Block Party<\/a>, a startup developed by software engineer and tech diversity advocate Tracy Chou,<\/a> was among the victims of Twitter\u2019s (now X\u2019s) API changes<\/a> earlier this year, forcing it to pivot its business. At the SXSW conference in Austin this weekend, Chou presented a glimpse of what Block Party is now up to with its new product, Privacy Party<\/a>, designed to help people more easily navigate and adjust their privacy settings across social networks like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, X, and others.<\/p>\n The original version of Block Party was built on top of Twitter\u2019s API to automate the process of blocking bad actors, trolls, harassers, and others. The company raised $4.8 million in seed funding in 2022,<\/a> a year after launch, with the goal of expanding its automated blocking to more platforms.<\/p>\n However, Twitter\u2019s API crackdown meant that Block Party\u2019s ability to operate was immediately impacted. That product, now on hiatus, has since been rebranded Block Party Classic.<\/p>\n Chou touched on the product\u2019s demise at SXSW, saying that the Block Party Classic had allowed Twitter users to filter out \u201call the spam and harassment from their mentions\u201d and made Twitter more usable and more pleasant without being a full-on content moderation solution (because the content itself remained on Twitter\u2019s platform.) Instead, it functioned more like middleware, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cSadly, Twitter ownership changes also meant we lost access to the API,\u201d Chou explained.<\/p>\n \u201cRegulation that requires open APIs would allow us to bring it back, not subject to the whims of an erratic owner or shifting business trends and priorities. And, in general, it would open up markets and consumer choice for social media experiences across so many platforms,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Given the unknown future for API regulation, the company is focused on Privacy Party\u2019s development going forward.<\/p>\n Chou said the idea for the new product came from talking to newsroom security teams who wanted more tools to help their journalists stay safe online.<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to getting a lot of harassment, journalists sometimes have to face threats like doxing, stalking, [and] death threats. Personal social media creates a lot of surface areas for vulnerability so the security recommendation is always to lock things down,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n Other people may simply want to clean up their social profiles to keep old photos and posts from coming back to haunt them or because they were from a different era. For example, college party photos probably shouldn\u2019t pop up for potential employers.<\/p>\n However, going through the security settings on the various platforms is time-consuming, tedious, and complicated. The platforms often make their user interface and experience unwieldy, or change the location of settings often<\/a>, to thwart users from locking down their valuable data or to appease regulators.<\/a><\/p>\n Privacy Party will also act like middleware here, allowing users to interact with platforms and services to adjust their privacy settings with fewer clicks.<\/p>\n In one example demoed at SXSW,\u00a0 Block Party\u2019s Head of Product Design Deonne Castaneda explained that it took at least 6 clicks on Facebook to find the setting to make a single photo album private.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very clear that there was an unmet privacy need for this kind of photo control and protection that saves time and effort,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The way Privacy Policy works is to offer users recommendations for different social media platforms.<\/p>\n In its beta form, the browser extension will customize its recommendations based on users\u2019 current settings. The extension will navigate through Facebook, or another social app, learning about your settings in a scan that runs in the background. You will keep your browser tab open while the scan completes, and then receive an alert when it finishes. (In some cases, the scan may be paused by 2FA needs). Then, you can review your settings \u2014 like the content you\u2019re tagged in, or the public nature of your photos and posts, and are given the ability to change the settings to be safer or skip, if you prefer.<\/p>\n The extension also focuses on other areas that could enable bad actors or stalkers, like who can contact you, who can see your activity, what apps have access to your data, who can see personal info like your location or hometown, what older content is available and to who, and more. As you make your changes, Privacy Policy\u2019s extension will update the settings on your behalf. It\u2019s like having a privacy expert walk you through the different settings and give you feedback about what needs to be changed and why.<\/p>\n The beta version of Privacy Policy works across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, Strava, X, and Venmo, with scans that take anywhere from just a minute to as long as 8 minutes, depending on how many settings need to be locked down. The browser extension is free to use while in beta.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong> Block Party<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEach recommendation gives you transparency about what\u2019s happening with your data and relevant potential tradeoffs,\u201d said Castaneda. \u201cThey also present controls that you have including an additional level of control that automates finding and fixing privacy settings for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Chou did not say when Privacy Party would exit beta, but it\u2019s free to use for the time being.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/block-party-privacy-party-demo-sxsw.jpg?w=680\")
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