Facebook Fails Exams on Russia

The Wall Street Journal had a piece yesterday with this title:  Tone Deaf: How Facebook Misread America’s Mood on Russia.  It was right on the mark, though it doesn’t seem to have caught the attention of anyone at Facebook.  Facebook is still maintaining that the ads placed on its medium had no effect on the national election - even that it was not intended to have an affect.  The may be more accurate on the latter point than the press is giving them credit for.  Russia played both sides of the political spectrum against the others, stirring up trouble and dissent.  They obviously didn’t really care who won.  And, they haven’t stopped this onslaught of actions against the sitting administration. Had Hillary Clinton won, it would be no different.

Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter all have something to hide here, and they have been crudely ineffective at doing that.  They are getting money from ads paid for by foreign interests who want to help disrupt the US ability to govern.  They allow foreign interests to establish accounts in the US, thus appearing to be US political groups.  Politicians in the US have done no favors to any of us by cooperating and encouraging any attempt to disrupt governance.  Both major parties have had a hand in helping them out.    The Russians are appealing to the basic political institincts of groups of politicians who say, “Anything to win.”

What is missing from all of this is loyalty to the country first.   That goes for Facebook, Google, Twitter and the rest of them too.  They fancy themselves to be global entities with high standards of content, when they can’t rid themselves of live suicides, common murder, torture, and political groups that don’t want to be heard on an isssue as much as be seen.  They are perfectly willing to censor people who hold political views that deviate from their own, but they can’t or won’t censor ones who disrupt their country.  The US Intelligence community should be working with them to root these groups out and stop the interference.  On the flip side, they should be working with the US Intelligence Community to do just that.