The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments. Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman. Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.

Share:
More In Technology
Facebook Froze as Anti-Vaccine Comments Swarmed Users
Last spring, as false claims about vaccine safety threatened to undermine the world's response to COVID-19, researchers at Facebook found they could reduce vaccine misinformation by tweaking how vaccine posts show up on users' newsfeeds.
NYT Report on Amazon Details Company's Handling of Paid and Unpaid Leave
A report in the New York Times published Sunday called 'Inside Amazon's Worst Human Resources Problem' details the company mishandling paid and unpaid leave for some of its workers for more than a year and a half, following an email sent to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos from a new mother who works at a warehouse in Oklahoma, which then led to an internal investigation at Amazon. Seattle tech correspondent for the New York Times Karen Weise joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to talk about her report and what the Amazon investigation found.
People or Profit? Facebook Papers Show Deep Conflict Within
Facebook the company is losing control of Facebook the product — and of the carefully crafted image it’s spent over a decade selling despite problems like misinformation, human trafficking, and pervasive extremist groups on its platform.
Load More