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Facebook Profits from Civil Unrest in The Black Community


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“At least one of the Facebook ads bought by Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign referenced Black Lives Matter and was specifically targeted to reach audiences in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, sources with knowledge of the ads told CNN.

Ferguson and Baltimore had gained widespread attention for the large and violent protests over police shootings of black men. The decision to target the ad in those two cities offers the first look at how accounts linked to the Russian government-affiliated troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency used geographically targeted advertising to sow political chaos in the United States, the sources said.” —Dylan Byers, CNNMoney

 

As a keen observer of Facebook I already knew troll farms were corrupting the platform.  Indeed some of the engagement brands get is generated by fake accounts.  Sometime companies pay for the fake engagement to make themselves look more popular, other times you get the engagement from the fake accounts, so that the fake account appear more real to others.  

 

Anyone who runs a website knows there are folks out there who will try to use your platform to their advantage.  The problem with Facebook is that rather than purging these bogus accounts they actively profit from fake accounts and active trolls.  One reason I stopped advertising on Facebook was because I could not trust that the engagement I received from my ad was from real people.  Three years ago I shared information about Facebook fake likes. Even a casual observer of Facebook knows many accounts are fake, but Facebook still counts them as users. 

 

Okay, this kind of stuff only matters to people who, like me, who uses Facebook to advertise their services (Facebook as already eliminated organic reach); why would it matter to anyone who just uses the platform to communicate with friends and to share memes?

 

The problem is even as a regular user you are subjecting yourself to false information and manipulation by marketers, foreign governments, and even Facebook itself. The CNN video above is proof that there are an attempt to create civil unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson and that Facebook profits from this activity.

 

It is one thing to be uninformed, but we are increasingly becoming misinformed.  Misinformation is so prevalent that it is hard to tell the difference between what is true and what is false

 

Why anyone still chooses to subject themselves to Facebook is beyond me. Well it is not really "beyond me;" I get it.  I just wish it were not the situation were are in.  If current trends continue, and Facebook achieves its goal, Facebook will become the world wide web and our country will be at greater risk.

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6 hours ago, Troy said:

The problem is even as a regular user you are subjecting yourself to false information and manipulation by marketers, foreign governments, and even Facebook itself. The CNN video above is proof that there are an attempt to create civil unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson and that Facebook profits from this activity.

 

Yet 94% black women still voted for HRC... So while trolls may fool fools, it isn't fool-proof.     Trolls are like a virus - if you're immune-system is  strong (i.e., mentally strong) you can't become infected. Only a weakened immune system will be infected.  

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@Troy You say you have closely monitored face book but you don't sound like you have viewed it through objective eyes. In your one-sided observations, you have presented the worst case scenario in regard to your vested interests.  

 

For the majority of people, FaceBook is first and foremost a social  forum.  Or are its users as naïve and gullible as you think. They scroll down its board and pick and choose what they want to read.  People soon get wise to the misleading head lines that don't live up to the hype and they are constantly advising each other in regard to fake news articles. FaceBook, itself, printed a list of the hashtags of unreliable news sources. Indeed,  FaceBook is rife with skeptical people who doubt and pooh-pooh what is reported there.   And users do have the option to stop receiving annoying notices that appear on their walls.  "Delete" buttons are standard equipment on everything.  Provocative memes are plentiful, and often humorous and on point. There are all kinds of quizzes you can take, and free photo-shopping for your pictures.  There are a lot of food preparation and "cute" pet videos, as well as musical ones of old favorites. The discussions are lively and informative and trolls are easily spotted. Nobody forces you to look  at the pictures people have posted of themselves or their children.  Yes, FaceBook does bring out the worst in people who are stupid and vicious  to begin with. But these types were around before FaceBook, and we'll always be around. B)

 

And  do you really think the Russians had to convince black people that racism exists, or tell white people that  BLM are troublemakers?  Do you actually think if it wasn't for the Russians, all of the "deplorable" bigots out there would have voted for Hillary? These allegation themselves are over blown. There was just as much good posted about Clinton as bad.  People weren't interested in the truth; they voted their prejudices. Mel makes a good point about this when she said: "...94% black women still voted for HRC... So while trolls may fool fools, it isn't fool-proof.  Trolls are like a virus - if you're immune-system is  strong (i.e., mentally strong) you can't become infected. Only a weakened immune system will be infected."

 

Social media is an amusement for me.  And when I've had my fill of its vapidity, I click off and go to another site. There are millions of people out there like me who compartmentalize FaceBook. When it comes to its dire consequences, I think you are panicking like "Chicken Little" who thought the world was falling because an acorn fell from a tree and hit him on the head. In any case,  you can't stem the tide of change. The future is fluid. This is the age of technology which is really just about enabling people to be more efficient at doing what they've always done and this includes exploiting each other.  FaceBook is what it is, only as harmful or harmless as the people who go there. It is a mirror of life. Ubiquitous smart phones are more ominous. 

 

  BTW, do you think  Mark Zuckerberg who gives millions away to philanthropic causes, who has admitted to not being a good watchdog and is trying to correct FaceBook's flaws,  is out to control the world? 

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Hi @Mel Hopkins, 94% of Black women did not vote for Hillary.  Maybe 94% of the votes that were actually cast by Black women went to Hillary.  Less than 60% of Black people turned out to vote as reported by Pew. Only 46% of millennials bother to cast a vote!  This is the very same demographic that we've brainwashed into believing in the "power" of social media, and they could not be bothered to vote.  It is disgusting! 

 

See the problem was not just manipulating who someone votes for but whether they voting at all.  As you know, our funky electoral college allow people to win with less than the popular vote.  So if you can get enough people, in the right locations to self-disenfranchise, you can have a serious impact.  As we have seen.

 

@Cynique, Yes, I'm absolutely biased, for what is good for our people. Yes, it is obvious I'm looking at Facebook from a completely different perspective than you are. I tried to communicate that the average Facebook user, like yourself, may not "get it" when I wrote, "why would it matter to anyone who just uses the platform to communicate with friends and to share memes?"

 

Facebook, for you, is exactly what you want it to be. Facebook has brilliantly designed it that way.  Your filter bubble is created in such a way that you sound like Mark Z. himself extolling the virtues of Facebook.  Now it is not that you are completely unaware of the downside of Facebook, you just don't see it in your daily use of the platform.  I'm beginning to think you don't want to see it either.  But the point is Facebook has brilliantly convinced their users that all the shit they do is of little or no consequence--indeed they feel Facebook is great.

 

But you can't view from just your perspective. Well you can but don't complain when more than half of our children are swapping 45 memes and expressing moral indignation at his tweets to impress their friends, but don't vote.

 

People don't really understand or care about the destructive force social media can be.  The Black community is particularly susceptible because we don't control any powerful platforms. As a result, we are easy prey for anyone wanting to take advantage of us.

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29 minutes ago, Cynique said:

In any case,  you can't stem the tide of change. The future is fluid. This is the age of technology which is really just about enabling people to be more efficient at doing what they've always done and this includes exploiting each other


Beautiful

The way you write @Cynique leaves me verklempt .

Every. Time.  

4 minutes ago, Troy said:

94% of Black women did not vote for Hillary

 

94% of black women who voted, voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton.   

AND IF NOT FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, you,  by your own admission @Troy , wouldn't have voted in the last election.   Thank you @Cynique  - Troy admitted that you were the one who inspired him to go out and vote.  

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@Troy I am not about "extolling the virtues" of FaceBook; which is why I referred to its "vapidity", and I never called it "great".   Or have I ever implied that Facebook is anything other than just one of the many diversions I pursue on the Internet, including coming to this site, wasting my time  imposing my views on others. And I do view FaceBook from different angles, which is why I said it is both "harmful" and "harmless".  Plus, it's not a matter of me not wanting to see the DANGER of  Facebook and its evil creator Darth Zuckerberg. :o:ph34r:     I simply don't give a damn.  Just being alive is dangerous nowadays.  I'm too old to be fretting about 2084.  I'll leave the brooding about FaceBook to you, since it seems to be your favorite preoccupation.  :P

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Yes, @Mel Hopkins I agree with Cynique's quote, "This is the age of technology which is really just about enabling people to be more efficient at doing what they've always done and this includes exploiting each other..."  I would just make one important adjustment to the statement in that the benefits do not accrue to everyone.  Indeed those efficiencies only extend to the owners and those wealthy enough to pay the owners. To suggest that they accrue to the general population is fantasy.  As social media grows and indie Black-owned platform die the situation grows worse for us.

 

The distinction of 94% of Black women versus 94% of those that voted is important. It is possible less than 50% of Black women voted for Hilary.

 

Yes Mel I freely admitted that Cynique got me to vote.  While I don't like to cite personal anecdotes to make generalization about a population. It was actually that very experience that turned me off to social media.  I was constantly being bombarded by messages that Hilary is a crook, some of them patently false.  Now those pulling the strings know I would never vote for 45 (my being Black is probably all they needed to know), but they also know I was probably primed for the disillusionment message (as most middle class people would be) and could be dissuaded NOT to vote.

 

Thankfully Cynique opened my eyes.  The fact is the majority of millennials on social media did not vote.  I can assume this because social media has almost 100% penetration in this demographic and we know much lass than half of them votes.  Now one might say that I can't prove a connection between being on social media and not voting.  But what I can absolutely say is that being on social media does not get users to vote, and there is evidence to show their are actors working to get us not to vote.

 

@Cynique, OK, I understand that you don't care. Needless to say I do care and have adjusted my behavior accordingly.  I consume as little information on Twitter and Facebook (the only two platforms I really "use") as possible. I also use this platform to explain why so that others are not, for example, dissuaded from voting the way I almost was.

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31 minutes ago, Troy said:

 

The distinction of 94% of Black women versus 94% of those that voted is important. It is possible less than 50% of Black women voted for Hilary.

Of course it is.  But the point is  94% of black women WHO VOTED...  voted for Hillary .... Therefore  trolls  or facebook or any social media have no affect on BLACK WOMEN WHO VOTE

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I don't see how you can draw that conclusion Mel. What about 6% of the Black female voters who did not vote for Hillary?  What about the Black female voters, who voted n the last presidential election but did not this time? We know Black voter turn out was much higher in 2012, indeed a record high.  Why the precipitous drop--when it was more important than ever?

 

See the purveyors of social media always tout how they help connect and inform people, but any of those benefits, if the occur, are incidental.  Facebook is a company that you can pay to help you rile up racists, disseminate lies, and discourage people from voting.  

 

 

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36 minutes ago, Troy said:

It was actually that very experience that turned me off to social media.  I was constantly being bombarded by messages that Hilary is a crook, some of them patently false. 

 

Oh now I see, this was personal.   @Troy you let those memes get to you... Those memes didn't faze me anymore than campaign attack ads do on the radio - or tv.... It's just media and campaigning.   I've been following Hillary since the late 80s...  if you or anyone isn't aware of  candidates' background and that's your first introduction then of course those memes might work - but we can't blame social media for our own ignorance.   On the very same internet, anyone can query and research the background of the candidate, sponsored legislation and just about anything .  Privacy is a thing of the past for you, me but especially anyone running for office.  It's on us to compile information on those we chose to elect.   Again facebook isn't the problem - we are.   No one deserves absolution for ignorance.   If members of the electorate, especially the middle class, get turned off  for something as simple as casting a  vote - then we all suffer - but those too lazy to cast a ballot are responsible for the disaster that we have today.   Sorry facebook is not blame.  Lazy ass people are. 

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I wish we would stop making this about you or I or any individual.  The fact of the matter is our electrical process was corrupted with lies and Facebook profited from the activity.  Saying people should just no better is naive.  Just because I avoided the manipulation does not mean other should have.

 

People should know better not to smoke.  People should know better not to eat crappy foods.  The fact of the matter is people are actively manipulated to do things are are bad for them, suggesting that they should "Just Say No," ignores all the propaganda people are subjected to.  Social media has given propagandists an incredible tool, one that the American government is allowing to go buck wild.

 

Facebook IS the problem. Facebook is not some benign, passive platform being exploited by evil doers, they are active participants and profiting incredibly from the activity. They are no different than big tabacco who knowingly sold cancer causing cigarette to the public, causing millions of deaths, and making billions of dollars...and they are still at it.

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What about all of the voter manipulation before  FaceBook even came on the scene when people were influenced and manipulated  by the empty campaign promises of devious candidates who either appeared in person at rallies or bought ad time on radio, print space in newspapers,  and commercials on TV?  What's naïve is to think that politics has ever been anything but a corrupt exercise in lies and deceptions and bribes and ignorance.  Victory was  always influenced by an electorate who voted their pocketbooks, or were rabidly partisan, and even those who voted against someone because of how they looked, not to mention what race or religion a candidate was. Plus, scandals have also been a staple in politics.  If FaceBook were to disappear, tomorrow, there would be no drastic change in the shady political arena.

 

It's no secret that FaceBook is all about giving people what they want,  an idea whose time came, - one that filled a void that was already there waiting to captivate people who willingly patronized it.  Not so much because they are duped but because are bored with their mundane lives. If visionaries were ingenious enough to come up with  this innovative concept, and capitalize on its popularity, then that is the reward they reap in a competitive, capitalistic society that is a haven for monopolies.  Every product is designed to appeal to the needs of its customers. My question is, if this is wrong, what would make it right?  

 

And it's not like millions of people aren't FaceBook  fans,  and millions of others spend limited time there.  :huh:  

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8 hours ago, Troy said:

Saying people should just no better is naive. ...People should know better not to smoke.  People should know better not to eat crappy foods.  The fact of the matter is people are actively manipulated to do things are are bad for them, suggesting that they should "Just Say No," ignores all the propaganda people are subjected to.

 

@Troy,  You're kidding right?  Naive?   Believing corporations will not act in its own interest is akin to believing in good fairies.   |

By now you should know, I'm from the camp of personal responsibility.   People  are simply acting  on their own desires.  Someone can force you to do something, but  there's no amount of propaganda that will make you do what you don't want to.  

For example, where's the big ad campaign /propaganda machine pushing opioids?  Now t's news and states are filing lawsuits against big Pharma, but somewhere along the chain there was information pull activity- which just shows people want what they want.

 

So blame platforms and absolve people if that's makes you feel better.  But here in the U.S. people have a sense of agency and they choose their lives

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Yes Cynique all you say about our corrupt political process prior to social media is true. However, social media has enabled that corruption to become much more effective, and therefore much worse for us as a nation--not just Black people. The election of 45 should tell you that.

 

Yes Mel, I know you are a pull yourself by your own bootstraps type of person.  I was one too.  But then I started AALBC.com, read more, met more people outside my successful Black middle class demographic, and my position changed.

 

It is not like I stopped reading books by people who think the way you do.  Most notably Brothers like Thomas Sowell (who you'd probably love) makes a compelling case, but some of his views on Black achievement in our current system don't square with reality in my view.  

 

I can't see how anyone can continue to blame the victim for their plight given the treatment we have received in America over the last several hundred years. AgaIn I know you and I are doing fine. But again, I'm not talking about us, I'm talking about the millions other Black people trapped in poverty, because the criminal behavior of corporations and a complicit government.

 

Mel, companies like Goldman brought the world to the brink of financial collapse!  No one was punished, indeed the were rewarded and Obama is praised for saving the country.   At the same time a Brother gets caught with a dime bag and he is locked up for years... It is surreal.

 

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on our ability to deal with the adverse role big business plays in our lives.  

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1 hour ago, Troy said:

Yes Mel, I know you are a pull yourself by your own bootstraps type of person.  I was one too.  But then I started AALBC.com, read more, met more people outside my successful Black middle class demographic, and my position changed.

 

Nope, I'm a trust-fund baby.  But I come from a family of women and men who have always run a business, had a side hustle and most importantly thought for themselves.  I'm in the process of pulling myself up by my bootstraps right now - reinventing myself because  the only constant is change. To that end, I READ  and I practice EFFECTIVE THINKING most of the time... so of course, I would expect others to read and think for themselves too. 

 

So yes,  I definitely believe we have our own mind and we use it to achieve our own desires.   The proof is from visiting so many different countries  all over the world and seeing so many types of living conditions... and the bottom-line is people do what suits them in their environment.   . Russians allegedly tried their crap in other countries but guess what? It didn't work - I wonder why?   Only here in America, it seems, do we have politically disengaged people.    Not black women, though, every publication that keeps records on the electorate , such as American progress and Pew Research indicate that black women vote at a higher rate than any other group.    

So America has its true leader,  black women ... those who aren't following will must likely get run over. 

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The percentage of Black men and Black women who voted and who they voted for is irrelevant.

Why?

Because if you're too weak and aren't going to do a damn think to PROTECT your vote, what good is going through the motions of voting?

Clearly there was widespread election fraud in the urban areas around this nation and especially in the three states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania where most of the votes of Milwaukee, Detroit, and Philadelphia were tossed out or simply not counted.
The same thing happened in Florida and Ohio back in 2000.

And just like back in 2000, not only didn't most Black leades raise hell about this and demand some sort of recount or accountability before Trump took office, but HILLARY CLINTON HERSELF barely made a fuss about it and accepted defeat.

This is why I call myself neither Democrat nor Republican.

The Republicans have proven themselves to be unabashed racists but the White Democrats have also proven themselves to be:
-closet racists or
-cowards who are too afraid to confront the racists.

Black people are the real "soul" of the Democrat Party but most of them are in impotent positions.


We shouldn't expect White politicians to be fair or just....even if they court our vote.
We should be promoting OUR OWN politicians and getting them elected where we can have a reasonable expectation that they will serve our interests.

 

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@Mel Hopkins, nice I wish there were more Black trust fund kids running around.  Like you I'm reinventing myself too. reading and mindset are of course important and change indeed s the only constant.  On this we agree. 

 

But as I've tried to example to Cynique we can't use our individual experiences and extend them the larger world for they simply do not apply.  Why would you expect someone raised in the ghetto to have the same outcome as a smart, attractive, trust fund kid? Sure it is possible not not very likely.

 

Mel why do you continue to say the Black women here are so politically engaged when the data your shared shows that almost half failed to vote?  I already know that way than half perhaps 70 to 80% failed to vote in the midterms.

 

I too have been all over the world and to every single state in this country country.  But our anecdotes are not proof of anything--obviously not, because we've drawn different conclusions on this issue.

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Because my trust fund wasn't that large -   and we went to the same high school as did kids from the 'hood - and if you listen to malcolm gladwell podcast revisionist history - In "Carlos Doesn't Remember" you would have heard that  many high scoring test takers come from the 'hood - I mean the deeply entrenched hood...  All this to say, is underachievers are the outliers  - not even the norm.   

3 hours ago, Troy said:

Why would you expect someone raised in the ghetto to have the same outcome as a smart, attractive, trust fund kid? Sure it is possible not not very likely.

 

Mel why do you continue to say the Black women here are so politically engaged when the data your shared shows that almost half failed to vote?  I already know that way than half perhaps 70 to 80% failed to vote in the midterms.

 

And As for midterm election it was already reported that black women voter turnout was responsible for the win of democratic governors such as giving Terry McAuliffe (D) the margin of victory in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election. 


In 2016, there were 156 million non-Hispanic and  70 million racial/ethnic minority eligible voters.Of those 70 million racial/ethnic eligible voters; 27,338,000 were black eligible voters (roughly 12,019,000 black men and 15,319,283* black women).

16,400,000 black eligible voters (Men and Women) cast a ballot in Election 2016.

60% (or 9,191,570) black women reported they voted.  And media reports indicated 94% (or 8,640,076) of those black women, who voted, cast a ballot for the Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

So this is why I say black women are politically engaged.   

 

Imagine if we stop the GOP from preventing black women from voting what a turn out we would really have...

 

Oh I don't have to wait.  While you may not notice how politically engaged black women are , the GOP does and is doing its damnedest to stop us from voting.   Because when we do democrats win.  

 

* US Census 2014   - content from my upcoming blog post "Don't Know What you Got 'Til Its Gone" on melhopkins.com

 

Oh snap... an alleged terrorist is suspected to be white and  fired on an killed a lot of white people in Las Vegas  - and today, I agreed with @Pioneer1 .  That's

 it I'm playing the powerball AND megamillion!

 

15 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

he percentage of Black men and Black women who voted and who they voted for is irrelevant.

Why?

Because if you're too weak and aren't going to do a damn think to PROTECT your vote, what good is going through the motions of voting?

 

Oh snap... an alleged terrorist is suspected to be white and  fired on and killed a lot of white people in Las Vegas  - and today, I agreed with @Pioneer1 . 
That's it I'm playing the powerball AND megamillion!

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LOL Mel Agreeing with Pioneer LOL! 

 

Mel Black women voted in the presidential elections and voted for Obama like the was the 2nd coming of Christ.  But what are we talking about--one demographics lower turn rate versus an even lower rate?  There is nothing to be proud about.

 

American participation in the electoral process is pathetic.  It looks like these numbers reflect eligible voters not those who bothered to actually register.

 

Still they did not turn out in the midterms (no one did).  Maybe if Black folks bothered to show up, Obama would not have taken that famous "shellacking" and loosing both houses crippling his effectiveness for the remainder of his presidency.

 

midtermTurnout.png

 

Bes ure to post a link to your article when it is finished @Mel Hopkins

 

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1 hour ago, Troy said:

Bes ure to post a link to your article when it is finished @Mel Hopkins

 

@Troy, I did... It's scheduled to post on the 6th.    

Our turnout along with other women of color makes the difference - and we do turn out in mid-term elections. We can't carry the democratic nominees but if others join us we can elect them.  My post indicates the latter.  Together we must turnout at 65 % or higher...  Like @Pioneer1 said, we aren't protecting ourselves and we are being gerrymandered. The democrats in the state legislatures are allowing it to happen.  OK North Carolina went to court to stop the shenanigans but each state democratic caucus has to do the same.

 

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