this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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As noted by security researcher Will Dormann, some posts on X purport to lead to a legitimate website, but actually redirect somewhere else. In Dormann's example, an advertisement posted by a verified X user claims to lead to forbes.com. When Dormann clicks the link, however, it takes him to a different link to open a Telegram channel that is, "helping individuals earn maximum profit in the crypto market," he said. In short, the "Forbes" link leads to crypto spam

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[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 141 points 10 months ago (3 children)

You mean twitter, it's called twitter.

[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 54 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (17 children)

𝕏itter. In ~~spanish~~ (sorry, I was mistaken) some languages X sounds like sh, so it's Shitter now.

[–] Brewchin@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

I always refer to it as Xitter or Xchan. I'm yet to encounter someone who doesn't know which fallen brand I'm referring to.

[–] ElJefe@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago (5 children)

I’m sorry, what? Can you give some examples in Spanish where the letter x makes a sh sound?

[–] dontpanic@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I don’t speak Spanish (helpful eh?) but I remember when I was in Mexico I went to a cool place called Xel-Há, which was pronounced shell-ha. So there’s one.

[–] nyan@lemmy.cafe 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't think that's Spanish. Nahuatl, which is an indigenous language spoken in Mexico, does use x- to transcribe the sound commonly written as sh- in English, so that's probably a Nahuatl place-name.

In the case of Xitter, though, the reference is generally to Mandarin Chinese, which uses x- to transcribe one of the two or three distinct sounds in that language that all sound like sh- to Anglophones.

[–] dontpanic@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 10 months ago

That makes sense, thanks for teaching me something today :)

[–] criticon@lemmy.ca 5 points 10 months ago (4 children)
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[–] Pretzilla@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago
[–] Ignacio@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago

No, it doesn't.

Source: I'm from Spain.

[–] tigerjerusalem@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Portuguese, people. X sound like sh in Portuguese. So Xopping, xell, xelter and Xitter. Words in Portuguese where X sounds like sh: xarope, xerife, xícara.

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[–] RatBin@lemmy.world 81 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The best X to stay safe on X is to stop using X. Seriously, how many "final straws" are necessary before we all realize the place isn't worth visiting anymore? The spicy memes no longer justify the many, many flaws and risks.

.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"Anymore"

As if it hasn't always been a dumpster fire.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For a long time Twitter and Facebook were what you made them. When it was mostly personal acquaintances, and later tight communities, you had pretty good control over your experience. That was a long time ago at this point, but I wouldn't say it was always a dumpster fire.

[–] r3df0x@7.62x54r.ru 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Facebook way back in the day was the shit. Everything was super private outside of groups which served as the public square. I haven't found any federated platforms that come close. It might be seven or eight years now since I logged in.

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[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 71 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, ANY platform that obscures links through redirection should be considered unsafe. If you can't verify the target URL before you click the link, then you are asking trouble. Twitter and similar platforms do this so they can track you more effectively. (In the past it also served the purpose of shortening links to SMS-friendly lengths, but that ship sailed like 10 years ago.)

Not that visibility automatically would make it safe, but it is the bare minimum required as a starting point.

[–] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Closer to 15 years ago. Skype and WhatsApp (before the FB nonsense) were viable options to SMS as long as your friends were also using the same app.

Although, the viability also depended on the price you had to pay for the data. If it’s like 1.5 €/MB, sending snail mail suddenly seems like a very appealing alternative. Some time around 2003-2005 there was still one company that actually charged that much while all the competitors were switching to monthly packages or even unlimited plans. The price range was absolutely wild back then.

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 10 months ago

That's true. I was referring specifically to Twitter's SMS integration. I forget exactly when they increased the tweet size limit beyond what could be sent via SMS, but it was a long time ago. At first, SMS was a big part of Twitter's success. People used Twitter on flip phones with no browser or apps. It was basically an SMS broadcast service.

[–] doublejay1999@lemmy.world 41 points 10 months ago

Cool but I don’t care what happens to anyone on that platform.

[–] pachrist@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I mean, clicking links in any kind of comment/forum type place on the internet can be dicey, even if it is exactly what it says it is.

If you disagree, and the political standstill created by career politicians puts a sour taste in your mouth, visit www.lemonparty.org to find out more about how you can make a difference.

[–] Thteven@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Thanks for the link, friend 🍋💦

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[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 28 points 10 months ago (5 children)

It's Not Safe to Click on X

Fixed

[–] jwt@programming.dev 16 points 10 months ago

I once clicked on X and the whole window disappeared!

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't even let my browser display embedded tweets anymore (via Privacy Badger). There are an odd amount of "news stories" that are just strings of embedded tweets.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But the way, is it possible to hide the PrivacyBadger placeholder too?

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 10 months ago

There are a couple options for the Widget Replacement feature, but the easiest way to hide it is probably with a uBlock Origin filter.

[–] n3m37h@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Twitter is such a shithole

[–] Holyginz@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

I refuse to call Twitter X. It sounds like what an edgy teen would call a website and I also refuse to go along with anything an ass clown like elon wants.

[–] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 10 months ago (4 children)
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[–] ScruffyDucky@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

Or you could end up in deep Xeet

[–] dynamojoe@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I need a firefox plugin that blocks Twitter. Not tweets from blue checkmarks, the whole damn site.

[–] AtmaJnana@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

I have Nitter Redirect installed, but Nitter stopped working. So it just blackholes all X links. Some day I'll add them to my pihole, I guess.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago

PiHole can block any domain you want. AdGuardHome has a handy switch in the UI that does it for you.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

PrivacyBadger blocks embedded tweets, so since you're probably not going to visit the website itself, it should do the trick.

[–] Agrivar@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Plus, it has the added benefit of drawing attention to how many "articles" on other sites are just a long string of embedded tweets.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 12 points 10 months ago

Lifehacker still exists?

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 8 points 10 months ago

Sounds like an issue with pretty much all URL shortening/redirection services on any service.

Even if the link was legit when they posted it and always went to forbes (not that forbes is much more than blogspam these days), it might not be legit when you go to click on it.

It's all just 3rd party tracking bullshit anyway. The modern internet is horseshit.

[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

An article talking about redirecting links on a site that uses redirect links for sharing its own content. x dot cahm -> twitter dot cahm

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