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> "Move our trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US content review to Texas. This will help remove the concern that biased e

> "Move our trust and safety and content moderation teams out of California, and our US content review to Texas. This will help remove the concern that biased employees are overly censoring content." - like people being in Texas makes them more objective?! The FB office in Austin, Texas is a moderately left-leaning area. Their office in Silicon Valley is about the most extreme left-wing place in the country. At the very least, teams at their Texas offices will have more overlap with the median voter than the ones in California. If their Texas offices were in rural rancher country, then I'd agree with your concern that it would just be swapping one bias for another.

davidw 2y ago
It's not about actual employees, it's about signalling "Texas - yay!" and "California - booooo!" in order to make good with the incoming administration.
- tptacek 2y ago
  Well, that and moderators being able to afford 1-bedroom apartments.
  - asdff 2y ago
    Says more about fb being penny pinching than anything. The kid working the panda express in california can afford a 1br apartment, why not a fb moderator?
    - davidw 2y ago
      > The kid working the panda express in california can afford a 1br apartment A lot of them can't, actually, but that's really a different problem.
      - asdff 2y ago
        Have you seen panda express job postings lately? It's like north of $20 an hour with full medical, dental, vacation, sick days, 401k. Higher than that for shift lead and managers I'm sure. Sure beats when I worked fast food for minimum wage and had to find my own sub when I got sick.
  - fzeroracer 2y ago
    Have you ever been to or lived in Austin? Are you aware of how high the cost of rent is there now?
    - adolph 2y ago
      Every day "Austin" refers to a larger and larger part of the earth so maybe specifying where in Austin is appropriate? https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/report-austin-tops-list-of-largest-rent-dips-year-over-year/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/report-austin-top... https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-06-13/austin-texas-rent-prices-falling-2024 https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-06-13/austin-texas-rent-pric... https://austin.urbanize.city/post/austin-rent-drops-december-2023 https://austin.urbanize.city/post/austin-rent-drops-december... https://therealdeal.com/texas/austin/2024/05/01/apartment-rent-prices-plummet-in-austin/ https://therealdeal.com/texas/austin/2024/05/01/apartment-re...
    - cloverich 2y ago
      Actually the cost of rent and housing has dropped there the last few years, because they are doing a good job building. Not so great for my SFH's value, but its definitely dropping from "WTF" to "Seems more normal" pricing.
- encoderer 2y ago
  Grew up in Ohio. Always wanted to live in Silicon Valley. Been here 14 years now. Not leaving. But this is happening because of how terrible the California brand has become. Pretending our prestige and brand is the same as it was 20 (or even 10) years ago is not the answer.
  - davidw 2y ago
    That's a complicated topic, but part of that is because California has become a target for a number of people with money, influence and media outlets. Not to say it doesn't have problems - like housing - that are self-inflicted. Just that a big part of the 'brand' problem is people targeting the state.
    - ethbr1 2y ago
      Techbros are pretty toxic, and that culture was very much SV 10-20 years ago. That said, most of them have since (loudly) decamped the state.
    - encoderer 2y ago
      Yes there is a lot of “unfair competition” but ultimately you build a brand by demonstrating your positive qualities and making it clear what you stand for. This is an us problem not a them problem.
      - davidw 2y ago
        How can you build that brand if someone is determined to tear it down for ideological reasons?
        encoderer 2y ago
        People care less about ideology than they do about their own lives and prosperity. It used to be clear: you can make a better life in California. It was a land of growth, prosperity, and wealth. Growing families moving into golden cul-de-sacs. We should actually make those things true again. Houses don’t need to be affordable in Palo Alto but not being affordable anywhere is a problem. We don’t need to develop Big Sur but not being able to develop any costal property is a problem. We don’t need to deport law abiding citizens because they fail an ICE sweep but not being able to deport career criminals is a problem.
- zahlman 2y ago
  By the same - entirely unevidenced - reasoning, your posts ITT are about signalling the reverse in order to make good with sympathetic readers on HN. See how that works? The specific places in California where Facebook had "trust and safety and content moderation teams" were places that very much don't reflect the average politics of the US. That is naturally going to reflect itself in the ideological composition of employees, and therefore in political bias in the fact-checking process. We've already seen harm from this. For example, Facebook suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story (https://www.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-admits-facebook-suppressed-hunter-121655720.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-admits-facebook-suppre...), even though: * there has never been any evidence provided to link the story to supposed Russian disinformation; * The FBI (i.e., the agency supposedly telling Facebook and other social media companies to be on the lookout for such disinformation) acknowledged that they did in fact seize the laptop from the computer shop owner in 2019 (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-...) and verified that it was Hunter Biden's - which later came up in a criminal case against him in mid 2024 (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/hunter-biden-trial-live-update-rcna155305); https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/hun... * there is no good reason a priori, outside of political bias, to suspect the New York Post (founded 1801 by Alexander Hamilton) of spreading such disinformation.
pesus 2y ago
Thinking Menlo Park (or any of Silicon Valley, really) is in any way "extreme left-wing" is a sure indication you haven't spent any time there and are basing your viewpoints off of what others have said on social media. Billion dollar corporations by definition do not support anything remotely "extreme left-wing".
- AlchemistCamp 2y ago
  I’ve lived in SF, Mountain View and also the east bay and I’ve worked at a billion dollar company that did indeed support some very left-wing causes. Despite having grown up in a light blue state, the difference in politics was very noticeable when I got to SF/SV. This isn’t a value judgement, just my observation.
  - pesus 2y ago
    That's why I was talking about Silicon Valley, not SF or east bay. They're much different places. Besides that, a corporation giving lip service to diversity =/= "extreme left-wing" views. These billion dollar corporations are still capitalist, through and through. Actual extreme left-wing views are staunchly opposed to capitalism.
    - Karrot_Kream 2y ago
      Talking about "actual extreme left-wing views" is something that only really works in internet arguments where everything eventually trends into Communism vs Capitalism (TM). In reality, every country has their own set of issues. Every democracy has their set of parties that exist somewhere in the policy space of issues relevant to them. In the US, we generally think of socially progressive policies as "left" along with non-market views of the economy. As such, the SFBA is generally much closer to the American "left" edge than the right. I agree that South Bay and the Peninsula are less "left" than SF or Oakland, but I think this sort of argument is sophistry. That said, I don't really think moving hiring to Texas will change anything ideologically among employees and instead is just a way to signal to the new administration that they're Friends (TM) and on the backside a way to cost cut so they can pay less in Austin.

davidw 2y ago

It's not about actual employees, it's about signalling "Texas - yay!" and "California - booooo!" in order to make good with the incoming administration.

tptacek 2y ago
Well, that and moderators being able to afford 1-bedroom apartments.
- asdff 2y ago
  Says more about fb being penny pinching than anything. The kid working the panda express in california can afford a 1br apartment, why not a fb moderator?
  - davidw 2y ago
    > The kid working the panda express in california can afford a 1br apartment A lot of them can't, actually, but that's really a different problem.
    - asdff 2y ago
      Have you seen panda express job postings lately? It's like north of $20 an hour with full medical, dental, vacation, sick days, 401k. Higher than that for shift lead and managers I'm sure. Sure beats when I worked fast food for minimum wage and had to find my own sub when I got sick.
- fzeroracer 2y ago
  Have you ever been to or lived in Austin? Are you aware of how high the cost of rent is there now?
  - adolph 2y ago
    Every day "Austin" refers to a larger and larger part of the earth so maybe specifying where in Austin is appropriate? https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/report-austin-tops-list-of-largest-rent-dips-year-over-year/ https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/report-austin-top... https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-06-13/austin-texas-rent-prices-falling-2024 https://www.kut.org/austin/2024-06-13/austin-texas-rent-pric... https://austin.urbanize.city/post/austin-rent-drops-december-2023 https://austin.urbanize.city/post/austin-rent-drops-december... https://therealdeal.com/texas/austin/2024/05/01/apartment-rent-prices-plummet-in-austin/ https://therealdeal.com/texas/austin/2024/05/01/apartment-re...
  - cloverich 2y ago
    Actually the cost of rent and housing has dropped there the last few years, because they are doing a good job building. Not so great for my SFH's value, but its definitely dropping from "WTF" to "Seems more normal" pricing.
encoderer 2y ago
Grew up in Ohio. Always wanted to live in Silicon Valley. Been here 14 years now. Not leaving. But this is happening because of how terrible the California brand has become. Pretending our prestige and brand is the same as it was 20 (or even 10) years ago is not the answer.
- davidw 2y ago
  That's a complicated topic, but part of that is because California has become a target for a number of people with money, influence and media outlets. Not to say it doesn't have problems - like housing - that are self-inflicted. Just that a big part of the 'brand' problem is people targeting the state.
  - ethbr1 2y ago
    Techbros are pretty toxic, and that culture was very much SV 10-20 years ago. That said, most of them have since (loudly) decamped the state.
  - encoderer 2y ago
    Yes there is a lot of “unfair competition” but ultimately you build a brand by demonstrating your positive qualities and making it clear what you stand for. This is an us problem not a them problem.
    - davidw 2y ago
      How can you build that brand if someone is determined to tear it down for ideological reasons?
      - encoderer 2y ago
        People care less about ideology than they do about their own lives and prosperity. It used to be clear: you can make a better life in California. It was a land of growth, prosperity, and wealth. Growing families moving into golden cul-de-sacs. We should actually make those things true again. Houses don’t need to be affordable in Palo Alto but not being affordable anywhere is a problem. We don’t need to develop Big Sur but not being able to develop any costal property is a problem. We don’t need to deport law abiding citizens because they fail an ICE sweep but not being able to deport career criminals is a problem.
zahlman 2y ago
By the same - entirely unevidenced - reasoning, your posts ITT are about signalling the reverse in order to make good with sympathetic readers on HN. See how that works? The specific places in California where Facebook had "trust and safety and content moderation teams" were places that very much don't reflect the average politics of the US. That is naturally going to reflect itself in the ideological composition of employees, and therefore in political bias in the fact-checking process. We've already seen harm from this. For example, Facebook suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story (https://www.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-admits-facebook-suppressed-hunter-121655720.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-admits-facebook-suppre...), even though: * there has never been any evidence provided to link the story to supposed Russian disinformation; * The FBI (i.e., the agency supposedly telling Facebook and other social media companies to be on the lookout for such disinformation) acknowledged that they did in fact seize the laptop from the computer shop owner in 2019 (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-laptop.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/hunter-biden-...) and verified that it was Hunter Biden's - which later came up in a criminal case against him in mid 2024 (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/hunter-biden-trial-live-update-rcna155305); https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/hun... * there is no good reason a priori, outside of political bias, to suspect the New York Post (founded 1801 by Alexander Hamilton) of spreading such disinformation.

pesus 2y ago

Thinking Menlo Park (or any of Silicon Valley, really) is in any way "extreme left-wing" is a sure indication you haven't spent any time there and are basing your viewpoints off of what others have said on social media. Billion dollar corporations by definition do not support anything remotely "extreme left-wing".

AlchemistCamp 2y ago
I’ve lived in SF, Mountain View and also the east bay and I’ve worked at a billion dollar company that did indeed support some very left-wing causes. Despite having grown up in a light blue state, the difference in politics was very noticeable when I got to SF/SV. This isn’t a value judgement, just my observation.
- pesus 2y ago
  That's why I was talking about Silicon Valley, not SF or east bay. They're much different places. Besides that, a corporation giving lip service to diversity =/= "extreme left-wing" views. These billion dollar corporations are still capitalist, through and through. Actual extreme left-wing views are staunchly opposed to capitalism.
  - Karrot_Kream 2y ago
    Talking about "actual extreme left-wing views" is something that only really works in internet arguments where everything eventually trends into Communism vs Capitalism (TM). In reality, every country has their own set of issues. Every democracy has their set of parties that exist somewhere in the policy space of issues relevant to them. In the US, we generally think of socially progressive policies as "left" along with non-market views of the economy. As such, the SFBA is generally much closer to the American "left" edge than the right. I agree that South Bay and the Peninsula are less "left" than SF or Oakland, but I think this sort of argument is sophistry. That said, I don't really think moving hiring to Texas will change anything ideologically among employees and instead is just a way to signal to the new administration that they're Friends (TM) and on the backside a way to cost cut so they can pay less in Austin.