Tony Glosson, probablyJan 3, 2023
Seth Cotlar
Get ready for the propaganda initiative in which Mastodon will be labeled a site for “groomers” and “pedophiles.” It’s the least creative messaging imaginable, but you know it’s only a matter of time before we hear it coming from Elon, Fox, Daily Wire, etc. FWIW, Human Events is a right wing rag with roots that stretch back to the Goldwater conservatism of the early 1960s. It was Reagan’s favorite source of information.
Jan 2, 2023 at 11:34pmMetatext
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
The former Infowars guy behind Macron Leaks and Pizzagate is now on the case. Given his ties with Bannon and Elon’s habit of interacting on friendly terms with him, I’d guess it’s only a matter of time before this becomes “the well known truth” in certain segments of Twitter land. And of course, real journalists will now be forced to discuss this.
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
It’s almost like the entire media strategy of the right is frozen in that developmental stage when you realize if you tell someone to not think of a brown bear, then they’ll think of a brown bear. That, and also the “I know you are but what am I” phase.
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
But wait, there's more. You'll never guess where Truth Social got its source code. That supposed haven of "groomers and pedophiles," Mastodon. https://sites.suffolk.edu/jhtl/2022/02/03/a-mastodon-sized-problem-trumps-truth-social-neglects-to-credit-source-code/
A Mastodon-Sized Problem: Trump’s Truth Social Neglects To Credit Source Code – Journal of High Technology Law

Show threadLaurence TurnerJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar - lol! Knew about this a while ago…
Show threadResident QuokkaJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar That article is 11 months old. How did that legal action go?
Show threadThiago FigueiróJan 3, 2023
@rjmx @sethcotlar it didn’t. From another article: “To avoid a lawsuit, Donald Trump’s social media site is quietly acknowledging the computer code powering the platform comes from Mastodon.”
Show threadResident QuokkaJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar @thiagocsf Thanks. That’s the best way to resolve such things.
Show threadmatlagJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Ironically, when I got on the Fediverse, I found quite some right wing folks claiming Twitter and other social media were hostile to them and the Fediverse was their safe haven.
Show threadKai NehmJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/335
Basically, there are three main universes — Rochko's main branch, pawoo's only legal in Japan content fork and gab/gettr right wing forks.
Those universes are split via domain blocking, truth/gab/gettr could in theory tidy up and federate.
Mastodon WTF timeline - Ansuz - mskala's home page

In the last few days I've been fortunate to witness an interesting chapter in the Internet's history, and I'm trying to compile a timeline of what has happened while the memories are still reasonably fresh. This is incomplete and a work in progress; I'll be updating it, and n...

Ansuz - mskala's home page
Show threadDwight Williams (💉 x9)+😷🇨🇦Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar "Frame them so that they literally die of the accusations" seems to be as far as they get, yes?
Show threadCharlie LubandJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar I mean, clearly we all need to go back to the bird site then. (Is that really what they think people will do?)
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
@cluband They never think more than one step ahead. This is just someone having the bright idea to call Mastodon users groomers and pedos to see if it'll stick. Just like if you say the phrase "bamboo ballots" enough you can make it a real thing that maybe happened that then journalists and lawyers have to devote time to disproving.
Show threadedgeoforever 🍎Jan 3, 2023
@cluband @sethcotlar No, they hope to stop the bleeding. Make us less attractive to their intended victims
Show threadjwstarkJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Estimates are 13% of Twitter content is adult content. https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/porn-crypto-more-popular-on-twitter-as-users-lose-interest-in-fashion-celebrities/amp/
Porn, crypto more popular on Twitter as users lose interest in fashion, celebs: report

Cryptocurrency and “not safe for work” (NSFW) content, which includes nudity and pornography, are reportedly the highest-growing topics of interest.

New York Post
Show threadBarb DybwadJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Psychological repression is a helluva drug ;)
Show threadLacesJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar
Lol, my one tried and true absolute while on Twitter was that if you've ever RT'd Posebiec, then you're a lying Nazi.
Show threadjwstarkJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar The real funny thing about this is that a huge portion of Twitter is just porn.
Show threadˈdälfən™🐬 💥 🌊Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar
Unbelievable
lol… almost laughable if it wasn’t such a serious topic
Show threadDante MercurioJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar Kind of strange originating from a security publication house given the amount of infosec professionals on Mastodon. Not the writer of this article but some of the contributing authors are on here.

https://medium.com/secjuice/about

About secjuice™ – Medium

Read more about secjuice™. secjuice™ is your daily shot of opinion, analysis & insight from some of the sharpest wits in cybersecurity, information security, network security and OSINT.

Medium
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
@dantemercurio It could be a case of propagandists taking a complicated story and amplifying it in a simplified and self-serving manner. CP and other illegal activities are obviously matters that Mastodon instances will have to be mindful of and so it's worthy of a conversation amongst infosec people, but when it's taken out of that world of informed conversation and into the right wing ecosystem it can be turned into a simple story of "Mastodon = pedophiles."
Show threadkarinchuJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar OFFS.
Show threadRaven LuniJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Well then every instance should sue individually for defamation
Show threadJohnWJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar Don't ya just love it? They've never stepped a foot in this place and suddenly they know all about the majority of the content here.

And talk about projection! lol!

Show threadJulie GoldbergJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar I don’t see how anyone could even study this. It’s not a platform. It’s open source software. If I say that 12% of Mastodon use is for explosive knitwear, who could prove me right or wrong?
Show threadRuth Zakarin 🧶🪬😷Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar @Julie
I am definitely here on #Mastodon for the explosive knitwear and conspiratorial cat content and I was wondering when someone was going to expose that 🤣
#knitting #cats
Show threadJulie GoldbergJan 3, 2023
@RuthZ The conspiratorial cat is out of the explosive knitting bag!
Show threadAlexander RutholJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar
And a reminder that when alt-righters scream about "child porn" and "pedophiles" they mean gay people, not the contents of the special hidden directory on their phone.
Show threadTransitBikerJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar nope. Ignore the batshit
Show thread🌻 Welcome Back 🌻Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Sounds very familiar. @PBS aired their documentary on McCarthyism last night 🤷. I was surprised so many called him a liar, right away
Show threadedgeoforever 🍎Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar “forced”🙄 Poor things, their team is playing dirty!😩
Show threadConfiscated Pillow PhoneJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Why am I not surprised? They have no new ideas, it's just the same few lies over and over and over and over and over and over and...
Show threadVoronJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar sounds like we need a #lawyer for #mastodon to do a defamation #lawsuit
Show threadAviel RoshwaldJan 2, 2023
@sethcotlar Shouldn’t Mastodon users be getting a discount on pizza in that case?
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 2, 2023
@avielroshwald I just considered responding with a joke and then flashed forward to armies of Qanon protesters besieging my campus and decided against it. What a world.
Show threadAviel RoshwaldJan 2, 2023
@sethcotlar A mad, mad, world indeed!
Show threadLizardJan 3, 2023
@avielroshwald @sethcotlar You joke, but as Andrew Tate just proved, human traffickers *do* hang around pizza parlors!
Show threadAviel RoshwaldJan 3, 2023
@LizardSF @sethcotlar I was thinking of “Pizzagate,” but good point!
Show threadLizardJan 3, 2023
@avielroshwald @sethcotlar Yeah, that's the joke. "Every accusation is a confession."
Show threadedgeoforever 🍎Jan 3, 2023
@avielroshwald @LizardSF @sethcotlar that was PizzaTate!😎
Show threadLeaBugJan 2, 2023
@sethcotlar here comes the Republicans.
Show threadLibertyForward1Jan 2, 2023
@sethcotlar
It's fascinating how anyone who disagrees with conservatives are pedophiles and groomers. Like.. there is no middle ground. Either you support trickle-up economics or you rape babies. That's it.
Show threadCwnidogJan 2, 2023
@LibertyForward1 @sethcotlar : Well, we stopped being properly upset when they called us “communists”.
Show threadveronicatashJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar looked at the original artivle itis writing about - no claim of a majority of content. In fact, none has been verified at all:

"This instance no doubt hosts very serious child porn content (although again, I can't verify that as there is no way in hell I am looking)."

Seems to be a UK based writer, which may be lucky for them since US law would require they report it to law enforcement or they can be held liable. But they searched for adult content and found a group they say is for pedophiles and they assume a declared support group apparently set up to kerp members from harming people must be posting porn.

https://www.secjuice.com/osint-mastodon-paedophile-csam-child-porn-problem/

It is assumed Mastodon foes not monitor the space.

OSINT: The Mastodon Paedophile Problem

Mastodon has a major paedophile problem, join computer scientist Edward Charles for a closer look at the pedophilic side of the fediverse.

Secjuice
Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
@veronicatash Given the other content published by those sites, I’m not at all surprised that they’re just making something up based on vibes and assumptions. Truth is irrelevant to them, as is nuance.
Show threadScottJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar @veronicatash the original secjuice source does not seem partisan and there’s a story here but yeah of course these characters are using it in bad faith. seems to not be an English-language thing. This blog post linked in the secjuice article is goes through it in depth: https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/entry/335 . At the end of the day mastodon is not one site
Mastodon WTF timeline - Ansuz - mskala's home page

In the last few days I've been fortunate to witness an interesting chapter in the Internet's history, and I'm trying to compile a timeline of what has happened while the memories are still reasonably fresh. This is incomplete and a work in progress; I'll be updating it, and n...

Ansuz - mskala's home page
Show threadScottJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar @veronicatash it seems to be incontrovertible that the 2nd largest mastodon instance (https://instances.social/list/advanced#lang=&allowed=&prohibited=&min-users=500&max-users= ) hosts stuff legal in Japan but illegal in the US. I can’t figure out if mastodon.social has blocked interaction (“defederated”) with that instance, but it of course should.
Mastodon instances

Show threadSeth CotlarJan 3, 2023
@scott96 @veronicatash Definitely should defederate. Like most propaganda campaigns, this one will build off of something that has an element of truth to it in order to paint with a broad brush. No one in their target audience will even know what an "instance" is, all they'll know is "Mastodon is for groomers and pedophiles" and the work of propaganda is complete.
Show threadveronicatashJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar the right wing world is completely fueled by political irrationalism and disinformation. If it advances their agenda they are up on it. Pedophilia is a go to in that as well - you have to ask them why they never wrote about how Musk axing most of the Twitter staff monitoring it there leading to it being undetected there - the same lack of detection that leads to Musk tofalsely claim it has veen reduced by 80% only using Twitter's own data.
Show threadveronicatashJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar and I want to clarify for anyone undecided reading:

Twitter's metrics are based on what they can find. Some of this is stopped automatically based on a shared database of known pictures, but new pictures need to be found manually. If they cut all but one person - as they did - they would presumably find less of it.

That means Twitter's metrics of child porn would be expected to drop substantially due to a loss in ability to detect it. The only known change is a loss of most of their team whose job was to detect it - and I think it was exactly 80% of their team suggesting the remaining member isnt finding more due to former overlap. We would expect Elon to give details if there was a reason for the drop other than a drop in the detection rate. He would brag like he did that Twitter metrics showed less.

If a third party looked and said they found less than before we could assume that it dropped since their ability to detect it was unchanged - but that isn't what happened. Twitter metrics shows less found and the shift was sudden with the only reasonable explanation being the drop in detection.

So, Elon bragged about tackling a problem anyone using critical thinking would conclude he actually made much, much worse.

Show threadRenee DiRestaJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Pizzagate Poso’s all over that rag now.
Show threadBo JacobsJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Mouth breathers gonna mouth breath. No reason to hold one's breath.
Show threadJ.H.NoyesJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar
I would hope that Mastodon is going to aggressively defend its brand. Human Events statements are clearly defamatory—if Mr. Musk continues to allow the account to defame his competitors, sue him too. Go after advertisers and the entities that process his $8 hollers as well. It's got to be much harder to say you're not profiting from harassment like this when you have a service contract with the offender.

50%+ is an awfully high number to prove.
@BE

Show threadMichael MarkmanJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar i must be doing it wrong. I’ve been here since Musk bought the bird and haven’t seen any child porn. Haven’t seen any children at all.
Show threadAJ ButterwickJan 3, 2023

@sethcotlar

Does that Human events woman really have Kramer in her banner? Quoted as if he actually knew something?

Show threadBenny (he/him)Jan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar it's like they only have one move in their playbook and it's always to accuse us of what they're guilty of.
Show threadLizardJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Gotta love a "1A Absolutist" who spreads lies to trigger government intervention against speech they don't like.
Show threadMarshaJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Any time I see that toot, I'll remind people that is referring to gab and truth.social and that they are both banned from the federation.
Show threadLizardJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar I've seen way less porn, legal or not, on Mastodon than Birdsite, but then again, I'm not looking for it, either. (Imma just say looking at the #FF14 tag on Birdsite w/safe mode off was... educational. I haven't seen much of that here. Bug or feature is left as an exercise for the reader.)
Show threadDavidJan 3, 2023
@sethcotlar Strange. That has been the method for the Left for a very long time. They like name-calling, things like <something>-ite, <something>-phobe, bigot, denier, and others. When the Left can’t support the policies, out come the names. Thank you for the heads-up.