Tag: Facebook

Posted on

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Breaks Silence “We Made Mistakes”

Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a lengthy post on (where else?) Facebook, apologized for mistakes made by his company and outlined steps the social media giant plans to take for protect user data in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica debacle which revealed millions of users data was “harvested” for political use by folks working on behalf of the Trump campaign.

We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you. I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.

[snip]

I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible for what happens on our platform. I’m serious about doing what it takes to protect our community. While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesn’t change what happened in the past. We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.

I want to thank all of you who continue to believe in our mission and work to build this community together. I know it takes longer to fix all these issues than we’d like, but I promise you we’ll work through this and build a better service over the long term.

After a detailed timeline of how Zuckerberg sees the Cambridge Analytica debacle, the CEO listed steps to be taken including:

• Conducting full audits of apps with suspicious activity and/or access to large amounts of data.

• Restricting developers’ data access and removing access completely for apps that you haven’t used in 3 months.

• Making it easier to know which apps you’ve actually given access to.

According to reports, Facebook’s stock has taken a $50 billion hit since news of the Cambridge Analytica saga was made public.

Folks have also noticed that Zuckerberg has sold lots of his own stock in recent weeks.

Posted on

Facebook Stock Dives On News Of Cambridge Analytics “Harvesting” User Data For 2016 Election

In light of the recent revelations of a data breach by Cambridge Analytics of millions and millions of Facebook users, the social media’s stock has dropped drastically today.

From Bloomberg:

Facebook Inc. shares posted their steepest drop since 2015 as U.S. and European officials demanded answers to reports that a political advertising firm retained information on millions of the social network’s users without their consent.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are calling on Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to appear before lawmakers to explain how U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica, the data-analysis firm that helped Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency, was able to harvest the personal information.

According to The Daily Beast, Facebook has so far lost $42 billion in market value.

Posted on

Trump’s Voter Profiling Firm “Harvested” Private Info From 50 Million Facebook Users Without Permission

Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica “harvested” the private information of over 50 million Facebook users without permission in hopes of influencing voter behavior.

From The New York Times:

The firm had secured a $15 million investment from Robert Mercer, the wealthy Republican donor, and wooed his political adviser, Stephen K. Bannon, with the promise of tools that could identify the personalities of American voters and influence their behavior. But it did not have the data to make its new products work.

So the firm harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission, according to former Cambridge employees, associates and documents, making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network’s history.

The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the American electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trump’s campaign in 2016.

An examination by The New York Times and The Observer of London reveals how Cambridge Analytica’s drive to bring to market a potentially powerful new weapon put the firm — and wealthy conservative investors seeking to reshape politics — under scrutiny from investigators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christopher Wylie, who helped found Cambridge and worked there until late 2014, said of its leaders: “Rules don’t matter for them. For them, this is a war, and it’s all fair.”

“They want to fight a culture war in America,” he added. “Cambridge Analytica was supposed to be the arsenal of weapons to fight that culture war.”

According to The Times, Cambridge paid a third party to lie to Facebook in order to acquire the data saying the information was to be used for “academic purposes.”

After knowing about the data breach for months, Facebook said last night it is suspending the account of Cambridge Analytica. I’m guessing the Times‘ article applied some pressure, no?

The article goes on to say that Cambridge still has most or all of the private information.

Posted on

House Democrats Release Russia-Linked Facebook Ads From 2016 Election

The Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have shared some of the Facebook ads placed by Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential election.

From Talking Points Memo:

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee posted Wednesday a selection of the Facebook ads purchased by Russia-linked accounts as the committee’s hearing on how Russia exploited social media during the 2016 election got under way.

The committee Dems posted screenshots of the ads, as well as some of the the meta data associated with the ads, such as the amount of impressions the ads made and to which demographics the ads were targeted. Examples of Russia-purchased ads on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, were among the ads released.

Some of the ads released Wednesday did not mention presidential candidates by name, but rather weighed in on political issues, be it pushing anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiments, or mimicking the Black Lives Matters or LGBT rights movements.

Check out some of the ads below. More at the link above.

Yeah, I can see if these were targeted at folks on the fence about Hillary or Trump, these might have had some sway in folks decision-making on election day.

Posted on

Beautiful City

I had an interesting “conversation” on Facebook today.

I had shared a link to a story about an asshole volunteer firefighter in Franklin Township, Ohio, who posted on his Facebook that if he had to choose between saving a dog or a black man from a burning building, the dog would get priority, because “one dog is more important than a million n****rs.”

You get the point of sharing the article, right? He’s an asshole, and nothing disinfects better than a little sunshine.

But someone I’ve never met took umbrage with me posting the link in my Randy Report Facebook page.

This guy, Justin MacDonald, had a problem with me sharing the story of this racist guy. He wrote,

“Why tf is this even a fucking news article? Other then to spread more hate?”

“So let’s blast one firefighter from where? Iscrewmysister Idaho? We acknowledge that these people are out there. Deal with it locally not world news. Trying to muster up hate against all firefighters is what this is .. IMO”

“What’s your opinion? To search out each and every person who says something. Welcome to Earth don’t know about your retirement fund but you’ll never run out of work. Glad I don’t have to follow”

For full disclosure, I’ll post the full back and forth below.

But this exchange did get me to thinking: is it really my job to “search out each and every person” who says or does icky/hideous things?

I don’t know about that. I do know nothing gets better unless folks raise their voices. Even if it’s one voice (which, in this case, it’s not).

In the same week where we lost a huge civil rights hero, Edie Windsor, who brought down the Defense of Marriage Act by taking her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, I’m reminded one voice can make a difference.

Edie Windsor’s life story was a lesson in how the simple act of two people falling in love can change the world.

Now, I don’t begin to equate myself with the amazing Edie. But I’m certain she would denounce this firefighter in Ohio for his divisive language.

And I have no illusions about what I can (or can’t) accomplish by making sure people know that idiots like this guy in Ohio exist. But you can’t fix a problem if folks don’t know it exists.

But, I was reminded of this song from a few years back. Hunter Parrish, who most know from the series Weeds, starred in the Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell as “Jesus.”

In the revival, they added a song for Hunter that Schwartz had written for the movie of the musical back in the ’70s called “Beautiful City.”

The lyrics came to mind, and I’ll let you do the math.

We may not reach the ending
But we can start
Slowly but truly mending
Brick by brick
Heart by heart
Now, maybe now we start learning how
We can build a beautiful city
Yes we can, yes we can
We can build a beautiful city
Not a city of angels, but finally a city of man

Am I wasting my time pointing out jerks and assholes? It’s true I probably won’t “run out of work.”

Maybe I’m naive. But I’ll be happy and naive thinking I’m doing “something.”

Something that maybe gets us closer to, if not a “city of angels,” perhaps a city of real men.

Hey, Justin MacDonald – I hope you find a passion that inspires you to make a difference. Even if it does run out your retirement fund.

Happy Saturday, y’all.

Watch Hunter Parrish’s performance below.

Posted on

Facebook Sold $100K Of 2016 Election Ads To Russian “Troll Farm”

The folks at Facebook took a closer look at ads sold during the 2016 presidential election cycle and have realized $100K worth of ads can be traced back to Russia

From the Washington Post:

Representatives of Facebook told congressional investigators Wednesday that the social network has discovered that it sold ads during the U.S. presidential campaign to a shadowy Russian company seeking to target voters, according to several people familiar with the company’s findings.

Facebook officials reported that they traced the ad sales, totaling $100,000, to a Russian “troll farm” with a history of pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda, these people said.

A small portion of the ads, which began in the summer of 2015, directly named Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, the people said, although they declined to say which candidate the ads favored.

Most of the ads, according to a blog post published late Wednesday by Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, “appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.”

The acknowledgment by Facebook comes as congressional investigators and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III are probing Russian interference in the U.S. election, including allegations that the Kremlin may have coordinated with the Trump campaign.

Watch the report from Washington Post below:

Posted on

Facebook Deletes “Pride” Button

Pride Month is officially over, and with it has gone the Facebook Pride reaction.

[sniff, sniff…]

I’ll miss you, little Pride button.

But, just to be clear, we celebrate LGBT Pride every single day here on The Randy Report 😉

Posted on

Podcast: A Tale Of Two Theatrical Adventures

Join me for “A Tale of Two Theatrical Adventures” as two longtime out actors have separate, but euphoric experiences with New York Theater on the same weekend.

I followed both simultaneously on social media as they shared the elation of their personal milestones, and the journeys made my Grinchy heart swell.

Up first, Stephen Blackwell.

As his 50th birthday approached, Stephen made the decision to venture forth on his own to the Big Bad Apple for the first time and see his first productions on the Great White Way.

We all know New York City can be expensive for visiting fans of Broadway. As he recounts his big adventure, Stephen also has tips that helped him save money along the way, including:

• The app TodayTix (and the website version todaytix.com) helped Stephen buy discounted tickets to Broadway shows in advance without standing in lines or worrying about what his choices would be.

• Instead of pricey hotels, Stephen stayed in an apartment blocks from the theater district and saved hundreds using AirBNB. If you haven’t tried the popular travel site, Stephen shares his experience.

• And don’t be afraid to reach out to friends you’ve made on social media. Stephen met up with someone he knew from Facebook, and that friend acted as a guide to what to do after an evening in the theater.

The other gentleman in this dual adventure, Ed Dixon, has enjoyed a long, successful career on Broadway, off-Broadway and beyond. He’s an actor, playwright, composer and author.

After more than four decades of great work, Ed was honored by the Drama Desk Awards for his latest project, Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose, on the same weekend Stephen was experiencing NY theater for the first time.

I interviewed Ed weeks before during the aftermath of his grand rave-review opening, but watching him share his big Drama Desk win on Facebook felt like I was there.

You can listen to my previous interview with Ed here.

At a time when it feels there’s so much doom, gloom and grousing on social media, I loved watching these stories play out in front of me in real time on the Book of Face.

Hit play below to listen to the two men’s simultaneous journeys.

Sometimes, it’s great to savor the good times 🙂

Posted on

Billionaire Facebook Co-Founder Pledges $20 Million To Defeat Donald Trump

Billionaire Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz is putting his money where his mouth is by pledging $20 million to help elect former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the next president.

Via The Hill:

In a Thursday evening post on Medium, Moskovitz said he and his wife, Cari Tuna, are will be donating the money to super-PACs and Democratic committees dedicated to electing Hillary Clinton.

“Like many Democratic voters, we don’t support every plank of the platform, but it is clear that if Secretary Clinton wins the election, America will advance much further toward the world we hope to see,” Moskovitz wrote.

He added: “If Donald Trump wins, the country will fall backward, and become more isolated from the global community.”