Libertarian Leanings

Facebook's Fight Against Fake News -- Under Direction of Then-President Obama

Who would have guessed that it was at President Barack Obama's urging that Facebook disabled Libertarian Leanings ad account?  Connecting the dots here!

A Fox News report describes Embarrassment at The Washington Post over a story implying that Obama reached out to Mark Zuckerberg specifically about Russian Facebook ads in the 2016 election.  The truth is Obama did not mention Russia when he spoke to Zuckerberg, but he did want Facebook to filter out other "Fake News."

The Washington Post has made a correction to an explosive cover story that undermines the entire premise of Monday’s front-page article headlined, "Obama sought to prod Facebook on Russia role."

The problem, according to a Facebook executive, is that when Obama reached out to the social media giant in 2016 to discuss political disinformation spreading on the site, he didn’t actually call out Russia – essentially making the Post’s headline misleading and inaccurate. Or, as President Trump would call it, “fake news.”

As first reported by Axios, the Post added significant information to the digital version of the story with the disclaimer, “This story has been updated with an additional response from Facebook.” The response from Facebook that didn’t make the paper’s print edition is vital and changed the story enough that the word “Russia” was removed from the updated headline.

The story detailed how then-President Obama gave Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg a “wake-up call” regarding fake news spreading on his social media platform. After reporting that Obama “made a personal appeal to Zuckerberg to take the threat of fake news and political disinformation seriously," the paper has added that Obama “did not single out Russia specifically."

So far as I know, while Obama did not specifically single Russia, he did not single out out Libertarian Leanings either.  However, Facebook did respond to Obama's appeal, and it did disable Libertarian Leanings' Facebook ad account in the aftermath.  Yes, my friends, the opinions that I have shared on Libertarian Leanings are fake news according to Facebook.  

My story begins in February of 2015 when I created a Libertarian Leanings Facebook page with the objective of increasing the reach of the Libertarian Leanings blog.  One of Facebook's tools that I thought would help me do this is Facebook advertising.  For a small fee, my range was $5 to $20, Facebook would promote a Libertarian Leanings post by advertising it on the Facebook pages of an audience that I could target within a certain set of parameters.  Truth be told, the advertising didn't help much.  Most Facebook users never bothered to click through to the Libertarian Leanings article that I hoped to promote.  Be that as it may, that advertising tool is no longer available to Libertarian Leanings.

Libertarian Leanings apparently fell from favor shortly before the November 8th presidential election.  On the Friday, November 4th I published an essay on the Libertarian Leanings blog stating my intention to vote for Donald Trump and the reasons for my choice.  Simultaneously, a link to the essay was established on the Libertarian Leanings Facebook page.  I went to Facebook and clicked on the button "boost" the post.  My ad was accepted and I began to see increasing numbers of "people reached" by my Facebook entry.

Then, inexplicably, I received notification that my ad was rejected.  I appealed the rejection, asking why the ad was rejected.  I got a reply saying that after further review my ad was acceptable.  The display showing number of people reached resumed its upward progress, and for an added bonus the boost button offered me the opportunity to add to advertising budget and reach even more people.  I took it.  Wrong move.

Clicking on the boost button got the ad rejected again.  Here is the exchange between me and Facebook.

What you submitted

Nov 4, 2016

Ad ID

6060171929831

Additional Information

I'd like to know specifically why the ad was rejected. What profanity should be removed? What viewers were harrassed, or whose racial, ethnic, or other attributes were disparaged?

Our reply

Nov 5, 2016

Hi Tom,

Thank you for notifying us about your ad disapproval.

We've reviewed your ad again and have determined it complies with our policies. Your ad is now approved.

Your ad is now active and will start delivering soon. You can track your results in Facebook Ads Manager.

Have a great day!

Did you find our support helpful? Please give us feedback

Thanks, Michael Facebook Ads Team >On Fri Nov 4, 2016 16:06:03, Tom Bowler wrote: >Ad ID : 6060171929831 >Additional Information : I'd like to know specifically why the ad was rejected. What profanity should be removed? What viewers were harrassed, or whose racial, ethnic, or other attributes were disparaged? >

Your reply

Nov 6, 2016

So now that you've reconsidered my ad and decided that it complies, and offered me the option to boost it, you've rejected the boost for the same reasons you rejected the original ad. Can you explain that to me?

Apparently, appealing the decision was no longer an option because the ad had been appealed once and then ultimately denied.

I was annoyed, but in the end I prevailed.  In spite of Facebook's efforts at blocking my message, I was able to get Donald Trump elected!  Of course, it's within the realm of possibility that other factors contributed to Trump's victory.  In any event, I didn't bother to pursue the issue of my rejected Facebook ad.

And then, on February 20, 2017 I received five identical emails from the Facebook ad team notifying me that my advertising account was disable

"Ad Account Disabled for Policy Violation
From Facebook Ads Team [email protected]              
Sent Mon, Feb 20, 2017 12:26 pm
To Tom Bowler [redacted]*

Header Ad Account Disabled for Policy Violation
Account Id: [redacted]*

Hi Tom,

Your ad account has been disabled for promoting ads which violate our Facebook Ad Guidelines.

Any ads you are running under the Ad Account ID listed above have been turned off. If you believe this has been a mistake, please contact us.

We also suggest reviewing our e-learning Blueprint module to better understand Facebook Ad Guidelines."

*Account Id redacted by the Libertarian Leanings security team

There was a button that said I could "Learn More."  The button took me a form where I could sign up to learn by providing my name and email address.  I decided I'd pass on the educational opportunity.  Five messages.  In case I missed the point.  I replied to one of them:

From: [redacted]*
To:
Subject: Policy Disabled Ad Account Help

Account Admin Name: Tom Bowler
Account Id: [redacted]*
Account Admin Email: [redacted]*
Is this your account?: Yes
Advertiser Account ID: 10152309798028414
Please provide information that will help us investigate: I haven't boosted any of my posts since November 4th when my boost was inexplicably rejected. I was never told why it was rejected, just as there is no indication why you are disabling my account at this time. I would like to know why, but only out of curiosity. I have no plans to spend money advertising on Facebook in the future.

*Account Id and email address redacted by the Libertarian Leanings security team

Oddly enough, later that afternoon I was given a reason that my original boost was rejected. And then rejected again after it was temporarily given a pass.

Your Ad Is Not Delivering
From Facebook [email protected] details
Mon, Feb 20, 2017 5:26 pm
To Tom Bowler [redacted]*

Your Ad Is Not Delivering

Your ad's image contains too much text which is preventing delivery of your ad to your audience. Click any of the links below to manage your ad, and make changes to reduce the amount of text in your ad's image to fix this issue.

The following ad needs your attention (1) View Ads

Account: Tom Bowler Campaign: Post: "I will be voting for Donald Trump next Tuesday...."Ad Set: Post: "I will be voting for Donald Trump next Tuesday...."
Boosted Post: Post: "I will be voting for Donald Trump next Tuesday...."

Three days later, on February 23rd, I got a note from Mary of the Facebook Ad Team explaining nothing.

Facebook [email protected]
Re: Policy Disabled Ad Account Help From Facebook [email protected] details
Thu, Feb 23, 2017 7:25 am
To Tom Bowler [redacted]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for reaching out to us. Your account has been disabled for not following Facebook's Advertising Guidelines.

Ad accounts are evaluated for policy compliance and quality of ad content. When accounts have run ads that are not policy compliant, they are disabled.

Your account was disabled for running misleading ads that resulted in high negative feedback from people on Facebook. Our goal is to provide the highest quality user experience. We reserve the right to reject any advertising that we deem contrary to these objectives. Similarly, we reserve the right to close an account creating ads contrary to these objectives.

For this reason, if any of your ads have been removed or your ad account has been disabled, we will be unable to reactivate either. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please consider this decision final.

Thanks for your understanding,

Mary
Facebook Ads Team
Facebook

I replied to Mary of the Facebook Ad Team:

-----Original Message----
From: Tom Bowler [redaced]

To: Facebook
Subject: Re: Policy Disabled Ad Account Help

 

Hi Mary,

Thanks for your reply. Sadly, you have not answered my question. Specifically, why was my account disabled? To say that my ads were misleading provides no information. What ad? How was it misleading? What was the substance of the negative feedback?

I'm suspicious because the last thing I attempted to advertise on Facebook was a post explaining my vote for Donald Trump. The post was not so much a plug for Donald Trump as it was a slam of Hillary Clinton. That was November 4th. Then three months later you decide to disable my account. No advertising in the meantime.

Is this part of Facebook's crackdown on "fake news?" The sequence of events leads me to only wonder if it was my extremely negative view of Hillary Clinton that was considered "misleading" by the Facebook Ads Team. Undoubtedly there are some in the Facebook community who would find the appearance of so a negative view of Hillary Clinton on Facebook something less than "the highest quality user experience." Is that the real problem?

This is not an appeal of your decision to disable my account. When the ad for my November 4th post was rejected, I immediately decided that I had purchased advertising on Facebook for the last time. That decision is final.

That said, I would still like answers to my questions and I believe I deserve them. What ads were misleading? In what way were they misleading? What was the substance of the negative feedback?

Sincerely,

Tom Bowler

 

Mary from the Facebook Ad Team replied the next morning:

 

Re: Policy Disabled Ad Account Help

From: Facebook [email protected]
Fri, Feb 24, 2017 8:40 am
To: Tom Bowler [redacted]

Hi Tom,

After careful review, I’ve determined that we’re unable to take further action regarding this matter.

Thanks,

Mary
Facebook Ads Team
Facebook

 

After careful review, no explanation -- none forthcoming, and none needed really.  Facebook's fight against Fake News was a transparent ploy to suppress conservative and libertarian viewpoints, or anything that might have negatively impacted Hillary's presidential aspirations.  This was exactly what President Obama was asking Zuckerberg to do.  And so the good folks at Facebook took action,but their effort failed.  While they might have limited the reach of Libertarian Leanings and others like me, they were unable to suppress Hillary.

Gold and Lord Rama - The Reason for the Diwali Season

The following article was written by Jp Cortez, assistant director at Sound Money Defense League.  It was originally published at www.soundmoneydefense.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 19, 2017 marks an important holiday in the Indian culture. Diwali begins. Diwali is one of the biggest festivals for Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains. It is a lavish celebration of the victory of light over darkness with its gleaming candles, luxurious works of art, and opulent feasts. Diwali is also characterized by gift giving. Buying and gifting gold is considered auspicious during Diwali.

Given the nature of the holiday and the number of people who celebrate it, according to CNBC, the past few years have seen a tendency for the gold price to rise around Diwali. Last year during Diwali, Mihir Kapadia, founder & CEO of Sun Global Investments, said “As heavy consumers, the festive seasons always tend to surge the demand, and considering the current low prices, this should increase the market activity and thus push the prices a little.” Kapadia continued, “We do not expect it to boost prices significantly as the overall market is subdued due to the worries about rising interest rates.”

There is no shortage of economic analysis during the buildup to this year’s celebration as The Economic Times reported “bullion has climbed almost 10 percent on the Indian market this year as world prices increased on… reduced chances of a further hike in U.S. interest rates in 2017.”

However, history shows that rising interest rates do not necessarily make bonds and cash more attractive or push the demand for (and therefore the price) gold down. Interest rate hikes are usually a gold bullish event.

“Gold prices going down after rate hikes is a myth propagated by the financial establishment and portfolio managers who may be intellectually lazy or have a vested interest in scaring people away from gold,” says Stefan Gleason, president of U.S. precious metals dealer Money Metals Exchange. "In reality, central banks are almost always behind the curve, and real interest rates may be going in the opposite direction despite the rate hikes." 

Slaying the Beast Takes Multiple Blows

Diwali is a grand, extravagant multi-day festival celebrating many things by many different groups of people. One of the more popular tales remembered and celebrated during Diwali is that of the brave Lord Rama. According to legend, he returned from exile after having saved his kidnapped wife and slayed the evil demon Ravanna.

This tale of glory and triumph evokes the sound money camp’s monetary hero, gold, facing the evil government and its minions, the “professionals” who often have a cynical bias against the yellow metal.

In the grand battle, Rama fights fiercely against Ravanna and his footmen. After a long and taxing battle, Rama delivers a blow that decapitates Ravanna’s central head. Unfortunately, another head appears in its place. Finally learning that Ravanna’s secret was an immortality nectar held in his stomach, Rama fired an arrow that finally laid Ravanna to rest.

Like Rama, gold finds itself fending off attacks from all sides. The federal government has been striking blows at gold since 1933, when Roosevelt banned all private possession of gold and required it be handed over in exchange for paper money. Gold has had all sorts of taxes levied against it. Gold and silver coins were stripped of their constitutional role as the only forms of money states could recognize as legal tender in payment of debts. Today, countless Wall Street types make a living trying to pierce the armor of gold in print and on television.

Fear not! It’s true that sound money’s lionhearted soldier hasn’t launched the fatal arrow that finally slays the fiat money system run by the world’s central bankers. But the battle is tipping further in the direction of our fearless hero every day.

States are taking the necessary steps to unshackle gold from its bureaucratic chains. 36 states across the union have an exemption against sales taxes being levied in precious metals purchases. Arizona has moved towards widespread acceptance of gold and silver by recognizing its legal tender status while removing capital gains taxes on precious metals holdings, with Wyoming, Idaho, and Tennessee not far behind. Texas is setting an example on how to shore up pension funds using gold, not to mention creating its own bullion depository.

Step by step, hard money forces are making advances. They still have a long way to go, of course. But they can draw inspiration from previous epic struggles against powerful foes.

During Diwali, millions of people around the world will celebrate the victory of their courageous and valiant hero, Lord Rama. Meanwhile, we can all celebrate gold’s continued ability to not only survive the onslaught coming from gold-cynics everywhere, but also to steadily re-establish itself as constitutional money.