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Meta’s Quiet ElectionSeparating politics and social media is a good thing.
Four years ago, ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Meta was in a different place. Its name was Facebook. Its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was donating hundreds of millions of dollars to election integrity efforts. Its outsized role in the 2016 U.S. presidential loomed ahead of another moment in the spotlight. And within months, it would suspend the sitting president’s account. Today, weeks before election day 2024, Meta is hardly factoring in the political conversation. It’s de-emphasized politics on its properties and ceded that game to TikTok and X. Facebook and Instagram are recommending far less political content, Whatsapp isn’t a political force in the U.S. (as it is outside), and Threads leadership repeatedly and explicitly told users they would not amplify political content. As such, there hasn’t been a single memorable political moment on a Meta service during the entire campaign season. Good. Social media feeds — driven by the outrageous, shocking, and bizarre — simply don’t mesh with the serious business of politics. The original dream that people would build empathy by engaging with political opponents on social media is dead. Realizing the mistake, Meta is out, becoming the first leading social media platform to disengage with politics. It’s a healthy move, and will only benefit society. Bringing politics onto Facebook was a product and a civic choice. From a product perspective, few content forms are more engaging than political conversations, which are typically relevant, controversial, and ripe for debate. Facebook’s foray into politics brought vibrancy into the platform, making social media impossible to ignore. And within the company, there was a belief that the engagement was a civic good, a tool that social movements like the Arab Spring used to overthrow authoritarian governments and air otherwise unheard arguments. Social media does give voice to those who can’t find a fair hearing in mainstream conversations, and it does expand the political conversation in productive ways, but running politics through social networks can come with devastating side effects. Instead of thoughtful discourse, or something approximating it, political discussion on social media is driven by impulse and emotion, with flame wars rising to the top of feeds and the ‘share’ button becoming a voting mechanism for content that plays to emotion. While many celebrated the ‘Facebook Elections’ of past cycles for bringing the voting population closer to candidates, political actors eventually played to the platform’s incentives and optimized for divisive content. Professional outrage-baiters, meanwhile, built empires off angry referral traffic. And previously-sober news outlets became intoxicated with the feeds’ reach, adopting bad habits themselves. “All the wrong things went viral,” one editor recently told me. “It produced horrible incentives for news organizations, there was nothing good about it.” In this election cycle, Meta properties aren’t entirely devoid of politics. The since-recanted claim of immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio began in a Meta post, but was amplified and given life on X. That said, by shrinking the amount politics reccomended on its services, Meta will encourage less of these problematic posts. It may cost the company some relevance, but in the end, it’s worth it. Uplevel your AI skills (sponsor)Whether you’ve never used AI tools before or are already leveraging AI in your day-to-day, the AI for Product Management Course will give you fresh perspective and actionable guidance on using AI in your role. Take the course to learn how to leverage AI throughout the development life cycle, best practices for building AI-powered features, and why product managers should view AI as a strategic tool—not a threat. What Else I’m Reading, Etc.Apple should’ve released the Vision Pro as a developer device [Spyglass] Another OpenAI co-founder (how many are there?) goes to Anthropic [Techcrunch] Waymo starts public rides in Austin, Texas [Techcrunch] Younger Americans are starting to invest sooner than older generations [Downtown Josh Brown] Wired interviews Bobbi Althoff [Wired] The Olivia Nuzzi - Ryan Lizza - RFK Jr. saga gets even uglier [CNN] Devastating story of a man lost to the North Carolina floods [New York Times] Number of The Week157 billion OpenAI valuation after closing its $6.6 billion funding round this week, the largest VC round ever. Advertise on Big Technology? Reach 145,000+ plugged-in tech readers with your company’s latest campaign, product, or thought leadership. To learn more, write alex@bigtechnology.com or reply to this email. This Week on Big Technology Podcast: Meta's CTO On Its Augmented Reality Dreams — With Andrew BosworthAndrew Bosworth is the Chief Technology Officer at Meta. Bosworth joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Meta's new Orion augmented reality glasses and the future of human-computer interaction. Tune in to hear his insights on the technical capabilities of AR, the potential of artificial intelligence, and how these technologies could reshape the way we interact with computers and each other in the coming years. We also cover the evolution of computing paradigms, Meta's strategy in the AI and AR/VR space, and the philosophical implications of advanced AI. Hit play for a fascinating conversation with one of the top technology executives at the forefront of the AR and AI revolution. You can listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for reading. Please share Big Technology if you like it! And hit that Like Button because engaging with content about political content is allowed here My book Always Day One digs into the tech giants’ inner workings, focusing on automation and culture. I’d be thrilled if you’d give it a read. You can find it here. Questions? News tips? Email me by responding to this email, or by writing alex@bigtechnology.com Or find me on Signal at 516-695-8680 Thank you for reading Big Technology! Paid subscribers get our weekly column, breaking news insights from a panel of experts, monthly stories from Amazon vet Kristi Coulter, and plenty more. Please consider signing up here.
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