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Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

nytimes.com

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Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#81

Post by vadym909 »

an_opabinia wrote: post #44
askafriend wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone is publicly saying questionable things about your organization, then trying to find out what their motivations might be by doing research is just common sense (especially if the company in question is publicly traded). So I'm with you there, I don't get the outrage here at all. It comes off as cheap and manufactured from what I'm seeing.

Everyone should read his comments[0] about Facebook and Google, before you criticize the guy. > what their motivations might be by doing research is just common sense The rhetoric that you guys use, especially when you talk about someone who's probably as genuinely committed to a civil, liberal world as George Soros: you sound like a South Park character. You can watch a clip that uses conspiratorial rhetoric (and ma…

Wow- Soros is pretty good!

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#82

Post by bob_bob_bob »

panarky wrote: post #74
mc32 wrote: post #2

>told subordinates to examine why Mr. Soros had criticized the tech companies and whether he stood to gain financially from the attacks. Well, he is an investor who has a history of causing financial damage to whole countries by betting against their currencies. So, it shouldn't be surprising FB would want to know what might be in store for them if he went nuclear on them. What is surprising is the odd bedfellows of…

When the NYT first published "Delay, Deny and Deflect" [1], Sandberg pretended she didn't know anything about it and promised to investigate. Later, she claimed the investigation turned up emails about Facebook's deceptive practices that "crossed her desk" [2], but made it sound like her involvement was peripheral and incidental. Naturally, now we learn those were all lies, and she was personally involved the entire…

I'm not sure what "this" you're referring to is, but assuming it's Definers: where did you learn she was involved the entire time? This article says:

  Ms. Sandberg [...] asked for the information in an email to a senior executive in January[...]. The email came within days of a blistering speech Mr. Soros delivered that month at the World Economic Forum, attacking Facebook and Google as a “menace” to society and calling for the companies to be regulated.
This seems like a pretty reasonable reaction. As far as I understand this has nothing to do with Definers.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#83

Post by richardknop »

I think given George Soros' history and the fact he is an investor known for making big bets, it is possible he would have a big short position open against Facebook and could gain lots of money if $FB stock keeps going down. It's not outside of realm of the possibilities the he would make a big bet like that so investigating what are his current positions in the stock market, how many puts is he holding etc might be a good idea.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#84

Post by dang »

briandear wrote: post #64

We flag the story about Google employees discussing censoring conservative news sources but we push this story about Facebook to the front page? The intellectual dishonesty here is astounding.

Please stop posting these tedious off-topic complaints.

I don't know what story you're talking about, but if you think flagging is being abused, let us know at hn@ycombinator.com so we can take a look at it.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#85

Post by askafriend »

nostrademons wrote: post #73
starik36 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What business did he sell before Facebook?

Probably referring to the Synapse Media Player, which had a million-dollar buyout offer from Microsoft while Zuckerburg was in high school. IIRC he didn't actually sell it though; it was still a going project under Zuckerburg's control when he created FB, and just kinda died out because FB held more potential.

This is exactly it, I misremembered a bit of the history.

I forgot that he didn't actually end up selling. He did come very close to selling to Microsoft, though.

Here's a bit about it: https://www.revealingthestuffs.com/mark-zuckerbergs-synapse-...

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#86

Post by panarky »

bob_bob_bob wrote: post #82
panarky wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the NYT first published "Delay, Deny and Deflect" [1], Sandberg pretended she didn't know anything about it and promised to investigate. Later, she claimed the investigation turned up emails about Facebook's deceptive practices that "crossed her desk" [2], but made it sound like her involvement was peripheral and incidental. Naturally, now we learn those were all lies, and she was personally involved the entire…

I'm not sure what "this" you're referring to is, but assuming it's Definers: where did you learn she was involved the entire time? This article says: Ms. Sandberg [...] asked for the information in an email to a senior executive in January[...]. The email came within days of a blistering speech Mr. Soros delivered that month at the World Economic Forum, attacking Facebook and Google as a “menace” to society and calli…

I'm referring to Facebook's efforts to discredit critics through the same sleazy disinformation campaign tactics that Facebook continues to amplify for other shadowy groups.

You know, like targeting Facebook users who are racist and anti-Semitic with disinfo about George Soros, while simultaneously telling Jewish users that Facebook's critics are themselves anti-Semitic.

FTFA, first paragraph:

Sheryl Sandberg was directly involved in the social media company’s effort to conduct opposition research against billionaire philanthropist George Soros...

...reporting contradicts Sandberg’s previous portrayals of her involvement; she has said she was unaware of the campaign-style communications work done by Republican public relations firm Definers Public Affairs

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#87

Post by buboard »

digitalzombie wrote: post #25
mc32 wrote: post #2

>told subordinates to examine why Mr. Soros had criticized the tech companies and whether he stood to gain financially from the attacks. Well, he is an investor who has a history of causing financial damage to whole countries by betting against their currencies. So, it shouldn't be surprising FB would want to know what might be in store for them if he went nuclear on them. What is surprising is the odd bedfellows of…

> Well, he is an investor who has a history of causing financial damage to whole countries by betting against their currencies. So you're judging him on the fact that he plays Forex and short? If they didn't want that then it should be made illegal. This is a dubious statement.

Why not? The guy has a history of pretty much continously manipulating markets for own gain by damaging foreign economies. That makes his attempts at political manipulation extremism suspicious

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#88

Post by rorykoehler »

untog wrote: post #68
rorykoehler wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>fails the "beer test" with basically everybody in America. Sounds nailed on to be the DNC nominee then.

Eh? Obama, Kerry, Bill Clinton... I'd say they all pass the beer test with flying colours. Obviously the exception here is Hillary Clinton. But I do wonder about the gender component of the beer test - while she was seen as aloof and alienating a lot of women didn't see Hillary that way.

Sorry I forgot, no jokes allowed on HN. On a more serious note if Zuckerberg did become the Democrat nominee then I could see the party splintering into a progressive party and a centre-right party.

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#89

Post by isoskeles »

natch wrote: post #78
ALittleLight wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the outrage is implicit in the the publication of the article. Why is this in the New York Times? He criticized the company, she asked is he had a financial interest behind the criticism. Okay? Why is this a story?

She did previously deny knowing about the PR company doing the oppo research on Soros... generally when there's a denial at a high level and then contradictory evidence comes out, it's newsworthy. It's not airtight evidence that she lied, just more of a glaring red flag that a closer look might be warranted.

Who cares if she lied?

Re: Sheryl Sandberg Is Said to Have Asked Facebook Staff to Research George Soros

#90

Post by isoskeles »

phs318u wrote: post #67
ALittleLight wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the outrage is implicit in the the publication of the article. Why is this in the New York Times? He criticized the company, she asked is he had a financial interest behind the criticism. Okay? Why is this a story?

> Why is this a story? Because George Soros is a lightning rod for the alt-right and NWO conspiracy theorists.

[flagged]
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