The Authoritarian Network

As we meet up on Facebook, it is sobering to realize those of us in the U.S. compose only roughly 8 percent of the social network's 2.8 billion users. Still, that's about twice our share of the global population, which is a little over 4 percent.

It's a big world and there's a lot of big data about all of us in the hands of Facebook executives. The company utilizes that data to make tons of money off of those who advertise in the hope of affecting our behavior, not only as consumers but also as voters.

Siva Vaidhyanathan published an important piece in the New Republic earlier this month arguing that Facebook's algorithms and business model favors authoritarianism, and it's worth considering how this happens in this growing period of domestic political unrest.

"(I)f you wanted to design a propaganda machine to undermine democracy around the world, you could not make one better than Facebook," argues Vaidhyanathan. "Above that, the leadership of Facebook has consistently bent its policies to favor the interests of the powerful around the world. As authoritarian nationalists have risen to power in recent years—often by campaigning through Facebook—Facebook has willingly and actively assisted them."

The way Facebook and other social media platforms do this is easy for me to see as an author. If I post something that acts to inflame emotions of those who read my essays, the number of "likes" and other reactions rises dramatically. This in turn elevates the visibility of my posts so that more people see them, and a virtuous cycle has been set off.

That is success, right?

The problem is that I do not want to inflame anyone's emotions; I want to inform people and start reasonable conversations.

Those seeking to manipulate voters' emotions are far better at this game than people like me will ever be. Thus they have used Facebook for years to circulate wild conspiracy theories created by QAnon, the Proud Boys, Three-Percenters and other racist, white supremacist and violent groups.

This process got us Trump and is bolstering authoritarian leaders all over the world, such as Vladimir Putin of Russia, Narendra Modi of India, Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Andrzej Duda of Poland, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and the brutal junta that still rules Myanmar. (as per New Republic)

Extreme content is rewarded by Facebook algorithms and that results in extreme outcomes.

I wish that I could offer some hopeful reform effort to combat this scourge, but I can't. Neither can Vaidhyanathan, although he cites a few small academic efforts. We've unleashed a Frankenstein, and under the additional pressure of a pandemic, it is ravaging democracies around the world.

Including ours.

(Thanks to Susan Zakin, of Journal of the Plague Year, for tipping me to the New Republic article.)

***

It's hard to reconcile the presence of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia as part of the Republican Party my father knew. What kind of person harasses a young man who survived a horrific school shooting by telling him she has a gun?

What kind of person carries her gun into Congress after saying she supports killing her Democratic colleagues?

What kind of person believes QAnon conspiracy theories that equate Democrats with Satan?

Not the kind of person I would want in my party or in my presence under any circumstances. Yet she is a member of the Republican caucus and even sits on the House Education Committee.

All I can say is that with heron that position, God help our children.

The news: 

* Apple CEO Tim Cook on Thursday linked Facebook’s business model, which used data to serve targeted ads, with real-world consequences like violence or reducing public trust in vaccines.Cook’s speech at a data privacy conference in Brussels did not mention Facebook by name, but the social media company was clearly a target of the Apple CEO’s warning.“If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, it does not deserve our praise. It deserves scorn,” Cook said. Cook also criticized recommendation algorithms that suggest extremist groups to users, as Facebook has been under fire for doing. On Wednesday, Facebook said it will no longer automatically recommend political groups. (CNBC)

* The chief judge of the federal court in Washington scorched Capitol riot suspects during a hearing on Thursday, calling their actions an assault on American democracy and ruling that a man who had bragged about putting his feet on a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office should stay in jail as he awaits trial. "This was not a peaceful protest. Hundreds of people came to Washington, DC, to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power," Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the DC District Court said in the hourlong hearing for Capitol riot defendant Richard Barnett on Thursday. (CNN)

* Biden, Emphasizing Job Creation, Signs Sweeping Climate Actions -- The array of directives — touching on international relations, drilling policy, employment and national security, among other things — elevate climate change across every level of the federal government. (NYT)

* WHO says team in Wuhan to visit labs, markets and hospitals (Reuters)

* As Biden vows monumental  change, fossil fuel industry digs in for a fight -- In barely a week in office, President Biden has moved to rejoin the Paris climate accord, halt the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, impose new limits on oil and gas production and mandate climate change as a priority across every federal agency. (WashPo)

* The long slide in cigarette sales stopped last year amid Covid-19 lockdowns and health concerns about e-cigarettes. (WSJ)

* Covid-19 pummels U.S. economy in 2020; performance weakest in 74 years

 (Reuters)

* GM to aim for zero tailpipe emissions by 2035 (NHK)

* Amateur traders chatting on Reddit have reaped quick fortunes while Wall Street professionals are swooning, exposing once again the financial industry's casino culture and doing what the Occupy Wall Street protests couldn't: cost the financial titans money. Usually the game is rigged against the little guy, but this time day traders are ganging up, pumping prices of battered stocks like GameStop and locking short sellers into massive losses. Sen. Elizabeth Warren demanded that regulators "wake up and do your jobs."[HuffPost]

* Biden to reopen federal ACA insurance marketplace for three months (WashPo)

* Thousands in Poland Protest Against Near-Total Abortion Ban (AP, Reuters)

* Self-styled militia members in 3 states began planning in November ahead of Capitol breach, U.S. alleges (WashPo)

* At least five U.S. district judges -- Democrats and Republicans -- have announced plans to retire or semi-retire as senior judges since Donald Trump left the White House. Eight others announced plans to leave after Biden was declared the election winner. The timing isn't coincidental. “Congratulations on becoming our new president,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup wrote to Biden a day after he was inaugurated. “I feel it is time now for me to ‘go senior.’” [HuffPost]

* Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on young people’s lives.  (WashPo)

* Ian Rogers, 44, an auto repair shop owner in Napa County, California, was charged with possessing weapons, ammunition and materials to make pipe bombs. Federal authorities said he had “intent to attack Democrats and places associated with Democrats in an effort to ensure Trump remained in office.” [HuffPost]

* Amanda Gorman, whose poem captivated at the inauguration, will deliver verse before Super Bowl (WashPo)

* Alexei Navalny Grows More Powerful Every Time Putin Talks About Him -- It is possible that we will one day look back on January 2021 as the beginning of the end of Putin’s reign. (The Nation)

* Yosemite: 15 giant sequoia trees toppled in storm at Mariposa Grove (SJ MercuryNews)

***

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to chew
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube' Whoooa

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head then
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again, whoooa

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10, 000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may thrive
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies

Songwriter: Rick Evans

-30-