Re Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society

["DAVID FARBER" <dfarber () me com>]

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society
> Date: December 12, 2017 at 11:56:23 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
>
> Dave, and everyone:
>
> It's good to see a former Facebook executive confirming what I, as someone who has been involved in social media 
> since the days of BBSes and Usenet but only recently dipped my toe into Facebook to complete a specific project, am 
> already observing.
>
> Facebook, more so than other edge services, is particularly manipulative. It censors and filters news to suit its 
> corporate agendas; for example, when I presented an ISP's viewpoint on Internet regulation (which is counter to that 
> of Facebook, which favors Draconian government regulation and micromanagement of ISPs), it failed to show those 
> postings to users who had "friended" me... and even deleted many within minutes of my posting them! Its "Pavlovian 
> ping" - which sounded every time anyone posted to any comment thread in which I had shown an interest - attempted to 
> draw me back to the computer again and again and consume my time and attention. It took careful note of any 
> advertisement on which I dwelled or on which I clicked, attempted to track my other browsing around the Web, and then 
> delivered ads that were creepily targeted toward what it thought were my interests. It aggressively pursued, and 
> tried to draw out, personal information about me, despite the danger of identity theft that this posed.
>
> There is no doubt in my mind that platforms such as Facebook can, and do, manipulate people in profound ways, and 
> that it was used to do so during the most recent US election. But more scary still is the fact that Facebook - now 
> aware of how it was used to do this - has seized the reins and is seeking to manipulate its users itself.
>
> In the couple of months I have spent working with Facebook, it has demonstrated this manipulative power by censoring 
> me, others and the news; alienating impressionable acquaintances from me' and attempting to draw me in, in similar 
> fashion, to its electronic echo chamber.
>
> I'll be terminating the account I established on Facebook within a couple of weeks, at which time I will wipe out 
> everything I have posted there and will be glad to have done so. But I won't forget what I've seen there - or ignore 
> its power to manipulate and to keep people - especially the young - tied to their phones. It may be that we reach a 
> state similar to that predicted by George Orwell not via fixed "viewscreens," but rather via users' cell phone 
> screens.
>
> --Brett Glass




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