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Recode Daily

Facebook’s secret research, explained

Recode Daily

Recode

Society & Culture, Science, Technology

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2021

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Recently, the Wall Street Journal uncovered some damning internal research at Facebook regarding the impact of social media on our mental health, democracy, and society at large. The WSJ’s Jeff Horwitz (@JeffHorwitz) joins Recode Daily to break down his reporting: “This research made it to me because the people who I worked with were very clear that it wasn't getting acted on appropriately in the first place.” References: Read Jeff’s reports here Enjoyed this episode? Rate Recode Daily ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. What do you want to learn about on Recode Daily? Send your requests and questions to recodedaily@recode.net. We read every email! Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Recode Daily by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices This episode was made by: Host: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) Producer: Alan Rodriguez Espinoza (@ardzes) Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:39.6

Facebook has been in hot water for years now. Russia used it to meddle in the 2016 election.

0:44.7

A company revealed last month that a Russian firm with links to the Kremlin bought more than

0:49.8

$100,000 worth of ads on Facebook between June 2015 and May 2017. The algorithm has been

0:57.8

boosting misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. With a new surge in COVID cases among the

1:03.6

unvaccinated, the Biden administration is blaming, in part, misinformation spreading on Facebook

1:09.8

and other social media. And most recently, Trump supporters used Facebook to organize their

1:14.6

attack on the US Capitol in January. In the weeks beforehand, there were over a million

1:19.5

mentions in social media of storming the Capitol. Maps were shared of the buildings layout.

1:24.6

There was talk of bringing weapons and ammunition and discussion over which lawmakers should be

1:29.2

targeted first. And because of all of this, lawmakers are breathing down Facebook's neck.

1:34.6

Still, the company has faced little to no real consequences. But after last week,

1:39.9

pressure is mounting further. The Wall Street Journal has been publishing bombshell reports about

1:44.5

how Facebook has been handling these issues internally. And it turns out, in many cases,

1:49.3

Facebook knew there was a problem, but did nothing about it.

1:56.3

Jeff Horowitz is a lead reporter of the Facebook files of the Wall Street Journal,

1:59.4

and he's here to tell us more. Hey, Jeff.

...

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