Discussion

• @clarajeffery @clarajeffery on x

  1/ I am enraged. Excellent reporting from WSJ's @dseetharaman and @EmilyGlazer finds that Facebook engineers—with sign-off from Zuckerberg himself—retooled their algorithm to throttle traffic to high-value progressive news orgs, @MotherJones IN PARTICULAR https://www.wsj.com/... …

• @clarajeffery @clarajeffery on x

  14/ @bendreyfuss, head of MoJo's social media team, wrote about what it means to be lied to (perhaps b/c they're unwittingly passing along lies of their bosses) by FB counterparts. But per what I'm learning, FB just lied to him, again, here: https://www.motherjones.com/ ... https…

• @russchoma @russchoma on x

  It's been a very hard four years to be a reporter. The constant firehouse of news is exhausting, but we've been delivering great journalism and important investigative stories that aren't political - it's gutting to know someone was intentionally stifling their reach. https://twi…

• @rossbarkan Ross Barkan on x

  Journalists begging large tech companies to more aggressively regulate speech on their platforms need to understand one probable outcome is the suppression of actual news organizations. None of this ends well. https://www.motherjones.com/ ...

• @suehalpernvt Sue Halpern on x

  Prediction: if the Dems win, @facebook will reverse course and start pandering to the left. Craven leadership leads to craven behavior and a defensive line of 65 lobbyists to hold regulation at bay. https://twitter.com/...

• @moonalice Roger McNamee on x

  Every time I think we have seen the limit of FB's bad behavior, another day begins and we discover some new horror. Throttling @MotherJones? WTF is wrong with these people? https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  On the flip side, Breitbart had its independent newsguard rating dropped 20 points into a clear “Red” rating. I do wonder if this was enough to persuade Facebook news and product people they could ignore Facebook lobbyist Joel Kaplan. What a mess. https://twitter.com/... https://…

• @taraemcg Tara McGowan on x

  🚨 WSJ confirms what we've suspected: Mark Zuckerberg directly intervened to prevent progressive news orgs like @CourierNewsroom from being included in Facebook's News Tab, while sharing meals with Ben Shapiro + exchanging texts with Jared Kushner 🚨 https://www.wsj.com/...

• @ericboehlert Eric Boehlert on x

  FB picked Ben Shapiro as winner, Mother Jones aa loser; https://www.motherjones.com/ ...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  “After the launch last year of Courier Newsroom, a network of eight progressive local-news sites that is part-owned by a left-leaning nonprofit with close ties to Democratic donors, Mr. Zuckerberg argued that Courier wasn't a real news outlet” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @monteiro Mike Monteiro on x

  Happy Friday, Facebook workers! Made it to the weekend! Woo. But Monday you have to go back to the company that does this: https://www.motherjones.com/ ...

• @davidfolkenflik David Folkenflik on x

  Contrast this with claims FB and Twitter are inherently hostile to conservative outfits - dispute this week's news, usually FB bends over backward not to alienate the right https://twitter.com/...

• @lpolgreen Lydia Polgreen on x

  This is an outrage. https://twitter.com/...

• @alibreland Ali Breland on x

  cool for facebook to take a news organization that does deep and serious investigative reporting and breaks real news and offer it up as a blood sacrifice to appease the people at the daily wire who don't even pretend try and put up lazy stories like this on their home page https…

• @nickmartin Nick Martin on x

  As I was saying, this is not an accident or a result of the right being more engaged on Facebook. The company has built into its algorithms a bias in favor of conservative and far-right websites. It's rigged against the left. https://twitter.com/...

• @grady_booch Grady Booch on x

  Attention to any developers who wrote this code at @Facebook: I condemn your actions, and suggest that you review your life choices. https://twitter.com/...

• @wiczipedia Nina Jankowicz on x

  More evidence of the dismantling of our democracy via social media..... https://twitter.com/...

• @kentremendous Ken Tremendous on x

  This is tantamount to saying, “I know we're biased, but being biased is the way we can make the most money.” https://twitter.com/...

• @gregolear Greg Olear on x

  Which one's the handler? https://twitter.com/...

• @tomwatson Tom Watson on x

  Guys like Zuck think billions is a lot - when his wealth is barely a zit on the ass of federal power. When it turns, it will turn very hard on him. https://twitter.com/...

• @techwontsaveus @techwontsaveus on x

  New WSJ report confirms Mark Zuckerberg directly intervened against progressive news orgs and to help right-wing media on Facebook. Meanwhile, he kept in close contract with Ben Shapiro, Jared Kushner, and others. These decisions fuel the far-right more than FB's algorithms. http…

• @davidcorndc David Corn on x

  Please read this whole thread. @Facebook purposefully screwed over @MotherJones and other progressive media. You can fight back. See the appeal at the end of the thread. https://twitter.com/...

• @khanoisseur @khanoisseur on x

  Apparently Mark Zuckerberg had Ben Shapiro and other conservative commentators over for dinner 🥘 ... what is he up to? https://twitter.com/...

• @maxberger @maxberger on x

  Zuckerberg has helped the rise of fascism, part 3214829. If you work at @Facebook, organize your co-workers to form a union. https://twitter.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  This is a very consequential thread for journalists. If your newsroom or research organisation benefits from platform support, never forget the practices on the other side of that bargain : https://twitter.com/...

• @patcaldwell Patrick Caldwell on x

  Thanks Mark! https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @dnvolz @dnvolz on x

  When FB tweaked its algorithm to minimize political news, executives were concerned about the outsize impact of the changes on the right, including The Daily Wire. So the changes were redesigned and left-leaning sites like @MotherJones were hit harder. https://www.wsj.com/... htt…

• @slhamlet Wagner James Au on x

  San Francisco-based staff at Facebook found to be actively blocking web traffic to San Francisco-based liberal publication @MotherJones — a move personally approved by Facebook's CEO, who ironically lives just a few blocks from Mother Jones' EIC @ClaraJeffery in San Francisco. ht…

• @govhowarddean Howard Dean on x

  What Zuck doesn't seem to get is that his company has become a vehicle for racists, neo nazis and conspiracy theorists. His staff seems to be a lot smarter than he is. https://twitter.com/...

• @davidcorndc David Corn on x

  Look at how @Facebook and Zuckerberg tried to screw progressive news outlets and @MotherJones. I am sure all the conservative anti-cancel and free-speech advocates will denounce this, right? https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @grantstern Grant Stern on x

  As one of the original @OccupyDemocrats website crew, I witnessed that firsthand. Unsurprising. https://twitter.com/...

• @nickconfessore Nick Confessore on x

  Rare nugget that actually deserves the 👀 emoji, from @dseetharaman https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @bizcarson Biz Carson on x

  It's not just Republicans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her staff have refused to meet with Facebook representatives for months, sources tell @birnbaum_e https://www.protocol.com/...

• @robrousseau Rob on x

  facebook isn't even a social network, it's a far right media company that has melted the brains of a generation of people https://twitter.com/...

• @sahilkapur Sahil Kapur on x

  “Mr. Zuckerberg has lectured Facebook's broadly left-leaning staff about the need to understand that their user base is more conservative, and defended decisions not to remove posts from Mr. Trump that some employees argue violated Facebook's rules.” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @leavittalone John Leavitt on x

  “Listen nerds this only makes money cause I can sell the data of the top 100 million enraged uncles most likely to fall for a phishing scam so shut your lib mouths and get back to pushing Daily Stormer links.” https://twitter.com/...

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  So imagine if folks had believed Black employees and Black USERS and content. First And not just distilled it down to “ algorithms” It was RACISM . https://twitter.com/...

• @heathat Heather Timmons on x

  “Mr. Zuckerberg has lectured Facebook's broadly left-leaning staff about the need to understand that their user base is more conservative” https://twitter.com/...

• @mirandayaver Miranda Yaver on x

  Imagine thinking that Ben Shapiro is the guy with whom you should be having long political and philosophical discussions. https://twitter.com/...

• @yoda Drew Olanoff on x

  politics = power https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  So Jared Kushner appears to have a lot of Mark Zuckerberg's ear according to this WSJ report. Neither know or care much about the public at-large based on their records. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @thor_benson Thor Benson on x

  This dinner sounds like my worst nightmare. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x

  In recent years, Zuckerberg has dined with Trump. He's got a WhatsApp thread with Jared Kushner. He's discussed rival tech companies TikTok and Apple with lawmakers & government officials, per sources. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @zackdigregorio Zack DiGregorio on x

  Would love to learn what makes the Daily Wire a more veritable fact checker than @CourierNewsroom other than Facebook wanting to cover its own ass, because it seems Facebook is just trying to cover its own ass and causing extraordinary harm in the process https://www.wsj.com/...

• @_claireconnelly Claire Connelly on x

  By repeatedly being hauled before Congress to testify before people who know nothing about technology for consecutive sham trials without consequence that successively gave his company more power to write it's own regulation then lobby heavily for it. /End https://www.wsj.com/...

• @nycsouthpaw Southpaw on x

  “Mr. Zuckerberg invited Mr. Shapiro to dinner at his house last year, the people said."https://www.wsj.com/...

• @asmith83 Adam Smith on x

  These Zuck stories always have this interesting language where Mark is “forging” relationships by meeting with conservatives while meeting with liberals is always seen as adversarial. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @jayshams Jacob Shamsian on x

  Well this helps explain how Ben Shapiro is the most popular person on Facebook. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @can Can Duruk on x

  Seriously, can you imagine enjoying Ben Shapiro's company? https://twitter.com/...

• @anthony Anthony DeRosa on x

  “Mr. Zuckerberg is now an active political operator. He has dined with President Trump, talks regularly with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and has pressed lawmakers and officials to scrutinize rivals including TikTok and Apple Inc.” https://www.wsj.com/...

• @dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x

  New: It was once nigh impossible to get Mark Zuckerberg interested in politics. But over the last few years, as Facebook has lurched from one controversy to the next, he's built himself into something of a political operator. Story w/ @EmilyGlazer. https://www.wsj.com/...

• @maxboot Max Boot on x

  Facebook and Twitter are private-sector companies and they have no obligation to pass along possible Russian disinformation. That's not “censorship.” It's editorial judgment, and it's something we need more of online. @PostOpinions https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @vijaya Vijaya Gadde on x

  So, what's changing? 1. We will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them 2. We will label Tweets to provide context instead of blocking links from being shared on Twitter

• @nxthompson @nxthompson on x

  Twitter should never let people share hacked materials! Right? Wait, what then about the police docs this past June? Or the Panama Papers? The company's confusing backpedaling is not a help. But there is a tough line to define here. https://www.wired.com/...

• @thedextriarchy Adi Robertson on x

  Facebook/Twitter restricting the New York Post's Hunter Biden story is a mess, so I tried to break down the important pieces of it. https://www.theverge.com/...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  Breaking WaPo: U.S. intelligence agencies warned the White House last year that Rudy Giuliani was the target of an influence operation by Russian intelligence, according to four former officials familiar with the matter. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @fridaghitis Frida Ghitis on x

  The Hunter Biden story looks more and more like a hostile foreign power's effort to influence the US election https://twitter.com/...

• @bgurley Bill Gurley on x

  Wrt censoring information on social networks, I strongly agree with @benthompson idea of solving the problem with “more speech.” Allow others to tag, highlight, challenge. Asking companies to censor makes them more powerful, not less. Quite ironic considering other concerns.

• @joshuahol Joshua Holland on x

  But working the refs is effective! https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @ericboehlert Eric Boehlert on x

  Twitter found its spine for 12 hrs....then caved to GOP bullying; https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @stacyontheright @stacyontheright on x

  Selectively enforced policies are censorship. Explain it to the Judiciary Conmittee. https://twitter.com/...

• @gregpmiller Greg Miller on x

  Trump aides delivered stark warning to the president in December: “Your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine” https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...

• @andrewsweiss Andrew S. Weiss on x

  The shock of watching Trump/Giuliani gleefully embrace Russian disinformation/influence operations never wears off. @gregpmiller @nakashimae @shaneharris https://twitter.com/...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  The warnings led national security adviser O'Brien to caution Trump in a private convo that any info Giuliani brought back should be considered contaminated by Russia. The message was, “Do what you want to do, but your friend Rudy has been worked by Russian assets in Ukraine.” ht…

• @briannormoyle @briannormoyle on x

  Russian intelligence worked Trump's personal lawyer to feed him disinformation and the White House has known about it since last year. Trump shrugged it off when warned about it. Our democracy will not survive four more years of this. #VOTE https://twitter.com/...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  “Several senior admin officials ‘all had a common understanding’ that Giuliani was being targeted by the Russians, said the former official who recounted O'Brien's intervention. That group included A.G. William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and White Counsel Pat Cipollone.”…

• @ericg1247 Eric Garcia on x

  So he is a russian spy or an idiot???? https://twitter.com/...

• @kylegriffin1 Kyle Griffin on x

  The warnings were based on multiple sources, including intercepted communications, that showed Giuliani was interacting with people tied to Russian intel during a 2019 trip to Ukraine. The intel raised concerns that Giuliani was being used to feed Russian misinformation to Trump.…

• @kasparov63 Garry Kasparov on x

  The Trump administration and his cronies are always shocking and never surprising. https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  But! Twitter will still continue to block links to the NYPost story under a *separate* policy, because the story contains links to email addresses and personal information, which are not allowed on the site. tune in tomorrow for our next installment https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  the NYP*st story raised a fresh round of rancor between conservatives, Twtr and FB, and has raised questions concerning content moderation policies — all a mere 19 days before the most consequential election in years w/ @kateconger https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @rokhanna Ro Khanna on x

  This is an admirable reversal consistent with 1st Amendment principles that allowed for the publication of the Pentagon Papers and Wikileaks Iraq War logs. Appreciate your willingness to engage in a deliberative process. @jack @vijaya @ryangrim @ggreenwald https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  This will make no one feel assured weeks ahead of a major election about how much this is happening in real time — as I wrote about Facebook, it's random and its chaotic: Twitter changes policy that blocked a New York Post story about Biden's son https://www.washingtonpost.com/ .…

• @jess Jessica Verrilli on x

  This is such a hard job but I have total faith @vijaya and the Twitter team are acting in a principled manner, listening to the feedback, and transparently evolving. https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffseibert Jeff Seibert on x

  Vijaya has had one of the hardest jobs in tech for years. You may not always agree with her, but I can vouch that she (and her team) considers every issue carefully, and they care deeply. Props for sharing their thoughts clearly and quickly. This is not easy. https://twitter.com/…

• @jackposobiec Jack Posobiec on x

  How do you verify what content is hacked and what isn't? Steve Scully falsely claimed his Twitter was hacked just this week https://twitter.com/...

• @alexstamos Alex Stamos on x

  This seems like a reasonable change. It's appropriate for social media platforms to prevent themselves from being used as the initial distribution point for a hack-forge-leak, but not once the stories hit the press. Twitter and Facebook can't fix bad journalism. https://twitter.c…

• @mtaibbi Matt Taibbi on x

  While Facebook says the New York Post story must be kept out of sight until verified, the standard for the Steele dossier was opposite. In that case, we were told “raw intelligence” should be published so that “Americans can make up their own minds.” https://taibbi.substack.com/ …

• @tomgara Tom Gara on x

  My memory of the dossier getting published was there was near universal criticism from chin-stroking Serious Journalism types about how irresponsible it was to publish it https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  i was kidding yesterday when i said tune in tomorrow but..... NEW: twitter has changed its policy *again* and will now allow people to share the NYPost story links because the article and information has been widely disseminated and is no longer private https://www.nytimes.com/..…

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  And so ends yet another magical ride aboard the Twitter rollercoaster https://twitter.com/...

• @kateconger O...K on x

  Twitter has lifted its restrictions on the NY Post article https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @dellcam My Beautiful Son Dell on x

  twitter went from “if someone hacked it, you can't tweet it” one day to “fuck it, tweet this guy's phone number lol” the next https://twitter.com/...

• @bostonjoan Joan Donovan on x

  Reactive retraction of their own policy decisions shows just how vulnerable platform companies are to political pressure. https://twitter.com/...

• @tripgabriel Trip Gabriel on x

  Context on GOP attacks on Twitter & FB: “It has been known for months that RU intelligence was using allies in Ukraine...Intelligence officials warned Rs in Congress that people they were seeking information from were conduits for RU disinformation.” https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @anibundel Undead Ani Bundel on x

  This would be a whole lot more straightforward if Twitter would ban it for honest reasons: That it's obviously a planted story designed to interfere with the election & its Twitter's civil duty to deplatform it. https://twitter.com/...

• @patrickmgleason @patrickmgleason on x

  So Twitter realized the standard they set (claimed to have set two years ago), if equally applied, would require tons of reporting to be censored. So they made up a new reason for blocking the NY Post link. Got it. https://twitter.com/...

• @timmarchman Tim Marchman on x

  Twitter takes bold stance against poorly reported story citing shady crooks as key sources, unless that makes anyone mad, in which case they're fine with it! https://twitter.com/...

• @ggreenwald Glenn Greenwald on x

  There are lots of valid criticisms of Twitter — I obviously believe what they did this week was dangerously wrong — but they continue to be one of the best large companies, certainly tech companies, for engaging their critics and being responsive and candid in admitting error: ht…

• @genepark @genepark on x

  the extent to which we have huge national debates about chat moderator rules is going to turn me into the joker https://twitter.com/...

• @thatallencovert Allen Covert on x

  Can't stop the signal Mal. https://twitter.com/...

• @aaristi1976 Andres Aristizabal on x

  That's some crazy logic. They basically gave up and let the doors swing open all the way. https://twitter.com/...

• @shiringhaffary Shirin Ghaffary on x

  After facing pressure from Republicans, Twitter has now reversed course on how it's handling the unsubstantiated NY Post story. https://twitter.com/...

• @selviano Michael Selvidge on x

  having a consistent, full time CEO might help to minimize the dithering and flailing around. Just a thought https://twitter.com/...

• @jamespmcleod James Mcleod on x

  Working the refs ... works. https://twitter.com/...

• @jinnihtx Jinni on x

  “In his New York Times op-ed last October, ... Matt Stoller described Facebook and Google as “global monopolies sitting astride public discourse,” https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  I agree with this. Eliminating tools spreading the post is a good call but I was uncomfortable with blocking of links. The label and removing social tools is better. “The company has since increasingly opted to label tweets, adding context or saying if they glorified violence.” h…

• @fmanjoo Farhad Manjoo on x

  we're changing the policy that led to this but it also violates another policy https://twitter.com/...