Twitter steps up fight against fake accounts
San Francisco, Oct 2 : To further protect the integrity of elections, Twitter on Tuesday said it will now delete fake accounts engaged in a variety of emergent, malicious behaviours.
As platform manipulation tactics continue to evolve, the micro-blogging platform said it is expanding rules to better reflect how it identifies fake accounts and what types of inauthentic activity violate its guidelines before the US mid-term elections in November.
"Some of the factors that we will take into account when determining whether an account is fake include use of stock or stolen avatar photos, use of stolen or copied profile bios and use of intentionally misleading profile information, including profile location," said Del Harvey, Vice President, Trust and Safety, Twitter, in a blog post.
"We are expanding our enforcement approach to include accounts that deliberately mimic or are intended to replace accounts we have previously suspended for violating our rules," she added.
Twitter has also expanded the criteria for when it will take action on accounts which claim responsibility for a hack, which includes threats and public incentives to hack specific people and accounts.
"In August, we removed approximately 50 accounts misrepresenting themselves as members of various state Republican parties," informed Yoel Roth, Head of Site Integrity at Twitter.
"We have also taken action on Tweets sharing media regarding elections and political issues with misleading or incorrect party affiliation information," he added.
In August, Twitter removed 770 accounts engaging in coordinated behaviour which appeared to originate in Iran.
"Our automated detections continue to identify and challenge millions of potentially spammy and automated accounts per week. In the first half of September, we challenged an average of 9.4 million accounts each week," said Roth.
Twitter is also witnessing a decline in the average number of spam-related reports it receives from users each day -- from an average of approximately 17,000 per day in May to approximately 16,000 per day in September.
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CM Siddaramaiah writes to CMs of 8 states on unfair devolution of taxes by Centre
Bengaluru, Sep 11: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he has written to the Chief Ministers of eight states regarding the "unfair" devolution of taxes by the Union government, and has invited them to a conclave in Bengaluru to collectively deliberate on the issues of "fiscal federalism".
He said he has written to the Chief Ministers of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, and Punjab.
"States with higher GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) per capita, like Karnataka and others, are being penalised for their economic performance, receiving disproportionately lower tax allocations. This unjust approach undermines the spirit of cooperative federalism and threatens the financial autonomy of progressive states," he said in a post on 'X' with "#OurTaxOurRight" hashtag.
"I have invited them to a conclave in Bengaluru to collectively deliberate on the issues of fiscal federalism at a juncture when the Finance Commission needs to make a directional shift & create incentives for growth and better tax mobilisation," he said.
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Siddararamaiah has also posted the letter written to CMs of other states on 'X'.
"As you are aware the 16th Finance Commission has begun its deliberations. The previous Finance Commissions have laid excessive emphasis on equity at the cost of efficiency and performance. As a result, states with higher GSDP per capita and higher contribution to the gross tax revenues of the union are progressively receiving lower shares of the central fiscal transfers," he said.
Stating that during the visit of the 16th Finance Commission to the State of Karnataka, during 29-30, August 2024, he underscored the need to carefully examine the impact of high emphasis given to equity on resource devolution to well performing states, he said, "I have emphasised that the reduction in central financial transfers to well performing states is placing severe limitations on their ability to invest in physical and human infrastructure."
The taxpayers of states, which are net donors to the divisible pool, also expect a fair share of their taxes to come back to them, he said, adding that the Finance Commission therefore needs to carefully balance equity with efficiency and performance.
Pointing out that states with a strong contribution to the country's GDP and Gross Tax Revenue, help build the nation in more ways than one, Siddaramaiah said, therefore, there is an urgent need to balance equity with efficiency and performance for a stronger Union, both politically and economically.
"It is, therefore, important that states which are receiving smaller shares in horizontal devolution, compared to their contributions to the Gross Tax Revenues of the Union, need to articulate a coordinated set of proposals before the Commission," he said.
"It is my pleasure to invite you to a conclave in Bengaluru to discuss these issues further. I will send a separate invitation indicating the dates once we firm up the schedule," he added.
I have written to the Chief Ministers of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, and Punjab regarding the unfair devolution of taxes by the Union government.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) September 11, 2024
States with higher GSDP per capita, like Karnataka and others, are being penalized… pic.twitter.com/SLqpNwVPDA
