Thread: Facebook employees request orders on stopping Trump

Published: 2 hours ago by DOUGLAS ERNST

Company tinkered with 1.9 million news feeds during 2012 presidential election

A technology website was given evidence of an internal Facebook poll where employees debated what role the company should play in stopping Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

“What responsibility does Facebook have to prevent President Trump in 2017?” employees asked CEO Mark Zuckerberg on March 4, Gizmodo reported Friday.

Gizmodo noted the seriousness of the charges given Facebook’s 1.04 billion users and its decision to tinker with 1.9 million news feeds during the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

“Most people don’t see Facebook as a media company – an outlet designed to inform us. It doesn’t look like a newspaper, magazine, or news website. But if Facebook decides to tamper with its algorithm – altering what we see – it’s akin to an editor deciding what to run big with on the front page, or what to take a stand on,” the website wrote. “The difference is that readers of traditional media (including the web) can educate themselves about a media company’s political leanings. Media outlets often publish op-eds and editorials, and have a history of how they treat particular stories. Not to mention that Facebook has the potential to reach vastly, vastly more readers than any given publication.”

The revelations come just days after Zuckerberg engaged in a veiled attack on Trump during a conference for developers called F8.

“I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as ‘others.’ I hear them calling for blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases even for cutting access to the Internet,” said Tuesday from San Francisco, California.

An activist group created by Zuckerberg called FWD.us also released an anti-Trump commercial April 1, WND reported. Actors criticized the Republican front-runner and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for promises to restore control along the U.S.-Mexico border and deport illegal immigrants.

Despite Zuckerberg’s public comments and the attack ad by FWD.us, a Facebook spokesman told the Hill on Friday that political bias at the company is a non-issue.

“We encourage any and all candidates, groups, and voters to use our platform to share their views on the election and debate the issues,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We as a company are neutral — we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”

The spokesperson would not confirm or deny the leaks given to Gizmodo.

Gizmodo went to say that Facebook could “gradually remove any pro-Trump stories or media off its site,” but then questioned whether surreptitiously doing so would be ethical.

“If Facebook was actively coordinating with the Sanders or Clinton campaign, and suppressing Donald Trump news, it would turn an independent expenditure (protected by the First Amendment) into a campaign contribution because it would be coordinated – and that could be restricted,” UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh told the website. “But if they’re just saying, ‘We don’t want Trump material on our site,’ they have every right to do that. It’s protected by the First Amendment.”

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Thursday showed Trump with 56 percent support among Republicans. The billionaire and Cruz are in a fierce battle to secure 1,237 delegates by the party’s convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in July.

Facebook employees request orders on stopping Trump

Despicable. Why would 61 Facebook employees hate Donald Trump? Are they not Americans? Do they not love our country and want to save it? Do they think their job depends on selling out our country and impoverishing our citizens? Do they support another candidate and want to exploit their employer to promote that candidate by shutting out another from Facebook?

Strange question to be on a list of Q&A's for their boss. Did the boss set up the questions? It sort of looks like it.

April 16, 2016 6:02 AM MST

Facebook claims it will not attempt to influence how people vote in 2016

Facebook now says that it will not use its products to influence how people vote in 2016, The Hill reported Friday. The statement came after Gizmodo reported that Facebook employees asked CEO Mark Zuckerberg if they have a "responsibility" to stop GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

“Voting is a core value of democracy and we believe that supporting civic participation is an important contribution we can make to the community," the company told Gizmodo. "We encourage any and all candidates, groups, and voters to use our platform to share their views on the election and debate the issues. We as a company are neutral – we have not and will not use our products in a way that attempts to influence how people vote.”

The statement, Gizmodo added, did not answer the primary question, which, Michael Nunez said, is whether Zuckerberg responded to the employee question, and what that response was. According to Gizmodo's original report, the question, which rated in the top five asked of Zuckerberg, read: “What responsibility does Facebook have to help prevent President Trump in 2017?”

Facebook, Gizmodo explained, could manipulate news feed algorithms to downplay or squash pro-Trump stories if it so desired. Moreover, Gizmodo added, Facebook "has no legal responsibility to give an unfiltered view of what’s happening on their network."

UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh agreed, telling Gizmodo the site "can promote or block any material that it wants." Volokh also said Facebook "has the same First Amendment right as the New York Times," meaning that the company can "completely block Trump if they want."

Concerns over the question asked by Facebook employees are quite valid. Last September, Zuckerberg was caught on an open microphone telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel he was working on ways to stifle negative stories about migrants in Europe, and the company announced an initiative to rid the European continent of language it doesn't like. The move prompted Breitbart.com to call Facebook the "world's most dangerous censor." Many have accusedthe social media giant of viewpoint discrimination in recent years.

Facebook, for example, banned Fox News’ Todd Starnes for a short period over a post supporting the NRA, Paula Deen and Jesus Christ. Last year, Facebook told one user that a profile picture promoting traditional marriage violates their community standards and one page owner said his page was yanked after Facebook claimed a picture of the Marine Corps emblem violated their nebulous standards.

In May 2014, Dave Gaubatz, co-author of “Muslim Mafia” and a specialist in counter-terrorism, said he was told that Muslim groups are working with Facebook to remove accounts of those critical of Islam. Shortly after that report was released, Facebook responded by falsely flagging that article and others mentioning Islam as “unsafe.” Some have been slapped for simply saying “thank you,” and one user was told her profile picture of a lilac tree was “pornographic.”

Zuckerberg, The Hill added, has long been a supporter of immigration reform, and took a shot at Trump during a recent speech at a developer's conference. He also said the U.S. should follow Germany's lead on immigration after that nation experienced a huge influx of migrants from the Middle East.

Gizmodo said it reached out to Facebook for comment prior to its original story. The company said it would respond with an official statement but never did, providing the statement to other outlets instead.

Facebook claims it will not attempt to influence how people vote in 2016 | Examiner.com

I hope that statement can be trusted. Not sure it can be at this point.

Why would 61 Facebook employees hate Donald Trump?

Peer pressure - all young geeks

Good answer, artist!