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Twitter has launched new initiatives to tackle misinformation related to the Indian Assembly Elections.

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With the Assembly Elections of India knocking at our doors, Twitter has launched very thoughtful initiatives to tackle misinformation related to the election. These new initiatives will protect public conversation and will also encourage healthy and informed conversations between candidates, political parties, media, citizens, and society (Gadgets 360). There are a total of three new initiatives taken by Twitter ahead of the Assembly Election in India and all these will be available in six different languages, namely, English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Assamese, and Malayalam.

The Assembly Election 2021 in India will be taking place in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry. Twitter through these new initiatives will be primarily devoted to facilitating healthy political debates and enhancing civic participation in the election. Every citizen of India has a right to true facts and information. This will also enhance participation and enlighten citizens about every political party and the candidates who are representing them.

The New Initiatives by Twitter

The first initiative taken by Twitter ahead of the Assembly Election 2021 is an information search prompt. This search prompt is connected with the Election Commission of India and state election commissions which will make the path easier for users to receive appropriate information regarding the election. The users can find correct information about the candidates, polling booths, voting dates, EVM voter registration, and every other election-related query.

twitter

The next initiative is a custom emoji to encourage more civic participation. This initiative is mainly launched to initiate and simulate election-related discussions and will be available on the platform until 10th May 2021. Young Indians are expected to actively participate in these discussions and share their ideas and opinions about everything regarding the election. For making the election-related discussions more pronounced and active, Twitter is also launching a youth discussion series called #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections (Deccan Herald).

The third initiative is the series of pre-bunks and de-bunks to eradicate the misinformation as much as possible on Twitter. This will appear on the Home page of every user and also in Search. There will also be information and guidance on how to register to vote and details on EVMs and VVPATs. Misinformation is a very damaging factor during the time of election and Twitter will make sure to tackle this misinformation with great caution. If every citizen receives the correct fact about any election-related topic, it will be easier for them to make a decision.

Spotlight on Women

Apart from these initiatives to enhance the overall political culture in India, Twitter is also bringing back a video series called #HerPoliticalJourney. This video series mainly focuses on women in politics, their political journeys along the leading women news journalists. Sharing personal stories and their struggles in the political journey will inspire several young Indian women to get actively involved in politics and journalism. This will also improve the voting ratio in terms of gender in our country.

Other Important Information

The voting for the Assembly Election will start on 27th March 2021. The counting of the votes in these five assembly elections will take place on 2nd May 2021. In response to these new initiatives taken by Twitter, Payal Kamat, Manager Public Policy and Government, Twitter India, said that public conversation is critical during elections, and “Twitter is where this unfolds” (Deccan Herald).

She also further added that India is gradually accelerating in the digital era, and thus with correct measures more people in India will now have access to credible information in the right time span. The main motive of Twitter through this bunch of new initiatives is to make more Indian people engage in election-related talks. Twitter has more than 1 crore Indian users and together by using these new Twitter features can initiate and maintain a healthy dialogue and active participation in the Assembly Elections 2021. And, to attract each and every Indian user, Twitter has decided to put the content in regional language as well so that no users can feel left out and keep themselves from participating.

Tooter

Meet Tooter the “Swadeshi” version of Twitter for the Indians

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There is an ever-increasing pitch for self-sufficiency ever since the pandemic hit and border tensions with China arose. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called this a “vision for an Aatmanirbhar Bharat” or a self-reliant India. Tooter is up against a formidable challenge and is appealing to the patriotic fervor of Indians urging them to “join the revolution”.

Ever since the Indian government has cracked its proverbial whip on Chinese digital companies, there has been a flurry of activity in the Indian digital space. Be it Reliance Jio launching its Zoom clone, or fledgling Indian startups jumping in with their products to fill the void left by TikTok.

Tooter Vision:

Tooter’s vision reads as follows: “We believe that India should have a Swadeshi social network. Without one we are just a digital colony of the American Twitter India Company, no different than what we were under the British East India Company. Tooter is our Swadeshi Andolan 2.0. Join us in this Andolan. Join us!” Twitter has a massive user base in India, with all popular personalities making their presence felt on the social media giant.

More into Tooter:

Tooter
Image Source: tooter.in

The company is headquartered in Sri City, Telangana. Tooter has been active since July but it has been making waves only recently, with some government bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh joining the platform. One can join the platform with an email-id. The app is currently for web and Android users only, iOS users have to wait for some more time. On signing up, you automatically follow a verified handle called “news”, among other verified handles. From a user interface point of view, Tooter is very similar to Twitter. On Twitter you have tweets, and on Tooter you have… toots! There is a news feed and people who you can follow. So it is very similar to Twitter in the usage department as well. Tooter also has a blue conch as its symbol. There is also something called Tooter Pro, which is available for Rs. 1000 INR. But the payment process is quite clunky and not intuitive. Even the Pro version features are not well outlined.

Twitter clone why?

Twitter isn’t a Chinese company nor do the Chinese have a majority stake in the company. Then what motivated a hitherto unknown company called Tooter to launch a desi Twitter version? Twitter has had multiple run-ins with the Indian government in the last few months, be it map disputes or hate speech and privacy regulations. Twitter has also had issues with the general population with some calling Twitter’s attitude biased.

Privacy and Regulations:

This is one aspect where Tooter has failed to meet the expectations of its lofty vision statement. The terms of service contain the words – “protected by the First Amendment” – which is a US constitution term(the Indian first Amendment has nothing to do with personal freedom) Tooter claims to be India’s answer to Twitter but its regulatory terms do not reflect that fact. There are many other terms and conditions which appear to be riff raffed from any standard US company regulations.

Tooter does not allow children below the age of 18 to create an account (except for California citizens where the legal age is set at 16). This would sit perfectly fine for everyone who is paranoid about a – “A Social Dilemma” type of situation.

However, Tooter does mention that the sole purpose of its creation is free speech and to protect this “God-given right” and individuals exercising this right. The extent of this is not known yet, and its limits will surely be tested soon.

Long run:

Tooter has an open-source code base, which will probably help it in the long run. On the company website, it says that Tooter is forked from the Mastodon project and is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPL3). An open-source code can be edited by anyone, thus increasing the pace at which features are added to the base application. Many apps that have been launched by trying to clone popular ones have failed miserably. Hopefully, the Indian Tooter will not be one among them, and the Indian digital space continues to make waves. There is still a long way to go for Tooter, and it will take inspiration from the fact that it is David up against a Goliath called – Twitter.

Twitter

Government issues warning to Twitter; conveys strong disapproval over map misrepresentation

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Geotagging manipulation is a very serious threat and disrespect towards the sovereignty of a country. A very important matter regarding the map representation in Twitter which involves Leh, headquarters of the Union Territory of Ladakh has come up this week. Twitter has caused map misrepresentation of Leh showing its location in China. India has warned Twitter with very strong disapproval as it insults the integrity of a nation. Twitter has received heavy criticism from Indian people which it might have seen coming. Social media users have raised a very strong voice against this map manipulation. The question of this act whether it was a genuine mistake of the location setting or done purposely is secondary. Since the relationship between India and China has already got on the wrong foot; this is the worst time to commit a blunder like this by a major-micro blogging platform.

India’s response to this map misrepresentation 

India has sent a letter to Twitter where Ajay Sawhney, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has asked the CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey to respect the sensitivities. A small yet such an intense mistake can cost both the nation and its people. This act of Twitter can be seen as triggering a sleeping volcano. The geotagging feature of Twitter displayed “Jammu & Kashmir, People’s Republic of China” in a live broadcast. It was taking part in Leh’s Hall of Fame, a war memorial to respect the soldiers of Union Territory of Ladakh those who sacrificed their life. A war memorial is a very sensitive and respectful place of a nation where people pay homage to the fallen soldiers. Showing that this part of India belongs to the People’s Republic of China is disrespecting the entire foundation of the country.

Twitter
Twitter CEO: Jack Dorsey
Image Source: cbsnews.com

The angry netizens have heavily insulted Twitter and they demand strict action in response to such an audacious act. On the other hand, Twitter has accepted that it was a technical issue from their side and that it has been resolved. But, the degree of damage it has already caused by wrong geotagging in a live broadcast is immeasurable. The entire world has witnessed a map misrepresentation which is enough to build theories and wage a war on social media and outside.

A warning to Twitter

The letter that was sent to Twitter by Mr. Sawhney on behalf of India clearly mentioned that any sign or attempt to disrespect the sovereignty and integrity of India will not only result in dispute but also questioning the neutrality and fairness of this micro-blogging platform. Even if it was a technical glitch from Twitter’s side, they should be extra cautious and take proper measures to prevent such “mistakes”. The damage it has caused to the reputation of Twitter will also take days to mend. Apart from the gentle warning, India has also reminded Twitter that Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir are integral and inalienable parts of India, governed by the Indian Constitution. In response to this mail, Twitter has immediately mailed back saying “Twitter is committed to working with the Government of India. We respect the sensitivities involved and have dully acknowledged the letter.”

Was it just a glitch?

Nitin Gokhale, National Security Analyst has pointed out the anomaly in the first place which was followed by sending out a warning to Twitter. Moreover, this is not the first time a nation is facing difficulties due to the technical glitches of Twitter. So, it is high time that the platform fixes all the platform before any other nation is hurt. Gokhale said that he went live on Twitter to share his journey to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh and after the broadcast was ended, he saw the location of Leh showing as a part of China. First, he thought if it was an isolated incident or a glitch so he conducted another experimental live broadcast and the same thing happened yet again. So, has it been a technical glitch, why was a part of India was constantly showing as a part of another nation? Twitter in response to this issue said that investigation teams are trying to resolve the matter as it seems to be a geotagging issue.

Square cash

Jack Dorsey – Journey from Twitter to Square Cash app development that changed the digital world.

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Square is a leading financial company in America. It’s a payment app called Square Cash is one of the useful apps that made card payment easier and handy. In fact, this app supports multiple devices like iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Android devices. It works like a mini card reader and a person can swipe the card easily. The person behind setting up square Cash is Jack Dorsey.

A well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist hailed from America. He is also one of the founding members of Twitter. Presently, he is serving as the CEO of Square Cash.

Jack Dorsey Childhood And Early Day

He was born on 19 November 1976 and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. His father Tim was a worker at mass spectrometers. Belonging to the Catholic background, Jack raised in a Catholic environment. In fact, he studied at Catholic Bishop DuBourg High School.

During his teenage, he tried fashion modeling. As well, he was interested in dispatch routing. That time, he developed open source dispatch software. This software is still working and many taxicab firms rely on it.

Education

Jack attended the University of Missouri, Rolla. There he studied for almost two and a half years. Thereafter, he joined New York University, which he dropped out later on. While studying at New York University, the idea of Twitter popped into his mind.

Jack Dorsey
Image Source: usatoday.com

Early career

Dusting his early days of career, he worked as a dispatch programmer. He set up the firm related to this field in 2000. The company was located at Oakland, especially for couriers, and taxi dispatch services via the web.

As well, Jack tried Web-based realtime status communication service during these days. That time, instant messaging was new. After seeing the implementation of instant messaging, he thought to implement it in a different way. So that’s how Jack along with his friends set up Twitter. Today, Twitter is used by millions of users.

Jack Dorsey as Twitter’s CEO

At the start of Twitter, Jack Dorsey served as the CEO of Twitter. His role in developing Twitter is appreciable. Under his policies, the firm raised two rounds of investment. Initially, Twitter was not designed to earn a profit. However, Dorsey showed the use of Twitter as a Commercial App. Thus, making it popular among marketers, celebrities, and now influencers.

Sooner or later, he left the position to enjoy his life in his way. Jack’s interest in Fashion designing was still alive. After leaving the CEO position he focused on Fashion Design and Yoga.

Square Inc- Another business venture of Jack Dorsey

In 2010, he developed a unique payment platform called Square Cash. Jim McKelvey was the partner in business with Dorsey. It is located at Market Street in San Francisco They design a platform that can turn any mobile phone into a payment machine. Yes, it’s right. Through connecting a small device to phone(iPhone/Android) one can use it as a mini card reader. Thus, allowing to swipe cards easily. Also, it is useful to send paperless receipts. For that, it uses Email or simple text messages. Recently, the firm announces to open a bank in 2021.

Other work

Apart from being a well-experienced app developer, he served as a judge for NYC, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s NYC BigApps competition. As well, he was Democratic Party candidates’ on-record donor. He was also suggested to be the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company. Moreover, Jack is one of the board members of the Berggruen Institute’s Governance Center.

Awards and recognition

Jack is a recipient of the Crunchie award for the best mobile startup. As well, he was one of the 35 innovators in the world, under the age of 35. In 2012, the Wall Street Journal honored him with Innovator of the Year Award. In the same year, he was awarded as a Founder of the Year by TechCrunch. Moreover, he was remarked as the most eligible bachelor in 2013.

However, he shifted his focus from work to enjoy other pursuits of life. Thus, declining the business. Because of this, the Wall Street Journal announced him as the worst CEO of America in 2017. As well, Fox Business ranked him as a 4th worst CEO. But he gives his best to popularize Twitter and Square Cash. In fact, both apps have numerous users in the present situation.

TikTok

Twitter shows interest in buying TikTok’s US operations by outbidding Microsoft

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ByteDance, a Chinese company is the owner of the very famous video sharing platform, TikTok. With the advent of the global pandemic which emerged out from the Chinese city Wuhan, many nations have turned against China. Whether it’s a serious innocent breakout of an infectious disease or a plotted biological weapon is still in question. But, with almost every country around the globe suffering tremendously, many unpredictable decisions have been taking place.

Last week, Trump announced the ban of TikTok along with other Chinese apps from the U.S. Apart from all the other Chinese applications; TikTok has a very wide user base not only in the U.S. but also around the world. Trump has expressed the need of the hour to ban these Chinese apps as they might be responsible for serious data theft that can put the nation’s security in jeopardy. So, with a 45-days timeline to ban the usage of any Chinese apps by the U.S. citizens, Microsoft showed interest in buying the U.S. operations of TikTok. But, it is only yesterday that Twitter showed interest in buying the same by outdoing Microsoft in bidding.

TikTok by Pixabay

Can Twitter manage to Finance?

Yesterday, the news of Twitter being interested to buy ByteDance owned TikTok was delivered to Reuters from a trusted source. But, it is a big question if Twitter has the capital to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok. The market capitalization of Twitter is around $30 billion which is nearly equal to the assets of TikTok put on sale. On the other hand, Microsoft’s market capitalization is around $1.3 trillion which makes the scenario clear about the bidding.

So, if Twitter is having a serious plan to buy the U.S. operations of TikTok, it needs to raise additional capital. In a normal situation, it would have been easy to raise money, but with the pandemic creating havoc in the financial world and a time strain of 45-days it is a very difficult task.

Due to these two important factors, Microsoft is still on the run and occupy the first place for the bidding. Erik Gordon, a professor from the University of Michigan said that Twitter doesn’t have enough borrowing capacity making it even harder to acquire the U.S. operations of TikTok. Moreover, the current shareholders of Twitter might think that expanding business in this crisis might be a big risk and it will be better if the company (Twitter) focuses on its existing business.

Protecting the Nation

A couple of months back India decided to take strict action against China because of two main reasons, first the outbreak of COVID-19 from Wuhan which might be a strong conspiracy against the world, and second, the dispute regarding LAC. So, Indian banned all the Chinese apps hence taking a big step and protecting the nation’s security from compromising. Now, a similar action was taken by the American president, Donald Trump, thus banning Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat.

Trump has also mentioned that this is one step forward towards protecting sensitive information and privacy of U.S. citizens from China. These apps are gaining access to information of every user and it can be used against the U.S. for many purposes. He also told that the ban of Chinese apps will also improve Clean Network thus adding five more lines of effort, namely, Clean Carrier, Clean Cable, Clean Apps, Clean Store, and Clean Cloud. And, lastly, he gave a deadline of 45 days and in mid-September, the ban will be imposed completely.

TikTok’s current reputation 

With the novel coronavirus pandemic, the reputation of China as well as its apps is degrading. But, TikTok is used by billions of users around the world, and especially in the U.S., it has millions of fans. Many citizens of the U.S. have expressed outrage towards Donald Trump after he declared the ban of TikTok. But, no matter what a nation’s security should always be the priority. Moreover, it will also become a golden opportunity for the country’s app developers to create something similar and make it a big hit.

The relationship between Twitter and Donald Trump has become sour as the president accused the platform of unfairly censoring him. So, apart from the capital of Microsoft being incredibly bigger than Twitter’s, it is likely Trump will support the acquisition by Microsoft.

Netflix

The Last Airbender to Hit Netflix on May 15th

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Netflix recently announced that all three seasons of the fan-favorite The Last Airbender will now be available on the video platform from May 15th onwards. The beloved anime loved by millions around the world had opened to rave reviews years ago. The story follows the life and adventures of the Avatar, Aang, as he tries to master the four elements. The original show aired on Nickelodeon between Feb 2005 and July 2008, to much love and adoration from fans. Here’s a look at how fans around the world have greeted this announcement.

Netflix and Avatar

This is not the first time the video-streaming giant has associated itself with the Avatar series. For instance, Netflix is working on creating a live-action adaptation of the show. This will be the second time such an adaptation has been made, with the first one being the movie made M. Night Shyamalan. Netflix’s adaptation, titled The Dragon Prince, will feature the screenwriter of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aaron Ehasz. Netflix released a statement regarding the Airbender series via Twitter yesterday.

Throughout its 61-episode run, it won various awards and recognitions, including a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy. While the M. Night Shyamalan movie did not receive favorable reviews, Netflix plans on creating ripples through their live-action project based on the Airbender series.

Other Netflix Ventures

Netflix has also bagged streaming rights for 21 Studio Ghibli movies, from this year on, for any area outside North America. However, in case you stay within the US and wish to watch these movies, you will need to register with WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, which will hit the market on May 27th. Yesterday, Netflix announced that it would also be the one to release the new Pokémon animated episodes. All of this comes as a result of Netflix’s plan to invest more heavily in animated shows, manga, and anime. Such a decision will significantly help in competing with other children’s platforms such as YouTube and Disney+.

Airbender Series

The series premiered in 2005, on the Nickelodeon network and ran for three years, until 2008. The show featured the adventures of a powerful Avatar who could control the elements, fire, water, earth, and air. By using martial-art moves, the power of his will, and help from other gifted children like himself, the Avatar fought against negative forces that wished to take over the world. The titular Avatar, who took form once in every generation was the only being capable of handling all four elements at the same time. The Avatar takes shape as a 12-year-old boy named Aang to stop the tyranny of the Fire Nation.

The series, which ran for over three years, faced great critical acclaim and was loved by fans all around the world. In 2012, a sequel came out, titled The Legend of Korra, following M Night Shyamalan’s live-action movie in 2010. Netflix too is working on a live-action project, with the series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko serving as executive producers. The series The Legend of Korra, which came out on Nickelodeon ran for four seasons till 2014.

The show aired briefly on Netflix in 2019, being removed later, which led fans to wait anxiously for its return. A large section of Twitter was set ablaze by Netflix’s announcement, with fans flocking to express their excitement and happiness. However, fans in Canada were surprised regarding why they did not receive the right to watch shows like their American counterparts.

The live-action remake will feature a soundtrack by original composer Jeremy Zuckerman, meaning that most of the same team will reunite for this project. While no release date has been specified, fans are expecting the movie to drop sometime in 2021. Jan Chol Lee will serve as the concept designer, having worked previously on large projects such as on Big Hero 7, Beowulf, and the animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. With the original series celebrating its 15th anniversary this February, it is safe to say that fans couldn’t be happier regarding their favorite show returning to Netflix!