Thread by @MollyMcKew

Morning all. Will live tweet House hearing with Zuckerberg in this thread.

Mostly today I will tweet what is not being asked, and not being answered.

Privacy is important. So is hostile foreign influence. Too many things weren't asked yesterday.

#ZuckUnderOath

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Pallone hits the right point: ok, Cambridge Analytica did bad things with data. Doesn't Facebook do exactly the same thing?

**yes

Zuck rolls back the reel, repeats opening statement. It is literally like watching an old reel to reel recorder spin. It's slow and nonadaptive and you keep waiting for it to jam and shred.

CA harvested "data primarily available on public Facebook pages".

** you know, except they also collected private direct messages. For example.

mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/tec…

Walden asking about how Facebook has moved into media/content production and broadcasting. This is smart. Links them more to media/content responsibility.

Walden also flags fake Veteran groups/profiles online. This is a huge issue on the intelligence side.

** on not selling data. No. Facebook doesn't sell data. They profile you themselves and sell access to those algorithms.

Barton asks again about "Diamond and Silk"/conservatives being censored.

Apparently Facebook has said they will roll this back. So. That's interesting.

Also Barton flagged former committee council now working for Facebook as part of the hoovering up of lobbyists.

Bringing it back to the 60s, Bobby Rush asks how Facebook surveillance is any different than J Edgar Hoover.

Zuck responds with "user control" nonsense again. How can it be surveillance of people are voluntarily posting things?

**this is not how surveillance works bub

So far today, House bringing it down to grudge level: left and right punching Facebook for unfairly targeting their constituents.

Zuck: "the Internet is growing in importance around the world"

Profound.

Man the republicans have really been mobilized on the Diamond/Silk talking point.

Need to walk through info space they occupy later.

Eshoo: Do you have a moral responsibility to run a platform that protects our democracy?

Yes.

** it took 6 hours for someone to ask this question.

Aware of other data breaches you haven't disclosed?

Uhhhhhhh.

Was your data sold to malicious 3rd parties?

Yes

**interesting

When did Facebook learn the Cambridge analytica was using data for psychographic targeting?

2015

Did you speak to CEO?

(No, staffed it out)

Shimkus: What triggered 2014 API updates?

**this is a good question that Zuck is not answering by repeating a set piece

So there was scraping and you knew it?

(Continues the set piece -- so now people can scrape you but not your friends)

Who will do the audit?

3rd parties

Do you track logged off users on multiple devices?

Yes, for "security" and "ads" reasons. Blah blah. You can turn off ad targeting but not security tracking.

** that's interesting

Engel asks if foreign terrorists/hate groups have been scraping data. Do you adjust algorithms to keep individuals interested in violence in connecting to other individuals?

That's something we need to do

**again not clear this isn't a future reference.

Zuck again pivots from US elex interference to global, AI. Says tens of thousands of fake accounts taken down in elections in 2017. Implies they were mostly Russian.

** good data point. No follow up

"You control who you want to share with".

** except the Russians. Mercers. God knows who else.

Zuck totally flustered re question about paying massive potential fines to FTC.

Going to post this here:

theatlantic.com/notes/2018/04/…

Green: can users see everything FB scrapes on them?

Zuck: I believe so.

**squishy.

Blackburn: "who owns the virtual you?"

Zuck: everyone owns their own content online
More on "control" -- same misuse.

Zuck: "we don't think of what we do as censoring content"

Another hit on diamond/silk.

DeGette: are Facebook users deleting accounts more or interacting less because of CA revelations?

No.

Scalise says Facebook algorithms have a 16% liberal bias. Another hit on diamond/silk. Did you build in a bias in algorithm?

Zuck. Platform for all ideas

Hits on Obama campaign, data scraping. Facebook hired lots of Obama peeps.

Not accurate to say we gave them advantage

**this is going to keep coming up.

Latta: have Russians and Chinese used data scraping to collect everything?

Zuck: not that I am aware of. But 10000s apps that were scraping data. So......

Latta: how long will audit take?

Many months. Very expensive.
**tiny violins

** implication here is a crapload of data was being scraped. And FB has no idea where it went. Kogan alone sold data to "many companies"

Schakowsky says there were 9 million apps. Asks again what companies Kogan sold data to.

"A handful" of companies, Zuck says.

Were derivative data sets deleted by companies too?

We have no idea

*** conservatives doing a really good job diverting from fact that Cambridge Analytica used stolen data from Americans to win elections for conservatives by trying to say there is "content discrimination" against the right. This is well coordinated.

I'm coining a new term. "Scrapegoat"

** another R says Obama campaign and Cambridge Analytica same same. Moral equivalency is a great diversion tactic.

Zuck: CA involved 3rd party pass thru. Very different. "The platform worked the way we had designed it at the time"

** Zuck still not understanding his misuse of word control is like poison to whole messaging effort.

(You're not missing much. That's why I'm not posting.)

Kinzinger asks re info sharing w foreign governments, including Russia.

Zuck blah blah. Focuses on USG law enforcement interactions.

What about Russian intelligence?

Zuck non-answer. "We are not in the business of providing a lot of data to Russian government"

Kinzinger: is it just Russian data you share w Russia, or global?

Zuck: "I have no specific knowledge of any data we have shared with Russia." But will check because we respond to requests from law enforcement.

** Russia requires these companies to store data in Russia....

... Though compliance from Facebook and others is unclear

Zuck says they are using AI tools to track accounts that don't act like humans to profile fakes.

Lujan: does Facebook collect data on non-Facebook users?

Zuck: yes. For "security"

How many data points?

Don't know

** this question about shadow profiling is really important.

Zuck again describing networks of fake accounts established by Russians. Targeting us and Russians. Why isn't anyone asking a follow up on this, in terms of TTPs?

** is anyone else wondering why so many members are carrying water for diamond/silk? Would love to know who was pushing out TPs for the hearing.

Long from Missouri threatens action against Facebook if they don't fix anti-conservative bias on platform.

Schrader asks if Facebook has removed or destroyed any information relating to Kogan/Cambridge Analytica data issues, or relating to any federal or other law enforcement investigation. This is an interesting benchmark to throw down on the record.

(Zuck says no.)

Zuck: in 2015 "I don't believe we had a legal obligation" to notify users and FTC re Cambridge Analytica issue. But it would have been "right thing to do"

** the absence of questions on the use of Facebook as a platform for the conduct of information operations is maddening.

Debbie Dingell not messing around, reminding Facebook like/share buttons and Facebook Pixel allow Facebook to track everyone, even non-FB users.

Zuck doesn't know specifics on numbers, but 100mil+ in each category, at least.