X/Twitter exec who defended restoring account that posted child sexual abuse material leaves the company
X/Twitter Exec Who Defended Restoring Account That Posted Child Sexual Abuse Material Leaves the Company
Nick Pickles gave shocking testimony in Australia last year that didn't get much coverage in the U.S.
Buried lead:
"...Pickles tried to say that people might be sharing the content “out of outrage” or to “raise awareness,” both very strange answers.
“Accounts dedicated to distributing, accounts engaging in this, we want off Twitter, off X as fast as possible. But there are cases globally where people do share this content out of outrage. And in those cases, we do look at whether removing the content is the appropriate response,” Pickles said at the August 2023 hearing.
But Australian senators clearly weren’t having it.
“Well, I’m sorry, but if I’m outraged by some content, I’m not going to share that to make the point,” Australian Senator Helen Polley told Pickles during the hearing. “But what I would do is, if I am a consumer of that type of material, you’re now just saying, if I just share that in the pretense that I’m outraged, that’s okay.”
Polley pointed out that Australia had laws against allowing people to share child abuse images online, just as every other country does.
“Well, it’s actually a crime. It’s a crime, and it should be suspended permanently,” Polley continued. “There is no excuse whether you’re posting something through outrage, which to me is not logical, that your account should not be permanently suspended.”
Buried lead:
It's LEDE, not lead.
It took me 40+ years to learn this, just passing it along.
appreciate it, i enjoy these rabbit holes.
the phrase started out as "bury the lead", but newspaper journalists specifically changed only the spelling, though not the usage or definition, into "lede" because news printers were allegedly worried people would get confused since part of the printing of a newspaper contained the metal lead.
"The use of the alternate spelling of lead in the journalistic phrase “burying the lede” began in the 1970s. Newsrooms began to use the alternate spelling to refer to an article’s opening lines, distinguishing it from a part on the linotype machine made with lead."
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/bury-the-lede-explained#5IbZTCXa3QGtQgw0byJIDQ
either spelling can be used, Merriam Webster has a good article about "lede" too, with more examples and context, explaining that writers
"...attributes the fondness for the spelling to nostalgia, calling it "an invention of linotype romanticists, not something used in newsrooms of the linotype era."
Despite the acknowledgment of lede by Safire and others, and its subsequent use by journalists and non-journalists alike, phrases employing the traditional spelling of lead still find their way into print..."
and as Choire Sicha points out:
"You schmucks who use ridiculous journo-terms make me crazy! Finally, someone is willing to speak out against the use of “lede” in public. Because, ha ha, sucka, there’s no reason for it!"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/bury-the-lede-versus-lead
The description of the first utube video is priceless ...
During an Australian government hearing on August 9, 2023 Twitter executive Nick Pickles explains why sharing child sexual abuse material isn't an automatic ban from the platform. Then an Australian senator explains why that's idiotic.
And then there's this ...
But X really does seem to be in a class of its own. The site has increasingly become a haven for right-wing extremists and a safe space for Musk as he descends further into the worship of guys like Donald Trump. Musk’s version of X may be losing tremendous amounts of money, but it exists as a very enjoyable online clubhouse where everyone tells him just how smart and savvy he is. And that goes a long way for any insecure billionaire with more money than sense.
IIRC the CSAM that was shared was from a notorious case that took place in Australia and/or the crime(s) were committed by Australian citizen(s).
The whole story was covered by 60 Minutes Australia, and is on YT…or was around the time that the Twitter thing happened, but had aired before then because it has such a reputation and Australia was so invested.
Looks like he is being asked to lie again and given how it went the last time, he doesn't want to do it.
Nick Pickles
Haha, no way... Poor guy, no wonder he became a pedo.
a fantastic name wasted on this piece ..