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Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
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21 Feb, 7 tweets, 6 min read
The latest Facebook story from @CraigSilverman and me details a history of how political concerns influence important platform decisions. While employees are warning about it now the 2020 election is over, there have been plenty of signs in the past. buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
There's been a lot of amazing past reporting that we built upon. For example this story from @sheeraf @nickconfessore @ceciliakang @AllMattNYT and @jacknicas on Facebook's fallout with the 2016 election and Cambridge Analytica. nytimes.com/2018/11/14/tec…
.@dseetharaman, @JeffHorwitz, @newley and the WSJ team have led as well. Deepa's piece on Joel Kaplan and Jeff and Newley's piece on Facebook's concessions to political concerns in India are fundamental to understanding the co.

wsj.com/articles/faceb…

wsj.com/articles/faceb…
.@sarahfrier and @KurtWagner8 have covered FB longer than probably anyone on the beat and their expertise always comes thru. bloomberg.com/news/features/…
.@alexeheath is a one-man wrecking crew at the Information and his reporting on the stonewalling of Facebook's civic integrity initiatives (and eventual dissolving of the team) is hugely important. theinformation.com/articles/faceb…
And then there was this piece from @kevinroose @MikeIsaac and @sheeraf right after the election. nytimes.com/2020/11/24/tec…
There are a lot of reporters/stories I'm forgetting and there is always more to report on a company that influences the lives of more than a third of the world's population.

Hopefully more to come from @CraigSilverman and me.

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More from @RMac18

Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
5 Feb
Donald Trump was looking to join Parler. Before he joined, however, the Trump Organization wanted a stake in the company. In negotiations after the election, representatives for Parler discussed giving the Trump Org a 40% stake. From @RosieGray and me: buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
The deal was never finalized. Negotiations went into December but the Jan. 6 insurrection caused a cascade of events that would force Parler offline.

One Parler adviser told me that he expects the site back online next week.

buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
Gov ethics experts said that the deal, and possibly the negotiations, could have been in violation of anti-bribery laws. That's because Parler sought exclusivity on Trump's social media posts. Courts have ruled Trump's tweets constitute official comms.
buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
Read 4 tweets
Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
3 Feb
Among many communities in Myanmar, Facebook is synonymous with the internet. This is ugly.
This comes after FB told employees Monday that it would remove calls to arms in Myanmar and protect speech on its platform that was critical of the coup and the military. buzzfeednews.com/article/tasnee…
Facebook is not commenting right now on the potential Myanmar shutdown situation.
Read 4 tweets
Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
21 Jan
Faceboook's company-wide employee Q&A starts now. Some top questions:
-Facebook's brand has become toxic. How can we improve it?
-What could we have done better with the WhatsApp changes rollout?
-Why are journalists still able to find Stop The Steal groups with 10k members?
Zuckerberg spent the start of today's meeting complimenting Biden and the transition of power. "No matter where you are on the political spectrum, I hope that we can all be rooting for his success," he says.

He called the executive orders signed yesterday as "positive steps."
Zuckerberg today said he looks forward to working with the Biden administration, starting with Covid response.

Biden in Jan 2020 to the NYT: “I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think he’s a real problem.”
nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Read 16 tweets
Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
20 Jan
I’m in Phoenix at the Arizona State Capitol for the inauguration. A handful of reporters and one dude in a MAGA hat. There are now two fences plus barbed wire around the Capitol. For now, looks like Trump supporters heeded the call to stay home from local GOP leaders. Image
Arizonans, digging the fruit trees around the Capitol. Is it ok to pick an orange?
I have been informed by @DrShaena that the oranges are ornamental and taste bad.
Read 10 tweets
Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
19 Jan
Last week, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that Capitol insurrection was "largely" planned on other platforms. New evidence and screenshots show the extent to which extremists on Facebook planned and coordinated the Capitol unrest. Here are the receipts:
buzzfeednews.com/article/davidm…
I had monitored some of the Capitol planning on Facebook, but the report from @TTP_updates is perhaps the most comprehensive I've seen about pre-Insurrection activity on the platform. It captures explicit calls for unrest. The full report is here: techtransparencyproject.org/articles/capit…
Sandberg's comments last week evidence a disconnect between what Facebook execs think happens on their platform and what actually takes place.

Here is one post to a now-removed 23,500-member group calling for people to "Occupy Congress".

buzzfeednews.com/article/davidm…
Read 5 tweets
Ryan Mac🙃 Profile picture
18 Jan
On Sat, Facebook said it would temporarily suspending ads for gun accessories and "protective equipment" through the inauguration, following our reporting and pressure from lawmakers and activists.

Those types of ads are still running as of this morning.
buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanma…
On Sun, after the announcement of the temporary ban, Facebook ran a 45 min video ad for rifle ammo — which is supposedly prohibited by the platform, regardless of the inauguration.
Over the weekend, FB employees continued to flag examples of body armor ads internally.

This morning @TTP_updates, using an account meant to mimic the activity of a right-wing extremist on Facebook, got *three* different body armor ads on one screen.
Read 4 tweets

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