Discussion

• @rebekahktromble Dr. Rebekah Tromble on x

  A great profile of @katieharbath by @JeffHorwitz @WSJ. Much respect for Katie and the important work underway at the @Integrity_Inst. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @newley Newley Purnell on x

  Facebook's Former Elections Boss Now Questions Social Media's Impact on Politics “I still believe social media has done more good than harm in politics, but it's close,” says @katieharbath. “Maybe it's 52-48—and trending south.” By @JeffHorwitz: https://www.wsj.com/...

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  This is one of my favorite examples of Katie's suggested approach — that election risks need to be rethought for the current age, and that doing so shouldn't just be the platforms' job. It's an uncontroversial, even kinda boring way to head off something unbelievably dark.

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  I talked to @katieharbath regularly last year, and found her concerns about social media and elections to be both measured and scary as hell. One example: her argument that our habit in the US of protracted post-election ballot counting is reckless. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  This isn't a “social media problem” — it's a “failure of elections to adapt to social media problem.” No matter how much work platforms put into tamping down conspiracy theories during extended post-election vote tabulation, the discourse will get increasingly nuts.

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  Rule of thumb is that if you were at Facebook after the UN accused the firm of facilitating genocide you have no grounds for calling yourself a reformer.

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  Whether FB appropriately handled Stop the Steal is a secondary question, and one that people outside Meta have only a limited ability to influence. But GA, PA and AZ could arguably have prevented their elections (and election officials) from being drawn into crazytown.

• @can @can on x

  ahh it's that time of the year where ex-facebook people try to wash away their crimes after having made bank... https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  I'm not bubbling with optimism these days, but if there's something concretely positive that came out of the last year of FB news, it's that these sorts of folks are out talking to press, legislators etc. Here's hoping for more.

• @edbott Ed Bott on x

  Hello, I made millions off Facebook's toxic platform. Now I'm spending a tiny percentage of that to clean up the mess I made. https://www.cnn.com/...

• @nkulw @nkulw on x

  Lol I remember trying to talk to her for stories when I covered FB four years ago at Vice. So glad she's speaking to press now that she's made bank and wants to be recognized as a good person ♥️ https://twitter.com/...

• @can @can on x

  every ex-facebooker profile has to start with “i fucked by working for a sociapath and I know repent my sins” or something of the sort

• @kombiz @kombiz on x

  Katie was one of the highest profile Republicans in Facebook. Since so much of Facebooks domestic problems stem from the platform cowtowing to the american right wing media, something she understands well - this shouldn't be sm focused. It should be what cons inside fb did https:…

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  This was arguably true in 2000, before the advent of MySpace. But with social media in the picture, there's a solid case that the price for dithering got higher in 2020, with vast election fraud conspiracies being created from snippets of opportunistically misinterpreted footage.

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  Katie's not a doom and gloom sort, and frames ballot counting delays as an chance to fix something rather than a disaster in the making. I offhandedly said it seemed important to sort out before November 2024. She interrupted me to say she's worried about the primaries first.

• @bigblackjacobin Edward Ongweso Jr on x

  [Picture with caption: “We're all trying to find the guy who did this"]

• @melissaryan Melissa Ryan on x

  This attempt at a rebrand is gross. Katie led a lot of Facebook's election work! What's sad is that it will probably work. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  She's gone skate because we consistently let the race and gender issues , WHICH SHE OVERSAW slide . https://twitter.com/...

• @soychicka @soychicka on x

  Again, maybe part of the problem is only paying attn to people who worked inside the company rather than those outside who accurately predicted the potential risks social media pose to society and democracy and thusly would NOT work to facilitate that threat. #bringBackOTA https:…

• @gchaslot @gchaslot on x

  Ouch. Coming from Facebook's former election boss this is quite telling. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  I'm fairly certain her scorekeeping skills lost all credibility during the post-2016 cover-up which included her office. But sure... have at it. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  Yes, I don't have a lot of tolerance for ex-Facebookers who play the card, “I tried to do it from the inside the company [for ten years].” It's false, they were on the side of protecting the company and its profits. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  People who helped build Facebook cannot be trusted to reform Facebook. I really have no idea why anyone takes this crap seriously. https://www.wsj.com/...