86 comments

  • lp4v4n an hour ago

    Interference with an election is so in line with the current president's character that nobody has any reason to think otherwise.

    The political atmosphere in the USA, and worldwide let's be honest, has become so cynical that people aligned with the American president don't really see any issue with doing morally wrong things or downright illegal acts if that means a political victory for them.

    • dozerly 37 minutes ago

      I sincerely hope we can recover from this moral bankruptcy in some way, it’s going to be pretty dismal if not.

      • augment_me 15 minutes ago

        What's the incentives to not do it this way? Are there punishments for companies to lobby or influence things? How is the everyday voter affected by this?

    • Avicebron 37 minutes ago

      > The political atmosphere in the USA, and worldwide let's be honest, has become so cynical that...

      We've redefined our communication medium worldwide in ~30 years. It's going to have consequences, the question is what we do about it. The edge lord cynicism came about because of economic issues, fix those first..

      • King-Aaron 28 minutes ago

        No one will fix these issues, because the issues are in fact features for those in charge of the media companies/government.

        • Avicebron 26 minutes ago

          Sounds like an issue.

      • gchamonlive 35 minutes ago

        Yes but it's very hard when those that make the rules are the same as those benefiting from them, as it's the case in olygarchies.

      • wiseowise 15 minutes ago

        > The edge lord cynicism came about because of economic issues, fix those first..

        “Just fix the hunger and poverty, duh”

        I also thought like that. When I was twelve.

        • Gabriel_Martin 13 minutes ago

          let's not make this place glib like everywhere, it's one of the few places people stay mostly decent to each other.

          • adastra22 8 minutes ago

            I do feel like we are entering the eternal September on HN :(

        • fcarraldo 12 minutes ago

          The last people in history who had as much wealth as Elon Musk were emperors.

          Perhaps something can change to help prevent poverty and hunger if the economic value produced by society results in such enormous gains by such few people.

  • __rito__ an hour ago

    Meta (Instagram) certainly pushes one side in India. I am sure of it.

    I didn't quite believe its involvement with things in Myanmar where media, people vowed left and right of Meta's involvement.

    But seeing it now firsthand, I certainly believe it.

    - Accounts, posts from one cabal being pushed to your feed even if you don't follow any of them.

    - If you open a fresh account, the accounts from those cabal are recommended at top.

    - Relentlessly showing posts from one side and promoting them like hell.

    Suspected bot activities. There were posts that are sans merit clearly, but Insta pushed it and had the unvelievable amount of likes, like Messi would have, had he posted his wedding reels.

    I don't have publishable evidence, but I ask you to trust me. Human to human.

    I read newspapers, I don't trust megaliked reels. But most don't nowaday, and I saw real people fall to blatant lies and propaganda. It's real. You can say anything, but I am convinced fully.

    • throwaway27448 an hour ago

      Presumably the side is BJP?

    • jordanb an hour ago

      > Meta (Instagram) certainly pushes one side in India. I am sure of it.

      Watching all the techbros trying to crowd the stage to get in the shot with Modi when he went to SF was a precursor to them all crowding around Trump.

  • smallerfish an hour ago

    Even though I've shilled the book before, it's an opportune thread to repeat the recommendation: if you haven't, read Careless People. For much of her career at Facebook, the author worked for Joel Kaplan, who was VP of Global Public Policy and is now Chief Global Affairs Officer. She's not particularly complimentary.

    • Barbing 44 minutes ago

      Is the author still under gag order?

  • silverFork 38 minutes ago

    Americans don't like any entity to interfere in their elections but the reality is that their corporations are knee deep in interference in other countries never mind what they themselves call the deep state!

    Does anyone remember Cambridge Analytica activity on Facebook during US elections in 2016.. Look it up if you don't remember. The same entity was also active in South America aka Colombia, Brazil, Argentina.. Cambridge Analytica was never charged and Facebook was never charged because it was all made legal. After the revelations, some laws changed but has it really changed. Is it stopping American interference in other countries? it doesn't look like it. What about at home? You know better than I do if you have an account; I don't.

  • kbbgl87 2 hours ago

    Nao Se Meta, that's clever

    • johnhamlin an hour ago

      Roughly translates to “stay out of it?”

      • airstrike an hour ago

        Exactly! It's a common expression to shoo someone off.

        Literally it translates to "Don't put yourself" where "put" is the closest I can think of to the verb "meter", which is sort of what you do when you insert something haphazardly instead of carefully.

        Truly literally the words are "No + self + put" and the conjugation of "meter" into "meta" makes it clear the subject is "you"

    • N_Lens an hour ago

      It means "Don't get involved" in Brazilian Portuguese.

      • germandiago 38 minutes ago

        Well, actually it would be, more literally "do not get into it".

  • ricardobeat an hour ago

    A note on Meta AI was making the rounds the past few days: it will happily generate images featuring the right-wing candidate, logo or party number, while consistently refusing to generate anything related to the opposition Lula/PT/13.

    They claimed it was a 'technical error'.

    In September, as the elections geared up, they also suspened Lula's campaign account due to another 'technical error'. There are also thousands of complaints from users having their posts blocked.

  • adlotsof an hour ago

    I am quite sure meta does support the german AfD. Rage causes engagement. AfD (and Trump and Orban and le Pen) communicate in such emotional ways that algorithms prefer them. Facebook does not care about truth, it cares about active users

    • aliasxneo an hour ago

      Both extremes on the political spectrum use and heavily rely on emotions over nuance/truth. Probably why both have been steadily growing and that the clashes tend to be explosive.

      • skippyboxedhero an hour ago

        How dare you. It is only the people that I disagree with that are unstable. I am a stable genius. I am furious.

        • aliasxneo 36 minutes ago

          Yeah. Some things never change on the orange site.

      • ryan_lane an hour ago

        Political manipulation by Russia, China, etc, have been using wedge issues to push people into extreme sides on issues, but they throw support behind the far-right political parties, because conservative voters unite their votes and because they're more willing to accept mistruths.

        Liberal voters don't unite well, and they also tend to have lower trust when it comes to misinformation.

        • skippyboxedhero an hour ago

          This isn't the case. People assume this is the case because only one side is reported for various reasons.

          Just to be clear though: the Communist Party of China is not a massive fan of far-right parties, there are certain ideological barriers there.

          Russia employed the former left-wing German Chancellor as part of their strategy making an invasion of Ukraine economically viable for them (it is worth pointing out that when right-wing politicians pointed this out, it was received as a crazy conspiracy theory..."liberal voters" distinguish themselves as people who believe themselves particularly unlikely to believe in "misinformation" whilst simultaneously believing in things that make no sense, most people who have a knowledge of politics are required to believe things that aren't true...if they were in touch with reality, they wouldn't vote).

          • knowaveragejoe 6 minutes ago

            My casual read is that the CCP can tolerate both the far left and right in the US, but only the far right is near the levers of power, and the far right is apt to leave them alone entirely(America first).

          • arximboldi 34 minutes ago

            To call Scholz left-wing is quite a stretch. But what can one expect of someone that believes that not voting is the natural consequence of "being in touch with reality".

            • wiseowise 10 minutes ago

              Schröder, not Scholz.

  • throwaway27448 an hour ago

    They should probably protest with the structural integrity pf their nearest courthouse or prison

  • lift2027 12 minutes ago

    When has the US not interfere in other countries' elections, especially those taking place in its "backyard"? Nothing is off limits. Everything comes from the CIA playbook: bribes, threats, assassinations, social media trolling, censorship, etc. Of course, these days, interference is no longer limited to international affairs but has fully entered the domestic arena. Trump's top donors have already contributed billions to the midterm elections, but it may not be enough to sway voters. This coming midterm election, brace for the unexpected.

  • plandis an hour ago

    It sure is a coincidence that parties in opposition to right wing political movements in different countries keep getting silenced on Meta.

    It gives the appearance that Meta is not an impartial platform like they try to claim for regulatory purposes.

    • draxen 39 minutes ago

      There is really no "global right wing alliance"

      I remember NYTimes/WaPost pieces being concerned about Hindu nationalist influence on the Republican party. Anyone who has spend 2 seconds online know it's more likely the Republican party nukes India than forming alliances with the BJP.

  • olcarl75 an hour ago

    this is turning out to be a disaster for the tech communities and powering technology fearmongers because people do not understadn the case here.

    From what I can see, the meta cutoff data was from a time where one candidate was confirmed and the other wasn't. The political interference here was actually the timely manner for them to fix this. It took weeks of public pressure / federal government pressure for Meta to act.

  • lifeisloving 2 hours ago

    People should look up the North American Technate, because we're living in it. Its been a mission of techno-fascist for a couple decades, they're finally succeeding. They will get rid of democracy altogether

    (they may have already, they can basically do mind control with recommendations algorithms and get swaths of people to do whatever they want).

    • someothherguyy 39 minutes ago

      > because we're living in it

      i don't see the correlation with current events. do you have a source that establishes this based on evidence?

    • N_Lens an hour ago

      At long last! A Global Torment Nexus!!

      • cwnyth an hour ago

        If someone thinks they can profit off of or otherwise control the Torment Nexus, they will build it as fast as they can.

      • morkalork an hour ago

        Some kind of a uh Prison Planet you say? Seems familiar. Oh, he's in on it and wants to sell me some boner pills instead?

    • neom 2 hours ago

      Elon Musk’s grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was a leader of that movement in Canada.

      Fun read: https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/joshua-haldeman...

      • andsoitis an hour ago

        From that article: "Haldeman died in a plane crash in 1974, when he was 72 years old. His grandson, Elon Musk, was just three."

        • treapassing-sil an hour ago

          That sucks.. so Im understanding correctly. Elon was not on the plane...?

          For some reason this reminds me of the baby hilter paradox.

    • slibhb an hour ago

      A large minority of people cannot cope with losing elections. Shadowy forces are behind every loss. Ironically, it's this attitude that undermines democracy. More than Facebook at any rate...

    • handoflixue 2 hours ago

      I mean, if they have secret mind control powers that they've hid from the rest of the world for years, it seems kinda pointless to try and oppose them?

      At that point, they've already won, neh?

      (this is mostly to object that hyperbolic phrases like "basically mind control" don't do your argument any favor)

      • tomalbrc 2 hours ago

        > secret mind control powers

        Secret? Its called "X" and Facebook.

        • rnd0 an hour ago

          don't forget youtube

  • nielsbot 2 hours ago

    Meta has interfered with elections before, we know the Trump admin wants Bolsonaro Jr in power, and the US establishment has supported anti-socialism in Brazil in the past. (The CIA agitated against Lula under Reagan, for example)

    Is it overly conspiratorial to think the Meta is doing what they're accused of on behalf of the US?

    • missmewiththatl 2 hours ago

      Trump should focus on America. In 15 days, he's going to wish he didn't.

      • rnd0 an hour ago

        As much as I wish I could say you're right -I think that's unlikely. Please feel free to say "I told you so" in fifteen days, however. I'd love to be wrong!

        • rectang 8 minutes ago

          If you’re someone who treasures the scientific method and the scientific approach to understanding the world, you have to become comfortable with uncertainty. Particularly in the Senate are several possible outcomes with wildly different consequences, all of which are plausible.

          Don’t let either loss aversion or irrational exuberance rule you. Weigh every possibility and prepare yourself for it psychologically. The result could be crushing defeat, but it could also be stunning triumph.

      • cute_boi 2 hours ago

        Hopefully, trump loses so badly republican will get some sense.

        • rectang an hour ago

          The majority of the Republican primary electorate demands Trump and won’t stand for elected Republicans who challenge him. There have been a fair number of Republicans who have stood up to him, but most of them are already out or on their way out.

          It’s basically impossible for elected Republicans to hold Trump to account without losing office, and even if Republicans get wiped out in the coming election (I’m skeptical), I doubt that dynamic will change. If the price of gas weren’t so high, Republicans would be fairly happy with Trump — he’s basically kept his promise to be a hard-ass on immigration and other culture war issues.

          I don’t expect a Republican reckoning that would please Democrats. Future Republican standard bearers will probably be very similar to Trump but more competent — akin to Erdogan, Bolsonaro, Orban, Modi, and others.

          • ryandrake 26 minutes ago

            Exactly. Even if Trump disappeared today, the voters/mentality who elected him is not going anywhere. All they need is someone else to say "I am exactly like Trump and will keep doing everything he did," and that politician will be their top candidate. (R) is no longer the party of guys like Mitt Romney and John McCain.

          • crummy an hour ago

            > If the price of gas weren’t so high, Republicans would be fairly happy with Trump

            This is the sad truth. Imagine if he hadn't invaded Iran. He probably would manage to finagle a third term.

        • hackyhacky 2 hours ago

          It doesn't matter whether Republicans lose the election or not. Trump will just ignore/dismiss the election results, or ignore/dismiss Congress, as he did has done for the last two years.

        • georgemcbay an hour ago

          Republicans will not get any sense regardless of what happens.

          The only important question is whether Democrats will get any sense if they win.

          The worst outcome is actually Democrats winning and then keeping the status quo and continuing to serve corporations and special interest groups over the needs of their own constituents.

          They won't have any real power to force through legislation even if they win, but if they win and don't use this time to shake up their own party and instead keep Schumer/Jeffries/et al in charge and keep towing the center-right Third Way-esque line then in a few years time we will find out that actually, yes, there are worse people that could be president than Trump (all of the malevolence, but perhaps with competence too next time).

          Every election for over a decade has been a change election and the Democratic party refusing to understand this (because the consultant class and their high value donors don't want to understand it) is one of the primary factors in creating and enabling Trump. And it isn't yet clear they intend to address this. I mean, people are still taking a Gavin Newsom run in 2028 seriously ffs.

    • colordrops 2 hours ago

      Conspiracies are hidden. It's a confirmed fact that they banned his account during the election. This is no conspiracy - it's out in the open.

      • idontwantthis 2 hours ago

        A conspiracy is just people talking to each other about a crime. It doesn’t have to be hidden. Conspiracies can be in the open.

        • colordrops an hour ago

          No, that just isn't true. It's almost always used to indicate secret coordination, both in idiomatic usage and formal definitions.

          And it doesn't have to be criminal. You are hallucinating more than a 2024 LLM.

      • howunfortunate 2 hours ago

        By this logic, old Twitter interfered with US elections by banning Trump.

        Edit: the point about Trump was facetious, but old Twitter actually DID actively interfere in the 2020 election by censoring all sharing (even in DMs!) the New York Post Biden laptop story.

        • techblueberry an hour ago

          Why is the argument we should race to the bottom?

          • howunfortunate an hour ago

            I am not making that argument, I just dislike double standards, especially considering that right wing voices have been repeatedly and consistently scrubbed from social media for years.

        • alexandre_m 28 minutes ago

          That is correct, both Twitter and Meta actively suppressed the Biden laptop story. That was clear election interference.

          • knowaveragejoe 2 minutes ago

            That's not the entire story and anyone who has done their diligence on it knows this.

        • hackyhacky 2 hours ago

          > Twitter interfered with US elections by banning Trump.

          You mean when Twitter "permanently" banned Trump in January of 2021, after the 2020 election (which he lost)? Which election do you suppose that interfered with?

          • treapassing-sil an hour ago

            Nothing will shut him up. My god.. I wish killing his twitter account could do that. He lost because he is a POS and people where tired of his blabbering and complaining.

          • hackernud3s an hour ago

            They interfered with him trying to steal that election. That doesn't count?

          • morkalork an hour ago

            All the future ones. Don't you see? If you're a big enough public figure and announce any ambition for public office, every attempt at holding you accountable for crimes is interference!

    • owebmaster 2 hours ago

      > Is it overly conspiratorial to think the Meta is doing what they're accused of on behalf of the US?

      Not at all. We all know it. There's just literally nothing we can do. The whole world is an US dictatorship

      • catlikesshrimp an hour ago

        Or russian dictatorship or chinese dictatorship? I would still pick US, If I could choose.

        • cwnyth an hour ago

          AKA, Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia.

    • recroad 2 hours ago

      It would be conspiratorial to not think that.

    • jojobas an hour ago

      Those evil US imperialists and CIA agitators, not letting any new countries prosper like DPRK, Cuba and Venezuela, or be free of tyranny like PRC and Venezuela!

      • daishi55 an hour ago

        Sorry, are you suggesting that the CIA hasn’t done its best to prevent left-wing governments from succeeding in many cases? Because that would be very silly and ahistorical.

        • jojobas an hour ago

          If by "succeeding" you mean destroying thousands or millions of people's lives by famine, labor camps and executions, then yes, it sure has.

          Everyone remembers evil Pinochet who killed some 3k out of 11 million, nobody cares about kind Hoxha who killed at least 6k (likely closer to 100k) out of 2 million, or plushy Castro (10k killed + 70k dead trying to flee out of 10 million).

      • manoDev 32 minutes ago
  • draxen an hour ago

    Surprisingly the Brazilian left has embraced post-Musk Twitter instead of starting their own sovereign alternative platform.

    One problem the Brazilian left is facing is that the non-Musk platforms are not too fond of death threats against Protestants, landlords, farmers etc.

    • decidu0us9034 32 minutes ago

      People being edgy on X seems unrelated. Comment seems completely off-topic. Or are you implying Meta suppressed Lula's account because he threatened to murder Protestants? I don't get it.