Reddit clarified its policy to ban speech that “encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm.” Sounds great, but as always with free-speech issues, the lines between acceptable and awful are fuzzy. Reddit has a challenging history to deal with. Among mainstream public social platforms, it has been the most tolerant of extreme…
Sexual harassment claims tend to come down to “he said, she said.” Is venture firm DFJ’s founder Steve Jurvetson a predator or a victim? Let’s look at the dueling statements. The accusation Entrepreneur Keri Kukral posted this on Facebook: Threshold reached after long contemplation. Women approached by founding partners of Draper Fisher Jurvetson should be…
Forrester Research, my former employer, has released a consumer app called “Tap.” The essence is simple: tell the world what businesses are doing wrong, and they’ll listen and fix it. It’s a crowded app world out there, but if this one catches on, it could make a difference. The world is filled with ratings and…
Facebook’s News Feed shows both what your friends share and what companies that you follow share. In some countries, Facebook is ripping the company stuff out of the news feed. But publishers need not worry, because as it says in its patronizing, arrogant, and ultimately meaningless statement, it has “no plans” to make those changes…
Barstool Sports offered reporter Elika Sadeghi a two-year contract that specified she’d be subject to offensive speech. Sort of. The whole incident falls apart upon close examination. As described in The Boston Globe, Sadeghi opted not to take the gig when she read the contract. It included a passage saying she understood that her colleagues…
The Boston Red Sox fired their manager John Farrell yesterday. He then made a surprising statement thanking everyone he worked with, including the ownership and management team that just fired him. You need a little context to fully understand his statement. Farrell’s five years with the Red Sox featured extremes, including a surprising World Series…
Here’s a story that appeared on Dow Jones newswires yesterday: DJ Update: Google, Apple Join to Create Tech Giant By Josee Rose In a surprise move to everyone who is alive, Google said it’s going to buy Apple for $9 billion. Google Chief Executive Larry Page had secret talks with the now deceased Steve Jobs…
The New York Times published a devastating and detailed piece on decades of sexual advances by powerful movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein responded with a strange statement about taking a leave from his movie company to take on the NRA and President Trump. Weinstein’s statement is bizarrely sensible — but only if you believe, in…
In the wake of emotion comes an assault on the truth. Here are a few of the questionable or false things that surfaced in surprisingly authoritative places in the last week. The Las Vegas shooter was a liberal activist . . . except that he wasn’t. According to top search results on Google, Stephen Paddock,…