The Technology 202: Facebook's Plans To Limit Politics Reflect Growing Pressure From Washington
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There may soon be less politics in your Facebook Newsfeed. The company is exploring limits on political discussion amid criticism that the social network has been used to foster extremism and spread disinformation about the recent U.S. Elections.
“One of the top pieces of feedback that we are hearing from our community right now is that people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
“So, one theme for this year is that we’re going to continue to focus on helping millions of more people participate in healthy communities, and we’re going to focus even more on being a force for bringing people closer together,” he added.
© George Frey/Bloomberg Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., speaks during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit. Photographer: George Frey/BloombergZuckerberg also announced the company would keep civic and political groups out of recommendations permanently – and expand that policy globally. Previously, the company had said it was only a short-term change related to the heated U.S. Presidential race.
Zuckerberg explained that people still will be able to join political groups and engage in political discussions if they seek them out on Facebook.
The announcements signal there will be long-term impact from the U.S. Elections and violence at the Capitol.The Department of Homeland Security yesterday warned of an increased risk of further violence driven by “ideologically-motivated violent extremists” agitated about President Biden’s inauguration and “perceived grievances fueled by false narratives.” Such warnings through the National Terrorism Advisory System are typically focused on foreign governments, not domestic extremists, my colleague Nick Miroff reports. The department said the “heightened threat environment” across the country is likely “to persist over the coming weeks.”
Democrats, now in charge in Washington, are putting greater pressure on Silicon Valley to address extremism.Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, told The Technology 202 in a statement that the companies “need to be doing much more to remove violent, extremist content from their platforms.” He also called for greater efforts to root out disinformation designed to undermine the election.
“Those two issues – election disinformation and violent extremism - converged on January 6th and we saw just how dangerous it is when platforms spend years ignoring the problem or trying to respond with half-measures,” Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement. "The top priority of these companies needs to be ensuring their platforms are not being used by domestic terrorists to wage future attacks.”
Social networks say they’re on alert for further attempts by extremists to misuse their platforms.Facebook is in close contact with law enforcement, company spokesman Andy Stone told me. The company also recently announced it is being more aggressive in taking down content related to militarized social movements and conspiracy networks.
The company announced that as of Jan. 12, it had removed about 3,400 Pages, 19,500 groups, 120 events, 25,300 Facebook profiles and 7500 Instagram accounts linked to militarized social movements. The company also recently purged a wide range of accounts associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory from its service.
Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said in the statement that the company is “working closely with law enforcement and federal government partners, including the FBI, DHS, and others to help mitigate potential risks.” She also said the company is expediting requests from law enforcement.
YouTube did not respond to requests for comment on how it is addressing the continued threat of violence. However, the company did say that it was continuing its suspension of former president Donald Trump’s account indefinitely amid concerns that it could lead to further violence.
Our top tabs The Biden administration is scrutinizing GameStop's stock as it surges with the help of an army of Redditors.
© Daniel Acker/Bloomberg The surge in Gamestop's stock price is not letting up, but U.S. Authorities are taking notice. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is “monitoring the situation” along with other Biden administration officials, the White House said. GameStop, a chain of brick-and-mortar video game stores, has seen an extraordinary surge in activity from amateur traders on Reddit, who are trying to best hedge funds gambling on the company’s failure. The company’s stock reached a whopping $347 per share today, a dramatic change from the $18 it was trading at on Jan. 8.
AMC, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, also saw shares quadruple to $19.90 following similar activity on Reddit. Trading for both companies was temporarily halted by the exchanges due to volatility, my colleagues reported.
The SEC said in a statement Monday that it was “working with our fellow regulators to assess the situation and review the activities of regulated entities, financial intermediaries, and other market participants,” the SEC said in a statement Monday. The surge also was criticized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who signaled increased oversight of the SEC:
Reddit, meanwhile, says it has not been contacted by U.S. Authorities about the trading. “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit posting illegal content or soliciting or facilitating illegal transactions," a spokesperson told Reuters. “We will review and cooperate with valid law enforcement investigations or actions as needed.” But Discord banned the Redditors' server on Wednesday, citing “hateful and discriminatory content” unrelated to its financial machinations, and the subreddit's moderators temporarily made the community private on Wednesday before it came back online and a moderator blasted Discord's behavior as “pretty unethical.”
Zuckerberg lashed out at Apple.
© Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.Zuckerberg launched a broadside against Apple, calling the company anticompetitive at a time when Facebook itself is facing antitrust scrutiny, Elizabeth Dwoskin reports.
“We increasingly see Apple as one of our biggest competitors,” Zuckerberg said, noting that Apple’s iMessage software is preinstalled on iPhones — enabling it to become the most widely used messaging service in the United States and giving it an advantage over Facebook’s WhatsApp. Zuckerberg also said that Apple’s growing investment in services also enables it to compete with Facebook and other apps that use its iOS software platform.
Zuckerberg’s comment also criticized Apple’s privacy practices. Zuckerberg said Apple’s iMessage software is not as secure as Facebook’s WhatsApp, and he reiterated claims that upcoming privacy changes to iPhone software will hurt Facebook and small businesses. Apple says the changes reflect efforts to limit data collection in order to protect user privacy.
The company told investors that it expects “more significant ad targeting head winds” this year with the iPhone software update and “the evolving regulatory landscape.”
A right-wing social media influencer has been charged with election interference stemming from 2016.
© Stephen Lam/Reuters A right-wing social media user used Twitter to dissuade voters from going to the polls in 2016. (Stephen Lam/Reuters)The Justice Department says it charged Douglass Mackey, who went by the name Ricky Vaughn, with conspiring to push election misinformation in the run-up to the 2016 election. Mackey’s ads, which my colleague Derek Hawkins detailed at the time, appeared to be designed to target minority voters by duping them to into voting by text message, which is not a form of voting in the United States. The Justice Department says that more than 4,900 unique phone numbers texted the phone number on or before Election Day. If convicted, Vaughn could face up to 10 years in prison.
“There is no place in public discourse for lies and misinformation to defraud citizens of their right to vote,” Seth DuCharme, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “With Mackey’s arrest, we serve notice that those who would subvert the democratic process in this manner cannot rely on the cloak of Internet anonymity to evade responsibility for their crimes. They will be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
The indictment raises questions about Twitter's pre-election content moderation. When Robert McNees, an associate professor of physics at Loyola University Chicago, alerted the company of the tweets in 2016, the company said it wasn't a violation of its terms of service, a move that it quickly reversed. McNees reacted to the news of the charges today:
Inside the Biden administration The White House says Huawei is a threat to the United States and its allies.
© Ng Han Guan/AP A statement signals that the Biden administration plans to keep the pressure on Huawei. (Ng Han Guan/AP)The Biden administration came out swinging against Chinese telecom equipment company Huawei.
“Let us be clear: Telecommunications equipment made by untrusted vendors, including Huawei, is a threat to the security of the U.S. And our allies,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “We’ll ensure that the American telecommunications network do not use equipment from untrusted vendors, and we’ll work with allies to secure their telecommunications networks and make investments to expand the production of telecommunications equipment by trusted U.S. And allied companies.”
The hawkish comments come just a day after Biden's pick to lead the Commerce Department, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, declined to detail whether she plans to keep the company on a department blacklist. And the Biden administration updated its ban on investments in Chinese military-linked companies, saying that most investments “whose name closely matches, but does not exactly match” those on the list of companies would be allowed for four additional months, until late May.
Workforce reportThe rise of one of the first video game workers unions (Wired)
MentionsThe Center for Democracy & Technology has announced 17 new members of its advisory board, including:
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