Dingus of the week: Mark Zuckerberg

Plus, no one mourns the wicked

This week, Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company Meta would be shutting down its fact-checking department.

He delivered this news in a reel in which he also unveiled his new look, which can only be described as a cross between Kid Rock and a damp paper towel. Vanilla Rice is back with a brand new invention. Also, what happened to his eyelashes?

Anyway, in this reel, Zuckerberg said, “Fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S. So, over the next couple of months, we're going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system.”

Facts are too liberal. Using the truth as a barometer is too restrictive for Republicans who want to say things like, “Hunter Biden killed the baby Jesus,” “Woke ended my marriage,” and “Transgender made me eat cat feces.” You know, the bold things the Democrats don’t want you to hear.

So Zuckerberg is simply going to let them.

He claimed the move is an effort to get back to the “roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram.”

Yes, that’s right. Zuckerberg wants to get back to the noble values on which Facebook was founded, namely the free right of men to rank the hotness level of the women around them and call them “uggos.”

And per the new policy, that’s just what Facebook users will be able to do: sling whatever vile invective they want at women, Black people, LGBTQ people, and more. It’s inspiring. It reminds me of why this country was founded. Which, if you forgot, was so the Puritans could claim that kitty litter boxes were being put in British schools without the fear of someone saying, “Hey, that’s actually not true and has not happened.”

It’s important to remember that what happens on Facebook isn’t just a clash of ideas between respectful but disagreeing friends and neighbors. Misinformation on Facebook has led directly to violence and death. Kyle Rittenhouse went to Wisconsin because of a Facebook page titled “Kenosha Guard,” which instructed members to patrol the streets with guns and exact vigilante justice. During 2020, Covid misinformation was rife on Facebook, and how many people died or ended up in the hospital because of it? We simply will never know.

In 2022, Amnesty International released a report detailing how Meta was directly responsible for violence in Myanmar. It argued that “Meta knew or should have known that Facebook’s algorithmic systems were supercharging the spread of harmful anti-Rohingya content in Myanmar, but the company still failed to act.”

And that’s just the violence we know about. Who knows what other deaths and violence were avoided by Meta’s moderation policies? I guess we will find out soon.

Zuckerberg’s announcement didn’t come out of nowhere. Meta was the target of congressional hearings led by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. As NBC reported, “Jordan’s committee subpoenaed Zuckerberg and other tech companies for documents aimed at proving a conspiracy between government, disinformation researchers and Big Tech.” And all that backlash from Republican lawmakers (and Donald Trump) who were mad that they couldn’t claim that the Rothschilds invented a space laser that stole the Lindberg baby, then made off with DB Cooper’s cash.

When asked by a reporter if Zuckerberg was capitulating to his threats, Trump answered, “Probably.”

All this shows that Zuckerberg has the moral fortitude of a mucousy tissue.

Zuckerberg created and got disgustingly rich off a social media platform that is responsible for death, violence, and misinformation. This Victor Frankenstein has grown tired of chasing the monster of his own creation and has decided to let democracy descend into chaos just so he can dine at Mar-a-Lago.

Like Elon Musk, Zuckerberg will continue to get wealthy off a platform where everything is true and nothing is real, where the algorithm aided by AI will fuel the worst of all of our clickstincts, and only we will suffer the consequences.

And now for good news

This community, now nearly 60,000 subscribers strong, is made up of people who are kind and generous and have been incredibly generous to organizations that do good work. I have been reflecting a lot these past couple weeks about how much you all have helped me raise for the Iowa Abortion Access Fund and how that has directly saved lives in ways we will never fully know. So thank you for always being the good news in my life. And that said, Mutual Aid of LA has put together an exhaustive list of places you can volunteer and donate to help out with the devastation caused by the wildfires.

Also,

Garrett Bucks

wrote a wonderful essay about loving your neighbor when your house is on fire.

And the Los Angeles Times has also put together a list.

It’s a lot to navigate. But I sent donations to Baby2Baby and Mutual Aid of LA.

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Donald Trump’s absolutely dingusy proposal that America rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America with a proposal of her own: renaming North America as “Mexican America.”

Far-right leader Jean Marie Le Pen died and I am so happy for the people of France.

Anti-gay rights activist Anita Bryant died this week. Never forget that she was pied in the face in Des Moines, Iowa.

What I am enjoying

On Wednesday night, I traveled to Des Moines for a book club. I was there because, as part of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund annual fundraiser, I donated a book club package to raise money for the fund.

It was such a lovely night and I was surrounded by women who had been working since before I was born to fight for justice, equality, and systemic change. It was such an honor to be in that room. So many women expressed frustration that the freedoms they fought for had been rolled back and wondered what to do next.

I do not have all the answers. But I think whatever good comes next begins in rooms like that. Rooms where women share sweet corn dip and chocolate and drink wine. Where we find community, channel rage, and seek answers.