Sharp rise in neo-Nazis using social networks: study
July 22, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
BERLIN — German neo-Nazis are looking increasingly to social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube to propagate racial hatred and recruit new members, an official study released Thursday indicated.
The Federal Agency for Political Studies said around 6,000 far-right posts had been found on social networks in Germany last year, about three times as many as in 2009.
Agency chief Thomas Krueger told reporters as he presented the findings that the use of such websites by right-wing extremists had “escalated dramatically”.
“We must not give ground to the far right and their hate propaganda,” he said.
Krueger said the sites themselves must clean house and do a more thorough job of enforcing their own rules of conduct with the help of other users who alert them when offensive videos and slogans appear.
“We need users who defend our fundamental values and fight off neo-Nazis,” he said.
Stefan Glaser, the head of the division studying the far right at jugendschutz.net, a group seeking to crack down on the problem on the Internet, said neo-Nazis often tried to mask their racist content with coded messages.
He cited a recent video showing men in white masks carrying flaming torches through the deserted streets of a town at night, which he said was a warning of a purported “death of the German people” due to immigration.
The Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the main domestic intelligence service, said in a report this month that the number of right-wing extremists in Germany had fallen by 1,600 last year to some 25,000 nationwide.
But those judged potentially violent rose by 600 to 5,600.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.
More »
Share and Enjoy
Facebook users give iPhone app thumbs down
July 22, 2011 by admin
Filed under Lingerie Events
Facebook users don’t like its iPhone app.
The social networking site planned to release an update to the app after more than 20,000 posted negative reviews on Apple’s App store, the Financial Times reports.
One user called it the “most frustrating app on the market.”
Facebook has updated the app a number of times but that hasn’t helped, users say. Said one: “With every single update it just gets worse and worse.”
Users complain the app frequently crashes, doesn’t update properly and doesn’t deliver messages or notifications.
It’s an unfortunate development for Facebook, which has had one of the most downloaded iPhone apps since it rolled out in 2008, with 84 million active users.
Facebook spokesman Derick Mains acknowledged “bugs” that have led to “performance issues” in the latest version of the iPhone app. He said a new app would be available soon.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg pledged that his company would make connecting with users on the go a priority in 2011 as social networking becomes increasingly mobile. TechCrunch reported last month that Facebook may not have focused its attention on the iPhone app because it plans to challenge Apple’s App Store.
Mains disputed the impression that Facebook is “neglecting” the iPhone app.
“We are fully committed to offering our iPhone users the best possible Facebook experience and have been innovating on the platform since its launch four years ago,” he said.
The negative reviews come as Google+, Google’s new social networking service to rival Facebook, rolls out its iPhone app.
RELATED:
Google+ iPhone app released; no iPad or iPod Touch support yet [Updated]
Google+ has Circles, Sparks and Hangouts, but will it nab Facebook users? [Video]
Facebook launches free mobile app for more than 2,500 phones
– Jessica Guynn
Photo: Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg. Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images