Thread by @saradannerdukic

I’ve been going through this article, along with the one embedded within it (THREAD).
theverge.com/2019/2/25/1822…

(this was the one linked within it, which is equally as alarming)
wired.com/2014/10/conten…

It’s haunting. Read this and tell me what it sounds like to you (selections are from both of the articles linked above):

Some of them were hand-selected.

They were similar in background/age/education level.

A baseline was established.

The environment is highly controlled - their day is managed down to the second.

They’re monitored by psychologists.

Scarcity w/r/t basic human needs seems to be a prominent feature in their controlled environment: not enough bathrooms, not enough lockers in which to store their things, not enough time to relieve themselves, not enough time to eat.

They’re not allowed to discuss anything with their family, leading to isolation.

Once they reach a certain metric, they’re out. I think it could be argued that one of the factors in reaching this metric is desensitization to disturbing content.

What does this sound like to you? And who is moderating the moderators?

These workers experience the following after prolonged exposure to disturbing content:
-extreme paranoia
-PTSD
-succumbing to conspiracy theories
-drug use, self harm
-inappropriate behavior and/or extremely dark humor

Let’s compare all of the above to what we’ve been seeing.

Isolation:
washingtonpost.com/national/nothi…

Scarcity, whether perceived or real:
washingtonpost.com/news/post-poli…

Succumbing to conspiracy theories:
thedailybeast.com/how-fox-news-a…

Paranoia:
nytimes.com/2019/02/13/us/…

Behavior that’s disturbing, inappropriate, and dark:
vanityfair.com/news/politics/…

Behavior that’s disturbing, inappropriate, and dark:
salon.com/2016/01/06/oba…

Behavior that’s disturbing, inappropriate, and dark:
azcentral.com/story/opinion/…

npr.org/2018/10/28/661…

PTSD:
theguardian.com/us-news/2018/o…

PTSD-like symptoms:
psychologytoday.com/us/blog/workin…

We’ve been monitored. We’re being monitored:
nytimes.com/2014/06/30/tec…

And here’s what Cambridge Analytica was doing - “Ledovaya said one goal of the project was to ascertain the mental well-being of the respondents and, as appropriate, offer free counseling.”
reuters.com/article/us-fac…

What they were studying: psychopathy, narcissism and machiavellianism, or the so-called “dark triad.”

Psycopathy: mental illness or disorder

Narcissism: (psychology) selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type.

Machiavellianism: a personality trait, characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality, a lack of empathy, and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.

As evidenced by these articles linked up top, Facebook knows exactly what happens when someone is purposely exposed to disturbing content. And yet they built tools to do exactly that.

I’m not talking about free speech - I’m talking about amplification of disturbing material people would otherwise not know exists.

They built tools to target specific kinds of people with content that’s disturbing and/or dangerous. Why are they doing it? Why are we allowing them to do this?
propublica.org/article/facebo…

They also built tools so that those targeting based on hate and fear could hide while doing it.
digiday.com/media/what-are…

Why did they build these tools?
nbcnews.com/think/opinion/…

Who did they build them for?
newsweek.com/nra-cambridge-…

theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/…

https://twitter.com/saradannerdukic/status/1062908084631359488