The social network behind your back, the metaverse in front. And in between other revelations that cast Facebook in a bad light as it did not happen since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in four years which were also stormy. From the repeated accusations of privacy violation to the spread of fake news, from the Antitrust investigations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to the political use of the platform, up to the revelations of Frances Haugen, the former executive who told the media as in the offices of Menlo Park the only rule always respected is that of profit.
I Facebook Papers
Now the Facebook Papers probably open the worst crisis ever for Mark Zuckerberg: the 10,000 pages of internal documents delivered to the SEC offer a disturbing picture of the mechanisms by which the social network operates. The first newspaper to publish articles taken from these documents was the Wall Street Journal between September and October, but Haugen then decided to make them available to other newspapers, 17 American and European in all, with an embargo that expired on Monday 25. October. Here is the continuously updated list of articles related to Facebook Papers. Everything comes out of it: unheard reports, ignored alarms, calls to action fallen on deaf ears, agreements with governments and interference from managers to pave the way for politicians and VIPs. There is also an allegation that the platform is used for human trafficking.
Zuckerberg’s (necessary) resignation
by Riccardo Luna
“An open culture”
CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spent the past four years publicly apologizing, but for some time he seems more determined to counter: “Bona fide criticism helps us improve but I think we’re seeing a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint. a false image of our company, “he said on the sidelines of the financial results for the last quarter. Very positive, despite everything: profit rose 17% to 9.1 billion dollars, on revenues up 35% to 29.01 billion, while users worldwide are over 2.9 billion (both even with some doubts about the reliability of these numbers). “The reality – he added – is that we have an open culture that encourages discussion and research on our work, so that we can make progress on many complex issues that do not specifically concern us”.
What’s inside
According to articles published by the newspapers that analyzed the Facebook Papers, Zuckerberg, champion of freedom of expression in the United States, would have bowed to the request of the Vietnamese Communist Party to censor anti-government posts. Not doing so would have exposed the social network to the risk of ending up offline in the country where, according to some estimates, it makes a billion in revenues a year. The CEO would also be responsible for various decisions on posts about politicians and celebrities. The documents reveal interference from managers to allow VIPs to post anything regardless of any violations of the rules. “In many cases the decision on non-compliance” by high-profile people “was made by managers and in some cases by Zuckerberg,” an employee denounced.
The fight against bad or false information – the employees denounced again – is undermined by political considerations. The problem of hate speech is particularly evident in countries where languages other than English are spoken, where the greatest efforts are concentrated to refine the algorithm and introduce human moderation: for example India, Ethiopia, the Middle East.
There was a way to use Facebook less but it was canceled
by Pier Luigi Pisa
The Trump case
In addition to casting shadows on Zuckerberg himself, the documents raise many doubts about Facebook’s role in the misinformation about the election and the January 6 attack in Washington, with the inability to act on Donald Trump’s fans’ Stop the Steal movement. . Internal research has shown the awareness of the managers of the company on the problems related to hate speech and disinformation, to which the products created by Facebook and its policies contribute. The Atlantic writes extensively about it, in a very long report based on Facebook Papers, where internal messages from employees are also published
The messages
As Trump supporters attack Capitol Hill, an employee writes on Workspace, the internal chat in which Zuckerberg and all the leaders of the social network also participate: “It is one of the darkest days in the history of democracy and self-government. History is not there. he will judge with kindness. ” “I’m tired of clichés; I want measures,” writes another. “We are not a neutral entity.” “There were dozens of Stop the Steal groups active until yesterday, and I doubt they kept their intentions under wraps. Again, I greatly appreciate your response and dialogue, but I am simply exhausted. from the weight here. We are Facebook, not a naive start-up. With the unprecedented resources we have, we should do better. ” And yet another: “Not only do we not take action against electoral misinformation in the comments, but we amplify them and give them a wider distribution. Why?”
Facebook has handled the concerns of its employees in various ways. One of his most intelligent tactics is to underline, as Zuckerberg did, the company’s “open culture”: formally it professes the utmost transparency, but in fact the substance of the complaints is ignored.
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