Daniel Arsham was commissioned to create a sculpture depicting Priscilla Chan

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*Previously: Arshem's "Future Relic" version of the Venus of Arles created for Tiffany's

A look at how Facebook helps a few sophisticated dealers dominate the resale of stolen bicycles

“This prick in San Jose was basically a fence for every criminal within a 100-mile radius around the Bay Area”

"The firm run by a man dubbed 'Britain's kindest plumber' faked stories of helping people as it raised millions in donations"

BBC:

[He] has received letters of thanks from the late Queen and the King and a Pride of Manchester award. He has been a guest on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, The One Show, Sky News and the Russell Howard Show

...

[In one example, he] prevented one elderly woman from killing herself, the firm claimed. In fact, she had died years earlier.

He denied some of the BBC's allegations but admitted: "I've made mistakes."

Related:

The story of how Facebook became engulfed in Christian content can be told through the rise of one site, catholicfundamentalism.com. 

...

According to our data, provided by Newswhip’s real-time Facebook analytics, the vacuum of news content Meta created last year was quickly filled by religious content, or even just content that provoked vaguely religious reactions from users. 

...

As for why Catholic Fundamentalism is now Facebook’s top “news” site, it posts the exact kind of content that the platform’s news feed has been tailored to promote: blandly positive, removed from any news or current events, and arriving on a frequent and regular schedule. 

The photo of her touching his slides is so weird I feel like I'm missing some iconography

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Alternate logo concept for Threads

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"Facebook's Ad System Went Nuts and Ripped Off Customers"

Gizmodo has one write-up, and here's another. (Not super clear to me how many people were defrauded, or by how much, or whether they'll get their money back.)

Why is Facebook worrying about adding legs when they already created the motorcycle centaur?

Somehow I totally missed this video of Jordan Peele pretending to be impressed by a terrible metaverse recreation of Nope. pic.twitter.com/JiL4RLaZW6

— Zack Zwiezen's Skeleton 💀 (@ZwiezenZ) October 17, 2022

"Meta ordered to pay $175M for copying Green Beret veteran’s app"

Military Times (the second paragraph is quoting the complaint, I think):

Voxer launched the app in 2011, which was named Best Overall App in the First Annual Silicon Valley Business App Awards in 2013. In 2012, Facebook approached Voxer about a potential collaboration that led to Voxer sharing its patents and proprietary information with the company.

“When early meetings did not result in an agreement, Facebook identified Voxer as a competitor although Facebook had no live video or voice product at the time,” court filings read. “Facebook revoked Voxer’s access to key components of the Facebook platform and launched Facebook Live in 2015 followed by Instagram Live in 2016. Both products incorporate Voxer’s technologies and infringe its patents.”

The Verge from 2013:

On its developer blog, Facebook's [representative] responded, although very indirectly, to removing access to new video app Vine's friend-friending ability yesterday just hours after the app launched.

...

Evidently, sharing back isn't always enough. Vine doesn't, after all, send the video clips you make to Facebook — it only sends a link to your video, effectively moving your engagement offsite. Facebook's objection is in that regard understandable, though when combined with several other similar clashes lately with app developers like Voxer and Yandex's Wonder, Facebook sounds like a bully. 

"Dozens of Facebook contractors lost their jobs after an algorithm reportedly chose them 'at random'"

Engadget's summary of BI's reporting:

This is paywalled but the headline is:

"Scores of Facebook contracters just lost their work with the company. They found out through a video call with anonymous representatives, who said an 'algorithm' chose random people to cut, workers said" https://t.co/drKgAjzP3L

— Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) August 18, 2022

Meanwhile, an AI illustration:

under the skin-suit #stablediffusion

original prompt by @zippy731 pic.twitter.com/ZpLJgoSF0e

— HeavensLastAngel (@HvnsLstAngel) August 18, 2022

Today's funny posts

In awe of how the @Ford Lightning’s button artist captured the stick figure’s elation upon freeing themself from the frunk. A true masterpiece. pic.twitter.com/FbuGhRfZQn

— Greg Carloss (@MWGregCarloss) August 2, 2022

How to turn off Instagram's new default remixing permission

You can turn it all off under Settings > Privacy > Reels and Remix Controls and imo everyone probably should

— Mitch Goldstein (@mgoldstein) July 23, 2022

Great logo for Dragon Fire; AI puts Gandalf in The Matrix; AI announces Meta's cloning machine; Civil War-era Athena medal

Loving both the wordmark and graphic on this can of carb cleaner pic.twitter.com/mbn0zw5dyR

— Peter Queckenstedt (@scutanddestroy) July 12, 2022

Hackers book cover; Concept art for the Matt Reeves Batmobile; Open Source challenge coin; Ralph Lauren's HBCU collection; They regret the branding

Opened a package & it's the newest book by @gerardusjanssen titled "Hackers" in geschreven het Nederlands featuring famous hackers @UID_ #BarnabyJack @0xDUDE @mikko @Yafsec #MelanieRieback plus me @SecEvangelism & many, many more. Get your hoodie & read this great book! pic.twitter.com/26qLemPypw

— Chris Kubecka 🇵🇷🇨🇿🇳🇱 ✈️🇺🇦 @MiddleEastInst (@SecEvangelism) March 15, 2022

Photos of Crew 2 zipping past; Repeatedly rebuilding a Lego car to take on obstacles of increasing difficulty; Very deep basements

pic.twitter.com/bLv7wPGlaF

— SPadre (@SpacePadreIsle) November 9, 2021

How data driven experiments remove any sense of moral responsibility

From a thread:

Deciding to deliberately make users unhappy, or slow down a service to make another one look good? These would be reprehensible acts.

But what about running an experiment to test the effects of those things?

— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021

Well, running an experiment on a small sample group isn't so bad. You can turn it off any time, and it will teach you something useful.

It's only a handful of users, for a short time, and it's all in the name of science after all!

— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021

But what if (surprise!) the experiment shows user engagement is up, and you make more money?

Well now that you know it will increase profits, you have a duty to your shareholders to enable it for all users. You'd never have *proposed* it, but you can't unlearn what you now know.

— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) October 24, 2021

Badly misleading viral tweet about Facebook's testimony today

Buzzfeed editor dunking:

Sen. Blumenthal asks Facebook "Will you commit to ending Finsta?"

Facebook's safety chief has to explain that Finsta is slang for a fake account. pic.twitter.com/jMYy5AIZjY

— Eric Morrow (@morroweric) September 30, 2021

The prelude to the question:

Here Senator Blumenthal perfectly explains what "finstas" are (fake instas). He's seen documents from the FB whistleblower which indicates FB sees a business proposition in users creating second, private accounts sometimes without the knowledge of parents. THIS IS IMPORTANT. pic.twitter.com/bpH2FU7cQw

— Zamaan Qureshi (@zamaan_qureshi) September 30, 2021

Also @SenBlumenthal knows what a Finsta is because he made one! https://t.co/rIt8VKSTHC

— Zamaan Qureshi (@zamaan_qureshi) September 30, 2021

Slate summarized the WSJ's recent reporting on the topic.

More funny posts

Facebook is making camera glasses. They have an LED warning light so that bystanders know you are taking a video.

I taped it over.

A FB exec told me this is a violation of the terms of service of the glasses (oops) https://t.co/l6JQy12vzE

— Katie Notopoulos (@katienotopoulos) September 9, 2021

So the privacy expert that Facebook is having defend its new Wearable Glasses works for an organization that is funded by Facebook. https://t.co/VExfimN0D6 pic.twitter.com/SoB7im5YOr

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) September 9, 2021

I also appreciate that Facebook consulted with privacy experts on this but seems like they didn’t go as far as many would have liked. https://t.co/RWkA9MOmAl pic.twitter.com/tOMbKEmbWX

— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) September 9, 2021

i wouldn't worry too much about spoilers from the Matrix 4 trailer, as it appears they uploaded a trailer for the original movie instead

— zaratustra cinematic universe (@zarawesome) September 9, 2021

Strong memories (aged 7) of school banning "Matrix fighting" after several injuries

— - (@holliplex) September 9, 2021

Hoping there's a bit in the new Matrix where Neo and Trinity have to rescue Morpheus from an old Matrix Online server shard and he emerges into the real world looking exactly like this. pic.twitter.com/xUdnU2s8jb

— Andy Kelly (@ultrabrilliant) September 9, 2021

I hope the film leans into this and has characters cut each other off if they try and explain what happened to Morpheus. Just silencing each other saying, "We all know how Morpheus died. No need to rehash it"

— 👑 𝕽𝖔𝖞𝖆𝖑 👑 (@royaltheartist) September 9, 2021

pic.twitter.com/VLlI2AWMiI

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) September 9, 2021

if you live in California go fucking vote no on the recall or we’re fucked

— BURGER PU$$Y (@stargaasm) September 9, 2021

People are buying and returning Oculus headsets as a hack to get customer service for their Facebook accounts

NPR on a trick that's worked for some desperate people:

Facebook tells users to report hacked accounts through its website. The site instructs them to upload a copy of a driver's license or passport to prove their identities. But the people NPR spoke with said they had trouble with every step of this automated process

...

Brandon ... followed a tip he found on Reddit to get his hacked account back.

"I ultimately broke down and bought a $300 Oculus Quest 2," he said. Oculus is a virtual reality company owned by Facebook but with its own customer support system.

[He] contacted Oculus with his headset's serial number and heard back right away. He plans to return the unopened device, and while he's glad the strategy worked, he doesn't think it's fair.

"The only way you can get any customer service is if you prove that you've actually purchased something from them," he said.

After Facebook blocked inauthentic government-linked accounts in Uganda, the Ugandan president shut down social media

BBC yesterday:

Facebook has shut down accounts it says are linked to the Ugandan government, only days before elections for a new president and parliament.

The social media giant said a network connected with the ministry of information had been using fake and duplicate accounts to impersonate users and boost the popularity of posts.

...

After 35 years in power, President Yoweri Museveni, 76, is being strongly challenged by music star Bobi Wine, who is 38 and draws much of his support from young people.

Bobi Wine has been detained periodically, and dozens of opposition protesters have been killed.

Al Jazeera today:

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has said his government shut down social media two days before the country heads to the polls, accusing Facebook and unnamed outside groups of “arrogance” after the social media giant this week removed Ugandan accounts linked to his re-election campaign.

“That social channel you are talking about, if it is going to operate in Uganda, it should be used equitably by everybody who wants to use it”

...

The list of banned social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Signal and Viber. 

Instagram’s algorithm will either reward or punish based on how comprehensively you use the app

Here's one artist describing what they believe you need to do to get Facebook to boost your Instagram account:

Instagram likes it when you are spending all your time on the app :) and using all of their available features aside from normal feed posts :) They like it when you post a combination of normal posts, reels, IGTV, stories, shoppable posts, etc etc. You know those little events they do in stories like the “I Voted” sticker? participate in that school spirit kinda junk. The algorithm likes it when you use the in app camera and filters, geolocation tagging, messaging, story buttons, all that stuff. 

...

• 3 feed posts per week (reels & IGTV you choose to post to feed count here)

• 8-10 stories per week, preferably 2+ per day

• 4-7 reels per week

• 1-3 IGTV a week

Basically,

Man IG really said "we'll give you free exposure if you work for us full time" and we fell for it

— Jen Bartel (@heyjenbartel) December 22, 2020