.png "back to home page")
This article is a good reminder that just because Facebook does press-friendly announcements of takedowns of malicious networks from time to time, there is no real mechanism to gauge how much of a grip the company has on its own infinitely vast platform. https://t.co/tdAvuRRDUb
— Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) September 14, 2020
dear press, next time Sandberg or Zuckerberg interview lands in your lap please remember this, Myanmar and everything in between. I know those interviews are a big deal but press friction and antitrust lawsuits are the only way we get anywhere here. https://t.co/vAfTdwZGz4
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 14, 2020
Posts on FB are literally put in front of ppl by an algorithm based on what type of engagement it has. Are you saying detecting fake likes is not important? Beyond this, be more specific. There are more than a dozen examples outlined in her post. What are you referring to?
— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) September 14, 2020
"A 6,600-word internal memo from a fired Facebook data scientist details how the social network knew about specific examples of global political manipulation — and failed to act." https://t.co/rAJuEcHbp5
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 14, 2020
Good story but I still find the basic presumptions underlying Facebook coverage to be weird — why would they take action to prevent their platform from being used for political manipulation? The idea is to get rich selling ads.https://t.co/8cIK3en0Rs
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 15, 2020
NEW: Facebook ignored or was slow to act on evidence that fake accounts have been undermining elections and political affairs, according to an explosive memo sent by a recently fired employee. https://t.co/bzVPVaavmr
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) September 14, 2020
Whole lot of good Germans at Facebook. The ones who act with moral integrity, like Sophie Zhang and Ashok Chandwaney, are far too rare given the stakes. https://t.co/rGkD2FoxPA
— Person Woman Man Camera TV (@ClaraJeffery) September 15, 2020
Zuckerberg is bad, BTW. In case you were on the fence. https://t.co/jdIwXmV9t8
— Greg Olear (@gregolear) September 14, 2020
my friend sophie got fired from her job at Facebook and turned down a $64,000 severance package in order to leak this, so u better read it. https://t.co/MoveIqUeC0
— yan (@bcrypt) September 14, 2020
I have to go sit in a dark room for a long time. https://t.co/xyJfbtojyi
— Shira Ovide (@ShiraOvide) September 14, 2020
The scale of manipulation on Facebook outside the U.S. described here is just...terrifying.
As is the torment of a relatively junior employee who felt unsupported in trying to tamp it down.
In India, she worked to remove “a politically-sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence" the local elections taking place in Delhi in Feb. Facebook never publicly disclosed this network or that it had taken it down.
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 15, 2020
AAP won.https://t.co/M4n661T7OR
what's important about this story is that it underscores, once again, that we can't fix the problems with Facebook by begging them to censor more stuff. The root of the problem is surveillance capitalism: microtargeted algorithmic amplification that's maximized for "engagement" https://t.co/wyHWbUuwjZ
— Evan Greer (@evan_greer) September 15, 2020
Upsetting but not surprising story from @CraigSilverman @RMac18 @PranavDixit details how Facebook prioritizes the US and Western Europe in its policy response. An internal memo from a FB data scientist lists Ukraine among the countries affected. https://t.co/vPLHbtZ3lJ
— Nina Jankowicz (@wiczipedia) September 14, 2020
Another dumb response to this would be to say you should break Facebook up. okay, so now what do people in Honduras use, and how is that managed? You haven’t solve the problem at all. It’s not as though any other platform does this any better.
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) September 15, 2020
This is the most important Facebook story I've ever published: https://t.co/29BaAoevjR
— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) September 14, 2020
If you’re an advertiser on @facebook, you are literally sponsoring political manipulation that is tearing the world apart.
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) September 14, 2020
There’s just no other way to look at it.#StopHateForProfit https://t.co/dMbg9E5E7V
Tough @daithaigilbert story on hate-amplifying power of Facebook. Watch The @SocialDilemma_ on @netflix to gauge the full scope of this.
— Andrew Revkin (@Revkin) September 15, 2020
Like so many, I was once an online optimist. Ahh those days.. https://t.co/HGr4NQkdwN
“In India, she worked to remove “a politically-sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence" the local elections taking place in Delhi in February. Facebook never publicly disclosed this network or that it had taken it down”. https://t.co/tupAlICTDx
— Man Aman Singh Chhina (@manaman_chhina) September 15, 2020
Facebook ignores hate & disinformation on their site. This is not an “operational mistake.” It is a deliberate decision to put profits over people and democracy.
— Jennifer Lawrence - Represent.Us (@JLawrence_RepUs) September 14, 2020
Tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit. https://t.co/7TSovLMug2 pic.twitter.com/lJts6Ampgp
BREAKING: A 6,600-word internal memo from a former Facebook data scientist exposes how the social network knew about specific examples of global political manipulation with fake accounts — and failed to act. W/ @RMac18 & @PranavDixit: https://t.co/HE7UW9qHQP
— Craig Silverman (@CraigSilverman) September 14, 2020
So much of what we discuss about Facebook is from a US perspective. The problem is that Facebook's own leadership takes that approach as well, according to a now former employee who helped uncover political influence campaigns on the platform.https://t.co/29BaAoevjR
— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) September 14, 2020
Facebook's algorithms reward artificial engagement while the company severely underfunds programs to police for it.
— Justin Brookman (@JustinBrookman) September 14, 2020
“We simply didn’t care enough to stop them.”https://t.co/vxYHNNklT8
Warnings from all over the world on how democratic rights of people were being undermined were ignored and ridiculed by FB reps and US politicians alike. God forbid oversight would stifle innovation 1/2 https://t.co/4cGMb54BuV
— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) September 15, 2020
I also expect brands/advertisers will go after @Facebook for their fraudulent & inflated ad engagement numbers implicated by this memo:
— ashkan soltani (@ashk4n) September 14, 2020
“10.5 million fake reactions”
“672,000 fake accounts”
That translates into real $$ https://t.co/1jYCyCGUwC
First Myanmar, then Brazil, next Ethiopia, here too. I don’t see a way around this: Facebook is a leading cause of radicalization — specifically via misinformation and directionally straight towards violence https://t.co/bivWLVyXXx
— a sandworm for president 2020 (@WildWildJest) September 15, 2020
Facebook ignored or was slow to act on evidence that fake accounts on its platform have been undermining elections and political affairs around the world, according to an explosive memo sent by a former Facebook employee https://t.co/mqrlH6N8dK
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) September 14, 2020
Major scoop by BuzzFeed team. This raises the curtain on issues of concern which Parliaments from around the world have been trying to elevate in the eyes of the public and the regulators charged with protecting civil society. https://t.co/CJ2LuTaopL
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 14, 2020
It's time to organize a mass campaign to quit Facebook.
— Brad Reed (@bwreed) September 15, 2020
This company is evil. https://t.co/IVCWZq92gi
Well that was definitely coming and deserved. Poor from Kepa and from Chelsea
— Wesley Yin-Poole (@wyp100) September 14, 2020
Every detail of this story is damning.
— Molly McKew (@MollyMcKew) September 14, 2020
At some point tho, it’s time for this belief that there “isn’t bad intent” just “not enough resources” or “simply not caring enough” to rectify into the reality of willful negligence 5 full years on from knowing Facebook erodes reality. https://t.co/cWXNC8u6m0
It takes tremendous hubris to look at what Facebook is doing to countries around the world and assume it can't happen here.https://t.co/nf6qs1IbnN
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 15, 2020
“Zhang... turned down a $64,000 severance package from the company to avoid signing a nondisparagement agreement” https://t.co/uBiOQuzF4y
— Laurie Kilmartin (@anylaurie16) September 14, 2020
It's time to, at the least, eliminate Facebook's statutory limitations on publication liability. @RonWyden
— Thom Hartmann (@Thom_Hartmann) September 15, 2020
"I Have Blood On My Hands": A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation https://t.co/VPj5G2xLkM via @CraigSilverman
We do, though, have to start asking whether Zuckerberg is simply an immoral greedhead or something else entirely. He has abetted vast amounts of authoritarianism, racist extremism and disinfo on his platform.https://t.co/TQIdemeODF
— Luke O'Brien (@lukeobrien) September 14, 2020
This report on Facebook is damning. It is further confirmation that they are more concerned with PR than with protecting democracy or its users. This is exactly why individuals are speaking out & "freezing" their Instagram accounts this Wednesday. #StopHateForProfit. https://t.co/oXMLyGvgMO
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) September 14, 2020
Facebook as gatekeepers to the Wild West... allowing Western democracy to slip away one fake story at a time. Still shocking, and still happening as if nobody was ever warned of the dangers.? https://t.co/cBAs9UUMSN
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) September 15, 2020
The striking thing about today’s BuzzFeed Facebook story is not that it wasn’t on top of fake news in Honduras, but rather the complete insanity of one company in Menlo Park even trying to be on top of every level of political discourse in every country on Earth
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) September 15, 2020
Welp. https://t.co/cbVRLQL3xj pic.twitter.com/tYKrKMDoBv
— Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai (@lorenzofb) September 14, 2020
Sharing our response here as you’re too quick! We are not ignoring these issues. CIB continues to be our top priority but we have teams working on fake engagement too - in fact many of the cases she mentions are under active investigation. pic.twitter.com/EJ1myO5Tzz
— Liz Bourgeois (@Liz_Shepherd) September 14, 2020
Facebook employee: Looks like the ruling party in Azerbaijan is using FB to harass the opposition "en masse"
— Nathaniel Popper (@nathanielpopper) September 14, 2020
[9 months later]
Facebook: We're going to start looking into that.
one of so many devastating details in this @BuzzFeedNews storyhttps://t.co/c6aoluEnrF pic.twitter.com/MMS3JrvBdl
Starting to think this Facebook thing isn't great for humanity https://t.co/CRRNkY5hFK
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 14, 2020
The only thing keeping me from completely deleting my FB account is needing to use it to find/contact sources, especially sources who live in rural areas. Have any other writers found ways around this? https://t.co/d2yNRkH2qt
— Bronwen Dickey (@BronwenDickey) September 14, 2020
Facebook, which made $23 billion in profit last year, can't investigate election manipulation in most of the world because it lacks the resources. pic.twitter.com/7tuBjB1712
— Jeff Bercovici (@jeffbercovici) September 14, 2020
“I know that I have blood on my hands by now,” she wrote in the memo. https://t.co/yOwPYO6gRO
— Jane Lytvynenko (@JaneLytv) September 14, 2020
With all due respect, what she's described is fake likes - which we routinely remove using automated detection. Like any team in the industry or government, we prioritize stopping the most urgent and harmful threats globally. Fake likes is not one of them.
— Guy Rosen (@guyro) September 14, 2020
Read this very brave whistleblower. Facebook has made the world an infinitely worse place, enabling horrible people to do horrible things. https://t.co/nghhU7tSiT
— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) September 14, 2020
If I were a journalist I would look around the world into which political campaigns Facebook staff volunteered to coach on the use of its platform to optimize for impact. This was offered to me as well when I was a Member of European Parliament, free staff training etc. ↘️ https://t.co/4cGMb54BuV
— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) September 15, 2020
In Myanmar, #Facebook ignored warnings about hate speech inciting violence against the Rohingya. The result was a UN report saying said Facebook facilitated a genocide.
— David Gilbert (@daithaigilbert) September 14, 2020
Now, in #Ethiopia, Facebook is making the same mistakes all over againhttps://t.co/s4Wd6VBIEH
the Philippines has told you all about this but you all have ignored it because we don't matter. We have been the testing ground of Facebook before deploying before the 2016 US elections, but you don't care, because we're a country you all think you have the right to abuse. https://t.co/AvOdnu0lbX
— tired tita diaries (@tinuevel) September 15, 2020
Facebook simply cannot continue to exist if it cannot manage the inevitable problems its platform creates. https://t.co/MZ7x8EUalh pic.twitter.com/LdLShapVht
— Peter A. Shulman ? (@pashulman) September 14, 2020
Facebook employees: I believe you are saving lives when you blow the whistle, when you provide docs to journalists, when you tell your stories despite personal loss of status or wealth. There are people with nothing, under the gun, all over the world who rely on your courage. https://t.co/iK2KwbqJGc
— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) September 15, 2020
Yet another devastating story about Facebook. Huge kudos to Sophie Zhang, an employee who turned down $64k severance to tell the truth.
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) September 14, 2020
The speed & scale of the damage Facebook is doing to democracies around the world is truly terrifying https://t.co/84UJFulnDQ
Once again: The problem with Facebook is NOT Donald Trump. It's not even America.
— SIVA VAIDHYANATHAN??? (@sivavaid) September 14, 2020
Facebook is much more dangerous elsewhere.
https://t.co/FqDGnIwsoi via @vice
"'I have personally made decisions that affected national presidents without oversight, and taken action to enforce against so many prominent politicians globally that I’ve lost count,' she wrote."
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) September 14, 2020
WOW.https://t.co/beyPgonMTe
I have sympathy to the "moderation at scale is hard" argument, but it's increasingly clear these companies didn't even try https://t.co/YDnyMhKcrF
— Karl Bode (@KarlBode) September 14, 2020
I cannot for the life of me figure out why I'm still on social media. It is so bad for us. It is so full of delusions of connectivity, information-passing, everything. https://t.co/ZTLe5Ipsvu
— Taffy Brodesser-Akner (@taffyakner) September 14, 2020
Sweeping internal #Facebook memo: “I have blood on my hands” | Ars Technica https://t.co/WMSNTiSf8M
— switched (@switch_d) September 14, 2020
https://t.co/3tMC1OPjMQ
— ?Trevor_Pott(BLM); (@cakeis_not_alie) September 15, 2020
READ. THIS. RIGHT. NOW.
Nothing you are doing is more important that reading this article. I do not care who you are. READ. THIS. RIGHT. NOW.
Ars Technica's art guy aint fucking around today. https://t.co/8GV1p9FYsp
— Nash Across the 8th Dimension (@Nash076) September 14, 2020
Former Facebook employee exposes its inability to stop misinformation https://t.co/PNhckW3zEw #tech #feedly
— Nicolas Babin (@Nicochan33) September 15, 2020
Facebook Is Failing in Global Disinformation Fight, Says Former Worker https://t.co/abSJsH2w5D
— Josh Fox BlackLivesMatter (@joshfoxfilm) September 15, 2020
Facebook Is Failing in Global Disinformation Fight, Says Former Worker https://t.co/cKVanGXjQA
— Sheera Frenkel (@sheeraf) September 14, 2020
Facebook Is Failing in Global Disinformation Fight, Says Former Worker https://t.co/wa8rDro2RB
— Crispin Burke (@CrispinBurke) September 15, 2020
Facebook Is Failing in Global Disinformation Fight, Says Former Worker https://t.co/diWYGMZoZE
— Maruja Torres (@MistralS) September 15, 2020
mark zuckerberg shut down facebook give away your money and seek atonement for your crimes challenge https://t.co/wocVnvhbab
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) September 15, 2020
“I have blood on my hands.”#Whistleblower and former Facebook data scientist says Facebook knew leaders of countries around the world were using their site to manipulate voters — and failed to act.
— National Whistleblower Center (@StopFraud) September 15, 2020
On Buzzfeed News | @BuzzFeedNews: https://t.co/RAOl5t51RN
“We ended up removing 10.5 million fake reactions and fans from high-profile politicians in Brazil and the U.S. in the 2018 elections." Facebook whistleblower said company ignored global political manipulation. Buzzfeed News. https://t.co/ZUWO8N6OpX
— Dom Phillips (@domphillips) September 14, 2020
Facebook ignored evidence that fake accounts were used to undermine elections around the world, according to a memo from a recently fired Facebook data scientist. https://t.co/QhlXQieDaS
— Karen De la Hoz (@kpdelahoz) September 15, 2020
PROFILES IN COURAGE: “The memo is a damning account of Facebook’s failures—abdicating responsibility for malign activities that affect the political fate of nations...
— Heidi Cuda (@Heidi_Cuda) September 15, 2020
“‘I know that I have blood on my hands by now,’ Zhang wrote.”-@buzzfeednews https://t.co/e4pIZ0Xwq6
When tech corporations are focused on securing profits, worker concerns get overlooked unless they "pose public relations risks"— leaving workers under resourced, overworked, stressed out & with no true voice or power at their jobs.https://t.co/jjQ7l7WbUi
— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) September 15, 2020
“We may have committed a little light warfare against democracy around the world.” https://t.co/5qfz6m1BfO
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) September 14, 2020
Sophie Zhang worked to remove “a politically-sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence" the local elections taking place in Delhi in February. Facebook never publicly disclosed this network or that it had taken it down. https://t.co/ipBEdppLVV
— Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) September 15, 2020
"One of the big tools of authoritarian regimes is to humiliate the opposition in the mind of the public so that they're not viewed as a credible or legitimate alternative."https://t.co/xCKdyUtWoI
— Nilanjana Roy (@nilanjanaroy) September 15, 2020
Good story. https://t.co/YmKFuVCDzU
— Ashish K. Mishra (@akm1410) September 15, 2020
THREAD: For those in civil society around the globe who have been working on these issues for years, there is little in this story about #facebook that will be surprising, and much that will be dismally, egregiously validating. 1/14
— Kat Duffy (@rightsduff) September 15, 2020
https://t.co/lX7S4degG4
This Facebook whistleblower complaint is devastating
— Wendy Siegelman (@WendySiegelman) September 15, 2020
In Bolivia inauthentic activity supporting the opposition presidential candidate in 2019 was not prioritized, months later, the president resigned, there were mass protests leading to dozens of deathshttps://t.co/oswrYVCGMr pic.twitter.com/G3Oa6xpvOv
Ex-Facebook employee Sophie Zhang turned down $64K to tell how the company is knowingly undermining local politics around the world. "I have blood on my hands," she wrote. https://t.co/xGGlywEyXB
— Mehreen Kasana (@mehreenkasana) September 14, 2020
Whistleblower Says Facebook Deliberately Ignored Global Political Manipulation https://t.co/DiQQ3ARVVd
— Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) September 15, 2020
One of the biggest traffic referrers our story is Facebook's internal employee message board.
— Ryan Mac ? (@RMac18) September 15, 2020
If you're an employee and have found yourself on my feed, welcome (and I'm sorry). Feel free to reach out. DMs are open and my emails are in my bio.https://t.co/CGWGokPmyJ
페북 세계 각국 선거/정치 관련 가짜 계정 이용한 여론 조작 무시하거나 대응 지연 사실 내부 고발. 데이터 사이언티스트로 3년간 봇 등 이용한 가짜 계정 활동 감시팀으로 일했던 직원 메모. 플랫폼 중재 과정에서 수많은 사람 여론 형성에 젊은 직원 과도한 힘. 경각심 필요.https://t.co/Bc3Y2fJlpO
— Journey (@atmostbeautiful) September 15, 2020
Facebook never publicly disclosed that “...a politically-sophisticated network of more than a 1000 actors working to influence" the #DelhiElections in February was removed. From a fired Facebook data scientist’s 6,600 word memo. https://t.co/ERVjzk0vC4
— Jaskirat Singh Bawa (@JaskiratSB) September 15, 2020
If we believe this story of a whistle blower, then it becomes obvious that @Facebook is playing dirty political games all over the world.
— Vinod Verma (@patrakarvinod) September 15, 2020
So now can we say social media platform Facebook has become a tool in the hands of power hungry corrupt people? https://t.co/1PscTbYSEo
Imagine one tech company runs all the world’s “democratic” elections as a cloud service, and the only obstacle to anyone registering millions of fake voters for massive ballot stuffing is one data scientist running around playing detection whack-a-mole. https://t.co/xXOIJm4EZW
— Bryan Ford (@brynosaurus) September 15, 2020
In India, the whistleblower worked to remove “a politically-sophisticated network of more than a 1000 actors working to influence" local elections taking place in Delhi in Feb.
— Meghnad ? (@Memeghnad) September 15, 2020
Facebook never publicly disclosed this network or that it had taken it down.https://t.co/71C8sfuvFO