Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook should be broken up

[Renegade7]

3 hours ago, Llevron said:

I don’t see how that helps them people know what’s up now 

 

You should forward this post to Snyder...

[China]

Mark Zuckerberg May Be Personally Exposed in Facebook Privacy Lawsuit, Report Says

 

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be personally exposed to financial and other penalties if added to a lawsuit linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to a report.

 

Karl Racine, the attorney general for the District of Columbia, plans to add Zuckerberg to a consumer protection lawsuit filed in 2018, the New York Times reported Wednesday. It would be a significant move by a regulator to personally expose the CEO to any penalties associated with the outcome of the case.

 

Facebook, through lobbyists and lawyers, has previously fought back against attempts by the Federal Trade Commission to name him in previous privacy cases, and succeeded in keeping his name off a $5 billion FTC settlement in 2019, the Times said. Facebook could appeal Racine’s potential amendment naming Zuckerberg as a respondent.

 

The case before the court in D.C. is linked to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where a British consulting firm is alleged to have collected data on up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent, aiding political advertising efforts. Cambridge Analytica worked with the 2016 campaign of former President Donald Trump. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL1N2RG32J?il=0

 

Quote

WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. consumer watchdog is expected this week to query tech giants including Facebook, Amazon and Google on how they handle consumer financial data as part of a broader effort to boost consumer protections and financial sector competition, according to two people briefed on the matter.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) plans to send the companies a 55-page request for information about how they collect, use and market consumer financial data, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“The regulator’s questions will pay special attention to what it is firms are collecting, how they’re collecting it and what they’re using it for,” said one of the sources.

The CFPB declined to comment. Facebook Inc., Amazon Inc. and Alphabet Inc’s Google, which are not directly regulated by the CFPB, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The expected request for information follows the arrival of Rohit Chopra as director of the CFPB following his Senate confirmation last month. A former Democratic commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, he built a reputation as a consumer advocate who was frequently tough on big tech.

Democrats’ top policy priorities include boosting competition in the consumer finance sector by requiring financial companies to give consumers more control over their financial data -- a concept known as “open banking.”

Requiring banks and other financial firms to allow consumers to download data about account balances, payments, transactions and investments and share it with a third party, for example, could make it easier for consumers to switch providers.

Chopra is expected to move ahead with an open-banking rule first proposed by the agency under the former Trump administration in coming months.

 

[China]

Facebook has known it has a human trafficking problem for years. It still hasn't fully fixed it

 

Facebook has for years struggled to crack down on content related to what it calls domestic servitude: "a form of trafficking of people for the purpose of working inside private homes through the use of force, fraud, coercion or deception," according to internal Facebook documents reviewed by CNN.

 

The company has known about human traffickers using its platforms in this way since at least 2018, the documents show. It got so bad that in 2019, Apple (AAPL) threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram's access to the App Store, a platform the social media giant relies on to reach hundreds of millions of users each year. Internally, Facebook (FB) employees rushed to take down problematic content and make emergency policy changes avoid what they described as a "potentially severe" consequence for the business.

But while Facebook managed to assuage Apple's concerns at the time and avoid removal from the app store, issues persist. The stakes are significant: Facebook documents describe women trafficked in this way being subjected to physical and sexual abuse, being deprived of food and pay, and having their travel documents confiscated so they can't escape. Earlier this year, an internal Facebook report noted that "gaps still exist in our detection of on platform entities engaged in domestic servitude" and detailed how the company's platforms are used to recruit, buy and sell what Facebook's documents call "domestic servants."

Last week, using search terms listed in Facebook's internal research on the subject, CNN located active Instagram accounts purporting to offer domestic workers for sale, similar to accounts that Facebook researchers had flagged and removed. Facebook removed the accounts and posts after CNN asked about them, and spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed that they violated its policies.

"We prohibit human exploitation in no uncertain terms," Stone said. "We've been combatting human trafficking on our platform for many years and our goal remains to prevent anyone who seeks to exploit others from having a home on our platform."

CNN has reviewed internal Facebook documents included in disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen's legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of 17 US news organizations, including CNN. In addition to information about human trafficking content on Facebook's apps, the documents provide deep insights into the company's approach to misinformation and hate speech moderation, internal research on its newsfeed algorithm, communications related to the Capitol Riot and more.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Facebook staff complained for years about their lobbyists’ power

 

Facebook says it does not take the political winds of Washington into account when deciding what posts to take down or products to launch.

 

But a trove of internal documents shows that Facebook’s own employees are concerned that the company does just that — and that its Washington, D.C.-based policy office is deeply involved in these calls at a level not previously reported.

 

The lobbying and government relations shop, overseen by former Republican operative Joel Kaplan, regularly weighs in on speech-related issues, such as how to deal with prominent right-wing figures, misinformation, ads from former President Donald Trump and the aftermath of the George Floyd protests in June 2020, according to internal reports, posts from Facebook’s staff and interviews with former employees. The dynamic is so prevalent that employees argued internally that Facebook regularly ignored its own written policies to keep political figures happy, even overriding concerns about public safety.

 

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21090743-copy-of-copy-of-political-influence-content-policy_sanitized-compressed#document/p2/a2061294

 

Click on the links for more

[China]

U.S. Department of Justice Likely to File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple

 

The United States Department of Justice is accelerating its antitrust probe into Apple and there is increased likelihood that Apple will face an antitrust lawsuit, reports The Information.

 

Citing internal sources with knowledge of the investigation, The Information says there has been a "flurry" of activity as the DOJ has continued to question Apple, its customers, and its competitors about Apple's control over the iPhone. The DOJ sent new subpoenas to Apple's business partners over the summer, and has assigned more staff to the probe.

 

Specifics have yet to be nailed down, but The Information's sources believe that the investigation will lead to a lawsuit. Apple has been under investigation by the DOJ for two years now, and the probe is part of a broad investigation that has seen the Justice Department looking into Apple, Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

 

The DOJ has spoken with Apple critics that include Spotify, Match Group, Basecamp, and Tile, all companies unhappy with Apple's App Store policies and control.

 

Attorneys involved in the probe will eventually give the Department of Justice a recommendation on whether or not to file a lawsuit against Apple, but no formal recommendation has been made at this point in time, and there's still a possibility that no case will be filed as the investigation is ongoing.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[NoCalMike]

It's funny how both the left & right hate facebook/social media at large these days, but for different reasons.  The Dems at least sort of have an argument when it comes to monopolies/anti-trust laws or at least former versions of them that they can make a case for their position.  The right however, is just totally going against their own narrative of private companies having the right to run their business how they see fit.

 

It would appear if the right abandoned their nonsense arguments and joined in how the left is attacking these companies, we would see actual movement on this, however I am assuming the GOP is worried that if they start giving more daylight to monopoly-like behavior in the markets,  the watch dogs will look to start going beyond just big tech companies and that is where the GOP will have to do another about-face.

[ixcuincle]

 

[tshile]

Um. 
 

that’s a China problem, not an Apple problem. 
 

I mean. If we’re gonna start requiring companies to buck up to Chinas terrible rights issues, then you’re going to wreck the world economy and make things drastically more expensive (both issues will make what’s already bad significantly worse)

 

and that’s fine, but you should know what you’re asking for. 
 

and of course Cruz is just a empty suite looking for a trendy comment to make. He doesn’t actually have principals he’s trying to uphold here. 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[redskinss]

Why does barbecue sauce warrant an omg?

Obviously I'm missing the inside joke.

[Renegade7]

3 hours ago, tshile said:

Um. 
 

that’s a China problem, not an Apple problem. 
 

I mean. If we’re gonna start requiring companies to buck up to Chinas terrible rights issues, then you’re going to wreck the world economy and make things drastically more expensive (both issues will make what’s already bad significantly worse)

 

and that’s fine, but you should know what you’re asking for. 
 

and of course Cruz is just a empty suite looking for a trendy comment to make. He doesn’t actually have principals he’s trying to uphold here. 

 

Gonna rip the band-aid eventually when China finally goes after Taiwan. Apple doesn't have actual morals, they have a bottomline, see how they get their iPhone made.  Apple is the last company id expect to stand up to China, but its still disappointing. 

[balki1867]

19 minutes ago, redskinss said:

Why does barbecue sauce warrant an omg?

Obviously I'm missing the inside joke.

 

I don't know for sure, but the way its placed in the shot seems like the type of thing someone thought they add to the backdrop at the last second to make him look more relatable to the average person. 

 

Basically its the same as Republican politicians who hold guns in pictures but based on the way they're holding them, its obvious they have minimal experience with firearms, whether they're violating basic safety or readiness principles.

[JCB]

Sweet Baby Ray's is pretty dope, just sayin'.

[Cooked Crack]

37 minutes ago, redskinss said:

Why does barbecue sauce warrant an omg?

Obviously I'm missing the inside joke.

Normal humans don't tend to have BBQ sauce on their bookshelves.

[Die Hard]

4 hours ago, ixcuincle said:

 

A Republican politician ripping on an entity for being self-serving over principles. That’s ****ing rich.

[skinsmarydu]

44 minutes ago, JCB said:

Sweet Baby Ray's is pretty dope, just sayin'.

I make my own, but for a bottled sauce, it's Fox Bros. FTW. 

[Spaceman Spiff]

**** Facebook with a rusty nail in the dickhole.  

 

First of all, re-brand?  WTF for?  It's not going to make you likable.  Why would a global brand all of a sudden decide to re-brand?  You don't see Nike re-branding.  You don't see Coca-Cola re-branding.  Oh, wait.  People like those companies and those brands.

 

Second, Meta?  Who the hell came up with that name, the same people that are doing the WFT name change, I bet.  Meta.  As in, "we're going to steal all your meta-data!"?

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Spaceman Spiff

[Corcaigh]

Meta?

 

Did someone already have the name **** YOU!

[The Evil Genius]

Hope he's getting a nickel.

 

 

[Destino]

 

 

 

[China]

Hebrew Speakers Mock Facebook’s Name Change: ‘Meta’ Means Dead

 

Facebook’s new name doesn’t bode well for a long corporate life, according to Hebrew speakers, who took to social media in droves after the company revealed its new moniker, Meta, to the world. They pointed out the new name means “is dead” in Hebrew.

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said at a virtual news conference on Thursday that “Meta” will better “encompass” the company’s overall mission as it builds a “metaverse” for its users: “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards.” The name change followed explosive disclosures by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who’s accused the company of putting profit over safety time and time again.

 

 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[PleaseBlitz]

https://www.vox.com/recode/22762596/how-to-fix-facebook-mark-zuckerberg

 

Long but informative.  

 

How to fix Facebook
Can Facebook be redeemed? Twelve leading experts share bold solutions to the company’s urgent problems.

 

Here are some of the proposed solutions.  None of the 12 experts advocating for killing and eating Zuckerberg, which is disappointing.

 

Quote

Their ideas are wide-ranging, with some more ambitious and unexpected than others. But common themes emerge in many of their answers that reveal a growing consensus about what Facebook needs to change and a few different paths that regulators and the company itself could take to make it happen:

 

Antitrust enforcement. Facebook isn’t just Facebook but, under the Meta umbrella, also Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Oculus. And several experts Recode interviewed believe that forcing Facebook to spin off these businesses would defang it of its concentrated power, allow smaller competitors to arise, and challenge the company to do better by offering customers alternatives for information and communication.
Create a federal agency to oversee social media, like the Food and Drug Administration. The social media industry has no dedicated oversight agency in the US the way that other industries do, despite its growing power and influence in society. That’s why some people we interviewed advocated for making a new agency — or at least increasing funding for the existing FTC — so that it could regulate safety standards on the internet the same way the FDA does for food and pharmaceutical drugs.
Change Facebook’s leadership. Facebook’s problems are almost synonymous with the leadership of Mark Zuckerberg, who has unilaterally controlled the company he started in his Harvard dorm room in 2004. Many interviewees believe that for any meaningful change to happen, Facebook needs an executive shake-up, starting from the very top.
Section 230 reform. Section 230 is a landmark law that protects free speech as we know it online. It does that by shielding tech companies like Facebook from facing legal consequences for the real-world harm users can cause with the content they post on its platforms. But reforming 230 in a way that won’t run into First Amendment challenges, or entrench incumbents like Facebook itself, will be challenging.
Increase transparency. You can’t fix a problem if you don’t know exactly what the problem is. Facebook, like other social media companies, is largely a black box to researchers, journalists, and analysts trying to understand how its complex and ever-changing algorithms dictate what billions of people see online. Which is why some of the experts interviewed by Recode argued that Facebook and other social media companies should be legally required to share certain internal data with vetted researchers about what information is circulating on their platforms.
Hold Mark Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives criminally liable. This was the most extreme idea proposed, but some experts Recode interviewed suggested that Facebook executives should be criminally prosecuted for either misleading business partners or downplaying human harms their company causes.

 

I think the most realistic and promising idea is to create a federal regulatory and enforcement agency, but I think if someone really wanted to be ambitious, they'd push for a pact among as many countries as possible to create a global framework for regulating social media conglomerates, at least as a non-legal and aspirational pact like the Paris climate agreement. 

[China]

CNN Poll: Three out of four adults think Facebook is making society worse

 

Roughly three-quarters of adults believe Facebook is making American society worse, a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS finds, with about half saying they know somebody who was persuaded to believe in a conspiracy theory because of the site's content.

 

Americans say, 76% to 11%, that Facebook makes society worse, not better, according to the survey. Another 13% say it has no effect either way. That broadly negative appraisal holds across gender, age and racial lines. Even frequent Facebook users -- those who report using the site at least several times a week -- say 70% to 14% that the social network harms, rather than helps, US society. Although majorities across parties say Facebook is doing more harm than good, that feeling spikes among Republicans (82%).

Among the majority overall who think Facebook is worsening society, however, there's less of an overwhelming consensus on whether or not the platform itself is primarily to blame: 55% say that the way some people use Facebook is more at fault, with 45% saying it's more due to the way Facebook itself is run.

Overall, about one-third of the public -- including 44% of Republicans and 27% of Democrats -- say both that Facebook is making American society worse and that Facebook itself is more at fault than its users.

Roughly half of Americans, 49%, say they know someone who they think was persuaded to believe in a conspiracy theory because of content on Facebook. That number is higher among younger Americans: 61% of adults younger than 35 saying they know someone who adopted a conspiracy theory based on Facebook content, compared with just 35% of those age 65 or older.

 

Click on the link for the full article