As supporters of Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th, battling police and forcing lawmakers into hiding, an insurrection of a different kind was taking place inside the world바카라™s largest social media company.
Thousands of miles away, in California, Facebook engineers were racing to tweak internal controls to slow the spread of misinformation and inciteful content. Emergency actions 바카라” some of which were rolled back after the 2020 election 바카라” included banning Trump, freezing comments in groups with a record for hate speech, filtering out the 바카라śStop the Steal바카라ť rallying cry and empowering content moderators to act more assertively by labeling the U.S. a 바카라śTemporary High Risk Location바카라ť for political violence.
At the same time, frustration inside Facebook erupted over what some saw as the company바카라™s halting and inconsistent response to rising extremism in the U.S.
바카라śHaven바카라™t we had enough time to figure out how to manage discourse without enabling violence?바카라ť one employee wrote on an internal message board at the height of the Jan. 6 turmoil. 바카라śWe바카라™ve been fueling this fire for a long time and we shouldn바카라™t be surprised it바카라™s now out of control.바카라ť
It바카라™s a question that still hangs over the company today, as Congress and regulators investigate Facebook바카라™s part in the Jan. 6 riots.
New internal documents provided by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen provide a rare glimpse into how the company appears to have simply stumbled into the Jan. 6 riot. It quickly became clear that even after years under the microscope for insufficiently policing its platform, the social network had missed how riot participants spent weeks vowing 바카라” on Facebook itself 바카라” to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden바카라™s election victory.
The documents also appear to bolster Haugen바카라™s claim that Facebook put its growth and profits ahead of public safety, opening the clearest window yet into how Facebook바카라™s conflicting impulses 바카라” to safeguard its business and protect democracy 바카라” clashed in the days and weeks leading up to the attempted Jan. 6 coup.
This story is based in part on disclosures Haugen made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by Haugen바카라™s legal counsel. The redacted versions received by Congress were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including The Associated Press.
What Facebook called 바카라śBreak the Glass바카라ť emergency measures put in place on Jan. 6 were essentially a toolkit of options designed to stem the spread of dangerous or violent content that the social network had first used in the run-up to the bitter 2020 election. As many as 22 of those measures were rolled back at some point after the election, according to an internal spreadsheet analyzing the company바카라™s response.
바카라śAs soon as the election was over, they turned them back off or they changed the settings back to what they were before, to prioritize growth over safety,바카라ť Haugen said in an interview with 바카라ś60 Minutes.바카라ť
An internal Facebook report following Jan. 6, previously reported by BuzzFeed, faulted the company for having a 바카라śpiecemeal바카라ť approach to the rapid growth of 바카라śStop the Steal바카라ť pages, related misinformation sources, and violent and inciteful comments.
Facebook says the situation is more nuanced and that it carefully calibrates its controls to react quickly to spikes in hateful and violent content, as it did on Jan 6. The company said it바카라™s not responsible for the actions of the rioters and that having stricter controls in place prior to that day wouldn바카라™t have helped.
Facebook바카라™s decisions to phase certain safety measures in or out took into account signals from the Facebook platform as well as information from law enforcement, said spokeswoman Dani Lever. 바카라śWhen those signals changed, so did the measures.바카라ť
Lever said some of the measures stayed in place well into February and others remain active today.
Some employees were unhappy with Facebook바카라™s managing of problematic content even before the Jan. 6 riots. One employee who departed the company in 2020 left a long note charging that promising new tools, backed by strong research, were being constrained by Facebook for 바카라śfears of public and policy stakeholder responses바카라ť (translation: concerns about negative reactions from Trump allies and investors).
바카라śSimilarly (though even more concerning), I바카라™ve seen already built & functioning safeguards being rolled back for the same reasons,바카라ť wrote the employee, whose name is blacked out.
Research conducted by Facebook well before the 2020 campaign left little doubt that its algorithm could pose a serious danger of spreading misinformation and potentially radicalizing users.
One 2019 study, entitled 바카라śCarol바카라™s Journey to QAnon바카라”A Test User Study of Misinfo & Polarization Risks Encountered through Recommendation Systems,바카라ť described results of an experiment conducted with a test account established to reflect the views of a prototypical 바카라śstrong conservative바카라ť 바카라” but not extremist 바카라” 41-year North Carolina woman. This test account, using the fake name Carol Smith, indicated a preference for mainstream news sources like Fox News, followed humor groups that mocked liberals, embraced Christianity and was a fan of Melania Trump.
Within a single day, page recommendations for this account generated by Facebook itself had evolved to a 바카라śquite troubling, polarizing state,바카라ť the study found. By day 2, the algorithm was recommending more extremist content, including a QAnon-linked group, which the fake user didn바카라™t join because she wasn바카라™t innately drawn to conspiracy theories.
A week later the test subject바카라™s feed featured 바카라śa barrage of extreme, conspiratorial and graphic content,바카라ť including posts reviving the false Obama birther lie and linking the Clintons to the murder of a former Arkansas state senator. Much of the content was pushed by dubious groups run from abroad or by administrators with a track record for violating Facebook바카라™s rules on bot activity.
Those results led the researcher, whose name was redacted by the whistleblower, to recommend safety measures running from removing content with known conspiracy references and disabling 바카라śtop contributor바카라ť badges for misinformation commenters to lowering the threshold number of followers required before Facebook verifies a page administrator바카라™s identity.
Among the other Facebook employees who read the research the response was almost universally supportive.
바카라śHey! This is such a thorough and well-outlined (and disturbing) study,바카라ť one user wrote, their name blacked out by the whistleblower. 바카라śDo you know of any concrete changes that came out of this?바카라ť
Facebook said the study was an one of many examples of its commitment to continually studying and improving its platform.
Another study turned over to congressional investigators, titled 바카라śUnderstanding the Dangers of Harmful Topic Communities,바카라ť discussed how like-minded individuals embracing a borderline topic or identity can form 바카라śecho chambers바카라ť for misinformation that normalizes harmful attitudes, spurs radicalization and can even provide a justification for violence.
Examples of such harmful communities include QAnon and, hate groups promoting theories of a race war.
바카라śThe risk of offline violence or harm becomes more likely when like-minded individuals come together and support one another to act,바카라ť the study concludes.
Charging documents filed by federal prosecutors against those alleged to have stormed the Capitol have examples of such like-minded people coming together.
Prosecutors say a reputed leader in the Oath Keepers militia group used Facebook to discuss forming an 바카라śalliance바카라ť and coordinating plans with another extremist group, the Proud Boys, ahead of the riot at the Capitol.
바카라śWe have decided to work together and shut this s바카라”t down,바카라ť Kelly Meggs, described by authorities as the leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, wrote on Facebook, according to court records.
