Freedom ain't free

Hillary’s cabinet: The Facebook connection?

August 16, 2016

Among the many grounds for worrying about our democracy, there is the fear that the social media channels through which most Americans under the age of old now get their news may not be, shall we say, as neutral as implied. If you were not under a rock this spring, for example, you recall the controversy that exploded around Facebook, when several former Facebook “news curators” told Gizmodo that they “routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers.” This shocked exactly nobody, but was a useful reminder that culturally powerful businesses punch above weight in our democracy.

For the conspiratorially minded, the under-reported news of the day may therefore be this list of “7 Executives Who Could End Up in Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Cabinet.” At the very top? Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

sheryl-sandberg

All very unfair of me, we’re sure. Why would the chief operating officer lean in on something as trivial as the management of the “news curators”?

If the Republicans retain control of the Senate, which is looking less and less likely, this should at least make for an amusing confirmation hearing.

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2 Comments

  • Reply hotels near carrabassett valley me November 14, 2016 at 7:35 am

    When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get three emails with the same comment.
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    Cheers!

    • Reply Editor November 22, 2016 at 11:36 am

      Not sure. Will investigate.

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