It’s been four months since Facebook first started showing ads for the “Amazon Token” cryptocurrency scam. New pages and ads continue to pop up on Facebook and eventually get yanked. It’s an easy enough pattern to spot. So why can’t Facebook block them before they go live? First, facts. The Amazon Token advertised on Facebook…
Dr. Oz, the cardiothoracic surgeon and TV personality, is running for an open US Senate seat in Pennsylvania. He’d be one of the worst possible choices, because his “medical recommendations” are generally bullshit. Members of Congress need to discern the truth, not make it up. What’s wrong with Dr. Oz? Dr. Oz is a famous…
Twitter announced yesterday that it would allow people to remove unwanted photos or video of themselves. But there are lots of ill-defined exceptions, and the policy as a whole will be unwieldy to enforce. Analyzing the new policy changes Twitter already bans posting of people’s private information (“doxing”). Here’s the start of the blog post…
On fivethirtyeight.com, Kayleigh Rogers wrote a piece called “Facebook’s Algorithm Is Broken. We Collected Some Suggestions On How To Fix It.” Let’s try to figure out whether these suggestions would work. I’ll analyze each suggestion in the article from four perspectives: Would it solve Facebook’s major problems right now, specifically the viral spread of misinformation…
Today in the war on clichés, I take on “Put on your oxygen mask first.” Have you heard this before? You have? Then why would you write it as if it is some sort of new and revealing insight? Damn, I’m sick of reading this — and of deleting it in the things I edit….
The latest piece by Will Bunch, columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, features random phrases in bold. This is, I suppose, intended to make it more skimmable, but reading it is like eating a meal with rocks randomly strewn throughout. Whatever it is, I’d like to stop it right now. What happens when you read this?…
CNN surveyed 1,000 Americans about Facebook. What they found will embolden regulators and legislators. Here are the top-line results: 76% say Facebook makes society worse. This finding doesn’t vary much by gender, age, race, or among frequent Facebook users. Among Republicans, 82% feel this way. 53% support government regulation of Facebook. 49% say they know…
Under intense heat due to whistleblower leaks, Meta has agreed to remove ad targeting categories like health, race, and political affiliation from its properties Facebook and Instagram. Here’s why that will do very little about the algorithmic decisions that drive extremism, partisanship, and mental health issues on these social networks — and won’t even slow…
For a decade, Facebook (now known as Meta) used facial recognition to tag millions of photos with the identities of the people in them. Now the company says it’s ceasing the algorithm and deleting a billion face prints. Here’s why I don’t trust them. This is a fraught moment for Meta/Facebook, given the leaked documents…