Yael Eisenstat
@YaelEisenstat
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Been called alarmist, a Cassandra & “someone w/the resume of a 70 yr old man”. Senior Fellow @cyber4democracy working to safeguard democracy in the digital age.
New York, NY
Joined June 2016
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REMINDER: the owner of this platform announced he’s going to use his $$ and influence in this U.S. race. Be EXTRA careful about the narratives you see on X, what seems to be trending, what is fed to you here. He’s not even pretending to be neutral. Be discerning, like my Brixton:
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Facebook hired me to head Elections Integrity ops for political ads. I asked if we could scan ads for misinfo. Engineers had great ideas. Higher ups were silent. Free speech is b.s. answer when FB takes $ for ads. Time to regulate ads same as tv and print.
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They beat a man to death.
I can’t stop thinking about that.
They murdered him with their bare hands.
No amount of “trying to understand the other side” can repair that.
They beat a man to death.
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The most disturbing part of this, to me, is that a nation has to ask (beg?) Mark Zuckerberg +
@Meta
to help them. How have we let one guy amass this much power, accountable to nobody, to the point where world leaders have to attempt to appeal to his humanity during a time of war?
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Facebook hired me to help solve their political ads mess. As detailed in my OpEd, they still won’t address the core problem: a business model and targeting tools that give political operatives a new form of information warfare. Democracy is the casualty.
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When the world’s richest man/owner of this very site himself traffics in conspiracy theories days after claiming to advertisers that he’s going to be a responsible leader, all I can say is: I’m not overreacting by expressing my concerns. Actions always speak louder than words.
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I didn’t think I’d dig the virtual roll call, without the crowds and fanfare. But this is actually beautiful and kind of kicks in-person roll call’s ass.
#DNC2020
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Facebook hired me in 2018 to protect elections. I tried to tackle voter suppression in ads. My piece today: “If FB continues to allow blatant lies about our elections system continue unabated, they will be on the wrong side of history.” What can be done?👇🏼
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2/At the very least, should mandate verifiable, true disclosures and the ability to be held accountable for defamation, even if can’t regulate against misinformation.
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Zuckerberg just lied to Congress.
@janschakowsky
asked if FB should be exempt from liability when taking $ for ads that spread disinfo. Zuck said they don't allow disinfo in ads. LIE. FB exempts politicians from the rules. My piece on when I worked on this:
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If you watch anything today, consider watching this. The entire video. And if you are not F*CKING outraged, then I don’t know what more to say.
He should rot in jail. And every single person who knew, enabled, and covered it up should pay a price.
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My TED talk launched! Wrote it 9 months ago then lost the iconic stage+audience due to COVID, but I still poured my❤️into it. Thanks to all who’ve encouraged me to keep speaking out over the past 5 years. I won’t stop fighting; our democracy’s at stake.
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@RexChapman
Can we discuss that flight attendant who so calmly put herself in harm’s way? She deserves all the 👏👏👏and then some.
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When I worked on political ads
@Facebook
, it was clear they'd never go far enough to protect our democracy from bad actors. Now they shut down
@LauraEdelson2
's work to study political ads?! Perfect reason why it's time to DEMAND transparency.
@FBoversight
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A plea before the whistleblower speaks tonight: don’t fall for Facebook‘s playbook of changing the conversation to be about her instead of about the documents she exposed. Any journalist/commentator who allows this to happen is doing a disservice. Speaking out is hard. Full stop.
Tonight, a former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower reveals her identity.
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@tedlieu
@RepDonBeyer
@TheJusticeDept
@politico
I filled out my 1st SF-86, without lawyers or help, when I was in my mid-20s & every 5 years after that. It was a pain in the ass, but I did it, and I did it correctly. I'd have been fired (or worse) if I'd lied. I was held to a higher standard than Kushner?
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@mosseri
Isn't that because Instagram has pushed us to post more in stories (and reels)? If people are getting less engagement on their posts than their reels and stories, then that is where they are going to post. Are you saying your engagement algorithms have nothing to do with that?
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Marjorie Taylor Greene censors Marjorie Taylor Greene! How’s that for anti-conservative bias? Oh, wait... 🤦🏻♀️
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For those asking my thoughts on the Facebook whistleblower,
@JRubinBlogger
's piece summarizes my views (past+present). Can we at least now agree FB can't self regulate on issues affecting broader society, even if we don't all agree on exactly what to do? 1/
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@RadioFreeTom
@TheAtlantic
I will never forget. In fact, I broke my public silence about my CIA past because of that very moment, when I wrote this in an attempt to sound the alarm:
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This made my blood boil; evoked memories of my time working on elections integrity at Facebook. Decisions on what to prioritize, fix, or ignore are intentional—despite repeated public apologies—including allowing authoritarians to abuse the platform. 1/
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@donie
@nick_clegg
Considering I was silenced and sidelined from day one at FB for asking my team if we could start building systems to fact check political ads back in 2018 (which was, after all, my job), I think the answer is clear....they believe they bear no responsibility.
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I interrupt your doom scrolling to offer you a view of pure joy: Brixton experiencing his first snow.
#dogs
#dogsoftwitter
#snowday
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Facebook exec confirms what critics have said & thesis of my TED talk. I say “As long as algorithms' goals are to keep us engaged they will feed us the poison that plays to our worst instincts and human weaknesses." Watch 👉🏼:
He says the same!👇🏼So fix it!
“Right-wing populism is always more engaging," a Facebook executive said in a recent interview with POLITICO, when pressed why the pages of conservatives drive such high interactions
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So much to unpack here, (a thread): 1/ Facebook is being used by our current President to undermine trust in the electoral process, and they continue to allow it to happen, unchecked. And their own employees are speaking up about the real dangers to our democracy. Bravo to them.
SCOOP: Facebok employees collected evidence showing preferential treatment of right wing figures. FB policy ppl removed misinfo strikes from Breitbart, PragerU, and Diamond & Silk, according to internal docs. And FB fired a key employee who gathered info:
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“Trump is testing his limits. Can he spread lies about mail-in fraud?Yes. Can he threaten BLM protesters w/ violence?Yes. Will be he be able to use Facebook to dispute the election? Watch this space.”
@carolecadwalla
in FB series, +Q&As w/ me &
@Moonalice
.
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This piece by
@_KarenHao
is a must read if you care about how Facebook effects democracy, and why the company has (intentionally) not tackled the core problems. I was hired just after the Cambridge Analytica scandal to help "fix it". A few observations 1/
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1/ As one of the subjects in this book, I want to offer a few thoughts on the content, Facebook's response, my own personal story (yes, that part is somewhat self-indulgent), and the authors
@sheeraf
and
@ceciliakang
. A thread:
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As I say in this piece, "come November, a portion of FB users will not trust the outcome of the election because they have been bombarded with messages on FB preparing them to not trust it." That's why I keep speaking out. I, and others, highlight some reasons and dangers here:
“Facebook Is Hurting People At Scale”: Mark Zuckerberg’s Employees Reckon With The Social Network They’ve Built
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1/2 Facebook hired me in 2018 to help fix its elections integrity mess (left in 6 months). I agree w/
@JoeBiden
that FB needs to
#MoveFastFixIt
. Allowing politicians to lie & not enforcing voter suppression policy against the President tilts the scales.
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Senator Young to Instagram's head Adam Mosseri:
"Do you have behavioral scientists working at Facebook and Instagram"?
Mosseri:
"We have data scientists".
Yeah, not the same thing.
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As Facebook outsources its responsibility to its unelected, unaccountable
@OversightBoard
, Twitter just decides to enforce its policies. “The way our policies work, when you're removed from the platform, you're removed from the platform“. Straightforward.
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@verge
Does a Facebook name change come with a change in leadership? If not, then why are so many people breathlessly talking about this?
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Let's be clear: social media co's won't prioritize democracy because "it's the right thing to do". I saw it firsthand when I worked at Facebook and was very vocal about it when I left. We must change the economic & political incentives. This is dangerous👇🏽
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1/2 Sadly, feels worth reposting my
@TEDTalks
. I end with: “much of this will only get worse as we are heading into the election and...face the biggest potential crisis yet: if the results are not trusted and violence could erupt. So when, in 2021, you ...
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@oneunderscore__
Get past the title, read the piece by
@rachelsklar
. About the Cassandras of the past decade:
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My piece in
@HarvardBiz
on regulating social media. "While the blame for Donald Trump’s incitement to insurrection lies squarely with him, the biggest social media companies—most prominently my former employer, Facebook—are absolutely complicit." It's time.
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My team
@ADL
Center for Tech & Society is hiring! Excited to share we have 3 open positions to drive impact in the global fight against online hate & harassment. We're fierce advocates for making digital spaces safe, respectful and equitable for all people. Share far & wide. 🧵1/
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1/ Ummm...This was not new in 2020. This is exactly the issue I raised at Facebook in 2018 when hired to help fix their political ads mess. I was sidelined for raising this exact alarm and then pushed out. FB leadership knew back then. In fact, I wrote about this... (next tweet)
NEW from me on
#FacebookPapers
: The tech giant has long resisted calls to scrap political ads & put more restrictions on microtargeting
But documents show FB predicted the tools would be exploited by politicians to spread misinfo & target vulnerable users
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Doing
@CNN
live interview with
@brianstelter
of
@ReliableSources
…from a van outside my apartment! So very 2021.
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My piece in WIRED. I don't proclaim to have all the answers. But I do have real observations, from my CIA days and time working at Facebook. I hope this article provides some useful nuggets to those struggling with these issues. via
@WIRED
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14/ In summary: read this book if you want to understand the dynamics, culture & decision-making inside one of the most powerful companies on earth. It's a company with unchecked power, making decisions that affect our health, safety and democracy. We have a right to know.
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@donie
This is a new low for Clegg. And sadly, many employees will buy it, because it's easier than asking truly hard questions about a company you love working for. The gaslighting there from leadership is next-level (just like they convinced employees I was lying about my title).
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Spent today reading
@sheeraf
+
@ceciliakang
’s new book. I’m emotionally spent. Need time to process, especially the dots they connected about my own time at Facebook & the severe gaslighting. This book has the receipts. I’ll share detailed thoughts tomorrow, but highly recommend.
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No
@nickclegg
, your take (see screenshot) is the opposite of the actual takeaway: the series doesn't impugn hard-working employees who want to make Facebook better. It impugns leadership for repeatedly lying about what FB knows & for business decisions they knew prioritized... 1/
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1/2: U.S. election’s underway, tensions are high, & I'm deeply concerned about how social media will be used to spark what’s already a tinderbox of anxiety. Their unchecked power over our public square must change. Resharing my ideas on how to recalibrate:
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“If changing judges changes law, then it is not clear what law is.”
-Judge Richard Posner
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@mosseri
@WillOremus
Would you agree that Facebook has played a role in exacerbating that polarization? Because I have yet to hear even one FB Exec admit to playing a role in where we are now. Some self reflection would be useful. And then finally listening to critics who have warned this was coming.
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@fbnewsroom
@ewarren
Does this mean you consider yourself a broadcast company,
@facebook
? If yes, this should solve the
#CDA230
debate.
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My take on the 'Oversight Board': "In theory, the idea of an oversight board is an interesting experiment. But in practice, it is being used by Facebook to deflect responsibility from the very role it chose for itself: steward of the public conversation."
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For those waiting on Facebook's "Oversight Board" Trump "ruling", don't let the sideshow distract you from this question: what role did FB play in the Jan 6 insurrection? We need a national commission to investigate the entirety of that attack on democracy.
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Then
@Imi_Ahmed
of
@CCDHate
says "There is clear evidence that Instagram’s algorithm recommends misinformation from well-known anti-vaxxers whose accounts have even been granted verified status" and asks when Facebook will fix this: 5/
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Thrilled to join
@ADL
as VP to head the Center for Tech & Society. ADL’s a leader in combating hate & extremism on & offline. Excited to lead this team fighting for safer, more equitable digital spaces & to continue holding tech companies accountable for their impacts on society.
.
@YaelEisenstat
has spent over 20 years working to defend democracy, and now she joins ADL as VP of the Center for Technology and Society. She’ll lead our efforts to fight against online hate, antisemitism, harassment and disinformation. More at
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@donie
Lest anyone think I never give credit to FB where credit is due: Bravo Facebook. This is a very positive step. 👏🏼 👏🏼
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This is a question I’m often asked, both by people still working at Facebook & those weighing an offer.
@justinhendrix
spoke to me,
@IfeomaOzoma
+others here. TLDR:“You can make an important difference, but the sum of the good will not redeem the whole”👇🏼
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1/ My latest piece. Companies' ability to silence employees (as Facebook tried with me) exacerbates the problem of unchecked power, depriving us of the ability to analyze actions that affect our public health, our public square and our democracy. Thread:
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Fascinating and important conversation about history of the vote in America w/
@PreetBharara
and
@mawaldman
. As someone who fights for the integrity of our elections, I highly recommend listening. We must know our past to truly understand what’s at stake. Democracy is on the line.
This week’s Stay Tuned is all about voting. Michael Waldman
@mawaldman
of the
@BrennanCenter
contextualizes historic battles over the right to cast ballots. And what we all need to do to prepare for this Nov:
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1/ Tech CEOs to testify 3/25. We gathered questions Congress can ask on how they “helped foment and facilitate the violent attack on democracy on January 6th, and how they contribute to radicalization, extremism and the spread of disinformation generally.”
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11/ For 3 years it was my word against FB's. Theirs comes with way more $, power and influence than I'll ever have. So pardon the self-indulgence, but on a personal level, this book gave me closure. It validated what I knew to be true: I tried my best, but I was set up to fail.
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Brixton slays at office holiday parties. Happy Hanukkah and all the other holidays being celebrated!
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@CraigSilverman
Meta’s spokesperson Andy Stone’s comment shows just how little they care about being caught red handed doing nefarious shit. Next level arrogance, coming from a company that continues to get away with pretty much anything. No accountability breeds this type of brazenness.
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I feel so incredibly grateful that I have a roof over my head, ample heat flowing through my radiators, and this furry muppet as a leg warmer. I know I am lucky and blessed. I can’t imagine how hard this storm is for so many.
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Why should anyone who pays rent in NYC have to rely on space heaters?That’s the question that seems to be missing from all of the headlines.
The space heater is not the culprit.
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@emilybell
💯
People keep asking me “can you believe this is happening”?
I answer “Yes, I have been warning about this for 4 years now”.
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Hey
#Facebook
employees: take it from me, you’re not going to change
#Zuckerberg
’s ideology or drive to dominate the industry. I accomplished nothing when I worked there, because I fundamentally wanted to protect democracy over profit.
There is life on the other side, I promise.
I just got a leak about the leaks. A Facebook spokesperson just wrote this on an internal message board.
Employees who send reporters information do so largely because they believe they are not being heard or that change is not possible via internal mechanisms.
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12/ And no matter how much Facebook PR tries to discredit me, I can retain my sense of self and integrity. That's a gift
@sheeraf
&
@ceciliakang
gave me. Sadly, we cannot hold these companies accountable if people are silenced, shamed, or scared into not speaking truth to power.
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Facebook doubles down. Reminder: this is NOT about "freedom of speech". As said in my OpEd, "FB profits partly by amplifying lies and selling dangerous targeting tools that allow political operatives to engage in a new level of information warfare". Here:
Breaking News: Facebook said it wouldn't make any major changes to its political advertising policies, which allow lies in ads, despite pressure from lawmakers
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@SamanthaJPower
@facebook
@realDonaldTrump
@JoeBiden
Facebook hired me to head Elections Integrity ops for political ads. I asked if we could scan ads for misinfo. Engineers had great ideas. Higher ups were silent. Free speech is b.s. answer when FB takes $ for ads.Time to regulate ads same as tv and print. Enough of this immunity.
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As a former natl security professional, I knew lying to the FBI is stupid. Heck, everyone knows this.
“A sitting national security adviser, former head of an intelligence agency, retired lieutenant general ...knows he should not lie to federal agents”.
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5/ It solidified what I knew in my gut: FB had made intentional decisions that harmed democracy. I'd taken the job w/ a grain of cautious optimism that I could help make a difference. The gaslighting while I was there was intense and at times made me question my own competence.
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I guess I have to add
@Reuters
to my list of companies who facilitate & spread disinformation. That’s a shame. Well, to be fair, he did actually score goals. So maybe not facilitator of disinfo as much as absurd pawn in obvious Russian information operations campaign.
Same same.
ICYMI: Russian President Vladimir Putin, a judo black belt who has often showed off his sporting prowess, scored several goals in a game of ice hockey
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This piece says it all. It’s not about free speech. It’s about aligning w/power. I’m quoted saying it’s “the biggest test of whether [FB] will ever truly put society and democracy ahead of profit and ideology.” Answer is clear: not unless forced to. Read👇🏼
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My piece today: Former Intel. Official: American Hate Is a Bigger Threat Than Foreign Terrorism via
@TIMEIdeas
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1/Some reflections ahead of 1/6 anniversary: We still haven't held those responsible to account; not Trump, his advisors, certain media personalities nor Facebook. This🧵though's mostly about FB, from my observations working there+all we've learned since. Accountability matters.
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A plea to those covering Facebook: please stop saying this is more serious because it's not "just a disgruntled former employee" this time (as Blumenthal just did). I get why it's a strong point, but it perpetuates FB's campaign to discredit those of us who spoke out publicly.👇🏽
As some journalists & FB employees believed FB’s efforts to discredit me, this thread from the lead reporter of WSJ’s important series “The Facebook Files” means a lot to me. I hope more people w/true knowledge find courage+support to speak up for the public good. 🙏
@JeffHorwitz
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Translation: “We welcome regulation, but only if it is 100% on our terms and to our benefit. Otherwise, f*
#k
you. We are more powerful than your government and will make you hurt”. Did I interpret Facebook’s response accurately?
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I don’t believe press should invite Clegg again until he agrees to share the interview w/ one of FB’s “critics”, but at least
@DanaBashCNN
pressed him on this crucial point. Frankly, it’s time to stop giving PR time & insist on data access for Congress & academics to investigate.
CNN's Dana Bash: "Did the algorithms that are in place amplify pro-insurrection voices ahead of Jan. 6? Yes or no?"
Facebook's Nick Clegg: "I can't give you a yes or no answer to the individual, personalized feeds that each person uses."
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@joshscampbell
@jonathanvswan
Wow, imagine how my polygraphs would have gone back when I had security clearances if I’d said, “I don’t know, it’s hard to do hypotheticals” when asked what I’d do if a foreign adversary emailed me. (Spoiler alert: it would not have gone well).
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Important piece by
@CraigSilverman
&
@RMac18
. Facebook’s decisions on far-right content are political, not some grand defense of free speech or democracy. I’ve tried to point this out in pieces about my time working on election integrity at FB. (Thread)
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“Facebook was, until recently, one of
@NPR
’s sponsors”. Interesting. When I was on
@MorningEdition
Monday, I believe they said FB was a sponsor. Wonder what happened,
@shannonpareil
? Who pulled the plug? FB? Or NPR?
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@slpng_giants
Or that the desire to be rich means being smarter than the desire to serve the public.
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2/ On the book: by now it’s hard to dispute Facebook’s role in affecting discourse & democracy. But the authors spoke to more employees than any other account and show the receipts. The pattern of negligence, deflecting responsibility, choosing “company over country” is stark.
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8/ It took 8 months for me to speak publicly, finally telling some of my story here:
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U.S. government says Iran is behind these threatening emails. This is serious elections interference, engaging in voter intimidation and trying to stoke further division and hate.
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When I was at Facebook, I couldn't understand why none of the things I tried to ask/do/explore--combating disinfo in political ads, building voter suppression plan--and was specifically hired to do were rejected or ignored. This paragraph confirms what I've been saying since. 2/
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As Trump threatens an executive order today to punish
@Twitter
for doing the most minor fact check on him, re-upping my piece about Section 230 and platform immunity.
@EllenLWeintraub
@davidakaye
and I went into great detail about political speech on social media. Read & watch 👇🏼
Who bears responsibility for the real-world consequences of tech? My piece today argues it’s time to upgrade the rules that govern the internet, as discussed w/
@EllenLWeintraub
&
@davidakaye
at our
@sxsw
panel. Our democracy is at stake. Read on:
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9/ So when Facebook PR tries to paint people like me as “disgruntled” or, as they have directly told journalists, “someone who is just trying to make a name for herself based on her short time here”, it makes me even more indignant.
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Facebook VP Monica Bickert doesn't know if Facebook employees have to sign NDAs? Complete B.S.! Of course she knows, she must've had to sign one herself.
@ChrisCoonsforDE
asks the critical question about how we can learn about these algorithms if employees are silenced by NDAs.
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What the actual F*%K? So
@WSJ
breaks the "Facebook Files", working with a whistleblower for months to help expose the platforms' threats to the public. But then they print an Op-Ed full of lies and conspiracies from the former President, who isn't even allowed on FB or Twitter?🤬
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@karaswisher
WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN? Transparency? Can I see the email list a political advertiser uploads into custom audience tool? Can I see what look alike audience advertiser is seeking? Can I see a true, verified name of advertiser in the disclaimer? Can I see how algorithm amplified ad?
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How am I supposed to get any work done while THIS is staring at me? I feel emotionally manipulated.
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