FYF, Microsoft Deepfakes & Student Phishing
5 in 5 - Brave & Heart HeartBeat #200 ❤️
This week we’re talking about TikTok’s overhaul of the FYF (For You Feed, to the uninitiated), Microsoft’s new deepfake machine, and the bitcoin halving event.
Plus, have you been phished by a student, and what is the big difference in making a first impression for a women in the workplace?
Let’s get into it.
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#1 - TikTok Cleans Up For You
TikTok have announced that they’re going to be cleaning up the act of the infamous For You Feed, by blocking users who post content that falls into their naughty list from being featured on the FYF.
The FYF, like Instagram’s explore page, is where you see content from everyone, not only people you follow, which is tailored to you. It’s literally, For You.
TikTok’s mega algorithm is so powerful, however, that it is too good at pushing you down a rabbit hole, something that Amnesty International have condemned in the context of influencing younger users.
Researchers at Amnesty International found that what they call “manipulative and addictive design practices… designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible” exposed children and young adults to serious risks, especially when they already have mental health challenges.
Their research showed that the “rabbit hole” effect meant that after only 6 hours of using the platform, almost half of all videos suggested to a user who had watched mental health content were mental-health related and potentially harmful, going as far as romanticising and normalising suicidal ideation.
TikTok’s updated For You Feed eligibility standards apparently aim to combat this. Content which doesn’t violate the Community Guidelines but which TikTok deems unsuitable for all audiences will be blocked from the FYF by blocking the user posting them from being eligible to be featured.
A fitness influencer who posts before and after photos, for example, will be blocked from the FYF, along with hate speech and any content created by a user under 16. Other blocked content includes alcohol, gambling, fake news, misinformation, nudity, and more.
TikTok also noted that content including “dieting, extreme fitness, sexual suggestiveness, sadness (such as statements of hopelessness, or sharing sad quotes), and overgeneralized mental health information (such as a quiz that claims to diagnose someone)” would be limited from the FYF because it can be problematic if viewed in clusters.
Interested to hear what Amnesty International have to say about this, and if it will help them keep their grasp on the US market…
#2 – Microsoft Gets Into The Deepfake Market
In their latest AI research paper, Microsoft unveil the possibility of turning one photo into a talking video simply by adding a voiceover. In real time, the animated talking head will adapt to the audio, and the previews look impressive.
Way too impressive, actually. Microsoft have naively marketed it as the opportunity to use your own face and voice to create a video of yourself talking, which is definitely NOT what it would be used for. At all, even once.
Other deepfake creation models, sorry we mean, lip sync and head movement facial video creation technology, or something along those lines, is already available, but it isn’t this good. Runway and Nvidia have models available, and Google Research introduced their VLOGGER AI model recently.
All are pretty good, but this one seems to be the best. The eyes move as if engaging with an audience, widening and narrowing pretty naturally, and while it does sound slightly robotic, the imagery looks great.
Microsoft’s model is currently only a research preview, which to be honest gives us no proof that it’s actually real, and can’t be used by anyone outside of the Microsoft Research team.
In fact, Microsoft have stated that they won’t release the technology until they can guarantee that it will be used responsibly. So, never. Cool.
#3 - The Bitcoin Halving Is Upon Us
The Bitcoin has officially been halved. No idea what that means? Let us break it down.
Bitcoin is mined by the solving of a cryptographic puzzle using specialisied harware, which is rewarded in Bitcoin.
When Bitcoin was created it was intended to be finite, stopping at 21 million, and it was created with a protocol which seeks to control the amount of new coins which enter the market, which is done by halving the size of the miners reward every 210,000 blocks of coin mined.
This ends up being about every four years, and the latest one happened this Saturday morning just gone. The reward for ading a new block of transactions to the blockchain has now decreased from 6.25 bitcoins to 3.125.
In theory, the reduction in supply should increase the price. The past three halvings – 2020, 2016 and 2012 respectively – have all resulted in price increases in the following months, but it isn’t an exact science. In 2016 for example it began with a decrease of 6% which then rallied in 2017.
There could be a negative effect on Bitcoin mining, especially in situations where the mine uses a lot of energy with energy prices rising, because they’re getting half the bitcoin for the same amount of enery output.
Any other questions? Us too. We’re going to be chatting to our resident Bitcoin expert in our next upcoming podcast, so tune in!
#4 - Need A Student Job? Try Phishing
Well, don’t actually, it’s illegal.
However, plenty of students have already done it, according to the infiltration of a huge phishing site by the London Metropolitan Police.
The site in question is called LabHost and is described as a “cyber fraud superstore” which has been around since 2021. It allowed users to produce realistic websites, for example your bank, into which their victims would enter their details.
And, most importantly, it is shockingly easy to use. The site has a video tutorial on how to use it for phishing, the software took minutes to install, and even had customer service incase scammers ran into any technical issues – signing off with the phrase “Stay safe and good spamming.”
Personally, we would have written “happy spamming”, it just has a nicer ring to it, but we digress.
One of the DI’s on the case said that many of the users were in their late-teens to late-20s, some of them being uni students who may well be on perfectly normal career paths, who see phishing as an easy and anonymous way to make money, with little contact with the actual victims of the crime.
The same DI said that this signals a change in demographic for cyber fraud criminals, who only five years ago would have needed technical coding skills to carry out this sort of activity.
After the site was busted, 800 users received a message telling them that police had their eye on them, in some cases possibly popping up on their laptop during lectures or on their phone while nursing a bad hangover in dorms, which they hope will be enough to scare them straight.
Let’s see.
#5 - Dress For The Job You Want…
First impressions are important, especially during interviews, but how does that change for women vs. men in the workplace?
A New York woman recently went viral for sharing her job rejection story on TikTok, and it turns out that there is one big difference between men and women dressing for the role they want – makeup.
Melissa Weaver applied for a job with the confidence that she had the right qualifications, and was surprised to receive a rejection email saying she wouldn’t be goin through to the next round after an interview that had gone well.
Disappointed but also confused, she reached out to the interviewer for feedback. She was told that while her background, experience, personal goals and values were all exactly what the company was lookin for, that the recruiter had been “concerned” that she hadn’t put enough effort into her appearance given the “level of role” she was interviewing for.
You’re thinking, what, she wore her pyjamas to the interview? Nope. She was dressed professionally in a blazer, with clean hair bouncy blow-dried hair, and even earrings to boot. The one thing missing? Makeup. Melissa doesn’t really ever wear makeup, so didn’t apply any before her interview.
In her video, posted to TikTok, where else, Melissa called out the double standard.
Comments from other women who’d experienced similar treatment at work flooded in, along with some from people askin why wouldn’t she just put on a bit of foundation and blush, she could just wipe it off after.
Well, why should she? What more effort would the recruiter have demanded from a man in a blazer with the exact same credentials, experience and values?
Probably not lipstick and eyeliner.
Melissa has shared, however, that she would consider getting made up for her next interview, as she isn’t looking to prove a point, she just needs a job.
Let’s hope she finds an employer who doesn’t put so much stock in sexist expectations and can judge the book rather than the cover.
Brave & Heart over and out.
Bonus
Neopets Are Back, Baby
Neopets, an icon of every millenials childhood, has staged a comeback.
It’s biggest asset? The fact that it hasn’t changed at all.
We bet their “forgot password” button has been getting a lot of traction.
Now, excuse me while I reactivate my account.
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