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Last September, I met up with Sophie Zhang in a pandemic-abandoned WeWork in Oakland. Sophie had just been fired by Facebook. We sat at my laptop and she showed my the outrageously simple trick that an autocrat was using to harass dissidents & journalists https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-loophole-state-backed-manipulation
It was the equivalent of a zero-day exploit for creating fake engagement on Facebook, Sophie joked, except by that point it was more like an 800-day exploit. She'd told everyone she could find at FB about it, and no one was doing anything to fix it. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-loophole-state-backed-manipulation
Some of Sophie's concerns about Facebook became public last fall, after her barn burner of a farewell memo leaked to BuzzFeed News. But she stayed silent, concerned that what she had to say about global politics would be lost in the US election media cycle https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo
Now she's coming forward to speak out on the record about Facebook's failure to fight political manipulation on the platform.
The story includes details about how Facebook handled dozens of cases of inauthentic behavior across 25 countries. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-loophole-state-backed-manipulation
The story includes details about how Facebook handled dozens of cases of inauthentic behavior across 25 countries. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-loophole-state-backed-manipulation
Our investigation also exposes how Facebook reacts to these threats to democracy.
Again and again, executives delayed taking action on abuses that didn't attract press attention or didn't meet prioritization metrics that favored wealthy countries. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
Again and again, executives delayed taking action on abuses that didn't attract press attention or didn't meet prioritization metrics that favored wealthy countries. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
When Zhang uncovered a state-backed harassment campaign targeting political dissidents, Facebook waited 14 months to take action.
When the press alerted Facebook to much less serious fake engagement in Sweden or the US, Facebook acted immediately. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
When the press alerted Facebook to much less serious fake engagement in Sweden or the US, Facebook acted immediately. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
In just 15 years, Facebook became a dominant platform for political communication in much of the world. It has built a global pseudo-government to police itself and its users, but that bureaucracy is obviously inadequate and fundamentally conflicted. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
Stay tuned for more stories in the coming days about how Facebook's failure to fight fake engagement affect people and political systems around the world. And follow @szhang_ds, who has taken a huge risk to come forward and tell this story. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang
