In the very limited Facebook hearings, there are a number of incredible holes to FB's story that remain important to reverse the massive decline in trust for the platform and understand where we go from here. Here are some of my questions in hopes they get asked tomorrow. /1
Reminder: Sheryl Sandberg is key operator connecting Facebook’s communications, $$$ model and lobbying efforts. She was the exec in charge of a lot of areas of unanswered questions at @commonscms hearings where CEO refuses to testify and literally can’t visit UK because of it. /2
Senate needs to ask Sandberg about the timeline on Cambridge Analytica and who knew what and when. See transcripts of @SenKamalaHarris with Zuck AND parliament @commonscms @JoStevensLabour with FB's CTO. Zuck under oath said a decision was made. /3
here is the video of Zuck's exchange with @SenKamalaHarris. It's worth watching again ahead of Sandberg testimony tomorrow. It's incredibly relevant to the case who and how it was decided to not inform the users of Facebook. This is material to @FTC. /4 c-span.org/video/?c472278…
Also, Guardian reporter (Harry Davies) claimed to start asking questions in Dec 2014 of one person (Kogan) who took FB data. As we learned on @60Minutes last night, Kogan’s “equal partner” (Joseph Chancellor) was actually hired by Facebook in 2015. So when did FB really know? /5
Senate should ask Sandberg about timeline cleaning up after “breach." Zuck testified and told @karaswisher FB took immediate action to get certification data was deleted when in fact it took more than a year. Cambridge Analytica audit said they weren’t contacted for 7 months! /6
In between when Zuckerberg testified Facebook took "immediate action," there was Brexit vote, a US election and significant attention on Facebook as things spiraled out of their control. Material events. So who is telling truth here? I’d like to know. /7
this @Buzzfeednews @RMac18 report does nice job for those trying to understand how Facebook has acted upon its exposure on this. But again still many unanswered questions in Facebook's version of the timeline so worth asking under oath for sure. /8 buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
Congress HAS NEVER asked FB under oath about employee Chancellor. It's been nearly six months since FB finally started to “investigate" him. Nearly 2yrs since press flagged him. @IanCLucas @CommonsCMS have done best job at asking ?s here. Answer them. /9
By the way, I would also ask Sandberg about Palantir simply because 1) Thiel connection, 2) the report (NYT) its employee helped Cambridge Analytica and 3) Zuckerberg's body language changes so significantly during Senate hearing. /10 watch here c-span.org/video/?c472279…
A couple other newer items since Zuck hearing. Facebook hasn't been asked under oath about their previous whitelist deals for Facebook's data which @dseetharaman reported on after the last hearings (ahem, "we don't sell your data"). /11
We also found out in @commonscms hearing Facebook had quietly purged MILLIONS of fake accounts and fake likes of news sites back in April 2017. Here is news on it despite Facebook’s attempts to bury it. they say they don't know all countries involved. /12 cbsnews.com/news/usa-today…
review Zuckerberg's exchange with @amyklobuchar. We've since learned from the @CommonsCMS and UK ICO reports that FB's data was not only sold to Cambridge Analytica but that Russia had access to the servers. Again, what did Facebook know and when? /13 c-span.org/video/?c472279…
we’ve also learned Facebook has significantly ramped up moderation and safety in Germany (now as much as 1 in 6 global moderators in Germany) due to new laws. the comparison to their $$$ approach vs Burma and other places is important. /14
Finally, it’s interesting the claims that Facebook responded to whistleblowers with lawsuits, threats and banning from the platform. especially in context of Facebook’s "obfuscation” and NDA with Kogan the day after Brexit vote. /15
any time Sandberg creates binary world between current Facebook model and users having to pay for services, please interrupt her as they have $45B in revenue with sky-high margins. There are many ways to invest, operate with a bit less profitability but respect civil society. /16
And yes, I understand desire for political reasons to move forward but all signs (read ICO and @commonscms reports) are Facebook still has to answer questions to know what really happened and decide if we can trust current leadership, biz model. I hope tomorrow is progress. /17
and by the way, I would bet my bottom dollar that Sandberg can speak to this.
When Facebook says they've been cooperating, remember Parliament disagrees. @CommonsCMS Parliament prelim report if you haven't seen it. "Time and again, Facebook chose to avoid answering our written and oral
questions, to the point of obfuscation." data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc…
questions, to the point of obfuscation." data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc…
