Threading thoughts from UK Parliament hearing with social media platforms. First up is Facebook including Antigone Davis who testified a few weeks ago to US Senate. @DamianCollins is already drilling down on FB's research very much exposing Facebook's negligence and spinning. /1
MP Collins did a breathtaking job in unpacking the issues, the lack of answers to accountability. Here is how he closed revealing only 4% of Facebook's $275B in profits went toward safety and security. Watch for the drink of the water glass. It’s a facebook tell. /2
This was after @DamianCollins probed on where decision making actually happens. In 2018, all answers were “the buck stops with Mark.” Now with the SEC complaints and plethora of lawsuits about governance, control, insider trading, it seems Facebook’s talking point went vague. /3
I’ll catch up and share thoughts from other MPs. Just focused on watching. Side note, remote evidence is such a problem here. Facebook’s Davis is clearly looking to her right of camera getting answer flip cards. /4
Baroness Kidron followed with probing on trust and whether or not Facebook is a system fit for purpose. She will later follow-up on whether there is a need for liability for directors since Facebook's policies are clearly not working. /5
Next up @MrJohnNicolson probed into the details of the Instagram research. He also asked why Apple needed to step in to get Facebook to actually step up its efforts to reduce use of its platforms for human trafficking. /6
Once again, we're back at trying to get a simple answer on who is the ultimate decision maker on the decisions to make adjustments to algorithmic amplification. Facebook once again dodges this, there is an obvious effort to avoid putting anyone's name to it - even the CEO. /7
wow, @DarrenPJones is new to me and providing outstanding line of questions. He starts with who/how Facebook's Davis reports into the Risk and Audit Committee of Facebook's board. She doesn't. This is the precise governance issue on table with several current lawsuits. /8
Several questions regarding Facebook's shutting off NYU researchers to they cannot study how Facebook microtargets and spreads content and ads. FB leans into scraping stating it's a privacy issue but says it's not about privacy and really makes no sense at all to any audience. /9
Bingo. Here was @MrJohnNicolson: “all of this suggests Facebook is an abuse facilitator that only reacts when you’re under threat either from terrible publicity or from companies for example like Apple that threaten you financially.” /10
Again, this was super weird. I didn’t know she and Potts report into Joel Kaplan who is a lightning rod and shouldn’t be anywhere near “safety and security” but then she skips over Nick Clegg and goes straight to the top. Why? And why doesn’t she know these answers? /11
Here was @darrenpjones. As the pension lawsuits in Delaware related to the $5B cover-up settlement claim, there is a lack of governance at Facebook driving lack of accountability. It’s also insane she doesn’t know the details of the bill. /12
Facebook’s answer is a mess here on why NYU researchers were cut off and falsely claimed it was a privacy issue. @DamianCollins gets in a point on Facebooks cover-up with Cambridge Analytica as he’s well-versed on it. /13 cc @LauraEdelson2
This exchange requires two clips (1 of 2 here) but is directly relevant to Facebook’s misleading hate speech prevalence metrics (3-5% spun into 98%) and ineffectiveness of their AI solutions which @dseetharaman broke down so clearly in episode 7 of the Facebook Files podcast. /14
This exchange requires two clips (2 of 2 here) but is directly relevant to Facebook’s misleading hate speech prevalence metrics (3-5% spun into 98%) and ineffectiveness of their AI solutions which @dseetharaman broke down so clearly in episode 7 of the Facebook Files podcast. /15
Questions specific to January 6th insurrection and Facebook’s recommendation of Stop the Steal and civic groups overall. Davis gets surprisingly irritated at the simple question of whether or not the changes were made before or after the US election. /15
You can judge but Facebook’s Davis certainly seemed to lose her cool then catches herself when @DamianCollins pressed on Facebook’s January 6th timeline. We’ve been here before on other matters. /16
Worth also posting this exchange also with @DamianCollins drilling down on the May 26, 2020 WSJ report from @dseetharaman @JeffHorwitz report that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to recommendation tools.” Her answers are remarkable. /17
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