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Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

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Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#591

Post by josephg »

satellite2 wrote: post #481
josephg wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that being forbidden and being illegal are different ideas. It’s bad for society to codify too much behaviour in law. Knowing the law is no substitute for knowing the difference between right and wrong. Regulating Facebook is a great example. Congress could easily react to facebook’s indiscretions by passing new laws here which stifle innovation.

I think I got that part. I was referring to the book the tragedy of the commons (very interesting small book that I recommend) which basically says that when you have N users of some common, even if game theory says that it's in their best individual best interest to protect the common as it is the strategy that maximise satisfaction, if N becomes large enough, someone will start damageing it and soon everyone will d…

Oh, I totally agree. When it comes to a fishing community surrounding a lake, having rules in place to limit the number of fish each fisherman can catch benefits everyone.

But the same principle applies to me and my friends eating cookies. Each of us is incentivized to eat as many as we can - because its a limited resource and they're delicious. But in this case we use social, not legal consequences to punish defectors. If my friends see me eat all the cookies, they will be angry with me. This is a strong enough system to keep us honest.

But imagine if we adding a law here, making it a crime to eat all the cookies. Would that improve our behaviour? No. We might not want to share cookies at all if its possible one of us could go to jail for it.

I think laws are often appropriate. But laws are a blunt instrument. They can't be our only tool to protect the commons.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#592

Post by drbojingle »

plandis wrote: post #282

If you don’t like Facebook just don’t use Facebook, WhatsApp, or Instagram. Don’t know why so many people here think parents and adults are not capable of regulating themselves and their kids. It’s honestly condescending to think you know better than your fellow citizens if you’re arguing for government intervention.

if you don't like being poor, just be rich, don't know why so many people here think parents and adults are not capable of regulating themselves and their kids.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#593

Post by [deleted] »

baby wrote: post #499
keewee7 wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that makes Facebook distinct from other big Internet companies is that they allow far-right speech on their platform. That is probably why the Democrats and liberal media are targeting Facebook but not twitter, YouTube, reddit, Snap, TikTok etc.

Have you read the comments on youtube?

[deleted]

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#594

Post by blackoil »

asdff wrote: post #115
hunterb123 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify, can you specify exactly what law you would like made? What do you want to be done exactly ? I would rather take the stance of feed algorithms and moderation logs be PUBLICLY available. Transparency instead of censorship.

Treat addictive social media companies like addictive cigarette companies. Lets see some huge warning labels about how mentally harmful it is to continue scrolling on facebook right on the first result where its unavoidable to see. Lets tax the hell out of social media companies to generate local revenue just like sin taxes. It won't be a huge change but it will be a great starting point and will come with revenue th…

Warning labels won't be of much use, as an individual most will ignore them believing in there own prowess to discern truth.

Taxing all social media or all media may have interesting implications as this again will reduce profit for all and give some revenue for governments without making any actual change. Also people making cooking/educational videos on Youtube may resent having to pay sin tax.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#595

Post by smsm42 »

ozzythecat wrote: post #141

I don’t personally use FB and don’t have a very favorable view of their products. I would, however, like to see the same level scrutiny applied to the general American media, especially the news media. FB has come in and started eating their lunch. There’s a deeper problem here, and it feels more like the powers that he want to take down FB. I’m not denying any allegation made against FB, but why is it that Fox News,…

It looks like the problem here is that CNN, MSNBC, Hollywood, Fox News, etc. are in general controlled by the either the same people or people with the same interests as top political elites. For Facebook, while they are trying really really hard to be the good boys, it's not the case. While they doing a lot of effort to "suppress misinformation" (i.e. prevent any heretical thought from being voiced) they are, by nature, less efficient in this than centralized legacy media. It's not possible to be a heretic on CNN. It's still possible - though increasingly hard - to be one on Facebook. This is going to be fixed, and what you're witnessing is the process of implementing this fix.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#596

Post by cush »

ozzythecat wrote: post #141

I don’t personally use FB and don’t have a very favorable view of their products. I would, however, like to see the same level scrutiny applied to the general American media, especially the news media. FB has come in and started eating their lunch. There’s a deeper problem here, and it feels more like the powers that he want to take down FB. I’m not denying any allegation made against FB, but why is it that Fox News,…

NBC doesn't watch you constantly, know when you're feeling anxious, then target your 14 year-old brain with ads at your most vulnerable moments. There is no comparison here.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#597

Post by iakh »

grappler wrote: post #453

The headline on this hacker news entry says "Incriminating". I didn't find that word anywhere in the linked npr article. Is what has been leaked in fact incriminating?

>...allegations involve the difference between what Facebook knew about its platform and what it said publicly. He said misleading investors is a crime under U.S. securities law.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#598

Post by sizzle »

grappler wrote: post #453

The headline on this hacker news entry says "Incriminating". I didn't find that word anywhere in the linked npr article. Is what has been leaked in fact incriminating?

yes, she posits that Facebook materially misled investors and shareholders (illegal in the US) and shared it with the SEC under whistleblower protections.

Re: Facebook Whistleblower Leaks Thousands of Pages of Incriminating Internal Docs

#599

Post by smsm42 »

dillondoyle wrote: post #231
farcebook wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One, most of the mainstream news has at least basic editorial processes in place that do a rudimentary check on truthiness. Facebook, along with some of the sketchier news outlets, are the opposite: they profit off (and optimize for) disinformation. Two, it's a matter of scale. Facebook reaches a far larger audience and has far more detail into their preferences and can nano-target personalized stories for them and c…

I agree with holding all media accountable. But the problem with what you say is that for millions and millions 'news' is actually BS opinion shows. On both sides but from my perspective Fox & Murdoch's empire abroad has done far more harm than say Maddow preaching whatever riles that audience up. The actual press, WaPo, NyTimes (which does great docs, so does Vice imho) have rigid editorial process. Yet I still on H…

If you don't believe NYT is liberal, you're just refusing to recognize the reality. You may love NYT, you may agree with what they say 100 times out of 100, which is fine, but it doesn't change the fact they are a liberal media outlet and have been since forever. If you ignore that, you're just voluntarily skewing your picture of reality. Maybe you think "liberal" means "bad" (which would be weird as I suspect your opinions are pretty liberal too) - or maybe you think it means "good" - but in fact it just means they follow certain ideology, and it's a very easily observable fact. Whether it's good, or bad, it's for the reader to decide, but whatever you position on this it it does not change the fact that the ideology exists and is followed.
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