So, the real problem is not when data is harvested, but when the other side is doing it better. Of course, the problem with democracy is that Facebook allowed Russian trolls (humans) and bots (automated) to help Trump win in 2016 and Brexit. Also, encouraging people to vote is admirable if they are encouraging ALL people to vote, not just the ones who might vote for them, that’s not admirable, that’s campaigning. Well, he says that data harvesting is wrong, but it doesn’t seem that he actually believes that. The app differed…its true mission… – encouraging people to vote – was admirable”. Here are more details: “On behalf of Obama’s re-election campaign, Hughes created an application that harvested friends data. The second whistle-blower from Cambridge Analytica, Brittany Kaiser, worked in the 2008 Obama’s campaign, voted for Bernie Sanders in 2016 (primary) and now, after working on Brexit and Trump’s campaign she “wanted to stop telling lies”, as she said the problem is that she was making excuses for “old white men”. The most important thing is between pages 196 and 197: : “Facebook may have bowed to the accusation of bias because of co-founder Chris Hughes’ role in President Obama’s re-election campaign in 2021.” Obama’s win led to a revolving door between Silicon Valley and the executive branch” All of that changed when Google…played a major role in Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, as did Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. “Prior to 2008, the tech industry maintained an especially low profile in Washington. I said that the book is biased and misses the point. Well, people have to work to eat and have a shelter, so there is very little incentive to do anything, especially when it looks like everybody knows but prefers not to talk and, of course, when it’s likely that nobody else would ever hire them again.

But he is also disappointed in the lack of whistle blowers at Facebook. McNamee invested in Facebook, but, somehow only in 2016 realised the company is not doing what it should. But the view is so biased that he completely misses the point, pretty much like Zuckenberg. Some of the information he shares was new for me, as he offers an insight into what happens at Facebook. Zucked by Roger McNamee with the subtitle Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe is a book I wanted to read, which I reserved at the library from last year, but with all the delays due to COVID, I only got it recently.

Roger mcnamee book