Facebook Fined .....Referendum result tainted ?

[hoolahoop]

Well I must congratulate the broadcasters from avoiding talking about this £ 500,000 fine make of it what you will:-

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/11/bbc-downplaying-facebook-brexit-scandal-bias&ved=0ahUKEwjdp526nZfcAhWQy6QKHWhxD_oQqUMILzAC&usg=AOvVaw14VFb_OxkNF9MQAsGg-a1u

Brexiters - ignore the findings because we no longer need to do things properly and fairly in this country. Treat as yet more fake news - fake fact perhaps ?

Remoaners - basically confirmation of what you suspected was happening all along . A Referendum result brought about by any means.

Pigeons coming home to roost one by one , " principled " Boris will no doubt feature somewhere soon

[hoolahoop]

Strange there seems little interest in this story on the forum either am I missing something here ?
Should this not be of any interest or worthy of comment to us all ?

[MachoMadness]

It's been tainted for quite a while, that much is clear. Not that it matters because democracy is still democracy if it's bought, apparently.

[albie]

Its a pity the new rules were then not in place to make Facecrook pay 4% of income as a fine. £500k is loose change to Zuckerberg.

The thing that puzzles me is that it does not seem to be a criminal offense to poison the democratic process.
A simple breach of the rules yes, with a slap on the wrist fine, then on we go to the next corruption.

Now if it were a horse race, and a Flockton Grey offense, then surely a prison sentence would follow.

We are among those countries that send observers to assess the application of democracy in other developing countries. The theme being that free and fair elections need to be policed properly, and if any irregularities are found this is called out.

So the question for UK PLC is what is the threshold that we apply to our own processes.
What are the criteria that would lead to a referendum or election being declared null and void due to interference?

Anybody know?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Interesting times though.

Dominic Cummings who ran the official Leave is on video crowing that “we couldn’t have done it without the help from Aggregate IQ sending 1.5 billion videos on social media to 7 million targeted voters.”

The Information Commissioner has stated that AIQ is linked to Cambridge Analytica who were the ones who illegally harvested the Facebook data.

And AIQ is the company who were paid £600k by BeLeave, the fake front organisation that allowed the Leave campaign to funnel money illegally into this process. Money that came from...? Well the Leave.EU organisation who set up BeLeave has all sorts of links with...you guessed it...Russia.

[hoolahoop]

" Money that came from...? Well the Leave.EU organisation who set up BeLeave has all sorts of links with...you guessed it...Russia. "

I'm sure the two of them will be having a good old giggle about it later in the week in Finland - they might invite Farage, Arron Banks, Peter Bone, John Deadwood , IDS et al

Understand they will be swigging fine Finnish vodka served up with Novichok canapes whilst playing pass the brown envelopes. ( who knows there could even be shares in a diamond mine ! )

Hmm could there be entertainmennnt provided by " DD and BoJo the clown " ?

[RedJ]

But they are slowly but surely privatising it...

[MachoMadness]

The health secretary at the time was a man who's written a book on privatising the NHS. And pointing that out's a very different proposition to illegally spending money to use illegally harvested data to target people with fake news, co-ordinated (or at least influenced) by foreign powers.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool

It’s not about what people say between themselves on Facebook. People on all sides will say sensible and stupid things.

It’s about deliberately identifying people who are susceptible to being persuaded, then sending them targeted videos playing on their fears.

So they would harvest Facebook data and find people who were concerned about immigration but not particularly politically engaged. Then they would send them videos saying 80 million Turks are about to get the right to come to the EU. Vote Leave to stop it.

It is illegal because harvesting the data broke the law. It is immoral because it allows you to pump lies to people on the quiet, with no possibility of alternative views or challenges to the lies being given to the targeted people. And it is very, very dangerous for the idea of democracy.

[albie]

The point remains that none of the people who commissioned the data acquisition and targeted deception face criminal charges.

The company who acted on their behalf may face small consequences but will just morph into a new identity.

Until Vote Leave and the big beasts riding in the wake are made to hold responsibililty the same will continue.

Those who hold the data control the future. Polls no longer tell you what you need to know. The key to future elections is the ability to mold the opinion at the fringe.

[RedJ]

Ah so that means they aren't then does it? top argument.

[RedJ]

...but you're the one that says they're not privatising the NHS, you made the claim, you back it up.

[RedJ]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/15/creeping-privatisation-nhs-official-data-owen-smith-outsourcing

Well here's a start.

[RedJ]

So you're comparing a national newspaper to a random website you've dug up on google, hahaha.

[RedJ]

I didn't say that they weren't. The last time Labour were in power was probably the furthest to the right the party has ever been. But you said it was a ridiculous claim that so were the Conservatives. You've just admitted that the Tories are doing exactly what you said was a lie.

[RedJ]

Right, whatever you say spadge.

[MachoMadness]

did you see some of the ridiculous posts on Facebook during the general election, just about everyone saying tories were going to privatise the nhs, should votes be taken off them for lies?

It's literally right there in this very thread bpool. At least man up and own it, ffs.

[RedJ]

Yes the evidence I gave was from a well-respected national newspaper, f**k me how dare I.

It was the first piece I found from a reputable, not just some random website I've pulled from google.

[RedJ]

Well no, this was the first thing that came up on google actually https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/naylor-report-tory-nhs-privatisation-healthcare-flog-off-conservatives-theresa-may-election-2017-a7766326.html

But even if it was the first result, it's still a better source than a website nobody has heard of, surely even you can see that.

[RedJ]

Jesus wept. f**k it, whatever.

[MachoMadness]

Baffling this Bpool. People point out you're being lied to - that foreign powers and offshore investors are pulling money out of your and your families' pocket - and you choose to stick your fingers in your ears and get all evasive rather than actually get f**king pissed off that you've been lied to and robbed. Very odd.

[RedJ]

What’s baffling is I have not a clue what your on about? Who is taking money off who? All I said what that the tories will not privatise the nhs, little bits might go to private companies but as a whole they won’t do that. What’s that got to do with people taking money off people?

f**k me are you for real? please say you're a WUM.

[MachoMadness]

What’s baffling is I have not a clue what your on about? Who is taking money off who? All I said what that the tories will not privatise the nhs, little bits might go to private companies but as a whole they won’t do that. What’s that got to do with people taking money off people?

Why even bring that up in the first place? It's nowt to do with this thread for starters, you only brought it up as a counterpoint to the Brexit campaign even though the two situations can't be compared at all. It's just deflection and evasion so you don't have to face the real issue. Not even getting into your arguments that the Tories aren't privatising the NHS, they're just selling bits of it off. That way madness lies.

[Glyn_Wigley]

I brought it up as a example of the crap that is put on Facebook, as Facebook is in the thread title, I apologise agir that!

Why? This is about how the Facebook company operates, not the crap you find on Facebook!

[bpoolrover]

Ok sorry I'll delete it for you Glynn

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bpool

I’ll set it out again. It’s really simple.

This is NOT about Joe Public putting his/her opinion on Facebook. They are entitled to do that. They might be wrong or they might be right.

That is the equivalent of someone having a political discussion down the pub. It’s fine.


This is about something very different. It’s about very rich people spending a fortune to identify people who are susceptible to having a story pushed at them. Hard.

That’s the equivalent of a person sat in the snug in the pub on their own and having a hidden microphone whispering an idea to them. Constantly.

This is about very rich people deciding that they can subvert democracy in the cleverest way possible. Because the people who’ve been played are absolutely convinced that they not been played. But they have. They’ve been bought and used.

And that’s not ME saying that. The bloke who ran the Leave campaign is on YouTube crowing about how he spent several million quid doing it.

And they will now be chewed up and spat out.

[hoolahoop]

What is sad is that this information was doing the rounds nigh on a full year ago . Where has this report been  ?

[bpoolrover]

To be fair hoola I think most people
Did know, things like this have been going on for years not just in the brexit vote, most people can decide for themselves due to there own circumstances which way to vote, yes it's wrong but nothing new

[albie]

The use of big data analytics is a recent gamechanger. It can happen under the radar, and the rules in place were not written with this kind of exploit in mind.

That said, the decision today will make waves;
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/17/labour-demands-investigation-into-vote-leave-ministers-boris-johnson-michael-gove

Incidentally, it was not just a single instance of this type of manipulation. Even the Labour Party was using the technique for internal politicking;
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2018/07/16/new-evidence-of-anti-corbyn-sabotage-makes-the-general-election-result-even-more-extraordinary/

The democratic model we grew up with has been by-passed by technology and the disrespect of those who have no moral compass.

[BillyStubbsTears]

To be fair hoola I think most people
Did know, things like this have been going on for years not just in the brexit vote, most people can decide for themselves due to there own circumstances which way to vote, yes it's wrong but nothing new

And THAT is the entire point.

You get played.

You convince yourself that you’re too smart to get played.

You get upset at anyone who suggests that you’re not too smart to get played.

You are even more convinced than ever that you’re too smart to get played.


So. Ask yourself this. If you’re too smart to get played. If you take in balanced views, weigh them up and come to a conclusion, ask yourself this.

Why did the Leave campaign pay £4m to a company that illegally targeted specific voters and send them a barrage of 1.5 BILLION social media videos in the last week of the campaign? And why did the man who ran the campaign go on public record stating that they couldn’t have won without that?