Below are posts associated with the “Facebook” tag.
🔗 linkblog: [Article] Zuckerberg donations – Alex'
Love this framing of using Meta as “making donations to Mark Zuckerberg.” It nicely describes the idea of digital labor that’s been on my mind for a couple of years now.
🔗 linkblog: The Emptiness Of Zuck’s Promise To Move ‘Biased’ Trust & Safety From California To Texas'
This was one of the dumbest parts of all Meta’s announcements and now it’s… basically nothing, too?
🔗 linkblog: Donald Trump Has Mark Zuckerberg By the Balls'
Not the headline I would have chosen, but very interesting argument here.
🔗 linkblog: Meta Deletes Trans and Nonbinary Messenger Themes'
Meta’s cynicism and groveling is pretty appalling.
🔗 linkblog: Meta’s Moderation Modifications Mean Anti-LGBTQ Speech Is Welcome, While Pro-LGBTQ Speech Is Not'
Some more good writing on a bad situation.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Is Censoring 404 Media Stories About Facebook's Censorship'
I especially appreciate this article in the wake of Meta’s recent announcements. There are cases in which content moderation is inconsistent or overreaching, and there are cases in which less moderation fixes the problem. However, it’s the arbitrary distinctions and self-serving nature of the changes that make the “free expression” argument so flimsy.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Deletes Internal Employee Criticism of New Board Member Dana White'
Moderating employees but not users seems telling to me.
🔗 linkblog: Instagram blocked teens from searching LGBTQ-related content for months'
See, this is the kind of content moderation we ought to worry about (and why “keep the kids safe” narratives can go horribly wrong).
🔗 linkblog: Big Tech’s Promise Never To Block Access To Politically Embarrassing Content Apparently Only Applies To Democrats'
Worth reading (and bookmarking). I’ve been hesitant to make the “no, actually, Big Tech is biased against liberals” argument, but this seems a compelling datum for that conclusion…
🔗 linkblog: Zuckerberg’s Spineless Surrender: Rehashing Old News To Enable False GOP Narratives'
This is one of these stories where I’ve been waiting to get Masnick’s take on it, and he does not disappoint.
🔗 linkblog: Adam Mosseri spells out Threads’ plans for the fediverse - The Verge'
I think folks are right to distrust Meta, but Threads with ActivityPub seems to me to be clearly better than Threads without.
🔗 linkblog: Meta’s new AI image generator was trained on 1.1 billion Instagram and Facebook photos | Ars Technica'
The phrase popped into my head before the article could even get to it: We are the product.
🔗 linkblog: Meta May Offer Ad-Free Subscriptions for Instagram and Facebook in the E.U. - The New York Times'
I’m in no way Team Meta, but this may not be a terrible thing?
quoted in EducationWeek about Seattle Public Schools' social media lawsuit
Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of talking with Arianna Prothero at EducationWeek about Seattle Public Schools’ suing Snap, Alphabet, Meta, and ByteDance, and she ended up quoting me—and colleagues like Jeff Carpenter and Josh Rosenberg—in her article.
I appreciate that all three of us were quoted in the article, because Jeff and Josh both made points that I didn’t articulate as well in my conversation with Arianna. For example, Jeff’s comments summed up a lot of the complexities that have gone through my head:
🔗 linkblog: School Facebook Pages and Privacy Concerns: What Educators Need to Know'
Josh is doing important work here—the kind of work that edtech researchers often don’t consider as being in their purview. Glad to see this getting coverage.
🔗 linkblog: Meta’s VR Headset Harvests Personal Data Right Off Your Face | WIRED'
I had not thought this much about the privacy implications of VR, and ooooof.
🔗 linkblog: This Is the Data Facebook Gave Police to Prosecute a Teenager for Abortion'
Compelling example of the need for digital privacy in a post-Row world.
🔗 linkblog: Zuckerberg: Apple, Meta are in “deep, philosophical competition” | Ars Technica'
Look, I’m a critic of Apple’s closed system, but it’s laughable for Meta to set itself up as an oprn alternative.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Is So Sure Its Erroneous Blocking Of Music Is Right, There’s No Option To Say It’s Wrong | Techdirt'
Intellectual property is important, but copyright filters are an absolute mess.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Bans People For Simply Saying Abortion Pills Exist | Techdirt'
A terrifying teminder that content moderation can easily overreach.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Says Apple is Too Powerful. They're Right. | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Doctorow is spot on here. Apple may be the most benevolent of the big tech companies, but it still has far too much power over its users.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook-Hired PR Firm Coordinated Anti-TikTok Campaign To Spread Bogus Moral Panics | Techdirt'
TikTok should not be protected from criticism, but it should not be subjected to this garbage either.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Researchers explain why they believe Facebook mishandles political ads : NPR'
Size and scale remain problems for Facebook and other social media platforms.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Meta ordered to sell Giphy by UK regulator - The Verge'
I had completely forgotten that Meta owned Giphy.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Security Researcher Finds Facebook App Tracking iPhone Movements'
Accelerometer data can be used for invasive tracking, and Facebook seems to be doing so. This is truly scary stuff.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'After Facebook Leaks, Here Is What Should Come Next | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Always appreciate the EFF’s perspective.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook Changes Corporate Name to Meta - The New York Times'
The weirdest part of this article to me is how you have Frances Haugen talking to the UK Parliament in one paragraph and then Nick Clegg—former deputy PM—defending “Meta” as their employee not long after.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Google and Facebook’s Ad Empires - The New York Times'
Tech companies are often ad companies, and it behooves us to remember that.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Employees pleaded with Facebook to stop letting politicians bend rules | Ars Technica'
Facebook might need more moderators, but they shouldn’t be company executives…
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook whistleblower hearing: France Haugen finally got Republicans to stop yapping about anti-conservative bias.'
Interesting article. I’m particularly interested in the idea of focusing on algorithms rather than content.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook’s outage likely cost the company over $60 million | Ars Technica'
A compelling reminder that social media companies make money from eyeballs pointed at screens.