#SophieZhang is a former data scientist at #Facebook, now #Meta, who published a series of articles in the Guardian on the social media platform’s fake engagement accounts. She alleged these often lead to interference in political elections.
In this interview with Chitranshu Tewari, Sophie describes the suspicious patterns of behaviour she observed in 2019 with respect to India. On the company’s reluctance to act on matters involving fake accounts in India, she points at “political pressure and the general lack of motivation of the company to police its own system”.
“The fact that we have such high expectations of Facebook...is perhaps a statement on the public relations that it enjoys,” she says.
She also talks about the impact of her whistleblowing on her personal life, and what motivates her to keep speaking out. “It’s been an exhausting few years,” she says. “I put up with it because it’s important.”
0:00 INTRO
1:33 Sophie's work at Facebook
12:34 Role of language classifiers
14:31 IT cells and their role in fake engagement
17:52 Complexity of the technical fix to fake engagement
21:20 How media and bad PR dictate policymaking at Facebook
27:47 Media's role
32:11 On testifying before the Indian Parliament
36:16 Media attention in Facebook and how its absence outside the US incentivises Facebook to care less
43:04 The cost of speaking up
56:40 Australia Touring Pakistan
Watch.
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