Dylan, German, and Dara talk about Facebook and the controversy surrounding it in recent weeks. They cover just how much — and how little — we know about Facebook’s impact on the world and talk about whether there are good policy solutions to Facebook’s problems. For the white paper of the week, they break down a study on free school lunch programs.
References:
The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on how Facebook’s efforts to improve the platform backfired
The Washington Post’s reporting on how Facebook prioritized “angry” over “like”
The Washington Post’s reporting on Facebook picking engagement over fighting misinformation
Section 230 basics, explained
Vox’s Recode Daily podcast
What happened when experimenters paid people to deactivate Facebook before the 2018 midterms
Max Fisher and Amanda Taub on Facebook-inspired anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka
Facebook did enable the Arab Spring
Farhad Manjoo on how bad regulations could make Facebook worse
A child psychologist on what we don’t know about Instagram’s effect on teen girls
Kevin Drum’s counter-takes on Facebook
NBER study on school lunch programs reducing grocery costs
Hosts:
Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox
German Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, Vox
Dara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublica
Credits:
Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineer
Libby Nelson, editorial advisor
Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts
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Is Facebook really that bad? | Explain It to Me podcast - Listen or read transcript on Metacast
