Sources describe how Mark Zuckerberg, who was once uninterested in politics, transformed himself into an active political operator during the Trump era
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/... https://twitter.com/... @clarajeffery : 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://twitter.com/... Ross Barkan / @rossbarkan : 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/ ... Roger McNamee / @moonalice : 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/... Tara McGowan / @taraemcg : 🚨 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/... Mathew Ingram / @mathewi : “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/... Sue Halpern / @suehalpernvt : 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/... Patrick Caldwell / @patcaldwell : Thanks Mark! https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... @dnvolz : 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/... https://twitter.com/... Ali Breland / @alibreland : 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://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ken Tremendous / @kentremendous : 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/... Eric Boehlert / @ericboehlert : FB picked Ben Shapiro as winner, Mother Jones aa loser; https://www.motherjones.com/ ... David Corn / @davidcorndc : 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 : Apparently Mark Zuckerberg had Ben Shapiro and other conservative commentators over for dinner 🥘 ... what is he up to? https://twitter.com/... Greg Olear / @gregolear : Which one's the handler? https://twitter.com/... David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik : 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/... @maxberger : 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/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : 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://twitter.com/... Emily Bell / @emilybell : 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/... Mike Monteiro / @monteiro : 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/ ... @techwontsaveus : 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. https://twitter.com/... Nick Martin / @nickmartin : 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/... Lydia Polgreen / @lpolgreen : This is an outrage. https://twitter.com/... Grady Booch / @grady_booch : 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/... Tom Watson / @tomwatson : 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/... Nina Jankowicz / @wiczipedia : More evidence of the dismantling of our democracy via social media..... https://twitter.com/... Wagner James Au / @slhamlet : 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. https://twitter.com/... Howard Dean / @govhowarddean : 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/... David Corn / @davidcorndc : 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/... Grant Stern / @grantstern : As one of the original @OccupyDemocrats website crew, I witnessed that firsthand. Unsurprising. https://twitter.com/... Nick Confessore / @nickconfessore : Rare nugget that actually deserves the 👀 emoji, from @dseetharaman https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Biz Carson / @bizcarson : 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/... Rob / @robrousseau : 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/... Sahil Kapur / @sahilkapur : “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/... John Leavitt / @leavittalone : “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 : 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/... Heather Timmons / @heathat : “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/... Miranda Yaver / @mirandayaver : Imagine thinking that Ben Shapiro is the guy with whom you should be having long political and philosophical discussions. https://twitter.com/... Drew Olanoff / @yoda : politics = power https://twitter.com/... Jason Kint / @jason_kint : 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 : This dinner sounds like my worst nightmare. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : 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/... Zack DiGregorio / @zackdigregorio : 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/... Claire Connelly / @_claireconnelly : 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/... Southpaw / @nycsouthpaw : “Mr. Zuckerberg invited Mr. Shapiro to dinner at his house last year, the people said."https://www.wsj.com/... Adam Smith / @asmith83 : 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/... Jacob Shamsian / @jayshams : Well this helps explain how Ben Shapiro is the most popular person on Facebook. https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Can Duruk / @can : Seriously, can you imagine enjoying Ben Shapiro's company? https://twitter.com/... Anthony DeRosa / @anthony : “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/... Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : 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/... See also Mediagazer