I will reluctantly tweet House Energy & Commerce hearing on Twitter. I will primarily tweet the crazy, because Alex Jones & other far-righters who believe there's a conspiracy against their conspiracy-mongering will likely be treated w/ respect by some members of committee... /1
In opening statements, Walden politely asks if maybe there is "shadow banning" on twitter. Pallone says he hopes hearing won't indulge conservative conspiracy theories while evaluating real issues. Pallone calls out Alex Jones, who is in room I think, as a liar/conspiracist /2
In opener, Jack says twitter was filtering 600k accounts from autocomplete/search results (incl. some members of congress), based in part on who was following these accounts [HA]. explains how they are beta-testing everything on the platform, so sometimes s*** goes sideways /3
Jack makes clear your followers have every right to see/find your content, but you have no right to amplify your content to people who don't follow you. [this is an interesting distinction, but likely one they can work with in a smart way] /4
Meadows, Jordan, and Gaetz are mentioned by Walden as missing from search results. [BECAUSE THEY ARE PARTS OF DISINFO AMPLIFICATION AND FOLLOWED BY LOTS OF AUTOMATION]
Jack: this was based on who was following them. we've taken this out of the search criteria now /5
Jack: this was based on who was following them. we've taken this out of the search criteria now /5
Jack: look, we're going to keep experimenting on the service.
Walden: can bots silence certain voices?
Jack: they could be used to block. we try to balance analysis of these "signals" /6
Walden: can bots silence certain voices?
Jack: they could be used to block. we try to balance analysis of these "signals" /6
Walden: why does twitter require users to report violations?
Jack: users need to report, then we have humans read them. Algorithms monitor behavior on the network, filter & down rank /7
Jack: users need to report, then we have humans read them. Algorithms monitor behavior on the network, filter & down rank /7
Pallone: how many content moderators do you have? how many hours training do they get? are they given specific instruction to treat celebrities/politicians the same, or do they get special treatment? /8
Upton: how do you determine a "bad faith actor trying to divide the conversation"?
Jack goes on about "conversational health" again. Shared facts, discourse, receptivity, and perspective. /9
Jack goes on about "conversational health" again. Shared facts, discourse, receptivity, and perspective. /9
[had to step away for a minute -- continuing on]
this statistic -- keeping 5-8 million accounts per week from being creating -- is still bonkers to think about it. /10
sorry not sorry for lack of commentary -- this hearing is useless. I'm sparing you the predictable "you're so biased, silicon valley" vs "this is a republican stunt" /11
