everywhere? They've got to get tired of it eventually.
They can afford to hire the Pinkertons to find you.
Not them.... their family members. Spouses, siblings, parents, kids. There are no rules any more.
These people benefit from a world where real evidence is buried and indistinguishable from deepfakes.
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!
!linuxphones@lemmy.ca
Fuck Tim Apple and Sundar Google.
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
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?
Sadly I'm hoping they do it so Musk will poor money into allowing side loaded apps in Android and iOS permanently
Appeasing fascist is always, always going to make them bolder.
But apparently fighting back "is exactly what he wants" so yea, good luck with doing more of nothing "exactly what he wants" .
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.
Are we really letting ourselves get sidetracked from the problem cause? Why are we holding app distribution platforms accountable for wrongdoings of X? I understand it might not be consistent with their "guide"lines, but consumers demanding enforcement, as if being obligated to do so, is the beginning of a very slippery slope.
Right in the name
They’re guidelines
fancytalk for a double standard
Exactly. They're okay with the fascist Xitpool, but if any regular dev ever crossed those "guidelines," they'd be banned in a heartbeat.
Just take the app name, for example. From memory, single letter app names aren't typically allowed in either of those places. X got a special exemption to let them use that name.