Discussion

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  The most widely viewed page on Facebook last quarter was removed for violating the company's Community Standards. We don't know what the page even was. It reached 121.8 million people. My colleague @jolingkent has asked Meta to tell us what it is, and they've refused. https://twi…

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  The #1 most viewed post on Facebook in Q4 was a recycled TikTok with an emoji covering the watermark. The #12 post was a video that was posted from TikTok to YouTube before being turned into a Reel. Grim stuff. https://twitter.com/...

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  This report, in which Facebook redacts the identity of the most popular page on its entire platform and refuses to discuss it, is part of Facebook's “Transparency Center” and is literally hosted at “transparency dot fb dot com” https://transparency.fb.com/ ... https://twitter.com…

• @jolingkent Jo Ling Kent on x

  Despite my repeated requests, Meta tells me the company has nothing more share about the most widely viewed page on Facebook last quarter that was taken down for violating their rules. 121.8 mln were people reached. It violated the rules. But Facebook will not share anything. htt…

• @oneunderscore__ Ben Collins on x

  Facebook has been a lot better about transparency, but if they won't tell us what the No. 1 most viewed page was on their platform in their quarterly Transparency Report, it's hard to take the whole thing seriously.

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  So why is everyone continuing to use research methods that depend on Meta ? https://twitter.com/...

• @mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x

  The Most Widely Viewed Facebook Pages in the U.S 1. Unknown (Facebook removed Page) 2. Thinkarete 3. WomenWorking. com 4. Do You Remember When 5. Newsner 6. LADBible Australia 7. The Dodo 8. 3AM Thoughts 9. 97.1 QMG 10. Eric Alper https://t.co/8OSVx5AbEd

• @sub8u Subrahmanyam Kvj on x

  We love transparency. Our version of transparency. https://twitter.com/...

• @charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x

  Ironically, now seems that the most widely viewed page on Facebook last quarter was a meme page called That Ain't Right which then got pulled for doing some (unspecified) shady stuff involving inauthentic content. https://twitter.com/...

• @alexeheath Alex Heath on x

  bizarre for Meta to publish this and not say what the page was https://twitter.com/...

• @alexhern @alexhern on x

  Incredible transparency report work https://twitter.com/...

• @rmac18 Ryan Mac on x

  I don't really understand why Facebook puts itself in these positions. It does more than most large platforms in terms of disclosure, but creating these “transparency” reports and then pulling the rug out just makes them a target for criticism. https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  Another problem with relying on top content lists as a meaningful reflection of favored platform content: FB/Meta has warning systems for material that is poised to break into the top ranks and curates accordingly. Not saying they shouldn't - just that it introduces artifice. htt…

• @brianboland @brianboland on x

  @brandonsilverm @CaseyNewton It's a Fauxsparency report - it is just meant to give the appearance of increased transparency while failing to provide the data for real transparency. Nothing more than a PR move.

• @mhbergen Mark Bergen on x

  How did this YT channel... get 30.3 million... views on Facebook last quarter? (#14 in “widely viewed links” listicle) https://transparency.fb.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @thecultureofme @thecultureofme on x

  facebook has always been the place where normies watch memes that are months old https://twitter.com/...

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  The WVCR is weird for many reasons (ask me why if you have 3 hours sometime!), but it's also an useful window into Facebook's decline as a platform for original content. Of the 10 most viewed links on FB in Q4, for example, more than half were to YouTube or TikTok. https://twitte…

• @brandonsilverm Brandon Silverman on x

  @CaseyNewton That's because it's not actually a transparency report.

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Totally agree with Ben here. The point of the Widely Viewed Content report is to tell us which content was the most widely viewed. If Facebook can't do that, there's no point to it. https://twitter.com/...

• @jason_kint Jason Kint on x

  Don't. Stop. Flagging. This. Please. Press. They expect you to move past it but considering facebook blocked out independent researchers and used this report as its pretend solution, it's a BFD they've redacted #1. https://twitter.com/...

• @brianfishman Brian Fishman on x

  @JeffHorwitz @CaseyNewton For sure. That content in that pool is definitely an interesting/important question. And none of this gets at the recommendations for how you build your actual network. Or balancing views across all surfaces. Still, I think framing as you've done here be…

• @jessreports Jesselyn Cook on x

  It appears to be a run-of-the-mill meme page called “That Ain't Right.” Beyond bizarre that Meta wouldn't disclose that. https://www.google.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x

  Facebook doesn't have to share any of this with the public if it doesn't want to. But it can't use the words transparency if it's going to pull stuff like this https://twitter.com/...

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  The good news, for FB, is that this report should fully and finally end the notion that they're a monopoly, unless the market is defined as “places where people watch viral TikToks from 6 months ago”

• @anildash @anildash on x

  They will always be really bad at doing things they never intended to do. https://twitter.com/...

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  More WVCR fun. This is probably just some spammy meme page, but it's wild that FB won't say. The point of a transparency report is transparency! https://t.co/xbdunMCEDp

• @jeffhorwitz Jeff Horwitz on x

  Going back to 2018, there were many, many internal warnings that Facebook's stolen content problem would undermine legitimate content creators and degrade the ecosystem. But in the short run stolen viral content is great for metrics. https://twitter.com/...

• @malwarejake Jake Williams on x

  I'm not sure exactly what transparency looks like, but I'm pretty sure this isn't it... https://twitter.com/...