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Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

19 Sep

I know how you feel this morning. You’re angry. You’re hurt. You don’t know if the country has a future. And somehow, despite all that pain, you’re also numb.

Here’s the truth. Calling Mitch McConnell’s office doesn’t matter. Pointing out Republican hypocrisy doesn’t matter.

2/ The only weapon we have is getting more power than these soulless, anti-democratic bastards.

I know in this dark moment, justice seems too distant a goal to reach for. But a better day for America *is* coming, if we can stave the bleeding and survive this horrific moment.

@RebellionPac

3/ I took this job at @RebellionPac because I was angry. Because I was sick of marginalized groups always being the first poker chip in negotiating with lunatics.

Because I wanted the power to put resources into the same issues that RGB spent her life fighting for.

Read 4 tweets

Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

20 Jun

1/ A high-profile journalist writing a book about online radicalization told me recently that all his research kept pointing back to Gamergate, and he regretted not taking it more seriously.

I'd like you to imagine an alternate timeline where we took it seriously.

2/ We'd have stopped the massive disinformation juggernaut on Facebook before it wrecked American politics.

Women in tech were *BEGGING* Facebook to act on this, as we realized these tools destroying our reputations would be welded against others.

3/ The online radicalization pipeline of YouTube would have been acted on before it recruited an entire generation of angry young men to extremism.

Reddit would have moderated /theDonald before it could have become a disinformation disease vector.

Read 6 tweets

Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

4 Feb

1/ Tech and #IowaCaucuses:

We now have credible reporting out about the app that wrecked Iowa. This was a preventable disaster caused by willful ignorance about development practices.

Bottom line: The Democratic Party funded their friends rather than following best practices.

2/ We don’t ship a CALL OF DUTY game without a network stress test. But, when democracy is on the line, what does the Democratic Party decide to do?

Hastily throw together a mediocre app in under two months. Have no real user testing, have no real training and jope for the best.

3/ If this was 1990, MAYBE you’d give them a pass.

But we’ve had best practices to ship this kind of software for TWENTY YEARS NOW.

An indie iPhone game undergoes more user testing than this app did. It’s beyond indefensible, and people need to lose their jobs over this.

Read 6 tweets

Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

27 Jan

1/ This is a post that some people aren’t going to want to hear, but it’s still true. Please RT.

For the 2016 election I received a ridiculously large amount of vitriol from “Bernie Bros.” I critiqued Sanders vigorously about it.

I still was tracking my mentions from Gamergate.

2/ Later, Twitter released an open source directory of accounts they suspended for being Russian Sock puppets.

I crosschecked the two lists - Tweets with harassment from “Bernie Bros,” and Russian sock puppets.

There was a large overlap. Not all, but statistically significant.

3/ Real talk: There are absolutely some Sanders supporters that are obnoxious. But, the conclusion I came to was that much of the “Bernie Bro” phenomenon was Russia exacerbating the situation to divide us.

I don’t like admitting I was wrong in 2016, but I was.

Read 4 tweets

Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

23 Dec 19

I called a donor today to wish her Happy Holidays.

What happened next really shook me to my core.

I hope you will listen to this story, because lives really hang in the balance with the policy we pass in DC.

2/ The story is not mine to tell, so I’m going to be vague to respect her.

But, this mother had her very young daughter targeted by the alt-right with the same methods I was targeted with during Gamergate.

Every system failed her just like it failed me. The police. The courts.

3/ I was in my 30s during Gamergate. This child was barely a teenager.

And what happened traumatized her. Understandably. She’s a kid trying to get a start on life, and these MONSTERS hunted her for sport.

Her mom asked me to talk to her on the phone.

Read 5 tweets

Brianna Wu

@BriannaWu

23 Dec 19

As some of you know, I’m supporting Cenk Uygur’s run for Congress in California’s 25th district. I want to explain why and address an important issue that’s come up. I’ve always spoken out against sexism, both structural and individual.

So of course I was appalled when old clips surfaced of Cenk saying derogatory things about women. What he said was indefensible, so I’m glad that he apologized for them. But apologies alone are not enough, & it’s been more important to me that he back up that apology with action.

And I believe he has internalized why his comments were harmful and gone to great lengths to rectify his behavior during that period by supporting and amplifying women and advocating for women’s rights.

Read 7 tweets

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