 |
| Mark Zuckerberg |
Facebook, which has admitted that it ran more than 450 "inauthentic" pages and accounts that operated out of Russia during the 2016 presidential election, resorted to a PR ploy on Jan. 6 in announcing that it would do whatever it takes to ban deepfakes from its site.
That move comes ahead of the Jan. 8 House Energy & Commerce Committee's subcommittee on consumer protection & commerce hearing called "Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age." Congress is looking at you, Facebook.
Monika Bickert, Facebook's VP of global policy management, announced the new policy, saying the social network will remove content that's been edited "in ways that aren't apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they didn't say."
That's a good start, but the TechCrunch technology site points out that Facebook will allow edits or splices to video that curtail, slow down or change the order of a speaker's words.
In other words, Facebook's new policy would allow the infamous May 22, 2019 video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in which her speech was slowed down by 75 percent, making it appear that she was drunk and slurring her words.
TechCrunch dismisses Facebook's updated position on manipulated media as "no to malicious deepfakes but spin doctors, please carry on."
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has got to do better.
Goldman Sachs gets PR religion, promising a new era of openness and transparency in the hopes of giving a boost arm to its sluggish stock price.
The investment banker plans to "peel back the curtain" on its lending and proprietary bets and fashion its quarterly reports along the lines of competitors like JPMorgan Chase, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Goldman CEO David Solomon, reported the WSJ, told an off-site meeting last year that the company's stock should be trading for at least $400. It currently changes hands at $235.
Goldman slates its first investor day later this month, where it will flesh out the policy. Let's hope the new PR policy will result in gold for Goldman's investors.
Reed Hastings, the genius behind Netflix's DVD-by-mail strategy, steps down. If O'Dwyer's had a Corporate Hall of Fame, Reed would be in it... Donald Trump's revenge tour rolls on as his team strips $11M from Catholic Charities that is used to run shelters for migrant children who have entered the US alone... Crusader Pete Hegseth should lay off the biblical stuff for a while, or at least until the world has moved on from his boss’ depiction of himself as Jesus.
AI is disrupting shareholder activism communications, forcing financial PR pros to reshape their narratives so they are accurately interpreted and amplified by algorithmic engines, according to a white paper by KekstCNC... Team Trump sneaks into NYC to praise gas pipeline project... What's moral about threatening to wipe out an entire civilization, JD?
Pope Leo says he has no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel. That is, after all, his job.
Melania Trump's bolt-out-of-the-blue April 9 appearance to claim she had no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is not going to boost her -12 percent popularity rating. It may make it worse... Mentioning "Avignon," home of the antipopes, to the Vatican's US ambassador is like shouting "Remember the Alamo" on the streets of Mexico City.
Donald Trump served up his tastiest TACO on April 7 when he postponed his threat to wipe out Iran’s civilization for the blocking of Strait of Hormuz.
