Technology
QAnon has receded from social media — but it’s just hiding
On the face of it, you might think that the QAnon conspiracy has largely disappeared from big social media sites. But that’s not quite the case.
True, you’re much less likely to find popular QAnon catchphrases like “great awakening,” “the storm” or “trust the plan” on Facebook these days. Facebook and Twitter have removed tens of thousands of accounts dedicated to the baseless conspiracy theory, which depicts former President Donald Trump as a hero fighting a secret battle against a sect of devil-worshipping pedophiles who dominate Hollywood, big business, the media and government.
Gone are the huge “Stop the Steal” groups that spread falsehoods about the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. Trump is gone as well, banned from Twitter permanently and suspended from posting on Facebook until 2023.
But QAnon is far from winding down. Federal intelligence officials recently warned that its adherents could commit more violence, like the deadly Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. At least one open supporter of QAnon has been elected to Congress. In the four years since someone calling themselves “Q” started posting enigmatic messages on fringe internet discussions boards, QAnon has grown up.
That’s partly because QAnon now encompasses a variety of conspiracy theories, from evangelical or religious angles to alleged pedophilia in Hollywood and the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, said Jared Holt, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab who focuses on domestic extremism. “Q-specific stuff is sort of dwindling,” he said. But the worldviews and conspiracy theories that QAnon absorbed are still with us.
Loosely tying these movements together is a general distrust of a powerful, often leftist elite. Among the purveyors of anti-vaccine falsehoods, adherents of Trump’s “Big Lie” that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and believers in just about any other worldview convinced that a shadowy cabal secretly controls things.
For social platforms, dealing with this faceless, shifting and increasingly popular mindset is a far more complicated challenge than they’ve dealt with in the past.
These ideologies “have cemented their place and now are a part of American folklore,” said Max Rizzuto, another researcher at DFRLab. “I don’t think we’ll ever see it disappear.”
Online, such groups now blend into the background. Where Facebook groups once openly referenced QAnon, you’ll now see others like “Since you missed this in the so called MSM,” a reference to the mainstream media. This page boasts more than 4,000 followers who post links to clips of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and links to articles from right-wing publications such as Newsmax and the Daily Wire.
Subjects range from allegedly rampant crime to unfounded claims of widespread election fraud and an “outright war on conservatives.” Such groups aim to draw followers in deeper by directing them to further information on less-regulated sites such as Gab or Parler.
When DFRLab analyzed more than 40 million appearances of QAnon catchphrases and related terms on social media this spring, it found that their presence on mainstream platforms had declined significantly in recent months. After peaks in the late summer of 2020 and briefly on Jan. 6, QAnon catchphrases have largely evaporated from mainstream sites, DFRLab found.
So while your friends and relatives might not be posting wild conspiracies about Hillary Clinton drinking children’s blood, they might instead be repeating debunked claims such as that vaccines can alter your DNA.
There are several reasons for dwindling Q talk — Trump losing the presidential election, for instance. But the single biggest factor appears to have been the QAnon crackdown on Facebook and Twitter. Despite well-documented mistakes that revealed spotty enforcement, the banishment largely appears to have worked. It is more difficult to come across blatant QAnon accounts on mainstream social media sites these days, at least from the publicly available data that does not include, for instance, hidden Facebook groups and private messages.
But while QAnon groups, pages and core accounts may be gone, many of their supporters remain on the big platforms — only now they’re camouflaging their language and watering down the most extreme tenets of QAnon to make them more palatable.
“There was a very, very explicit effort within the QAnon community to to camouflage their language,” said Angelo Carusone, the president and CEO of Media Matters, a liberal research group that has followed QAnon’s rise. “So they stopped using a lot of the codes, the triggers, the keywords that were eliciting the kinds of enforcement actions against them.”
Other dodges may have also helped. Rather than parroting Q slogans, for instance, for a while earlier this year supporters would type three asterisks next to their name to signal adherence to the conspiracy theory. (That’s a nod to former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, a three-star general).
Facebook says it has removed about 3,300 pages, 10,500 groups, 510 events, 18,300 Facebook profiles and 27,300 Instagram accounts for violating its policy against QAnon. “We continue to consult with experts and improve our enforcement in response to how harm evolves, including by recidivist groups,” the company said in a statement.
But the social giant will still cut individuals posting about QAnon slack, citing experts who warn that banning individual Q adherents “may lead to further social isolation and danger,” the company said. Facebook’s policies and response to QAnon continue to evolve. Since last August, the company says it has added dozens of new terms as the movement and its language has evolved.
Twitter, meanwhile, says it has consistently taken action against activity that could lead to offline harm. After the Jan. 6 insurrection, the company began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that it said were “primarily dedicated” to sharing dangerous QAnon material. Twitter said it has suspended 150,000 such accounts to date. Like Facebook, the company says its response is also evolving.
But the crackdown may have come too late. Carusone, for instance, noted that Facebook banned QAnon groups tied to violence six weeks before it banned QAnon more broadly. That effectively gave followers notice to regroup, camouflage and move to different platforms.
“If there were ever a time for a social media company to take a stand on QAnon content, it would have been like months ago, years ago,” DFRLabs’ Rizzuto said.
What is biometric identification? It is the process through which unique biological characteristics are used in biometric identification to recognize and validate a person. These characteristics can be found in facial traits, eye structures, DNA, fingerprint patterns, and even handwriting. All this data that can be gathered on an individual inevitably brings up the ethical issues in biometrics that need to be addressed.
Facial recognition and fingerprint scans were previously the domain of security, and they were utilized for identification and law enforcement. However, increasingly more business and civil applications are using biometrics authentication. Due to this increased use, it is crucial to address the moral and ethical issues in biometrics when used in the creation of new application and technology.
Applied biometrics and corporate ethics have received little empirical study despite the widespread use of biometric technologies. As a result, there is plenty of room for future study to help us better comprehend the moral consequences of adopting this technology.
This article examines the ethical concerns associated with the use of biometric technology on the use of biometrics for non-security applications as well as the moral ramifications for business.
Ethical Issues in Biometrics and Privacy
Biometric data takes privacy concerns to a whole new level that typical data gathering only touches on. Digital identities can be forged, and anonymity on the web can be maintained to a degree if you know how. Also, digital data can be deleted – if we forget that Meta (Facebook) has been revealed to store deleted data, which is an ethical concern in itself.
The problem with biometric data is that it is unforgeable, unconcealable, and permanent, You can’t change your eye structure, your fingerprint, or your facial features. Big tech companies already have your face, fingerprints, and your voice recorded and stored via current biometric authentication systems – mainly used for unlocking your phone. That data will be there forever, and there is little that people can do about it besides avoid it In the first place.
While many companies still give users the option of using a good old fashion passcode to unlock their phones, as technology as a whole tends to do, the biometric alternative is slowly gaining more traction, and will one day become the norm, as it is hard to argue its convenience and security. You can’t accidentally leave your eyeball at home or forget your fingerprint. But in the same sense, you can’t change it. If your childish curiosity while browsing the web put a black spot on your record, there’s no changing that.
Therein lies the question of who if anyone should have access to such data. Today’s tech giants have all our data in their hands, that won’t change with the spread of biometric verification methods. Indeed, it will only increase targeting capabilities.
While the collection of biometric data on its own does not necessarily mean it will be shared, monetized, or abused in any way, it never the less requires clear and strict guidelines and regulations to be implemented around it. There are too many things that can be abused by the wrong party when the ethical issues in biometrics are not taken seriously, and if such limitations are not applied stringently.
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The Reno line of smartphones has always had a fantastic camera and an attractive design. The Reno 8 and 8 Pro include a 120Hz AMOLED display, the newest Dimensity chipsets, 80W fast charging, a 32-megapixel front camera, and triple 50-megapixel back cameras, among other notable features that make the Oppo Reno 8 and Reno 8 Pro high-quality yet affordable option for anyone.
Here we compare the two latest Oppo phone series iterations and see what to expect from the flagship Oppo smartphone, and how the Oppo Reno 8 and the Oppo Reno Pro stack up against each other.
Oppo Reno 8 Specifications
The Oppo Reno 8 has a smaller 6.43-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1,080 by 2,400 pixels, a 90Hz refresh rate, and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. It also runs Android 12 with ColorOS 12.1 on top. Additionally, the display has an 800 nits maximum brightness and a 20:09 aspect ratio. An octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM, and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage are all found within the Oppo smartphone.
The Reno 8 has a triple back camera configuration for pictures and movies, with a 50-megapixel main sensor and an f/1.8 lens as its focal point. Additionally, there is a 2-megapixel macro camera with a 112-degree field of view and an 8-megapixel sensor coupled with an f/2.2 ultra-wide angle lens.
The Reno 8 offers 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, GPS/A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C connector as connection options. An accelerometer, light, gyroscope, magnetometer, and a proximity sensor are among the sensors on board. For biometric verification, the phone also has a fingerprint sensor hidden behind the display. A 4,500mAh battery inside the Oppo Reno 8 supports 80W Super Flash Charge quick charging. The phone weighs 179 grams and has dimensions of 160 x 73.4 x 7.67mm.
Oppo Reno 8 Pro Specifications
A 6.7-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,412) AMOLED display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection is included with the Oppo Reno 8 Pro. Running on top of Android 12 is ColorOS 12.1. Additionally, the display supports HDR10+ and is certified by Netflix HD, Amazon HDR, SGS Low Motion Blur, and SGS Low Blue Light. The MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max SoC, which has eight cores, and up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM power the smartphone. Storage on the Oppo Reno 8 Pro is UFS 3.1 capable of up to 256GB.
The Oppo Reno 8 Pro boasts a triple rear camera arrangement with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 main sensor and an f/1.8 lens, an 8-megapixel sensor and an ultra-wide lens with an f/2.2 aperture and a 112-degree field of view, and a 2-megapixel macro camera with an f/2.4 aperture. Along with the MariSilicon X NPU, the phone’s camera will offer generally better performance in both bright and dim light. It has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera sensor with an f/2.4 lens for taking selfies and making video calls.
The phone has 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, GPS/A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C connector as connectivity options. An accelerometer, a light meter, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, and a proximity sensor are among the sensors built into the phone. For biometric authentication, the phone also contains a fingerprint sensor underneath the touchscreen. The smartphone has a 4,500mAh battery that supports rapid charging at 80W Super Flash Charge. The phone weighs 183 grams and has dimensions of 161 x 74.2 x 7.34mm.
Both the Oppo Reno 8 and Reno 8 Pro are prime smartphones that can fit any user’s preferences and can be considered premium smartphones on the cheaper side. If you like photography, you will be satisfied with the level of quality overall, but keep in mind that neither phone is particularly water resistant, so be careful where you take it.
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Many prefer the rumbling ‘vroom’ of a gasoline car to the soft hum of an electric vehicle, while others would rather just be satisfied in the knowledge that they are lessening their carbon footprint. Let’s look at the cold hard facts however, and compare electric cars vs gas cars
Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Components
The amount of moving components is an important distinction between electric and gasoline-powered automobiles. While a gasoline-powered car contains hundreds of moving components, an electric vehicle just has one, the motor. Another significant distinction is that the electric car has fewer moving components. The electric car is more dependable and needs less routine maintenance. The maintenance needed for a gasoline-powered car ranges from routine oil changes, filter replacements, tune-ups, and exhaust system repairs to less frequent component replacements including water and fuel pumps, alternators, and so on.
Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Maintenance
The expenses associated with maintaining an electric car are reduced since there are less maintenance requirements. The shaft, the only moving component of the electric motor, is extremely dependable and needs little to no maintenance. The controller and charger are electrical devices that require minimal to no maintenance because they have no moving components. Modern sealed lead acid batteries are maintenance free and utilized in electric cars nowadays. However, these batteries have a finite lifespan and will eventually need to be replaced. New batteries are being developed to increase the range of electric cars as well as the battery pack’s lifespan, perhaps eliminating the need to replace the battery pack throughout the course of the vehicle’s lifespan.
Electric Cars vs Gas Cars: Efficiency
In addition to being simpler and less expensive to repair than gasoline-powered vehicles, electric vehicles are also more cost-effective to run. The electric car will drive roughly 43 miles for $1 based on the efficiency of 3 miles/kwhr and the cost of power at 7 cents per kwhr. The gasoline-powered car will go roughly 18 miles based on the average gas mileage of 22 miles per gallon and the price of gasoline at $1.25 per gallon. As a result, an electric car may drive more than twice as far on a dollar’s worth of petrol.
Where Electric Falls Behind
There are still a number of difficulties for the owner of an electric car despite the fact that it will be less expensive to operate and maintain.
The primary issue is the restricted range offered by existing battery technology. The amount of driving distance possible utilizing the current batteries is between 50 and 150 miles. These ranges are being extended by new battery technologies, and prototypes of these batteries have shown ranges of up to 200 miles between recharging. Solar powered charging stations are being implemented in numerous places to decrease range anxiety towards electric vehicles
The lack of qualified service professionals to repair and maintain electric cars is another issue that faces their owners. A two-year associate degree program has been developed to train high school graduates to become proficient electric vehicle technicians, and training programs are being developed and made available to upgrade the conventional automotive technician with the skills needed to maintain an electric vehicle.
Infrastructure to recharge the batteries is also required. The most important component of the infrastructure for recharging already exists: electric power is accessible practically everywhere. To support the electric car, it is still necessary to guarantee that charging stations with the right sorts of service (i.e., maximum voltage and current) are placed in important areas. Plans must also be made.
Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Technology sections to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.
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Ian Terblanche, Global Strategic Sales & Channel Director at Sigfox
