It feels like half of Facebook is bot

21.07.2021/01.08

Here’s a screenshot from the new members of one of my Facebook groups—actually the only public one I still have. Since Facebook lets spammers join now, we have to block them manually. Their posts don’t make it through to the group as we have safeguards there, too. But I’m not going to let them inflate, […]

When New Zealand is the subject of misinformation

12.07.2021/03.16

This thread echoes what a lot of us feel in New Zealand when we see intentional misinformation on Twitter, possibly from the US. I answered back to one of these parties over the weekend, as did many, to see us all branded as ‘the left’ (I suppose if your politics are eugenics-led libertarianism, everyone is […]

Facebook continues to give in to fake accounts, much like the UK with COVID-19

10.07.2021/11.21

At the beginning of July I noticed Facebook had changed its reporting options. Gone is the option labelled ‘Fake account’, replaced by ‘Harmful or spam’. It’s a small change that, I believe, is designed to get Facebook off the hook for failing to remove fake accounts: since you can’t report them, then you can’t say […]

Remember, Facebook usually says one thing, then does the opposite

05.06.2021/10.37

Don’t take what Facebook says about Trump seriously. As Christopher Wylie reminds us: When I reported Facebook to the US authorities, I received a permanent ban for whistleblowing. When Donald Trump incited a violent insurrection at Congress, he received a temporary two year ban that would let him back in time for the 2024 campaign. […]

Facebook goes even more pro-bot with change in group policy

02.06.2021/08.58

Why are there antitrust or monopoly laws? Why is the usual interpretation of the Chicago School really, really bad for the United States? Umair Haque’s latest post spells it out pretty well, in my opinion. Just an idea: let’s not import any of their dangerous ideas into our society, or allow their ever-growing giants […]

How to get your Facebook ad account shut down: do something honest

05.05.2021/09.48

‘We can’t level, you crazy bastard, we’re in advertising!’—Paul Reiser as Stephen Bachman, in Crazy People (1990) Signal You can run ads with misinformation, and you can launch bot nets of thousands of accounts, but what can’t you do on Facebook? Buy ads that expose their tools with which you have bought their […]

Reduced Facebook? Australia is the lucky country

18.02.2021/11.31

Whichever side you are on with Facebook imposing a ban on Australians sharing news content, this says it all about the level of intelligence over at Menlo Park. In Australia, Facebook has not only de-platformed legitimate governmental bodies and non-profits, it has de-platformed itself. Maybe taxing these companies would have been easier, and […]

The US, where big business (and others) can lie with impunity

31.12.2020/22.39

One thing about not posting to NewTumbl is I’ve nowhere convenient to put quotations I’ve found. Maybe they have to go here as well. Back when I started this blog in 2006—15 years ago, since it was in January—I did make some very short posts, so it’s not out of keeping. (I realize the timestamp […]

Why con?

07.12.2020/09.05

During the course of the 2010s, I came across two con artists. One thing that united them was they were men. But they could not have been more different: one was rather elaborate and was the subject of a Panorama documentary; the other was a rank amateur and, at least in the situation we […]

Nissan’s own documents show Carlos Ghosn’s arrest was a boardroom coup

22.06.2020/11.03

I said it a long time ago: that the Carlos Ghosn arrest was part of a boardroom coup, and that the media were used by Hiroto Saikawa and co. (which I said on Twitter at the time). It was pretty evident to me given how quickly the press conferences were set up, how rapidly there […]