{"id":858,"date":"2021-11-20T04:24:09","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T03:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/facebook-show-us-the-mess-the-new-york-times\/"},"modified":"2021-11-20T04:24:09","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T03:24:09","slug":"facebook-show-us-the-mess-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/2021\/11\/20\/facebook-show-us-the-mess-the-new-york-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook, Show Us the Mess &#8211; The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cfbc967f0983488262956e73eca9483a\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3859091246952232\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- blok -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3859091246952232\" data-ad-slot=\"1334354390\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n\n<\/div>\n<p>Advertisement<br \/>Supported by<br \/>the on tech newsletter<br \/>Candid looks at the inner workings of influential tech companies shouldn\u2019t be so rare.<br \/><strong>Send any friend a story<\/strong><br \/>As a subscriber, you have <strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">10 gift articles<\/strong> to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.<br \/><span class=\"byline-prefix\">By <\/span><span class=\"css-1baulvz last-byline\" itemprop=\"name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/shira-ovide\" class=\"css-mrorfa e1jsehar0\">Shira Ovide<\/a><\/span><br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/column\/on-tech\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">past columns<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><br \/>A<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/business\/facebook-papers-takeaways.html\" title=\"\"> pile of internal communications<\/a> has given us a rare, unvarnished look into Facebook\u2019s self-examinations and deliberations over how people are influenced by the company\u2019s product designs and decisions.<br \/>Perhaps the public and Facebook would benefit if these glimpses weren\u2019t so rare. Facebook and other internet powers could help us understand the world by showing us a little more of the messy reality of running virtual hangouts for billions of humans.<br \/>Something that has pleasantly surprised me from the reporting on the<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/24\/business\/media\/facebook-leak-frances-haugen.html\" title=\"\"> documents collected by Frances Haugen<\/a>, the former Facebook product manager, is how much thought and care Facebook employees seemed to have devoted to assessing the company\u2019s apps and the ways they shape what people do and how communities and societies behave. Facebook, show us this side of yourself.<br \/>Casey Newton, a technology writer,<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.platformer.news\/p\/why-these-facebook-research-scandals\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> made this case last month:<\/a> \u201cWhat if Facebook routinely published its findings and allowed its data to be audited? What if the company made it dramatically easier for qualified researchers to study the platform independently?\u201d<br \/>And what if other companies in technology did the same?<br \/>Imagine if Facebook had explained out loud the ways that it<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/22\/technology\/facebook-election-misinformation.html\" title=\"\"> wrestled with restricting posts with false information about fraud<\/a> after the 2020 U.S. presidential election and whether that risked silencing legitimate political discussions.<br \/>What if Facebook had shared with the public its private assessments of the ways that features to easily share lots of posts<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/technology\/facebook-like-share-buttons.html\" title=\"\"> amplified hateful or bullying posts<\/a>?<br \/>Imagine if Facebook employees involved in major product design changes could \u2014 like the U.S. Supreme Court justices \u2014 write dissenting opinions explaining their disagreements to the public.<br \/>I know that some, or all, of that sounds like a fantasy. Organizations have legitimate reasons to keep secrets, including to protect their employees and customers.<br \/>But Facebook is not an ordinary organization. It\u2019s among a tiny number of corporations whose products help shape how humans behave and what we believe.<br \/>Learning more about what Facebook knows about the world would help improve our understanding of one another, and of Facebook. It would give outsiders an opportunity to validate, challenge and add to Facebook\u2019s self assessments. And it might make the company a little more trustworthy and understood.<br \/>Facebook has said that it believed the reporting about its internal communications has lacked nuance and context. Its reaction has included <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/13\/technology\/facebook-workplace-transparency-leaks.html\" title=\"\">clamping down on internal deliberations<\/a> to minimize leaks. And in my conversations with people in technology this week, there is a fear that Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and others will respond to weeks of tough reporting on Facebook by probing less into the effects of their products, or keeping what they learn under lock and key.<br \/>But another way is to be more open and reveal far more. That wouldn\u2019t be entirely out of character for Facebook.<br \/>In 2015, the company publicly released and discussed<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/content\/348\/6239\/1130\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> research<\/a> by its data scientists that found that the social network<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/05\/08\/technology\/facebook-study-disputes-theory-of-political-polarization-among-users.html\" title=\"\"> didn\u2019t worsen the problem of \u201cfilter bubbles,<\/a>\u201d in which people see only information that confirms their beliefs. In 2018, Mark Zuckerberg published a<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/notes\/mark-zuckerberg\/a-blueprint-for-content-governance-and-enforcement\/10156443129621634\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> lengthy post<\/a> detailing the company\u2019s examination of how people on Facebook responded to material that was salacious or offensive. The same year, Facebook disclosed<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/09\/technology\/mark-zuckerberg-facebook.html\" title=\"\"> an ambitious plan<\/a> to share huge amounts of posts and other user data with outside researchers to study harmful information.<br \/>These efforts were far from perfect. Notably, the independent research consortium was dogged by<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2021\/09\/10\/facebook-error-data-social-scientists\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> botched data<\/a> and<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/09\/29\/technology\/facebook-disinformation.html\" title=\"\"> disputes<\/a> over preserving people\u2019s privacy. But the efforts show that Facebook at times has wanted to be more open.<br \/><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/law.stanford.edu\/directory\/nathaniel-persily\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Nathaniel Persily<\/a>, a Stanford Law School professor who was previously co-chair of the research consortium, recently<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2021\/10\/05\/facebook-research-data-haugen-congress-regulation\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> drafted text for legislation<\/a> that could grant independent researchers access to information about internet companies\u2019 inner workings.<br \/>He told me that he thought of the research consortium as \u201croad kill on the highway to something glorious,\u201d which would be both voluntary and forced transparency by large internet companies. He praised Twitter, which last week released an <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/company\/2021\/rml-politicalcontent\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">analysis<\/a> of the ways its computer systems in some cases amplified views on the political right more than those on the left.<br \/><strong>A tech giant in trouble.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>The leak of internal documents by a former Facebook employee has provided <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/04\/technology\/facebook-files.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">an intimate look<\/a>\u00a0at the operations of the secretive social media company and renewed calls for better regulations of the company\u2019s wide reach into the lives of its users.<\/span><br \/><strong>How it began.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>In September, The Wall Street Journal published The Facebook Files, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/17\/business\/dealbook\/facebook-files-whistleblower.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">a series of reports based on leaked documents<\/a>. The series exposed evidence that Facebook, which on Oct. 28 assumed the corporate name of Meta, knew Instagram, one of its products <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/01\/technology\/facebook-instagram-teenagers.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">was worsening body-image issues among teenagers<\/a>.<\/span><br \/><strong>The whistle-blower.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>During an interview with \u201c60 Minutes\u201d that aired Oct. 3, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/03\/technology\/whistle-blower-facebook-frances-haugen.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Frances Haugen, a Facebook product manager <\/a>who left the company in May, revealed that she was responsible for the leak of those internal documents.<\/span><br \/><strong>Ms. Haugen\u2019s testimony in Congress.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>On Oct. 5, Ms. Haugen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/05\/technology\/what-happened-at-facebook-whistleblower-hearing.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">testified before a Senate subcommittee<\/a>, saying that Facebook was willing to use hateful and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/05\/technology\/haugen-facebook.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">harmful content<\/a>\u00a0on its site to keep users coming back. Facebook executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, called her accusations untrue.<\/span><br \/><strong>The Facebook Papers.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>Ms. Haugen also filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided the documents to Congress in redacted form. A congressional staff member then supplied the documents, known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/business\/facebook-papers-takeaways.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Facebook Papers<\/a>, to several news organizations, including The New York Times.<\/span><br \/><strong>New revelations.<!-- --> <\/strong><span>Documents from the Facebook Papers show the degree to which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/22\/technology\/facebook-election-misinformation.html?action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc\">Facebook knew of extremist groups on its site<\/a>\u00a0trying to polarize American voters before the election. They also reveal that internal researchers had repeatedly determined how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/25\/technology\/facebook-like-share-buttons.html?action=click&#038;action=click&#038;pgtype=Article&#038;state=default&#038;module=styln-facebook-meta&#038;variant=show&#038;region=MAIN_CONTENT_3&#038;block=storyline_levelup_swipe_recirc&#038;module=RelatedLinks&#038;pgtype=Article\">Facebook\u2019s key features<\/a>\u00a0amplified toxic content on the platform.<\/span><br \/>Twitter\u2019s research was incomplete. The company said it didn\u2019t know why some messages circulated more than others. But Twitter was honest about what it knew and didn\u2019t, and gave the public and researchers opportunities for further investigation. It showed us the mess.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">More about Facebook from New York Times Opinion:<\/strong><br \/>Farhad Manjoo: <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/opinion\/facebook-regulation-section-230.html\" title=\"\">Misguided congressional proposals intended to fix Facebook are worse than no legislation at all<\/a>.<br \/>Greg Bensinger: \u201cFacebook has demonstrated it won\u2019t address its systemic problems until forced to do so. Now, it appears, <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/26\/opinion\/facebook-advertisers.html\" title=\"\">only advertisers can make the status quo unprofitable and unsustainable<\/a>.\u201d<br \/>Kara Swisher: Mark Zuckerberg is <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/26\/opinion\/zuckerberg-facebook-ceo.html\" title=\"\">no longer the adored leader and cultural touchstone at Facebook<\/a>.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Giant tech companies are still great at money: <\/strong><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/26\/technology\/google-profit-third-quarter.html\" title=\"\">Google<\/a> and <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/26\/business\/microsoft-profit-soars-48-to-20-5-billion.html\" title=\"\">Microsoft<\/a> made $$$$. <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/26\/technology\/twitter-third-quarter-2021-earnings.html\" title=\"\">Twitter is doing fine<\/a>, too.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Would you upload your passport to watch YouTube? <\/strong>My colleague David McCabe reports that more companies and countries are opting for <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/technology\/internet-age-check-proof.html\" title=\"\">digital age checks to try to keep young children out<\/a> of everything from video games to online pornography. But it\u2019s tricky to balance the benefits of anonymity online while keeping kids safe.<br \/><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Amazon is taking a stab at talk radio, sort of: <\/strong>The Verge writes that Amazon is building a new app that would <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/10\/26\/22744585\/amazon-project-mic-launch-live-audio-app\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">let anyone create a live audio show<\/a> and let listeners chime in with their voice. Is this clever or weird, or both?<br \/>This is a <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SarahTaber_bww\/status\/1447940913259503619\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter thread of cows and beans that resemble them<\/a>. For real. (I saw this first in the <a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.garbageday.email\/p\/extremely-tedious-twitter-discourse\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Garbage Day newsletter<\/a>.)<br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">We want to hear from you. Tell us what you think of this newsletter and what else you\u2019d like us to explore. You can reach us at <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"mailto:ontech@nytimes.com?subject=On%20Tech%20Feedback\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">ontech@nytimes.com.<\/em><\/a><br \/><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">If you don\u2019t already get this newsletter in your inbox, <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/signup\/OT\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">please sign up here<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">. You can also read <\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/column\/on-tech\" title=\"\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">past On Tech columns<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><br \/>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/10\/27\/technology\/facebook-transparency.html\">source<\/a><\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AdvertisementSupported bythe on tech newsletterCandid looks at the inner workings of influential tech companies shouldn\u2019t be so rare.Send any friend a storyAs a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.By Shira OvideThis article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of past [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow1sXXCw:productID":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monblogeur.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}