If you've just started following me and want to know more:
I worked at FB from 2018-2020 before turning whistleblower in early 2021 (linking the initial guardian piece.)
Everything you've read about my work on fake accounts in the press wasn't part of my official job; I moonlighted in it in my spare time. This included catching the governments of Honduras/Azerbaijan running troll farms/IT cells, and the work I did in the U.S./India. (1/?)
If you want to read more about my work:
In Honduras: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/13/facebook-honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez-fake-engagement
In Azerbaijan: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/13/facebook-azerbaijan-ilham-aliyev
In India: I recommend https://caravanmagazine.in/media/sophie-zhang-interview-facebook-inauthentic-networks-democracy (should have no paywall inside India.)
In the U.S., my own work contributions were minor, but I was the one who raised it when a right-wing marketing firm ran ads for left-wing political parties, didn't file paperwork, and someone unrelated told the FEC they were responsible: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jun/11/facebook-ads-turning-point-usa-rally-forge
(2/?)
I was just 5 months into my second job out of grad school, when, I caught the then-incumbent government of President Juan Orlando Hernandez red-handed running fake assets to boost their popularity. It wasn't news to FB; they already knew
It took almost a year of Sisyphean effort for me to pressure FB into taking down JOH's troll farms. Since then, the now-former president has been arrested and extradited to the United States where he's now on trial in NYC (3/?)
The Azeri governments' troll farms were meanwhile impressive in terms of how much effort was involved: ten thousand FB assets making millions of individually-written comments each month to harass the opposition.
They would join at 9 in the morning, stop for a lunch break at 1, and peter out in the evening. They only worked weekdays - not holidays, weekends, or when non-essential gov employees were furloughed due to COVID.
It's still ongoing today (4/?)
India requires several threads to go through. I found five networks of fake accounts ("IT cells") across the political spectrum - 2 pro-BJP, 2 pro-INC, 1 pro-AAP.
As a large, populous, and important country, India was high-pri at FB. The company agreed pretty quickly to take them down.
They took out 4/5. We found the 5th IT cell was ran by MP Vinod Sonkar (BJP - Kaushambi), the LS Chair of Ethics; the company went silent and refused to act (5/?)
After becoming a whistleblower, I offered my testimony to any democratic parliament, incl. India.
The LS Standing Committee on IT expressed interest half a year later. In late November '21, they voted unanimously to invite me - pending the approval of Speaker Birla (as I'm a foreigner.)
In 1986, Pres. Zail Singh refused to either accept or deny a postal bill - instead waiting it out forever. Speaker Birla is similarly delaying indefinitely today. (6/?)
I don't believe the Indian IT cell arms race is a partisan issue; it's an Indian issue. So when Speaker Birla blocked my testimony to the Indian Parliament, I chose to go to the Indian people. I gave two dozen Indian news outlets the same internal FB documents I offered the LS; they published in early June.
Decades ago, if the titans of Indian press went to bat on a story, it would be everywhere. But today, if it doesn't go viral, it might as well not exist. (7/?)
To be fair, here's the other side of the story:
Per Speaker Birla: It is incorrect for me to say he is blocking me, as "Speaker has to decide who to allow (to depose) or not to allow." (UNI, 6/18/22)
FB has changed their story repeatedly:
1. 'She's lying, we took them down ASAP'
2. 'Sorry, we took them down 1/2 year later' (both Guardian, 4/15/21
3. "Our last response is a lie" (Nikkei Asia, 7/8/21)
4. "We can't seen the publicly released docs and can't comment" (Moneycontrol, 6/9/22)
(8/?)
In the time since, I've apparently attracted a lot of attention on #india twitter.
Many Indians started following me after I spoke out against the Wire's now-infamous story on Meta (since retracted allegedly due to falsification of docs by a reporter; summary: https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/10/13/explained-whats-the-wire-vs-meta-fight-all-about) They stayed because they were impressed by my outsider's knowledge of Indian culture, though that did spawn a few conspiracy theories as well. My Twitter has half became a cooking blog. (9/10)
Thanks for reading. If you still want to read/hear more about me:
My keynote at HOPE, NYC: https://youtu.be/7LPKWE9CeHs
My keynote at Media Rumble, Delhi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYjPA9YOzII
Guide on whistleblowing: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/11/facebook-whistleblower-sophie-zhang-guide
Op-ed on Americans being too concerned about foreign misinformation: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/aug/18/facebook-fazze-russian-trolls-anti-vaxx-misinformation
Op-ed on social media self-compromise: https://restofworld.org/2021/sophie-zhang-facebook-autolikers/
Op-ed on India's IT cells: https://thewire.in/tech/sophie-zhang-social-media-manipulation-politics'
Op-ed on Elon buying twitter: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/3/what-to-expect-from-a-musk-owned-twitter
(10/10)
Sophie Zhang (张学菲)
Joseph Lim 