October 24, 2019

Would Zuckerberg be willing to spend one hour a day for a year as a Facebook content monitor?

A taunting question. What can Zuck say? Well, that's the point of a question like this. There's really no way to answer, and good luck trying before Representative Katie Porter claims back her time. But check out how he tries:



How should Zuckerberg have answered? (Watch video first!)
 
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39 comments:

Danno said...

How about a Muslim ban on Facebook? Might solve the problem.

wendybar said...

I watched some of this yesterday. Some of the congress critters are rude, obnoxious, and idiots. I can't believe they represent America.

Narayanan said...

Bravxaer Congressxaer

gilbar said...

He SHOULD have answered;
"NO, I'm not sure it would best serve our community for me to spend that much time"

Then when she said;
You're wasting my time!!! I DEMAND you give a Yes or No ANSWER!!!
he could have replied "I DID!"

rhhardin said...

Great question = women want to know because they're political morons. Does he mean well or not, is their only concern. Don't try to reason with women about it.

So he has to thread the what do women want needle.

Narayanan said...

Will he even need year to get PTSD!?

Is he not snowflake.

stlcdr said...

It’s a trick question, as a lot of demands for yes/no responses are. But since she’s committed to a yes/no answer, then say yes. This pushes the questioner down the (childish) prove it line of questioning; although, I’m sure she has something lined up fo that answer.

Mr. Forward said...

Would Zuckerberg be willing to spend one hour a day on the human face? Is the Dalai Lama on Facebook? If Llamas have too L's where did the other L go to?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Why do Democrats feel it is their right and duty to butt into every damn thing we, the public, do? I DGAF what Facebook employees do if it's legal.

sunsong said...

Katie Porter is wonderful

tommyesq said...

Why even phrase it as a question, since she would not let him answer even a single one? "Reclaiming my time" - what about his time? Also, what was the point of this hearing - to browbeat Facebook about its benefits policy?

I'm Full of Soup said...

I love her Wikipedia page..."Katie was born in a small Iowa farming community...her father is a farmer turned banker....Katie attended Philips Andover Academy [in New England] and Yale."

You know just an average small town girl.

I bumped into a young Andover grad at the local 711 the other night. She was hot not frumpy like probable future lesbian Katie Porter. She was also quick to say she was not rich and went to Philips Academy on a scholarship. Interesting that few people these days care to admit they have a lot of money.

Steven said...

"Yes, but only if I could do that instead of attending congressional hearings."

Steven said...

"Yes, but only if I could do that instead of attending congressional hearings."

Darrell said...

Katie Porter is as wonderful as sunsong Inga is.

Narayanan said...

Emerita:
is this similar to comment moderation that you do?!
Does it take more than an hour every day?
How does volume of comments compare to Facebook's?

Will you be out source to contractor?

Where do I apply? What benefits you offer?

c365 said...

I think some of the issues she raises are important. But it's a stupid premise.

I'm also not willing to spend an hour a day cleaning the toilets in my office. There's a reason why I invented Facebook. But for your information in the early years I did spend a lot of time and still do spend a lot of time looking at how customers use our product.

Congresswoman, will you spend an hour a day cleaning the toilets in a Federal prison? Will you spend an hour a day translating for soldiers in a war zone?

daskol said...

The Congresswoman demonstrated rhetorical skill and did not defy American norms or values regarding freedom of speech in her line of questioning. That's a relief, because the rest of the hearings that I saw, in particular Maxine Waters and AOC, were embarrassing in form and chilling in content. They were hammering Zuckerberg for his reluctance to police political speech, and trying to evade his argument that political speech is different from other types of speech like conventional advertising. They take for granted Sacha Baron Cohen's characterization that Zuckerberg is like the restaurant owner who lets goose-steppers enter and dine, failing to recognize the way in which Facebook is the public commons at this point. They are scary and dangerous, although AOC's manner is that of a child who's wearing her parents clothes and glasses and playing, not too convincingly, an adult. This is not her forum to shine, at least not yet.

Amadeus 48 said...

Zuckerberg treats all serious problems seriously.

It's not a serious question by the Congresswoman. How can he look into the problem when he is dragged down to Washington to be questioned by twits like Porter?

As a solution, some Facebook congressperson for hire should propose that there be mandatory "clean-up" time at the end of every shift where workers watch kitten and dog videos for an hour.

Your federal government: millions doing poorly that which need not be done at all with the force of law behind them.

Narayanan said...

Emerita:
is this similar to comment moderation that you do?!
Does it take more than an hour every day?
How does volume of comments compare to Facebook's?

Will you be out source to contractor?

Where do I apply? What benefits you offer?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Possible answer:

I make $x per hour. If you are willing to pay me that amount, I will agree to moderate content for those hours.

tim maguire said...

I think she looks ridiculous. That would be an absurd waste of valuable Zuck time and I don't think he should be embarrassed to say it.

It's one thing for a CEO to become personally familiar with all the jobs in a corporation, and quite another to say the CEO should spend 10% or more of his time on one menial job for a year.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Another possible answer:

We are all busy people. I will agree to spend one hour a week for a year moderating content, if every member of the committee agrees to sit next to me and moderate content at the same time. Note that all content moderation decisions made by committee members will be published, so your constituents understand what speech you deem acceptable, and what speech you would prohibit.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

she mentions "black mirror" - what is that?

eh - she creeps me out more than he does. Democrats are so awful.

Fernandinande said...

What an idiotic question.

"I'd like to cut back to one hour a day, but the work is far too important."

stlcdr said...

Blogger BleachBit-and-Hammers said...
she mentions "black mirror" - what is that?
...


a Netflix/British series of shortish stories set in the near future with slippery slope premise of "what if modern technology could do this?'. It typically revolves around social media-like technology. Most episodes are quite good and worth the effort.

Nichevo said...

Which Filipina contractor should be discharged from her job and condemned to a life of prostitution, so that I can help you virtue signal by doing her job?

Wince said...

Whatever Zuckerberg sins she actually evinced, Porter made Zuck look sympathetic.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

I would have said that people take jobs for many different reasons and that at this point in my life, I already have the job I want to do. At a different time in my life under different circumstances, I might have considered being a content monitor.

Darrell said...

Representative Katie Porter,

Would you like to spend one hour per day for a year cleaning out the Congressional toilets?

Asking for a friend.

Amadeus 48 said...

Zuckerberg, this is your political party Enjoy!

daskol said...

Zuckerberg is strange looking, but he's doing a very good job of PR for Facebook and for the rest of the tech companies, even if I have a hard time believing his sincerity. Going in front of Congress must be nerve-wracking, but it's made him look positively statesmanlike and well-considered as compared to the Congresspeople themselves. He does his weird Roman haircut and its forebears proud.

William said...

I've had worse jobs than a Facebook moderator. I wouldn't like to look at ghastly acts of violence, but I suppose you sometimes get a chance to view hot porn so maybe it evens out.....Zuckerberg has an uncomfortable smile. They should hire someone with better camera presence to be the CEO and answer these questions. I understand that that Thanos woman is free. She's got terrific poise, and I bet she could deflect that question with charm and ease......Well, anyway, at the end of the day, Zuckerberg is still one of the ten richest people in the world so life has its compensations even after extremely bad days.

Tomcc said...

I'm determined to not employ social media in my life. I don't have a FB account, nor Twitter or Instagram or any other platform. So, I have no dog in this fight. Ms. Porter's point seems to be that since FB employs people as content monitors, that the CEO is responsible for all of the negative consequences of that job. If her description is accurate, it sounds like an awful job and she seems to be implying that there should be mental health support provided at FB's expense, and/or a higher level of compensation.
If it were me, I'd quit a low paying job at the first sight of blood or violent interaction. For many people in retail (for example), problems with their legs and feet are common. I don't know of any retailer that offers subsidized podiatry services to their employees. It comes with the job.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Certainly, Congresswoman. Just as you would be willing to spend one hour a night scrubbing the halls of the Capitol Building, accessing only the same benefits available to those workers.

Martin said...

He should have asked her if she would spend one hour a day cleaning the restrooms in the Capitol building.

I don't like Zuckerberg or his company, but the idea that the CEO should spend time in some other role is ridiculous. Or that anyone, not only CEOs, should work below their capabilities and grade just to prove a point. Should the senior partner spend time as a paralegal? For that matter, should the driver of the garbage truck spend time loading the barrels?

It would be one thing to spend some time in a job to get a feel for what the employees have to do and their working conditions, but that was not how she framed it.

Show that FB is out of line with the pay and benefits others give for similar work, sure. But this line of questioning, while it has some emotional appeal, is really horse-s**t.

daskol said...

Tomcc, there was a lengthy expose in the Verge about how FB had outsourced content mgmt to Cognizant, including many interviews with current and former workers from a big Phoenix center and their travails. That's been a brickbat used to bash FB since early this year.

Martin said...

He should have asked her if she would spend one hour a day cleaning the restrooms in the Capitol building.

I don't like Zuckerberg or his company, but the idea that the CEO should spend time in some other role is ridiculous. Or that anyone, not only CEOs, should work below their capabilities and grade just to prove a point. Should the senior partner spend time as a paralegal? For that matter, should the driver of the garbage truck spend time loading the barrels?

It would be one thing to spend some time in a job to get a feel for what the employees have to do and their working conditions, but that was not how she framed it.

Show that FB is out of line with the pay and benefits others give for similar work, sure. But this line of questioning, while it has some emotional appeal, is really horse-s**t.

Tomcc said...

daskol- Thanks (I think); that's a very grim article.
I suppose if we lived in a different society, there would be no demand for such content.