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Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

npr.org

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Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#211

Post by spywaregorilla »

Mizza wrote: post #45

I find it weird for a whistleblower to be so "lib", as the kids say. She said she 'loves' Facebook, and wants to fix it, not harm it. I don't want Facebook fixed and I do want Facebook harmed. I don't want the government to meddle with what types of things people can say online, I want them to ban the business model of stalking people online and selling intimate details of their lives. If the problem is Facebook choo…

Mostly I just find it mildly uninteresting in that she doesn't seem to be saying anything noteworthy. I don't disagree with most of her statements, but they're mostly conjecture based on her familiarity with internal culture. They're more or less what anyone willing to listen to her likely already assumed though.

It could still be useful to get it out there as a vaguely official viewpoint though.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#212

Post by pr0zac »

meowface wrote: post #62
Mizza wrote: post #45

I find it weird for a whistleblower to be so "lib", as the kids say. She said she 'loves' Facebook, and wants to fix it, not harm it. I don't want Facebook fixed and I do want Facebook harmed. I don't want the government to meddle with what types of things people can say online, I want them to ban the business model of stalking people online and selling intimate details of their lives. If the problem is Facebook choo…

>I find it weird for a whistleblower to be so "lib", as the kids say. What do you mean? I don't follow the latest slang, but I would've assumed this would mean "liberal", except I don't see what that would have to do with the rest of what you said.

(only explaining, not expressing any political beliefs here)

Leftist internet slang for holding a centrist opinion at all costs based on the common belief that the current democratic establishment and its supporters spend too much time trying to please or listen to both sides and reach a compromise even when one side is expressing ridiculous or fascist opinions.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#213

Post by hammock »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #200
roody15 wrote: post #31

To me this is a fake story being promoted as a way to further a political narrative. Nothing the whistleblower has revealed is shocking or previously unknown. Yes facebook tweaks an algorithm on your news feed to drive engagement and make money. Yes facebook allows some content that some would consider not to align with mainstream US narratives. My two cents this is an attempt to force facebook to kowtow to the US an…

In what way could this be possibly be “a fake story?” Do you not believe that it happened? Or is she making stuff up? Or do you just mean that people don’t really actually care about the topic? Or because it’s not previously unknown, it’s too late and public interest is supposed to move on to other topics now? The initial bombshell was around instagram’s affect on teen girls mental health, so calling it an attempt to…

OP likely means it's disingenuous- the true intentions are hidden- it's part of a lobbying effort for greater control and consolidation of power.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#214

Post by BitwiseFool »

Mizza wrote: post #45

I find it weird for a whistleblower to be so "lib", as the kids say. She said she 'loves' Facebook, and wants to fix it, not harm it. I don't want Facebook fixed and I do want Facebook harmed. I don't want the government to meddle with what types of things people can say online, I want them to ban the business model of stalking people online and selling intimate details of their lives. If the problem is Facebook choo…

>"She said she 'loves' Facebook, and wants to fix it, not harm it."

This just feels like doublespeak, to be honest.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#215

Post by mandmandam »

sreque wrote: post #164

This whistleblower may be saying some true and pertinent things, but overall it seems very apparent she is a leftist activist with a clear political agenda: https://www.dailywire.com/news/facebook-whistleblower-leftis...

You say that like it's a bad thing, rather than something she has every right to be.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#216

Post by AzzieElbab »

deegles wrote: post #67
AzzieElbab wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you realize that most controversial, negative and divisive stuff is pushed by corporate media 24/7, right?

there will always be something to "what about"

You misunderstood. I am saying fb mirrors and amplifies external trends

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#217

Post by blix »

dragonwriter wrote: post #165
thepasswordis wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's considered a liberal position, not a leftist position. Traditionally leftist political philosophy is aligned with central authority (strong federal government, marxixm, communism, etc.) Whistle blowing is a lib position, but the conservatives have their own liberal movement as well with lib being the root of "libertarian", which in contemporary american political framing is right-aligned.

> It's considered a liberal position, not a leftist position. “Liberal” and “left” are terms of slightly different origin for the same position, opposing the established narrow feudal/monarchist elite power in favor of popular sovereignty and the government based on the rights of the individual. It’s true that subsequently they’ve diverged with the old enemy being irrelevant, with “liberal” including and “left” exclu…

"Left" and "Liberal" are distinct political ideologies which happened to both oppose monarchies at one point in time. Their proposed solutions even then were quite different.

Liberalism ostensibly values things such as property rights and freedom of information that are not really important in Leftism. Leftism prioritizes "fair" distribution of resources, which is not really a concern of Liberalism.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#218

Post by sam0x17 »

titzer wrote: post #130
nyolfen wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

she was not a technical employee, and she will be set for life in ngo, media, or political career fields. facebook has many enemies. she has probably correctly calculated that she will not actually suffer any negative consequences for this; good for her

Most organizations do not like whistleblower types. No matter how right or noble you think you are/were, institutions hate accusations of malfeasance and scrutiny and will just pass on you. It's definitely a career-limiting move to go up against any big thing.

It works both ways. It's likely that the kinds of enterprise orgs that don't like whistleblowers are the exact kind of org a former whistleblower wouldn't want to work at after past experiences anyway.

Re: Whistleblower to Congress: Facebook products harm kids and democracy

#219

Post by Leparamour »

calrueb wrote: post #143

I like to imagine there are a bunch of Facebook Homefeed engineers out there who ran dozens experiments, tuning this-and-that, and found the ones that boosted revenue, and user engagement by X%. No one thought too deeply at _why_ some experiments were successful. Perhaps it was chalked up as "our new ML model is matching users to content they care about more efficiently". Then they shipped it, and everyone celebrated…

Facebook doesn't just exclusively employ engineers, they also employ psychologists and neuroscientists exactly in order to refine these parameters and increase engagement. It's not an honest mistake, the way loot boxes, gacha mechanics and dark patterns aren't honest mistakes.
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