This hot mic moment after Facebook testified this morning will get the most attention but I’ll paste a few other clips in this thread. /1
Canada continues to come prepared to ask fair and challenging questions. For instance, this reference to how FB’s Zuckerberg aggressively pushed back on UK Parliament in 2018. ps are we to believe a FB lobbyist really learned the term, “astroturfing” during Google hearing? /2
And also press on how whistleblower docs showed Facebook plotted to cause chaos in Australia by broadly blocking news and other critical information after the Senate vote but prior to becoming law. /3
Canada even asked about the “Jedi Blue” deal with Google which despite (or maybe because of) being in private and Justice Department lawsuits, Facebook apparently wants to deflect to Google. /4
By the way, when Facebook says they don’t “collect content from news websites,” please ask them about the pixels they’ve disclosed in discovery across over 8 million websites harvesting data to train their ad targeting which is 97% of their revenues. /5
Just in case anyone on Canadian Parliament thinks they actually answered one of your questions here, she quoted their revenues for all of North America which are already publicly available every quarter. /6
And I’ll end with an answer given to Facebook and Google’s most dutiful shield on this committee. FB would like us to know their great concern with the #c18 legislation is that it could tie the fate of the news sector to Facebook and Google due to their revenue payments. 🤦🏻♂️/7
Regarding the first tweet, the audio feed had a little bit more context as the Chair described Facebook witness’s remarks as “quite inappropriate.” /8
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Sigh. Facebook bailed due to this accurate change: “Late on Thursday, the committee notified Meta that the title of the hearing had changed to ‘Tech Giants’ Current and Ongoing Use of Intimidation and Subversion Tactics to Evade Regulation in Canada and Across the World’.” 1/2
I’m breaking my rule by sharing a full Facebook PR blog post. For those who have dug into how FB threatened and intimidated UK and Australian govts, you’ll understand what a load of garbage Nick Clegg is spreading here. 2/2 about.fb.com/news/2023/05/m…
Reminder, Clegg was hired as part of the effort to kill off existential lawsuits and global scrutiny leading to what is now approaching $6B in settlements to cover it up. We only later learned details from this Zuckerberg meeting. bbc.com/news/uk-politi…
So I took time to listen to @JesseBrown podcast with @Paulatics about C-18. It wanders thru google and Facebook’s preferred narratives then lands on a need for antitrust enforcement as google has 90%+ of search, g/fb majority of ad market, sort of fascinating/funny as… 1/7
Australia’s comparable code surfaced as intervention after a multiple year competition investigation of google and facebook led to an assessment can’t wait for antitrust enforcement because free press is critical to democracy. It’s a must read to have informed c-18 opinion. 2/7
So @Paulatics starts off with how publishers love distribution from google and facebook and hey, can always walk away from it. That’s silly and doesn’t align with the last point regarding their dominance and the imbalance in bargaining power for any individual publisher. 3/7
“Well, here we go again” is how Mike Masnick rightly starts his latest blog post. AGAIN, relentlessly defending the interests of Google and Facebook and again spreading misleading analysis of legislation threatening them - this time in Canada. 1/4
Masnick wrongly describes what it does. He says it will “tax links” (Google’s talking points) when the words never even appear in the bill. In fact, the bill is crafted after Australia’s bill to address imbalance in bargaining power determined by a multi year investigation. 2/4
And he frames bills as funded and serving one company (Facebook’s talking points) when there are thousands of brands behind the bill. He also says it hurt small biz when the opposite is true (even more $ per reporter at small pubs thx to massive collective bargaining deal). 3/4
Maybe I didn't say it loudly enough for the US tech press, Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg will go under oath in the next month about their "Jedi Blue" deal with Google. That would be a Sherman section 1 violation. I'll let @matthewstoller explain why that matters.
So many people I talk to think Jedi Blue was "thrown out" due to a decision in a state AG case vs Google that included it. That dismissal was odd to me and it survived the Facebook suit (it's also in the DOJ suit vs Google).
Sheryl Sandberg signed this deal. She no longer works for Facebook. She'll likely have her own legal counsel with her, too, for her depo. If she doesn't then she is absolutely bonkers. These screen caps are from the Court's decision to be clear.
late Friday night news! Zuckerberg and Sandberg depositions coming. After breaking records (nearly $6B) to avoid testifying in FTC and class action privacy suits, Zuckerberg and Sandberg will finally be deposed in next month by FTC then private plaintiffs in antitrust suits. 1/2
it's worth noting, the private suit includes the "Jedi Blue" allegations that Sheryl Sandberg signed deal with Google guaranteeing benefits to Facebook in auctions if it exited header bidding. Sandberg will be under oath for 1st time AFAIK. 2/2
To complete the news, Court did agree to limit Sandberg, Cox, Zuckerberg and Clegg depositions to 3hrs each for now. Reminder, Sandberg so far has sat in front of US Senate for even less time with topics carved out and sharing time with Dorsey. So this is still a BFD. 3/2
Facebook to block all news in Canada. Entirely predictable. As we discussed in Ottawa, news is more important globally to Facebook than presented. This threat, as in Australia and by Google, is selfish hostility to democracy. Do not bend, a tip from me. They will. 1/2
According to reports and whistleblower docs, Facebook had an incredibly detailed plan when they blocked in Australia. Make no mistake, this is hostile to democracy - Google and Facebook. theglobeandmail.com/amp/politics/a…
Related. Yes, this was announced the evening of Google’s hearing over the same matter. Convenient for Google, they have a friend in Facebook.