When I got to the point where the article quotes sources that signed NDAs, revealed protected knowledge, then refused to give their names, I quit reading because any author that incorporates information from individuals who do not posess ethics is also lacking professional ethics. An individual that accepts compensation for non-disclosure and then anonymously reveals sensitive information without returning the compensation is a dishonest individual and is therefore not a reliable source. Conversely, if it is argued that such an individual is ethical, the only conclusion that can be supported is that the information given is not accurate as that would violate the NDA.
5
How come for 10+ years it was Zuckerberg Zuckerberg Zuckerberg, but now that there's trouble, a female is being roped in to share the blame?
Fall guy?
238
Did you read the article? Sandberg is no fall ‘guy.’ Not excusing Zuckerberg’s actions by any means, but it seems Sandberg was behind much of the delay and deflection. She was more interested in protecting her own brand and earnestly trying to solve the problem
49
@KS You're assuming Sandberg's gender?
That will get your fired at Facebook.
11
@KS she is a disaster. A hypocrite and epitome of what is wrong with corporate leadership.
He is a disaster in his own way. He needed her as much as she needed him. A pot and its lid.
Lean in indeed. This is not a gender issue. It is an ethics issue. Please stop reading everything with the same lenses. Does not work.
71
So many commenters naively faulting FB for being overly concerned with making a buck as if such a purpose to exist wasn’t every businesses’s major concern. Many faulting FB for not seeing beforehand Russian inference in elections, data breaches, hate speech and so on, yet FB, as an organization, is working in arenas of innovation no other company in the world has ever worked in. Much easier to find fault after the fault is known then anticipating a yet to be spotted unknown fault beforehand. Grow up, America, you live in a capitalist society. It’s rules of engagement are harsh.
97
Your casual dismissal for other's legitimate complaints sets a dangerous precedent. It implies that we shouldnt even try rousing blame after an event nor should we bother trying to seal potentially dangerous breaches of morality and law. Sure, not all future issues can be foreseen, that doesnt excuse the lackadaisical fasion FB treated the users data and their own platform in regards to Russia and misinformation.
76
@Dave Thomas...Facebook has an image problem because they use people’s data for suspicious/nefarious things. It’s a pointless company with a cynical mandate. Unlike Microsoft or Apple they do not produce anything of value besides making it slightly easier to be in touch with people that you don’t really care about. It’s a highly over-valued company.
The fact that Zuck is like the third wealthiest person in the world is as ridiculous as Donald Trump being elected president. Neither are up to the job nor deserving of their position.
87
@Dave Thomas,
we live in a democracy, democracy and capitalism are not the same thing, and money is not the only thing that matters in a democratic society. in fact, part of government's role is to monitor unscrupulous capitalist practices under the banner of seeking only the maximization of shareholder value or even innovation. american businesses have made plenty of dangerous mistakes, which you recognize if you are somewhere north of 10 years old.
58
I think it is cute that you all assume you have privacy. I have never been a facebook user but yet I assume that all information about me has been sold, whether having to do with on-line activity or not. If there is not a law that prohibits something then it has happened and even if there is a law that prohibits something, if that law applies to corporations, then it has also happened. Who do you think controls the government? It sure isn't the people. Americans are so cowed and childish it is laughable.
8
I don't want Facebook or any other social media to censor anything. Censorship is bad news. Having lived in a country with censorship in the 1930's and again starting in 2015 I see that censorship is NOT the way to go.
3
@Chris Anderson and yet you are reading the NYT...."All the News, that the DNC wants to you have!"
CNN, NYT, WAPO....are basically just propaganda entities of the DNC.
However I agree that Censorship is BAD.
I think we should prosecute people calling for crimes....say Maxine Waters....for call for physical attacks on Republicans....or various Democrats calling for VIOLENCE and HARM to Republicans. Freedom of Speech ends with call for violence, or banging on Tucker Carlson DOOR.
Constitution allows for "or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, " not attacking and trespassing.
1
@Chris Anderson
Well you see where the unbridled widespread dissemination of hate/racist/white supremacist speech has taken the country. Allowing a platform with as much reach to publish false, white supremacist, etc. comments that spread almost instantaneously is downright dangerous. People are dying because someone with a gun took trump's "anti" tweets seriously.
Facebook and other platforms allow egregious lies to be published at will, never calling them on it. This gives tacit approval to using falsehoods as a way to manipulate the electorate and undermine trust in how our democratic government works. No Virginia, the Florida vote counting has NOT been subverted. But if you listen to, and believe, Rick Scott spew his claims that his opponents are trying to rig the system, you end up with a bunch of stupid peple waving signs in front of the election officials who are trying to do their jobs. This is where Facebook has got us.
1
Never used it, never will. And : Told you so.
Seriously.
10
Facebook certainly was a mess and deserves the financial bath it has taken. Many of the serious problems were for profit. The NYTs obsession with Russian meddling is not because of their vigilance but because they have invested so much into this tale. They can't walk away the only thing they can do is keep repeating the same non sense.
7
As of Nov 14th, 2018: No evidence has emerged that Facebook posts by any party had an significant influence on the 2016 presidential election.
And what are termed “Russian trolls” seem to be parties trying to generate click bait.
Neither Facebook nor Twitter told Hillary Clinton to select Tim Kaine (to her right) as her VP, FB and Twitter didn’t tell Hillary to take any close states in which polling gave her a slight lead for granted. But she did exactly that with 7 close states, she lost 6 of those 7. During the general election, she managed to run to Trump’s right on several issues. And like Obama she explicitly only favored workers on Wall Street or in Menlo Park, CA (irony).
She didn’t learn her lessons from her loss to an outsider in 2008. Then she arrogantly assumed normal government rules (not laws yet) didn’t apply to her and she ran the State Department from a private email server. When that came out (in the NYT) she should likely have realized she’d be hard pressed to win.
NOT ONE of these failures by Hillary (and the DNC) has anything to do with Facebook.
So no Facebook doesn’t have a big problem, or not the big problem that the NY Times claims. FB is still creepy and invasive and navel gazing though.
5
Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg created an enormously successful service that is indispensable for most and does a tremendous amount of good in the world - from keeping us connected to those closest to us, to helping small businesses grow and create jobs in ways they never could before, to helping charities raise money, suicide prevention and much more.
Of course Facebook has made mistakes. Big ones. Unfortunately, as human beings, none of us are perfect, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. I'm sure there is much they wish they had handled differently in hindsight. However, painting them as working nefariously behind the scenes in an underhanded manner is just so convenient and cliche.
The truth is that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg deeply, and rightfully, believe in Facebook and are working incredibly hard to fix the complicated problems and abuses that have surfaced in recent years. They should be both praised for doing so and held accountable for their results.
4
@Jack Behar Please watch the Frontline doc on Facebook, watch the smarmy delivery of the Facebook party lines delivered with a "we think you're dumb" look in their eyes. Watch Zuckerberg in the early days delivering his philosophy, which I paraphrase, make mistakes and apologize later. Facebook was willfully ignorant. When Facebook employees raised concerns, which many did over the years, these concerns were waved aside in favor of growth. There were years and years of warning signs, all of which were ignored not out of innocence but by design.
19
The world survived very well without FB.
3
I believe this article and others like it are based on the false premise that Facebook is responsible for how its products are used. As an example, if a bank robber used a Ford vehicle, do we hold Ford motor company responsible for the bank robbery?
I think Facebook is a technology platform just like Ford motor company. Also, Facebook is NOT a media company like NY Times.
Neither Facebook nor Ford are responsible for how their platforms (products) are abused or the unintended consequences of the abuse. If the products are not working as advertised, we should seek help from those who are responsible (consumer product safety regulators, police or whoever is responsible for safety and security of the elections and politics).
Blaming technology platforms like Facebook for misdeeds of individuals or shortcomings of safety and security agencies is simply misguided and avoiding the hard questions.
10
Just because something, possibly not true, is posted on Facebook, that doesn't mean everybody who sees it automatically believes it. Just because a politician posts something on Facebook that someone thinks is objectionable, does not mean that it is, or that everybody who saw it agrees with it. Just because Facebook shares user data with another company does not mean that all users are losing any privacy, because the platform enables its users to restrict personal data to a bare minimum. Let the users of Facebook enjoy what they have, let those who disagree with it unsubscribe, and go wring their hands over something else. No one is being forced to use it.
7
Another in-depth report that shows why we need NYT. While I feel disappointed and even betrayed by the COO of FB, I want to thank NYT for shedding light on this crucial issue of corporate social responsibility. Shame on FB, and thank you, NYT.
26
Anyone ever wonder why there is no really viable alternative to FB? Especially when so many for so long have wanted to leave?
8
This article is unfair to Facebook. They *were* trying to "do the right thing."
The right thing, they decided, was to defend freedom of speech, even speech that they thought was disgusting -- like Donald Trump's racism.
The founders of our country, who wrote the Bill of Rights, came to the same conclusion.
The alternative was to be a dictator, make their own decisions about whose ideas were right or wrong, and only permit the ideas they agree with.
How would the Republicans in Congress have responded if Facebook banned the racist Donald Trump, or the alt-right media, or Republican congress members Facebook didn't like?
Facebook was the victim of an attack by the massive resources of a national intelligence agency. How do you tell the difference between a deceptive Russian troll and a real American right-wing extremist? Or an American right-wing Republican?
Under the Bill of Rights, Congress has no right to question Facebook's editorial decisions, any more than they have a right to question the NYT's editorial decisions.
Unfortunately, Facebook backed down, out of fear of Congressional intimidation, and copied the conservative playbook by hiring conservative executives and a conservative PR firm. I think that was their big mistake.
Now Facebook is using the conservative Weekly Standard for fact-checking https://www.cjr.org/the_new_gatekeepers/the-weekly-standard-facebook.php which is their ultimate capitulation to the right wing.
4
Is this conduct indicative of sedition, treason or espionage?
8
All of the above...
6
I’ve had it with the NYT. All the battles out there to fight and you’ve started a crusade against Facebook. Why? Do you know I get really cool NYT articles that I wouldn’t normally see because they show up on my Facebook feed?
Yes there are things that need to be fixed about Facebook. But you are encouraging the throwing out of the baby with the bath water. Stop demonizing Zuckerberg and Sandburg. You are sounding so like the Republicans and their war on Soros.
Maybe The NYT is somehow threatened by Facebook. I do not know. You are wrong in your crusade against a company that is a friend of the people.
5
Fight with Facebook or extremely important reporting ...
1
I voted for Gary Johnson, so I’ve got no dog in this fight, but this is much about nothing. The Left is in denial that their gal lost so they must de-legitimize the election. I don’t believe one vote was swayed by “The Russians” on Facebook or anywhere else.
5
It's startling, and satisfying, to see the Times actually take to task this darling of the current culture, a woman, who turns out to be just as devious and self-serving and 'seething" as any man. This is someone who in the last week was also touted in the Times as a possible presidential candidate.
Now, if only MSNBC would end the support of Joy Reid--she of the horridly homophobic blog posts.
Both of these women should be fired, as would men who did the same.
11
I have no love for Facebook and would prefer that it ceased existing. I applaud the reporting here. But let's get one thing clear: Just as it is not inherently anti-Semitic to criticize how Facebook operates, it is also not inherently anti-Semitic to criticize how George Soros operates. It is 100% true that Soros funds activist groups that would like to appear as entirely 'grass-roots' operations, and it is always important to know which groups are receiving such funding in order to access their real goals. To point out that a group received such funding is not in any way a 'dog-whistle'. I feel compelled to make this point because the NYTimes has been repeatedly pushing the notion of late that any criticism of George Soros is anti-Semitic, and this notion has been conveniently slipped into this article as well. It is important that we remain as vigilant as ever against any form of anti-Semitism, which is why we should not muddy the waters by constantly putting Soros above criticism. Soros does not represent all Jews and his widespread meddling does not represent what Jews want. He has no loyalty to his own Jewish heritage anyway. He is purely an amoral mercenary, quite like FB.
4
As my grandfather said: "From a cow, you can only get cow meat." The software may be useful and innovative, but Zuck and Sandberg are no different than any other execs under the sun. They scramble, they spin and they get others do whatever dirty work they cannot do themselves. It doesn't matter that Zuck is Harvard dropout or a wunderkind, or that Sandberg is a pseudo-feminist. When the chips hit the fan, they ran a duck and cover just like any other execs. But unlike other execs, the stakes were exponentially higher and they still don't care. Nothing to see here.
17
I deactivated my Facebook account the morning of November 9, 2016, when I realized the nightmare I was sharing with a majority of Americans had everything to do with the ugliness I experienced on Facebook every day for the previous year.
19
Sheryl Sandburg appears to be a scary sort of leader and public figure. She spins herself as having great emotional intelligence, but what she’s actually good at is using her charm to manipulate an appearance of integrity and humanity and modesty. She’s clearly a good actress, and we’ve been duped about her through public relations and well -written books. I’m less surprised by Zuckerberg, as he’s always seemed a little bit on the spectrum himself. Bottom line: these two led their company, and the public, into an enormous, dangerous mess. They have been dishonest, duplicitous, and self-serving. The public deserves an explanation from them and these two need to take a good, long look in the mirror. Leaders must do better than this.
40
PASS LAWS THAT HOLD SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT IS PUBLISHED ON THEIR PLATFORMS.
Social media companies should be held responsible for what is published on their platforms the same way traditional media companies are held responsible for what they publish. Let social media companies get sued for liable, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, etc. Online discourse would improve and the bogus stories and foreign government interference in elections would decline.
14
This reader's question remains the same as it was way back when Facebook entered the scene as the latest monkey-see, monkey-do mania:
What ever motivated anyone to trust Mark Zuckerberg in the first place?
13
I question a society that creates Facebook from its midst. The necessity of such an inane and vacuous tool of vanity should appeal to something like .1% of the population. Yet it is willingly sponsored by masses all over the world. All of these people couldn’t just be idiots who cannot see what Facebook is really about.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg are despicable people who exploit the vulnerability of masses. They care for nothing but personal glory and fortune. Concepts like nation, country, honor, public good and the like are alien to them.
But again, my question is why is our society so gullible? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we enable people like Zuckerberg and Sandberg flourish? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we elect obvious crooks like Trump as President? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we allow “Citizens United” type euphemisms exist while we pride ourselves for being a democracy as opposed to being an archaic oligarchy?
Facebook may just be a mirror we are looking into and not liking what we see: ourselves.
21
This is insane behavior. I thought the E. Holmes saga was alarming, but this is a whole other level of evil.
3
Friends wanted me to have a Facebook account many years ago, so I opened one under an AKA (also known as). Writers use pseudonyms so why can't I, I thought. Picked a random birth date I could remember and close by but not accurate location. The whole FB concept spooked me right from the start. This way I can give my alias to friends and family and have access. I have never looked back wondering how my 8th grade boyfriend will find me now. Well, maybe a little, but the perceived anonymity is worth it. Not sure how much they really know about me. Probably more than I would like.
7
Clearly, Sandberg was leaning out at a time she should have been leaning in. As COO, she appears to have been up to her neck in the effort to obscure and deflect Facebook's role in undermining the American democratic process and to hire a lowlife firm to attack other companies and critics and to smear George Soros--the favorite pinata and anti-Semitic target of the right. That Zuckerberg and Sandberg are both Jewish makes this part of the story particularly shameful. It's all rather despicable and supports a powerful argument for regulating Facebook. Sandberg should resign.
21
It's likely that Facebook information was openly shared with a liberal group to help in the 2012 election as well. While attention was focused on Cambridge Analytica, I'll bet that Facebook shared information with Harold Ickes Catalyst - the liberal group, for data mining purposes as well. Subpoena that information and you'll see that there is more to uncover here on both sides of the aisle.
5
I find it telling that Facebook attempted to deal with its problems through its own information-influence campaign. For all the high-minded ideals the company espouses, there's nothing in this article to suggest that FB was willing to be introspective and actually FIX those problems. Instead, their approach was to try and control how people perceive them, as if the narrative that "got the most likes" would somehow crowd out the truth of just how flawed FB really is. Why not fix the mess instead of trying to control the message?
15
There have been a lot of comments posted here about Facebook, but I would think it is time to thank the New York Times for conducting and publishing this investigation. No other significant media outlet, particularly one with the international reputation of the NYT, has dared to take on Facebook. Good job!
31
Outlaw Facebook and close it. Democracy must be able to defend itself.
2
With all the 'power players' in the corporate/financial/legal world, and all the jousting among both built and acquired Empires, the most obvious conclusion in reading this "Times" investigative report, and based on my own longer term understanding of the evolution/metastasis of Empire since the 20th century, is that, like elephants rutting, there is some big 'goings-on' in this 21st century battle of how to placate or overcome man's dangerous proclivity toward Empire.
As Ike and Tina Turner sang, we can do it, "the easy way" or "the hard way".
3
I question a society that creates Facebook from its midst. The necessity of such an inane and vacuous tool of vanity should appeal to something like .1% of the population. Yet it is willingly sponsored with a significant mass of characters. All of these people couldn’t be idiots who cannot see what Facebook is about.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg are despicable people who exploit the vulnerability of masses. The care for nothing but personal glory and fortune. Concepts like nation, country, honor, public good and the like are alien to them.
But again, my question is why is our society so gullible? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we enable people like Zuckerberg and Sandberg flourish? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we elect obvious crooks like Trump as President? Is it a huge intrinsic problem that we allow Citizens United type euphemisms go on as if nothing happens and pride ourselves for being a democracy as opposed to an archaic oligarchy?
Facebook may just me mirror we are looking into and not liking what we see: ourselves.
8
Delay, deny, deflect? How about Delete. Facebook accounts are not necessary and have been shown to make people less happy.
14
How is it that so many otherwise perceptive people cannot see that the notion of "corporate citizenship," with its associated pap about social justice and public good, is a ridiculously naive delusion. The current system of corporate governance has allowed the corporation—a fundamentally amoral, anti-democratic entity—to attain a terrifying scope of power within our otherwise democratic society, and so unless we move to a system in which the citizens who work and produce wealth enjoy a just degree of power and equity within it, our only intelligent course is to fight this amoral, anti-democratic virus with the antibodies and prophylaxis of carefully constructed regulation—regulation that allows corporations to thrive in beneficial ways, without harming society.
7
Too bad Mr. Zuckerberh and Ms. Sandberg did not serve in the US military. If they had, they might have learned:
"You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility."
168
@M. Robertson ....appreciate the sentiment but I learned this the other way around.
"You can delegate responsibilities but you never delegate authority."
This is because people can work for you but they should never be speaking for you.
OK?
8
@M. Robertson
I would not pick the military as a role model for these two. They are already well versed in empty sloganeering. They may even teach the military a thing or two when it comes to it.
10
'Delay, Deny and Deflect'
Sounds like they should run for president.
4
Hire lobbyists. Work Senators and Congresspeople. Massage the message. Attack the messenger. “Fire” the people who brought this to your attention.
But fix the problem? Nah.
9
Deleting my FB account permanently this weekend.
10
Why is Facebook still a thing anyway?
It should’ve gone the way of MySpace a long time ago?
12
How can anyone, knowing the genesis of Facebook, be surprised that it acts amorally now? The company reflects the behavior of its founder, no?
11
Hard to understand exactly what the problem is. Who in their right mind was influenced by the ludicrousness of Russian internet activity? The stuff I saw was comically inept and usually over the top. As for Cambridge Analytical, I don't have any problem with being "targeted". Fire away.
2
A poster on here said that ALL social media should be shut down. This is ridiculous. I've NEVER relied on Facebook, Twitter etc for my news. I didn't even have a Facebook page until 2012. I was in the military and didn't need one. Because of Facebook I was able to attend my 30th High School reunion which i would never have been able to do otherwise and most of my FB friends are my former classmates. People need to be smart about where they get their news. That's why i read the NYT and WAPO. I don't use Facebook or those other sites that much. It's up to the USERS to be smart and educate themselves the irresponsibility of Zuckerberg and Sandberg notwithstanding.
4
It's time to give up the excuse that Facebook is just a portal of information, for which it has no responsibility. It is a media organization, no different than a newspaper, television station or radio, and as such it has a responsibility to curate the messages it transmits for accuracy and good taste. It is irresponsible to disseminate false data and hateful content, and doing so should be strongly discouraged, by regulation or the threat of legal action, if necessary. The cost of curating content should be borne by Facebook, which earns more than enough to do so.
5
The argument could be made that the amount of money spent by the Russians was the most cost-effective political media buy in history. It was many, many times more effective than PAC money funneled into a local media market, for example.
.
One $10K purchase can become 100 memes and false click-bait articles that get shared 100,000 times each (or more,) and you have a wave of influence flowing through the nation, virally. Add to that the fact that people are seeing these memes/shares coming from *people *they *know, which they give more credence to than the usual TV ad that they tune out immediately.
.
Thanks, Facebook.
6
I understand tech platforms brought many advantages in our everyday lives, but if you think of them as a perfect tool for mass surveillance it brings to mind all the horrors of dystopian societies.
Every society has surveillance capacity, like let's say KGB was listening to all your phone conversations, following you on the streets, etc...
But now you're followed in your home just by googling something that you need to know fast, and then you get "rewarded" by endless spam and clicks to click on, and before you know you're "Down the rabbit hole."
And all the while the Big Brother is watching.
6
Individual users don’t have much leverage against large organizations but the sum of our actions are meaningful. I quit Facebook a while ago upon discovering for myself how their interests were counter to mine. It became clear to me, by dozens of weird “People You May Know” entries on my page that they had sold access, or maybe gave access via APIs, to people who were far from “my friends”. If enough people quit they will get the idea. Of course, you can’t quit, exactly. You have to apply to get them to “quit you”. That alone suggests why you may want to dissociate yourself from these people.
5
@Glenn Stasse
Agreed! I dumped my account, which i rarely used anyway, earlier this year. And getting that done wasn't easy. A core problem in my view is that so many young people have been raised with this technology and with no idea about personal privacy and why it is important. So, it seems there may not be a wave of users quitting FB that's large enough to punish that huge corporation for its unethical behavior.
4
Doesn't matter, social media has ZERO IMPACT on the outcome of elections.
No one makes a decision on who to vote for based on anything they see on social media.
No debate occurs on social media that results in a changing of positions. Positions are already decided when someone posts comments on any of these platforms.
While these platforms are no doubt huge, they aren't as important as their creators, and the members of Congress, think they are.
American media causes more division between the people than Putin/Russia/(insert country) ever could, as usual.
1
Claims without evidence can be dismissed without concern.
10
With FB and Mark Zuckerberg, it has always been about money and how to make more money, getting the algorithms finely tuned to enhance dollars. Morals and ethics became of secondary to FB's ruthless pursuit of dollars. What a surprise...Not!
10
It’s past time to delete your Facebook and Twitter accounts. I agree with the break them up strategy.
I also feel strongly that there must be restrictions placed on these social media firms. They are unwilling to police themselves at the cost of the US democracy.
I suggest removing the ability to create FB Pages and Groups, removing the ability to post web links and banning memes. FB and other social media platforms have become the dark web on many levels.
Delete your accounts now!
9
Always suprised at everyones expectations of a free platform, that you willing give all your information to for free. How could that possible go wrong?
66
All the anxiety over Facebook is really quite amusing. I teach at a CUNY college and when I mention Facebook my students laugh, and most say "Facebook is for my parents and grandparents." From my ten-plus years experience as an educator in NYC, the overwhelming majority of young people coming into adulthood since 2014 do not have Facebook accounts. I get that Facebook is still popular with the over 30 crowd and there are more than 200 million users in the US; but young people are changing SM and the way they communicate, and by the middle of the next decade Facebook will more than likely die out with the people who can't keep up with changing trends in SM.
51
@Stefan Ackerman
Changing trends in social media don't make any of the platforms used by younger people any better. Kids/young people don't understand the importance of privacy, and many of them are not learning anything from their 30+ "old people" parents who use the FB platform with abandon. Maybe you're helping your students understand that?
6
Never saw any value in Facebook, never have had an account.
Can't understand why people give away their privacy to this company.
And just how dumb do you have to be to get you news from Facebook or any social medium?
When it comes to Facebook, people should just say "no".
41
Somewhere, John Milton is weeping. Too obscure? Look it up.
12
Perhaps someone should create a fakebook page for it and call it ‘Paradise lost’
2
@Marklemagne
Look it up on Google, another bastion of ethics and privacy. ;)
4
Profits over what is good for people, what's new? This is the story of US capitalism. Dump Facebook if you care. Bonus: you'll have a lot more free time! All they care about is their bottom line.
38
Undernoticed paragraph that lays bare Zuckerberg's true self:
“We’re not going to traffic in your personal life,” Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said in an MSNBC interview. “Privacy to us is a human right. It’s a civil liberty.” (Mr. Cook’s criticisms infuriated Mr. Zuckerberg, who later ordered his management team to use only Android phones [not produced by Apple])
55
Facebook can let Russians infiltrate it to influence the US election but when a 13 year old girl is murdered (Lucy McHugh in the UK) they took 18 months to hand over evidence from her killer's account after he refused to divulge his password to the police. I wonder if Zuckerberg or Sandberg's child was murdered would they sit on the fence for 18 months waiting for vital evidence or would they override data protection rules...
47
"There's a sucker born every minute." PT Barnum
But 2.2 billion?
Never touched Facebook and What's App is worse for security.
19
How about a criminal investigation concerning a few million in unmarked rubles delivered from Putin to Zuckerberg?
16
The Frontline special portrayed the senior team at FB was informed of all these issues. And DID NOTHING.
For Sandberg to blame Alex Stamos for all this laughable. She looks grossly incompetent for stupid. How can anyone with common sense ignore these issues.
Please someone tell me!
40
Hey, Sheryl?
Lean right in and go count your money. Be sure and come up with a soothing story to tell your kids about how you got it and what that did to our country. Or maybe you can just delegate that to their nanny.
As for her apologists based on nothing else but the fact she's a woman? Grow up. Women can be just as corrupt, nasty and deceptive as any man. She's living proof. That's reason her counterpart Zuckerberg hired her in the first place. Two sides of a badly tarnished coin.
83
Going back to those years-ago seminars on management and leadership, the goal was to get a "C". the c's were character, competence, commitment, communication, credibility and so forth. "A's" weren't mentioned but those would be amazing, aspirational etc.
In that vein, Facebook got "D's"......as per the title of the article.
16
Greed is good when money is god
19
We will hang the capitalists with the rope that they sell us (FB)
Vladimir L and (Vladimir P)
11
CRAAAZYYY idea: delete your Facebook. Delete your Twitter. Get off all social media. What do you actually have to lose? Anyway, don’t mind me. Like I said...crazy....
24
Walk away.
17
Whatever happened to the Mark Zuckerberg who didn't care about money, looking good in the public eye, and sound corporate policy?
7
If I ran FB I would have trouble sleeping at night thinking about all the lives I have ruined and how the company is a tool for bad actors.
28
least balanced article I've read so far. Not a single mention of FBs efforts to combat false news, illegal content, and elections. the company's stock declined because they invested so much in fixing this issues.
2
The response by Facebook to all of this reminds me of the old story of the changing reactions from someone whose dog just bit a visitor:
1. That's not my dog.
2. He didn't bit you.
3. You kicked him first.
21
Facebook is truly the evil empire. It has collected the personal information and data of its users and sold this information that put billions in the pockets of Zuckerberg and Sandberg and made minimal effort to safeguard this information. They used the platform to help elect a despot in the Philippines, allowed foreign intelligence services to use the platform to sow discord in our society and allowed the platform to to be used to cause further societal chaos. Time and again they have been exposed as greedy and corrupt and yet the continue to be unregulated. It is time to crush this corrupting and out of control empire.
31
Mea culpa out of one side of their mouths, and attack, innuendo, and deception out of the other. Zuckerberg and Sandberg are quite the team. With that skill set, they should run for political office, or maybe do PR for the Vatican.
24
Facebook has become a global scam. Recently in Viet Nam, working with many young men and women, whose faces were attached to their phones, I asked them if they understood what all this meant ? They were English speaking, alert, with-it 20-35 year olds.
For them, FB was life. They didn't mind the very personalized ads. For them that was a necessary evil. When I told them that Big Brother knows all about them, they were in denial. It could not happen, even in a technically Communist country. I was just a grumpy old man to them.
It made me all the happier that I have never had a FB account, nor ever will. And sad for all the youngsters worldwide, who will never realize they are just being taken for an advertizing bonanza by Zuckerberg and Sandberg.
22
Facebook called on their ally Chuck Schumer to push back on their critics in the congress.
Shame on Schumer!
The time has come for Chuck Schumer to step down as Minority Leader.
29
Facebook is just a reflection of the cultural norms and expectations of it's top management. Lie, cheat, obfuscate, the most cynical of the cynical. Anything for a penny. Where is my copy of "Lean In"?
8
wow! a liberal organization criticizing Facebook. One of the leading tech companies importing of cheap H1B guest workers to replace US citizens.
someday journalists will wake up to the fact that Facebook is just another robber baron, and we need another Teddy.
But until then go ahead and ignore the fact that we have abandoned a generation of workers to cheap foreign competition to keep the 1% fat and happy.
19
I interviewed at FB last year and mentioned in my interview that we need to protect Americans from fake news from our enemies. You know what the FB interviewer told me? "We're an international company. We don't have enemies." I declined the E6 position when offered it.
37
Facebook is social poison because it’s a social predator. Its platform is spyware that also disseminates lies — enemy propaganda masquerading as news, something Trump often describes as “fake news” — for a fee. It’s vile.
But what can you do, since our bought-off Congress won’t do anything effective to limit the social damage it causes anytime soon?
Cut it off at the knees, that’s what you can do.
Starve the beast. Close your account, if you have one. Don’t open one if you don’t. Post nothing on it, however innocuous. Ignore it.
Facebook won’t go away right away or anytime soon. But its reach only extends as far as people will allow it to enter their lives. So don’t.
17
This is an excellent piece of investigative journalism. Work like this fully justifies my paid subscription.
38
I always thought that Facebook’s view that it is simply a platform to share information shields it being accountable for the content. Similar as the Post Office cannot be responsible for the content of a letter I send, Facebook is not responsible for the information I write on my site.
I now recognize that this thinking is flawed, because Facebook opens every information, analyzes it, and decides to whom to distribute. That is why it should be held accountable for distributing that information. They make money by knowing content. This is a critical distinction and thus should be held accountable to standards prevailing in the news industry.
I think the regulator needs to step in.
41
@Jzu, until reading you I thought it was too complicated to try and figure out. Thanks. Many journeys are actually very short when one doesn’t stop to look at every flower on the trail and ask every squirrel along the way what it ate for breakfast and how it felt about it.
7
@JzuI "now recognize that this thinking is flawed, because Facebook opens every information, analyzes it"
There have over 2 BILLION users. Some large subset of that is using it every day posting pictures, and messages, and whatever - so probably more than a billion actions are taken a day. Unlikely they can analyze every action.
1
We have seen in corporate history that companies failed because the internal culture did not stimulate improvements, the executive layer was in denial, the culture is not encouraging critical voices and the internal structure conveyed a fearful climate.
As with any product liability rules, the product has to be save and should not cause harm. The product is designed to interact with other people - human beings. Was the product ever validated against causing potential harm? Many research papers suggest that something needs to be done with the product because it does cause harm for the society - and human beings are the main players in a society. Why we can not have a product certification issued by an independent party? Drugs need to be certified by the FDA, airplanes need to be certified by the FAA, communication products need to be certified by the FCC, etc. - and there is a good reason behind that. Could a potential "Federal Social Network Commission" outline rules social networks should be compliant to?
All of us benefit from the rise of the social networks - we have 401K investments and that could make us blind to an underlying issue - namely what happen with our society while the stock market is skyrocketing? What value the money has when a society is broken?
We all have take a serious look at the way how the social networks conduct their business - we need to regulate where necessary and certify the products for safety reasons.
5
Didn't you get the memo from Ayn-Rand-is-my-goddess Alan Greenspan and the Chicago School of Economics?
MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.
RICH = VIRTUE.
8
@Amy Katz:
Actually you raise a good point: What about the FCC, the Federal *Communications* Commission?
According to the principals themselves, Facebook and other social (sic) media are all about *communication.*
It seems only natural they should be subject to some FCC regulation.
5
It’s amazing how people have not grasped the fact that Russian propaganda on Facebook during the elections may have had an major impact.
Why do you think big corporation spend so much money on advertising, because they have too much money and need to spend it? They buy advertising everywhere because it works. This was Russia advertising on Facebook for Trump and it worked beautifully.
13
Ah, for the days before facebook and twitter when people actually communicated, fake news was called propaganda, viral referred to illness, and reality was closer to real. Granted, it had its benefits but as of now we have less trust, more envy, more paranoia and less frustration tolerance. I prefer the good old days.
23
So, in the near future, we will need to go through a background check when we use an SNS just as when we buy guns. That is also weird.
Some artists and writers use FB primarily to lift the visibility of their work and to promote it. There are courses on how to do this. Why is this not a good thing? Thanks!
2
@DLS How the heck is that relevant to the article? Some people use FB primarily to keep in touch with friends and family. This article is about how the leaders at Facebook played ostrich when concerns over data misuse, hate speech, foreign propaganda, and serious breaches of privacy first came to light; and how they then hired the best attack dogs money could buy whenever anyone had the audacity to question Facebook's data management and business practices.
15
Russians commandeered Facebook and turned it into a cesspool of propaganda that unquestionably impacted our last presidential election and is undermining our democracy. But we should probably not worry about that as long as Facebook is a neat place for artists to promote their work?
12
@RV of course the political implications are huge. I’m wondering about how or if that intersects with other uses such as those mentioned above. Maybe they are two completely separate issues.
The next time (and we should all hope that there will be a *next time* -- and soon) that Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg are summoned to testify before Congress, would our senators and representatives please be so kind as to dispense with any more softball questioning and games of verbal patty-cake?
The American people are entitled to answers, in open session, from these smug, disingenuous Facebook deplorables, and the first rule of order must be that our elected officials remember that they work for us, not for them.
35
Let us face it. Anyone who spends more than a minimal amount of time on FB (and reads the news feeds) is likely to be a Donald supporter.
Zuckerberg knows it all too well.
11
@boulder
Or - the point of all this is -- they (FB news feed readers) are now (DT supporters) if they weren't already, brainwashed such that they might as well have had an IV hooked up to Fox or Limbaugh ...
And the question to me is: Why did they turn a blind eye to the brainwashing they were feeding? I don't (quite) buy that it was solely profit. Were they afraid of a Republican Congress (in turn afraid of its 'base') reining them in (spoiling their 'formula'?) if they too were seen as "enemy of the people" for not conveying the actual fake news?
Profiles not in Courage but in Disgrace.
2
Just deleted Facebook from my phone. My NYTimes app remains.
Keep up the good work.
33
People believed everything about Facebook, and handed over the keys to their lives. Is that Facebook's fault?
3
Yes. The con artist is culpable.
10
@Terry And people handed everything over just so they can show pictures of their kids, cars, the minutiae of their lives. Not worth it.
9
FB is a very sophisticated personal information data company by selling its services to people believing that they're getting to eat "free cupcakes" -- all they want to eat with no consequences (no cavities, weight gain, diabetes).
11
When greed gets in the way of good business practices, the principals should feel the full heat of the repercussions. They should have paid attention when it was a startup, well before it became unmanageable.
12
Facebook's first big mistake was going public. That made them more concerned about their shareholders than their users and opened them to charges of fiduciary malfeasance if they failed to meet profit and growth targets. The seond big mistake was becoming a publishing platform, which is related to the first big mistake. Facebook profited greatly from publishers, while at the same time those publishers depended more and more on Facebook's algorithms to keep their companies rolling in ad dollars. This codependence proved deadly during the 2016 campaign because Trump was the sole headliner on most of those days, bolstering his campaign free of charge, while everything about Hillary was derived from WikiLeaks and other nefarious sources. Facebook needs to get out of the news business completely. That's the oinly way the propaganda issues can be rectified.
18
Before vilifying either Mr Zuckerberg or Ms Sandberg, it would be interesting to know who knew about, and who had a hand in hiring the Republican connecting Washington lobbying organizations, and especially The Definers. A lot of this article is based on who was acting and talking. My question is - who was deciding? All that said, I can't conceive of a way Facebook is to monitor all of the speech of the world and decide what is what. The task is insurmountable.
7
in my opinion, Facebook has been very aware that their platform has been taken over by Russian bots and fake users for more than 5 years period as a small business owner, I have paid Facebook to run ads and recruit new members to my businesses Facebook page community. It came to my attention fear the Facebook Analytics dashboard that hundreds of the people who were joining our community were from Russia according to their IP addresses. When I challenged the Facebook advertising team on why my small business was receiving so many likes from Russia and ask for a refund of our advertising dollars, they refused and claimed that the users were legitimate. Based on my own research, I suspect that Facebook was aware or perhaps in collusion with these Russian users and have found that it is good for their bottom line so they have no interest in stopping fraudulent use of their platform like this.
26
Happy to say that I never participated in the Facebook mania. The invasion of privacy is appalling.
18
I repeatedly tried different ways to use this site. I much prefer talking to my real friends, family members. It’s totally bazaar how people are all consumed by a vehicle that is as unaccountable in their business as the crazy guy in the White House. No responsibility, I thought these two were in charge. Just like GOP these two. I look up my own cookbook recipes, talk on phone,etc. No desire or need. This is one of only a few sites I view.
6
This NYT Facebook article about Zuck and Sandberg, magnifies the typical, corporate mantle, to protect the corporation's big bucks' marketing, under the guise of freedom of speech, at any expense, regardless of the truth.
This includes the hiring of right wing and off the charts entities, perpetrating disgusting lies, conspiracies and bigotry, including and allowing foreign powers like Russia to spew their venom to destroy our democracy, for their almighty buck.
Finally, to allow others to go after a holocaust survivor is unforgivable. Not to mention Chuck Schumer's bias, with his daughter, employed by FB. Usually Chuck "works" Wall Street.
6
Why is it surprising that two young techies were discovered to be supporting the self declared white Nationalist president in the best way they knew how.
After all, it was Bannon who identified social media as the key to implementing his fascist world view, according to his biographer.
12
Facebook is designed to be addictive. It is every bit as addictive as slot machines. The reward may be more powerful than a bunch of quarters LOL. I quit FB over a year ago. My name is Rick I am FB clean now for over a year. You can do it too. I can help by sponsoring your FB cleaness.
24
I hope that this ends all of the worship of Sheryl Sandberg. She threw us under the bus.
34
I wonder how many in-depth investigations does the NYT publish on big companies lobbying in Washington?
Facebook is not here to save anyone... Is just another communication channel, another Media, and as such prompt to manipulation and interference by petty political interests.
Let me put it this way: If these same manipulative fake news -that Russian hackers have been publishing in Facebook- weren't also present in ALL other Media, do you think that people would have believed it? Wake up.
4
No surprises here. The only thing the folks who run facebook cared about was the daily Ruble exchange rate. They care about money and nothing else.
It's really hard for members of Congress to not kiss the rings of those who can and do buy and sell them on a regular basis.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg also are not stupid and knew that a Trump presidency would be very generous to them.
6
I kind of wish I had a Facebook account just so I could cancel it after reading all this. Then again I never saw a need for it.
15
I closed my original account a year ago which had my real name and other personal information, over 400 "friends", and had been in existence for 6 years. FB kept pushing and wanted more and more personal info....telephone numbers, home address, etc.....A month later was the Cambridge Analytica breech. I still have an account, with no personal info. no picture, fake name....the only way to go on Fake Book!
8
Things start out as a 'good idea.'
Then they become a business.
Finally, they become a racket.
14
Hmmm. While this may sound like our FB took tactics from the Russian playbook "Operation Infektion" profiled this week in 3 videos on NYtimes.com, indeed Facebook reacted the way any large US corp does, because they have shareholders, who are the ones really in charge. It's disappointing to see a breakthrough Internet startup hew to the same-old-same-old. When do we realize the promise of new rules for 21st century technology?
4
The leaders did not fight. They are merely blundering, to the detriment of the lessers..
3
Do not have a facebook account. Never understood the appeal of being connected in a non stop manner. The fact that Zuckerberg knew about the data breach of users including his own as early as 2013 but did not announce it to users until the NY Times article in 2018 tells me all I want to know about him - ugly to the core.
11
“We failed to look and try to imagine what was hiding behind corners,” Elliot Schrage, former vice president for global communications, marketing and public policy at Facebook, said in an interview.
Weren't they taking payment in roubles? Doesnt take much imagination!
5
I've never had ANY social media accounts. Reading about Facebook and others over the past two years makes me glad I don't waste my time and have all my personal data available for resale.
Anyone working for FB that believes they are adding value to society is either brainwashed or as lost and filthy rich as Zuckerberg. These sites tear society, democracy and families apart.
11
It's a media outfit. It should be regulated as such.
10
Shame on both Schumer and Sandberg for protecting FACEBOOK despite the cost to US. His daughter's life won't depend on her marketing job and Sandberg will have a tough time re-establishing a political career after this sorry couple of years. But --- Rick Scott likely will be senator after eight years of governor -- and he stole hundreds of millions from the gov't. Our standards are not high. I never understood how SS had time to write books while being COO of Facebook; she obviously dropped the ball.
9
Anyone who didn't realize a few years ago that Facebook is a borderline sociopathic organization that cares not a bit about any harm it might do to the public is not paying attention.
They have issued apology after apology and keep offending. Being really sorry means you try to stop your bad behavior. They are not sorry.
15
The Main Stream Media reporting along identity politics is more harmful to this country than a bunch of Russians trying to influence elections through Facebook.
Where are the Americans? We only have non-graduate Whites, urban Blacks, suburban White women, Hispanics, Cubans, Puorto Ricans, Arabs, Black Muslims, Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Indians, Chinese, brown immigrants, so on and so forth. Media and Democrat party are making everyone aware of their identity especially at election time, which is pretty much all the time now. The politics of division along identity and class lines is far more dangerous, social media is just a vehicle.
3
At the end of the day facebook is a database. Not a "community."
20
Delay, Deny, Deflect - sounds just like the strategy employed by the NRA and its water-carriers
9
The question never addressed in every critical article of Facebook is, "How do you combat stupidity?" We the public upload to Facebook, not them....... so they have to be responsible for policing all information? Advertising aside, social media is just that, and the second everyone started forming opinions and viewpoints based on Facebook uploads, that's our own demise, not theirs.
4
Could somebody please just post the instructions on how to delete a FB account? It's really the only comment needed here.
12
OK, sports fans - if you believe in voting with your feet, but have heard it's a Rubrik's cube to delete a FB account, I am here with the good news that even a tech dummy like moi can and did just do it. A bit of a hassle, of course, but I succeeded! Only took me 5 min.
FB kindly gives you a 30 day "grace period" before the deletion is permanent. Maybe that's so they can continue to sell/mine your data, I don't know. Just wanted to encourage those of you who have been afraid, as I was, to try it. Today gave me the courage and determination to leave the herd. Please, please join me.
10
Lie, Lie and Lie: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis of Selective-Ignorance. Mark Z. is a young version of Trump; Soulless and Clueless.
7
This article keeps referring to many of these FB employees as engineers. I don’t think it is legal to call yourself an engineer unless you are registered as a professional engineer in the state you are working in. Are these people appropriately licensed?
2
I left Facebook in 2009. Simply, it made me feel anxious and bad about myself.
12
Getting used as a vehicle for Russian trolls' mayhem is more than a PR problem. FB's leaders (and some backers) don't seem alarmed that FB has been used to help efforts to dismantle democracy. Where's the outrage at those who used them instead of outrage directed via PR proxy at those defenders of democracy who call them out?
5
Facebook should be punished. The problem is that a lot of us see FB as a necessity at this point and aren't going to discontinue either our accounts or our habit of logging in multiple times a day.
Maybe the way to publish the company is to NOT tap/click through to any of the corporate ads, and instead to (a) ask for the the ad to be hidden (b) ask that no further ads from the company appear in our feeds.
2
Reading about Facebook executives' deflections and evasions -and this on the same page discussing 100-billionaire (self-designated "Prime Mover") Jeff Bezos' latest moves- reveals our institutions, particularly the government, have failed to prevent a slide into out-and-out oligarchy and plutocracy. This reality bears out Thomas Picketty's findings that prompted him to call for massive wealth taxes as the only solution.
Even ancient pharoahs never basked in power on this level.
Lacking the political will -or imagination- to enact Picketty's solution, another approach is to penalize infractions by seizure of wealth to force any transgressing moguls to live on a human scale: If you want account balances reaching into the heavens, live like an angel or give up your fortune.
A slight fib to congress? $20 billion. Concealment of corporate misfeasance? $25 billion. A speeding ticket? A minimum of .01% of your fortune like everybody else pays (on average), or better still, a percentage that would sting as much as the average person's ticket. This is fully consistent with Constitutional ("a more perfect union") requirements.
There is no other way to address this problem. At a certain point, riches render one "above the law." It is up to legislators to ensure such a status -which would be "the road to serfdom" for the rest of us- is never achieved.
6
Once and for all can we stop referring to ‘Russian meddling?’ Let’s call it what it is - an orchestrated campaign of hate speech and disinformation designed to undermine our democracy.
16
@Lostin24
I call it something else: A sad excuse by the Dems for why they lost the most winnable election in history, by running the second-worst candidate to ever run for Pres.
5
Zuckerberg has released the genie from the bottle and he cannot control it now. His explanations change almost by the day because he has no words to accurately capture the treachery he has unleashed. FB masquerades as a way to amicably connect with friends, but nasty motives live under this veneer. Zuckerberg is flush with profits and has no reason any longer to try to peel away the layers of the twisted reality called Facebook.
13
Years ago a friend wanted me to create an account so that I could access her photos of a trip to Italy. I guess it was instinct: I created a fake account and let her know so she allowed me access. I've never filled out the "important" details of personal information and don't use the account except to access other content, very rarely. I dodged a bullet. It wasn't until after that time that I learned that Zuckerberg acquired the service via stealing the idea from his two college buddies and that the original idea came from them hacking into the university system so that they could have a "beauty" comparison contest using photos of the innocent female students, gaining access to their photos without their permission. Think about that -- how the service was created. I never trusted Facebook or Zuckerberg. It started on instinct and was later confirmed. It has only been more confirmed as time goes on.
17
@Flo
I doubt that you dodged much (by creating a 'fake' account and providing very little info).
I, too, was urged by dear, younger (30-something) family and friends to do the same, if only to keep up with their busy lives.
I never, ever did, and felt pretty darn good about it, until I learned that by not having an accoun ... FB simply builds a profile about one from that!
So, no account, fake account, barely used account ... those are all data points, and fancy algorithms make inferences about that also.
Would seem we're all trapped 'in it,' just to varying degrees.
Can only say, while I apparently miss out on most of all my family's lives and events, I don't miss it that much. Either they catch me up on things when we connect in person ... or it's not that important.
8
facebook helped shape the Arab Spring when used by activists to organize and protest. these successful Grassroots organizers gave way to paid political propaganda and voter manipulation. big Facebook campaign donors guarantee minimal Congressional oversight.
2
I read this column at 5:00am-ish this morning and have been getting madder all day. Cheryl and Mark were arguably engaged in a treasonous act and she’s mad that people are speaking the truth to her and Mark about FB and their own coverup. We’ve all known Mark was supposed to be somewhere along the spectrum and so can be excused for missing salient points. But what’s her excuse? She should be on her knees begging forgiveness for betraying her country. Shame on both of them.
22
Finally. I’m glad that everyone is finally learning what those of us in the tech industry have known for years: that Facebook’s business practices and how it tracks users and invades their privacy is inherently evil.
25
I've been thinking for several months about closing my FB account. There's so much toxicity that social media like FB have devolved into the opposite: a showcase of polluted thinking, fake news, and antisocial behavior. The Times's story was the last straw for me. Goodbye Facebook.
17
Facebook is one of the reasons Russian disinformation is so successful in this country. Any company, like Facebook and Apple, that looks regards their allegiance NOT to the USA (to wit, Facebook and Apple executives have stashed billions overseas to evade US taxes) but to the improvement of some nebulous "global order," is by definition not working to the full extent possibly on behalf of the US.
The behavior documented in this NYT article testifies to same.
9
Thank God for George Soros. He's to blame for everything. No more complex investigations. Knowing this will save everybody so much time and bother.
5
Break 'em up.
FB should never have been allowed to swallow its competitor Instagram, or the social network WhatsApp.
Google never should have been allowed to swallow Doubleclick or YouTube.
Amazon should never have been allowed to destroy competitors with predatory pricing.
These companies routinely, brazenly, in plain sight violate our competition laws.
Start enforcing our laws.
Do as Europe's regulators did, and as the DOJ recommended (but Obama and Holder refused) to do, and apply our competition laws to these brazenly contemptuous monopolists.
We are living through an age of spectacular corruption and economic concentration. Ours is a second Robber Baron era, and our own politicians are just as corrupt as those in the days of Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller.
We have seen our highest politicians genuflect before these boy-billionaires, exempting them from even minimal regulation, while pocketing hundreds of millions from them.
Al Gore now has a nine-figure fortune, thanks to the most corrupt and corrupting of them all, Google.
Former President Obama just signed a $68 MILLION sweetheart deal with a tech giant whose entire rickety business model relies on favorable regulatory treatment. Unbelievable.
Take back our democracy.
Restore rule of law.
BREAK THEM UP.
11
@T-Bone
I concur with your Robber Barron Redux analysis in general and have long decried the Pac-Man era of delusional "bigger is better," but where did you get your Obama claims?
First, in re his anti-trust cases (compared to Trump's), see https://businesslawtoday.org/2018/07/trump-effect-antitrust-ma-enforcement/
Second, in re sweetheart deal claim: It's nowhere in cyberspace on my computer.
4
great piece of investigative journalism on behalf of the Times, well done. Completely exposes Facebook's hypocrisy. Like Facebook's mission statement, Sandberg and Zuckerberg are completely disingenuous. "Bring the world closer together" not, how about "monetize everything and lie for our own gain." Exposed for what they really are. Lock them up!
12
This is all gossip regarding the gossip media.
Why should Facebook be responsible for what people say via it?
Is the phone company responsible for what people say on the phone? Facebook is just a big conference call. This reaction to Facebook is like a "moral panic." Google that phrase if you're not familiar with it. Meanwhile, we love to gossip. I myself don't use Facebook. Why spend my time gossiping? Think for yourself?
2
The phone company doesn’t sell transcripts of your conversations, how much time you spend discussing which topics, or lists of who you are talking to.
11
Why is it inherently racist for Trump to seek
a "Muslim Ban" ?
When did being a Muslim categorise your Race ?
Perhaps it is just because they are young,
but why do those under 40 - idolise Mark Zuckerberg ?
Mark showed he was deeply concerned with money when
"The Facebook" was re-organised into "FaceBook" and he
diminished his co-founder's share of Stock by 999 %.
Mark is bright, Mark is intelligent, but he is not wise and
one can wonder how well educated he is on how the World
of Politics is filled with unsavory characters who seek only their wants and increase in power, while convincing you -
that everything they do and support - is for your benefit.
I am sure the History Department at Stanford would be
glad to let him sit in on a few courses.
4
In this whole fiasco, it seems like Facebook's Security Chief Mr. Stamos was the only adult in the room and he was eased out of Facebook by the Berg's (Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg).
For all her faux liberalism, Ms. Sandberg is a dyed in the wool political hack seemingly adept in the dirty tricks of the Republican political establishment.
"Ms. Sandberg was angry. Looking into the Russian activity without approval, she said, had left the company exposed legally" is the same immoral logic that says one should not look at a rape or murder being conducted on your property because it legally exposes you. In this case, Facebook became a Putin and Trump accomplice in the molestation of American democracy.
If Zuckerberg has any brains, he should fire Ms. Sandberg to prevent further damage to Facebook. She isn't the mother who can nurture his baby, Facebook, back to health.
And if Zuckerberg truly cares for Facebook, he should resign and find a mature, competent and conscientious CEO to succeed him.
Facebook has become too large, too complex and too broken to be run by an immature, robotic, college-dropout geek who looks at the whole world with it's socio-economic and political complexities as an engineering problem to be solved with AI algorithms.
15
A family member did a summer internship there and returned home with a raft of tote bags, blankets, assorted doodads and even a Snuggie emblazoned with the FB logo. Reading this makes me want to trash it all.
8
If the Russians can influence an election with just $100 k that is immensely impressive.
Just think if H. Clinton had won none of this Facebook stuff would have been publicized.
5
a company started with shady ethics ( stealing others idea) will always have shady ethics
7
Who would you rather vote for
Sheryl Sandberg or Elizabeth Warren?
Sheryl Sandberg or Cory Booker?
Sheryl Sandberg or Bernie Sanders?
Sheryl Sandberg or Kirsten Gillibrand?
Sheryl Sandberg or Beto O'Rourke?
Sheryl Sandberg or Kamala Harris?
Who knows maybe Sandberg should run for President everybody else is.
there was a saying in Italy during WW2 "the radio has made fools of us all" fascism grew from the new media of its age.
7
Yes, this is why Sen. Schumer is called The Senator From Wall Street.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
5
While exposure of Facebook’s guts (rather, lack of them) is long overdue, the unreflected mirror back on you (and all MSM) continues:
Takeaway #2: "The company feared Trump supporters.” Yes, haven’t you. For 25 years, you’ve shown pervasive fear of the rightwing, pulling punches, reporting false equivalencies, burying investigations. You indulged the GOP to redefine “recount” in Florida 2000 to smear votes that hadn't been counted once; you routinely chose headline verbs that favored W; you above-the-folded us via Judith Miller into Iraq War; you bowed to Bernard Goldberg's spurious claims that journalists registered as Democrats somehow meant a priori they were skewing reports and bent over backwards into false-equivalency. That is the real biasing of the news, into mush.
And takeaway #1: "Facebook knew about Russian interference”: Like how you knew about Bush’s secret wiretapping of us and withheld it for a year? allowing his re-election by ill-informed voters? Or now: a site search for Kathleen Hall Jamieson's crucial findings re Russian impact on 2016 election results yields only one mention (a 9/26 link to the New Yorker). No NYT report on her above-the-fold-level research. Then and now, with Presidencies at stake, you defer. (Where's your Pentagon Papers guts?)
When you make a full mea culpa about your own history of deferences and stop pulling punches, then maybe your exposures of such violators of public trust as Facebook will stop echoing of your own betrayals.
10
This is not good for Sheryl Sandberg's brand ... I guess that's why she is mad ...?
6
Senator Schumer's support of Facebook in this case is quite shocking. Normally he is on the side of protection for consumers. All of a sudden he is the top donation getter from Facebook employees and his daughter gets a very nice job with the company right out of college and doesn't even have to leave New York? Hmm. Rather disappointing and rather shady.
5
Anyone who believes a company's mission for "social justice" is its priority is misguided. Their "public good" narratives are bought hook, line and sinker by a gullible populace who wants to believe in its own narratives about what the world should like like and how it should behave.
Inevitably, the real world intervenes, and they are, once again, disappointed.
247
@AACNY
This comment needs a million more recommends.
21
@Phillip G
Agreed. By law, a company's allegiance is to its shareholders. Plain and simple, but like so many other things, obscured.
16
@AACNY True. The only organization that has the mission of social justice is a government. No private company, and certainly no publicly traded company can claim this as its mission.
Come on!!! Haven't we all been arguing for two years that Trump runs the US government for Trump!!!!
11
The fundamental issue is Facebook's surveillance economics business model that turns every interaction into a psychographic probe of the individual user to be leased to anyone able to pay it's market rates. This model inevitably trapped Zuckerberg and Sandberg into a no-win dilemma. Facebook has enormous utility that is unfortunately corrupted by the incentives to continually activate the limbic system.
8
As an early pioneer in what is now called ‘social media’, I can guarantee that smart people predicted everything that has subsequently occurred. Even in the early, closed corporate social platform my team designed and launched, we included a feature for members to mark any contributed content as ‘shady’. Such a designation automatically triggered a real-time alert that administrators were immediately required to investigate and act upon (mark the item OK or censor it). Facebook clearly had a challenge in providing such a level of administration at scale but, as Zuckerberg, Sandberg, et al have since learned the hard way, with much power comes much responsibility.
8
Hard to be perfect. They should buy back more of their stock to show that they believe in the company. Right now it is as if no one is in charge.
1
Sadly, yet another example of a wholly ineffective Board of Directors (who are likely highly compensated as well). The checks and balances, let alone sound strategic thinking about potential risks to customers, the organization, and the wider geopolitical implications seem to have not been assessed and consider prior to and along the way of FB’s phenomenal growth. As a business strategy and organizational performance consultant, I’m sadly not surprised. Had FB invested in some scenario planning and had their board actually done their job of oversight, much of the risk and damage could have been proactively addressed (assuming there was a desire to do so.)
1
So much for changing the world, but has this new media really made the world a better place? Perhaps the problem is not with the Russians, but the fact that anyone can put up fake election propaganda without any restriction or regulation.
4
And hate mongers.
2
It's time for citizens of the world to come to grips with the reality that the new 'social media ' phenomenon has great power to do evil to humanity, and that the young technocrats in the industry (that we have so far idolized) are too immature and arrogant to deal with that fact. All the Ivey league colleges like Harvard, and Yale ( who produced the frat boy beer loving Bret Kavanaugh) have a duty to this country, to the world, and to the fundamental idea of democracy to evaluate how they are educating their students to be future leaders in the world. So far these institutions seem to be part of the problem, not the solution, to effective, well informed, moral leadership for the future.
7
Facebook is appropriately named. Face implies the surface, the superficial, the cosmetic shell. The face reveals but also conceals. It’s the public display, the window dressing. It’s the appearance that masks reality, the seeming that disguises being. It pretends to honesty but also raises suspicion about the truth behind the illusion, the character behind the facade. Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg embody the treachery of the medium they promote.
Face is an apt conceit for social media as a whole. How many of your “friends,” “followers,” and “likes” are real? How many of your connections are authentic? How much of the attention you strive so eagerly to attract and retain is sincere and lasting? How does the ego validation of social media play out during a dark night of the soul? Will it provide genuine solace, or is it as substantial and reliable as blinking pixels on a screen?
4
@Art Carey
Brilliantly expressed!
1
I’m a developer who has created an app for, and attended Facebook’s developer conference in 2007... Facebook never enforced their own Terms of Use. They asked all their users to follow the Terms, but they pretty much let all their developers do as they pleased. Had they enforced their own Terms this wouldn’t have happened.
Growth mattered above and beyond all their legitimate human users. (But all Silicon Valley cares about is growth and profits, so I’m not sure I can exclusively blame Zuckerberg & Sandberg).
7
Before this article, I had already thought that Zuckerberg needed to be removed as CEO by the Board. Now with these new revelations, he and now Sandberg definitely need to go.
7
@Father Of Two . She will go eventually, right back to DC to run for office.
1
Fact 1. FB was one of the first social media platforms introduced to the mass audience about 10 years ago.
Fact 2. There has been NO legislation relating to social media BECAUSE we never had anything to gauge close to "real time" communication; much like the internet (although much older), didn't have legislation to "govern" it either.
Subjectively speaking: how much governance do we want? As indicated in the article, other countries found that FB was a wealth of data on the user(s), and some bright hacks figured out how to spread positive/negative propaganda on it. The FCC used to regulate the type of "language" was appropriate for radio and television. Look at how that "industry" has evolved. Some people will argue that FB and its user(s) are "entitled" to preach and spread their ideas and by having the government's fingers in it - how does it affect our 1st Amendment rights?
Twitter was not meant to provide policy and procedure in the manner that our 45th president uses it. FB was not intended to allow "cultish"/hate speech etc-it was "innocently" created to keep track of our friends and family because who really wants to write a letter these days, or spend money on advertising to the wrong group because of how fine tuned data mining is.
FB has outgrown Zuckerberg and Sandberg. Since they took the approach of being the platform, they chose to focus on ways to be profitable. Ethical people are needed to run FB which means the govt can't be trusted to do it.
3
Facebook's dubious means of handling these problems aside, it seems to me that the new media like Facebook are being held to a standard not applied to old media like T.V., radio, and print.
T.V. networks make massive profits from broadcasting campaign ads and all the lies, half-truths, and ideological propaganda they peddle. Virtually all of the corrupting billions thrown into political campaigns are used for this purpose. Yet no one is holding the old-media messengers accountable for the lies and hatred they disseminate in the name of political advertising. So why is Facebook being blamed?
There's clearly a double-standard being applied here. I suppose it should be no surprise that the NY Times and other members of the old-media are blind to their own hypocrisy.
4
It’s clear neither of these two highly paid individuals had any idea what they were creating. And based on their behavior they appear to have zero idea of what a remedy looks like. Their combined behavior is shameful. They should retire on the millions/billions they have paid themselves and go to some remote island for good. Despicable.
4
Sheryl Sandberg needs to be shown the door, her moral compass is way off, Zuckerberg, who I assume is safe in that regard due to his ownership, should be shunted off to an executive advisory role. They are clearly not qualified to lead this corporation.
I would close my inactive account if I could figure out how to do it! Just one of the joys of FB. Just disgusting.
9
This is yet another huge corporation that needs much more regulation. They could also pay, really pay, more taxes too. Thank you NYT journalists for showing Congress how to do their jobs. I never look at FB anymore. I don't miss it, and besides I already have a cat. She's really cute. Trust me.
5
No worries, Ms. Sandberg, just lean-in and count that money. Can't touch that!
8
6.5b spent during the 2016 election and everything hinges on Russians spending 100k on FB ads and troll accounts? This is painfully trivial. We’re all bombarded continuously by ads and opinions all day long.
FB is a platform, not a content generator. Remove the trolls, put in detection analytics and move on.
3
What more would be expected from a company that started as a place to rank women’s looks?
9
This (Comment section) is MY only social media. I choose not to even touch facebox, or watchamacallit. (I bet I got some terrible reviews on it too, i’m OK with that because ignorance is bliss)
3
facebook is finished !
it was a nice ride
but they're as old as your 30 day device
ANCIENT !!!!!
Wonder if Zuckerberg will rethink his "progressive" tendencies?
1
Where are you consumer? Pull the plug. Go to settings and disengage in this toxic behavior and sham of a company. You've got better things to do than post brainless trivial info, all the while having your personal info sold to scam artist.
3
I will never understand why anyone uses FB.
What an utter waste of time.
Oh and they get to monitor, manipulate and profit from one's personal data and communication.
What a completely useless platform. Yet Zuckerberg the thief is deified as one of the richest people on earth.
The apocalypse is upon us.
2
The article gives a fair amount of chronological blow by blow. But the problem is surely the business model and the inherent conflict in how lucrative it is to sell advertising to read the more boring truth versus the rapt attention you can command with colorful fibs. Zuck and Ms Sand. well know how their chickens get fed, and all other details just distract from the simple truth of their deal with the devil. They will endlessly look for different ways to put lipstick on their face, and rubber pants to catch the waste they generate.....all the while continuing to feed the disgusting beast they raised.
@Charles It isn't the original idae per se: it is how they determined to tweak what you see so as to maximize screen time and hence ad revenue - the secret sauce that makes money as it destroys society.
1
Did they believe the criticism was anti-Semitic or just falsely use anti-semitism? Dangerously real claims to anti-semitism, racism, sexism. They are not upstanding citizens and poor role models.
2
It’s still happening. Foreign players, agents, hate mongers, phony companies and fake causes, purveyors if chaos, Russians, Russians, British and Eastern Europe messing with America seeking to divide and cause chaos. 2016 destruction was unforgivable. Cambridge Analytica, Trump
social media and Facebook as well as Russian actors. Zuckerberg should resign and do good but also learn more. His free speech nonsense was idiotic. Not a journalist or constitutional lawyer or scholar!
I detest Facebook.
1
Seems in my generation we were so busy watching out for Big Brother we let Big Business steal in and take over our children's minds.
9
Anything you put onto the internet will be used. Any site you visit will be tracked, unless you go out of your way to protect yourself. So don’t put personal stuff on it unless it is something that you wouldn’t confide to your closest friend. Oh, and those thousands of Facebook friends that you’ve acquired, are not your closest friends. Think how long it takes to make a good friend and then how long it takes to click ‘friend’ on FB. Quality and authenticity take time.
8
During the 2016 election period, I saw several posts, allegedly from friends, that had a trump picture in it and requested support for his campaign. I took a screen shot of these. Knowing that my friends were opposed to Trump I contacted them to inform them about these postings. None of them had placed that posting. Some of them contacted facebook to request its removal. This was unsuccessful given that the posts kept reappearing. I might add that even some friends that resided outside of the US showed this "fake" post.
12
I'm sorry, but it seems to me that American society is seeking to blame a company and industry sector for its own failings. The ignorance, bigotry, elitism, pettiness and general ugliness has always been an undercurrent of our public discourse, just read the opinions and letters in old newspapers and pamphlets. Blame the message, not the medium.
5
Face Book and WhatsApp are becoming the mother of all fake news on this planet ! These two wretched ‘money first’ based corporations ,lead by the most selfish,filthy rich and arrogant neocons have the blood of countless and unaccounted innocent people all over the 3rd world countries on their hands through un checked Fake news and propaganda.It is time that the civilized world wakes up and legislatively put an end to these monstrous billionaires greed .
Interference in the vitally important elections of the most powerful country like USA should be an opener as to what these corporations can do to poor countries ?
6
This is an interesting report, but, in the end, this tech company was highjacked by a foreign power. In reality Zuckerberg and Sandberg did know about Russia, but had no idea how to stop it or even report it to the government.
As an engineer in Silicon Valley, I'm not sure why anyone ever trusted Facebook with their personal information to begin with. The company was built to gather this information and sell it. Did anyone really think they could safely secure their technology from Russia or China?
On top of Facebook's failure - It is disappointing to see that the conversation has been manipulated by Facebook down to George Soros and anti-semitism. It seems pathetic and a massive cover-up by Sandberg and Zuckerberg.
Both of these leaders failed. Sandberg's and Zuckerberg's accomplishments have always seemed to be completely over sold. The company has been exposed.
14
Excellent job, NYTimes. Thank you so much Frenkel, Confessore, Kang, Rosenberg, Nicas and anyone unnamed who contributed to this story. FB is a far more dangerous entity than many Americans seem to believe (this blinders-on attitude is evident even in many comments posted about this story). I deleted my account--as far as that is possible--a few years ago. The wisdom of that move was confirmed for me after watching the robotic, entitled Zuckerberg at the congressional hearings. Even more disturbing than watching Zuckerberg in all his arrogance, however, was listening to the softball questions congress timidly rolled his way. Anyway, long live good journalism. Thank you.
8
Facebook's motto: “Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.”
I think it's more accurate to use the saying in Detroit from back in the day, "General Motors doesn't make cars, it makes money."
And like GM with its Corvair, and Ford with its Pinto, they don't care who gets burned, literally.
6
In a letter to editor of the NYT right before Trump was elected I suggested that we should be aware of the new "Right Wing Leftist" in the tech community and coming out of San Francisco. If true, the use of an opposition research firm by Facebook that was anti-Semitic fits with this narrative. They are right wing because they are focused on money over people, conserving their positions of privilege, and believe in some "them versus some us." The tech community is full of race-based thinking as evidenced by their lack of diversity up and down the line. There are so many stories of people of color being harassed in Silicon Valley by police that it no longer surprises anyone. The tech elite's primary objective is growing its own power and privilege, not love of country or respect of fellow citizens.
4
"Ms. Sandberg also reached out to Ms. Klobuchar. She had been friendly with the senator, who is featured on the website for Lean In, Ms. Sandberg’s empowerment initiative. Ms. Sandberg had contributed a blurb to Ms. Klobuchar’s 2015 memoir, and the senator’s chief of staff had previously worked at Ms. Sandberg’s charitable foundation."
Back scratching: How the world works
4
The U.S., and the world, could be in a very different place today had Trump been first banned from spreading his vile xenophobia back in 2015. Why wasn't Zuckerberg immediately informed of Russian election meddling by his security chief Stamos when it was first discovered? Or was he? This continuing, multifaceted corporate debacle at FB will in the future be, I suspect, one of the major case studies at business schools in how responsible management should not act.
12
PBS' Frontline had a great 2-episode report on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg seemed incompetent, disingenuous and self-absorbed with a veneer of false humility. Watching his testimony before the Senate told me all I needed to know about this guy. A very high percentage of his responses were "I don't have the answer to that", followed by, "I'll have to get back to you with that information". Has he? Ever gotten back to those senators? Seemed to me, it was more stalling, essentially refusing to answer any hard questions. Looks like he took a page out of the Trump handbook of evading the press.
17
Facebook is a platform, not a newspaper. Buyer should beware. Again, if you are foolish enough to believe the nonsense on any of these online sites, then you/we deserve the consequences of such ignorant behavior. We don't need censorship, we need an educational renaissance, where students learn to read and think critically and rationally. People who spend hours each day on smart phones are addicted to a dangerous pursuit and must be taught to withdraw from such activities. But censorship is not the answer in an advanced society.
10
Alex Stamos didn’t throw Facebook “under the bus”. Mark Zuckerberg & Ms. Sandberg need to own the responsibility for the perilous situation Facebook finds itself in. Both of them were well aware of the active disruption Mr. Putin and his gremlins were cultivating through their use and manipulation of Facebook. In addition, the compromises they allowed that provided Cambridge Analytica with inappropriate access to Facebook user’s data also needs to be addressed interference. It’s clear that MZ & SS did not protect the Facebook Community from a wide spectrum of unethical, bad actors. Democracies are complex . “Accountability” is one of the driving forces that sustains any democracy. WE THE PEOPLE need to destroy the myth that Facebook is “just a social media tool”. Facebook is a publishe & r It needs to be held accountable for the accuracy and intent of the content that’s featured and accessible it decimates. As Senator Paul Wellstone once said: “I don't think politics has anything to do with left, right, or center. It has to do with trying to do right by people." To Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Zuckerberg: If you can’t take the “heat in the kitchen” position people who value the ethical responsibility that is an integral component of a healthy “free press”. The well-being and solid foundation of the American Democracy requires ethical responsibility.
7
Sandberg = Progressive in name only.
8
I started a Facebook account. I started getting pictures of what my "friends" had for dinner (whatever), obnoxious animations (skip by it as fast as you can), and petty comments (trolling). A lot of it was "look at ME!" stuff which, to me, is phony and self-serving.
So, like many others on this comment page, I dropped FB.
But then there's Google. Google is the king of data mining but the problem is they have apps that I find helpful and useful. What would I do without Google Maps when I'm out of town? And my most used web site is You Tube.
I'm not even close to parting with Google. Oh, but I sure dislike having them know more about me than my most intimate circle of friends and family.
7
We thought Facebook had been coopted by bad actors. Now we learn Facebook is a bad actor, too.
11
This is comical! The FTC is a joke of a paper tiger that has been deregulated and gutted to such an extent they can't tie their shoes.
Where was the FTC when politicians spend billions of ad dollars lying to the American people with reckless abandon via our TV sets? No where to be found.
FTC, Congress and other arms of the government are supposed to protect us from lies, corruption and deceit. Facebook is not the most important war they should be fighting.
3
Delay, Deny and Deflect
Didn't you just know from reading that that there was a Republican connection?
2
I deleted my AOL dial-up account decades ago without the help of 12 steps and never did social media again! I taught myself HTML and other coding which was more fun than video games or watching football. I write my own homepage without annoying advertisements and now keep a domain where I can post stories and pictures which I share with family and real friends by providing links via email. Problem solved. I dropped cable almost 20 years ago, too. My Android device is not tethered to a Google account and I disabled all their nosy APPS. And ya, I wiped Windows from my computer then installed Linux. I am free. Try-it, you might like it.
5
Why wouldn't you share your inner most thoughts and secrets with such a benign corporation ?
7
"Lean in, except in cases where the blowback could land solidly on your desk!"
5
I can't even fathom the hubris required to be so destructive, so defensive and so greedy. This will follow Zuckerberg and Sandberg forever.
6
Fakebook for sure...What a waste... I have never used it or any of its companion "social" sites...Hours and young minds lost, but these networks continue to reap profits from the drivel of our lives.
4
I am appalled that the FB leadership would resort to weaponizing anti-semitic rhetoric to deflect blame. It's shameful. It also casts Sandberg in a different light. She's been so busy leveraging her COO position to publish books, woo celebrities, bask in public adoration that she forgot to actually run FB with any integrity. In the end, she's just another cut-throat, greedy corporate operative. If she'd spent as much time and thought on her work as her books and PR...FB may actually be more evil...nevermind. As an aside, using her personal loss as a platform to launch another book, trying to "brand" her husband's death, it's despicable. Trying to always come off like the strong survivor when she's the bully all along, that's Sandberg's game. She wants money and power and she needs to control the narrative.
10
Do we as a country believe in freedom of speech or do we expect every conversation on every platform to be moderated by a crew of minimum wage workers sitting in warehouses? It seems to be that the government (and The Times) is making Facebook a scapegoat.
1
It is interesting to watch the movie "The Social Network" and read this article to see how much of Zuckerberg's life has been Delay, Deny, and Deceive.
4
There's a very simple solution to all of this. If I were an American citizen, I would understand and agree to the primacy and what should be the sanctity of your democracy. Everything, including the freedom to run a company such as Facebook in ways that might end up being inimical to that democracy, should be seen as secondary in importance.
Civil libertarian demonstrations notwithstanding, unless they agree to do it themselves, social media should be entirely shut down for a predetermined period immediately before your elections are held. Of course, the government should be willing to compensate such companies for any lost revenues.
Surely, selling your population on such a mission shouldn't be all that hard as democracy is an absolute good but somewhat delicate and easy to manipulate. And the fact that campaigns would have to be run the old fashioned, face-to-face way would be quite refreshing I should think.
2
Is anyone really surprised by this outcome and the behavior of the principals? If history has taught us anything it is that large organizations and their leaders will do anything to protect themselves. The huge sums of money only serve to deepen the corruption. You have only to look at the Catholic church as a prime example.
6
Let’s see if they really dig in and rectify. Zuckerberg and Sanders got greedy, caught up in of course the stock price going up and their personal income rising beyond what any person or family needs. We see this over and over again. It’s posion and will continue to be as long as the success of a company is tied to its Wall Street value. I am hoping for a good news story out of this. They are losing their value as leaders and hoping for a wake up call. Sad story honestly.
4
Recently Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, speaking at a conference was matter of fact, when he was critical of Facebook and corporate America for their lack of protecting people's privacy. Last Sunday on CBS television show 60 Minutes, there was a very informative segment on the subject of privacy in that it was stated that what is done by Facebook and corporate America is pure and simply "surveillance". We hear so much from corporate America about their "privacy policy" and constant updates of same. The truth lies in the fact that id does not exist in the US as it does in Europe and Apple Computer.
In the US there exists a mining of individual information for use of businesses to bombard individuals [with ads for commercial exploitation and spin, which used to be known as propaganda.
6
@Andrew Henczak
Whatever happened to the Right of Privacy? Or is this now considered quaint?
10
Sandberg became so angry with senior executive Joel Kaplan's hearing-attendance in support of Kavanaugh because she was desperately hoping Democrats would take back the Senate. Chuck Shumer is bought and Democrats in control would have helped stem the growing outrage at Facebook's discrimination of conservative political commentary and ideas - much of which has come from Senate Republicans. Now Facebook has to work harder than it otherwise would have to maintain at least some [false] appearance of respecting both parties.
3
Facebook functions as a voluntary surveillance system for you and anyone with whom you connect, or, interact on facebook and its affilated sites- it's platforms as they like to say.
I've yet to understand why anyone volunteers oneself and their friends to be surveilled and cataloged without clear ground rules and compensation. Even then, the freedom and anonymity that you give up to use facebook might not be worth it.
The whole thing is amazingly icky.
9
Brilliant reporting, NYT! You’ve renewed my faith in the power of the free press and dedicated reporters who dig into a story and take the time to get it right. Kudos.
It’s well researched stories like these that will cause companies - and execs like Zuck and Sheryl - like Facebook to behave better and be shamed by the public and hopefully compel Congress to pass common sense user focused legislation along the lines of Europe.
I had such high expectations of Sheryl and the adult supervision I and everyone else hoped she’d bring.
To imagine that she behaved in such a callous and cynical manner while giving leadership speeches where she extols the opposite is preaching one thing and doing the opposite.
Makes me sad. Hopefully this magnificent article will bring about change.
11
The whole world unfortunately is controlled by money. Money gives power and power corrupts.
Facebook after all is a business and their commodity is their customers personal information. As long as that remains the business model, nothing really will change. Expecting social responsibility and even a conscience or love for their country is probably asking too much.
They must be regulated real hard. Lesson can be learned from the European Union.
Look at our government. Most of the people in congress and in our leadership positions, with few exceptions are bought by the power of big money. Money has intoxicated them and corrupted them. They are for themselves and their master donors. Same way, we cannot expect them also to do the right thing either for us or for the country.
6
Sigh. What if, how about...reading posts, sentences and articles, striking out the descriptives until what remains is the who what where....and the reader figures out the why.
It's called thinking, and the best kind and best results (personal on this, please note) occur in solitude. Frightening alone time, more frightening than some can endure, it seems.
2
I see that a lot of good people here have deleted their FB accounts, or plan to. It occurs to me that that will leave FB to companies, organizations, and other groups that encourage distrust of the government and their fellow citizens. There are a lot of middle-aged and older folks who use FB as a way to feel connected to the world, and that's what they're going to see. Should we all leave anyway? Let it be a clubhouse for extremists on the right (mostly) who are good at manipulating what people believe and what people think they want or should have? I am not so sure.
1
Many of us former FB users are disgusted with Zuckerberg and cos increasing greed. When is enough enough? If Zuckerber et al weren't so concerned with board members and share holders bottom lines, many of the issues would never have occurred and FB may have remained a global darling.
It's ironic that FB's response to it's platform being used for a vast disinformation campaign is to hire someone to launch a disinformation campaign against others to protect FB.
As long as it's cheaper to spread disinformation, lobby the government, and purchase business competitors than it is to improve and innovate the product, social and technological progress will continue to be stifled.
9
I closed my Facebook account in the summer of 2016 when the rants among my friends on both sides of the political spectrum became awful ... I haven't missed a thing. I stay connected to the ones I love by texting, e mailing and snail mail ... l stopped posting photos 8 years ago when I realized facial recognition technology was mainstream and didn't want some predator going after my kids.
Our laws need to catch up to technology's risks
asap.
8
I never joined, & I was aghast from Day 1 that parents posted their kids' photos!! That is SO careless. Protect your kids at all cost.
#DeleteFacebook
3
So I heard, when asked, what kind of company they were, Zuckerberg said “we’re a technology company.”
Let me translate that:
We’re not liberal arts majors, we haven’t taken a bunch of humanities classes so we don’t have much of a moral compass. To speak of.
There’s a place in the world for a gambler, and for humanities people.
2
Well done article showing how Facebook has lost its way. However, the article ended abruptly. I kept scrolling down the page looking for more or some indication this was the first in a series.
5
This is an interesting article re: the blow-by-blow of who blamed who and when. It omits looking into the kind of sloppily arrogant culture that caused the problem in the first place. This kind of environment is not unique to Facebook. I'm sure the leak of private data to Cambridge Analytics was not an isolated incident. FB made it easy for anyone to get whatever data they wanted. You should interview some software security engineers who can give you some perspective on FB's sloppy disregard for security. The problem is also caused by the fact that their business model is based on selling this kind of data.
6
What strikes me is the gross amorality in the company and it's key people. They think that they can be impartial but allow their product to facilitate great evil.
I realized that my reason for posting on Facebook was mostly vanity. So now I'm in the process of deleting all my Facebook posts. I will retain the account to be able to monitor the groups I'm in, but not participate again.
3
This is horrifying. The victims families in Pittsburgh potentially have a class-action lawsuit against Facebook, since they paid to promote the Soros conspiracy.
6
"Move fast -- and break things." That was a great motto for Mark Zuckerberg, especially since he was a young man who personally possessed nothing of value. He broke my country, he broke my democracy, he broke the rules of citizenship, he broke with common decency -- and he lied about everything. Here's hoping that Facebook breaks itself.
13
The time has come to break this monopoly up into at least three sections here, and Europe will have its say, too.
2
This is a story of greed on a profound level. The soul of our nation was sold on the name of quarterly profit. Sandberg was brought in to turn FB into a dependable revenue generator. Zuckerberg's and Sandberg's legacy is the Donald Trump presidency. Hope you guys are sleeping well with your billions. What price do you place on fair elections and democracy?
9
I wonder if Mueller is taking a look at this guy? It looks awful lot like he's a willing participant in a foreign conspiracy to rig our election.
11
I suggest that it is glaringly obvious that Facebook's agents are packing this comment site. They cannot, however, obscure the fact that for the Facebook bigwigs, their personal positions (financial and political) far outweigh any feelings of responsibility for the truth or the society that has permitted them to become powerful billionaire celebrities. Their targeting of George Soros with antisemitic tactics is disgusting beyond words (as is Sen. Schumer's endorsement of such tactics, notwithstanding the fact that his daughter is a well paid agent of Facebook). Mr Zuckerberg - PERSONALLY - controls the company's board, and he is clearly oblivious to anything beyond his own narrow financial interests. He is rich and powerful to an extent that a country that fancies itself a democracy ought not to permit. Facebook (and, frankly, Amazon, which has just co-opted and pillaged the great city of New York with a deal it's governor and mayor kept secret until it was signed) should be broken up. Teddy Roosevelt busted the trusts; AT&T was broken up back in the 70's. Both our economy and our democracy is in grave peril Facebook and its ilk.
6
There is a story- apocryphal or no - that Lenin once said dismissively of the titans of industry
"The Capitalist would sell the hangman his own rope "
Zuckerberg not only gave the rope - he also constructed the gallows gratis.
Not much has changed in the 100 years since Lenin's train arrived in Finland Station.
4
In other words, they're immoral.
4
Facebook is evil. Like smoking, it's bad for our health. They need to change their ways dramatically, or be shut down. Same with any other big corporation who doesn't start acting in good faith as "citizens" of their communities and country.
3
In view of what happened in Myanmar as a result of a Facebook product, one must wonder how many deaths Facebook is worth.
5
Honestly, there are so many indications of a person's lack of character. When Sandberg's husband died suddenly in 2015, she had a self-help book on grieving out within a year and a half, full of shallow bromides.
She made the rounds of the talk shows, interviewed by the fawning hosts, posturing as they praised her new book and introducing her as the "acclaimed" author of that stupid lean-in book.
A year and a half after the sudden death of a beloved, most people are hardly able to manage a deep breath. This woman, however, was cashing in, if not for money, at least for publicity.
So this entire story is not surprising.
This is the world we live in, where nothing is sacred. Nothing.
9
@TM I'm not the only one who wonders how he actually died, or whether their relationship was as "perfect" as she made it out to be. It might not have been a personal tragedy for her, it might have been a coup.
1
Looks like "Zucky" and "Sandy" will have to go if any confidence is to be restored in FB.
2
Before the whole Russia scandel Facebook was warned by activists in Myanmar regarding fake news and propaganda targeted at the Rohingya people through the use of Facebook. They were warned twice and they did NOTHING. How do they sleep at night knowing their platform was used as a tool to justify genocide?
8
I bailed from FB 10 years ago.
3
@Know/Comment - I have never signed up to begin with. I have to give credit to my parents; they taught me what democracy is and its value.
Of course, back then, I didn't have my eyes glued to my smart phone/computer.
I paid attention to them. I can only imagine how parents today teach their kids.
Scary.
3
@Stacy Stark
You certainly didn't miss anything by never signing up.
Agreed, I can only imagine what my two grandchildren's lives will be like when they can hold phones in their little hands.
Scary, indeed.
Revelation 1:2-3: "Sheryl is NO Saint"
3
I’m not surprised that Schumer is described as a Facebook defender. I think the guy is a bum, regrettably. (He’s one of my senators.) I agree with Rachel Maddow’s suggestion last night that it would be more appropriate to eliminate him from the democratic leadership than Pelosi. He should start getting lots of pressure from progressives!
5
All corporations are faced with similar decisions when facing a crisis and Facebook's choices are not unique to them. This does not, by any means, mitigate the complete lack of moral compass evidenced by their actions, but it does provide context. Facebook is just a product that consumers choose to buy or not. Social Media companies greatest success is in masking economic model and turning it into a social utility without consumers realizing it. Their terms and conditions disclose the full extent of risks, so the question that should be asked, but is not, is - do the benefits of the product outweigh the risks?
2
So, if I understand this correctly, the company's security chief was scolded first for doing his job, then yelled at for telling the truth to a board member? The opening anecdote pretty much tells us everything we need to know about the company's values: The true scope of Facebook's problem as a platform for Russia's attempts to subvert American democracy is revealed, and the company's executives see their tarnished image as the bigger issue.
19
Steve Jobs was fired by his board at the age of 28.
He too was brilliant, naive and immature.
The Ethical Use of Data isn't a 'thing.' It's real and it's a baseline requirement for any firm in the business of managing consumer data.
These are not behaviors you want around a company handling this much sensitive consumer data.
13
I use FB to keep in touch with my friends and family overseas. I do not base my votes on information I see posted on social media. No one should.
3
Since Facebook makes money by selling members’ data, members should share in the profit. How about a worldwide class action law suit?
12
It would be wonderful if facebook just disappeared. What a perfect platform it is, to give rise to the human condition's worst impulses. It would be wonderful if facebook just disappeared, all those billions of dollars of perceived worth, gone.
They don't make anything, so there would be nothing to miss.
9
It would be even better if it took Twitter with it.
3
Who cares if democracy and the West were compromised?! Some people got to make MONEY--- LOTS of it. That's all that matters.
Proof: Observe the world around you. Who's in charge?
But the French got it right with Marie Antoinette. Can we get it right, too?
9
Deny, deflect, delay, denigrate opponents, hire lobbyists to lie for you: all tactics from the GOP playbook.
As usual in America, our worst criminals are easy to spot, they're the well-dressed ones who visit Congress.
11
This is an excellent example as to what can happen when application is developed by a kid and that kid is not allowing anyone to play with it
5
“If Facebook implicated Russia further, Mr. Kaplan said, Republicans would accuse the company of siding with Democrats. And if Facebook pulled down the Russians’ fake pages, regular Facebook users might also react with outrage at having been deceived: His own mother-in-law, Mr. Kaplan said, had followed a Facebook page created by Russian trolls. “
One of the many troubling findings in this article. Instead of heading off the propaganda coming from Russian fake news, FB tried to protect their brand by withholding information. This implies that they may have a hand in the election outcome imo. Choosing profit over democracy is extremely disturbing for any company.
10
This is all you need to know.
Mr. Zuckerberg, 34
When people talk about the Ethical Use of Data, it helps if you have someone in the C-Suite with gray hairs on the side of their head in charge of Data Privacy.
Millennial's are simply too obsessed with the 'coolness of it all' and their 'irrational exuberance' to know how truly naive they are to the real world.
Take your billions and hire someone with the gravitas necessary to clean up this mess...and stop lobbying against GDPR type data standards for the U.S. market.
6
A few weeks before the Midterm elections, I got into a political argument on Facebook with someone I had known since 6th grade. At that point, I deleted my Facebook account. I then saw the 2 part Frontline series on PBS, titled the “Facebook Dilemma”, which reinforced my previous decision, and I don’t miss Facebook at all.
The article here mirrors a lot of what the Frontline series stated, and kudos to the NYT for bringing this information to the public. I also strongly encourage people to watch the Frontline series, as it has many interviews with present and past Facebook employees, as well as how Facebook’s lack of checking on fake news, bots, etc... affected events in other countries (Arab Spring, the Philippines, etc...).
I know a lot of information about me is still out there, but at least going forward, I can work on more privacy, and not worry how many people like a picture or quote!
9
Here's a solution: to get a Facebook account, you'd need to pass a critical thinking skills test.
2
@4gcal
So you're willing to live without Facebook?
1
Does anyone else see similarities between Sheryl Sandberg and Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos , corrupting and duping our political leaders?
8
Maybe it’s time regards Facebook as the major threat to our fictive democracy. Imagine Sandberg depicting George Soros as an anti-Semite! How cynical can she get?
8
My comment started "Chuck Schumer" and it corrected: "Chuck Schemer."
When even IOS is pointing fingers, what's left to argue?
8
The global online climate is heating up. And FB, "like" most corporations, rather than fix the problem hire lobbyists to defend their bad practices and cover up problems they've created.
FB's leaders treated "Russia" like the trump administration treats "Science" - as something to be concealed to the detriment of all.
"Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters,... by linking them to ... George Soros." and "cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic." That alone should discredit FB and Sandberg - using GOP style depraved dirty tricks to cover up and slander others. Sad. Sandberg's true colors are revealed as leaning in towards Republican reddish-orange hate-mongering, higher profits at any cost. The GOP should be grateful to FB and the Russians for their theft of the 2016 election.
As a never-Facebook member (with many lifelong Jewish friends, love of calamari, and hopeful for Palestinian freedom) I continue to fight their illegal stalking and spying of my travels around the web - I have never consented to - including on nytimes.com.
"Republicans,... concerned that the platform was censoring conservative views." What's the issue in censoring malicious conspiracies and disinformation, hate speech and lies? That's why the GOP has FOX News, Breitbart and InfoWars for.
Tim's “Privacy to us is a human right. It’s a civil liberty” is admirable until it isn't. Google's "Don't be evil" motto got buried under billions of $$$.
5
Separating families, coal refuse into streams, eliminating air pollution controls, dissolution of the post-war pact with Europe, supporting tyrants and white supremacists, a nationalist in the White House: Blame it ALL on FACEBOOK !!
1
I guess Sheryl “leaned in” too far? I always knew she was full of it and she and Mark (who has always been petulant baby) finally are exposed for the control mongers they are.
11
"There's a sucker born every minute" - a well known adage in advertising and marketing.
Don't be a sucker - if you're not paying, you're the product.
6
How many angry commenters here have actually stopped logging into (or never created an account on) Facebook, or logging into other sites using Facebook? I'd bet not very many. Articles like these are riveting, but apparently they don't matter.
5
I technically am just an appalled reader, but I quit Facebook this year, for precisely the appalling lack of morale leadership outlined again in this article.
It is clear, that loss of revenue, is the only thing that Facebook executives truly care about.
After 6 months, so happy I moved on. It is like taking a good long shower, I feel clean.
1
The story's headline would make it seem the "crisis" is past. NOTHING could be further from the truth. The unparalleled social DAMAGE this company (and others, e.g., Instagram and Twitter, to name two) has caused not only this country, but, most egregiously, Myanmar and the Philippines, is only beginning to be understood and clearly recognized. Indeed, there is much more damage to come, as FB argues against the warranted regulation and BREAKUP this monopoly brought on itself. Their response is "let's continue the conversation", which is code for "do not touch us, we're making money!" This is just the beginning of a social pushback and reckoning, long overdue.
8
During the 2016 election, I had many people tell me how bad Hilary Clinton was, and that there were many stories “out there” about her. These same people were/are active users of Facebook, their only source for news and election information. As I have never been on Facebook, I didn’t understand what they were talking about.
Following the election, I also spoke to people who told me about “Fake News” that family members were using to make decisions about their votes. Suddenly, the bad stories about Hilary Clinton started to make sense.
Mark Zuckerberg has his head in the very expensive sand of his beach house in Kauai if he doesn’t realize how his company affected the presidential elections.
6
Bravo! Well done NYT!
I stopped using Facebook a few months ago, and I am hoping the rest of my family will follow. It is a waste of time.
10
I exited Facebook in mid 2016 and added at least an hour to my day ... and sanity to my life.
3
First, excellent reporting. To those who contributed, well done.
Second, Facebook's failure to act and then public-relations response are highly disturbing. Ordinarily, persons high in the corporate structure would pay a price. But obviously, in the case of Facebook, Zuckerberg is going nowhere, and Sandberg will remain in power, though I suspect that since the publication of this article, she has been seething.
7
I used Facebook for a short time a decade ago, & concluded that it was a giant waste of time. From that perspective, it's difficult for me to care about the content of this article. I mean, if people want to waste their time, they have a right to do so!
10
When Mark Zuckerberg testifies before congress about the latest security breach, his self presentation is that of a kid barely out of his college dorm room, where he developed a social media app in his spare time on his laptop. Behind the facade, his company has been actively tuning algorithms to keep its users addicted, exploiting uncompensated user-contributed content to sell targeted advertising based on behind-the-scenes data mining of search terms, comments, posts and the statistics of homophily and group influence in social networks. If it spreads propaganda in the process, or the personal identifying information of millions users wind up on the Internet somewhere, that's just Zuckerberg barely out of his dorm room, trying to run a business on his laptop.
16
perfectly put!
2
Well done! NYTimes. FB executives should grow up and learn some civic and ethic lessons.
27
Nauseating.
24
The DMZ for media and platforms [FB, Twitter, et. al] is the collision between the First Amendment and propagandistic/hate/disinformation speech and images online. ADL and others have long stood for the edges of freedom of speech and now they are being lashed with hate speech for that position. Add to that troubling clash are both the 'chain of evidence' via digital footprints and the secret surveillance by CIA and others. With 'digital hate speech' crime a gray area and little or no monitoring, political propaganda takes its place right next to criminal behavior. Bring it under FCC purview and regulate these monopolistic entities that no one can control.
3
Clearly it's time for leadership change at FB as Zuckerberg and Sandberg fail to take responsibility for the irreparable harm to our country that they have enabled. The Cambridge Analytics scandal alone should have been enough to warrant their removal. As a woman who has worked in Silicon Valley, I never bought Sandberg's positioning as an advocate for women. Her book and supporting tour, were just another component of a cynical PR campaign to underscore the fact that she was one of the rare few women in a position of great power in the Valley. This effort had less to do with advancing women and more to illicit sympathy and afford her more leeway with the public, but she is just as complicit as robot Zuckerberg in compromising American democracy for the sake of personal profit. Thank you New York Times for showing us how deep the depravity really goes.
22
Seems to me that Facebook is under a microscope while other lobbyists are not.
This piece is great, well-researched, thoroughly written, and eye-opening. Let's see something similar on the NRA's lobbying efforts and impacts on elections.
23
Aaron Sorkin's next movie is writing itself!
6
Facebook cover up is as bad as the Saudis! Same results too! They fooled no one.
10
In all of this, it should be clear that Facebook has essentially democratized what the most powerful governments and the most powerful multinational corporations have always done: propagandize, manipulate, disrupt, and corrupt—and then "delay, deny, and deflect." This longstanding mode of operation is all well and good as long as only these most powerful governments and multinational corporations are able to do it. And this has been "democracy"—as defined by them, through all of these same practices. But now that much less powerful governments and businesses are engaging in these same practices, through Facebook, there is a "crisis," not only within Facebook, but also (as these reports show) throughout the nation and across the globe.
This is fully reminiscent of the 1960's, when, according to these same powerful players at the top, there was a "crisis of democracy"—because democracy was spreading to segments of society that previously were not engaged in it, and in fact, as the "crisis" demonstrated, were not supposed to be engaged in it.
So here and now, Facebook is being used by the much less powerful as the tool that was once only available to the most powerful people to control the globe—and not surprisingly, these less powerful people are using this tool in the same way that it has been used on them all along.
1
Sandberg was just leaning in.
8
@Ann Look for the forthcoming sequel, "Leaning On."
What's also interesting is that Sheryl Sandberg has been - shall we say - 'in close contact' with the CEO of the world's leading video game company for the past three years. Seems like some of the ethics may have rubbed off...
3
I guess this is what "Lean In" is all about?
8
Nothing is free. Nothing. And when you don't pay for a product, remember you are what is being sold. Like the fish which enjoys a 'free' worm floating what seems like free in the stream, there is a barbed hook waiting for your bite contained therein.
As to FB being motivated in any form to protect users' data? Remember Karl Marx's observations: A dedicated capitalist will gladly sell you the rope you need to hang him, provided he makes a profit on the sale."
14
During the early years of Facebook I tried to join They told me that I had to be invited and anyway, I was a little too old. I never tried joining later and somehow life has gone on nicely without Facebook. Do you really need Facebook?
1
Lock them up Lock them up. They allowed our Democracy to be destroyed by allowing Russia ,China to buy adds on line to polarize America. Money was their only goal and still is . I would never trust them.
9
Digital Frankenstein...that's what we got!
Unless the government acts ant acts fast we will see more reality horror show.
Break them up now!
10
A little breathless, n'est pas?
Who really cares if the Russians (or anyone else) express their views on Facebook (or anywhere else.)
The real fear should be of those who seek to restrict views "to protect us all."
While we're at it, if we're going to restrict RT news correspondents as "foreign agents" we better go after Ron McLean & Don Cherry too . (Hockey Night in Canada, from the left-wing CBC.)
Russian hockey players have totally infiltrate the NHL, you see.,,
4
It occurs to me that Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg are holding fast to an image that they are wrestling with their own innocence, ie. the unintended consequences of computer-science-media innovation. However, moving too fast toward growing too big shows their glaring lack of concern for the (well established) phenomenon of Unintended Consequence in science and philosophy. Their approach to their company was to ignore these risks in the name of unfettered growth.
Enough. We want to see accountability. People are not going to delete their accounts en masse. We need to be real about that. Which means the platform functions a lot like a communications utility. It needs to be regulated as if it's one.
5
Your analogy to regulation as a communication utility makes senses but for the fact even telecommunication companies in NY like Verizon have found a work around to avoid regulation. They have implemented what amounts to FORCED migration to FIOS which is not regulated or even monitored by the Public Service Commission
There needs to be considerable regulation of these entities specifically where it relates to people's right to privacy. FB and other digital information media have become a mainstay of modern life , but they shouldn't have the right to own your info or put out unverified info. Yes,FB has connected up the world but it hasn't necessarily been totally for good.
2
Some holes in this report.. What role did FB play in the $87 million dollars it rec'd from the 2016 Trump Campaign to use it platform?? When Zuck went to Moscow in 2009 and rec'd investments from a Russian, how did they just find out about Russian influence in 2016?? Why is it that NYT is trying to say that Zuck and Sanberg were "useful idiots" instead of direct players in this Russian operation like Trump and some media outlets such as Fox and even your newspaper. SO passing the buck with semi-truthful reporting does not excuse your newspaper from scrutiny in Mueller eyes as being a player in this treasonous game . Also, Kaplan is also a player in this game. He is connected to Kavanaugh's family as seen on the Kavanaugh hearing and he was picked to run interference so Zuck and Sanberg could carry out the mission. These indictments will be epic.. As a native Washingtonian, I cannot wait.
5
This week I watched "Independent Lens" on PBS in which the story was called "The Cleaners". Silicon Valley outsources its "content moderators" to dozens of groups of mainly underpaid, under employed 20 & 30 yr olds in Manila, Philippines. Their experiences are horrifying as they labour to delete terrorist, child porn & violent images & content from the internet by the hundreds of thousands. Many have become ill & some have committed suicide as they are forced to watch & remove humanities' worst impulses from the garbage on many platforms. Many of these were posted to Face Book groups & You Tube.
Silicon Valley has conveniently removed itself from any oversight of their working conditions, as well as "cleaning up" their own platforms.
INDEPENDENT LENS: The Cleaners | KPBS
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/nov/07/independent-lens-cleaners/
13
Does the fact that the NYT has a Facebook account make them co-conspirators? I assume with the help of the NYT, Facebook is able to mine the data of people who visit the NYT Facebook account. Have the editors at the NYT thought about this? Did the NYT unknowingly help to swing the 2016 Election?
What a Joke all of this is.
5
That makes no sense.
George Soros is mentioned numerous times here as a target of Facebook, which he has criticized. OK. Why is there never a mention of Yuri Milner in these in depth articles? Follow the money. Seems like the dots connect exceedingly well.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/yuri-milner-facebook-twitter-russia.html
2
The most obvious deduction from this article is that FB needs a new CEO. Zuckerberg may be a technical genius, but he is in over his head trying to run a public company.
The business is too big and valuable (as measured by market capitalization) to trust to him.
Time to get in professional management.
4
In 2010 I received an email from Facebook asking me to confirm my separation/divorce from my wife. Alarm bells went off! I was having to confirm one of the darkest moments of my adult life so that my status could be shared among all my "friends".
I stopped using it then and haven't looked back!
16
During a recent trip to the SF Bay Area, I was struck by the volume of Facebook's advertising in the BART stations warning users to be careful who they "friend" on Facebook.
Appeared to me to be an apology by Facebook, such as:
"We're sorry we've messed up the entire world. Please let us keep our billions".
("Messed up" was not the exact wording I used when I saw the ads).
9
I agree with many comments about the grotesque wealth that folks like Sandberg and Zuckerberg cling to. But greed and power are not the only dynamics.
These corporate titans have deluded themselves into believing that they have financial and moral responsibility to the "shareholders" and that their "sacrifice" would harm others. Of course the vast majority of shares are held by people who also have more money than they could burn in a lifetime.
It is a easy ethical out for capitalists. Their unscrupulous behavior can somehow be rationalized by the need to protect the little guy - the imaginary shareholder in Dubuque.
5
If you think Facebook is alone, just remember every time you watch a cat video on YouTube, Alphabet is busy tracking you, too.
I sometimes choose a random subject to load and play on YouTube while I am doing something else just to throw off the data collection. And watch for what YouTube will recommend next for me to watch.
Every corporation of means is busy tracking you. And not one of them have any interest in anything other than monetizing your experience for the company's benefit.
8
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT????
Simply: Facebook is nothing more than an older "Bullentin Board," program. Except, it collects data and then sells personal data for profit. Bullentin Boards are Non-profit. You can't make money running one. So, Facebook lied, stole people's personal info and sold it to anyone who wanted it. Crooks to the core!
What laws are broken when lies are made public? The Russians broke no laws. They simply uses what the US had allowed: free access to people's personal info. They disclosed factual information. They may have gotten it with questionable means, But still, IT WAS ALL TRUE!
It's not against the law for any person or country to take out ads to support a political candidate or position. Only financial Max. donations restrict it. But, PAC's have destroyed even those few protections.
If the US wants to find the villains, then follow the money. Unfortuantely, per POGO:
"We have met the enemy,
And, he is us!"
4
Why does anybody still use it. I would never as I believe it is huge waste of time number one and I have always called it fakebook because people have their outward fake persona of which everything is grand and yet are anxious and live and die by whether people like what they say. WHo cares people quit wasting your life on such a hollow thing. Do something tangible for your family or friends and do it in person face to face and see how much good that can feel versus some digital heart or whatever.
9
Sorry Sheryl, I think it's time we all lean out from fb.
9
So they aid Psy Op war moves by foreign adversary on Americans.
Then when they get called out for it, they empty those same Psy Op smear moves against their critics.
Facebook is a blight on democracy. Shut it down.
4
Facebook is responsible for the fake news many of which went to Brietbart, it let people have fake acct's. and many of the fake ads( paid for in rubles) were never vetted. Facebook continues to play the political game, Republican house hire a well placed republican, Democratic house same thing. What a farce it is that they take an oath to tell the truth to the Senate Int. com. Nobody wanted the truth just a payoff. (dems and repubs) They didnt want to hear any of it as long as campaign donations and ad money flowed. REGULATE FACEBOOK!!!
2
Great reporting!
2
But what about Hillary's emails? After months of NYT telling us to look over there, now you want us to look over here. I am confused by the NYT apportioning blame to FB for the propaganda that was placed on its platform by bad actors. FB is just one of the platforms used to disseminate misinformation. What about the others? The networks and print media for example. Yes, FB, like the NYT and the networks should be held accountable for the spread of false information during the 2016 election cycle but the best resolution would identify the original bad actors and beneficiaries of the propaganda campaign and hold them accountable.
1
There was a time when "Don't Be Evil" was an admirable corporate slogan in Silicon Valley. Those days are long gone!
Facebook has been used as a hate machine for profit around the world. Shame on them.
4
Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg destroy our privacy and democracy with their arrogance, greed, lies and cover-ups. It is time for them to go.
5
Facebook facilitates hatred campaigns that have cause losses of lives in Myanmar and other places.
Their argument that they cannot seed out pages that promote things like the Rohingya genocide is totally unfounded.
The company has blood in their hhands, lots of money in their pockets.
Sad to see young people like Facebook Sandberg and Zuckerberg act in such unethical ways.
2
Kudos to the NYTimes for amazing journalism. The big irony that the article clearly exposes: Not only has FB been the conveyor of fake news but they have also proven themselves to be one of the so-called bad actors in their generation of fake news — about their company, it’s operations, it’s motives. I guess Harvard Business School did a masterful job of training Ms. Sandberg and Mr. Kaplan, et al., in the dubious merits of manipulating social perceptions.
But you Ms. Sandburg, as the COO, must accept full responsibility for the shameless manipulation, and yes, bullying, tactics you’ve engaged in, not to mention the inexcusable exploitation of anti-semitism claims. Ms. Sandburg, you need to look at yourself in the mirror and ask: Is it time to step off this train and let people of higher integrity steer the company away from a looming disaster? In other words, is it time to Lean Out?
And Mr. Schumer too has proven himself a traitor to integrity, and needs to Lean Out as well.
4
So Facebook simultaneously tried to link its critics to some George Soros conspiracy while also claiming that criticism of itself was anti-semitic. You can't get more cynical than that. I finally deleted my Facebook account today. I will miss it, but I can't support this stuff.
9
The crisis is not over yet.
3
The genius of Mark Zuckerberg is that he digitalized a way for guys to check out girls in college. That's it! That's why its called Facebook- the old name for the college booklet with people's picture and brief bio.
Mr. Zuckerberg is neither intelligent nor a visionary. Just an incredibly luck, nerdy, self absorbed, narcissist. Very much like Mr. Trump. He neither understands nor cares what he has done.
6
Raise your hand if you knew she was a phony and cringed your way through the bogus, calculated praise the media heaped on Sandberg a few years ago. Everyone else, delete your account.
8
Enough!
Regulate them without mercy; treat them as the liars they are.
5
"Slow, Pause, Determined.” When related, by actual sustained deeds and not by mantrafied words" to personal accountability by individuals as well as systems (public/non-profit, corporate or any other type, can be at any pace. Cadence. The "pause" can be a necessary "time-out," of whatever needed length in order to time-in to enable more menschlich behaviors as a guiding norm and value. Mutual trust and mutual respect are not part of this documented narrative! The main "actors" in this reported performance are determined to cover their..... More than "I apologize" is necessary. Such a format leaves the "power" with the person who is asking; the focus being on the "I." Even the format of "Please forgive me," which leaves the final determination with the person being asked is inadequate in this situation.
Very few people who are part of this article seem to have learned anything which would help the many of US who feel helpless in this social-media-morass. "Personal accountability" has become little more than letters joined together. Its deep meanings mangled by many. Of the many questions asked by the various people noted in this article, at various meetings, for a range of known as well as hidden reasons, I wonder how many quests- inherent in helpful questions- were stimulated to actually right the many documented wrongs?
1
Wow. I guess the writers/editors are more upset that Facebook news has crushed them, than they are enamored with Facebook's ultra leftist support.
2
Let’s see.
In the book “House of Trump House of Putin,” the author Craig Unger asserts that the Russian election meddling is the most ambitious and the most successful cyber warfare campaign in world history. The book “Assault on Intelligence” authored by Michael Hayden, an ex-director of the CIA, confirms that Russia indeed launched a war against American democracy in a well coordinated intelligence campaign.
So.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg, who knew that ads and propaganda are being launched from and paid for by Russia, are war profiteers.
And they are also traitors who aided and abetted the enemy in a time of war.
4
Change "privacy" to something else like corruption, lawlessness, incompetence, ties to Russia, etc, and it's clear that Donald Trump and Facebook were made for each other.
'If the privacy issue comes up, Facebook is happy to “muddy the waters,” Mr. Miller said over drinks at an Oakland, Calif., bar last month.'
Profits over principles is the modern American way. Facebook's business model is based on this ideal. They take other peoples work (photos, content, videos, etc), they spy, snoop and trick you. All for sale to the highest bidder with no market controls over the costs or controls over how or where or even if... If you trust them, you're a fool. But it doesnt make them bad perse, just flawed as they simply take advantage of stupid people the same way most other modern business does. Think banks, phone carriers, snake-oil salesmen, and every other service we're contracted with these days. They're all designed to steal your money by obfuscation. Aint America great? Its all a reflection of us as a culture and is why we have a charlatan in the oval office.
And we thought Russia was bad ...
Resist Facebook. Lean in.
3
I’d like to see an investigation into Zuckerberg‘s ties to Russia. The Facebook facilitated wholesale fleecing of America may have more than greed and incompetence behind it.
1
Glad to see Sandberg taken down a few notches. Maybe she should lean in to the truth.
3
Lean in, indeed.
2
Why is Mark and Sheryl still employed after engaging in muckraking, peddling misinformation and “fake news”, and perpetuating FRAUD?
2
I read the title of this article and the first thing that came to mind was: take out Facebook Leaders, leave a fill in the blank, and you have the way humanity creates and deals with any crisis.
Orwellian it is.
2
Delete: How this Facebook user reacted to the Crisis
3
Just deleted by FB account
You should do the same
5
I would feel better if George Soros was on the Board of Directors
of Facebook.
3
If The Times manages to bankrupt Facebook, I will donate generously to a charity. A small mitzvah to thank for great one.
Tikkun Olam.
Let’s leave the world a better place than we found it.
Facebook pollutes people’s minds and consciousness. It is bad for humanity.
You can see the type of hypocrites that run it. People who would say anything for a buck and fame. Disgusting.
Thank you New York Times for your determination to expose this shameful company.
4
Mr. Zuckerberg, Ms. Sandberg, the Koch's brothers. They are one in the same. Slimy!
6
The New York Times should do an investigation into Facebook and how they handle fanpages that get hijacked by unscrupulous people.
Facebook knows that fake people scam fanpages owners on facebook and take over their facepages faudulently. Facebook knows that this happens a lot and have the policy of not doing anything about it.
My fanpage had over 200,000 likes and I was stupid enough to allow a fake person take over the page as owner unknowingly. I notified facebook about the problem and also sent in a written report to them showing how they fraudulently took over the page.
Facebook sent back a reply the next day that they couldn't help me. This reply was no different from their delay, deny, and deflect policy in this article.
Please do an investigation on how Facebook allows fake people to illegally take over fanpages and not do anything about it.
Money grubbers.
1
I thought that headline was talking about democrats
These two people have done more damage to the United States than anyone not living in the White House.
4
What a ghastly company!
2
Facebook is a very destructive, powerful world power;
disguised as cultural interconnectedness, the future,
blah, blah, It's greedy chiefs are amoral creeps
'Terminator 7' will find Arnold in Zuck's
dorm room in 2003, saving mankind
1
Put Zuckerberg out to pasture with his cows.
1
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the myriad of right wing websites aid in misleading the public via disseminating non vetted "news" actual "fake news" (much, in fact, created by trump, and other phony CONspiracy mongers). Strong Regulations regarding what can be posted and proper vetting are needed.
No surprise that lobbyists are heavily involved. Laws are far too lax when it comes to lobbying and who and how soon after leaving congress one can become a lobbyist.
Of course "citizens united" is one of the WORST Supreme Court decisions ever (and you will note that all republican appointed justices supported that terrible decision. Just as they did in Bush v Gore.
The biggest LIE during Gorsuch and Kavanaugh's interviews before judicial committee was that "when we put the robe on politics and party are forgotten". Anyone who believes that, I've got bridges for sale at terrific prices. Twenty seven years of Scalia et al proved this point, not to mention how phony his (and others) "originalist" philosophy is. Scalia and other followers of his (like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh) use that approach when it suits their POLITICAL purpose judgements (like Bush v Gore) and discard it when it doesn't (as in allowing voter suppression-- "we no longer have racism"-- and recounts.
Republican packing of our judicial system is one of the worst and longest lasting outcomes of the 2016 election. Trump, McCONnell, and Leonard Leo are thrilled at their disgraceful "accomplishments".
One solution remains to send a signal to Zuckerberg/Sandberg LLC, DELETE YOUR FACEBOOK ACCOUNT. It won't be easy to do, which is yet another reason why this platform is so dangerous.
5
I deleted the Facebook app from all my devices three months ago and guess what, the world didn't end, life has been more peaceful, and it hasn't changed my relationships with my friends one iota. I'd encourage everyone to do the same.
7
The idea that the money machines of Facebook and others bore no responsibility for the misuse of their product was and is preposterous.
There is a level of responsibility; Facebook and others have chosen to deny it. They will act responsible only if forced to do so. It is product liability.
3
"Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros."
I consider myself a pretty good judge of character. Back in 2008, I saw pretty significant signs of shadiness, and deleted my account. And just this paragraph above proved that I was right - but this is just one. There are plenty other incidents. It is a company that needs to be governed and controlled by external controllers. Else - this will only get worse.
It is company I would be ashamed to be associated with.
7
Step 1: delete FB account
Step 2: install ublock origin or equivalent to stop trackers including FB's
Step 3: resume real life
I just hope it goes like myspace, from juggernaut to distant memory. And replaced by nothing.
8
So, the Jewish leaders of FB used anti-semitism in their defense and then turned around and attacked Soros, a favorite target of the anti-semites? This gives the word chutzpah new meaning.
20
The Facebook debacle and the ridiculous democratic narrative that $ 70,000 of Russian ads somehow flipped the election to President Trump - after Hillary spent no less than a Billion dollars !.. is the silly / ridiculous backdrop to this article.. just shows how detached from reality this paper is getting..the Grey Lady is doing a dis-service to it's loyal readers.. very irresponsible..
1
@Kojo Reese I don't know, one of my daughters refused to vote for Hillary because she believed Hillary had a lesbian affair with Yoko Ono. which she had gotten from FB, planted by Russian bots.
1
Facebook puts growth and profits above all else.
The article raises the very serious issues that Facebook has failed to address on its own.
The failure to protect privacy. The failure to stop hate speech and bullying. The failure to stop the manipulation of democratic elections. The failure to stop the inciting of genocide, as in Myanmar.
Facebook continues to deny and deflect. It is immoral and unethical. When more people get their news from Facebook than any other news source, it raises a very troubling situation. The NY Times, the BBC, and other reputable news sources edit their news content. Facebook does not. I am not on Facebook, nor have I ever been, but after reading this article and seeing the Frontline documentary on PBS I think everyone in the world should be very concerned. Perhaps regulation, what Facebook fears most, is in order at this point. Perhaps, a breakup of its monopoly is the answer. Something should be done, other than people just deleting their accounts. Facebook has over 2 billion members who get their real and fake news from Facebook. Action is needed now.
2
One could argue that the FB dis-information campaign that demonized Soros is indirectly responsible for the murder of Jews in Pittsburgh by a crazed white supremacist.
1
Facebook did what most companies do. When the political control changed in DC they switched to operatives who were both well versed in conservative ideology and who supported the direction that Trump was taking the nation.
That makes sense from the view of manipulating the system to get what you want.
The price, however, was betrayal of the very ideals your company supposedly believed in.
2
Facebook is a company with zero ethics. As soon as that father in Thailand live-streamed killing his baby on Facebook, and Facebook barely responded (even though Mark Zuckerberg has a daughter approximately the same age), I thought, here is a company with no soul. Why are there no ethical alternatives? If anybody wants to step up (especially women), I'd love to sign up.
7
FB & Twitter - Vanity, deceit, and deception platforms. Pure fantasy! 2.2B sheeple think there is something in it for them.
Sheeple feeling the need for acceptance and can't find it IRL turn to the digital tribe, where they can be who they want to be without recourse.
Never been on either, never will.
Something created for "good" with no rules or protections will quickly be co-opted for evil.
And here we are.
5
Corporations are not people - the more money they have though the seem to resemble cold algorithmic capitalistic zombie viruses ready to eat everything in its path to achieve the bottom line. They eat their own
2
Sheryl Sandberg may be a very smart and capable executive but it appears to me she has done great harm to Facebook by bullying subordinates like Stamos who are trying to deal with the many problems the company faces. She has also made a poor decision to put the company on a war footing when she adopted dirty political strategies to accomplish what should have been done by more open means.
Zuckerberg, for his part, is completely out of his depth and comfort zone. He has created a monster he does not know how to control. He might be a good engineer but he is a poor leader for a company that is being buffeted by events it can barely control.
I would say that both Zuckerberg and Sandberg need to go. Do as Google did with one of its founders and give Zuckerberg a research division to head up.
2
Remember when Ms. Sandberg was supposedly such a helper for women's rights and so on? We need to think before we make these people heroes - they are not. They are in it for themselves and could care less...let them eat cake!
5
Why either Sandberg or Zuckerberg still have their job is beyond me.
2
Apparently the "leaning in" has been a lot leaner than advertised.
2
Harvard's biased admission policies have been in the news recently. I notice that Zuckerberg, Sandberg and Schumer are all Harvard grads so maybe they need to include ethics as an admission criteria over the SAT score?
2
FB is all about greed in the guise of social good. All social media should be regulated.
1
All this talk about FB. They clearly mis-stepped. What about Twitter? That platform (not publisher!) is the main vehicle for hate speech and lies by the president. Where is the outrage against that company?
2
Power and wealth seem so important to the folks at the top. Look at all they have to deal with. At a minimum their "trusted" employees speak anonymously to the world's highly circulated NYT behind their backs. At a maximum they could be seriously prosecuted or even endanger their own health. Mr. and Ms. Facebook, is it all worth it? It is like my late mom often said", You can only put on one suit at a time."
2
The rich think they are always right until they’re not. Then it becomes a stunning humiliating shock. It’s the same with trump, trying to match wits with professional intelligence agencies around the world. Both losers in the end.
2
I recently watched the two hou Frontline about Facebook on PBS. it was a real eye opener. Zuckerberg came across as not very bright about anything other than the technology involved. The rest of what he said was filled with latitudes and evasions that made him look robotic and uninformed. Sandberg, on the other hand, is polished. She is also an expert at spin. I did not find her in the least credible. I had the impression that both of them were saying what they felt they had to say to placate critics with no intention of dealing in depth with any of the damage Facebook is doing to society.
Their reaction to the two headed octopus cartoon is laughable. Anti-semitic? Oh, please. How many people even know either of those two snakes are Jewish? The historical comparison isn’t even accurate. The cartoons about Jewish bankers were not based in reality and were clearly anti-semitic. This cartoon seems to me to describe accurately the influence of Facebook and its two incidentally Jewish leaders. In light of their attack’s on George Soros, they are in no position to play the religion card.
4
After reading this remarkable investigation, I am more than ever glad I closed my Facebook account in July 2017. My decision to do so was prompted by a) Facebook's role during the 2016 election and b) the negative effect of social media on human interactions in general. Not to mention companies like Facebook and Google are nothing more than parasites: they generate no content of value and are making indecent amounts of money by using the work of real journalists.
Lean into this, people: delete your Facebook accounts, as quickly and completely as they allow (which is not very). Because no matter how their execs deflect or deny or promise to do better, their business model is corrupt. They make money off accumulating and selling the data that you have willingly given them, like lambs to the slaughter.
2
In this NYT article there are little bits of lies. President Trump wanted to ban countries that support terrorists. Violent terrorists Muslims were to be banned.
Its interesting that when Obama used facebook to gather user data not a word was said. Liberals using facebook thought that Obama gathering user data was great because it would help elect Obama.
President Trump did not directly gather user data. Another firm harvested user data and sold it to the Trump campaign. Facebook sells user data to lots of companies. A facebook user doesn’t own any content (data) on facebook. Just read facebook’s private policy.
2
@Bits Of Fake News
Trump literally called for a total and complete shutdown on muslims entering the U.S. You can say he *meant* terrorists, but that isn't what he said. So no, that's not a lie, its a quote, and it was on his campaign webpage fore more than a year after he got elected.
Two - it never says Trump directly gathered user data. It's incredibly easy to beat a straw man.
1
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.
Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.
And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
Well, now we have a sequel of a digital variety on steroids.
Anyone surprise!
1
I deleted my Facebook account last year. When I tell people this, the most typical response is "I'm not too worried about FB having my personal data."
I wasn't worried about them having my personal data either. I was worried about them having EVERYONE's personal data. FB has been complicit in a number of real-world, non-internet problems: the Russian influence campaign in the US, and the Rohingya slaughter in Myanmar.
FB isn't even the only problem: Twitter is a well-known tool in Russia's influence campaigns. Reddit is a breeding ground for white supremacists. Incel killers keeping turning up with links to 4chan.
All these companies live in a consequence-free world. Real human beings have been killed because of these sites, and yet they continue to run without any oversight. Why?
3
It is nice to hoard money but it's a pain in the neck to take up the responsibilities when a problem arises.
Zuckerberg needs to realize that the college years are gone.
Now it's time to face the fact that his company has been used worldwide as a silent weapon against truth and democratic values.
We know it.
He knows it too.
2
For anyone without the time to read this article in its entirety, here it is, in one sentence: "Taking responsibility for what users posted, or acting to censor it, was expensive and complicated."
It may turn out Facebook's contribution to mankind wasn't teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony, but rather as a cautionary tale.
If nothing else, we learn here that when there is money to be made, both liberals and conservatives will eagerly engage in deception. Ms. Sandberg appears to be much better at this than Mr. Zuckerberg who probably should spend more time feeding cows and less time dispensing the end product.
2
The vaping industry is using the same tactics to shirk any guilt of hooking a generation of teens on nicotine.
I deleted my account in 2008 and can’t believe people are still on FB. I was receiving daily, sometimes hourly updates on a girl I went to college with’s runny nose, yet I couldn’t tell you anything about my real friends. What a lot of social platforms don’t understand is that more is worse.
5
Facebook pretends that solving these problems is a tough technical challenge. It's not. Facebook can easily know when an account is created in Russia by someone mascerading as an American and deny it. It can easily ID posts by robots and block them. It could with a few changes require that accounts bear the real names of posters. And it can require -- without govt regs -- that political ads ID their purchasers just as all TV, radio and print ads must. Facebook just does not want to do any of this because of expense. Feds must force them.
4
Everyone should remember that not all innovation or new technology is good and this as it turns out is one of those that may well be not good for America , the EU has already put regulation on facebook and Google and The United States should do the same .
7
The entrepreneurial talents that are necessary to start a company are generally the opposite talents that are required to sustain a company in the long term.
Zuckerberg has yet to grasp this reality and will only do more damage to himself and his company the longer he hangs around.
9
I am an ordinary person yet I could see the privacy firestorm coming years ago. I limit my facebook network to family and a few longtime friends, seldom post, rarely comment on politics and only connect to necessary organizations (volunteer and alum). I also rarely sign on to external sites through facebook. Yet facebook has me listed as extremely liberal--just the tip of the iceberg about their assessment of me. Can the world be so disingenous about the machinations behind it all? We all share in the responsibility of letting ourselves be evilly used.
12
How Do You Know How Facebook Rates You? I know facebook will stop conservatives from using facebook.
I've never done facebook.
I never log into google.
I use tracker blockers
I use ad blockers.
I never share private info unless absolutely necessary.
I sincerely hope that in 10 years, when I tell my kids that again, their response will be "Well, DUH!"
12
I have to admit I was angered regarding the role Facebook played in throwing the 2016 election. After I found out I started going on Facebook less and less.
And less.
What I found was I started using the time I used to spend on Facebook on other things that are more relevant. Don't get me wrong, I still check into Facebook occasionally to catch up with family and friends, but its limited.
So, in a way, the lack of attention by Facebook to the Russian influence on their site has been personally beneficial as to how I spend my time, or how not to waste it.
13
"In just over a decade, Facebook has connected more than 2.2 billion people, a global nation unto itself that reshaped political campaigns, the advertising business and daily life around the world."
Poppycock.
Facebook, and those who would be Facebook, haven't connected people, they've driven us apart. People don't talk anymore, they send texts. They don't really express feelings, they post emoticons. Have a problem with a product or a politician? You can't talk to a live person anymore, you tap a keyboard. You can't express original thought, you check boxes. This is why parents in Silicon Valley won't let their kids near screens. They know, full well, what this is doing to society.
No one needed Facebook until Facebook told us we needed Facebook. The internet worked perfectly fine without Facebook. If I'm interested in motorcycles or clothes or ashtrays, there's a website out there, somewhere, for me, with message boards filled with knowledge and folks who have no skin in the game other than to learn and pass on what they know and engage in sometimes lively debate about politics or music or whatever. Comment sections of newspapers are also good. But Facebook? What does that, really, do for anyone except eliminate junk email? Does less spam justify all this?
My guess is that Facebook won't be long for this world. Or maybe that's just hope. Either way, it's a parasitical company.
29
When people sit,down and talk they often agree on political subjects. But if you never face the person you can say all kinds of angry things. Facebook, email, texts all allow hateful things to be easily said to others.
1
We've become a blame society or maybe b-lame society. Every time someone does not get what they want, it must be someones fault other then our own.
We need to get back to reality, grow up, and take responsibility for our actions and understand everyone can't win!
Stop blaming everyone.....
1
When Mr. Z appeared before Congress, he continued his company's disinformation campaign by described FB's business as (1) putting people together [true enough] and (2) sending them "the advertising they want," [laughably false]; and he left out a third FB objective: calibrating and selling our personal information to anyone willing to give FB dollars for sending us that advertising we all "want."
12
Mark Zuckerberg, you are my neighbor; I often see you jogging with your security detail on Channing Avenue when I walk my dog. Your genius has made you fabulously wealthy, and immensely powerful, but that wealth and power comes with a burden: RESPONSIBILITY. You have created the tools - and the social paradigm - that allows the proliferation of hate speech that emboldens the worst among us to do the unthinkable. Your platform has been responsible for permitting election meddling by the Russians. Your platform, and others, have facilitated the spread of conspiracy theories, hate speech and fake news domestically and abroad. I’ve seen the Facebook ads on TV signaling a return to the good old days of family fun and viral cat videos, but it seems to me and many other Americans that the genie is out of the bottle and is unlikely to be returned. It’s just too late for that, and newer, smarter solutions are necessary. This is a time for moral leadership, and we are not going to get that from the government. Regulation, yes, but not moral leadership. Think about the world your children will inherit, and what role you have to play in the quality of that inheritance. What do you want your legacy to be? I hope you won’t mind if I stop you to say hello, and to ask for your thoughts on the subject, the next time my dog and I see you out for a jog.
43
It is up to is to teach our children morals. Good behavior on Facebook shows good morals. Hate speech is the responsibility of the person posting the comments. Freedom of speech is precious. Hate speech is defined by each person.
1
@J Henry
What makes him a genius? This is a serious question. I would like to know. A real contender for genius mqy have conceived of the idea and quickly discarded it. The consequences were so obvious even to me back in early 2000’s that I never touched F’book.
Good point! I think I’ll LIKE you!
Facebook is not what I use to validate my life's experiences.
It's a perfect place to maintain my confusion and live a life of passivity.
8
I'll admit, I watched Sandberg's latest testimony in the Senate thinking they might eat her alive. They did not and, at times, she even appeared smug. I felt something was amiss - either she was super convincing (she was not - her answers were vague in many cases) or they were weak. We now have the benefit of this story that senators were told - and FB lobbyists worked hard behind the scenes - to make sure she has an easier pass than she would have otherwise.
27
Great Journalism. See the 60 Minutes show too...Facebook tracks you everywhere. Can Congress please pass meaningful privacy regulation?
18
Thank you, thank you, thank you. In depth detail reporting. Long overdue. Facebook was a good thing for the entire world that turned ugly. Sad
10
How inconsistent the New York Times has become!
When Eric Holder ereted an iron wall between government secrets and the public, the Times simply ADORED that.
When the already-found-to-be-a-crook Breanda Snipes is as secretive with votes as Feliks Dzherzhinski was with political prisoner back in his Kremlin heyday, the Time ccoes and giggles as it did yesterday.
But when Facebook plays the coquette with Russian activity on its gigantic system, the Times FINALLY discovers a spine.
At least the 2016 activity before the election had ZERO effects on it even as post-election discord efforts have progressive doids banging into each other on the sidewalk.
2
Ma'am could you Lean In for your mugshot?
14
Humanity has never been here before, new technology, new problems with serious consequences. We find out that corporative Lords of the Universe are not wizards despite their ridiculous salaries. Are these "American" companies or companies without national loyalties. The first instinct is to protect the business model which is turn is what is making the money. Then we have politicians who have never been here either, trying to do the best they can but caught between financing reelection campaigns, fringe lunatics attacking any move they make, and our sacred cow - capitalism with all the freight it carries as the national religion. So as we bumble along it is entertaining to see if money wins as usual. Look at ATT cutting off HBO from other competitors after promising, promising never ever to do such a despicable thing while officialdom turns a blind eye.
3
Imagine if Stalin or Hitler or others had access to FB as a tool?
This is where the real danger lies ahead or already is.
Some years ago, a former FBI agent told me that FB sure made their job(s) easier. Pay attention to this. Get off of the social media sites. ALL of them.
The fact that billions of people voluntarily created their own personal dossiers, complete with photos, is almost unbelievable. Sure saves governments (and other nefarious people/groups) a lot of money and time.
Wake up and smell the dangers here with this. All of it.
13
Facebook has become a danger to the Democracy , and needs to be regulated the same as any other media outlet /period
16
Morally corrupt. You almost could call them traitors because they took the money and suppressed the truth.
11
's just be perfectly honest here. This is about filthy lucre. Anything that comes out of the mouth of Facebook executive is about protecting their money. Don't believe a thing they say.
8
Aristotle once said you can judge a person’s character by studying the features of their face. The Chinese are using computers today to determine criminals by their facial features. The physiognomical study of the facial features and facial expressions of Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandburg would strongly suggest they are crooks.
6
@Bruce Savin Well, we can certainly trust the Peoples Republic of China then, can't we??!
Absurd and borderline offensive.
1
@Bruce Savin
Yep!
Soulless consumer here. What would you like me to buy next? What should I think about on any given subject? To whom do I owe my allegiance?
Your servant...
7
This is precisely the Clinton and Obama playbook.
2
It strikes me as ironic that two people who lack real social skills are the billionaires orchestrating social media!
11
Facebook has two problems (besides Sandberg and Zuckerberg). One is placing profit before all else. The second is reliance upon algorithms to make fast and cheap decisions. If this last is removed from the Facebook methodology, there would be much less profit— a negation of Facebook’s main motivator
To fix Facebook, it needs regulation like a utility. Sandberg and Zuckerberg could retire with their billions, and America would prosper.
17
"Lean into" deception and denial.
Always interesting when the leaders of a prominent company refuse to talk to the press, even one of the world's leading newspapers, and instead issue an anonymous "statement". States who, the top people reviewing it who refuse to put their name on it or make themselves available for public comment? One thing the Puritan use of stockades got right: it forced malefactors to face the public. Here we have an example of the leaders of the world's largest online "community" refusing to face theirs.
6
This article buries what seems to be the most shocking revelation: That Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg themselves actually hired a company to defend Facebook via an anti-Semitic disinformation campaign pushing a fake George Soros conspiracy theory. That's utterly unacceptable!
Anti-Semitic narratives have serious social consequences - ranging from the undermining of political ideas to actual violence. What are these people thinking??? Facebook is not that important. They need to get a grip, and the rest of us need to let them know that this will not be permitted.
870
@fram1 Agreed. I left FB a year ago because I was tired of all the discord on peoples posts. I was also tired of clicking on things and found they were just sensationalist headlines with non- news stories. Later it came out that many of these websites were false. So I went from being "tired" of all the yelling, to feeling that info was no longer trustworthy. I am much happier without all the noise and nonsense FB had become. With the revelation that they actually tried to get themselves to be seen as victims of anti-semitism (don't we have enough real victims already?) I can assure you I will never go back! Not that FB needs me but I am much happier out of the swamp they have become.
35
Sandberg and Zuckerberg should resign. Love the software and communities. But the anti-Semitic Soros action is unforgivable.
34
@fram1
The Board of Directors at FB is asleep at the wheel. George Soros should find a good Plaintiff's lawyer.
31
What horrible, arrogant people!
I am so disappointed in Facebook!
4
Particularly love Ms. Sandberg's efforts that undercut women and their health given outcomes like the Supreme Court and entire GOP/Trump misogynistic attack system (extending to continuing death threats against Christine Blasey Ford). So much "leaning in". Was she hiring oops teams while writing the book?
6
Protector of Wall Street? Guardian of Facebook? Chuck $chumer
16
Instead of taking down Zuckerberg and Sandberg, perhaps the US Gov should take down Facebook. Problem solved.
14
@David Keys, But it is an invaluable tool for them. Our gov't *loves* FB.
3
@MS Another excellent reason to ditch Mark's monster.
1
The thing I dislike about Facebook is the things people post, the ads, the videos that start without prompts and the emails suggesting I look at somebody’s stupid picture or event.
Other than that it’s really great.
4
First thing, share this article on Facebook. Second, if you stay on Facebook in order to connect w real friends and family, post cat videos, etc., use privacy settings and even then, realize that NOTHING YOU POST IS PRIVATE. Thirdly, don’t get your news from FB. Assume that everything on Facebook is a lie.
11
The villain in this tale is Sheryl Sandberg. Leaning in with Corporatist Greed and Might 101. #DeleteFacebook
8
The best above-the-fold headline that "The New York Times" could print to end 2018 and begin 2019 is: "Facebook Goes Out Of Business"
2
"hate speech coursing through the platform", "government propaganda and ethnic cleansing", Russian messages during the 2016 campaign "seen by 126 million users". And Facebook, according to this article, reluctant to publicly admit this and then viewing it as mostly a public relations problem.
How is fb fixing this? How much resources to hate speech? CIA methods or depending on actual people to report this to them? What is considered hate speech; for example NRA propaganda contributes to the deaths of 33,000 Americans every year.
The ethnic cleansing fomented by the Burmese military on fb: What are their foreign language capabilities in Burma to detect this, and what are they doing about it. Assuming some revenue from Burma, it is not hard to imagine a net loss if fb is taking serious action to do something about it.
The Russian ads and by robots: First, if this is against the law in the U.S., who prosecutes this and what are the penalties under the law? Who specifically at fb knew about this, when did they know, and when did top executives know. The Trump margin of victory was so slim, it's hard to imagine the 126 million posts did not directly influence the outcome--all of it disinformation in intent with a goal to undermine American Democracy, which continues as Trump still appears to be adhering to the Russian line on everything. Putin even gloated about his success in Helsinki.
Facebook is helping to collect donations for the fire victims in N. California.
They learned the how-to from the best: our politicians and our “President.”
1
@B. Rothman
Blaming Trump seems to also be a learned response.
Schumer has discredited himself by supporting Facebook to keep his Facebook donors happy despite Schumer’s clear responsibility to the Country and to his party to clamp down — his “leadership” is what needs fixing for the Dems.
7
What’s with the ending of this article? The whole thing is aggressive, punchy reporting, and then it just trails off...
7
Lean in to this, Sandberg.
6
@Disembodied Internet Voice
Or better yet, think for yourself. Don't let anyone sell you on how to think or behave or where or how to "lean".
1
Corruptions, hubris and greed affects men and women. Sheryl Sandberg is no angel.
6
Facebook is dangerous. Zuckerberg has a God complex.
8
Ya know, it is pretty simple. If ya don't like it , don't use it. Let the egomaniacs and voyeurs enjoy it.
By the way, what is it with NYT selecting the most unflattering photos of people they are trashing. Talk about manipulating public perception.
2
The extraordinary arrogance exhibited by Zuckerberg and - especially - Sandberg is off the charts. Simply shameful. In their all-out pursuit of monetization of OUR personal data, do they ever think about the ethics involved in that process?
Disgusting behavior.
Kudos to the Times for outing them.
8
Sandberg and Zukerberg are both complicit in coverup of Russian intervention of our democracy.
11
"Deny and Deflect"? Why not? It works for the president. This is the new normal. My pathological interpretation of reality is equal to yours. You can pick out facts that support your reality, and I can choose facts that support mine. Everything is a matter of perspective, right? Well, if you have money and power. For the rest of us there is accountability and consequences. This is the way it works in the new oligarchy.
5
@Mickey
There is an entire industry of firms for hire to help companies deny and deflect. Every time something happens that could reflect badly on a company, there is a team that goes into action to "manage" the impact. Facebook did what hundreds of other companies did. Of course it isn't a friendly protective buddy just there to help its users connect with their friends. The users are Facebook's product, and it's going to do everything necessary to continue to sell the users to advertisers, whether those advertisers are benign or nefarious.
1
These are despicable people bent on selling our democracy for ad revenue and data mining. Delete Facebook. Save America.
5
Bad news for you: that’s pretty much the modern Internet - at least any company that relies on ad revenue rather than subscription revenue.
Of all the troubling things that have recently been made public about Facebook, the fact that they stooped to using the tactics of the alt-right propaganda machine - and worse, they actually hired these companies to spread dis-information - is the most troubling of all. This company makes me sick to my stomach. Sell your Facebook stock!! Delete your account!!
2
Ms. Sandberg and Zuckerberg helped to overthrow the United States Government. Both Sandberg and Zuckerberg should step down and or be prosecuted by the United States Government.
3
We should be surprised that the super wealthy and powerful are almost always also ethically challenged and hypocritical? Are we shocked that lofty claims of piety and the public good are hollow? When all is said and done, lust for more money and power trumps all.
9
And poor Mark, wide eyed, child-like, a portrait of innocence.
I can't believe it...he was going to, mischievously... break things!
But not really.
He just wanted to draw all of us together. So we could share our pictures, our stories, our...lives.
He just needed some trivial information to accomplish his world healing agenda.
His Pax Zuckerberg.
I wonder if Facebook sells a picture, a full length poster perhaps. An angelic representation of Mark's good intentions.
I would have it framed and put it in my attic. I would go there occasionally to view it, to show it to my friends.
Something to bring us closer together.
It should be OK up there, It’s a little dry and the light from the east comes through the window pretty fierce. I have an old quilt I can use to cover it.
I hope the strong light of day won’t affect it too much...
5
Interesting article, which I was alerted to by a rather fawning discussion of it on MSNBC (though even there, the interviewer did raise the question of whether any of this was actually “news”). While I have no great love for FB, and rarely use it these days, I actually think this is a bit of a hatchet job. Yes, FB bungled the issue of how to deal with Russian interference and what to tell the public about it. Yes, Sandberg is a devious and deceptive creep (the fact that the article refers to her as a “feminist icon” is a joke!) And yes, FB postures as though it is some new kind of entity, out to save the world, rather than a for-profit company trying to please its shareholders. But everything it did to respond to the developing Russia issue is consistent with how large companies (with mediocre leadership) deal with crisis — they are slow to respond, react incrementally, and develop a defensive posture, seeking to deflect blame. Big whup. Why would anyone expect anything else? This does not make them evil nor mean they should be put out of business or that aggressive regulation - much less anti-trust litigation -- will necessarily help. What they really need is better management, a more independent board, and a requirement of greater transparency. But none of that is likely to happen as long as Zuckerberg owns 60% of the shares.
181
@Lisa
Does fomenting hatred and facilitating the Rohingya genocide counts just as not evil?
30
I happen to think this is more an example of brilliant dogged reporting than a hatchet job.
If anything, we need more of these..
You’re right about his ability to prevent change, however, Zuckerberg does not own 60% of the shares, he has voting rights to that many because of supervoting shares and other similar mechanisms which is all the rage in the tech industry.
22
@Lisa
You are wrong about regulations ... We need more antitrust in tech, its killing innovation, centralizing decision making, concentrating wealth and most importantly reducing choices for consumers.
21
Addictions are usually addressed by first admitting the addictive behavior(s) are "unmanageable" as evidenced by real damage to one's own priorities, e.g., relationships, self care, work, service to others, etc.
I put Facebook on Hold after the 2016 elections but returned 6 months later, for the family updates and my need to occ. share a NYT or WaPo thought piece or a family photo of a truly "rewarding" experience.
I laugh out loud not infrequently at some of my "friends" satirical or humorous posts. These moments are perhaps the most "rewarding" in the addiction sense of "reward," i.e., reinforcing a behavior that in Facebook terms, translates as "time lost for more pro-social, self care, behaviors."
I am still on Facebook. This investigative article does much to remind me that I am at risk for being further harmed by continued use. As well, risking harm to my Facebook "friends", many of whom share DNA (aka blood relatives) with me, and thus all of us at increased "risk for Facebook addiction."
Facebook is clearly a company with zero ethics. When that Thai father killed his baby live on Facebook, and Facebook barely responded (even though Mark Zuckerberg has a daughter approximately the same age), I thought, here is a company with no soul. I do have an Instagram account, and will shut that down today. But, honestly, I sort-of like posting funny stories of my family, and cool pics from vacations -- where is my ethical alternative? If anybody (especially women) out there want to step up, I'd be happy to sign up.
5
@AarBar I use Apple Photo's share feature. It allows me to create a folder and add pictures that can be viewed by people whom I invite (the only catch is that those people must have Apple IDs). These folks can "like" and comment, too. It's my very private version of Instagram -- just fifteen or so family and friends.
@Cynthia M Suprenant Hey thanks for this info. I love seeing photos of what my friends are up to and this gives me a alternative.
I think it's past time for Senator Schumer to resign his post as Senate minority leader. His behavior as chronicled in this story is merely the icing on the cake. He is the perfect example of a Corporate Democrat who is far more comfortable hobnobbing with and raising money from the elite than working to understand average Americans and crafting compelling election messages that actually resonate with them. And now we learn he's been running interference for Facebook (nothing to do with the fact his daughter works there, I'm sure)? Get lost, Schumer.
13
The fact is that Facebook is actually a publisher and is, or should be, held responsible for it's content just like any publication of information should be. They can't have it both ways; be an open conduit for the free exchange of information so not responsible, while also having specific guidelines, policies and procedures about content. It is either "open" or "not open" to everyone's thoughts, opinions and ideas. If "not open" then they are in reality controlling content which makes them a publisher, and responsible for their content.
12
@Will. Facebook, whatever it is, cannot possibly be defined as a “publisher” in the word’s traditional meaning.
I still do not think the full story has been told, though this article is a great attempt to start to unfold all that has gone on in Facebook. The lack of being an open book from the beginning was a huge mistake by the leadership of this company. It certainly begs the question: what else are they hiding?
5
Sheryl Sandberg’s reputation is totally ruined. I would say the same of Mark Zuckerberg, but he had no reputation to begin with.
Lean In, Ms. Sandberg, and listen closely: deflecting accountability may be in vogue, but your egregious trampling of those under you speaks more about your character than theirs. Hopefully you will be gone from the public spotlight in short order, never to return.
No one respects either of you.
49
@Steve I believe your post will receive many, many likes. :-)
1
@Steve I have her book in my desk drawer on my list to read. I will read it but this will color my reading.
There appears to be a somewhat arrogant attitude in Silicon Valley that nobody can tell them what to do because they rule the world. Well, if their behavior continues like this they are going to find out, much to their chagrin, that they can and will be told what to do. They completely violated the trust of their user base and did everything but deal with the problem head on.
They should all be forced to study how Johnson and Johnson dealt with the tainted tylenol problem back in the 80's. That's the gold standard for corporate responsibility.
5
@Arthur Shatz
Corporate responsibility is an oxymoron. J & J ("trusted by families since 1886") was successfully sued in vaginal mesh and talcum powder profiteering coverup/payoffs -these shady medical deals took place since the Tylenol case.
Any corp. that becomes too big fails to see anything but the bottom line, because they are not people and they do not have souls. The robots have already taken over and they run in gangs known as Corporate Boards. Or so it seems to me, a mere human.
If Facebook disappeared this second would it change life for anyone in the world one bit, aside from the people who work there and those who have made it the basis for their life? It seems like such a pointless invention, like a four legged milking stool.
16
@John Doe
Your simile is apt; and we are the cows.
1
The myth of corporate citizenship lives on. Regulation and well funded enforcement is the collective citizenship's only protection. I thought capitalism was flexible and adaptable to the market place but instead they want to game the marketplace.
13
“Our mission is to make the world more open and connected.” Hardly, their mission is to make money. I don't have an argument with that but it must be done so honestly and responsibly. In watching the recent airing of "60 Minutes" the EU has finally realized the obvious, to regulate and force the beast to behave regulations must be backed with stiff fines and penalties. They now can fine tech companies for certain transgressions by up to 2% of the companies gross sales. We are talking billions of dollars here.
Zuckerberg and Sandberg cannot admit the error of grossly insufficient oversight. If our government cannot or will not reign these tech companies in then it is up to the consumer to just stop using them as well as companies including the NYT. Terminate your Facebook account today.
12
I do not understand why Facebook is being so strongly ridiculed. This article is framed as if it is meant to be scathing, and all that really has been exposed is that Facebook is a company with it's own interests, shareholders, with regular old humans at the helm. Facebook, just like every other tech company on the planet, deals in data. We as the users have the option to read agreements, research how that information is used, and then make informed decisions about what or what not to share. Facebook the platform has influence over our lives because we allow it to. Who is to blame for this divided nation and democracy in crisis? The public. We are to blame.
7
@Chris B. The NYT believes (quite possible & not paranoid) that Facebook is responsible for eating their lunch.
1
Compared to Face Book, I have little power but I have sold my FaceBook Stock and I no longer use their program, I wish everyone would do the same. I consider many of their actions evil and do not want to be a part of it.
14
@mcp Facebook is used by a lot of organizations for forum hosting. My town uses them as the person hosting the town forum personally didn't want to do it anymore. There are specialty cancer support groups that are one-of-a-kind places on FB. I wish that these places just used private hosting services but FB makes it incredibly convenient.
2
You need to go much deeper. Facebook is making an historic impact on society by being a party to transforming neighborhoods from physical to digital communities. The structure of Facebook, its approach to connections and information sharing algorithms, is reinforcing the isolation of ideas while allowing carrying bullies, bad guy politicos, and foreign operators to pour gasoline on these ways of thinking to burn more intensely. There is much more here than Corporate Governance or even Free Speech. Visit New Trier High School (the home of "Mean Girls") to discover its ability to facilitate a systematic bullying ecosystem in the shadows that the administration is either blind to or pretends to be. This ecosystem drives meanness to a new level. And that is just a micro impact. We need to understand it (the job of the NY Times among others) as a first step towards adjusting, on the path back to melting pot communities, curiosity, and evolution. Digital is not going away. On the contrary, it will only become more pervasive. As with Climate Change, we need to be cognizant of our surroundings to evolve and thrive as a species.
10
@Mark Green This has been possible for quite some time. I have my own website and it costs me $10/month. I could run my own forums and email lists if I wanted to - everything is included for that $10/month. It would cost more if there were a lot of users to increase CPU and bandwidth but it isn't difficult to run a small social media operation. It does require some technical ability and your time.
1
@Mark Green You are so right. Facebook is just EVIL because people use it as a weapon rather than a tool. The use of Facebook had my son fired from a major Hollywood studio where he was working for 12 whole years. He has lost over 1.3 million$$$ in wages sofar. A co worker sitting next to him was using FACEBOOK to gossip my son on a daily basis. Read my comment explaining the whole story - Maria
"Facebook declined to make Zuckerberg and Sandberg available" should read.
They made themselves unavailable to put things into perspective.
10
@SB Jim
Or, "the twin icebergs cleverly dodged out of the way of the approaching Titanic"
1
So soon after the death of Stan Lee, we witness a high-tech repeat of the "corrupting our youth" campaign that impacted the comic book industry in the 1950's. Planted in the soil of McCarthyism, and driven by a few individuals who may have seen it as a springboard to better things, it chased out many worthy examples and replaced them with pablum. There was the usual feeding frenzy of the press and congressional committees. Sound familiar? This is an oft-told tale, repeating ad nauseam, and always for the same reasons. It's a cause, get on board.
2
One could say that these clueless and reprehensible individuals at the top of FB actually threw a lot of humanity under the bus......and continue to do so. But they were more worried about just how many billions they might not make due to "all of the fuss".
"It is so so complicated" they continue to say. But truly, it is amazingly simple. Those running the company know that it has been and continues to be used to bully, spread misinformation, and hate while at the same time solidifying the echo chambers that are tearing humanity apart. In many instances lives have been destroyed and continue to be destroyed, and it is hard to comprehend that amount of suffering FB has caused. The company is simply not concerned with this, but it should be because it is not a far stretch to say that Zuck/Sheryl and others are guilty of depraved indifference, and someday they may well find themselves in prison convicted of this crime.
21
@Mark Perfectly said. I never, ever could stand Sandberg - a real troll if ever there was one - totally dishonest in every way. As for Zuckerberg - just like her obviously. Money means everything to these people - they never have enough, just like Trump.
5
How does one go about deleting one's FB account? I think it is time.
9
While humans may have created amazing new technologies, it never ceases to amaze me how gullible we are. We have not changed at all in our likelihood to be duped.
The business model of Facebook is parasitic, sucking the marketing data out of the hosts, one click at a time. They can do this because of modern humans' insatiable narcesistic tendencies and self-absorption. Just think about the name Facebook.
Great article. Facebook and the like are not benevolent do-gooders but greedy capitalists. That is the gist of your piece.
26
Facebook should be taken out of the hands of Zuckerberg et al and made a publicly owned entity managed by the likes of the WikiMedia foundation. It can then be used as a force for good, and not a vehicle for more profit.
11
Make careful note of this point: Both Facebook AND Cambridge Analytica staff were posted directly at Trump's digital operations center in Texas. It has been charged that CA earlier had used a seemingly harmless personal poll as a honey trap to gather the data of millions of Facebook users....and not just the users directly, but their friends as well. It also appears that CA was using that data both to influence support for Brexit and then for the Trump campaign.
The obvious question is just HOW Facebook and CA were able to work together in the same HQ for Trump and how, apparently FB had no problems with CA being there or any questions about what CA had done as far as rifling FB user data. FB either KNEW what CA had done and either condoned and/or encouraged it, or if they did not, should have to explain why they never questioned what CA was about when the two were working together for Trump. It was a clear mis-use of their data under existing FB policy, but when it came to CA and their work for Trump, they appear to have been far more focused on monetizing data usage than they were about secretly influencing carefully targeted members of their customer base to manipulate the election. If they knew that was the purpose, that is frankly chilling.
15
Chuck Schumer.
1
Fake profiles in FB are easy to spot. New accounts, older accounts but with only recent post activity, blatant fake names, and accounts that do nothing but rant on divisive social issues. No matter what the company says there are common-sense steps to fix the problem. If a new account is from a saturated country flag it for review, if an account goes from dormant to active and starts trolling flag it, monitor for identical posts that are divisive, monitor accounts that like the troll accounts, do not allow pages to interact except on their own page. I've flagged blatantly obvious fake troll accounts and Facebook has reliably done nothing. The only reason I can see that FB hasn't taken steps like this is they like the fake accounts because cracking down would lower accounts which would reduce viewers and ad revenue.
9
Facebook isn’t a socially beneficial business, it’s a destructive habit forming disease foisted on the planet by a handful greedy tech entrepreneurs.
P.S.
Perhaps too much FB screen time explains Schumer’s diminishing gravitas and performance in his real job.
14
At first I thought that it was the older generation being out of touch and that FB represented a generational divide. But these revelations display a much more seriously negative antisocial impact. And the inclusion of Republican negative propaganda tactics is not only unforgivable it is also a blatant exposure of naïveté on the part of the founder, and crass minipulation on the part of his number two.
We could all do with a rereading of Paul Levinson’s “McLuhan in an Age of Social Media”. One aspect of McLuhan’s work and that of his son, Eric, is the revision or reversal of many if not most of Man’s creations. Negative elements and impacts manifest themselves as new things mature. Witness the car, the computer, the internet, and now social media. The difference here is the warp speed this is happening with social media which is really indicative of the acceleration of everything digital, both beneficial and harmful. In the new age of greed and speed, society has to be on alert to control these threats and manage these opportunities. We need to act at warp speed as well.
1
I deleted my Facebook account in 2014, and I've never regretted it. People use this as a platform to enshrine themselves as the center of their own universe. I hate to be harsh, but... no one cares about your curated list of micro-events. In short, Facebook has failed to live up its own ideals. Instead of connecting people, it divides them; it should be called the "anti-social" network. .
People communicated for millions of years before this garbage was invented, sometimes it was hard and required effort. Give up Facebook, live outside of yourself; I promise you, you'll be happier and more connected to other people.
15
Just another example of the Wild West mentality of the age of the internet. No rules/ NO Social Responsibility. People who think that this massive anything goes form of communication are either pathetically naive or just not very bright. The Russians and Chinese are using such easy access to gullible Americans in ways they can`t. even dream of; and people like Zuckerberg and Sandberg have been laughing all the way to the bank for years as a result. The damage done may take many years to repair; if ever. The evidence is now in; FACEBOOK is no friend of truth or responsibility. And the sad thing is they know no shame.
8
Ron Wyden's legislation assessing fines and jail time to executives in companies is the cure for Facebook and its abuses of its users. It's time to slap down the abusers of people's privacy. I don't give one diddly squat about advertisers wanting to give me a "better experience." The only way they could possibly to that is to cease advertising altogether. But since we have to pay for things we have to look at ads. I'm good with that. But I'm not good with them making money off my privacy. They have no right, and they should be jailed. Targeted advertising is a scam anyway. I buy a camera, and then for the next year I see ads about this camera. I already have it fools! Show me something I haven't seen!
8
Another glaring example of why "self-regulation" is a really dangerous joke.
8
A world with Facebook will be a better world.
3
@aa
hmmm, "A world withOUT Facebook will be a better world."
Fixed it.
2
Until Sandberg is terminated for cause, all of Facebook’s actions are for show.
13
@Colok
Even when she is terminated all of FB's "actions" will be for show. Their business model is based on abusive practices. There is no way they can put a halo on that.
It all comes from the top - remember that Facebook originated via spite against women.
3
@ROK
Right - by nerdy geeks. Then, the women joined them. What a wonderful world SillyCon Vale.
This is why the corporatists in the Democratic Party need to go. I'm sick of Shumer and his old school politics that drag the party from moving forward to represent the average Jane and John Doe.
As for Zuckerberg and Sandberg, the "smartest people in the room," get a clue and work on your insight and emotional intelligence and stop putting money and your pie-in-the-sky idealism ahead of the cold hard truth of reality. Shame on both of you to play dirty politics to obfuscate your company's role in Russian interference in our elections and your shameful attempts to try to discredit your competitors to deflect blame. Grow up and start acting like mature responsible adults, not pouty little children.
8
Here's why I got off Facebook many years ago:
1. I found out our own government was mining data from it. I am sure the founding fathers, had they conceived it, would have been aghast at this privacy invasion.
2. It seemed most people were creating profiles to market their lives in the very best light. Profiles seemed to read like marketing exercises.
3. I think like a lot of technology today, that we tend to absorb all of it, thinking it all must be good. I don't think socializing on a website leads to people being more happy. I don't think the almost compulsive need to look at our cell phones is healthy either.
4. In closing seeing Zuckerberg in the hearings it is obvious that he has very compromised integrity. This is a really bad foundation for being in a communication industry that obviously needs to have the unimpeachable integrity.
6
I do not use Facebook or Twitter. Obviously, I like to submit a comment now and then on a point I'm interested in, as evidenced right here. My issue now is to ask why Facebook and Twitter are allowed to be the "gatekeeper" for so many public comment boards on the internet. Not here, as we register independently. But so many--probably most--of the sites require a log-in with a Facebook or Twitter account in order to post. And then they advise they will obtain the right to "tweet" on your account or view your e-mail contacts, etc. I do not like that and I don't understand why the public tolerates it. Shouldn't the first "no-brainer" step toward cleaning up this mess be to ban Facebook, Twitter, and the like from serving as "gatekeepers" to online speech? They are a definite "filter"--and that should not be.
10
Like others here I deleted my account when I realized Facebook didn't care about privacy or what people were doing with my information and that I could not remove information or misinformation.
8
The only positive fact in this saga requires a trip back in time . Dial-up was giving way to broadband connections, first wired and then wireless. A social website had more members than others back then and it caught the eye of a corporate media billionaire.
That billionaire's name was the loathsome Murdoch and that platform was MySpace. Fortunately, Zuckerberg came along just as that corporate acquisition took place and the rest, as they say is history. So I suppose FB has one positive attribute and it is the harpooning of a site Murdoch hoped would be a goldmine for his company and more importantly, his politics.
3
@Unworthy Servant Preferring Facebook because it isn't Murdoch's slime only makes sense in a world view mired in absurdity.
I find it interesting that this story only has about 900 comments almost 24 hours after posting, when other stories of considerably less significance hit the thousands in half that time routinely. I know the news cycle now is about 15 minutes, and all of the turmoil in our government institutions seem more consequential, but I would argue that this story is at least partly the root of all those problems. Before Facebook, misinformation and racist views of the other were contained to one's social circle, and any attempt to publicly grow that view required one to expose themselves to the world. Now, all you need is an internet connection, a Facebook account, and some extra time in the day to weaken democracy. Maybe, like the outrageousness of the Trump administration, we've all been lulled into thinking that's the new normal. Or maybe it actually is, which doesn't bode well for any of us.
14
@Lisa N.You started out well, then made that long, fatal last leap, trying to tie in President Trump. Why didn't you stop before the "maybe"?
1
@Lisa N. Correct you are. Facebook facilitates dehumanization of others.
These people got into this for the money, not to make human life better. There was a need that their service filled. They filled that need but they made money by taking information that was not theirs to take and divulged it to make a tremendous amount of money. That information has been exploited by every kind of person for good to very bad purposes. They need to be held accountable. We as a society have to remember that we make money to afford the things we do in life but sacrificing lives to make it is not acceptable. We seem to have forgotten that fact.
2
Other than the specific tactics used by Facebook, are there really any surprises here about the real character of Zuckerberg and Sandberg?
4
Who's fooling who here.
Facebook's CEO, COO and 'security' chief insisting, for the nth time, publicly, that they, and they alone need 'another chance' to get things repaired, corrected. Tech code for 'we don't need any government regulation.
Then you have Chuck Schumer offering, singularly, to supply Facebook with his government experience expertise.
If this wasn't all so tragically underwhelming for instructing on how to fix the real problem of Facebook's monolithic and wholly unregulated social media monopoly, gone toxic, I'd laugh.
FACEBOOK needs to be regulated. The problem lies in the sheer fact that the ones who taxpayers count on to be doing that (the Schumers and the rest of our pols) - won't.
They enjoy the "free" advertising, fact or lie, Facebook provides to it's 'members', as an unregulated social media octopus. So this latest he-said she-said fingerpointing is just another publicity distraction. Government sits on their hands and Zuckerberg gets his latest 15 mins. of television fame.
Fools are we.
3
The question I've had since the beginning of the Russia interference issue:
What message(s) did Russian covertly deliver to American voters that were so persuasive that we're concerned it had an affect on voter behavior? It baffles me that a group of Russians could craft a message to Americans that is effective in any way.
2
@Ken Rohleder
They had help from Americans?
2
As this article highlights so well, it is obviously in the better interest of US national security to have much more public oversight of companies like Facebook and Twitter. When companies become independent, virtual nations run in secrecy by billionaires, we should be as worried about their behavior as we are about what would happen if the government nationalized them 100%.
In my opinion, it is time to break these companies up and address the other 800-pound gorilla in the online community room: the use of millions of for-hire bot accounts to unfairly sway public opinion in favor of the highest bidder.
5
I gave up on Facebook a long time ago. I maintain an account for business, but even then I rarely visit it. Why? I don't care about seeing your puppy or kitty, but I'm glad that you're happy with it. I don't want to be hassled or harassed just because I express an opinion. I don't want snide comments on my photo. I don't want to waste any more time on what, perhaps despite the best of intentions initially, has become the prime instrument of uncivil discourse, quasi-literacy and most importantly disruption of our nation by bad actors both foreign and domestic.
I think I just finally talked myself into abandoning my account.
10
Facebook is no different than any other huge corporate monopoly. It has always been about money and power, nothing more. FB knows where we shop, what we look at, our age, state, whether or not we have kids, how we vote. They know more about us than we could ever guess. Not sure about that, go to FB or Google and download the data the companies have on you. It's shocking.
This data, which we seem to freely divulge every time we numbly offer up our email address and phone number is worth billions. Facebook doesn't care if we're connected, if the whole world is connected, they care about our data and how they can monetize it. They do a poor job with everything else they should be focused on, like cyber security and keeping their platform free from influence. In this way they are no better than the propaganda machine currently running within our government.
4
Is anyone able to provide more detail about Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg being distracted by personal projects, as stated below? That jumped out at me. Thanks.
At critical moments over the last three years, they were distracted by personal projects, and passed off security and policy decisions to subordinates, according to current and former executives.
6
@Joel Kamins Another interesting question, based on this item in the article: Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also tapped its business relationships, lobbying a Jewish civil rights group to cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic.
So it appears that on one hand, the leaders of FB, both Jewish, engaged a PR firm that then tried to frame opponents as paid by George Soros (who has been a long-standing target for anti-Semetic right-wing activities with his own Jewish ties a part of that opposition).
And on the other hand, they were engaging Jewish organizations to attack opponents as anti-Semetic.
Neat trick.
2
An idea that seems to be given short shrift in the investigation is how any of this can be fixed without making social media the arbiters of what is acceptable for debate.
It is notable, first of all, that all this blew up when Trump was elected. I have to wonder how big this story would be had the "right" candidate won. So the apparent lack of awareness of the dangers inherent in allowing the hands of individuals who are probably very similar in outlook, opinion and socio-economics making decisions on what social media users can and can't see may be a result of assumptions about how such decisions will be made.
As I understand it, social media companies are mostly immune to civil suits against defamation and damages by statute. I think that the solution might be to end this immunity, giving the companies reason to police the most egregious entries based on legal damages, while still allowing them to use a software based system for choosing access.
Until recently, it appears literally nothing violated Facebook’s terms of use and conduct.
NOTHING!
And for that they are finally paying the price.
6
@LJB
The wheels appear to have come off this Trojan horse. Now we're walking around kicking the tires?
Facebook has essentially evolved into becoming more or less a public menace when it went beyond the simple model of connecting friends and family via a consolidated messaging function.
Facebook and so many other of the Silicon Valley firms - Twittter, Instagram, AirBnB, Uber, Lyft, and many others - have disrupted so many economic sectors with maybe some benefit to immediate users while causing so much pain and loss of for so many others in the economic sectors they have invaded. The winners are the management teams and major stockholders (which are often one and the same).
Most of these Silicon Valley companies have become more or less public utilities and as such these entities need to be regulated as such by the Federal government. There are good and beneficial aspects to parts of the various basic business models, but too many of these companies have expanded way beyond their simple beginnings of making "connections" between people about news, shelter, ideas, and rides, etc.
At some point in the future, we will have a "Standard Oil" situation in which the Federal government will finally wake up and essentially go after the various Silicon Valley companies with regulations or breaking them up in component parts. Then recall what happened to John D. Rockefeller, Sr. and his fellow stockholders in Standard Oil when it was broken up in many mini-Standard Oils - their stock values typically went up even faster. They ended "weeping" on the way to the bank in joy!
2
Two comments.
It’s amazing the way companies (not just Facebook) are willing to bend over backwards to accommodate the fragility, oversensitivity, and persecution complex on the conservative right, to the point of losing all sense of moral clarity.
Second, I was struck that a congressional staff member had previously worked for Sandberg’s foundation. I work in the philanthropic sector and I have a lot of friends who work for the Facebook foundation. It strikes me that Facebook uses its relatively paltry charitable activities in exactly the same way companies like Chevron and Wells Fargo once did and still do. Look no further than the rotting husk of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to see the way charity is just another element of these rotten people’s business or branding campaigns. It really makes me despair for parts of the industry I work in.
8
The power social media has, particularly Facebook, is immeasurable. Rest assured, members of Congress understand their jobs and their future in Congress could hinge on using Facebook to their advantage.
Facebook fully understands their power and influence and they are solely motivated on cashing in on this power.
It is imperative that all of us fully comprehend the power of propaganda and influence peddling in shaping public views and policy.
It is a whole different world today than when our Founding Fathers created the Constitution. If we don't change with the times, we will remain subjugated to the past and at some point, we will flounder in the future.
BTW I highly recommend the PBS Frontline two show series on Facebook - link to get there: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/facebook-dilemma/
2
Facebook's a buss you don't have to throw anyone under; it drives over its own customers--that's what it's designed to do.
2
Ms Sandberg, I am a Democrat too and must say that with "friends" like you (pun intended) there is no need for enemies.
12
What this really comes down to is the question of freedom of speech. social media, not just Facebook, has enabled the masses to reach the masses. All of them. The good. The bad. The ugly. The deceitful. What troubles me is that the undertone of this article is the message that Facebook has done something wrong when in fact it has only enabled free speech to flourish. Any attempt to regulate social media content is an assault on free speech.
@johnlo
Is freedom of speech the highest value in the land? Or is freedom from manipulation? With regard to FB, try this one on:
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
Once a corporation controls what you see, what you hear and what you can expect from your government, what do you have left to lose?
1
VICE News (on HBO) recently aired two excellent pieces on Facebook's initiative to verify the source of election ads (much like the 'paid for by' line in traditional media). They submitted DOZENS of posts that were identical copies of posts run by Russian trolls, ISIS, and others intent on influencing elections while hiding their actual identities. VICE signed them off as 'paid for by' members of Congress, VP Mike Pence, other well-known persons, and Hillary Clinton to see if the algorithms would flag and deny approval. Facebook failed spectacularly: the only post that got denied was the one 'by' Hillary Clinton. FB was contacted, apologized, said the effort was a work in progress, and that they would do better. A few weeks later, VICE did the same thing and got the same results: apologies and a promise to do better. I think that says it all - thank you NYT and VICE News for excellent investigative reporting. (Btw, VICE didn't actually run the posts, they just submitted them for approval to FB.)
14
Lean In. Get the dollars. Maybe write a book about it.
6
“This has been a tough time at Facebook and our entire management team has been focused on tackling the issues we face,”
Really, thanks, in part, to FB and your terrible, even specious management and greed, we have Donald Trump destroying the country, so if you think it's been a tough time for FB management -- at least you have money to avoid the really ugly and specious things this so-called President does day in and day out --so, go ahead, tackle the issues you face and take a good, long look in the mirror and understand the issues you are facing are of your making -- FB management, as well as Donald Trump are to blame for all of this.
9
the purdue pharma of social media
9
@Vince The Bhopal of social media.
1
If we really want to put a lid on the power of silicon valley, then we need to do away with lobbyist.
Our elected officials are bought and paid for by Fortune 500 companies, who are tapped to do their bidding in regards to laws and policies that effect their bottom line.
The most any one person or company should be able to donate to a campaign is $100.00. Taking kick backs or bribes should be a mandatory, enforceable crime, with 5 years in prison.
If you want to change the landscape of politics, rein in the power of the 1%, this is where you start. Otherwise, the Mark Zuckerberg's and Sheryl Sandberg's will continue to manipulate and deceive Americans for personal profit.
10
Bu, bu, bu, but...
The funny cat pictures! And third-cousin Jenny's new baby, who looks like all other babies! And puppies!
NY Times, alas! What about the *puppy pictures*?!?
Hounding this poor, innocent company with pesky details! Have you no consideration for the really important priorities in American life??
248
@Ambient Kestrel
Article [and you perhaps somewhat facetiously] fails to note the $1 Billion plus raised on/by Facebook users.
[see http://fortune.com/2018/11/14/facebook-users-1-billion-raised/?]
2
@Ambient Kestrel Good one!
5
One thing comes up in high relief: admittance and/or graduation from Harvard (or any other highly selective institution) does not make one an ethical, responsible human being. The frenzy to join the ranks of the elite only promises that we will see more of this abysmal “leadership” in the future. Enough with the ridiculously gilded ends justifying the grimy, morally bankrupt means.
14
my best advise- get off FB as soon as you can. There is no way you can trust your data isn't circulating around the globe after being sold to the highest bidder.
8
THE GILDED SWAMP. I feel a need to take a shower, check my wallet and close my Facebook account after reading that article. The employ of high-priced, well connected lobbyists and opposition research firms is evidence enough that Facebook is the Standard Oil of our times.
12
With great power comes great responsibility, which neither of these yahoos care about.
13
Wow, what a blistering collection of comments. Very few in defense of FB or other social media platforms that tout their contributions to society, but in fact lead to alienation and values destructively superficial.
All this "Screen Distraction' is wildly anti-social; just try to have a conversation without being preempted by personal messages rendered in smudges of dumb-downed language and reduced to symbols instead of words. As if sending a smiley face is any true contribution or expression.
All of this superficiality and momentary little blasts of endorphins are not worth trading for the control we cede to the Market whose only job is make money for it's share-holders.
--------------
NYTs readers are pretty "with it" folk and the reason there isn't more defense of FB is simple: it is now recognized as destructive and out of control.
And when everyone has physically walled themselves off from those around them, when compulsive screen checking is the primary thing they do all day, an entire Society is watching their screens instead of actual Life.
And so it is that greater society becomes utterly manipulatable. It must be true! They saw it on TV! Things have changed very little and only for the worse as we let these bangles and beads in the form of social media control us.
In my lifetime, and yours, this is the true nightmare of the Opening of Pandora's Box.
10
I’m sorry but I don’t think FB or YELP or any social media platform is necessarily responsible for its user’s posts. As the owner of the platform, you do what you think is best to grow your business.
What I do disagree with is “user anonymity”. We should be able to identify the person yelling “fire” in the theater.....
132
@Nick Benton
Most people would disagree. There is a level of responsibility; Facebook and others have chosen to deny it. They will act responsible only if forced to do so.
15
@Nick Benton So they're not responsible for containing spam or for people gaming their platform? Of course they are! Who else would be?
14
@Shillingfarmer
You cannot speak for most people. You can only speak for yourself. I happen to agree with Nick Benton. FB is the platform and it is not posting propaganda to itself. The users are the ones who need to be held accountable. You
5
I'm looking forward to Ms. Sandberg's new book, "Lean On"
3
Does anyone under 30 use FB? FB's days may be numbered but in the meantime they've bought up several other popular media sites. 6 of one, half dozen of the other. It is difficult to escape FB's grasp or far reaching range of their capabilities of sucking up all of your private/personal info. They data mine all over the place. It's cyber gold. Regulation of this industry is an after thought and untenable about now. There were opportunities to reign SV in but money talks and stopped that from happening. It is a financial and political coup. MZ and SS are traitors to the the US. And they know it.
7
Facebook is free! You don't have to pay to join! It's a way to connect the people of the world!
Here is the reality of all "free" social media: When you pay nothing for a product, YOU are the product.
11
Reading between the lines here, it seems that Facebook execs are frustrated because they can't just come out and say what every reasonable person knows: the Russian "influence" campaign was pathetic and had no effect on the election. Zuck/Sheryl have their hands tied because they can't just come out and say it. They have to play this cat-and-mouse game, trying to find a solution for a non-problem, while getting a pass on many real issues (data collection/privacy, freedom of speech, polarization and isolation, tax avoidance, wealth concentration, etc.).
Reminds me of the Google sexual harassment "scandal" of last week. Here's a company that has essentially monopolistic powers in the market, controls what you see when you search, de-platforms or marginalizes content it disagrees with, and pays taxes in the Netherlands. Instead of covering these tough issues, the NYTs and WashPo have front page stories on "walk-outs" over sexual harassment? That's a PR stunt in plain sight. Worse, it's everything wrong with neo-liberalism, staring us in the face, like a taunt.
5
@AJP, I disagree with you: Russia had a hideous effect on the election, but the means of influence was not confined to Facebook or any other single media platform. I do strongly believe that the world would be a better place without them, though.
4
@CP
The Russians or FB?
@AJP
You have a point about the sideshow! But forgot to mention that gmail is also under the Google main tent.
Once we cheap fools migrate there, the stakes are driven in further. Quixotically, I maintain a paid email provider, though lately it seems to be acting as if it's been merged, for all I know it also now belongs to Google.
We are all neutered of our independence by the technology-dependent and corporately corrupted world of American business. If there's any hope, it is in the imperfect fourth estate, which still relies on our collective outrage, and whatever few politicians still resist temptations and try to maintain some semblance of truth-telling integrity. Despite political realities.
Knowing what we know—who would ever use this service? I find it stunning that the average human would throw their diary into the hands of this who would profit off its content.
5
At Facebook delay and deflecting
Were employed in place of connecting
Several Russian attacks
To security cracks
That escaped Facebook’s detecting
2
This article unfortunately does even more than confirm the most (previously) outrageous claims about Facebook. Beyond shocking.
The fact that they didn't even know or care about what the Russians were doing, proves this company needs to be broken and Zucherberg and Sandberg need several years in the big house.
That as Jews, they would use anti-Semitism as a tool to attack their opponents, and even to attack another Jew, (George Soros, who has actually done, and continues to do, many good works), well those who know me would be shocked, I'm lost for words. It is difficult to comprehend how cynically they behave. They've forgotten even the last 100years of Jewish history. I'm appalled by the apparent rise of anti-semitism in recent years. Just maybe, if it is targeted on Zuckerberg and Sandberg, it could be understood. Beyond Jews, you two give humanity a bad name.
Sheryl and Mark; if the building you're in is on fire, and I could save you. I'll go against my every instinct to do what ever to save you, and instead, take a leaf from your playbook, that is, turn my back.
Thankyou for confirming my choice not to open a FB account!!
7
Delete Facebook.
3
“While these are hard problems we are working hard to ensure that people find our products useful and that we protect our community from bad actors.”
You are THE bad actors.
6
I have a sneaking suspicion the people here who say they deleted their Facebook accounts didn't really. Some of them don't actually don't know how, some of them are simply telling tales, and some of them did but went back when the jonesing got too intense.
"I'm clean." -- FB addict
2
You are probably projecting
1
Alex Stamos is the only person who came off positively in this article. The only person in the company’s high ranks who seemed to have cared to dig deeper only to be stopped by Her Lying Majesty Sandberg and Robotic Stalin Marc. What the article doesn’t delve into is how much Zuckerberg knew about Cambridge Analytica and hate speech, since user profiling and manipulation is at the core of Facebook’s M.O.
4
FB is not your friend.
6
Facebook never appealed to me, and now I can see why. I know a lot of people who spend a huge amount of time on it. No thanks. For a lot of them, it's "all about me". Again, no thanks.
When Hillary Clinton lost the last election, one of her immediate comments was "Facebook has a lot to answer for.". She was right. There's not enough in this article about how people get a lot of their news from Facebook, and how much professional looking, fraudulent news was on it.
A key reason for this was a legal loophole making Facebook free of any implications for broadcasting complete rubbish. The PBS "Frontline" story on this detailed it very well.
Basically, Facebook is an accessory to the rise of Trump and international horror show we now find ourselves in. More importantly, with dictator wannabe Trump in power, the future of our democracy and freedom is at stake.
Thanks Mark.
7
let's see if I get this straight:
if a mobster calls up a hitman to setup a wack, the phone company can't be found an accessory to murder.
is that Facebook's position?
2
Greed.
Profit=America's sacred cow. Allowed to go anywhere and trample anything and never ever be stopped. The founders fought for fair taxes, not no taxes and NOT unadulterated greed.
Greed is corrupting almost everyone. We need to re-examine life in the face of greed. Surely life is more valuable than greed? Not according to FB or big pharma or our president. What about according to you? Time to dump GOP Jesus and do some real soul searching.
2
If you knew these people personally, you would not be surprised by their behavior.
4
To post a comment here I had to login using FaceBook, Google or email. Why in the world would anyone want to login everywhere using the same FaceBook login credential? Seriously, why?
And I haven't used FaceBook in years. My friends know how to reach me. I know how to find information that interests me. News Feed? Are we that intellectually lazy? Uncurious?
4
@Ronnie, for years I have refused to log into anything using Facebook but Facebook itself - purchases, comments, group registration, etc. If that's the only way in, I'll pass on the "opportunity." This article only confirms that this is the right course to follow.
2
The photos used in the article are terrific. Strong, provocative documentary images.
2
During the twentieth century, the petrochemical industry revolutionized the daily lives of American households, at the same time devastating the environment. Now we are addicted to the conveniences, and saddled with the costs of cleaning up superfund sites as the corporations that made them shrug and claim extraordinary hardship. Facebook and its ilk are the twenty-first century parallel to this. While their platform was embraced by millions, they also unleashed a new wave of high-tech pollution, and now are attempting to deflect the responsibility. It's the American way. If they were running a fair and honest enterprise, no politicians would need to be involved.
"If Facebook implicated Russia further, Mr. Kaplan said, Republicans would accuse the company of siding with Democrats." How about simply taking the side of truth?
5
Pretty obvious Facebook does not care about its users. My days on FB are numbered. Just developing alternate ways to stay in touch with those who I primarily use FB to communicate with - saving some photos & data - etc. and .... then good riddance.
6
@nestmaster
eMail
Telephone (what's that?)
Text!
Meeting in person!!
1
@Matthew
Snail mail!
1
Forget elections. Facebook, under the guise of “social connectedness ,” is selling everyone’s privacy to the highest corporate bidder- that’s how they make their money, and make money for those bidders. Deny them the $, then see how socially conscious they are.
10
Well done to the NY Times for this excellent and sobering reporting. While I appreciate Zuckerberg and Sandberg's obligation to their shareholders (they are comfortably in the top 6) to address criticism, this was, in the end, a shameful, slow motion cover-up. Am sure they wrestled with what to do and probably thought Hillary would win but alas......
254
Let’s all remove our Facebook account today in a statement together against Facebook and Silicon Valley that it is not ok to hide behind their curtain of lies to their customers and the public . Support my effort and others efforts by quitting Facebook by a click of support or just please delete your account so the companies can see we matter . I’m tired of trying to keep up with researching facebooks and other internet Silicon Valley companies lies - instead I’m taking the higher road of deleting my account today in hopes that others will follow today so that we will be heard and move onto a hike in the woods or donating more time with charities. As a a side note , as a mother with a 17 year old who is struggling to control his screen time except that with homework , the parents of the Silicon Valley execs and workers are learning the addictions of screen time and forbidding screen time of their children as they know the pain of addiction that will follow. Yesterday at a coffee house while standing in line for my drink I looked behind me and foreword and all 12 people were looking at their phones instead of possibly making a friendly eye contact to anyone like the old days . This saddened me and I would be open to anyone who has suggestions to change the world the other way . Thank you successful New York Times for more enlightening journalism .
13
So disappointing and so typical of the few who make it big in Silicon Valley; starting out with a great idea and quickly being corrupted by the money and power. I don't distrust government, I distrust big companies. As long as the almighty dollar is the single most important goal, there is no low too low to go.
14
A major miss is the real motive: the value of Sandberg’s stock options. Maybe a Billion dollars over how many years?
6