Mastodawn

Kate Starbird Jan 5, 2023

An article from the January 6th committee's "purple team" on content that got left on the cutting room floor (from their final report) about the role of social media in motivating and mobilizing the January 6 attack on the Capitol: https://www.justsecurity.org/84658/insiders-view-of-the-january-6th-committees-social-media-investigation/

"One clear conclusion from our investigation is that proponents of the recently released “Twitter Files,” who claim that platform suspensions of the former President are evidence of anti-conservative bias, have it completely backward.

Insiders’ View of the January 6th Committee’s Social Media Investigation

Former investigators from the January 6th Select Committee's Purple Team discuss their assessments.

Just Security

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aminco

@katestarbird
A note re: one important statement in the article:

"there appears to be a legislative hyperfocus on regulating algorithms [...] algorithms are not always the boogeyman that the public and policymakers have attempted to position them as.".

Here's what's missing from that statement: >

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aminco Jan 7, 2023

It was not "the public and policymakers" who had "attempted to position" algorithms as boogeyman. Legislators talked about algorithms with Frances Haugen, a whistleblower from inside Facebook who showed them research. When WSJ said, "Facebook’s researchers have identified the platform’s ill effects" they referred to Haugen' internal research that empirically showed problems with the algorithm. >
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039

The Facebook Files

A Wall Street Journal investigation

The Wall Street Journal

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aminco Jan 7, 2023

This was not an "attempt" at positioning something for fame or profit but an appropriate part of her work role. The algorithm was examined from inside – the only place where access existed, the same access that the authors rightfully wish for when they write: "If scholars, policymakers, and practitioners had access to more data from the platforms, they could generate more accurate empirical findings about the relationship between social media and extremism."