HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT

View in Browser

One day we'll tell our grandkids about how when we were young everyone scrolled, and we had no idea how bad it was for us. Let's get into it. 

By Allison Morrow

📲 'MORAL BANKRUPTCY' 

 

All eyes were on Capitol Hill today as the Facebook whistleblower testified about how her former employer's products "harm children, stoke division, weaken our democracy."  

 

Despite that, Frances Haugen isn't calling for lawmakers to shut down Facebook or force it to break up — but simply to get serious about regulating it. Because so far, in the nearly two decades Facebook's been around, Congress has shown it's barely capable of directing the company to the bathroom.  

The gist of Haugen's pitch to Congress is that Facebook won't do the right thing until it's forced to. If public pressure and shame were enough, Facebook would have changed its behavior after the 2016 election. Or the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Or the 2020 election. Or… you get the point.  

So it's up to Washington to fix Facebook. And that's no easy task, even if Congress weren't hamstrung by its own internal squabbling and the looming threat of America's first-ever debt default.
 

Why is Facebook so hard to regulate? 

Part of the problem is that lawmakers are feeling around in the dark for a solution to a problem society has never faced before. Few people could have predicted Facebook's rapid evolution from a simple people directory into essentially a metaverse for virtually all modern discourse.  

 

To borrow Haugen's metaphor: It's like the Transportation Department writing the rules of the road without even knowing that seat belts are an option. 

And Facebook's structure is uniquely murky, even among tech companies, according to Haugen, who has worked at Google, Pinterest and others.  Unlike Google, where any independent researcher can download the company's search results, "Facebook hides behind walls that keep researchers and regulators from understanding the true dynamics of their system," Haugen told lawmakers.  

So, what do we do? 

The only ones who know how to fix Facebook are working inside Facebook, according to Haugen. So the first step is forcing them into the light by allowing Facebook to declare "moral bankruptcy." 

 

In other words, like financial bankruptcy, Facebook would have the opportunity to fess up about its problems and work with authorities on a kind of restructuring.

 

"Facebook is stuck in a feedback loop that they cannot get out of...they need to admit that they did something wrong and that they need help to solve these problems."

🤝  SPONSOR CONTENT BY COMPARECARDS

You Will Thank Yourself With 5x Cash Back Rewards

Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent, 1% cash back thereafter!

#️⃣ NUMBER OF THE DAY

$50,000

Bitcoin has shot up almost 20% in the past week, soaring above $50,000 for the first time in nearly a month. Other top cryptos, including ethereum, binance, solana and dogecoin, have enjoyed similarly large gains. 

🥣 FOOD FIGHT

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?

🛢️ Oil prices climbed above over $79 a barrel — their highest in nearly seven years — after OPEC and its allies declined to significantly ramp up production. 

 

📈 Stocks rallied across the board Tuesday as Wall Street tried to bounce back from a tech-driven selloff the day before. 

 

👻 Spooky Stock-tober? Some notorious October market crashes (1929 and 1987 spring to mind) have given the month a ghoulish vibe on Wall Street. But historically, it's actually pretty average.  

 

💸 Senator Elizabeth Warren urged the SEC to launch an insider trading investigation into transactions by high-level officials at the Federal Reserve. 

🐦 TWEET OF THE DAY