smart executive leadership post here. What I like *A LOT* is focus on partnership and trust. high-quality content companies are exceeding consumer expectations -and- where audiences prefer to consume it. #OurPartnershipCommitment 1/4 together.nbcuni.com/insights/blogs…
A healthy partnership builds trust and the trust of the brands involved including the discovery, sharing, content creators and advertising partners lift all the boats - much needed right now and not zero sum game. 2/4 #OurPartnershipCommitment
Working together to bring leading news and entertainment is critically important to meeting consumer expectations, our just-released @DCNorg Gen Z research showed TikTok, YouTube leading platforms - so I find it smart they’re on this list. Twitter innovating just this week. 3/4
Facebook news - amended complaint filed to what I previously called "Mother of all lawsuits" - insider trading allegations tied to FB knowingly leaking data for $, paying $5B to cover it up, governance failure, etc. I'll add more context in 15 tweets and link to prior thread. /1
It includes maybe ten new paragraphs - many in insider trading and governance failure sections. Includes new heavily redacted details regarding Facebook's "board" setting up an alleged scapegoat "Special Committee" just in time to settle for $5 billion and protect Zuckerberg. /2
Reminder, the allegation is this was done to avoid Zuckerberg being deposed or having his communications subject to discovery. To end the SEC and FTC lawsuits. There is also new info on the settlement and how many orders of magnitude larger it was than prior settlements. /3
This is a must-read report from Vice. The last Twitter Space I hosted a woman from Ethiopia asked to speak and provided witness to the atrocities being made much worse by Facebook. We’ve seen it previously and it resulted in a genocide report from the United Nations. /1
Even if it was simply a content moderation problem (results from America show that it’s clearly not) then Facebook spending moderation resources ratably would mean spending about $400 million in Ethiopia. I would be surprise if they’re spending 1% of that. /2
This is before even recognizing that the risk is heightened rather than lessened in a nation in turmoil, there are many languages and many, many people are dying. If 3-5% of hate speech gets removed globally, imagine the percentage in Ethiopia - probably less than 1%. /3
Threading EU Parliament hearing with Facebook whistleblower (while also multitasking). Interesting to hear her very clearly delineate “personal social media” vs “broadcast social media” in describing Facebook market power. This aligns with FTC lawsuit to break up the company. /1
I don’t believe I’ve heard the term “viral variant factories” but it’s catchy. Important to recognize the systems not only pick winners and losers but also accelerates spread by microtargeting to individuals while suppressing counterspeech which historically provided friction. /2
A lot of discussion about the dangers of AI. I would lob in the question whether in this moment it’s the AI that’s the danger as much as the exaggeration of its capabilities in light of an absence of transparency and external scrutiny and research. /3
ok, Facebook whistleblower testifying again today @ 12:45pm ET. This time to EU Parliament. I expect her super important evidence will be what we've already heard in Senate Commerce, UK Parliament testimony plus strong press reporting led by Wall Street Journal. However ... /1
It will be provided in context of a package of two, fast-moving and critically important draft regulations (DSA/DMA). So here is my key point: her evidence should only heighten attention to market power and already underway antitrust investigation by European Commission. /2
Facebook and friends have managed to reframe DSA to be a ban on "targeted ads" when the core issue at hand for users and failing market incentives is Facebook's surveillance, in collecting and using our data, when users aren't even choosing to interact with the company. /3
Washington Post included their incredible report on Jan 6th as an entire section in today’s print. I went ahead and re-read “Before the Attack” - the details in print make the (ongoing) attack on democracy by Trump and his allies even more chilling. On to “During the Attack.”
Here is the online version, I can’t recommend more highly taking the time to read it even if you know the details. The full narrative is helpful context. I hadn’t had time to read the “During” or “After” so will hit next. washingtonpost.com/politics/inter…
If you prefer video, I had flagged this last night and also recommend the CNN Special Report.
Although I respect @fmanjoo perspective and agree with much of this, it also gets a number of super important facts wrong on the state of holding Facebook accountable. I’m going to thread them here and may need to write a longer op-ed to get everyone back on same page. /1
First, they wouldn’t retain all the data. Even in case of German Cartel Office historic decision (under appeal), FB has to silo its data across apps and off-platform (where the company gets most of its data). In an actual breakup, it’s entirely limited esp growth leader Insta. /2
This isn’t right. Judge threw out saying states waited too long. Regarding failing to prove monopoly, judge said FTC didn’t back up with data but they could refile which they’ve already done with clearly supporting data on multiple dimensions. /3