It feels like the day of social media reckoning is nigh
We’ve seen social networks take action to enforce and strengthen their terms of service and policies against hate this past week following advertiser pressure. Also in this week’s issue:
Trump
still
doesn’t have a reelection message
What could the new Mississippi flag look like?
Notes on campaign design: the AOC slant is international
Yours,
It feels like the day of social media reckoning is nigh
The MAGA version of Snoo, Reddit’s mascot
When social media companies in the past have moved to finally deplatform bad actors like conspiracy theorists or white supremacists, it goes a little something like this: a user pushes the limits of what’s allowed on the site, calls to deplatform the user get louder, one social media company finally decides to do something about it, and then everyone else rushes to follow. It escalates very quickly.
That’s how things have felt in the past week. President Trump has been pushing social media boundaries with posts like his “when the shooting starts the looting starts” tweet last month and his now-deleted retweet of a video in which a supporter shouts “white power.” Things are escalating, social media companies are getting bolder with enforcing their rules, and now there’s added pressure from advertisers.
The Stop Hate For Profit campaign, which started June 17 and is backed by groups like the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League, called on companies to pause spending money on Facebook because of its policies towards hate speech and other actions like including far-right partisan news sites among its trusted news brands. Here’s what’s happened since:
By last Friday, the number of major advertisers vowing to temporarily stop spending on Facebook was growing. Today, that list includes companies like Adidas, Coca-Cola, Ford, the Hershey Company, Levis Strauss & Co., The North Face, Patagonia, REI, Starbucks, Unilever, and Verizon.
Facebook announced Friday it would remove posts that incite violence or suppress voting even if they come from politicians and that it would add labels to posts that violate its policies. These changes won’t apply to old posts.
The Washington Post reported how Facebook has adapted its rules to accommodate President Trump going back to 2015 when it declined to remove a Trump post calling for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. “The value of being in favor with people in power outweighs almost every other concern for Facebook,” former Facebook security engineer David Thiel said.
Twitch announced it was temporarily suspending Trump’s channel for violating its hateful content policies in some of his past campaign speeches.
Reddit banned about 2,000 subreddits for violating its hate speech policies, including the pro-Trump r/The_Donald and the “dirtbag left” r/ChapoTrapHouse.
YouTube banned white supremacist channels including channels belonging to David Duke and Richard Spencer.
Facebook announced Tuesday that it removed more than 300 groups or accounts on Facebook and Instagram that were connected to the extremist anti-government “Boogaloo” movement for violating its policies against organized violence.
Former Vice President Biden’s campaign sent a letter to Facebook expressing concern that the company “chose to haggle” with the White House over Trump’s posts “rather than taking a clear and transparent stand based on established policies.” The campaign also asked that Facebook delete posts in which Trump claimed without evidence that voting by mail is a source of electoral fraud.
Trump still doesn’t have a reelection message
Trump touring a Wisconsin shipyard on Thursday. Credit: C-SPAN
When Trump was asked a softball question about his “top priority items for a second term” last Thursday, he offered an incoherent answer that didn’t lay out a single top priority item for a second term.
He still doesn’t have a reelection message. Trump is, however, testing out new nicknames.
Trump is reportedly asking advisers whether to use “Swampy Joe” or “Creepy Joe” for Biden instead of “Sleepy Joe,” according to the Washington Post. So there’s that.
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What could the new Mississippi flag look like?
The Mississippi “Magnolia” (left) and “Hospitality” (right) flags
The Mississippi legislature voted Sunday to replace its flag, which used a confederate battle flag in its canton and was adopted in 1894. Mississippi was the last state to use the emblem after Georgia, which changed its flag in 2001.
There’s no replacement yet, but a commission will create a new design that voters will approve in November. The only guidelines: the new flag can’t include the confederate emblem again and it must include the words “In God We Trust.”
There are already several popular alternatives, though they don’t meet the requirements. Earlier this month, the city of Gulfport voted to remove the state’s flag outside city hall and instead flew the “Magnolia” flag (above, left), which was Mississippi’s original flag.
Another popular alternative design is the “Hospitality Flag,” (above, right), which was designed with vexillologist Ted Kaye and uses 19 stars around a large star in the middle to symbolize Mississippi being the 20th state. The creators say the flag has been used for six years and claim it’s been the best-selling flag in the state. The group Hospitality Flag for Mississippi said in a statement their design should be chosen and that the new flag shouldn’t have words on it.
The above flag with the state’s seal is a popular design that’s been endorsed by politicians including former Gov. Phil Bryant, Sen. Roger Wicker (R), and Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs.
Notes on campaign design: the AOC slant is international
I wrote in this space in April how a number of progressive candidates in the U.S. were using visual identities that seemed inspired by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Turns out the style is used even more widely.
Fast Company tracked down examples of political design around the world that mimic AOC’s. They put words on a slant, use a similar typeface style and color scheme, and in some cases plop in an exclamation point!
There’s Sebastien Barles, the head of a conservation group in Marseille, France, and Ian Brossat, the deputy mayor of Paris and a member of the French Communist Party. A public health campaign to wear face masks by Padua, Italy, also uses the style.
Scott Starrett, the cofounder of Tandem, which designed for Ocasio-Cortez, told Fast Company, “we played a role in creating a shorthand for what I would consider an atypical candidate—people who are deciding to run that traditionally didn’t feel invited into the process.”
DC puts up 51 murals for statehood
Credit: @shansloat/@Murals_DC/Twitter
Murals DC, the city-funded public art group behind Washington’s “Black Lives Matter” mural on 16th St., was commissioned for an ambitious project to put up 51 murals to promote statehood for the District of Columbia in the lead-up to the U.S. House statehood vote.
“As more Americans learn about and join our fight for statehood, these murals will reflect our local pride and our commitment to seeing this fight through to the end – until we are officially the 51st state,” Mayor Bowser said in a statement about the project.
Murals were put up across all eight District wards, including several murals on the 1300 block of H St. NE. On Friday, the House voted for D.C. to be a state for the first time ever but statehood faces long odds in the Senate.
Salt Lake City activists paint the street red
Salt Lake City isn’t among the cities to have its own yellow municipality-approved Black Lives Matter mural, but on Saturday, activists painted the streets themselves.
At a demonstration against police brutality and for Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, a man who was killed by Salt Lake City officers in May, protesters poured red paint on the street in front of the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office and chanted “too much blood.”
Symbolically, it feels like a visual backlash to cities that have put up murals without offering any policy changes.
At the protest, activist Sofia Alcala said the red street was more accurate than the “misleading” glass art on the district attorney’s office building that includes words like “Truth,” “Justice,” and “Equality,” according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
How the visual design of TV news could change
ICYMI, I wrote about the evolving nature of TV news visuals and how this moment could mark a shift. Fun fact: the word “chyron” was actually the name of a company that made TV news graphics which was named after the Greek centaur Chiron. The company was originally supposed to make educational toys for babies. You can read my full story here.