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The Facebook news thread
Social media can cause more harm than good? I could have told them that.
Facebook says social media can be negative for democracy
NPR, Jan 22 2018 4:27 PM
Facebook is doing some soul-searching. The social media giant acknowledges the possibility that social media can have negative ramifications for democracy. This comes after repeated criticism that it didn't do enough to prevent the spread of fake news that had the potential to impact the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"Facebook was originally designed to connect friends and family – and it has excelled at that," writes Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook's Civic Engagement Product Manager. "But as unprecedented numbers of people channel their political energy through this medium, it's being used in unforeseen ways with social repercussions that were never anticipated. In 2016, we at Facebook were far too slow to recognize how bad actors were abusing our platform. We're working diligently to neutralize these risks now."
This is a marked change in tone from the week of the 2016 election, when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it's a "pretty crazy idea" that fake news could have influenced the poll. "There's a profound lack of empathy in asserting that the only reason why someone could have voted the way that they did is because they saw some fake news," Zuckerberg said in November 2016.
Since then Facebook has slowly shifted its view. Zuckerberg "is fast coming to terms with the power of his platform to cause harm," Aarti reported. In September, Zuckerberg wrote: "Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it. This is too important an issue to be dismissive." Facebook has been reluctant to wade into the business of sorting fact from fake news, though last year it introduced a system relying on third party fact checkers to flag particularly egregious examples.
The platform also was the target of a concentrated influence campaign from Russian entities. According to Facebook, "Russian actors created 80,000 posts that reached around 126 million people in the US over a two-year period." Facebook says that a few years ago, it was easier to say that social media was clearly positive for democracy. It cited the Arab Spring – where many protests were organized via Facebook – as an example. Now it's less clear, says Chakrabarti. "If there's one fundamental truth about social media's impact on democracy it's that it amplifies human intent – both good and bad. I wish I could guarantee that the positives are destined to outweigh the negatives, but I can't."
Tech firms including Facebook have faced increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Executives from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter appeared before a Senate committee last week to discuss the steps social media platforms are taking to combat the spread of extremist propaganda over the Internet.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...-for-democracy
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With two questions, Facebook is deciding the future of news
Facebook is going to ask who you trust when it comes to news. That’s dangerous.
Ian Sherr, CNet, Jan 23 2018 5:00 AM
One day soon, Facebook may ask you two seemingly straightforward questions that could decide the future of news on your feed. 1. "Do you recognize the following websites?" (Yes/No) 2. "How much do you trust each of these domains?" (Entirely/A lot/Somewhat/Barely/Not at all) These are, in fact, some of the actual questions written by teams at Facebook. The questions stem from a decision by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO, who said last week that he's going to seek the wisdom of the crowd -- that is, the 2 billion monthly users of his service -- to determine which media organizations are writing honest and trustworthy stories worthy of appearing in your feed.
The world's largest social network, with a population greater than that of any country on Earth, by default won't consider facts, honesty or professionalism when judging news organizations. Instead, Zuckerberg and his team are going to survey random people, maybe some of your friends, maybe not, who'll decide what publications are most trustworthy. Whatever Facebook learns from us -- and a Facebook spokesman told me it won't make any of those details public -- will filter down into how often you see my stories in your feed. Yes, your ranting Uncle Ed may help determine whether you see the next big scoop from The New York Times or Wall Street Journal or CNN or Fox News.
"People who use Facebook have made clear that they want to see accurate, informative and relevant news on Facebook, as well as news from sources they trust," a Facebook spokesman told me. "The question was how to measure that. We could try to make that decision ourselves, but that's not something we were comfortable with. We considered asking outside experts, which would take the decision out of our hands but would likely not solve the objectivity problem. Or we could ask the community and have their feedback determine the ranking. We decided that having the community determine which sources are broadly trusted would be most objective."
Welcome to Facebook's vision of journalism in the 21st century. No wonder many people are calling out Zuckerberg and saying, with a strong twang of irony, "What could go wrong?"
https://www.cnet.com/news/with-two-q...erg-fake-news/
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"Flick" supposedly comes from "frame-tick" -- so shouldn't the word be "frick"? The engineer misspelled the fricking word!
Facebook invents new unit of time called a flick
BBC, Jan 23 2018
Facebook engineer Christopher Horvath has invented a new unit of time called a flick. The flick has been designed to help developers keep video effects in sync, according to a description on the code-sharing site GitHub. A flick, derived from "frame-tick," is 1/705,600,000 of a second -- the next unit of time after a nanosecond.
A researcher at Oxford University said the flick wouldn't have much general impact but may help create better virtual reality experiences. Flicks are defined in the programming language C++, which is used to generate visual effects for film, television and other media. Flicks give programmers a way to measure the time between media frames without using fractions. Matt Hammond, lead research engineer at BBC Research and Development, said this can reduce errors such as stutters in graphics. "When the numbers used are not integers, errors can gradually creep into computer calculations. These errors can build up over time, eventually causing inaccuracies that become noticeable," he said.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-42787529
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Nick Bilton, a Vanity Fair correspondent and former New York Times columnist, says Facebook is in big trouble and Mark Zuckerberg knows it. Bilton noted, "During the past six months alone, countless executives who once worked for the company are publicly articulating the perils of social media on both their families and democracy. Chamath Palihapitiya, an early executive, said social networks 'are destroying how society works.' Sean Parker, its founding president, said 'God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.' Just this weekend, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he won’t let his nephew on social media." Here is Bilton's essay:
'This is serious': Facebook begins its downward spiral
Facebook was always famous for the sign that hung in its offices, written in big red type on a white background, that said 'Move Fast and Break Things.' Every time I think about the company, I realize it has done just that -- to itself.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018...ownward-spiral
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"Do you think Facebook's two-question survey is ridiculous?" Yes. "How much do you think the survey responses will enable Facebook to identify untrustworthy news sources?" Not at all. Thank you for asking.
Facebook defends its simple two-question survey on the trustworthiness of news publishers
The Washington Post, Jan 24 2018 3:31 PM
In a series of tweets this week, the head of Facebook's News Feed defended the company's two-question survey that aims to cut down on the spread of fake news. Industry observers, journalists and other critics argued in recent days that the survey could be manipulated and that it would fail to accurately gauge the quality of news outlets. According to Adam Mosseri, new Facebook users will be sampled each day, with only their responses incorporated in the company's evaluations of trustworthiness. It's unclear how many users will be surveyed and what other information will be pulled into the assessment.
The Facebook survey, which is part of the crowdsourcing initiative that Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg unveiled last week, consists of two short questions with a choice of responses:
Do you recognize the following websites?
Yes
No
How much do you trust each of these domains?
Entirely
A lot
Somewhat
Barely
Not at all
Facebook has not disclosed how or where those questions would appear to users. Facebook declined to comment beyond Mosseri's tweets. Some people were startled by the simplicity of the survey. They also noted the potential for it to reward partisan news outlets with loyal audiences or punish niche outlets and start-ups. But Mosseri says the survey was designed to recognize news outlets with broad recognition and trust among their users.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.e9dd23ba172e
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I do not have a Facebook page and I have never wanted to have a Facebook page. "Here is a picture I took of myself. Here is another picture I took of myself. I had a cheese omelet for breakfast. I'm going to Cancun next month and you're not. LOL. LOL. LOL. OMG. ROFL." Sheesh!
We're spending less time on Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg says that's great
NPR, Feb 1 2018 7:18 PM
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says recent changes to the site have reduced the amount of time users spend there — a development he says he expected and one he welcomes as good for both his business and the health of society at large. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Zuckerberg says the social media company is working to encourage "meaningful connections between people rather than passive consumption of content." Early parts of that shift, including changes to video recommendations, went into effect last fall. As a result, he said, Facebook saw a roughly 5% decline in total time spent on the site in the last quarter of 2017. That works out to roughly 50 million hours per day that people are no longer spending on Facebook.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...s-that-s-great
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Tech Crunch writer Josh Constantine claims "big news outlets stupidly sold their soul to Facebook" and Facebook readers were "brainwashed" into getting all their news and information from the site. He adds, "Now Facebook is pushing into local news but publishers should be wary of making the same crooked deal. It might provide more exposure and traffic for smaller outlets today, but it could teach users they only need to visit Facebook for local news in the future." Constantine's essay is quite cynical and alarmist but he makes some good points about the "Facebook news business" and why we shouldn't rely on it.
How Facebook stole the news business
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/03/facebooks-siren-call/
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Jim Carrey is deleting his Facebook page and dumping stock over Russian election meddling
Business Insider, Feb 6 2018
Actor Jim Carrey tweeted today that he plans to dump his Facebook stock and delete his Facebook page because, he said, the social network "profited" from Russian interference in US elections: "I’m dumping my @facebook stock and deleting my page because @facebook profited from Russian interference in our elections and they’re still not doing enough to stop it. I encourage all other investors who care about our future to do the same. #unfriendfacebook"
Facebook testified to Congress in October that Russian-backed content reached as many as 126 million Americans through its network during and after the 2016 presidential election. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-c...lection-2018-2
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Facebook should have a button that would enable users to remove all the idiotic LOLs and OMGs and ROFLMAOs that appear in so many trillions of posts.
Facebook is testing a 'downvote' button to hide offensive content
Feature will hide comments that are 'inappropriate, uncivil or misleading.'
www.thewrap.com/facebook-tests-downvote-button/
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In less than two years, Hun's Facebook page has gotten 9,000,000 likes and is the third-most-active Facebook page in the world. Rainey is accused of defamation for saying Hun bought most of those likes. Now he's determined to find proof.
Exiled Cambodian politician Sam Rainsy sues Facebook
He wants info showing Prime Minister Hun Sen bought millions of fake 'likes' to feign popularity.
http://www.engadget.com/2018/02/11/c...sues-facebook/
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Unilever owns more than 400 brands including Lipton, Dove, Lux, Camay, Surf, Best Foods/Hellman's, Ben & Jerry's, Axe, VO5 and Mrs. Dash. One fourth of Unilever's advertising budget is spent on social media and now they're threatening to pull those ads unless Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon and Snapchat get serious about eliminating "fake news, racism, sexism, terrorists spreading messages of hate and toxic content directed at children." Good luck with that!
Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Google over 'toxic content'
http://www.latimes.com/business/tech...212-story.html
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Pediatricians, educators and mental health professionals say young children are not ready to have social media accounts and online relationships. I agree. Let kids enjoy being kids. When they're adults, they'll have plenty of time to spend 12 hours every day on a cell phone, tablet or computer.
Child development experts protest Facebook's Kids Messenger app
https://learningenglish.voanews.com/...p/4234902.html
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Every time I read a story about websites tracking Internet users, I picture Chico Marx's character in Duck Soup saying, "Shhh -- this is spy stuff."
Belgian court orders Facebook to stop tracking Internet users or face fines of 250,000 Euros a day
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp...web-users.html
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If you see a Facebook political ad that begins "Dear tovarisch" and is signed by Boris, Ivan, Sergei and Dmitri, it would be best to ignore it -- or report it.
Facebook faces big challenge to prevent future US election meddling
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKCN1G102D
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If I may make a suggestion: Nobody should look to Facebook as a primary news source. Facebook is for LOLs and OMGs and ROFLs and "Look what I ate for dinner."
Facebook ends test that showed users 2 separate news feeds
CNet, Mar 1 2018 4:30 PM
Your news feed won't be splitting up after all. In October, Facebook begantesting a change in the news feed that separated it into two feeds: one for personal posts from friends and family and another one called the "Explore Feed" for brands, publishers and other businesses. Today the social network said it's ending the test because the results came back negative. "You gave us our answer: People don't want two separate feeds," Adam Mosseri, Facebook's head of news feed, wrote in a blog post.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/faceboo...te-news-feeds/
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Yes, BlackBerry is still in business in 2018. Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are!
BlackBerry sues Facebook over messaging technology, alleging patent infringement
http://www.latimes.com/business/tech...306-story.html
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ESPN continues to lose viewers and Facebook continues to add live sporting events. Coincidence?
Facebook will stream 25 afternoon MLB games
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/...D=ansmsnnews11
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A UN investigator says hate speech on Facebook is spreading "acrimony, dissension and conflict." Gee, where have I heard that before?
UN blames Facebook for spreading of hate speech in possible Myanmar genocide of Rohingya Muslims
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-un-...-crisis-2018-3
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Last November, Trump retweeted three of Britain First's anti-Muslim videos. They purported to show Muslims committing acts of violence -- but the scenes were staged by non-Muslims. Yep, our President retweeted faked videos. Sad.
Facebook bans far-right group Britain First and its leaders for inciting hatred
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-br...-idUSKCN1GQ1JS
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We know Russian trolls created hundreds of fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Google for the purpose of getting Donald Trump elected to the Presidency. Now we learn that Trump and his advisers had their own methods of using Facebook to their advantage:
How Trump consultants exploited the Facebook data of millions
The New York Times, Mar 17 2018
As the upstart voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica prepared to wade into the 2014 American midterm elections, it had a problem. The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior. But it did not have the data to make its new products work, so the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network’s history. The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the American electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trump’s campaign in 2016.
An examination by The New York Times and The Observer reveals how Cambridge Analytica’s drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm — and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics — under scrutiny. Details of Cambridge’s acquisition and use of Facebook data have surfaced in several accounts since the business began working on the 2016 campaign, setting off a furious debate about the merits of the firm’s so-called psychographic modeling techniques. But the full scale of the data leak involving Americans has not been previously disclosed — and Facebook, until now, has not acknowledged it. Interviews with a half-dozen former employees and contractors, and a review of the firm’s emails and documents, have revealed that Cambridge not only relied on the private Facebook data but still possesses most or all of the trove.
Congressional investigators have questioned Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix about the company’s role in the Trump campaign. And the Justice Department’s special counsel, Robert Mueller III, has demanded the emails of Cambridge Analytica employees who worked for the Trump team as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the election.
Cambridge paid to acquire the personal information through an outside researcher who, Facebook says, claimed to be collecting it for academic purposes. During a week of inquiries from The Times, Facebook downplayed the scope of the leak and questioned whether any of the data still remained out of its control. But on Friday the company posted a statement expressing alarm and promising to take action.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/u...-campaign.html