Author | Lightnews

Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 2d

I'm a werewoman

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 2d

I'm slightly more concerned that she doesn't have her hands on the wheel

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 2d

So, a reporter fails to do basic source checking, then blames the source? What is going on at the Times?

Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

And, for those of us researching Facebook, we should now assume that there is a high frequency of artificially generated content in any Facebook dataset.

/end

Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

Maybe Facebook has decided to do what most of the internet does already: offload the work of controlling misinformation onto volunteer community builders, and empower them to manage those spaces themselves.

That's okay, but if that's now Facebook's policy, they should say so.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

For me, I'm a professional in this domain, so it's not much more work for me to refuse a few more applications every week.

But what about communities which are more fragile or have less professional oversight, like groups for town residents? They will have to work it out, like this small city...

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

Is Facebook paranoid that without these accounts, numbers would show that their user base is declining, hurting their bottom line?

Maybe.

But surely it is a far greater reputational risk to have to admit to clients, "A lot of the people looking at your ads, don't exist".

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

But for whatever reason, this ethos is now gone.

Impersonating accounts, even those of real people, is no longer considered dangerous.

A user creating hordes of bots for data farming or misinformation seems to be tolerated, even welcomed.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

And that policy was part of Facebook's ethos for a very, very long time.

In the 2010 book "The Facebook Effect", Zuckerberg said this to author David Kirkpatrick:

“You have one identity... Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity.”

Unambiguous, no?

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

You may or may not agree with Facebook's "real people only, one account per person" policy. These aren't necessarily bad for the internet in general.

However, the value of bots which are impersonating real people, for the sole apparent purpose of data farming, seems minimal for online communities.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

What happened between 2020 and 2022 to create such a dramatic shift in corporate policy? Has Facebook just given up fighting bots in the age of AI?

I'm not sure, but, Facebook hasn't actioned a single report of a fake account *this year*.

I get the same reply every time, usually fairly promptly:

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

On the other hand, Marty Kassowitz at FactKeepers noted how Facebook seemed to be lax with cracking down on an impersonating account in 2022: factkeepers.com/facebook-say...

Facebook Says Fake Accounts Don't Violate Community Standards - Factkeepers.com

It appears Facebook is condoning the cloning of accounts and says they do not violate "community standards." This begs the question: of Facebook's reported 2.9 billion active users, how many of those ...

factkeepers.com

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

As recently as 2020, they were claiming they were cracking down *more* on fake accounts, such as in this interview with Tripepi Smith:

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

Now, in the past, when I reported these accounts to Facebook, they would usually remove them - not all the time, but most of the time. Facebook has a very strict, no bots, real people only policy.

Or, so they say.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

At other times, it takes a little bit more effort, but it's still pretty obvious. For example:

- The accounts usually have only a few disconnected "friends"
- They often have AI generated profile pics
- The account is often recently made
- There's rarely much information in their profile

A facebook account of a bot with only 6 friends, created in September of this year, with almost no information

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

Now, I'm a social media researcher, and I have done a lot of research into disinformation and fake accounts, so I know what to look for.

However, most of the time, it's not very subtle.

For example, on one joining form, they always answer a question asking for an email address with "ok".

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

Unsurprisingly, over the past couple years, fake accounts trying to join my groups has increased a lot - sometimes several a day, where it used to be only a few each month.

I do what I always do: I check the profile to ensure my judgement is correct, refuse the application, and report the accounts.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

The largest has about 20k members and the smallest has about a dozen.

All of them, but particularly the larger ones, get a lot of spurious accounts trying to join the groups. A lot of the activity on Facebook takes place in groups, so it's often data-miners or advertisers.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

I help admin some groups on Facebook.

Private groups, for those who don't know, usually ask joining questions to screen new entries. Usually these questions are really simple, like "do you agree to the group rules", but sometimes they're more complicated.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

So, it turns out Facebook isn't removing bots anymore (a thread)...

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 5d

hard men make gentle hobbits

gentle hobbits make hard times

hard times make rings of power

Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 7d

cat Max Scherzer just out here blowing up bridges

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Reposted by Emyn Dean

Art by Emily K @museum.of.emilyk.art · 9d

"Tzefardea Tzedek" (Frog of Righteousness)

As soon as the Portland Frog became a meme, Jewish social media blew up with jokes about the 2nd Passover plague - tzefarde'a (frogs) - and the Rabbinical commentary around it. I knew I had to make a calligraphy piece encompassing all of it. (more in alt.)

Hebrew calligraphy in dark green stretches in lines across the image. Negative space makes room for a simple representation of an inflatable frog costume with a blue bandana. That shape consists of the English translation of the Hebrew, in a lighter green, and in much smaller text.
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Famously, the Egyptian tyrant causes Egypt to be overrun with frogs because he refuses to free the Hebrew people, but there are additional details that make this a fun one to ponder. For one, the Hebrew says "the frog came up" - ONE frog - even though the rest of the time it says "frogs." So there are a few explanations rabbis have come up with to explain this. One is that a single frog multiplied to create swarms. A more creative explanation is that there was a singular giant frog who traveled and brought destruction. Jewish social media was sharing videos of the Portland Frog protester with the caption, "One Big Frog! One Big Frog!" Of course the frog protesters did multiply, and many were seen in crowds all over the world on "No Kings" Day. This calligraphic work takes the verses addressing the frog plague and combines them to form a simple rendering of the Portland Frog protester. The frog figure itself is made up of the English translations of the Hebrew around it. At the bottom left my signature is in the shape of a lily pad.

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Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 9d

that would explain why they get more funding

Emyn Dean @emyndean.bsky.social · 9d

I completely missed that media narrative

Although I do know several people who voted and took it quite seriously