Carlson: It's 'highly immoral' to censor users with
vaccine concerns
Morgan Kahmann was suspended by Facebook after leaking
documents to Project Veritas
By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
Morgan Kahmann,
the Facebook whistleblower
who was suspended by the tech giant after leaking internal documents exposing a
"vaccine hesitancy"
censorship campaign, appeared on "Tucker Carlson
Tonight" about the fallout he has faced since coming
forward to Project Veritas.
"Anything that questions the vaccine or the
narrative regarding the vaccine, which is, you know, everyone should get the
vaccine and the vaccine is good and you're not going to get many bad side
effects, anything outside of that realm is basically considered under ‘vaccine
hesitancy’ by Facebook's algorithms," Kahmann told Fox News host Tucker
Carlson on Thursday night. "They're afraid of what people might conclude
if they see that other people are having negative side effects. They think that
this is going to drive up vaccine hesitancy among the population and they see
that as something that they have to combat."
Kahmann, a data center technician who initially came
forward anonymously to Project Veritas with
the leaked documents, explained to Carlson that he was following his "moral
compass."
"My moral compass says that is not the right thing
to do because basically, the users at Facebook are not aware that this is going
on and if you're using Facebook or a social platform and they're censoring the
content of your comments unbeknownst to you, I think that's highly
immoral," the ousted Facebook employee said.
"I believe that any consequences that are bestowed
onto me by Facebook as a result of this leak and these documents that I leaked
to Project Veritas- I think that all of these consequences don't really weigh
much when it comes to having to live with myself," Kahmann said. "I
saw these documents and I had to opportunity to, you know, show the public this
and what's going on behind the scenes and I didn't do it, and so I wouldn't be
able to live with myself after that."
Kahmann told Carlson that he was "suddenly"
told to stop working and was escorted to his car after collecting all his
equipment and his access badge. He was also told that an "investigatory
meeting" would be scheduled with him on a later date, which he said was
ultimately "canceled."
Facebook previously did not respond to Fox News' multiple
requests for comment.
On Monday, Project Veritas released internal documents
explaining "Vaccine Hesitancy Comment Demotion" which shows the
"goal" is to "drastically reduce user exposure to vaccine
hesitancy."
Another leaked document addressed "Borderline
Vaccine (BV) Framework" that delves into how to classify such content with
another expressed "goal" to "identify and tier the categories of
non-violating content that could discourage vaccination in certain contexts,
thereby contributing to vaccine hesitancy or refusal," adding "We
have tiered these by potential harm and how much context is required in order
to evaluate harm."
Kahmann previously told Project Veritas founder James
O'Keefe during an interview that the consequences of Facebook's actions and the
ramifications if such practices are made across tech giants are "way worse
than anything that can happen from me getting fired from my job."
"To me… it far outweighs that because it's about
more than me. It's about really everyone in the world," Kahmann
said.
When asked if he thought there were "a lot of
people" at Facebook who agree with him about such concerns, Kahmann
estimated that "at least 25%."
"So you're telling me that 25% of the people there
agree that what they're doing with this vaccine hesitancy coding and algorithms
is morally wrong?" O'Keefe asked.
"Yes. That would not surprise me at all,"
Kahmann responded.
Kahmann has since established a fundraising campaign on
GiveSendGo to support his family, which includes his wife who is seven months
pregnant and their two-year-old son.
The suspended Facebook employee previously explained what
the "vaccine hesitancy" program was meant to do.
"Facebook uses classifiers in their algorithms to
determine certain content… they call it ‘vaccine hesitancy.' And without the
user's knowledge, they assign a score to these comments that's called the ‘VH
Score,' the ‘Vaccine Hesitancy Score,’" Kahmann told O'Keefe. "And
then based on that score will demote or leave the comment alone depending on
the content within the comment."
Kahmann revealed that the tech giant was running a
"test" on 1.5% of its 3.8 billion users with the focus on the
comments sections on "authoritative health pages."
"They're trying to control this content before it
even makes it onto your page before you even see it," Kahmann said.
The ratings are divided into two tiers, one being
"Alarmism & Criticism" and the other being "Indirect Vaccine
Discouragement" which includes celebrating vaccine refusal and
"shocking stories" that may deter others from taking the
vaccine.
The algorithm flags key terms in comments to determine
whether or not it can remain in place but allows human "raters" to
make a ruling if the algorithm cannot do so itself.
A second insider described as a "Data Center
Facility Engineer" described Facebook's
actions like being in an "abusive" relationship where they're
"not allowing their spouse to speak out about the things that are going on
in their marriage… and limiting their voice… It's very incriminating, in my
opinion."
In response to the leaked documents, Facebook told
Project Veritas, "We proactively announced this policy on our company blog
and also updated our help center with this information."
Leaked Documents Confirm Facebook Deciding Which News Stories Trend (Past Research on Facebook)
FRIDAY, MAY 13, 2016
https://thesteadydrip.blogspot.com/2016/05/leaked-documents-confirm-facebook.html
Erskine B. Bowles is
a director at Facebook and a
trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank).
Marne L. Levine is
a VP at Facebook and a trustee
at the Urban Institute (think tank).
Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Urban Institute (think tank) and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and a member of the Democracy Alliance.
Chris
Hughes was a member of the Democracy
Alliance and is a co-founder of Facebook.
Sheryl K. Sandberg is the COO & director for Facebook and a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
No comments:
Post a Comment