Facebook: Whom Do We Trust?
November 15, 2021
Despite common sense, people continue to trust Facebook for news. Informed people realize that Facebook is not a reliable news source. Social media and communication experts are warning the US government about the dangers. Roll Call delves into the details in, “Facebook Can’t Be Trusted To Stop Spread Of Extremism, Experts Tell Senate.”
Social media and communication experts testified at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. They explained to the US Senate that social media platforms, especially Facebook, are incapable of containing the spread of violent, extremist content. Facebook personalization algorithms recommend extremist content and it becomes an addiction:
“Karen Kornbluh, who directs the Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, described how social media algorithms can quickly lure a user from innocuous political content to instructional videos for forming a militia. ‘This is a national security vulnerability,’ Kornbluh said, giving a small number of content producers the ability to exploit social media algorithms to gain enormous reach.‘Social media goes well beyond providing users tools to connect organically with others,’ she testified. ‘It pulls users into rabbit holes and empowers small numbers of extremist recruiters to engineer algorithmic radicalization.’”
Social media platform companies prioritize profit over societal well-being, because the extremist and polarizing content keeps users’ eyeballs glued to their screens. Experts want the US government to force social media platforms to share their algorithms so they can be studied. Facebook and its brethren argue their algorithms are proprietary technology and poses business risks if made public.
Social media companies know more their users than the public knows about the companies. The experts argue that social media platforms should be more transparent so users can understand how their views are distorted.
Whitney Grace, November 15, 2021
Crypto Currency and Social Media: Financial Heterocyclic Skeletons?
October 27, 2021
I read what seemed at first glance another rah rah crypto currency news report. The article is “NFTs Are Sinking Their Non-Fungible Claws in Even Deeper.” Here’s a snippet I underlined:
Just as crypto currencies are set to revolutionize the world of economics and finance, NFTs are going to rewrite how we think about digital goods.
This prose comes from the Reddit social media outfit’s job posting. Reddit is not alone. The Zen-manager wizard in charge of Twitter has perceived a similar signal from the future. The short message outfit wants to get into crypto.
Several observations:
- Existing oversight and financial controls are not tuned into the powerful interactions of social media, censorship/filtering, and digital currency and its artifacts
- Financial experts struggle to explain the Tesla phenomenon and strike me as in the dark about crypto currencies, NFTs, and financial reactions that are likely to be triggered among the young at heart and a taste for gambling
- Traditional financial firms spend big bucks to make sure their data streams are up to the demands of high frequency trading. Are these outfits ready for the 24×7 social media crypto currency reactions? My hunch is that the firms will generate words but the understanding thing may be on vacation.
Net net: Reddit and Twitter, two social media giants, are doing some experimenting with volatile financial chemicals. The reactions may be surprising.
Stephen E Arnold, October 27, 2021
TikTok: A Billion Users Like the Burger Joint
October 25, 2021
I just wanted o document this post from TikTok. “Thanks a Billion!” states:
More than 1 billion people around the world now come to TikTok every month to be entertained as they learn, laugh, or discover something new. We’re honored to be a home for our immensely diverse community of families, small businesses, and creators who transform into our favorite stars.
I noted this statement too:
TikTok has become a beloved part of life for people around the world because of the creativity and authenticity of our creators.
How valuable are TikTok users’ data?
Answer: Really valuable. Unregulated, non-US owned, and chugging along because billions don’t understand short, often weird videos. Mistake.
Stephen E Arnold, October 25, 2021
Digital Shadows Announces Social Monitor
October 19, 2021
Deep fakes? They are here and Digital Shadows has a service for those who live in fear of digital manipulation.
Bad actors often pose as corporations’ executives and other key personnel on social media. Sometimes the goal is to damage the target’s reputation, but more often it is to enact a phishing scheme. Either way, companies must put a stop to these efforts as soon as possible. We learn there is a new tool for that from, “Digital Shadows Launches SocialMonitor—a Key Defense Against Executive Impersonation on Social Media” posted at PR Newswire. The press release tells us:
“All social media platforms will take down fake accounts once alerted but keeping on top of the constant creation of fake profiles is a challenge. SocialMonitor overcomes these challenges by adding targeted human collection to SearchLight’s existing broad automated coverage. Digital Shadows customers simply need to register key staff members within the SearchLight portal. Thereafter, users will receive ‘Impersonating Employee Profile’ alerts which will be pre-vetted by its analyst team. This ensures that organizations only receive relevant notifications of concern. Russell Bentley at Digital Shadows comments: ‘Fake profiles on social media are rife and frequently used to spread disinformation or redirect users to scams or malware. Social media providers have taken steps such as providing a verified profile checkmark and removing fake accounts. However, there is often too long a window of opportunity before action can be taken. SocialMonitor provides organizations with a proactive defense so that offending profiles can be taken down quickly, protecting their customers and corporate reputation.’”
Note this is yet another consumer-facing app from Digital Shadows, the firm that appears to be leading the Dark Web indexing field. Curious readers can click here to learn more about SocialMonitor. Digital Shadows offers a suite of products to protect its clients from assorted cyber threats. Based in San Francisco, the company was founded in 2011.
Cynthia Murrell October 19, 2021
Facebook and the UK: About to Get Exciting
October 13, 2021
Remember Cambridge Analytica? I think that some in the UK do. There’s been some suspicion that the Brexit thing may have been shaded by some Cambridge Analytica magic, and that may ignite the modern equivalent of the Protestant-Catholic excitement of the 16th century. Not religion this time. Social media, Facebook style.
The increasingly commercial BBC or Beeb published “Facebook Whistleblower to Appear before UK Parliament.” The write up states:
Frances Haugen, the Facebook whistleblower who accuses the technology giant of putting profit ahead of safety, will give evidence to the UK Parliament later this month. Ms Haugen will appear before the Online Safety Bill committee on 25 October. It is examining a law to impose obligations on social-media companies to protect users, especially children.
Kids are a big deal, but I think the Brexit thing will makes some snorting sounds as well.
The write up states:
Damian Collins, who chairs the committee reviewing the draft legislation, said Ms Haugen’s information to date had “strengthened the case for an independent regulator with the power to audit and inspect the big tech companies”.
Will Facebook’s PR ace get a chance to explain Facebook? What about the Zuck?
Interesting because Ms. Haugen may be asked to do some sharing with EU regulators and the concerned officials in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand too.
Stephen E Arnold, October 13, 2021
Snap Cracks into Action
October 8, 2021
I read “Snap Is Taking Action to Address Fentanyl Dealing on Snapchat.” I learned:
In its blog post, Snapchat stresses that it’s taking more enforcement action against dealers on its platform. It says that enforcement rates have more than doubled in the first half of 2021, and that its systems have proactively detected 260 percent more material than it did previously. It says that nearly two-thirds of drug-related content is proactively discovered by its artificial intelligence systems and adds that it’s improved its response time to valid law enforcement requests by 85 percent year over year. Nevertheless, Snap admits it still has more work to do.
Yep, encouraging. Slow responses to government inquiries? Hey, the company is busy. A synthetic heroin market? Hey, who knew. More work to do? Heck, yes. Busy? Right.
Social media companies are interesting. Just busy.
Stephen E Arnold, October 8, 2021
Why Good Enough Is a Winner
October 5, 2021
Low fidelity is a thing. “Why Lo-Fi Music Draws Listeners In” explains:
“Lo-fi” means “low-fidelity,” a term for music where you can hear imperfections that would typically be considered errors in the recording process. On YouTube channels like ChillHop music or DreamyCow, however, those “mistakes” become an intentional part of the listening experience.
With fancy technology and bandwidth, what’s with lousy audio data? Pulling in is garden variety magnetism or attraction.
Here’s the answer for music:
“It’s because people respond to the beat.”
American Bandstand made this truism a standard. Mr. Clark would ask a teen, “Why do you like the song?”
The teen would say, “I like the beat.”
So triggering a response based on a pattern is a potent magnetic force. The force operates when a “smart” online service provides content which attracts attention. The familiar generates a desire for more like this. The flaws are irrelevant.
My hunch is that this magnetic force for the “beat” — responding to something familiar, patterned, and emotional — operates within effective social media.
Addictive? Yes. Controllable? Not easily.
Stephen E Arnold, October xxl, 2021
Social Media Engagement, Manipulation, and Bad Information
October 1, 2021
Researchers at Harvard’s NeimanLab have investigated the interactions between users and social media platforms. Writer Filippo Menczer shares some of the results in, “How ‘Engagement’ Makes You Vulnerable to Manipulation and Misinformation on Social Media.” Social media algorithms rely on the “wisdom of the crowds” to determine what users see. That concept helped our ancestors avoid danger—when faced with a fleeing throng, they ran first and asked questions later. However, there are several reasons this approach breaks down online. Menczer writes:
“The wisdom of the crowds fails because it is built on the false assumption that the crowd is made up of diverse, independent sources. There may be several reasons this is not the case. First, because of people’s tendency to associate with similar people, their online neighborhoods are not very diverse. The ease with which a social media user can unfriend those with whom they disagree pushes people into homogeneous communities, often referred to as echo chambers. Second, because many people’s friends are friends of each other, they influence each other. A famous experiment demonstrated that knowing what music your friends like affects your own stated preferences. Your social desire to conform distorts your independent judgment. Third, popularity signals can be gamed. Over the years, search engines have developed sophisticated techniques to counter so-called “link farms” and other schemes to manipulate search algorithms. Social media platforms, on the other hand, are just beginning to learn about their own vulnerabilities. People aiming to manipulate the information market have created fake accounts, like trolls and social bots, and organized fake networks. They have flooded the network to create the appearance that a conspiracy theory or a political candidate is popular, tricking both platform algorithms and people’s cognitive biases at once. They have even altered the structure of social networks to create illusions about majority opinions.”
See the link-packed article for more findings and details on the researchers’ approach, including their news literacy game called Fakey (click the link to play for yourself). The write-up concludes with a recommendation. Tech companies are currently playing a game of whack-a-mole against bad information, but they might make better progress by instead slowing down the spread of information on their platforms. As for users, we recommend vigilance—do not be taken in by the fake wisdom of the crowds.
Cynthia Murrell, October 1, 2021
Telegram and Criminal Usage: Who Knew?
September 27, 2021
Why would cyber criminals and regular run-of-the-mill criminals use a message app which was able to encrypt messages, enable “transactions,” and support file attachments? (A file attachment could be malware, an image one would not show a grade school class, or a video with semi-interesting behavior on display.)
“Telegram Has Seen a Sharp Rise in Cybercriminal Activities, Report Says” reveals this previously unknown factoid. Astounding. I learned:
Cybercriminals have been using Telegram for years, because it’s encrypted and easy to access. According to a recent investigation conducted by The Financial Times and cyber intelligence group Cyberint, though, there’s been “a 100 percent-plus rise in Telegram usage by cybercriminals” recently. And FT says the rise in criminal activity on the app came after users flocked to it following a change in WhatsApp’s privacy policy.
Yep, Facebook — again.
The write up did not make clear that:
- Telegram has reached some rapprochement with Russia’s telecommunications authority.
- Encryption at scale creates interesting challenges for law enforcement, intelligence, and regulatory entities
- Fosters a wide range of criminal activities; for example, recruiting individuals for illegal activities, dissemination of proscribed content, and coordinating distributed cyber crime actions.
Is there a solution? Not an easy one I fear.
Stephen E Arnold, September 27, 2021
Yay, A Facebook Friday
September 24, 2021
Three slightly intriguing factoids about the Zuckbook.
The first is a characterization of Facebook’s and the supreme leader’s time spirit:
“Shame, addiction, and dishonesty.”
Well, that’s a poster message for some innovator in the decorative arts. The original could be offered on Facebook Messenger and the cash transaction handled at night in a fast food joint’s parking lot. What could go wrong? And the source of this information? The work of the UX Collective and included in a write up with the title “Zuckerberg’s Zeitgeist: A Culture of Shame, Addiction, and Dishonesty.” What’s left out of the write up? How many UX Collective professionals have Facebook accounts? And what’s the method of remediation? A better interface. Okay. Deep.
The second is from “Facebook’s Incoming Chief Technology Officer Once Said People Being Cyberbullied to Suicide of Killed in Terror Attacks Organized on the Site Was a Price Worth Paying to Connect People.” The headline alleges that the new Facebook chief technology officer or C3PO robot emitted this statement. Another memorable phrase from the C2PO Facebooker is allegedly:
Maybe it costs a life by exposing someone to bullies. Maybe someone dies in a terrorist attack coordinated on our tools. And still we connect people.’
Snappy? Yep.
And, finally, today (September 24, 2021), that the estimable Salesforce luminary, Marc Benioff, who maybe said:
In regards to Facebook, they are not held accountable.
The write up “Tech Billionaire: Facebook Is What’s Wrong with America” contains an even more T shirtable slogan. I live in fear of Google’s duplication savvy smart software, but I want to be clear:
Facebook is what’s wrong with America
I like this statement whether from the humanoid running Salesforce or a thumbtyping PR expert with a degree in art history and a minor in business communications. Winner.
Net net: Facebook seems to be a font of news and inspiration. And, please, remember the fix: user interface changes. Yes.
Stephen E Arnold, September 24, 2021
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