woah exhibit 16. more Facebook docs quietly unsealed yesterday - it gets worse. A full, damning senior execs' email thread (CFO, COO) unsealed. Facebook slowed unsealings in this fraud case and spun it as "cherrypicking."
Top marketing exec, Carolyn Everson, weighs in here. /1
exhibit 16 (one of 75 in the case) is an entire thread of senior executives - probably why they classified as "Highly Confidential - Attorneys' Eyes Only". It is most damning IMHO and entirely blows up Facebook's "taken out of context" narrative. /2
We've learned in this case why "SUMA" was such a sensitive topic. I believe it stands for Single User Multiple Accounts. Here is a part of another thread when metrics issue broke and Facebook CFO Wehner flagged with COO Sandberg who says she believes they need to address it. /3
ex16 appears to be exec scramble on eve of prep meeting with Sandberg the week prior to earnings. In the thread, there is also a note why CFO doesn't plan to put it into FB's prepared earnings remarks as it only matters to clients but he doesn't deem it a business risk 👀!!!
/4
"I think there is a real chance this is a very bad moment for us - 'Facebook lies about its user #s to get record profits.'" <- Facebook employee.
You can see (familiar) how they strategize spin 1) captured advertising clients lobbying for them, 2) small business!!! etc etc /5
On a side note regarding spinning, buried in the thread is also how they explored a "symbolic action" when they kicked Russia Today off Facebook's platforms to "absorb at least some of the narrative." Not sure if they did this. /6
If you're wondering why I'm the one sharing this all, we happened to have the tweet sparking this lawsuit several years ago. I hadn't followed it super closely until the fraud complaint was added to it along with seeing other evidence of FB cover-ups. /7
DCN is also party to case as we filed with Judge to have unsealed. You can read our rationale here - if a monopoly gets to grade its own homework then transparency is critical. Facebook's redactions were ridiculous - protecting its vanished trust. /8
Here is a thread from Feb when very first doc was unsealed (the fraud complaint itself). Again FB managed to creatively hold up much of the other docs from being unsealed. They lost, trust and trust wins. 👋🏼
I'll stop there - 75 exhibits in all. Cheers. /9
I should note, yellow highlights are mine. In the first tweet, it's worth noting how even FB top marketing exec, Everson, recognized and focused on how this would have impacted planning, budgets and marketplace. Like with other cover-ups, their decisions harm everyone else. /10
Here are a few other exhibits. Redactions like this are how Facebook attempted to frame evidence as cherry-picked.
"how long can we get away with the reach overestimation?"
"This is a lawsuit waiting to happen." /12
And again, here are the key pages of the email thread in exhibit 16 which was posted here (…d-40e9-822b-081bc894b6af.filesusr.com/ugd/372b91_40f…). My take is: (1) allegations are not all taken out of context and (2) top execs confirmed it impacted ad market and (3) Facebook's CFO is overconfident. /13
Rather than policy execs testifying, it would be much more interesting to hear from the chief growth hackers (Alex worked for Javi). My two cents. Another piece of evidence expresses a SUMA concern in having to lose a "people-based" narrative and shift to "accounts-based." /14
First news report on this I’ve seen. Facebook’s provided quote didn’t change much but is now patently absurd considering exhibit 16 is a full thread with some of the most senior execs in the company. /15 ft.com/content/5b8d1c…
Still digging thru these exhibits. Facebook's VP Rob Goldman, was asked if it would be a good thing if they could significantly reduce their inflated #s and he said, "no." 🤦🏼♂️I don't get it. Maybe it's out of context or maybe it just wouldn't be a good thing **for Facebook.** /16
Excellent. Appreciate Parliament (@stellacreasy) has asked UK Competition authority to look into the ⬆️by Facebook. Even more important to me than the inflated figures is the evidence they once again intentionally covered up risk to investors and market.
Just reading thru Facebook's weekend response to its deceptive reach and fake accounts' lawsuit⬆️. The redactions they try to get away with are insane. Facebook gets to seal their known overlap between Instagram and Facebook accounts??? Relevant to their antitrust cases, too.
when Facebook tries to defend by suggesting potential reach doesn't matter to advertisers, it spend significant efforts explaining why they are incredibly reliant on surveillance. Considering more than half their data collection is at risk with Apple's new privacy defaults, ouch.
deep in Facebook's response it also has ten declarations from advertising clients. Each of them seems to not really care about "fake accounts" and doesn't use Potential Reach either.... but what I find to be most remarkable....
...it's remarkable Facebook has such good friends in these small businesses just sitting around ready to understand a complex lawsuit about Fake Accounts and defend them. Found out about it on a Monday and signed in support by Thursday. For Facebook. Remarkable.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Woah. Exhibit list just posted for Facebook trial in DE starting in a few weeks. We finally have confirmation Sheryl Sandberg was deposed by the SEC - one week prior to Zuckerberg which also kept secret until a lawsuit unsealed it. Sandberg was also sanctioned in this case. /1
This matters as it gets at Who Knew What When at FB ahead of the world finding out its platform was leaking personal data for years. Zuckerberg was dodgy at best under oath to Congress, FB responses to Parliaments focused on 2018 news. But exhibits include Jan 2017 MZ emails. /2
The DE lawsuit claims Facebook's $5 billion record settlement was inflated in order to protect its CEO, Zuckerberg, and also includes (civil) insider trading claims. Zuckerberg was ordered to sit for multiple day depo this year, will have to testify live. /3
Scanning front pages across America this morning. Still today, the local A1 best captures the biggest story of the day. The majors from NY to LA to Detroit to even Arkansas. /1
From Washington DC all of the way up to the major newspapers in Alaska… the No Kings protest images are everywhere capturing the moment. /2
All of them capture peaceful protest, democracy in action, and what America is all about at a time when social media algorithms may distort what the day was all about. Illinois to Colorado. /3
Incredible work being done by the press to keep facts building on facts. Grateful. This entire WSJ report overnight starting with this lede on how White House orders sparked LA crackdown is both chilling and informative. /1
This statement. “We came to the United States for protection of what we encountered in Russia. It seems that we are encountering here what we fled.” /2
WSJ separating out cases of targeting groups who have not committed crimes but even noting here incredible resources being used against what appears to be clear, First Amendment protected activity alerted the community. Here is the must-read report. /3 wsj.com/us-news/protes…
Confession. Having watched Scott Pelley's outstanding work over nearly three decades, I almost didn't take the time to watch his W.F. commencement speech thinking the news reports told me enough of the facts. Frankly, that would have been a huge mistake on my part. Huge. 1/5
Disclosure: I'm a 60 Minutes fan. In fact, I read Don Hewitt's "Tell Me a Story" after nearly a decade in sports media and it likely tipped the scale in 2007 when I decided to jump to work at CBS. I find Pelley and team brilliant in telling stories in barely 15 min segments. 2/5
“If liberty means anything at all, it means telling someone something that they don’t want to hear. I fear there may be some people in the audience who don’t want to hear what I have to say today but I appreciate your forbearance in this small act of liberty.” - Scott Pelley 3/5
wow, another order for Mark Zuckerberg to sit for another court deposition. This time in a case involving privacy violations with ingesting web-wide health data. Remember they paid billions in cases to try to avoid this. Data and privacy issues are especially sensitive. /1
Zuckerberg depositions are interesting as they often go on for hours with highly informed attorneys driving for answers. And those answers may be put up against the often questioned veracity of his answers to Congress. Yes, as a CEO, he has testified to Congress A LOT. /2
I think his first real depo was SEC on very sensitive data scandal leading to $5B+ settlements with FTC+SEC. That scandal is still playing out in courts (did he overpay to protect himself?) It took 3yrs to get unsealed after I caught it in a footnote. /3
The Verge comes in with a massive scoop on the backstory reporting it was Musk - and Sacks - behind the scenes trying to blow up IP to train AI on behalf of his allies. This wouldn't be a surprise to anyone. /1
they have reports and details on the carnage and firing of the leadership and on the possible incorrect assumption that the new people in charge were running their playbook. /2
It may be rare that @mrddmia is in agreement with Dems but in the world of accountability for big tech abuse whether over data, monetization, IP, censorship, privacy, you name it, these aren't partisan issues. appreciate the shared voice from advocates all around. /3