Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Facebook Update

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by

James A. Bacon
in

As Bacon’s Rebellion readers know, Facebook has begun rejecting the most anodyne of ads promoting our website on the grounds that they address “social” or electoral issues. But the social media giant does have a mechanism for people to prove they are not bots. I am in the process of jumping through the necessary hoops, and I will keep you posted on my success — or failure.

I am not a bot. But how about these “friend” requests I keep getting from beautiful young Chinese women? Are they bots?

I have accepted none of these friend requests, so it’s not likely that I have unwittingly put myself on some list of dupes. The young woman above lists a Hong Kong residence and goes by a name rendered in Chinese characters, which I cannot read. Her Facebook page shows photos of her dining out, playing golf, and posing in gardens. We have no mutual friends.

In the past two weeks, I have gotten similar “friend” invitations from two equally beautiful young ladies. This has got to be a scam — but there’s no hint of Nigerian princes or missing fortunes. How does this work?

— JAB

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11 responses to “Facebook Update”

  1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “But how about these “friend” requests I keep getting from beautiful young Chinese women?”

    She probably just wants to advertise on your site… the more the merrier, eh…?

    1. Bruce at Liberty Avatar
      Bruce at Liberty

      Advertise for a lonely Democratic Congressman whose flatulence problem keeps him from finding love?

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Wilbur Mills? David Vitter (rhymes with critter)?

  2. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Never been anywhere near FB, but surely they have filters. Use them.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      I wouldn’t count on their filters – and stop calling us Shirley…

  3. Bruce at Liberty Avatar
    Bruce at Liberty

    It does appear FB cares more about censoring wrong opinions than about protecting people from grifters. I usually have almost the limit of 5,000 FB “friends” because I connect with people interested in politics all ver the world.

    I routinely get the scantily clad honey pot bot requests. I also routinely get Marlboro man looking alleged military and ex-military guys, often from a foreign military. Often their English is always a bit weird.

    More than once these foreign military men have then sent me messages asking me if I am single and telling me I am a very beautiful woman. (my profile pics tend to be things like Kamala as the Joker or Biden or Hillary collapsing on a sidewalk or Jill wearing a dress that looks like a shower curtain from a retirement home). Sometimes female FB friends tell me they are also getting odd messages from one of these guys, and ask me if I really know anything about him.

  4. kls Avatar
    kls

    Did you ask Swalwell for a reference?

  5. Matt Adams Avatar
    Matt Adams

    FB like Disqus doesn’t filter bots, as long as you have a unique e-mail address that they accept you can generate an account. You’d have to block the IP, but even following that a VPN would remove that block.

  6. DJRippert Avatar
    DJRippert

    Facebook is a monopolistic dumpster fire. What company is their effective competitor? MySpace? They need to be broken up aggressively. As a first step, they need to divest Instagram.

    “Facebook has begun rejecting the most anodyne of ads promoting our website on the grounds that they address “social” or electoral issues.”

    I stopped using FaceMonkey about a year ago. Every time I spent five minutes on that wretched site I would think to myself, “Well … that’s five minutes of my life I’ll never get back.” So, I’ll ask – are all ads addressing social or electoral issues banned? Isn’t every political ad an ad that addresses social or electoral issues?

    As far as FaceMonkey thinking you are a bot … I doubt it. What is an advertising bot anyway? A high volume “ad bot” generating high volumes of revenue for FaceMonkey would really be a problem? Why? The bots are your Hong Kong girlfriend. They are trying to increase their level of influence by getting lots of “friends”. That makes a big difference in the disinformation world catalyzed by FaceMonkey’s algorithms and costs no advertising revenue.

    FaceMonkey banned you ads either because they see your ads as politically incorrect (i.e. conservative) or because FaceMonkey is incompetent. I’m guessing the latter.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      My only participation in social media is Bacon’s Rebellion and e-mail (if that qualifies as social media). Therefore, I have little interest in this fight.

      However, I tend to agree with you about Facebook being monopolistic. Too bad the court did not. A suit brought by the FTC and the attorneys general of 48 states, i.e. bi-partisan, was summarily dismissed by a federal court. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/technology/facebook-ftc-lawsuit.html

      1. DJRippert Avatar
        DJRippert

        Unfortunately, these things take time. It took a long time to break up the original AT&T. From the Kingsbury Commitment (1913) to the Hush-A-Phone ruling (1956) to the Carterphone Decision (1968) to the 1974 Justice Department anti-trust suit (settled in 1982).

        The problem is that things move much faster these days, especially in the realm of technology. The speed of action from a lackadaisical, clubby and often beholden-to-special interests government might now be viable any longer.

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