Facebook (FB)

Facebook has identified a new coordinated political influence campaign to mislead its users and sow dissension among voters ahead of November's U.S. congressional elections.

It said it had removed 32 pages and accounts from Facebook and Instagram, part of an effort to combat foreign meddling in U.S. elections.

The company stopped short of identifying the source of the misinformation. But members of Congress who had been briefed by Facebook on the matter said the methodology of the influence campaign suggested Russian involvement.

“I can say I think with pretty high confidence I think this is Russian-related,” Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. lawmakers demanded that technology firms do more to fight "shocking" foreign efforts to influence U.S. politics, a day after Facebook identified a new influence campaign tied to November's elections and despite President Donald Trump's denunciation of the issue as a "hoax."

Facebook has released a statement suggesting that "The ethnic violence in Myanmar is horrific and we have been too slow to prevent misinformation and hate speech on Facebook” after a Reuters investigation showed the social media giant provided scant resources to combat hate speech in Myanmar, which is a market it dominates and where there have been repeated eruptions of ethnic violence. Facebook went on to suggest that it is acting to remedy the problem by hiring more Burmese speakers and investing in technology to identify problematic content.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Facebook, Twitter, and other silicon valley leaders that it is "very dangerous" for social media companies to silence voices on their services.

Meanwhile, India said Facebook-owned WhatsApp had pledged to develop tools that would combat fake messages, to help the country crack down on people whipping up public anger through mass message forwards on social media, which has lead to genocide in countries like Myanmar.

Sometimes companies forget that they exist via a set of rules that can be changed at any time.

All the market needs is an excuse.

Facebook is expanding the "Watch" video service.

Head of Video Fidji Simo said Watch was gaining real momentum in a crowded marketplace because it was built on the notion that watching videos could be a social activity.

No word on how watching video on a 6 inch phone screen over the internet is more "social" than sitting in an actual room with people you know watching video on a 60 inch+ flat screen television, but reports suggest one can find original entertainment, news and sports content on the platform that the company hopes will compete with Alphabet Inc's YouTube.

In related news, bot traffic generated by posting to Facebook is up 50%.

EU regulators said that Facebook is required to comply with European consumer rules by year end in order to avoid sanctions. The move comes as EU regulators step up their efforts to address lingering privacy concerns with US social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

Agents of Facebook said that many of the regulators concerns have already been addressed and that it will continue to cooperate with the authorities.

Bloomberg is reporting that 50m Facebook accounts have been compromised in an attack.

The market will not permit Facebook to take control of the weapon at 50m.

However, 50m in a term deposit - for purposes of manifesting a new FDIC Insured Bank - would afford Zuckerberg the same peace of mind.

Facebook photo sharing subsidiary Instagram suffered a worldwide outage this week. Sources suggest the event was related to the unexpected departure of Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger after disagreements over the need to monetize friends.

Facebook security agents suggest that investigators could find no evidence that attackers logged into the Facebook site or used its single sign-on function to access other sites during the period of attack.

It is possible they found the default covenants unacceptable.

Vertex Trading Systems typically posts proprietary research to the private members forum, but given the circumstances this may be more useful here.

The following was distributed on October 14, 2018.
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By all accounts Facebook is incredibly profitable, and while user growth has slowed, the firm is expected to see continued improvements in profitability for some time.

Assuming they can avoid any more trust withering revelations of bad behavior anyway…

The firm recently announced a clever new gadget – the Facebook Portal - that it hopes consumers will setup in their kitchen and talk to about their hopes and dreams.



The weird thing about the product isn’t the incredibly poor timing for it to come to market - just days after the firm announced a security breach that exposed valuable data on millions of its users.

The weird bit is that it includes Amazon’s Alexa AI product.

Non-economic Incentives

Admittedly the video technology is revolutionary and those who are away from loved ones will doubtlessly find the product delivers on the promise to connect immersively.

As a showcase for the technology I believe it will succeed, with much benefit accruing to the owners of the IP in the next round.

That said, it is not the Echo and it would likely be foolish for Facebook to push this as a mass market holiday product.

The thing I believe Facebook fails to appreciate is that the brand only has value in a narrow circumstance.

People love Facebook for what Facebook was. They log in to recover that feeling they had in 2012 when they scrolled through their friends list and felt loved.

Kids aren’t interested in the product the same way today because it is not the same product.

That isn’t a criticism. Life happens on a timeline and product markets evolve. Facebook is a vastly more profitable company today precisely because it has evolved with the market.

It is clear that there is considerable incentive to drive as many people back into the platform as possible.

What may be less clear is how fragile customer loyalty can be when those customers feel abused.

I personally feel abused by Facebook.

I know others do as well.

And while I may be just one lone voice in the great sea of humanity, I’m ready to tell Mr. Zuckerberg & Co. that I’ve had enough.

What Facebook Needs

For many years Facebook has enjoyed the “growth company” label.

Maintaining that label required the firm to engage in certain market making activity like developing new products and awesome updates to keep the market coming back for more.

The market has removed the premium from the stock price because it expects less of this going forward.

Facebook should deliver on those expectations by saying less.

The Portal did not need to be released as a Facebook branded product. Portal is a good stand-alone brand name. Would it have been so hard to elevate someone to CEO of a new entity funded by Facebook with Messenger and Alexa integration for a stand alone product launch?

GoPro Inc. offers less value and sports a $962m market cap as of Friday's close.

After analyzing the offer I am apathetic on the product, and Facebook overall.

Facebook is reporting earnings of $1.76 per share on revenues of $13.7 Billion for the quarter ending September 2018.

Analysts expected $1.47 per share on $13.7 Billion in sales.

Facebook reported 1.49 billion active daily users on the core platform vs expectations of 1.47.

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,

It does not appear that you have anyone in your company checking you on your bullshit. I can, so I will.

... The market doesn't trust you. American's have stopped using your platform. Your growth comes from 3rd worlders who don't have experience with your culture. Once people know you they dislike and want to get away from you. You cannot undo this in your lifetime.

... Your corporate structure has insulated you from the important feedback you need to escape your current circumstance. There are no consequences for your actions. Burn a pile of bibles in the street, or a school full of children, and you would still retain an iron grip of control on the facebook. You are in effect God within your realm. That realm is under attack and shrinking because of who you are and the culture you built. Trying to expand that culture to a new sphere will not stop the carnage at your border, or allow you to start over in a new dimension. Diem is dead because of you. Do you want to kill the metaverse too?

... The fact is, it doesn't matter how you answer that question. The market will not accept a metaverse built by you because everyone knows who you are and what you want.

... Spend your money however you like, but know that it is time for you to step down. My advice would be to find a philanthropic pursuit, or enter politics. Either endeavor will teach you important things you need to learn about yourself.

m.zuckerburg@facebook~#: /roll:2d6

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Snake Eyes