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posted by martyb on Monday December 10 2018, @10:58AM   Printer-friendly
from the what-a-wicked-web-we-weave... dept.

Mark Zuckerberg's Biggest Problem: Internal Tensions At Facebook Are Boiling Over

In a year teeming with scandals and missteps, Facebook's latest fiasco has inspired a clutter of leaks, finger pointing, and internal conversations about the future of the company and its leadership. And after more than a year of bad press, internal tensions are reaching a boiling point and are now spilling out into public view.

The tumult is surprising given Facebook's history as a tight-lipped organization where employees had little incentive to leak information or voice dissent outside the company's walls. Throughout the crises, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who maintains majority shareholder control, has proven remarkably immune to outside pressure and criticism — from politicians, investors, and the press — leaving his employees as perhaps his most important stakeholders. Now, as its stock price declines and the company's mission of connecting the world is challenged, the voices inside are growing louder and public comments, as well as private conversations shared with BuzzFeed News, suggest newfound uncertainty about Facebook's future direction.

Internally, the conflict seems to have divided Facebook into three camps: those loyal to Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg; those who see the current scandals as proof of a larger corporate meltdown; and a group who see the entire narrative — including the portrayal of the company's hiring of communications consulting firm Definers Public Affairs — as examples of biased media attacks.

[...] [A] former senior employee noted a growing sense of paranoia among current employees. "Now, people now have burner phones to talk shit about the company — not even to reporters, just to other employees," they told BuzzFeed News. [...] On Blind, a semi-public app that allows current and former employees with a company email to post anonymously, Facebook employees on Facebook-related message boards are openly speculating about and arguing over Sandberg's fate. "The board is being questioned for not taking action, but Zuck will side with her like he is spellbound," one user wrote, asking if the company could find a solution to its leadership struggles. "Shall we have a walkout to let her go like what Google employees did?" another countered, referencing the worker action taken at the search giant in which thousands of employees marched to protest the company's policies around sexual harassment.

Others argued that bad optics would prevent the company from removing Sandberg, a noted feminist author. "One does not simply fire the author of 'Lean In' and pretty much the sole female executive in top leadership," one Blind user wrote. Another remarked that Sandberg's personal image was politically polarizing. "Her left-leaning brand has hurt us considerably, we need to mend fences and be seen to be a platform for the left and the right going forward." Discussions across Facebook's Blind page quickly turn tense at the mention of Sandberg. A user with the username "SherylS" expressed frustration at those in the company revering Sandberg as a women's icon and leader. "It's time to stand up to these fake opportunist feminist champions though," they wrote. "'Give me opportunities to succeed!! I'm a victim!! Lean in!!" the post read. Some of the disagreement centers on social justice–minded individuals inside the company, pointing to an internal Facebook Workplace group called "Let's Fix Facebook": "Just go read 'let's fix Facebook' for a bit and see all the sjw complainers." Indeed, some inside Blind's current and former Facebook employee group debated whether Sandberg was insulated from legitimate criticism due to her defenders "playing the woman card."

Short version at NYMag.

Previously: Amid Calls to "Police" Social Media, Facebook Announces Independent Body to Handle User Appeals
More Calls to Regulate Facebook After Soros-Related Opposition Research Scandal


Original Submission

Related Stories

Amid Calls to "Police" Social Media, Facebook Announces Independent Body to Handle User Appeals 13 comments

Former Instagram CEO: Policing social media is important to the future of the world

Instagram co-founder and former CEO Kevin Systrom said it is important for the future of the world that social media companies be policed well and seriously address the issues of misinformation and harassment on their services.

Systrom said Russian meddling in U.S. elections and the exploitation of Facebook user data by Cambridge Analytica have highlighted just how big social media companies have become and the implications of their reach.

[...] In particular, Systrom highlighted "deepfakes," which are highly-believable doctored videos that are beginning to make their way onto social services. This emerging type of fake content will be among the next set of problems social media companies will have to contend with, he said. "It's getting on the margin of real," Systrom said. "In an era when you can distribute information widely to the world very, very quickly and amplify it, what happens when you think some political figure said something they didn't?"

Facebook says it's creating an independent body to help it decide which content to remove

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday said the company will establish an independent body to oversee user appeals of content removal, one day after a bombshell report that detailed how the company avoided and deflected blame in the public conversation around its handling of Russian interference and other misuses of its social network.

The move could help Facebook avoid accusations of bias as it removes material deemed problematic, like fake news and hate speech. Some conservative groups and lawmakers have accused Facebook and other social media outlets of censoring politically conservative points of view, a charge that Facebook denies.

See also: Facebook confirmed Mark Zuckerberg's beef with Apple CEO Tim Cook in an official company statement
Mark Zuckerberg reportedly ordered all Facebook executives to use Android phones


Original Submission

Politics: More Calls to Regulate Facebook After Soros-Related Opposition Research Scandal 51 comments

Facebook executive admits hiring firm that linked critics to Soros

Facebook's outgoing policy chief took the blame Wednesday night for hiring a consulting firm to investigate and peddle negative stories about the company's critics, including by linking them to liberal philanthropist George Soros.

The blog post by the executive, Elliot Schrage, landed on the eve of the Thanksgiving weekend, and appeared aimed at absolving CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg of responsibility for a lobbying campaign that sparked accusations that Facebook was fueling anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

[...] The New York Times reported last week that Facebook, under pressure over reports of Russian election interference on its platform, hired the Republican-linked consulting firm, Definers Public Affairs, which among other things sought to tie anti-Facebook groups to the Soros-backed Open Society Foundations.

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg can't remember smear firm, but 'some of their work' crossed her desk

Facebook has reposted [the Schrage blog post] with an addition by COO Sheryl Sandberg, who claimed: "I didn't remember a firm called Definers. I asked our team to look into the work Definers did for us and to double-check whether anything had crossed my desk. Some of their work was incorporated into materials presented to me and I received a small number of emails where Definers was referenced.

Soros Philanthropy President Calls for U.S. Lawmakers to Review Facebook (repost)

The president of George Soros's philanthropy called for oversight of Facebook Inc. by U.S. lawmakers after the social media company confirmed it hired a controversial public relations outfit to research the billionaire financier.

[...] In response to Facebook's memo, Patrick Gaspard, president of Mr. Soros's Open Society Foundations, said in a tweet on Wednesday: "So @facebook decides to drop a turkey on Thanksgiving eve, with admission that Definers was tasked by company leadership to target and smear George Soros because he publicly criticized their out of control business model. Sorry, but this needs independent, congressional oversight."

George Soros Sold Facebook, Netflix, and Goldman Stock Just Before They Tumbled

Soros Fund Management, which Soros founded and chairs, exited social-network giant Facebook (FB) completely in the third quarter, while also slashing positions in Netflix stock (NFLX) and Goldman Sachs Group stock (GS). Those three stocks have tumbled in the fourth quarter so far, with Facebook and Goldman setting new lows Tuesday. They are down almost 20% and 15%, respectively, so far this quarter. Highflying streaming-content giant Netflix has tumbled almost 29% since the end of September.

[...] Soros Fund Management sold all its Facebook stock before the end of the third quarter, prior to publication of the New York Times report. Following the report, the head of Soros' Open Society Foundations criticized what it called "Facebook's smear campaign" against Soros.

See also: After latest scandal, does Facebook need to be regulated?
Facebook v Soros: 'Congress must probe'


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @11:42AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @11:42AM (#772322)

    This is just the popping of the soying bubble, wouldnt be surprised if this negative press was somehow funded by shorters.

  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @12:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @12:21PM (#772329)

    That a woman who got in simply by her pussy card, wouldn't know how to run a company and causes said company to implode.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Monday December 10 2018, @12:23PM (3 children)

    by looorg (578) on Monday December 10 2018, @12:23PM (#772330)

    This is hilarious. So they created a massive spying apparatus and now they are afraid of it or to use it, clearly they know something they don't want their users to know. Gotta love the paranoia.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday December 10 2018, @04:23PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday December 10 2018, @04:23PM (#772402) Journal

      Karma's a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeyitch...

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Monday December 10 2018, @11:55PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Monday December 10 2018, @11:55PM (#772643) Journal

      Look up the story of Lord Shang Yang [wikipedia.org], who devised the surveillance system for the state of Qin, but when he was forced to flee after judging the king's son just as if he were a commoner (see "My father is Li Gang" [wikipedia.org]), was caught by the system he himself designed, and was pulled apart by horses. Paranoia? It's not paranoia if you know how easy it is for them to get you.

    • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday December 11 2018, @03:02AM

      by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday December 11 2018, @03:02AM (#772734)

      Is it really paranoia if you helped build the surveillance system that's spying on you?

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by zocalo on Monday December 10 2018, @01:16PM (7 children)

    by zocalo (302) on Monday December 10 2018, @01:16PM (#772349)
    Gotta love it when someone uses a quote or a meme without any understanding of the context and actually ends up sending the opposite message to those that do. One does not simply walk into Mordor either, yet a couple of Hobbits did just that and it all seemed to work out pretty well by the end of the story, so unless it's a subtle troll and they really are suggesting that Facebook just needs a couple of Hobbits to destroy the source of power of their own version of Sauron...? Then again, Sauron is probably more analogous to Zuck, so perhaps they see Sandberg more as a version of Gollum that's in need of a quick shove into the lava of Mount Doom; that analogy would work just as well.
    --
    UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
    • (Score: 2) by Oakenshield on Monday December 10 2018, @02:19PM (6 children)

      by Oakenshield (4900) on Monday December 10 2018, @02:19PM (#772365)

      It's Facebook itself that is Sauron, not Zuckerberg. It is the all seeing eye and the source of all evil.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by HiThere on Monday December 10 2018, @05:08PM (5 children)

        by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Monday December 10 2018, @05:08PM (#772422) Journal

        Sorry, but Sauron wasn't the "all seeing eye". He just controlled it. It was the palantir that originally came from Minas Ithel. Sauruman was doing the same thing, but hadn't gotten as far, and was suffering mind control from Sauron. Everybody else who had access was either afraid to use it or was driven crazy. (There were originally 9 palantir, but several of them were lost, perhaps even destroyed. I think two were permanently lost in the fall of Numenor.)

        Warning: It's been decades since I read that series, so a couple of details may be wrong. E.g., perhaps there were originally 7 palantir, but I think that it's only that 7 survived the fall of Numenor.

        However, Sauron, like Gandalf, was a Maia. Gandalf's powers, however, were bound. (The wizards were forbidden to oppose force with force...despite the many times when it looks as if Gandalf is doing so. So perhaps there are just lots of internal inconsistencies.)

        --
        Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
        • (Score: 2) by nobu_the_bard on Monday December 10 2018, @07:39PM (1 child)

          by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Monday December 10 2018, @07:39PM (#772507)

          They weren't restricted from meeting force with force. They were restricted from using force to compel the Men and Elves to take actions. Essentially they couldn't turn themselves into warlords.

          They were sent to be advisors for the Men and Elves to counter the more warlike influences from Mordor. (Note they weren't directly charged with helping the Dwarves or Hobbits, though Gandalf seems to have dabbled in this...) Previous attempts to intervene with the Elves had lead to wars, thus the restriction on the wizards' powers.

          Saruman was not, in a sense, really breaking the rule - since it only applied to Men and Elves, and he was lording it over the Orcs. After the story he went and conquered some of the Shire - again, his restriction didn't apply to the Hobbits, so he got away with it.

          • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday December 11 2018, @03:17AM

            by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday December 11 2018, @03:17AM (#772737)

            I would think using the force of the Orcs against Men and Elves would count, even if the only action they were compelled to was dying. Still, I suppose there are a few technicalities in there they might squeeze through, if the god(s?) were pedantic about their rules.

            I really should get around to reading the Silmarillion one of these days.

        • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday December 10 2018, @10:10PM (2 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday December 10 2018, @10:10PM (#772591)

          Holy moly HiThere you might just be a nerd!
          Not criticizing, just an observation. :-)

          Now, excuse me while I figure out why Apache won't see my SSL cert.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Monday December 10 2018, @10:40PM (1 child)

            by Gaaark (41) on Monday December 10 2018, @10:40PM (#772607) Journal

            It can't see your SSL cert because your web-cam is covered...and you're not wearing the ring. Slip the ring on your finger and it'll see it, oh Yes my precious...
            :)

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
            • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday December 10 2018, @11:03PM

              by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday December 10 2018, @11:03PM (#772625)

              The thieves. The thieves. The filthy little thieves. Where is it?

              Where is it? They stole it from us.

              My precious. Curse them, we hates them!

              It's ours, it is, and we wants it!"

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @02:03PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @02:03PM (#772361)

    Distrust Facebook; assume they can track you unless you go significantly out of your way to prevent it; assume they will abuse that power for political reasons; be afraid of Facebook.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday December 10 2018, @05:47PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday December 10 2018, @05:47PM (#772442)

      > assume they will abuse that power for political reasons

      No. I just assume that they will abuse that power to make as much money as possible, with little regards for ethics.
      Nobody has ever successfully challenged that assumption.

      At this point, the spam mail I get from FB indicates they think I'm black and live 2200 miles away. I'm not doing too bad on the counter-tracking.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @07:46PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @07:46PM (#772513)

      Microsoft is in this camp too don't forget. They'll both sell your soul (and theirs) to line their pockets.

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday December 10 2018, @10:45PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Monday December 10 2018, @10:45PM (#772615) Journal

        Yeah but EVERYBODY uses MS products so so do I...I am sheeple that loves being in 1984!

        ........

        Oh....what a nightmare I just had.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Monday December 10 2018, @02:08PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday December 10 2018, @02:08PM (#772363) Journal

    The smug from Facebook has grown to critical levels. If the smug emanating from Oscar acceptance speeches combines with it [wikipedia.org], people could die.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday December 10 2018, @08:02PM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday December 10 2018, @08:02PM (#772526) Journal

    Alphabet, Academi, Ze, Altria, DOD, Coke. Worked for these fine organizations, should work for Facebook?

    May I humbly suggest: "Masktome" or "GuyFawkesIndex" ? Perhaps "PersonaLibris" or "AliasBiblio"? "AngstAnon"? "The Resistance" seems popular these days. How about "CalicoPalantir"? Might require a corporate merger or two. "OurSpace", as in 'not your space'? "LongTwit", to distinguish, you know. The possibilities are endless, hey! what about "EndlessSurveillance", which should carry all the good feelings of the Surfer movie.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @10:17PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @10:17PM (#772598)

    They've already got it on their computers.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by corey on Tuesday December 11 2018, @01:29AM

    by corey (2202) on Tuesday December 11 2018, @01:29AM (#772699)

    the company's mission of connecting the world

    ... to its advertisers and milking it for every dollar they can, through detailed personal information collection.

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