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Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

bbc.com

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Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#161

Post by zenkat »

aschearer wrote: post #50

Very odd that we can discuss Hunter Biden's laptop today but not Trump's affidavit. Don't tell me this comment thread is apolitical.

100% this.

The former President was caught red-handed hiding top secret documents at his freakin' vacation home, with probable intent to commit espionage against the United States, including disclosure of sensitive human intelligence assets ...

And Hacker News has it's knickers in a knot because the FBI warned a social media company that the Hunter Biden story might be a Russian psyops campaign?

Seriously people?

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#162

Post by Server6 »

jemmyw wrote: post #44

So Facebook didn't censor anything? He didn't admit censoring and the story wasn't censored. Nobody had their posts about it taken down and nobody was prevented from discussing it. Facebook just didn't disseminate the story, they prevented their feeds from selecting it and showing it. Isn't that what everyone wants? Except that they do that with all stories and have no algorithms at all? It's not censorship though so…

At the end of the day the Hunter Biden laptop story just wasn't that compelling. Everyone knew Hunter Biden had a history and struggled with drugs. It wasn't a secret. Ultimately this story wasn't buried by Facebook or Twitter. It was buried by the firehose of craziness, propaganda, and misinformation that circled the 2020 election. Just toss it on the pile of bullshit with the rest.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#163

Post by kQq9oHeAz6wLLS »

dqpb wrote: post #139
baskethead wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Eh, I would not call Joe Biden the most powerful person in the world.

Whomever is running him via teleprompter, though...they're pretty powerful.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#164

Post by rendall »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #78

Rogan kept putting words in his mouth. He kept insinuating that Facebook and the FBI talked specifically about the Hunter Biden laptop story, when Zuckerberg did not say that at all. Zuckerberg said the FBI warned them to be on high alert for propaganda. Facebook's judgment after that conversation was that the Hunter Biden laptop story fit that profile. As for the story itself, I don't know all of the ins or outs, bu…

> I don't know all of the ins or outs, but my understanding is that it doesn't amount to anything, and certainly nothing in comparison to the entanglements of the Trump family.

This is a pretty astounding sentence, but I would let it go, except that I see this all the time.

It reads like a dismissal of the importance of the story because there is nothing that matches the unique danger of "the Trump family". Is that fair?

Bear with me for a second as I ask, respectfully, How would you know?

Perhaps it is true that Trump is a unique evil that must be defeated by extraordinary measures, but whence comes this information? If you rely, for your mental picture of what is good and evil, of what is important and what can be dismissed, on the same institutions that suppress true stories and promote false ones, then how even are you making these choices?

Further, remember, whatever powers are used against the guy you don't like this election, can be used against the guy you do like down the road.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#165

Post by dehrmann »

tmaly wrote: post #108
dehrmann wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The laptop was real, yes, Weren't only some emails authenticated? The details on how the Washington Post authenticated them weren't enough to make me trust that they knew what they're doing. Email is famously unencrypted in a lot of its transit; could it have been sniffed? Could Biden have been the victim of spyware that captured the emails? It may very well be real, but the story about how it got to the press is b…

I thought the FBI had the laptop. How are all these other people claiming to have copies of the hard drive?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Biden_laptop_controvers...

The story was stranger than I remember.

> According to the New York Post story, a person—who Mac Isaac could not identify because he is legally blind—left the computer at the repair shop to repair water damage, but once this was completed, the shop had no contact information for its owner, and nobody ever paid for it or came to pick it up.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#166

Post by refurb »

krapp wrote: post #43
refurb wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might all be true but it distracts from the original point - the FBI helped suppress information about a candidate prior to a Presidential election under the claim it was “disinformation” but had no evidence it was. They just said "it looks like Russian disinformation". That should worry anyone no matter who you voted for. Sure, the Trump side may be guilty of twisting it into something it's not, but I'm pretty…

As I read the article, it doesn't suggest the FBI knew the story about Hunter Biden's laptop was true at the time, so the claim that they were "suppressing true stories," while technically correct, is a disingenuous framing of events. It seems the FBI didn't order Facebook to suppress that story specifically, rather they warned Facebook generally about misinformation and propaganda, and Facebook (along with everyone…

You're missing the forest for the trees.

The content of the laptop is not the point in question. The ability of the FBI and the media to bury a factual story right before an election is the problem.

If the sides had been flipped and the FBI said potentially negative news about Trump was "disinformation" (without proof) I'd be just as concerned.

And take a look at the NYTimes article from Oct 2020. It details the fact the FBI had seen the laptop a year earlier (including a receipt from the Baltimore FBI office and confirmation from the FBI). It knew it wasn't Russian disinformation before the story ever broke.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-...

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#167

Post by [deleted] »

ohiovr wrote: post #149
cromwellian wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a nothing burger. Amazing how a Coke addict who failed upwards to get a cushy c suite job like many, is supposed to sway the election but the Trump family running a fraudulent university and a fraudulent charity, paying millions in fines, isn’t literally a disqualification.

We knew what Trump did. If he did something, we knew. And we always knew. It was a favorite thing to discuss.

[deleted]

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#168

Post by okaram »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #116
devwastaken wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prove to me the laptop is real.

Here's NYT telling you it's real. They put it in the 27th paragraph of a low circulation article a year after the election. https://web.archive.org/web/20220826030459/https://www.nytim... >People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache o…

Did you see the word 'appears' there? What does authenticated means in this context? It may well mean 'the emails the times got are those emails' rather than 'the emails were truly between those parties,etc'

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#169

Post by hackinthebochs »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #147
jshen wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not censorship

Wikipedia definition of censorship: Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient".[2][3][4] Censorship can be conducted by governments,[5] private institutions and other controlling bodies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship What Facebook did fits the definit…

There is a difference between prevention and not amplifying. Facebook did the latter.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#170

Post by refurb »

oarabbus_ wrote: post #69
refurb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the issue. Companies like Facebook fear regulation the most. Their goal is to just stay under the radar of the government and keep making money. Not surprised in the least that they’d “follow the FBI’s suggestion” in order to buy some good Will on other fronts.

This is an odd statement I'm having trouble following on basically every level. 1. the article clearly states the FBI did not specifically mention the Biden story. 2. It's odd to then claim they followed the FBI's suggestion to "buy good will" on other fronts. (Unclear how FBI goodwill would help, if your statement about Facebook "fearing regulation the most" is true). 3. Regardless, the FBI is part of the executive…

I wasn't referring to this specific case, but rather the mentality of big multinational companies when it comes to government interactions.

I've been in the C-suite when concerns about government regulation have been discussed. You "play ball" on some things in order to avoid other, worse things happening.

I have no idea if Zuckerberg made this trade-off.

I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised in the least if that was the strategy.

It's not like Facebook wasn't already in the hot seat when it came to Congress.

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