Re Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: L Jean Camp <ljeanc () gmail com>
> Date: October 15, 2017 at 1:11:56 PM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: ip <ip () listbox com>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming
> Reply-To: ljeanc () gmail com
>
> Thank you for that article. 
>
> However, in our focus on Facebook we are failing to address the role of the traditional press. It was not only these 
> new social technologies but the reliable core press that amplified Russian efforts and destroyed factual discourse in 
> this election.
>
> Facebook is important but let us recognize that America's three-letter police force  tipped this election, working 
> with the tradition press.  
>
> Every American who read the NYTimes went to the polls believing that Hillary Clinton was corrupt and the focus of an 
> an active FBI investigation, and also believing that the FBI has reviewed all Russian contacts with Trump, that his 
> integrity on that issue was complete. 
>
> None of this would have worked or mattered without the NYTimes excessive focus on Clinton Has Scandal or their 
> approach to Comey. It is clear the FBI payed as much of a role in this election as Facebook. 
> https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-comey-letter-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/
>
> We need to talk about both of these things.
>
> We cannot hold the FBI or the NYTimes accountable if we choose to ignore this. Russia/Brexit worked because of the 
> Guardian and the Intercept. Trump/Russia worked because of the NYTimes and the FBI. I do not have a solution but we 
> MUST address the problem.
>
> Ignoring the critical role of the NYTimes as the reliable voice of truth means that we are unilaterally disarming.  
> Of course, the NYTimes was also critical in leading our country to a disastrous invasion...
>
> I released data bout Trump/Russia email server in October. In less than half an hour the NYTimes rolled out what was 
> clearly a previously prepared story, "Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia", killing the 
> story. 
>
> Normally I would not expose your list members to Wonkette, but I think only they have addressed the NYTimes with the 
> proper respect:
> https://wonkette.com/610577/new-york-times-may-have-cleared-trump-of-russian-collusion-a-tad-prematurely
>
>
>
> Prof. L. Jean Camp
> http://www.ljean.com
>
> Make a Difference 
> http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/govfel/congfel.asp
>
> > On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 1:39 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> > > Date: October 14, 2017 at 12:40:43 PM EDT
> > > To: nnsquad () nnsquad org
> > > Subject: [ NNSquad ] Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming
> > >
> > >
> > > Atlantic: What Facebook Did to American Democracy, and why it was so hard to see it coming
> > >
> > > https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/10/what-facebook-did/542502/
> > >
> > >    Facebook's draw is its ability to give you what you want. Like
> > >    a page, get more of that page's posts; like a story, get more
> > >    stories like that; interact with a person, get more of their
> > >    updates. The way Facebook determines the ranking of the News
> > >    Feed is the probability that you'll like, comment on, or share
> > >    a story. Shares are worth more than comments, which are both
> > >    worth more than likes, but in all cases, the more likely you
> > >    are to interact with a post, the higher up it will show in
> > >    your News Feed. Two thousand kinds of data (or "features" in
> > >    the industry parlance) get smelted in Facebook's
> > >    machine-learning system to make those predictions.
> >
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