ok, I'll add some thoughts here for this Mosseri hearing...time to go deeper. Mosseri just used future Ernst & Young audits to Senator Lee as a defense. It's worth noting Instagram is nowhere on being audited for brand safety by the industry. See the red box. /1
Sen Sullivan has locked in on problem here. US Surgeon General report recommending limits on social media usage by teens is directly at odds with Instagram's core biz model. Mosseri deflecting. As Sen Klobuchar pointed out earlier, if Instagram had competition it would matter. /2
Senator Cruz once again doing an outstanding job digging into Mosseri and research. Rightly tries to pin down Mosseri on:
- raw data from Instagram research
- powerpoint presentations memorializing the data
Mosseri claims data is gone. Facebook, Inc. is an unethical cesspool.
/3
Senator Blackburn closes strongly. Empathy has historically appeared to be a PR tactic for the top leadership of Facebook. When we've seen it, we've later learned it was a cover-up. /4
Sen Blumenthal closing with his AG experience then shifting to why we need competition - he's absolutely right. As many have heard me say, there is no defensible case Instagram and Facebook's blue apps wouldn't be better for the public if they had to compete with each other. /5
Now a few clips. This was a powerful close by @MarshaBlackburn but the company’s actions are limited to the bare necessity due to public and government relations in the absence of competition. If Insta had to compete with blue or couldn’t share data, things would be different. /6
It’s worth noting @MarshaBlackburn also brought receipts. It’s pretty absurd the default would be wrong for such a large cohort even if it’s a minority of users. Sounds like another Alex Schultz growth hack to me. There are dozens at play always. Video game for them. /7
“I want to make sure I understand the commitment you’ve made to this committee.”… here is @SenTedCruz with precision. Remember Facebook never actually released to the public a majority of the decks as promised. Instead they annotated much of one and gaslit everyone over it. /8
One last clip for now. @SenMikeLee rightly asks a question about algorithmic amplification and recommendations. Mosseri answers with intentions and a metric on prevalence (5 of 10,000). /9
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Just before the clock struck midnight, the Dept of Justice and Google filed their updated Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in the adtech antitrust trial ahead of closing arguments (Nov 25th/EDVA). /1
Google clocked in at 787 pages, DOJ at 422. Much more reading but I found the most enjoyable sections to be DOJ's reminders of Google's evidence abuses along with killing the duty to deal arguments Google has been pumping through its tentacles of paid proxies. /2
"Google chose to train its employees about how to abuse the attorney-client privilege and destroy documents." This was a big freaking deal before the trial started, in all of Google's other antitrust trials and it will be here, too. Don't forget it. /3
Google break-up talks. Big hearing tomorrow fighting over discovery. One question unanswered is... YouTube. Where does it sit? Almost no mention in any of the trials (app store, adtech, search) although arguably one of the most significant "fruits" of G's monopoly abuses. /1
I use the word, "fruit," intentionally as case law says one of the four critical objectives in remedies is denying them and it's fairly unequivocal YouTube is YouTube due to the query+click scale of Google's 90%+ market share in search. YouTube is now #2 discovery surface. /2
Why hasn't YouTube come up more? I would argue it clearly wasn't needed to prove the liability in the trials. And Google's legal defenses have focused on trying to muddy the relevant market. Google worked hard but failed to bring in video (think TV, Netflix, TikTok) in market. /3
There it is. Confirmation directly from the Department of Justice that divestiture of Chrome, Android and/or Play are all on the table as remedies to Google's antitrust abuses. US DOJ's remedies framework just posted. Their final proposal is due Nov 20th. /1
It's a fairly broad, ten pages that starts by reiterating the findings of the DC Court and the duty to seek an order not only addressing the existing harms from Google's illegal conduct but - this is critically important - prevent recurrence going forward. /2
here are the listed findings in a tl;dr format. Note the point of illegal conduct for over ten years and the importance of scale and data. /3
Ka-Boom. Federal court just issued remedy for Google's app store monopoly (found liable by jury earlier this year). Note: this is on the eve of US DOJ posting its remedy framework for Google's monopolies in Search and Search text ads. And yes, adtech opinion to come... /1
Looks like 3 years (I think Epic asked for 6) on a long list of restricts to attempt to cure Google's monopoly abuse in its app store (Google Play). We'll need to do a full review but this section may be most notable for @DCNorg members. And yes, Google will likely appeal. /2
Woah. Lawsuit against Facebook for overpaying $5b+ to FTC and SEC to limit Zuckerberg’s exposure from its cover-up around Cambridge Analytica just took an interesting twist with allegations Sheryl Sandberg was using and purging a separate Gmail account for sensitive matters. /1
This is in a sanctions motion just unsealed against her and another board member (now Biden Chief of Staff). The Delaware lawsuit is brought by pension funds now deposing a number of the board members after a records inspection allowed for a derivative lawsuit. /2
It appears that the evidence of the spoliation comes from emails showing up on the other end of the communications during discovery. This is how Google’s own spoliation issues surfaced (worth noting Facebook’s Sandberg and Schrage both worked at Google so…) /3
Oh come on, Alex Heath. It's one thing to let Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spread misleading history as part of your getting access and an exclusive interview but it's another thing to do it for him. You stated this for him rather than fact-checking on what actually happened? /1
I don't even know what you're talking about here. Google wrote a check for a few million to DOJ to eliminate the claim allowing for a jury. The case wasn't settled, it's literally wrapping up this week. It was Facebook who has paid more than $5B in settlements to the govt. /2
On those $5B+ in settlements, they were due to what you're helping him rewrite history. Literally THIS WEEK, 3 cases moved in DE Chancery, DC Appeals and the freaking US Supreme Court. Facebook WROTE THIS to SCOTUS who granted cert in 9th circuit case day after Nov elections. /3