On the 12th day of FTC v. Meta Platforms, survey king Curtiss Cobb comes back to the stand chastened, and we look at ad load with revenue head John Hegeman.
I find it sad and scary how Meta uses the data they reap on users’ behavior and sentiments to…manipulate users. I have not engaged on Facebook since a group of artists with whom I engaged went off the rails before the 2016 presidential election, and at this moment I am deeply thankful that I have only sporadically looked at Instagram. Truth be told, though, I spent a couple hours on Substack today, leaving me wondering whether in doing so I am subjecting myself to manipulation on another level. If I agree with what is reported in this Substack, am I an independent thinker?
My understanding of the survey team is that they use online polls, survey pools created by other orgs like YouGov, and focus groups to determine sentiment. Actual data from someone's usage of the app might come up in engagement data but probably not in the sentiment polls. That said, whistleblowers over the years have shared plenty that raises concern. Sarah Wynn-Williams claimed that Meta could know from data when teenage users were feeling anxious or lonely.
Whether or not the survey team feeds into the team that makes the adjustments in feed, the phenomenon of social media online has provided an invaluable opportunity for enterprises such as Meta and Google to monetize what they glean about user behavior—massive numbers of users. Not too long ago that was virtually impossible.
I used to feel like you do. It made me more cautious of my social media usage.
However, it took away power from me. I felt doomed from seeing how many people stay engaged and are indeed being manipulated.
The world looked dark and I longed for the times when corporations like Meta and X/Twitter didn't have such a central control over things.
These days I am less afraid to engage in social media because I know it's at least half bullshit, especially after the huge censorship induced by COVID and the vaccines that were promoted as the only "cure".
We saw the same thing with the Ukraine war and now the horrible genocide.
The quality of the propaganda has dropped dramatically.
I feel like knowing that it is manipulative and driven by corporate greed I'm able to enter with the protection of knowing that it is a jungle.
This post on Substack may have influenced us to believe in something that may not be true. But we must remember that we are independent thinkers despite that because we started off with the humility that what we feel is correct can be wrong and that's ok. From mistakes we become more resilient and resourceful.
I suspect that this technology that Meta and others use worked well for a while but these days it's so chaotic that it's like they're herding cats now. 😂
I have just a technical question about the confidentiality of the exhibits. Am i able to download and share them stress free? As i see the FTC redacted some parts but the document as a whole still states confidentiality. I know from my work that its a standard practice for parties (Meta) to claim that the whole document is confidential (which annoys me all the time), but i wanna make sure how i can handle them. As i am not familiar with US law in this regard.
10% ad load? I haven't used Facebook in a while, but I swear it was higher than that. Maybe I'm just not distinguishing between people using it as an advertising platform and people using it to stay updated.
I likely missed it, but has the FTC stressed the importance of "FB groups" to the stickiness of users?
Groups recommended by, or populated with, friends and family are often given as a reason why people continue to use FB/Meta, despite loathing the brand and platform experience.
Why are we not hearing more about Meta's illegal extensions of its monopoly apps into other companies' businesses?
Meta broke antitrust law when they added Reels (the use cases of TikTok) into their monopoly apps (Facebook and Instagram). That's illegal.
Can Meta create a new standalone app to compete with TikTok? Yes.
Can Meta put Reels into its monopoly-power apps to extend into TikTok's business? No.
Adding Marketplace to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Dating to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Reels to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Llama AI Chat to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
I hope the judge is getting this and will go after Meta for its illegal extensions of its monopoly.
Extension is how all the Big Tech companies are breaking antitrust law.
Microsoft, for example, extended its "Office" business productivity suite into business communications with "Teams" to compete against Slack and Zoom. Note: I think the FTC/DOJ has done too little to go after Microsoft on this.
The irony is that Meta broke antitrust law and now claims TikTok competes with it.
Remedies:
We must treat this very seriously.
Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft broke antitrust law. Apple too.
I find it sad and scary how Meta uses the data they reap on users’ behavior and sentiments to…manipulate users. I have not engaged on Facebook since a group of artists with whom I engaged went off the rails before the 2016 presidential election, and at this moment I am deeply thankful that I have only sporadically looked at Instagram. Truth be told, though, I spent a couple hours on Substack today, leaving me wondering whether in doing so I am subjecting myself to manipulation on another level. If I agree with what is reported in this Substack, am I an independent thinker?
My understanding of the survey team is that they use online polls, survey pools created by other orgs like YouGov, and focus groups to determine sentiment. Actual data from someone's usage of the app might come up in engagement data but probably not in the sentiment polls. That said, whistleblowers over the years have shared plenty that raises concern. Sarah Wynn-Williams claimed that Meta could know from data when teenage users were feeling anxious or lonely.
Whether or not the survey team feeds into the team that makes the adjustments in feed, the phenomenon of social media online has provided an invaluable opportunity for enterprises such as Meta and Google to monetize what they glean about user behavior—massive numbers of users. Not too long ago that was virtually impossible.
I used to feel like you do. It made me more cautious of my social media usage.
However, it took away power from me. I felt doomed from seeing how many people stay engaged and are indeed being manipulated.
The world looked dark and I longed for the times when corporations like Meta and X/Twitter didn't have such a central control over things.
These days I am less afraid to engage in social media because I know it's at least half bullshit, especially after the huge censorship induced by COVID and the vaccines that were promoted as the only "cure".
We saw the same thing with the Ukraine war and now the horrible genocide.
The quality of the propaganda has dropped dramatically.
https://robc137.substack.com/p/looking-behind-the-curtain-of-oz
And
https://consilienceproject.org/the-end-of-propaganda/
I feel like knowing that it is manipulative and driven by corporate greed I'm able to enter with the protection of knowing that it is a jungle.
This post on Substack may have influenced us to believe in something that may not be true. But we must remember that we are independent thinkers despite that because we started off with the humility that what we feel is correct can be wrong and that's ok. From mistakes we become more resilient and resourceful.
I suspect that this technology that Meta and others use worked well for a while but these days it's so chaotic that it's like they're herding cats now. 😂
https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/the-current-thing-is-modernitys-religion
I have just a technical question about the confidentiality of the exhibits. Am i able to download and share them stress free? As i see the FTC redacted some parts but the document as a whole still states confidentiality. I know from my work that its a standard practice for parties (Meta) to claim that the whole document is confidential (which annoys me all the time), but i wanna make sure how i can handle them. As i am not familiar with US law in this regard.
This is the court ordered public repository for the trial exhibits so yes, feel free to download and share.
10% ad load? I haven't used Facebook in a while, but I swear it was higher than that. Maybe I'm just not distinguishing between people using it as an advertising platform and people using it to stay updated.
I likely missed it, but has the FTC stressed the importance of "FB groups" to the stickiness of users?
Groups recommended by, or populated with, friends and family are often given as a reason why people continue to use FB/Meta, despite loathing the brand and platform experience.
Not yet! Good point. Groups & events are useful. No equivalent on TikTok.
Thank you! Any idea when Hemphill is likely to take the stand?
Most likely he will be the last witness of the FTC's case-in-chief, and we should get to him next week.
Why are we not hearing more about Meta's illegal extensions of its monopoly apps into other companies' businesses?
Meta broke antitrust law when they added Reels (the use cases of TikTok) into their monopoly apps (Facebook and Instagram). That's illegal.
Can Meta create a new standalone app to compete with TikTok? Yes.
Can Meta put Reels into its monopoly-power apps to extend into TikTok's business? No.
Adding Marketplace to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Dating to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Reels to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
Adding Llama AI Chat to Facebook/Instagram apps is an illegal extension of its monopoly.
I hope the judge is getting this and will go after Meta for its illegal extensions of its monopoly.
Extension is how all the Big Tech companies are breaking antitrust law.
Microsoft, for example, extended its "Office" business productivity suite into business communications with "Teams" to compete against Slack and Zoom. Note: I think the FTC/DOJ has done too little to go after Microsoft on this.
The irony is that Meta broke antitrust law and now claims TikTok competes with it.
Remedies:
We must treat this very seriously.
Meta, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft broke antitrust law. Apple too.
They should be seriously punished.
Their shareholders should lose money.