[ April 18, 2024 ]
Barack Obama’s former director for media analytics told a shocked American public that Facebook allowed Team Obama campaign officials back in 2012 to mine tons of data that was collected on users by the social media site, and use it all for political purposes.
The collection normally would have been prohibited.
But because Facebook was “on our side,” it was allowed to go forth, the former campaign staffer said.
Story continues below advertisement
Shocked? Don’t be. Facebook is more political beast than social media friend.
https://twitter.com/PamelaGeller/status/975542903417303041
Breitbart has more:
Facebook representatives told Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign that they had been allowed to use the platform in ways that would have otherwise been prohibited, because Facebook was “on our side,” according to explosive claims from Obama’s former director for media analytics, Carol Davidsen.
They came to office in the days following election recruiting & were very candid that they allowed us to do things they wouldn’t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side.
— Carol Davidsen (@cld276) March 19, 2018
In a series of tweets, Davidsen that Facebook was “surprised” that the Obama campaign was able to “suck out the entire social graph” (the “social graph” is an individual’s network of friends on Facebook), but did nothing to stop them once they found out.
Facebook was surprised we were able to suck out the whole social graph, but they didn’t stop us once they realized that was what we were doing.
— Carol Davidsen (@cld276) March 19, 2018
Davidsen also linked to a talk from 2015 in which she explained how Facebook’s privacy policies in 2012 allowed them to harvest data on friend networks across America.
Davidsen says that this gave the Democrats a massive advantage, as the Republicans did not gain access to the same data before Facebook shut off the feature.
“The privacy policies on Facebook were … if they opted in, they could tell us who all their friends were. So they told us who all their friends were…We were actually able to ingest the entire social network of the U.S. that’s on Facebook, which is most people.”
“Where this gets complicated is that freaks Facebook out. So they shut off the feature.”
“The Republicans never built an app to do that. So the data’s out there — you can’t take it back. The Democrats have this information, so when they look at a voter file and someone comes to them, they can immediately be like ‘Oh, here are all the other people that they know, and here are people they can help us persuade, because they’re really good friends with that person.’”
“The Republicans do not have that information and will not get that information. I’m a Democrat, so maybe I could argue that’s a great thing, but really it’s not, in the overall process. That wasn’t thought all the way through and now there’s a disadvantage of information that to me seems unfair. But I’m not Facebook…”
According to Davidsen, the Obama campaign used that data to target voters through their friend networks, and motivate people to vote.
An example of how we used that data to append to our email lists. pic.twitter.com/VHhSukvXDY
— Carol Davidsen (@cld276) March 19, 2018
“I worked on all of the data integration projects at OFA” said Davidsen. “This was the only one that felt creepy.”
https://twitter.com/cld276/status/975569294644924416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Ftech%2F2018%2F03%2F19%2Fobama-campaign-staffer-says-facebook-allowed-harvest-masses-data%2F&tfw_creator=LibertarianBlue&tfw_site=BreitbartNews
The Truth Must be Told
Your contribution supports independent journalism
Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.
Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.
Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.
Please contribute here.
or
Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.
Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding.Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.
Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.
Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.
Follow Pamela Geller on Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.
Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.
Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.
If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.
12 Comments
D
6 years ago
Software and algorithms riddled with flaws.
6 years ago
Facebook allowed Obama campaign officials back in 2012 to mine tons of data that was collected on users by the social media site, and use it all for political purposes.
The collection normally would have been prohibited.
But because Facebook was “on our side,” it was allowed to go forth, Carol Davidsen, who worked as the Obama media director said.
Shocked? Don’t be. Facebook is more political beast than social media friend.
6 years ago
Sandy Parakilas, a former Facebook platform operations manager, claimed the company’s “horrifying” misuse of user data – friends of friends – was routine.
6 years ago
Reply to
taxpayer22
Agree. Like facebook , twitter, even Google have joined Islamofascist gang http://tinyurl.com/lgp28rs
To censor conservative and Anti-jihadi news to push the islamisation agenda of the Left/Liberal/jihadis funded by saudi/qataris
They are either funded(muslims holding stake in their company) or paid Millions to shill for Islam and run down/smear those who oppose Islam.
And conservatives don’t want to fund the alternative media, nor unite to pursue the issue politically or legally then act surprised their First amendment is not getting up and fighting for them !
6 years ago
6 years ago
Just remember, when you get something for free, like Facebook, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.
6 years ago
If it is on face book, it is available for a price.
6 years ago
The Gateway Pundit ran this extraordinary interview the other day: “Meet the Tattooed Woman Behind President Trump’s Facebook Success During 2016 Election” http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/03/meet-the-woman-behind-president-trumps-facebook-success-during-2016-election/ Details on the Trump/ Facefook operation center. The woman has been subjected to intense harassment from the left for her work.
The main difference in 2016 is that the Trump campaign paid for Facebook’s help, $85 million, and the software was probably more sophisticated.
6 years ago
On top of CLINTON/Russian (dossier) campaign “collusion”, what else will CNN ignore?
6 years ago
absolutely disgusting
6 years ago
FB appears to offer many grounds for discrimination against Conservatives and Christians – to a resourceful and ambitious law firm… They punish their members for publishing facts, just unembellished, established FACTS, if those facts throw light on islam, even if previously published by moslems!!!
