Facebook: Fooled by Ranking?
April 1, 2022
I sure hope the information in “A Facebook Bug Led to Increased Views of Harmful Content Over Six Months.” The subtitle is interesting too. “The social network touts downranking as a way to thwart problematic content, but what happens when that system breaks?”
The write up explains:
Instead of suppressing posts from repeat misinformation offenders that were reviewed by the company’s network of outside fact-checkers, the News Feed was instead giving the posts distribution, spiking views by as much as 30 percent globally.
Now let’s think about time. The article reports:
In 2018, CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained that downranking fights the impulse people have to inherently engage with “more sensationalist and provocative” content. “Our research suggests that no matter where we draw the lines for what is allowed, as a piece of content gets close to that line, people will engage with it more on average — even when they tell us afterwards they don’t like the content,” he wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
Why did this happen?
The answer may be that assumptions about the functionality of online systems must be verified by those who know the mechanisms used. Then the functions must be checked on a periodic business. The practice of slipstreaming changes may introduce malfunctions, which no one catches because no one is rewarded for slowing down the operation.
Based on my work for assorted reports and monographs, there are several other causes of a disconnect between what a high technology outfits and its systems actually do. Let me highlight what I call the Big Three:
- Explaining something that might be is different from delivering the reality of the system. Management wants to believe that code works, and not too many people want to be the person who says, “Yeah, this is what the system is actually doing?” Institutional momentum can crush certain types of behavior.
- The dependencies within complex software systems are not understood, particularly by recently hired outside experts, new hires, or — heaven help us — interns who are told to do X without meaningful checks, reviews, and fixes.
- An organization’s implicit policies keep feedback contained so the revenue continues to flow. Who gets promoted for screwing up ad sales? As a result, news releases, public statements, and sworn testimony operates in an adjacent but separate conceptual space from the mechanisms that generate live systems.
It has been my experience that when major problems are pointed out, reactions range from “What do you mean?” to a chuckled comment, “That’s just the way software works.”
What intrigues me is the larger question, “Is the revelation that Facebook smart software does not work as the company believed it did, the baseline for the company’s systems. On the other hand, the information could be an ill considered April Fool’s joke.
My hunch is that the article is not humor. Much of Facebook’s and Silicon Valley behavior does not tickly my funny bone. My prediction is that some US regulators and possibly Margrethe Vestager will take this information under advisement.
Stephen E Arnold, April 1, 2022
TikTok: Search and Advertising
March 29, 2022
If life were not tricky enough for Amazon, Facebook, and Google, excitement is racing down the information highway. I read “TikTok Search Ads Tool Is Being Tested Out.” I learned:
This week, the famous short video application began beta testing for TikTok search ads in search results, allowing marketers to reach the audience utilizing the keywords they use.
Yep, a test, complete with sponsored listings at the top of the search result page.
Will this have an impact on most adults over the age of 65? The answer in my opinion, “Is not right away, but down the road, oh, baby, yes.”
Let’s think about the Big Boys:
- Amazon gets many clicks from its product search. The Google once dominated this function, but the Bezos bulldozer has been grinding away.
- Facebook or as I like to call it “zuckbook.” The combined social empire of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp has quite a bit of product information. Don’t you follow Soph Mosca’s fashion snaps on Instagram? Will TikTok search offer a better experience with search, ads, and those nifty videos? Yep.
- And Google. Now the GOOG faces competition for product search ads from the China linked TikTok. How will the company respond? Publish a book on managing a diverse work force or put out a news release about quantum supremacy.
The write up explains that the ads, the search angle, and the experience is in beta. Will TikTok sell ads? Okay, let me think. Wow. Tough question. My answer, “Does President Gi take an interest in the Internet?”
The write up includes a link to a Twitter post which shows the beta format. You can view it at this link.
I want to point out that TikTok is a useful source of open source intelligence, captures information of interest to those who want to pinpoint susceptible individuals, and generates high value data about users interested in a specific type of content and the creators of that content.
Now TikTok will be on the agenda of meetings at three of the world’s most loved companies. Yep, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Who loves these outfits the most? Advertisers!
Stephen E Arnold, March 29, 2022
Zuck Pestered by Legal Flies in Canberra
March 18, 2022
My most interesting experience in Canberra was the flies. These knew I was giving a lecture at the International Chiefs of Police Conference. I met a number of dedicated and effective law enforcement professionals. But I remember the flies. These critters besieged me when I walked from the conference hotel to a small market. I know I bought a hat with a mesh curtain, but the flies were persistent.
Meta Facebook whatever is learning that there are dedicated and effective public servants in Australia. The Zuck is discovering what I conceptualize as lawyers with the stick-to-ativity of those Canberra flies.
“Australian Watchdog Sues Facebook-Owner Meta over Scam Advertisements” — from a trusted source no less — explains that the Australian competition watchdog is taking action for Zuck’s alleged advertising methods. What are these? Nothing new: Allegations of questionable conduct and in appropriate use of images. (Note: You may have to cough up personal data or pay to view the source article from those trust worthy folks.)
I am not sure how Meta’s leadership team is leaning in to this most recent challenge. One downstream consequence is that countries allied with Australia are likely to monitor the legal action. If it prevails, other countries may pursue similar actions.
Flies. Annoying.
Stephen E Arnold, March 18, 2022
TikTok and Facebook: Which is Othello? Which Is Iago?
March 16, 2022
I spotted a short item in Mashable, a very “real news” online service. The story is “Facebook Joins TikTok. Keep Your Enemies Close, We Guess.” The earth shaking news is that a me too outfit has obtained an account on another me too service. The write up states:
Facebook has just launched on TikTok, following in the footsteps of Instagram. In other words, Meta’s companies are really making a home for themselves on a competitor platform.
Okay. There is one quite important observation in the article. Here is my “quote” of the day:
Once again, the vortex of apps on apps is expanding.
The idea is that a service like TikTok is spawning applications which use TikTok as a platform. I think the idea is “meta”, no pun intended.
If one wants eyeballs, why not go where the eyeballs are?
Will there be a software app to allow a user to publish Facebook and Instagram content simultaneously to TikTok?
I can hardly wait. As that social media expert Willie of Stratford wrote:
Trifles light as air are to the jealous confirmations strong as proofs of holy writ.
Yep, jealousy and me-too’ism — a potent mixture.
Stephen E Arnold, March 16, 2022
Zuckbook Meta: A First of Note
March 15, 2022
I have been working for more than 50 years. I cannot recall an American company finding itself in legal tangles which transcend the routine “Let’s sue ‘em in Texas.”
First, Facebook and the lovable Googzilla find themselves the focus of fresh-as-a-daisy antitrust probes in the European Union and the ever-organized United Kingdom. You can read about this matter in “Jedi Blue Ad Deal between Google and Facebook Sparks New Antitrust Probes in EU and UK.”
Second, Facebook faces a legal action for collecting facial recognition data. This is a Texas action which adds to the baker’s dozen of US state attorneys general thinking hard about the social media company devoted to bringing people together. You can read about the facial recognition matter in “Texas Sues Meta for Collecting Facial Recognition Data.”
Now the third legal hassle. The exceptionally cheerful country called Russia wants its judicial system to slap “extremist” on the cheerful blue logo. The main idea is that those positive and prosperous Russian bureaucrats want to crackdown on the social media company. Facebook is permitting its data producers to use such phrases as “death to the Russian invaders.” A vacation in Sochi for the Zuck team may not be a very good idea in my opinion. You can read more in “Russia Asks Court to Label Facebook, Instagram as Extremist.”
So what special about this series of legal matters?
- US officials want to take action against Facebook
- UK officials want to take action against Facebook
- Russia (a country engaged in freeing Ukraine) wants to take action against Facebook.
That’s a trifecta for the Zuck. Few admitted to Harvard achieve such heights. Losing billions in a day and now funding legal eagles across half the globe — achievements to note.
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2022
Facebook: A Source of Reliable Information.
March 7, 2022
I believe everything I read online. Here’s a good example, which I pulled from the money hungry click addict BBC:
Facebook’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said that “soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information“.
I know I thing of Facebook as providing great content for eight and nine year olds. I know Facebook is capable of dogooderness. I know that Facebook is trying really hard to be as wonderful as possible.
But I don’t think of Facebook as a source of “reliable information.”
This extraordinary characterization of Facebook as a source of “reliable information” appears in the BBC article “Facebook Hits Out at Russia Blocking Its Platforms.” Imagine, a country engaged in a special action which terminates with extreme prejudice young and old having the unmitigated gall to block Zuckbook, er, Facebook.
The write up reports:
The statement says the block on Facebook platforms has been introduced “to prevent violations of the key principles of the free flow of information”.
This is a battle of euphemisms and New Speak. Quite a pair of global powers, Facebook and Russia.
I love that “reliable information” angle. I suppose that is what Dozhd TV channel and Ekho Moskvy radio executives said too.
Stephen E Arnold, March 7, 2022
A Meta Burger Surprise? Nope, Seems Like a Standard Operating Procedure
March 3, 2022
I love the thinking of high school science club managers. I think I have spotted an example clearly spelled out in “Facebook Misled Investors on Scope of Misinformation Problems, Whistleblower Says.” The key point seems to be that Meta (maybe meat) says one thing and does another — often with world class ineptitude.
The write up states:
Haugen’s new complaints say that while Facebook/Meta executives trumpeted their efforts to tamp down misinformation about climate change and COVID in earnings calls and elsewhere, internally, the company knew it was falling short.
The saying one thing and doing another approach is okay until a certain someone steps forward and says, “Not so fast.” That someone is Frances Haugen, the former Facebooker turned whistle blower. The secret is that Meta (maybe meat) could not chop liver.
I loved this approach to grilling the Meta outfit:
Using whistleblower complaints to address the misinformation problem is “creative,” Nathaniel Persily, a professor at Stanford Law School and director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, told The Washington Post. “You cannot pass a law in the US banning disinformation,” he said. “So what can you do? You can hold the platforms accountable to promises they make. Those promises could be made to users, to the government, to shareholders.” The strategy could work, given many investors’ appetites for focusing on environmental, social, and governance investment strategies (so-called ESG investors). For years, the SEC has told publicly traded companies that they need to make clear and accurate disclosures, Jane Norberg, a partner at Arnold & Porter who recently ran the SEC’s whistleblower program, told the Post. “If the company says one thing to investors but internal documents show that what they were saying is untrue, that could be something the SEC would look at,” she said.
Would the head Meta person pull a sophomoric stunt like obfuscate, fiddle with words, and prevaricate?
Yep, just like 14 years olds explaining the chemistry experiment was not intended to blow up the lab table.
Stephen E Arnold,March 3, 2022
Facebook: Irish Troubles
February 24, 2022
When I think of Ireland, here’s what comes to mind:
- A really weird street with jazzy murals and a penchant for violence
- Uplifting novels by Ken Bruen
- Potatoes
- The craic
After reading “Facebook Receives Bad News That Could Disrupt Its Business,” I am now thinking big money changing hands. The write up explains:
“We issued our decision [regarding trans border data] to Meta yesterday. And we have given them 28 days to come back to us with any comments they have. And at that stage we will prepare our draft decision and send our draft decision to our colleague data protection authorities in the EU and I expect that to happen in April,” Doyle [Irish Data Protection spokes person] said. The stakes are high: if the Meta is prohibited from transferring information, its activities in Europe will be very strongly affected.
Implications? Meat — sorry, I meant Meta, formerly the Zuckbook — has one more issue to ponder. Oscar Wilde noted:
“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”
Perhaps a VR headset will improve the Emerald Isle real world experience?
Stephen E Arnold, February 24, 2022
Facebook Now Has a Counterfeits Problem
February 24, 2022
Purveyors of counterfeit goods know how to adapt. Fake luxury products moved heavily online first through eBay then through Amazon. Now certain aspects of social media platforms seem to have enticed such vendors in another direction. Gadgets Now describes “How Facebook and Instagram May Have ‘Fake Shopping’ Problem.” The article reports:
“Facebook owner Meta Platforms is struggling to stop counterfeiters from pushing fake luxury goods from Gucci to Chanel across its social media apps, according to research and interviews, as the company barrels into ecommerce. Its platforms have emerged as hot spots for counterfeit offenders who exploit their range of social and private messaging tools to reach users, according to interviews with academics, industry groups and counterfeit investigators, who likened brands’ attempts at policing services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp as a game of ‘whack-a-mole. ‘Facebook and Instagram are the key marketplaces where counterfeit goods get sold to members of the public. It used to be eBay 10 years ago, and Amazon five years ago,’ said Benedict Hamilton, and managing director at Kroll, a private investigation company hired by brands hurt by counterfeiting and smuggling.”
The write-up cites a recent report (PDF) from Italian analytics firm Ghost Data that found over 26,000 active counterfeiter accounts on Facebook and more than 20,000 on Instagram (also Meta-owned) between June and October 2021. Meta has prioritized ecommerce as a way to counter revenue drains like changes to targeted ads and flat user growth. But now it must placate regulators over this related issue. We learn:
“Meta has joined ecommerce sites and online marketplaces in grappling with the sale of counterfeit goods. But unlike public listings on sites dedicated to shopping like eBay and Amazon.com, social platforms also provide offenders multiple channels to post in closed spaces, send private messages and use disappearing content like Instagram Stories, experts said.”
See the write-up for more on the fight against counterfeit merchandise. We wonder—will the emphasis on ecommerce will really pay off for Meta, or will it become another front for criticism? Perhaps both.
Cynthia Murrell, February 24, 2022
No Vacay in Tigray for Zuckbookers This Year
February 22, 2022
I am skeptical of accusations which arrive from outfits which may not be too fond of the Meta thing. “Facebook Lets Vigilantes in Ethiopia Incite Ethnic Killing” reports:
Analysis by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Observer found Facebook is still letting users post content inciting violence through hate and misinformation. This is despite being aware it helps directly fuel tensions, prompting claims of inaction and indifference against the social media giant. The investigation tracked down relatives who have linked Facebook posts to the killings of loved ones. One senior member of Ethiopia’s media accused the firm of “standing by and watching the country fall apart”.
This “standing by and watching the country fall apart” is interesting. My hunch is that Facebook is thinking about the metaverse. Does this mean Facebook’s management has its head in a VR headset or somewhere else? A meeting with lawyers? A conversation with an important stakeholder concerned about the billions spent on the Meta pivot? A chat with a former board member who moved toward a dating app?
Definitely nothing thinking about lunch in Tigray.
Stephen E Arnold, February 22, 2022
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