2. Trump is not Facebook's problem. He's a symptom of Facebook's problems.
He's been off the site for months but Trump's signature type of content -- bigoted, divisive, and false -- continues to proliferate
The issue is not Trump. It's the algorithm.
3. Personally, I don't think Trump should be banned from Facebook right now. Nor do I think it does any good to ban him.
Facebook's algorithm gives massive distribution to hatred and lies.
The company knows exactly how to make changes to fix this but has refused to do so.
4. According to the WSJ, Facebook won't change its algorithm because of internal concerns of how changes would impact conservative figures and publications.
As long as that remains the priority, Trump's presence on the platform is of little consequence.
5. I'm also impressed by how hard Facebook is trying to avoid taking responsibility for its decisions regarding Trump one way or another.
It tried to punt the decision to the Oversight Board but the Oversight Board wasn't having it and bounced it back to Facebook
6. Now Facebook says Trump is suspended for two years but will only be unsuspended if "experts" tell Facebook is safe.
So if Facebook lets Trump back on the platform in 2023, don't blame Facebook!
Blame these unnamed experts.
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1. The defeat of the Texas' voter suppression bill, which continued to get worse throughout the legislative process, did not happen on its own. It's due to the relentless work of activists. A few:
The legislature has LESS THAN 5 HOURS to pass its voter suppression bill
House Dems have some procedural moves that give them a shot to kill the bill by blocking a vote until midnight
I'll keep this thread updated the best I can
House Republicans in Texas are apparently trying to convince Democrats to allow them to pass the bill tonight because the gov could call a special session later and make the bill worse
But the bill is already very bad and Dems say they aren't buying it
3. Republicans appointed an all-white conference committee to negotiate the differences between the House and Senate bills and the committee added a provision, not considered in either chamber, to ban voting on Sundays until 1PM
The top donor to UNC's journalism argued against tenure for @nhannahjones because her writing "denigrates the courageous efforts of many white Americans"
@nhannahjones "Long before Nikole Hannah Jones won her Pulitzer Prize, courageous white southerners risking their lives standing up for the rights of blacks were winning Pulitzer prizes, too,” Hussman Jr wrote to school officials
These statements were made by Hussman Jr. in private emails but he refuses to discuss them publicly because he "considers himself a working journalist" and "I don’t believe I ought to speak out as a journalist on a matter of public controversy,"