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Ms. Sandberg has overseen an aggressive lobbying campaign to combat Facebook’s critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and ward off damaging regulati

Ms. Sandberg has overseen an aggressive lobbying campaign to combat Facebook’s critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and ward off damaging regulation. Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also tapped its business relationships, persuading a Jewish civil rights group to cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
koops 8y ago
Coordinated, inauthentic behavior?
- skeptic_69 8y ago
  LOL. indeed.
- shard972 8y ago
  Seems pretty authentic to me.
IBM 8y ago
A few months ago Bloomberg published a story which I'm 99% sure was directed by Facebook PR, in-line with their strategy being reported on in this story [1][2]. Also can any mods tell me why all my comments are dead? [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-08/is-apple-really-your-privacy-hero https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-08/is-apple-... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17719607 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17719607
- skeptic_69 8y ago
  I don't know if THIS article was directed by Facebook related PR but the times reporting says there is other PR basically identical to this. So I think we can decisively label your conjecture as "credible"
  - CamperBob2 8y ago
    At the risk of earning one of those (dead) tags myself, I'm starting to think that Bloomberg is basically a PR Newswire for people who want to spread BS about something or someone. The Facebook-planted story, combined with their recent questionable reporting on hacked motherboard hardware that nobody seems interested in corroborating, doesn't paint a trustworthy picture of the Bloomberg organization as a whole. At least not IMO.
- nkurz 8y ago
  Also can any mods tell me why all my comments are dead? Write to 'hn@ycombinator.com' and ask --- and report back what they say. It looks like it's because of your comment linking Russia and Assange, but it's not clear if this was because it was too pro, too anti, or just because it mentioned one or the other. I'd guess it's user flagging gone awry, but maybe it's a new automated system that's broken instead.
  - eiaoa 8y ago
    > It looks like it's because of your comment linking Russia and Assange, I don't think so, my guess is that it was due to one of the comments prior to the one you mentioned, or some activity that occurred on the same IP IBM was using.
  - IBM 8y ago
    I actually sent them 3 over the past two weeks but never got a reply. I'm guessing no one stays on top of the inbox.
- naravara 8y ago
  Wow, first the embarrassment around that secret chips planted in our data-centers story and now this. It's going to be a long time before I take Bloomberg's tech industry coverage seriously again.
nagVenkat 8y ago
I felt gross reading those few lines. People should ask her how she felt when George Soros was mailed pipe bombs and ask her if her rhetoric contributed to growing hate crimes in USA

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

koops 8y ago

Coordinated, inauthentic behavior?

skeptic_69 8y ago
LOL. indeed.
shard972 8y ago
Seems pretty authentic to me.

IBM 8y ago

A few months ago Bloomberg published a story which I'm 99% sure was directed by Facebook PR, in-line with their strategy being reported on in this story [1][2]. Also can any mods tell me why all my comments are dead? [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-08/is-apple-really-your-privacy-hero https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-08/is-apple-... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17719607 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17719607

skeptic_69 8y ago
I don't know if THIS article was directed by Facebook related PR but the times reporting says there is other PR basically identical to this. So I think we can decisively label your conjecture as "credible"
- CamperBob2 8y ago
  At the risk of earning one of those (dead) tags myself, I'm starting to think that Bloomberg is basically a PR Newswire for people who want to spread BS about something or someone. The Facebook-planted story, combined with their recent questionable reporting on hacked motherboard hardware that nobody seems interested in corroborating, doesn't paint a trustworthy picture of the Bloomberg organization as a whole. At least not IMO.
nkurz 8y ago
Also can any mods tell me why all my comments are dead? Write to 'hn@ycombinator.com' and ask --- and report back what they say. It looks like it's because of your comment linking Russia and Assange, but it's not clear if this was because it was too pro, too anti, or just because it mentioned one or the other. I'd guess it's user flagging gone awry, but maybe it's a new automated system that's broken instead.
- eiaoa 8y ago
  > It looks like it's because of your comment linking Russia and Assange, I don't think so, my guess is that it was due to one of the comments prior to the one you mentioned, or some activity that occurred on the same IP IBM was using.
- IBM 8y ago
  I actually sent them 3 over the past two weeks but never got a reply. I'm guessing no one stays on top of the inbox.
naravara 8y ago
Wow, first the embarrassment around that secret chips planted in our data-centers story and now this. It's going to be a long time before I take Bloomberg's tech industry coverage seriously again.

nagVenkat 8y ago

I felt gross reading those few lines. People should ask her how she felt when George Soros was mailed pipe bombs and ask her if her rhetoric contributed to growing hate crimes in USA