A logjam seems to have broken up, the poison in social media is becoming clear

Something new seems to be going on. For years I've been howling about the powerful, anti-democracy poison that social media (SM) has become. But as far as I can tell, that idea hadn't gained much traction with the public. However, in recent days something seems to have caused a wave of recognition that SM is a ruthless for-profit business and whose side it is on. SM is a mind manipulation business that maximized ad revenues. It is on the side of SM owners, executives and investors. It is not on the side of facts, truth, transparency, democracy or civil liberties. Money talks and everything else walks, just like in most other big for-profit businesses.

 

A couple of examples of recent backlash:

A reddit post about Facebook censoring 404 Media: Facebook Is Censoring 404 Media Stories About Facebook's Censorship 

Peanuts in the gallery comment: 

1. Make sure you delete every bit of information you keep on their servers. Pics, vital stats etc.

2. Lol cute, you think they actually delete anything. Best case scenario you just become a shadow profile like everyone else without an account.

3. I actually noticed a porn ad on my Facebook! For a male gay porn site. I’m not, like, offended, but I was shocked to see content I was both uninterested in and not prepared for the shock of while I was scrolling through Facebook at my OBGYN appointment. There was quite literally a whole penis on my screen lol. It had never happened before and I was so confused. This makes sense now.

4. lol. "No censorship allowed, unless it paints us in a bad picture, if it does fuck you, and we will do what we want."

Meta's new hate speech guidelines permit users to say LGBTQ people are mentally ill -- Meta will allow its billions of social media users to accuse people of being mentally ill based on their sexuality or gender identity, among broader changes it made to its moderation policies and practices Tuesday. The company’s new guidelines prohibit insults about someone’s intellect or mental illness on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, as have previous iterations. However, the latest guidelines now include a caveat for accusing LGBTQ people of being mentally ill because they are gay or transgender. 

Comment: Notice how deeply MAGA and deeply poisonous that is? 

De-influencing is a thing now: 'Maybe you'll realize what you have is good enough': Why influencers are facing a pushback -- Fast forward to 2025 [from 2019], and Diana Wiebe, who lives in Ohio, is now an influencer herself, but there is a difference between her and many others. She is trying to "de-influence" her followers from buying things they don't need. In her daily TikTok videos, the content creator – who has more than 200,000 followers on the app – asks questions like "did you want that product before it was marketed to you?", and reminds her followers that weekly and monthly clothing "hauls" are not normal. "Haul" culture is a specific kind of social-media content that originated on YouTube in which creators reveal a haul of purchases – usually clothing – to their followers.

The de-influencers share key messages, such as 'fast fashion won't make you stylish' and 'underconsumption is normal consumption' 

Wiebe is part of a movement – growing since 2023 – that rejects traditional influencer culture, one that has exploded on TikTok, with the hashtag #deinfluencing racking up more than a billion views.

Apparently, the trend of SM killing truth and censoring what is inconvenient is becoming more apparent to more people. As far as I can recall, this is the most direct, comprehensive statement of the critical, heavy reliance that MAGA has on dark free speech or demagoguery. It sounds exactly like what I have been arguing for years:

Which Party Benefits From Zuckerberg’s Move? 

The One That Lies a Lot.

Meta’s decision to drop fact-checking is obviously designed to curry favor with Trump. But it goes well beyond that.

Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg (wearing a $900,000 watch) announced yesterday morning that across their over-seven-billion-user-strong social media empire—Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp—they’ll be dialing back on fact-checking. They’re also preparing to promote more “political” content (among other changes that support those two moves, like no longer filtering out trash-talking queer people or immigrants and moving what’s left of their Trust & Safety team from liberal California to conservative Texas).

Here’s the problem: Republican politicians rely on lies, distortions, and falsehoods to sell most of their policies and candidates.

They must do this because the reality of their actual goals (cut billionaires’ taxes, increase pollution, gut worker and consumer protections, defund schools and medical care, privatize and cut Social Security and Medicare, subsidize oil companies, outlaw abortion, etc.) are so repellent to most Americans. (emphasis added)

I do not recall seeing of this kind of sharp criticism of SM or MAGA's heavy reliance on dark free speech, but it must exist out there somewhere. Between the WaPo caving in to DJT and MAGA bullshit a few days before the election and now Zuckerberg caving in, it seems that a new awareness of the reality of both SM and DFS is starting to sink in to a wider audience. 

The question is, too little, and/or too late? I don't know.

Or, maybe I overstate what seems to be going on here. I do tend to be an early critic when I see nascent threats. 

News bits: Egad, Canadians are alarmed!; Canada threatens the US; Progress in public unhealth; Etc.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) reports:  No longer a joke: Ministers say Trump's threats to absorb Canada need to be taken seriously -- Trump said Tuesday he'd be willing to use 'economic force' to join countries -- Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Wednesday that U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's assertions that Canada should become the 51st state should be taken seriously, after he initially dismissed them as a joke. "The joke is over," LeBlanc told reporters in French. "The president and his allies continue to repeat this — we know it's not going anywhere — but the fact that he's repeating it, it's not very constructive."

Comment: Not very constrictive? Nah, can't be. It came from DJT, so all's well. Darned alarmist Canadians . . . . grumble, grumble . . . . .

Canada Lawmaker Suggests Letting 3 US States Join, Get Free Health Care -- Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May suggested that California, Oregon and Washington join Canada as provinces, offering universal health care and stricter gun laws.

Comment: Hm, universal health care and better gun safety laws . . . . . sounds rather appealing.

Hawaii Gov: RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vax Misinformation Left Dozens Of Kids Dead In Samoa -- Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) on Wednesday warned senators not to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next health and human services secretary, sharing a dark story about Kennedy fueling an anti-vaccine misinformation campaign that Green said led to dozens of children dying in Samoa amid a measles outbreak. “This is an absolute life-or-death decision that the Senate … and frankly the incoming president is poised to make over our future,” Green, who is also a physician, said at a Capitol Hill press conference with other lawmakers who are medical professionals.

Comments from peanuts in the gallery: 

1. Oh, NOW they bring up the dead kids... when it doesn't fucking matter anymore. Jesus fucking Christ, I hate the media. "Oooo he had a brain worm" ... "he ate a dog" ... HE KILLED 83 CHILDREN! This isn't some secret, it's been known forever. 

Hm, that peanut seems to be a bit disgruntled.

2. He’s also an AIDS denialist. The folk who support him aren’t bothered in the slightest. Dead Samoan kids don’t bother MAGA, and neither do people dying needlessly of HIV/AIDS. This is the future they want for America, where the right people are hurt, and their kind of people rise to the top, even if they have to climb a mountain of bodies to do it.

Hm, JFK Jr is an AIDS denialist? Nah, that's nuts. It can't be . . . . . crud, he is. 

Republican asks Supreme Court to condemn & overturn same-sex marriage -- Republicans in Idaho’s House of Representatives are considering making a formal statement imploring the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its famous 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The measure proposed by Republican state Rep. Heather Scott frames the court decision as an “illegitimate overreach.” Scott’s measure asks the court to bring back the “natural definition of marriage,” even though different forms of marriage (including same-sex unions) have existed throughout human history [apparently that is true].

Comments: The day is coming when the USSC will take up a case that challenges the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. We're not there yet, but within ~3 years, it probably will come up. Then the Christian nationalist Republicans will very likely overturn it. The legal arguments they relied on to get rid of abortion rights directly apply to the 2015 same-sex marriage decision. It is surprising that a lawsuit isn't already pending. Getting rid of same-sex marriage rights by Christian nationalists is taking significantly longer than I anticipated. The legal situation is more complicated than I imagined it would be.

Regarding the collapse of truth

404 Media reports about the ongoing collapse of truth in social media:

"Insulting, criticizing, or antagonizing our colleagues or Board members is not aligned with the CEE (Community Engagement Expectations)." 

Meta’s HR team is deleting internal employee criticism of new board member, UFC president and CEO Dana White, at the same time that CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced to the world that Meta will “get back to our roots around free expression,” 404 Media has learned. Some employee posts questioning why criticism of White is being deleted are also being deleted.  

Other employees criticized the decision and raised the point that there is video of White slapping his wife in a nightclub; White was not arrested and was not suspended from UFC for the domestic violence incident. .... “I can kind of excuse individuals for being unaware, but Meta surely did their due diligence on White and concluded that what he did is fine. I feel like I’m on another planet,” another employee commented. “We have completely lost the plot,” a third said.

 

Left: Zuckerbucks (as DJT calls him), "The super wealthy"

Right: Dana White, "The Wife-Slapping Fibber"

Who is Dana White? Good question. Here is how some of the peanuts in the gallery describe him and the truth vs dark free speech situation in social media:

1. For the very old-timers who remember Dana White's time on the Usenet as a regular old poster, before his mobbed-up cronies purchased the UFC from SEG, you may recall the evolution of Dana's background:

• Claimed to be a former professional boxer. This was false.
• Then claimed to be a former amateur boxer. Also false.
• Then claimed to be a boxing trainer and coach. Predictably false.
• Finally admitted he was a Boxercize coach at a strip mall gym.

2. Internal content moderation (dissent) while killing content moderation is on point for tech culture hypocrisy.

3. You can't get into their bubbles and fight back on their turf. They control the algorithm dictating what the users see and don't see. To expand, you can’t beat the algorithms with facts, sources, logic, or kindness. Who gets their message boosted, and whose messages get disappeared. Don't hang around a dead platform hoping it'll change. Twitter is just Nazis and creeps now. Facebook, soon to follow.

4. I’m ex-Google, now Meta. Both companies have cracked down severely on internal dissent through internal moderation. Google’s Memegen used to be extremely political and often divisive, now that sort of speech is limited / prohibited. Facebook is not a social network anymore. It's an ad/propaganda network.

Ooh, we don't wanna be misaligned with community engagement expectations. That's a big no-no. Of course, the community is Facebook executives, like Dana. Meanwhile, the rest of us in the booboisie are just an expendable resource, often a smally nuisance, to harvest cash from. We don't need to know any stinking truth. As Zuckerbucks once said when asked why people gave him their personal information in the early days of Facebook:

People just submitted it. I don't know why. 

They trust me. Dumb fucks.

But seriously, where is actual, honest to God truth in all of this? It is dead and gone. ☠️ 

It got killed as collateral damage, well, actually actual intended damage, by fine people on both sides “getting back to their roots around free expression.” They want dark free speech, a/k/a “free expression”, to run free, wild and butt naked throughout all of America. Facts, sources, logic, and kindness are dead! Hail to Nazis and creeps, crackpots and cranks, and DJT and MAGA!!

See, nothing to worry 

about here

Auto parts are secure!

Various news bits

Justice Dept. Signals Report on Trump Documents Case May Never Be Released -- In a court filing, the department indicated that the report by the special counsel, Jack Smith, may not be made public before Donald J. Trump takes office, raising the prospect that the new administration will bury it.

Comment: The "prospect" it will be buried??? It WILL be buried.

Justice Dept. says it won’t yet release Trump classified document report -- But Attorney General Merrick Garland intends to make public the special counsel’s report about Donald Trump’s election interference case, according to a court filing.

Comment: The DoJ will NEVER release that report if Merrick Garland won't do it now. Another nasty chunk of MAGA history gets white washed because of Garland, DJT's 2nd best protector, after the 1st best USSC.

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Halt His Sentencing in N.Y. Criminal Case -- Prosecutors have been ordered to respond to the president-elect’s request by Thursday morning, suggesting the court could rule before Friday’s scheduled sentencing.

Comment: The rule of law continues to be under constant, vicious attack.

Biden Acknowledges He Might Not Have Been Able to Serve Four More Years -- President Biden insisted that he still could have beaten Donald J. Trump had he stayed in the race, but could not say he would have been vital enough to be president until age 86.

Comment: Duh.

Meta’s ‘tipping point’ is about aligning with power -- In a video on Tuesday explaining Meta’s decision to stop fact-checking posts in the United States, roll back restrictions on hateful language and lift limitations on political discourse across its social networks, the Meta CEO said the “recent elections” feel like a “cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech.” He welcomed a “new era” in which the company can get “back to our roots” and “focus on restoring free expression” rather than trying to reduce false, harmful or offensive content.

Comment: It really does feel like we are at a major tipping point and we are tipping toward authoritarianism with the rise of dark free speech as the dominant form of speech. Honest speech contrary to anything that DJT or MAGA elites want to to hear is being swept away in a tidal wave of defamation lawsuits.

Exxon Mobil Corp. sues California attorney general for defamation over plastic recycling claims -- Exxon Mobil Corp. filed a federal defamation lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups, months after Bonta sued the oil and gas giant alleging that it deceived the public for half a century by promising the plastics it produced would be recycled. It seeks unspecified damages and retractions of “defamatory statements” from Bonta and the groups. A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice called the lawsuit “another attempt from ExxonMobil to deflect attention from its own unlawful deception” and said Bonta looks forward to “vigorously litigating” the case.

Comment: This is an example of honest speech contrary to anything that DJT or MAGA elites want to to hear is being swept away in a tidal wave of defamation lawsuits. Here, the MAGA elite is the powerful, wealthy person called ExxonMobil. His (its) lie about recycling is blatant.

GOP-led N.C. Supreme Court blocks finalizing election for Democratic justice -- Justice Allison Riggs (D) eked out a 734-vote victory over Jefferson Griffin, but the Republican challenged about 60,000 ballots cast by voters who have not provided election officials with their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Comment: MAGA fights very hard for authoritarian power and wealth. Democrats do not fight nearly as hard for democracy or the public interest.