How strange that the NYT article was about how they tried to pull other companies under the bus when they had privacy issues, and here Alex Stamos is pointing out that "most tech companies", "a lot of parties", "mass media", "NYT/WaPo/ESJ/TV", all failed too and should get the attention instead. The only thing missing is him saying Soros funded the GRU.
I know Alex Stamos left the company at this point, but he has every incentive to toe the party line on this, since his reputation could personally take a hit for his involvement.
The excellent and thorough NYT piece eviscerates FB leadership for employing the same sleazy disinformation tactics to defend themselves that FB failed to stop when weaponized by political actors.
Stamos has the gall to deflect Facebook's culpability by blaming responsible media outlets for getting compromised by the very disinfo that Stamos himself utterly failed to detect or stop during his tenure.
It's beyond irony or satire, it's fucking ridiculous that this guy still has a platform.
"The mass media was completely played by the GRU and wrote the stories they wanted after the DNC and Podesta disclosures. You could argue that this was much more impactful than the IRA disinfo, and there has been almost no self-reflection by NYT/WaPo/WSJ/TV on their role."
That is really unbecoming of him. I'm already not a big Facebook fan, but that was for reasons outside of all of this continually unraveling tale.
To try and offload the blame for a specific matter to completely unrelated parties is just... well it doesn't look good on him at all. Quite frankly, the gesture inspires suspicion.
He's absolutely right. Publications like NYT, WaPo, CNN, etc. have played huge roles in exacerbating the damage caused by Russian interference, as well as blowing up non-Russia related stories that ended up being of little substance but were major factors in the election, such as the Clinton email fiasco. And there has been little to no signs of repentance from them. And I doubt there will be.
That said, absolutely none of that absolves Facebook of anything, and to bring it up is just deflection.
ggggtez|7 years ago
I know Alex Stamos left the company at this point, but he has every incentive to toe the party line on this, since his reputation could personally take a hit for his involvement.
panarky|7 years ago
The excellent and thorough NYT piece eviscerates FB leadership for employing the same sleazy disinformation tactics to defend themselves that FB failed to stop when weaponized by political actors.
Stamos has the gall to deflect Facebook's culpability by blaming responsible media outlets for getting compromised by the very disinfo that Stamos himself utterly failed to detect or stop during his tenure.
It's beyond irony or satire, it's fucking ridiculous that this guy still has a platform.
"Delay, Deny and Deflect" indeed.
sleazy_b|7 years ago
52-6F-62|7 years ago
To try and offload the blame for a specific matter to completely unrelated parties is just... well it doesn't look good on him at all. Quite frankly, the gesture inspires suspicion.
thousandautumns|7 years ago
That said, absolutely none of that absolves Facebook of anything, and to bring it up is just deflection.
ineedasername|7 years ago