Joel Kaplan’s Policy Team Sways Big Facebook Decisions Like Alex Jones Ban
“Internal documents & interviews with 14 current and former employees show how the company’s policy team — guided by Joel Kaplan, the vice president of global public policy”... buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
“And Zuckerberg’s whims exerted outsize influence while obstructing content moderation decisions, stymieing product rollouts, and intervening on behalf of popular conservative figures who have violated Facebook’s rules.”...
“In December, a former core data scientist wrote a memo titled, “Political Influences on Content Policy.” Seen by BuzzFeed News, the memo stated that Kaplan’s policy team “regularly protects powerful constituencies” and listed several examples,...”
“...including: removing penalties for misinformation from right-wing pages, blunting attempts to improve content quality in News Feed, and briefly blocking a proposal to stop recommending political groups ahead of the US election.”
A Facebook Integrity Researcher
“Out of fears over potential public and policy stakeholder responses, we are knowingly exposing users to risks of integrity,” they wrote in an internal note seen by BuzzFeed News. They quit in August.
Facebook is burning every political bridge,
In Feed Recommendations (IFRs) were NOT supposed to recommend political content.
But it did. How else could the like of Ben Shapiro content appear their automatic feed, despite NEVER engaging with him?
Fear of accusations of shadow banning was the argument trailed.
Pathetic
Has Facebook unleashed a platform that has caused more harm in the world than near anything in modern history.
One thing is for sure.
As long as @LibDems Peers play any part it will reflect badly on the party and it will@lose them members & supporters
The first Vaccination Surveillance Programme report has been released today showing decent efficacy even on one dose of Pfizer where odds improved over a 4 week period and then seemed to plateau until second dose.
⚰️⚰️ 215 (28 day cut off) deaths
⚰️⚰️⚰️ 260 (60 day cut off deaths with Covid on death cert)
⚰️💔⚰️💔 139,905 Covid deaths total (by date of death)
(133,077 ONS/Stats Covid death cert to 5/2/21 + 6828 - 28 day cut off to 20/2/21)
🏥 admissions 1397
🛌 In Patients 18,462
VENTILATION 🛌 2469.
Downward trend continues and vaccination effect now visible differentially in the over 80s in both admissions and deaths (- BUT not cases. Will 2 doses reduce transmission more than one dose?)
💉 334,697 VACCINATION doses administered yesterday bringing the total to
💉💉 18,197,269 doses administered to 17,582,121 people
💉💉💉 Of those, 615,148 people have received 2 doses
Important and balanced thread on Long Covid and kids.
And remember the primary rules of public health 1/ Act early (well, that ship sailed) 2/ Act fast (that ship has sailed too) 3/ Act decisively (yep- that ship sailed too) 4/ If in doubt apply the precautionary principle. (Um)
(Frost)”became a figure familiar in many workplaces: the frustrated middle manager, whose resentment at an indifferent world that overlooks him gnaws at his pride. Do not underestimate the anger of the men no one remembers.”
John Kerr, a former head of the diplomatic service, described his former staffer as being “very diligent and conscientious, good at carrying out instructions, not always as good at querying instructions”. Kerr didn’t mean it as a compliment.
Damning with faint praise.
Off he went to offer a bit of boosterism to the Scotch Whiskey Industry.
I wonder what they think of him now?
His notable absence of commitment to a Brexit prior to the referendum made him an excellent fit for Johnson. For both Brexit was a career move.