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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Hot Potato

Hot Potato

by @heymistermix.com|  May 5, 20219:59 am| 117 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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The headline is that the Facebook Oversight Board has upheld Trump’s suspension. But the details struck me kind of funny:

The Board has upheld Facebook’s decision on January 7, 2021, to restrict then-President Donald Trump’s access to posting content on his Facebook page and Instagram account.

However, it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension. Facebook’s normal penalties include removing the violating content, imposing a time-bound period of suspension, or permanently disabling the page and account.

The Board insists that Facebook review this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform. Facebook must complete its review of this matter within six months of the date of this decision. The Board also made policy recommendations for Facebook to implement in developing clear, necessary, and proportionate policies that promote public safety and respect freedom of expression.

In other words, Facebook punted it to the board, and the board shoved it right back in their face.

Of course, Zuckerberg just wants to just let Trump dangle indefinitely. On the one hand, Trump might run in 2024 and bring Facebook more “engagement”. On the other, if they let Trump back in now, while Democrats control Congress and the DoJ, they’re inviting anti-trust attention.

The only question left is how Zuck will weasel out of the demand by the Oversight Board to make a decision in 6 months, because that’s not a convenient timeframe. Trump starting his own blogspot page is going to make it even tougher for Zuck to continue kicking the can down the road, since it will inevitably be wall-to-wall “stop the steal”. That said, I have no doubt that that the asshole Zuck and his soulless valley bro minions will find a way to cut this baby in half.

Anyway, delete your account.

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Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    May 5, 2021 at 10:06 am

    Someone did an examination of the former guy’s blog:

    https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20210504/15571046733/trump-shows-why-he-doesnt-need-twitter-facebook-as-he-launches-his-own-twitter-like-microblog.shtml

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 5, 2021 at 10:09 am

    FB started when my daughter was an undergrad at an Ivy. Since I have an .edu email, I could have joined then, but she forbade it. I’m glad I never pursued that, and by now she has pretty much moved on as well.

  3. 3.

    Jerzy Russian

    May 5, 2021 at 10:15 am

    About 15 years ago, I set up a Facebook account.  Once on there, I never understood what I was supposed to do in practice.  After a few hours of semi-interesting things (this guy from high school was a bouncer at a gay bar?), I was finished and never went back.

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    May 5, 2021 at 10:20 am

    Best thing I ever did a few years ago was to swear off Facebook and all other social media cesspools.

    Donald Trump needs to go for a ride in the electric chair for instigating a riot that killed five people and injured dozens more.

  5. 5.

    Rob

    May 5, 2021 at 10:22 am

    I happy with the general decision (to keep the suspension in place) but concerned about the punting and what will come of that.

  6. 6.

    sdhays

    May 5, 2021 at 10:28 am

    I’ll be curious to see how popular TFG’s new blog is. How many of his fans are going to go to the extra steps to hook themselves up to his personal puke funnel for real-time vomit-shit? And without the platforms like FB and Twitter, will the media still be tempted to report on his tweet-diarrhea? I know they’re panicking with the drop off in obsessive news watching now that we have a competent, non-evil administration, but without the platforms amplifying him, will they be able to justify bringing him up?

  7. 7.

    Another Scott

    May 5, 2021 at 10:32 am

    Repost from downstairs: I wonder how long it will be until Z reverses this. He knows who his users/clickers are –

    The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:
    1. Ben Shapiro
    2. Ben Shapiro
    3. Ben Shapiro
    4. Franklin Graham
    5. The Pioneer Woman – Ree Drummond
    6. Ben Shapiro
    7. NPR
    8. Ben Shapiro
    9. ForAmerica
    10. Ben Shapiro

    — Facebook's Top 10 (@FacebooksTop10) May 3, 2021

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    May 5, 2021 at 10:33 am

    @sdhays:

    I’ll be curious to see how popular TFG’s new blog is.

    Top 10,000 for sure.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    May 5, 2021 at 10:34 am

    @Another Scott:

    Relatedly, …

    In case you haven't heard how Facebook became the Big Boy Ben News Network, start with the tweet below and go from there: https://t.co/e7a7YyJognhttps://t.co/pbbA3j8qpM

    — LOL??GOP (@LOLGOP) May 5, 2021

    The system is working as designed. And it’s always been this way with Z and the rest.

    Yet people are shocked, shocked…

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  10. 10.

    CaseyL

    May 5, 2021 at 10:43 am

    I was happy to delete my account about 2 (?) years ago.

    But what I’m finding is that more small businesses are using FB as their website. Sometimes I can see their FB pages, sometimes not. (Those annoying, constant, messages to open or create an account!)

    I’m not the slightest bit inclined to sign up again. Less and less, as FB becomes even more dependent on the neo-fascists for its hits. Fuck’em (TM efgoldman)!

  11. 11.

    Jeffro

    May 5, 2021 at 10:46 am

    Looks like McCarthy and Scalise are all in on Stefanik to replace Liz Cheney.  And Liz is about to go big/public with this fight.  GOOD.

    You put it off as long as you could (and then some), GQP.  But your long-awaited internal civil war is here.

  12. 12.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 5, 2021 at 10:46 am

    @Another Scott:

    That sounds….suspicious.

  13. 13.

    Ruckus

    May 5, 2021 at 10:48 am

    I left FB a long time ago. It was a way to get in touch with a lot of people I know around the country and the world. I didn’t say it was a nice or good way.

    And it really isn’t. And of course your account is never really gone. It’s just not visible nor active.

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    May 5, 2021 at 10:48 am

    So, TFG’s account situation will be settled in precisely one Friedman Unit? Sounds about right.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    May 5, 2021 at 10:49 am

    @Another Scott: Yep, Legum has been onto that game from the beginning. I’m not clear on what Facebook gains by allowing page networks to inflate Shapiro’s stats. Is it really just to avoid being accused of “canceling” Shapiro? There’s got to be more to it than that, like some symbiotic con. Maybe Facebook uses Shapiro & Co. to identify the most credulous marks in the universe so they can monetize that knowledge to peddle Gold Bond ads or something.

  16. 16.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 5, 2021 at 10:50 am

    @Jeffro:

    “Republicans in Disarray”

    Dear big corporate donors – are you certain you want to stick with this shitty party at all? Dems will take your money, listen to you and compromise reasonably on many issues of genuine importance and value to your business and industry as a whole. Seems to me, you’re better off with them.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    May 5, 2021 at 10:50 am

    @Ruckus:

    And it really isn’t. And of course your account is never really gone. It’s just not visible nor active.

    Hell, Facebook creates stealth accounts and tracks activities even for people who have never created a live account. Search on ‘shadow profiles’.

  18. 18.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    May 5, 2021 at 10:51 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    “….to peddle Gold Bond ads or something.”

    Gold Bond powder is the shit. Do not mock Gold Bond….

  19. 19.

    guachi

    May 5, 2021 at 10:52 am

    Ben Shapiro has a voice more irritating than me and, even though I agree with myself, I wouldn’t want to have show where people had to listen to me.

  20. 20.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 10:52 am

    Defund Facebook.

  21. 21.

    To be Frank

    May 5, 2021 at 10:53 am

    • User Content that, in the sole judgment of Save America, is objectionable

    So free speech-ee

  22. 22.

    fancycwabs

    May 5, 2021 at 10:54 am

    I get it–nobody in Facebook or their oversight committee wants to spend the rest of their life in hiding for doing the right thing and permabanning the leader of a deranged, violent cult.

    The right way to do it is to ban all the cult members as well, from Mike Pence and Ted Cruz to Zip Tie Guy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lin Wood.

  23. 23.

    Ksmiami

    May 5, 2021 at 10:59 am

    @Mike in NC: including what may be a fatal injury to our Democracy… one extra large chair..,

  24. 24.

    sdhays

    May 5, 2021 at 11:02 am

    @Jeffro: I hope it turns out to be an internal civil war, but the considering how lopsided things look right now, it’s looking more like a semi-public spat. It really depends on how big a gun Cheney can bring to this fight, and so far, I’m not seeing it.

    Really hoping to be wrong.

  25. 25.

    dnfree

    May 5, 2021 at 11:05 am

    Feel free to trash me, but I joined Facebook when my eldest grandchild was in first grade because  that’s where the pictures were posted.  Now that child is graduating from high school. When I joined, I added family members and high school classmates mostly. Some of the high school classmates unfriended me in the Trump era and others I got to know much better than I did in high school. I’ve gotten to see what’s going on with nieces and nephews and cousins who live far away.  I’ve gotten to see the posts of my children and grandchildren and pets and get a glimpse of their everyday lives and friends.  I see posts from historian Heather Cox Richardson and my state and national representatives.  I don’t see any posts from Ben Shapiro.  I would be giving up a lot if I quit Facebook, and I don’t see a viable alternative. (And I have fewer than 100 “friends”, almost all of whom I know in real life.)

  26. 26.

    guachi

    May 5, 2021 at 11:06 am

    I think liberals should play this up and talk about “Conservative Cancel Culture” and how conservatives can’t handle differing opinions so they deplatform people they disagree with.

  27. 27.

    JMG

    May 5, 2021 at 11:07 am

    The thing is, even though the bloc of Republicans represented by Cheney and Romney is indeed very small, the party can’t afford to lose any of its blocs. It’s the party stuck at 46-47 percent. Shrink that even to 44-45 percent and all of a sudden it’s in big trouble.

  28. 28.

    Raven

    May 5, 2021 at 11:10 am

    I use it all the time and am not deleting shit.

  29. 29.

    Raven

    May 5, 2021 at 11:12 am

    @dnfree: the difference between you and I is that I’m not explaining shit to these howlin jackals.

  30. 30.

    germy

    May 5, 2021 at 11:12 am

    @dnfree:

    I have no intention of trashing you.  It just seems that facebook did a good job of convincing people it was essential.

    I mean, you need a computer and internet or a phone to access facebook.  You already have what you need, if you want to see photos.  Family could email or text them to you. You already have your friends, but facebook has somehow made itself the “essential” middleman.

  31. 31.

    germy

    May 5, 2021 at 11:13 am

    @Raven:

    Ahh woooo!

     

    How’s your back?  I remember you said you had a mowing accident.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    May 5, 2021 at 11:20 am

    @sdhays:  MAGA people can read the dumpster’s blog and copy it in piece in twitter, and then it’s all over twitter.  This is not going to end well.

  33. 33.

    gene108

    May 5, 2021 at 11:21 am

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I don’t think big corporate donors are looking for compromise, unless they are in a no win situation at which time they will deem it fit to entertain the Democrats suggestions on trifles like environmental regulations, worker safety, privacy, etc.

    ***********************

    I think my mom is using Facebook about as well as possible. She only connects with people she knows IRL. A couple are Trump fans, but I think she’s blocked them or told them not to forward her political posts.

    She just gets updates on people’s kids, grandkids, etc.

  34. 34.

    dnfree

    May 5, 2021 at 11:23 am

    @germy: you say that, but I see my cousin in California once every three years, at best.  She’s not going to email me photos or posts.  We don’t even exchange Christmas cards. She lost her husband after a long battle with brain cancer this past year, and I was able to follow that and send caring messages that I would not have otherwise. I barely knew her children before Facebook and now I do.

    It turns out that some of my high school friends had difficult childhoods, and they’ve discussed that on Facebook. That wouldn’t have happened otherwise.  Some classmates I admired and I have become  closer or better-connected.

    I experience some connection with these people every day, all with one click.  I wouldn’t be emailing all of them, or visiting their individual blogs or whatever.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    May 5, 2021 at 11:23 am

    @+’OP[]\KHXC;K;’:

    Please try using a different user name.  That name and that comment causes WordPress to throw you right into SPAM.

  36. 36.

    VeniceRiley

    May 5, 2021 at 11:24 am

    Ben Shapiro? The dry wife guy?
    I never expect anything from any board beyond typical management weasel statements.
    Oh, I met my fiance in a FB group; and so it changed my life for the better.
    But, true story, most of my new friends I met on Twitter over a decade ago when it was still fun.

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    May 5, 2021 at 11:24 am

    @dnfree: I deleted my page several years ago. It was an easy decision for me because I rarely used it anyway. It’s a much tougher decision for people who really do use it to stay connected.

    But it’s important to note that even if you’re not getting poisoned by Shapiro’s drivel, a lot of people are. The company that provides the platform you use for good purposes knowingly — eagerly! — allows bad actors (Cambridge Analytica, etc.) to subvert democracies around the world and pump societies with dangerous nonsense that threatens all of us. And they do it to add to their already enormous and obscene profits.

    Your decision on your Facebook account is your business, and I’m not here to judge you for it. We all make trade-offs. The important thing is to understand the implications and act accordingly, which might mean supporting efforts to rein Facebook in, even if you don’t feel like you can delete your account.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    May 5, 2021 at 11:25 am

    @Raven:

    This is a version of how we NYT subscribers start explaining why we haven’t quit.

    I never got on Facebook but I’m not telling anyone else what to do.

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    May 5, 2021 at 11:25 am

    @WaterGirl:

    Won’t be the same if it isn’t coming from POTUS. At least as far as the MSM is concerned.

  40. 40.

    evodevo

    May 5, 2021 at 11:26 am

    @dnfree: ​
      Yep…this…I would never know what’s going on with the grandkids if I didn’t do Facebook…wouldn’t ever see any photos either….

  41. 41.

    Zelma

    May 5, 2021 at 11:26 am

    I joined Facebook when Esquire put Charlie Pierce’s comments on the site.  I’d like to quit but I get a lot of local information that way and also training classes.  And some family news.  I don’t really get right-wing political stuff; I unfollowed anyone who sent me Trumpish crap.  Facebook is kind of what the user makes of it.

  42. 42.

    raven

    May 5, 2021 at 11:27 am

    @germy:  It actually resulted in a rib injury, it’s still tender but it’s better, thanks. I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon in a couple hours to discuss my “tethered spinal cord”. I’ve mentioned it a few times because I usually get interesting feedback here but nothing on this. I met my GP Monday and she NEVER heard of it so that probably explains why no one here chimed in!

  43. 43.

    karen marie

    May 5, 2021 at 11:28 am

    @Ruckus: No, you can delete it. I did. You can download your content as part of the quick process, and the account is indeed gone.

    It can have knock-on effect though. When I deleted mine, it also deleted all content I’d created for a shared recipe page. Bit of a sad for the rest of the group because I’d set up its organization. When I deleted my account, it all disappeared.

  44. 44.

    A Ghost to Most

    May 5, 2021 at 11:30 am

    People continue to focus on the supply of christian fascist propaganda. They made the same mistake with the “Drug War”. They’re the dealers, not the junkies.

    Reduce the production of christian supremacists, and demand will fall.

  45. 45.

    raven

    May 5, 2021 at 11:31 am

    I bet we’ve reunited 30 lost pets with FB this year. Yea, we could have written chain letters and posted them around the neighborhood.

  46. 46.

    Ned F.

    May 5, 2021 at 11:32 am

    I would have been seriously pissed if FB reinstated Blowhards account. About two weeks ago, my usually inactive FB account was hacked overnight and I didn’t find the warning messages till morning.  When I tried to recover my account, there was no record of my email address or linked phone number. I could not get in, totally inaccessible.  I never post, just keep the account to keep track of family spread across the country and an occasional heads up about bands I like.  I haven’t interacted with it for years.  Anyway, my account was disabled for violation of policy, and will not be reinstated.  There is  no redress, no appeal, and on top of that, they know I was hacked.   Shame.

  47. 47.

    dnfree

    May 5, 2021 at 11:32 am

    @Betty Cracker: agreed.  I’m careful whom I “friend”, I don’t “like” business pages promiscuously, and I try to be civil in my interactions with people.  (Well, except that one guy who uses his wife’s Facebook page to rant about socialism and Bernie and AOC). But I do support some better way of monitoring what’s acceptable speech on social media in terms of being, you know, factual.  I purposely didn’t join Twitter because I couldn’t afford another time sink, so I appreciate the posts here that keep me informed.

  48. 48.

    catclub

    May 5, 2021 at 11:39 am

    @sdhays:

    It really depends on how big a gun Cheney can bring to this fight, and so far, I’m not seeing it.

    Really hoping to be wrong.

     

    I have to agree.  But,… get 10% of former republicans refusing to vote for the traitors and that makes a huge impact on national elections.

  49. 49.

    mrmoshpotato

    May 5, 2021 at 11:39 am

    ? Let me know when he’s dead, and buried next to Ronnie.  (Will Mitch die first?  Line ’em up for the pissing.)

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    May 5, 2021 at 11:39 am

    @zhena gogolia: I think the mainstream media will run right for the new dumpster fire blog and will publicize it.  Not quite as easy as retweeting and posting a reply, but it’s a simple copy & paste.

  51. 51.

    gene108

    May 5, 2021 at 11:40 am

    @WaterGirl:

    MAGA people do not have what was Trump’s following on Twitter.

    It won’t be good, but it’s not as bad as Trump himself tweeting.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 5, 2021 at 11:40 am

    when I saw the six month punt I thought that it was one more case of people (along with Melania, the Kushners, Fredo and Kim, Gummo and Mrs Gummo, McCarthy, all the 2024 GOP hopefuls…)  just hoping that the actuarial probabilities of an obese 75 YO junk food addict with a volcanic temper who thinks exercise shortens your life will pay off

  53. 53.

    catclub

    May 5, 2021 at 11:41 am

    @dnfree: But I do support some better way of monitoring what’s acceptable speech on social media in terms of being, you know, factual.

     

    ummmm, the publishing industry has something called fiction.  It is not [yet] illegal. And don’t ask how ‘factual’ some memoirs are.

  54. 54.

    germy

    May 5, 2021 at 11:44 am

    @dnfree:   (Well, except that one guy who uses his wife’s Facebook page to rant about socialism and Bernie and AOC).

    I don’t need facebook for that.  I can get that from some commenters here.

  55. 55.

    sdhays

    May 5, 2021 at 11:46 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good point. I don’t think McDonald’s is going to (finally!) take its toll on him that soon, but legal troubles just might. Things are certainly starting to “get real” for his “lawyer”.

  56. 56.

    sdhays

    May 5, 2021 at 11:47 am

    @germy: It is, after all, a full-service blog.

  57. 57.

    laura

    May 5, 2021 at 11:50 am

    I chose privacy – and got a ton of pushback from family and friends. Social media is not for me. Have I occasionally lurked over a friends shoulder to see some stuff? You bet. I just take offense at being the product. YMMV.

    Funny old world.

  58. 58.

    WaterGirl

    May 5, 2021 at 11:52 am

    @gene108: Couldn’t T**** just pick one person to post his stuff from his blog?  Or couldn’t someone end up as the defect conduit for getting his stuff to Twitter?

    I would think so.  But I hope you are right.

  59. 59.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    May 5, 2021 at 11:53 am

    @Betty Cracker: But it’s important to note that even if you’re not getting poisoned by Shapiro’s drivel, a lot of people are.

    I don’t know, I would think a Shapiro fan would have to be pretty far gone to begin with. And isn’t Shapiro first an foremost a Christian Dominionist or something reich wing Christany?

  60. 60.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    @laura:

    I just take offense at being the product. YMMV.

    Do you use Google? Any “free” e-mail account?

  61. 61.

    randy khan

    May 5, 2021 at 11:54 am

    I’m pretty sure Facebook will keep kicking the can on Trump as long as possible, as there is no good end result from a business perspective.  (But not to worry, the Florida anti-deplatforming law will bring Trump back.  (Ha ha ha ha ha ha.))

    For me, personally, Facebook is pretty useful as a way to keep in touch with far-flung connections from home, school, and other endeavors.  As a collector of the kind of art that doesn’t show up in big auctions or at Art Basel, it’s also a really good way to follow artists whose work we have or are interested in seeing.  (And we’ve bought things after artists put items in their social media feeds, so it seems to work for them, too.)

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 5, 2021 at 11:56 am

    @sdhays: George Conway (yeah, yeah, I know) said on Molly Jong-Fast’s podcast that he think Dominion and their lawyers are going to go after trump and Fox/the Murdochs directly at some point, when they’re done collecting apologies from the smaller fish

  63. 63.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 5, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m not on social media because while there is a relative handful of people I wish I were more in touch with, I really, really don’t want to be in touch with a matrix of semi-forgotten mutual acquaintances, some of whom I really don’t like, including a few first cousins and a couple of aunts. But I’m under no illusions about privacy. I figure just Balloon Juice and Amazon are exposing me to Zuck, Putin, Tim Apple, the Queen of England (yeah, she’s watching you, don’t kid yourselves), Bill and Melinda, Tony Soprano, Warren Buffett….

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    May 5, 2021 at 12:02 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Thanks for that back-story. I still don’t understand why Shapiro was chosen to get the big push. Is there some connection between him and Zuckerberg?

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 5, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    @raven:

    I guess that’s worth the destruction of democracy and continued radicalization through the puke funnel by Ben Shapiro?

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    May 5, 2021 at 12:03 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The way the algorithms work is to push ever-more extreme content at people to keep them “engaged,” and that’s how they get radicalized. Shapiro is probably a gateway to even worse shit, like Qanon.

  67. 67.

    sdhays

    May 5, 2021 at 12:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can’t wait for discovery in the Dominion lawsuit against Fox. I wouldn’t be shocked if they settle for $1 billion just to avoid that.

  68. 68.

    Matt McIrvin

    May 5, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    The survival of democracy in the United States may literally hang on whether Trump’s social-media accounts get restored. I’m more worried about Twitter because mainstream-media types unaccountably treated Trump’s eructations on Twitter as “breaking news” in a way they wouldn’t elsewhere.

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 12:10 pm

    @dnfree: 

    Feel free to trash me…

    I don’t want to trash you. But I do want you to reconsider.

    I don’t see a viable alternative.

    Because the Facebook Borg killed them all (at least in the social media model).

    There are other ways to keep in touch with people. There have been for decades. Part of the evil that Facebook has become is the way they have convinced too many that Facebook is the only way people can connect, and therefore everyone must be there. It’s pure social engineering done by privateers. Break the spell.

  70. 70.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 12:12 pm

    @germy:

    but facebook has somehow made itself the “essential” middleman.

    Ding ding ding ding ding ding Is correct!

  71. 71.

    dnfree

    May 5, 2021 at 12:16 pm

    @different-church-lady: I am not a good telephoner.  I hate even calling for doctor appointments. I’m a marginally better emailer, but not by a huge margin. I’m mostly an introvert but I care about other people.  For now, and for the past 11 years, Facebook has been the most convenient and low-friction way to be connected. I am aware of the significant drawbacks, but there are significant advantages as well.

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 5, 2021 at 12:17 pm

    @raven:

    No offense, it’s just FB is very dangerous because it radicalizes people

  73. 73.

    Quiltingfool

    May 5, 2021 at 12:19 pm

    @dnfree: I also have a FB account…I don’t have many friends on it and I mainly use it to post my quilt pictures on a group site that is very strictly moderated.  Also, I belong  to a group that posts cat AND quilt photos, win-win.  I also have 2 rules – (1) I will not follow any family member or friend who posts GQP crap – still on my friend list, but I don’t have to see that garbage and (2) any family member or friend who airs family “dirty laundry” is permanently deleted.

    I believe people post things on FB and Twitter that they would never dare to say face to face.  Me?  If I won’t say it to your face, I sure as hell won’t post it on FB.

  74. 74.

    BruceFromOhio

    May 5, 2021 at 12:20 pm

    @dnfree: ​@Raven: ​

    MrsFromOhio does careful curation, and swears by it. No wayward Shapiro links (or clicks) in her feed.

    I’m in the other camp. Dipped a toe long ago, never returned. Got quite the chuckle out of this op-ed in USA Today of all places. No matter what anyone does, someone is (fill in the blank)

    ETA: @Raven: This got me laughing, thanks.

  75. 75.

    Amir Khalid

    May 5, 2021 at 12:21 pm

    @WaterGirl:
    After Twitter banned TFG on 6th January, they also banned a number of people for being his Twitter proxies. Do they not do that any more?

  76. 76.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 12:25 pm

    @dnfree: Again, not trying to beat you up. But if “low friction” is the benefit against all the significant negatives, then I respectfully ask what the actual depth of those “connections” is.

    It’s one of the things that has always disturbed me about the FB model: it creates the illusion of connection by allowing people to “interact”, yet remain at distance. It encourages a kind of mutual digital voyeurism. People don’t engage in each others lives, they just witness them. True, meaningful connectivity gets hollowed out.

    The “ease” is empty calories.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 5, 2021 at 12:27 pm

    Tim Young @TimRunsHisMouth 58m
    If you listen closely, you can hear millions of conservatives deleting their facebook accounts in the distance. #DeleteFacebook

    the hashtag is trending, no idea to what extent it’s left or right primarily. Tim Young is a “comedian” who used to write for the Washington Times

  78. 78.

    WaterGirl

    May 5, 2021 at 12:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I remember that, too.  Have not heard anything like that recently, but does that mean the people have stopped doing it or that Twitter has stopped paying attention?

  79. 79.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He says that like it’s a bad thing.

  80. 80.

    Johnnybuck

    May 5, 2021 at 12:28 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): No offense, but I’d say the vast majority of users are not ‘radicalized” by using facebook.

  81. 81.

    Johnnybuck

    May 5, 2021 at 12:30 pm

    @different-church-lady: Then, you know, maybe stop beating the dead horse. you’re entitled to your opinion, nothing more.

  82. 82.

    MisterForkbeard

    May 5, 2021 at 12:38 pm

    @Johnnybuck: Depends? Most of the conservatives I know are in a real echo chamber there, but that’s the entire conservative social media experience and that’s where they want to be.

    I’ve seen a lot of movement from ‘rightwing but rational’ to ‘totally batshit insane’ and while facebook may not have been a direct cause it also didn’t help.

    If you ever go read /r/qanoncasualties on Reddit, this is where people talk about their family members or friends who have been radicalized. Two things come up over and over again: Youtube and Facebook. So the people most affected by this seem to believe FB has some responsibility.

  83. 83.

    TheflipPsyD

    May 5, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    @dnfree:  Count me in for the trashing as well.  I also have fewer than 100 friends on facebook — all real life friends and family, never see conservative/rwnj posts, and would not be able to be as informed about my kids’ schools and activities without facebook.  The PTOs and schools use facebook to communicate with parents.  As well as the robotics club, the soccer club, the flag football club and the softball league. If you are a parent of a kid, you are pretty much forced to be on facebook because that’s the place where information is posted. Some activities have tried to move to team Snap. I hate saying this, but that format is not as intuitive as facebook and as easy to navigate and since it is team specific, you cannot get general info.

    I am not a fan of zuckerburg at all, and have thought about getting off facebook multiple times throughout the years. But with kids, I would miss too much information from their schools and activities. From a sociopolitical standpoint, I hate being on it, but I also don’t see another format on the horizon any time too soon. I just try to use it for my benefit and limit what I put on it as much as possible.

  84. 84.

    raven

    May 5, 2021 at 12:43 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Why would it offend me? I don’t give a fuck because most people are morons either way. This conversation is about as interesting to me as whether or not juicers like football.

  85. 85.

    RSA

    May 5, 2021 at 12:44 pm

    One way to think about the popularity of Facebook is in terms of a network effect.

    I have an account that I use (with some reluctance because I don’t like Facebook as a company). It mainly keeps me connected with two separate groups of people who migrated from other social media Web sites that were shut down. I value my connections to those people, so it would be hard to give them up.

  86. 86.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 5, 2021 at 12:47 pm

    @Johnnybuck:

    But the point is that many are. And that matters in a country with close elections. We’re already seeing the consequences of this with the Insurrection and anti-vaxx BS

  87. 87.

    Johnnybuck

    May 5, 2021 at 12:47 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: Talk Radio? fox News? This shit didn’t start with facebook, but nobody is being hectored for still watching television, or listening to the radio.

  88. 88.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    May 5, 2021 at 12:47 pm

    @raven:

    Then why did you comment in the first place?

  89. 89.

    raven

    May 5, 2021 at 12:48 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): what do you care

  90. 90.

    Betty Cracker

    May 5, 2021 at 12:59 pm

    People have their own reasons for maintaining their personal Facebook accounts, and whatever, that’s their business. We all make moral trade-offs to get through the day. But the notion that Facebook has caused great societal harm (around the world) in its quest to monetize eyeballs isn’t just an opinion. It’s a well-documented fact.

  91. 91.

    Gravenstone

    May 5, 2021 at 1:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If you listen closely, you can hear millions tens of conservatives deleting their facebook accounts in the distance.

    Let’s be real here. They’re so addicted to the outrage machine, they would go into physical withdrawal without it.

  92. 92.

    geg6

    May 5, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    @Another Scott: ​
     

    Interestingly enough, I’m not so elitist that I don’t use FB. I do and it’s helped me keep up with friends and relatives in far flung places. It has also helped our local Dems organize and to hook up with other Dem organizations across the state and the country. It’s quite useful.

    And I have never once laid eyes on a single Ben Shapiro post. Not one single time.

    I find the snooty attitude toward (not you!) things you’ve never used and have no clue as to how to use every bit as much off-putting and condescending as I do those who claim to never watch tv. If you never watch tv, you really have no standing to criticize anything on it. If you never use FB and have no clue how it works, you really have no standing to criticize those who do or to act as if you are somehow better than those of us that do.
    I really, really hate that shit.

  93. 93.

    gvg

    May 5, 2021 at 1:15 pm

    @different-church-lady: ​
     I think you don’t understand the truly hermitish people. If it isn’t easy to connect in a standoffish way, we don’t. We find it more comfortable to be alone. The facebook use described doesn’t make social people less “really connected” by your standards, it makes them slightly connected instead of not connected at all.
    I say far more on this blog than I ever say in real life for instance. Far more, including friends and family and coworkers. I prefer not being that connected. Calling people on the phone takes an effort to me.
    I never got on facebook, partly because that sounded too social to me, but also because i thought they were kind of hinky sounding from the beginning, with constantly changing policies and changing peoples settings for them with no warning, plus I didn’t see how they made their money which a long ago 4th grade teacher said was a big warning flag.

  94. 94.

    frosty

    May 5, 2021 at 1:22 pm

    @Raven: I am on.FB as well and it is useful for keeping up with old friends and cousins. I don’t have a news feed* and I hate the unsolicited posts. I don’t see any alternatives for keeping in touch. I’d use them if I could. Recommendations?

    * except for one almost top-10,000 blog

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    May 5, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    @dmsilev:

    I never search for anything in any way having to do with fb. First, the less I have to do with it, the better, second I don’t trust the asshole who owns it in any way whatsoever.

  96. 96.

    geg6

    May 5, 2021 at 1:23 pm

    @raven: ​
    Yes, this too. Lost pets, adoptions, vet and pet spa recommendations. And for me, the students I’ve helped over the last 23 years who would never have updated me on their careers, loves and children like they do on FB. The idea that any of this would have been possible without FB or a forum like it is ridiculous.​

  97. 97.

    frosty

    May 5, 2021 at 1:31 pm

    @raven: Glad to hear rhe rib injury is getting better. Ms F had a spill on her bike 2 months ago and broke a wrist and two ribs. Wrist surgery went well and healed fairly rapidly. The ribs, though! She couldn’t do *anything* without pain and there’s nothing to do to immobilize them while they reknit. All healed now, thank dog.

  98. 98.

    geg6

    May 5, 2021 at 1:32 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): ​
     

    So does TV or books or music or live speeches or art. So do we shut all of those down, too?

    You can’t stop the world because stupid people are maybe going to be radicalized by others slightly less stupid and vastly more evil.

  99. 99.

    lowtechcyclist

    May 5, 2021 at 1:34 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Donald Trump needs to go for a ride in the electric chair for instigating a riot that killed five people and injured dozens more.

    I’d be perfectly satisfied for him to live out the rest of his life in Gitmo.  In which case I’d hope for him to live until he was 105 years old.

    I really want Gitmo repurposed for all the criminals of the Trump era, from Russiagate to the insurrection of January 6th.

    Once they’re all comfortably penned up there, I’d want the books to be opened on the Bush Administration torture program, prosecute those who tortured or ordered torture, right up the chain of command to The Decider, and squeeze them into Gitmo as well.

  100. 100.

    geg6

    May 5, 2021 at 1:41 pm

    @different-church-lady: ​
     
    And you know this, how exactly?

    And I’m here to call bullshit. Maybe that’s how it works for some, but it is certainly not true for me and the people and groups I am part of on FB. We make plans, set up informal get togethers, set up meetings and events…I’m the biggest introvert you’d ever want to meet and I have found myself being much more social and involved due to my friends, relatives and groups on FB. And I can’t begin to tell you how important it’s been during COVID. I don’t talk on the phone unless it’s to set up a time to meet up. I have always hated talking on the phone. I also don’t know the emails of the hundred or so friends I have on FB (most of whom are people I re-connected with after years apart), so I couldn’t have emailed them.

    I find the judgment of those who don’t like FB of people like me and dnfree more than a little disgusting. So much so, I think I’m going to take a break from BJ this afternoon. It’s irritating me more than anything I see on FB.

  101. 101.

    Betty Cracker

    May 5, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    @geg6: The algorithms serving up ever more extreme content do seem to be a new-ish problem. Here’s America’s Cassandra, Hillary Clinton, on that topic:

    “We are facing a mass addiction with the effective purveying of disinformation on social media,” Clinton said. “I don’t have one iota of sympathy for someone like her [Marjorie Taylor Greene], but the algorithms, we are now understanding more than ever we could have, truly are addictive. And whatever it is in our brains for people who go down those rabbit holes, and begin to inhabit this alternative reality, they are, in effect, made to believe.”

    Clinton now thinks that the creation and promotion of this alternative reality, enabled and incentivized by the tech platforms, is, as she put it, “the primary event of our time.”

    She’s been right about a lot, and maybe she’s right about this too. I don’t know what to do about it either, but I don’t think dismissing it as “stupid’s gonna stupid” is a great option because we’ve now seen how it can be manipulated to metastasize in really dangerous ways.

  102. 102.

    Another Scott

    May 5, 2021 at 1:51 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: Attackerman hasn’t forgotten.  His upcoming book should be good.

    This is a horror story about a man named Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn. The CIA tortured him to the point he became catatonic, as a test case for its torture program. But he wasn’t who they thought he was. 15 yrs ago they admitted it. He’s still in a cage https://t.co/J9aXaoGRm5

    — Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) May 3, 2021

    :-(

    There’s far too much that has not been addressed from the Bush years (and even earlier) – not to mention TFGs time…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  103. 103.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 2:04 pm

    @geg6:  Opinion, based on personal experience, observation of friends and associates, anecdotes, and new reports.

    I will repeat my opinion that one of the big problems with FB is they took over so much mindshare that they crowded out all other forms of accomplishing the same social interaction through other methods. And they did this deliberately.

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    May 5, 2021 at 2:07 pm

    @Johnnybuck: I wish the horse was dead.

  105. 105.

    artem1s

    May 5, 2021 at 2:22 pm

    @fancycwabs:

    The right way to do it is to ban all the cult members as well, from Mike Pence and Ted Cruz to Zip Tie Guy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lin Wood.

    this is why they are playing hot potato.  The Board has very rightly brought up the issue of a vague policy and when it is and isn’t applied.  In what world does the CEO think he can punt customer care calls up to the Board of Directors?  Dumb move Z.

    FB has been losing ad dollars and users for a while now.  Z made a decision back before the last election he wasn’t giving up the revenue from ads promoting BS and lies on behalf of TFG.  I suspect the stock price would take a significant hit if the policy were equally applied.  The Board was sending the message that Z better think twice about putting their stock value in jeopardy.  If the Directors wanted TFG’s account reinstated they would have done so.  Instead they sent the message that TFG’s account was the least of Z’s concerns and he’d best take care of the monitoring of content problem and quit trying to pass the buck onto someone else.

  106. 106.

    RSA

    May 5, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    @artem1s: It’s the Oversight Board, not Facebook’s Board of Directors. https://oversightboard.com/faq/

  107. 107.

    raven

    May 5, 2021 at 2:41 pm

    @frosty: It’s bullshit, you can do this with any business, state , region, whatever you want. It’s all fucked.

  108. 108.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 5, 2021 at 2:55 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Let me know when he’s dead, and buried next to Ronnie.

    Look, we already got Tricky Dick and Saint Ronnie planted out here, haven’t we suffered enough?

  109. 109.

    Barbara

    May 5, 2021 at 3:00 pm

    @fancycwabs: ​May they be the modern day equivalent of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, batting various technicalities backand forth, up down and around until someone dies.

  110. 110.

    planetjanet

    May 5, 2021 at 3:07 pm

    @Betty Cracker: ​  This is very true. As so many commenters have said, there are good things that they get from facebook. There are ample bad things as well. The solution to a complex problem is complex! It takes a greater depth of thinking than simply saying”delete my account”. Data privacy laws and better online harassment remedies and rethink what slander means in an online world may rein in the worst of it. So asking the jackalteriat what solutions would work best?​
    ​
    ​

  111. 111.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 5, 2021 at 3:30 pm

    @different-church-lady: There were other social networking platforms out there in the aughts, FB just did a better job at doing it and built a user base.  I use FB, mainly sharing photos with other photographers here in the hood.

    As far as Instagram, one of FB’s  other properties, it’s integral to the photography business now, almost like a business card.  If you meet another photographer, you trade IG accounts.

  112. 112.

    Ruckus

    May 5, 2021 at 3:57 pm

    @germy:

    it was easy to use fb and hear and see what was going on with people who you knew who didn’t live nearby. I had fb friends who lived on other continents. Then it got political and my feed would have idiots espousing bullshit and hate and all the time zuckerfuck was making big bucks selling any info he find or steal. It didn’t make the world a better place.

  113. 113.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 5, 2021 at 4:12 pm

    @Ruckus: Generally, I keep my politics to myself except for here.  It seems that “conservatives” have difficulty doing that on other platforms.

  114. 114.

    Ruckus

    May 5, 2021 at 4:12 pm

    @karen marie:

    It is no longer public. It is not deleted. fb keeps the information on it’s servers and you can log back in and it’s there. For some time. I have heard of people logging in months later and it is like they never left. At some point it likely will be deleted but it is not deleted when you say delete. The entire point of fb is to sell your information. Any gain by anyone other than zuckerfuck is purely coincidental. Especially the customer.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    May 5, 2021 at 4:15 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Conservatives are not normal, rational humans. But then that is rather obvious.

  116. 116.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    May 5, 2021 at 5:04 pm

    @Rob: 
    This was Facebook priming the pump for his eventual return. There’s nothing to celebrate here other than his return will be delayed a bit longer.

    Zuck loves the traffic the orange clown generates and that’s all that matters here.

  117. 117.

    WilliamC

    May 5, 2021 at 8:36 pm

    Funny that, in 2018, merely for discussing the situation of having a racist manager at a movie theater in Denver threaten me with arrest, the Alamo Drafthouse complained to fb, they banned me, and they haven’t let me back on yet. All of my email addresses that were associated with my old fb account can’t even access Instagram and they have not once revisited that decision.
    Oh and I didn’t once encourage the overthrow of America’s democracy.

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