Despite what the company’sstock pricesmight say you , Facebook is a company with an image problem . At good , critics warily regard Facebook as a company thatruthlessly stripsusers for their data point so it cancurbstomp competitorsin more and more hostile ways . At worst , people call the companya threatto democracy itself . And while the case against Facebookcontinues to grow , employees are leave scramble to estimate out how the hell on earth it can succeed back the world — and coming up pretty empty - handed .
At least , that ’s what ’s suggested by some internal enquiry done in September of last class that attempted to measure Facebook ’s “ comprehend legitimacy ” in the centre of the public and with stakeholder . The full document , which you may readhere , quizzed a fistful of newsman , regular substance abuser , and ( weirdly enough ) actors about their general perceptions of Facebook .
The results were pretty much what you ’d expect : trustingness in the company was low , confusion about the company ’s contentedness moderation processes was gamey , and nobody believed Facebook was incite by anything but fat stacks of cash . The investigator ’s planned feeler for fixing this PR crisis ? “ Build confidence through product experience , ” get more the great unwashed of color on stave , and , uh , not much else .
Photo: Greg Nash (Getty Images)
“ user do n’t trust us to do the right thing because they believe we prioritise revenue and growth over prophylactic and society , ” explained an nameless penis of an internal Facebook “ Legitimacy Team ” whose stated deputation is to , well , increase the caller ’s legitimacy in the optic of the populace .
While the research happened more than a class ago , we ’ve heard that same tale echoed over and over by the seed of these document — Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen — just this calendar month . CEO Mark Zuckerberg , meanwhile , balkedat the approximation in spite ofall conceivable evidencepointing to that being the case and the company reportedlymulling a complete name change .
“ Because users do n’t commit FB due to past incidents , they do n’t think we have good intentions or motive when it get to integrity efforts , ” the report understand . “ Users do n’t comprehend our subject regulating system as licit because they do n’t trust our motivation . ”
discount the fact that Facebook is a companionship and society by and large subsist to become a lucre , the story goes on to observe that drug user “ perceive [ Facebook ’s ] scheme to be ineffective and biased toward minority grouping , ” cite the experiences of Facebook exploiter that are LGBTQ+ , along with mass of colour and other marginalized groups . The report state that these user finger “ FB is censor or over - implement on minority groups , ” and described being banned from the site “ for utter out to their community about their lived experiences . ”
While Zuckerberg and his like have reportedly spend a tenacious timeignoringthe very manifest fact that its hatred - speech sniffle systems lean to below the belt direct marginalized mathematical group , the company has since come around on the idea that , hey , perchance it should do something about the issue . Last December , the company started an inner effort tooverhaulthe moderation systems involved , but this report ( truly ! ) acknowledges this might not be enough .
“ Many participants acknowledge much of this enforcement is done by automation and algorithm , ” the report card understand . At the same prison term , they “ conceive that the citizenry who have build the algorithmic program are at best naive and at bad racist . ” ( coddler : Both can be true ! )
Facebook did not yet respond to a request for scuttlebutt about the internal paper .
Artificial intelligence — and the algorithmic rule that take to the woods big chunks of Facebook ’s temperance campaign — are frequently build bywhite guys , with snowy guy bias . The report recommends bringing more phallus of “ minority group ” to the table when establish out its algorithms to extenuate bake - in bias , along with “ [ conduct ] audits of actions ” take on substance from people of color . Two very good estimate ! regrettably , it all goes downhill from here .
Most of the other suggestions for restore trust in the troupe involve few specifics . Recommendations like “ proceed to invest in doctor trust in the FB brand , ” and “ build faith by ensuring what we ship shows care , ” for exercise , are just script - wavey nonsense . When the survey users enounce that a ship’s company of Facebook ’s behemoth size and musical scale should put more of its resources towards temperance , the paper brushed the whole idea of money aside , focalize instead on , um , how bad mental object moderate is .
“ The narrative that content rule is difficult and complex might not land well with user , ” the write up read . “ Instead , we should understand if focus on spotlight what we are doing to direct problem would be more effective . ”
How ? With the sameweirdly belligerent atomic number 59 tacticstaken by Facebook ’s public - facing staff ? With the samebuzzwordyblog posts andmisleadingcompany policies ? I do n’t know , and the report does n’t say . But it sure sounds like Facebook ’s plan to fight back against all of this speculative press is to just … keep on doing what it ’s always done .
This story is based on Frances Haugen ’s disclosures to the Securities and Exchange Commission , which were also provided to Congress in redacted shape by her legal team . The redacted translation received by Congress were obtained by a pool of news organizations , including Gizmodo , the New York Times , Politico , the Atlantic , Wired , the Verge , CNN , and dozens of other electric receptacle .
ComputingFacebookFrances HaugenMark ZuckerbergModeration systemSocial mediasoftware
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