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I can’t help but notice that some entity with deep pockets is leading this entire media war against Facebook. Articles like this don’t write themselves. These a

I can’t help but notice that some entity with deep pockets is leading this entire media war against Facebook. Articles like this don’t write themselves. These are classic zero information articles that keeps popping up systematically as if someone is running media puppet. There were couple of guys going out on limb in to conferences and media strongly making a case for “regulations”. Guys like those don’t do it for free to travel all over and keep making same points over and over while getting expensive media minutes. Question is who is pulling all these strings and why?

ipsum2 9y ago
I don't know if there's a larger conspiracy, but media companies are probably retaliating against news feed changes. After Facebook rolled out their news feed change, news media have gotten fewer clicks and less money. https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/28/how-publishers-will-survive-facebooks-newsfeed-change/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/28/how-publishers-will-surviv... https://digiday.com/media/facebook-news-feed-changes-will-impact-publishers-branded-content-revenue/ https://digiday.com/media/facebook-news-feed-changes-will-im... https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Letter-to-Mark-Zuckerberg-Facebook-News-Feed-12495018.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Letter-to-Mark-Zuck...
IAmGraydon 9y ago
I completely agree. Something strange is going on here. It reminds me of how hundreds of short, poorly written articles hyping bitcoin were released just before the bubble grew. Of course, that sort of thing creates its own news, but there was obvious paid help to add to the frenzy. It’s sad that we can’t trust much of what we read online because content publishers are so easily bought and sold.
greeneggs 9y ago
This is an interesting article, which suggests that the Mercers are among the funders from the right. I don't know if attacks from the left are as organized. "New Foils for the Right: Google and Facebook" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/media/paul-schweizer-google-facebook.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/media/paul-schwe...
waggle_d 9y ago
bring on the downvotes, but it's possible that george soros has a hand in this. He's been outspoke about more regulation for FB and Google [0] and [1]. He has all the money in the world and enough influence with the media to make it happen. He has a history of tinkering with nation's economics to serve his own agenda [2]. He has reason to want FB and Google gone. Traditionally he's used his money and influence to sway elections one way or the other by controlling the narrative. There's theories that he has connections to electronic voting machines which would also make sense. Why is there so much friction when it comes to auditing electronic voting machines and public access to voting machine paper trails? FB and Google reduce his control on the narrative so it makes sense he would want them gone. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaHzUlR2MUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaHzUlR2MUg [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/01/26/facebook-and-google-are-doomed-george-soros-says/?utm_term=.6629df0479e3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/01/26... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday
- Simon_says 9y ago
  You're probably getting downvoted because you misspelled 'outspoken'. Though it fits the pattern, 'outspoke' is not an English word.
  - whamlastxmas 9y ago
    He's getting down voted for speaking poorly of Soros who's in bed with Democrats and therefore a hero of the California tech population (and HN by extension).
nitwit005 9y ago
They've probably just noticed people click on them. Media companies often flagrantly copy each other once they see an article theme succeeds in getting readers.
zitterbewegung 9y ago
Newspapers are dying. Their ad traffic has been taken over by Google , Reddit, and Facebook. Also, all of them complain that fake news is on their platform. Well if you have a system with no editors except for computers thats what you get.
kenhwang 9y ago
Answer should be fairly obvious: old media. The parent companies to CNBC (Comcast) and WSJ (Fox) don't really get along with Google and Facebook and won't give up their advertising revenue without a fight. After all, they had several decades of advertising monopoly (television), and guess who's eating their lunch now?
aylmao 9y ago
I mean, in a purely big picture sense, all these big media companies are now not only largely dependant on big tech for distribution, but are also directly competing against it in terms of media production and revenue streams.
cycrutchfield 9y ago
Why do you suppose that this is part of some international conspiracy against Facebook instead of Facebook finally being called out for their BS?

ipsum2 9y ago

I don't know if there's a larger conspiracy, but media companies are probably retaliating against news feed changes. After Facebook rolled out their news feed change, news media have gotten fewer clicks and less money. https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/28/how-publishers-will-survive-facebooks-newsfeed-change/ https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/28/how-publishers-will-surviv... https://digiday.com/media/facebook-news-feed-changes-will-impact-publishers-branded-content-revenue/ https://digiday.com/media/facebook-news-feed-changes-will-im... https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Letter-to-Mark-Zuckerberg-Facebook-News-Feed-12495018.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Letter-to-Mark-Zuck...

IAmGraydon 9y ago

I completely agree. Something strange is going on here. It reminds me of how hundreds of short, poorly written articles hyping bitcoin were released just before the bubble grew. Of course, that sort of thing creates its own news, but there was obvious paid help to add to the frenzy. It’s sad that we can’t trust much of what we read online because content publishers are so easily bought and sold.

greeneggs 9y ago

This is an interesting article, which suggests that the Mercers are among the funders from the right. I don't know if attacks from the left are as organized. "New Foils for the Right: Google and Facebook" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/media/paul-schweizer-google-facebook.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/business/media/paul-schwe...

waggle_d 9y ago

bring on the downvotes, but it's possible that george soros has a hand in this. He's been outspoke about more regulation for FB and Google [0] and [1]. He has all the money in the world and enough influence with the media to make it happen. He has a history of tinkering with nation's economics to serve his own agenda [2]. He has reason to want FB and Google gone. Traditionally he's used his money and influence to sway elections one way or the other by controlling the narrative. There's theories that he has connections to electronic voting machines which would also make sense. Why is there so much friction when it comes to auditing electronic voting machines and public access to voting machine paper trails? FB and Google reduce his control on the narrative so it makes sense he would want them gone. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaHzUlR2MUg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaHzUlR2MUg [1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/01/26/facebook-and-google-are-doomed-george-soros-says/?utm_term=.6629df0479e3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/01/26... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Wednesday

Simon_says 9y ago
You're probably getting downvoted because you misspelled 'outspoken'. Though it fits the pattern, 'outspoke' is not an English word.
- whamlastxmas 9y ago
  He's getting down voted for speaking poorly of Soros who's in bed with Democrats and therefore a hero of the California tech population (and HN by extension).

nitwit005 9y ago

They've probably just noticed people click on them. Media companies often flagrantly copy each other once they see an article theme succeeds in getting readers.

zitterbewegung 9y ago

Newspapers are dying. Their ad traffic has been taken over by Google , Reddit, and Facebook. Also, all of them complain that fake news is on their platform. Well if you have a system with no editors except for computers thats what you get.

kenhwang 9y ago

Answer should be fairly obvious: old media. The parent companies to CNBC (Comcast) and WSJ (Fox) don't really get along with Google and Facebook and won't give up their advertising revenue without a fight. After all, they had several decades of advertising monopoly (television), and guess who's eating their lunch now?

aylmao 9y ago

I mean, in a purely big picture sense, all these big media companies are now not only largely dependant on big tech for distribution, but are also directly competing against it in terms of media production and revenue streams.

cycrutchfield 9y ago

Why do you suppose that this is part of some international conspiracy against Facebook instead of Facebook finally being called out for their BS?