Month: July 2023

Illustration: The Verge

The BBC has launched its own “experimental” Mastodon server, marking one of the first major news outlets to establish an instance on the Twitter alternative. You can access the server at social.bbc, which encompasses posts from a handful of BBC accounts, including BBC Radio 4, BBC Taster, BBC Research & Development, and a few more.
The BBC says the outlet will try out the server for six months before it decides “whether and how to continue.” While you can’t actually create accounts or posts on the server, you can still leave replies from the instance that you’re using, as well as follow its accounts.
Despite this, the BBC still has some concerns about content moderation, as Mastodon doesn’t have a dedicated moderation team and leaves it up to individual servers instead. This means the BBC won’t have any control over what people say in their replies to its posts, but it says that’s an “acceptable risk.”
“We aim to learn how much value it has provided and how much work and cost is involved”
This hands-off approach to content moderation can backfire, however, as Stanford researchers recently found that Mastodon has become rife with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) due to varying moderation policies across instances.
“The principles of the Fediverse, with an emphasis on local control, quality content, and social value, are far more aligned with our public purposes than those of avowedly commercial networks like Threads or Twitter,” the BBC writes. “We aim to learn how much value it has provided and how much work and cost is involved.”
Twitter owner Elon Musk butted heads with news outlets earlier this year after Twitter started incorrectly applying “government-funded” labels to some accounts, including the BBC. In addition to the BBC, the Financial Times has also tried to move away from Twitter by establishing its own Mastodon server.
However, the Financial Times shut it down just months later, stating, “Mastodon has proved more hassle than it’s worth.” In addition to sparking legal and reputational concerns, the Financial Times says the growth of its server resulted in an “exponential effect” on its cost to maintain it. The BBC might have a much different experience, though, since it’s not allowing users to create accounts on the instance.

Illustration: The Verge

The BBC has launched its own “experimental” Mastodon server, marking one of the first major news outlets to establish an instance on the Twitter alternative. You can access the server at social.bbc, which encompasses posts from a handful of BBC accounts, including BBC Radio 4, BBC Taster, BBC Research & Development, and a few more.

The BBC says the outlet will try out the server for six months before it decides “whether and how to continue.” While you can’t actually create accounts or posts on the server, you can still leave replies from the instance that you’re using, as well as follow its accounts.

Despite this, the BBC still has some concerns about content moderation, as Mastodon doesn’t have a dedicated moderation team and leaves it up to individual servers instead. This means the BBC won’t have any control over what people say in their replies to its posts, but it says that’s an “acceptable risk.”

This hands-off approach to content moderation can backfire, however, as Stanford researchers recently found that Mastodon has become rife with child sexual abuse material (CSAM) due to varying moderation policies across instances.

“The principles of the Fediverse, with an emphasis on local control, quality content, and social value, are far more aligned with our public purposes than those of avowedly commercial networks like Threads or Twitter,” the BBC writes. “We aim to learn how much value it has provided and how much work and cost is involved.”

Twitter owner Elon Musk butted heads with news outlets earlier this year after Twitter started incorrectly applying “government-funded” labels to some accounts, including the BBC. In addition to the BBC, the Financial Times has also tried to move away from Twitter by establishing its own Mastodon server.

However, the Financial Times shut it down just months later, stating, “Mastodon has proved more hassle than it’s worth.” In addition to sparking legal and reputational concerns, the Financial Times says the growth of its server resulted in an “exponential effect” on its cost to maintain it. The BBC might have a much different experience, though, since it’s not allowing users to create accounts on the instance.

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Photo by Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images for MrBeast Burger

YouTube personality MrBeast is suing the company responsible for his branded line of fast food including the MrBeast Burger, citing “inedible” food delivered to customers. The company, Virtual Dining Concepts, partnered with James Donaldson, aka MrBeast, in 2020 to launch the menu out of “ghost kitchens” — storefronts that have no physical presence whose food is made and served out of other existing restaurants.

@MrBBSupport @MrBeastBurger @MrBeast Getting raw meat in these burgers is becoming a common occurrence which is a HUGE issue. This is from my burger which I was about to eat an hour ago. Money wasted and a huge shame. pic.twitter.com/Jkr9IjpHOK— surviving (@Orlando_Brendan) March 1, 2021

Donaldson’s lawsuit alleges that Virtual Dining Concepts was more concerned with expanding its line of MrBeast food than quality control and that the food was consistently bad enough to hurt his reputation. MrBeast fans have described the food as “revolting” and “likely the worst burger [they] have ever had,” among other negative reviews quoted in the lawsuit. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
“As a result, MrBeast Burger has been regarded as a misleading, poor reflection of the MrBeast brand that provides low-quality products to customers that are delivered late, in unbranded packaging, fail to include the ordered items, and in some instances, were inedible,” the lawsuit reads. Donaldson alleges that he and his team raised concerns about the food but that Virtual Dining Concepts didn’t address them.
Since 2020, Donaldson has used his online fame to hype up his line of fast food: the grand opening of a Beast Burger restaurant in New Jersey drew a crowd of 10,000 people hoping to try the YouTuber’s food, with Donaldson himself showing up for the opening and promoting it. As of last year, 1,700 restaurants across the country were fulfilling MrBeast Burger orders. Donaldson is now asking the judge for the right to end the business partnership altogether.

We open our first Beast Burger in 10 minutes and there is 10,000+ people already in line I feel pretty good about serving all you but anyone else coming idk maybe come tomorrow/later tonight haha pic.twitter.com/TncCGHgqqp— MrBeast (@MrBeast) September 4, 2022

Virtual Dining Concepts didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Donaldson has also parlayed his fame into a marketing channel for other products, from branded basketballs and hoodies to Feastables, a line of cookies and chocolate bars.
So-called ghost kitchens exploded during the pandemic but have more recently taken a hit. Earlier this year, Uber Eats removed thousands of virtual restaurants and tightened its rules, hoping to cut down on spam. The questionable quality hasn’t stopped businesses from jumping into the virtual restaurant industry, and even TikTok has experimented with online-only restaurants that are actually run out of your local Chuck E. Cheese.

Photo by Dave Kotinsky / Getty Images for MrBeast Burger

YouTube personality MrBeast is suing the company responsible for his branded line of fast food including the MrBeast Burger, citing “inedible” food delivered to customers. The company, Virtual Dining Concepts, partnered with James Donaldson, aka MrBeast, in 2020 to launch the menu out of “ghost kitchens” — storefronts that have no physical presence whose food is made and served out of other existing restaurants.

Donaldson’s lawsuit alleges that Virtual Dining Concepts was more concerned with expanding its line of MrBeast food than quality control and that the food was consistently bad enough to hurt his reputation. MrBeast fans have described the food as “revolting” and “likely the worst burger [they] have ever had,” among other negative reviews quoted in the lawsuit. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

“As a result, MrBeast Burger has been regarded as a misleading, poor reflection of the MrBeast brand that provides low-quality products to customers that are delivered late, in unbranded packaging, fail to include the ordered items, and in some instances, were inedible,” the lawsuit reads. Donaldson alleges that he and his team raised concerns about the food but that Virtual Dining Concepts didn’t address them.

Since 2020, Donaldson has used his online fame to hype up his line of fast food: the grand opening of a Beast Burger restaurant in New Jersey drew a crowd of 10,000 people hoping to try the YouTuber’s food, with Donaldson himself showing up for the opening and promoting it. As of last year, 1,700 restaurants across the country were fulfilling MrBeast Burger orders. Donaldson is now asking the judge for the right to end the business partnership altogether.

Virtual Dining Concepts didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Donaldson has also parlayed his fame into a marketing channel for other products, from branded basketballs and hoodies to Feastables, a line of cookies and chocolate bars.

So-called ghost kitchens exploded during the pandemic but have more recently taken a hit. Earlier this year, Uber Eats removed thousands of virtual restaurants and tightened its rules, hoping to cut down on spam. The questionable quality hasn’t stopped businesses from jumping into the virtual restaurant industry, and even TikTok has experimented with online-only restaurants that are actually run out of your local Chuck E. Cheese.

Read More