BEHIND THE MASK OF FACEBOOK

An insider’s account that alleges that Facebook is biased in how it polices political content.

When Hartwig was hired in 2018 by the consultancy firm Cognizant as a “Bilingual Social Media Content Moderator,” he didn’t realize the client he was serving was Facebook. At first, he was impressed by the company’s ambition to create “reasonable rules for social media,” balancing freedom of speech with a need to regulate the spread of hate, misinformation, and promotion of violence. However, he began to suspect that Facebook was twisting that mission into an instrument of political warfare to promote its preferred causes and their champions, invariably on the left side of the political spectrum. Inspired by the right-wing activist group Project Veritas’ work, the author says that he began meticulously documenting the ways that the rules for content moderators were formulated and applied. According to Hartwig, the company chose to inconsistently apply their rules regarding extremist hyperbole, favoring groups with which it experienced ideological fellowship—including ones that advocated violence. Hartwig and co-author Heckenlively compellingly provide a mountain of evidence for their argument, and provocatively raise questions about the societal impact of a firm that wields such political influence within its reach, which includes a third of the world’s population. However, they undermine their position with breathless hyperbole of their own; for example, they liken Facebook to a “ruthless drug cartel that only played by its own set of rules,” and frets that it will drag society down the “dark road of dictatorship.” Still, despite their penchant for sensationalism, their book offers a valuable and informed contribution to an increasingly important discussion.

An intriguing look at Facebook’s oversight of its users’ content.