This article[1] describes a group of people inside of Facebook who attempted to measure who publishes content that results in negativity, hate, and divisiveness

This article[1] describes a group of people inside of Facebook who attempted to measure who publishes content that results in negativity, hate, and divisiveness. The result (ctrl+f "Hate Bait dashboard" to see a chart) was the conservative media pushes stories that Facebook "wildly rewards" for driving engagement, incidentally through negativity. While that is a satisfying answer itself for why Facebook is the way it is (divisive media drives engagement and therefore profit), I think there is more to the story since Facebook employs people like you and I who care about making the world a better place. Why are they not enabled to make Facebook a more positive place? I think the impact of Peter Thiel on Facebook's policy is probably not well known, but I have to wonder if this is the root of what we see. Peter Thiel, an early investor and board member, appears to be a major MAGA supporter. From wikipedia: In June 2004, the company (facebook) moved to Palo Alto, California. It received its first investment later that month from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.[2] On 7 February 2022, Thiel announced he would not stand for re-election to the board of Facebook owner Meta at the 2022 annual stockholders' meeting and will leave after serving 17 years in order to support pro Donald Trump candidates in the 2022 United States elections." [3] There appears to be not just aligned monetary interest, but aligned political interest for keeping Facebook filled with division. [1] https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-rules-hate-speech-employees-leaving https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/facebook-rules-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook#2003%E2%80%932006:_Thefacebook,_Thiel_investment,_and_name_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook#2003%E2%80%932006:_Th... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook