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Let's Talk About Facebook and Star Army

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There are some serious problems with Facebook and how it basically makes its money by gathering the personal details of your life and sells them to advertisers, and also how it was involved in Russian government's interference in the 2016 US Presidential Election.

PART 1: Facebook's Privacy Problem


PART 2: Facebook's Fake News Problem

Russian Troll Factories, which generate bullshit social media posts to influence opinions, have been taking advantage of Facebook including buying Facebook ads with Russian Rubles. The best known of these is the "Internet Research Agency" (IRA).

This post from Reddit does a better job of connecting the dots than I would, so I'll just quote it:
Russia is deeply embedded into Facebook.

In 2009, Russian social-media mogul Yuri Milner invested $200 million into Facebook at a valuation of $10 billion dollars without voting rights or a seat on the board. To understand this investment, at the time the world was going through a global recession and Facebook's general valuation had dropped from the $15 billion from the year prior to $4-$6 billion in 2009.

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebooks-valuation-the-cheat-sheet/

One company did offer a valuation of $8 billion, but with a seat on the board, which Zuckerberg was strongly against. In other words, Yuri Milner invested in Facebook when they were strapped for cash and at an inflated price without voting rights or a seat on the board. That's an amazing deal for Zuckerberg!

Here's Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg hanging out for an interview: https://techcrunch.com/2009/05/26/m...er-talk-about-facebooks-new-investment-video/

The deal was coordinated by Alisher B. Usmanov, a Russian oligarch that earned his fortune managing steel mill subsidiaries for Gazprom.

Usmanov spent six years in prison for fraud and embezzlement in the 80's.

In 2008, Usmanov fired a publisher and editor at one of Russia's most respected news paper after it published detailed accounts of Russian election fraud.

It is said, "His ties to the Kremlin and Facebook have stirred concerns that he might influence the company’s policies in subtle ways to appease governments in markets where Facebook is also an important tool of political dissent, such as Russia." This was in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/technology/a-russian-facebook-bet-pays-off-big.html

Usmanov is close friends with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alisher_Usmanov

Ivanka Trump and Wendi Deng are good friends with Abramovich's then wife, Dasha Zhoukova. Here they are watching a tennis match.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rlie-Kloss-Wendi-Deng-Murdoch-watch-Open.html

The leak of the Paradise Papers revealed the money Yuri Milner used to invest into Facebook came from Gazprom, a US sanctioned Russian oil and gas company, at one point owning 9% of the company.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/what...-facebook-yuri-milner-facebook-twitter-russia

Soon after, Zuckerberg and Milner became friends, meeting monthly:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zuckerberg-got-early-business-advice-194957335.html

And even spoke together in November 2015 at the 2016 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/what...-facebook-yuri-milner-facebook-twitter-russia

In May 2012, Milner attended Zuckerberg's wedding. In 2014, Milner moved to California home he paid 100% above value on.

http://time.com/5011000/paradise-papers-tax-havens-leak/

For those who aren't familiar with Gazprom, Gazprom financed the spy ring that in 2013 tried to recruit Trump Advisor Carter Page before being broken up by the FBI. One of the spies trying to recruit Page said of Page, "He got hooked on Gazprom."

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/04/04...iser-carter-page-and-thought-he-was-an-idiot/

Around the time Yuri Milner was investing in Facebook, they lost their CFO Gideon Yu. Reason given: Facebook wanted a CFO with public company experience, suggesting they were thinking of an IPO at the time of Milner's investment (the reason given was deemed nonsensical).

https://techcrunch.com/2009/03/31/confirmed-facebook-loses-cfo-gideon-yu/

Yuri Milner's DST was one of the big winners over Facebook's botched IPO.

https://www.ft.com/content/281a8420-a46e-11e1-a701-00144feabdc0

When Facebook was confronted about the fake news epidemic on Facebook and it's influence on the election, he said it was "crazy."

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-zuckerberg-russians-20170929-story.html

When Facebook put out a report in April 2017, it conspicuously left out any mention of Russia:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...sia-references-from-report-on-disinformation/

US political ads were at times paid for by rubles:

http://thehill.com/policy/technolog...book-for-accepting-rubles-for-us-election-ads

Facebook had "embeds" into the Trump campaign working with Brad Parscale, Trumps digital director.

https://mashable.com/2017/10/10/facebook-responds-embeds-trump-campaign-60-minutes/#BrZIcKnffGqw

Based on Kushner's quotes, these "embeds" may have worked closely with Cambridge Anayltica:

“We found that Facebook and digital targeting were the most effective ways to reach the audiences. After the primary, we started ramping up because we knew that doing a national campaign is different than doing a primary campaign. That was when we formalized the system because we had to ramp up for digital fundraising. We brought in Cambridge Analytica. I called some of my friends from Silicon Valley who were some of the best digital marketers in the world. And I asked them how to scale this stuff."

Here's a video explaining just that: @2:37

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine...uru-who-helped-donald-trump-to-the-presidency

Theresa Wong from the Trump campaign says that people from Facebook, Google, and Youtube "...were helping us... They were basically our hands-on partners..."

In the video above, Theresa Wong from the Trump campaign says, "Without Facebook, we wouldn't have won." (@4:21)

For those who aren't familiar, Cambridge Analytica was communicating with Julian Assange about Hillary Clinton's and DNC's stolen emails. So was Don Jr. Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to the FBI, also had an advisory role at Cambridge Analytica.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/04/michael-flynn-cambridge-analytica-disclosure

Zuckerberg admitted there was overlap between Russia ads and the Trump Campaign.

http://www.techheadlines.us/faceboo...een-russia-ads-and-president-trumps-campaign/

Facebook recommended Russian propaganda to users:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/25/fac...-software-recommended-russian-propaganda.html

Facebook helped Agata Burdonova, who was a manager at the IRA (Russian Troll Factory) that meddled in the US 2016 elections, and her husband, Dmitry Fyodorov, immigrate to Seattle Washington. Burdonova's husband has received a job offer from Facebook.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevincollier/a-former-manager-at-the-russian-troll-factory-is-now-living

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/967559297516425217/photo/1

Yuri Milner made these investments into Facebook with the help of Jared Kushner's friend and old classmate Ryan Williams. Yuri Milner also invested in Cadre, a company co-founded by Ryan Williams, Jared Kushner, and his brother Josh Kushner. However, Jared Kushner conveniently failed to disclose his ownership of the company. Milner's investment is likely through Gazprom as well.

http://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-white-house-forms-omissions-cadre-millions-679231

https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/10/13594558/mark-zuckerberg-election-fake-news-trump

Guess who's friend's with both Mark Zuckerberg and Yuri Milner? Suspected Chinese agent and Vladimir Putin love interest Wendi Deng Murdoch.

Wendi Deng introduced her then husband Rupert Murdoch to Mark Zuckerberg:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jun/13/rupert-murdoch-divorce-wendi-deng

Yuri Milner and Wendi Deng attended a Time 100 Gala together in New York, April 2016.

http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Yuri+Milner/2016+Time+100+Gala+Time+Most+Influential+People/quud6cf3as-

Here's Wendy Deng with Yuri Milner's wife and Karlie Kloss, who's dating Josh Kushner, Jared Kushner's brother.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/...ith-wife-of-russian-entrepreneur-yuri-milner/

Wendi Deng also hosted a dinner that included Jared Kushner, Josh Kushner, and Ryan Williams, amongst others.

https://www.vogue.com/article/businesswoman-wendi-murdoch-career-profile

Wendi Deng is know as a match-maker to her friends and actually helped reunite Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner after a break up, eventually leading to marriage. Wendi Deng may be the link between Yuri Milner with Zuckerberg, as well as with the Kushners, and Ryan Williams.

Wendi Deng was spotted on Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's yacht several times.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...band-Rupert-Murdoch-tied-knot-Jerry-Hall.html

Wendi Deng introduced Ivanka Trump to Dasha Zhoukova, then wife of Roman Abramovich.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner met at a business lucheon led by Abramovich associate Lev Leviev. At the time, Lev Leviev was hosting the bris for the grandson of Tamir Sapir, who's daughter Zina Sapir married Lev Leviev's Africa-Israel US CEO Roten Rosen. Trump, just months priors, hosted Zina Sapir and Roten Rosem's wedding at Mar-a-Lago.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2008/05/highprofile_bris_on_sunday_you.html

The Sapir Organization, in conjunction with Bayrock and the Trump Organization, put together the scandal-ridden Trump SoHo and were working together to replicate that with a Trump Tower Moscow.

https://therealdeal.com/2013/11/12/the-donald-sapir-execs-mull-bringing-trump-soho-to-moscow/

In 2000, Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska, along with others, made a deal that ended the "Aluminum wars" and turned the industry into a near monopoly.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/jul/06/russia.football

Oleg Deripaska and Alisher Usmanov have been business ties together.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...ou-doing-in-a-steelworks-like-this-65258.html

And Usmanov leads to Yuri Milner.

SOURCE: https://www.buzzfeed.com/kevincolli...ry-is-now-living?utm_term=.psX34LMg#.lkjDKjN1
By the way, Camridge Analytica, which was on the American side of the election meddling, just got outed on tape saying they used bribes and sex workers to entrap politicians. Facebook data from some 50 million users ended up with Cambridge Analytica.

In summary: Facebook is shady.

So, bringing it back from international data brokers, information warfare, and foreign spies, back down to little old Star Army, our relationship with Facebook is that we use an app on Star Army's forums so that we can use Facebook to log on to the site. We also have a Star Army Facebook group with about 150 members.

Here's the questions for you all:
  • Are you thinking about deleting your Facebook?
  • Do you think the Star Army Facebook page is valuable?
  • Do you ever log into Star Army using your Facebook?
  • Do you think I should clear all Facebook features from the main Star Army website to prevent them spying on you guys?
 
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With a brief overview of this, as someone knowing well of big data, the internet of things and most importantly facebook's antics, I'll keep myself brief.

No. I'm not deleting my facebook, firstly, because it's not connected. And secondly, I watch what I put on there. Never anything dubious.

No clue. I come here to escape RL for a brief moment and hang with the people and enjoy my time. I'd hate to have my face known here. Not for shady reasons or that I don't trust it here. But just. Yeah. Takes away the escape from RL part.

Nope

It's... Problematic, the last question. We have to ask what effect facebook has on the site, which features we'd lose etc.
 
I personally dont use facebook to login with any other site including SARP due to these sorts of things and mostly cause I dont remember my details, I feel the SARP page would definitely be useful if we utilize it and put updates about the site and such on it to help attract new players perhaps?

I wont be deleting mine but i dont use it to post and only follow some interesting pages to get my daily dose of whats happening around the world, as for removing Facebook features from SARP, I haven't noticed them much so I can't really say if its a good idea or not
 
I'm not going to delete mine, as, well, I haven't updated it since 2011 or 2012 - and I haven't logged in (or visited Faceboon itself, for that matter) since 2014-ish.
 
  • Was required to delete my FB when i got my MOS in the navy. Brought it back last year, Though i only use it to complain about things nobody else knows or cares about (just like every other veteran). So i gain an equal amount of nothing by keeping or deleting it, So i might as well keep it.
  • Joined the SARP page but never get notifications on it. Would be a pretty good thing if it had an active social media person to post on it constantly but i dun really think its what SARP needs.
  • Nope.
  • Spying is a pretty vague term. I dont want someone tailoring information about me, No. But at the same time the SC already went over everything ive done on SARP from a government phone/laptop all of last year so its nothing new to me to have someone knowing everything im doing and saying on the internet.

Honestly there are worse ways to find out stuff like this... When i was given my first Chit-stand, I was given a folder with every little detail the government had on me until i joined the navy; Social media presence, Political standing and opinions, The fact liked to play MMORPGs, Flagged behaviors and actions, Even some little things like a traffic stop i got into once where a friend threw a bag out of my window, And a time a police officer showed up when i was airsofting with friends at a construction site where all in there.

And this wasn't even a secret apparently. All i had to do was request a freedom of information act on myself and pay 20$ to the FBI and unless i was subject to an open case they would have sent this very information to me in the civilian world.

Long story short: Someone already knows Everything about you. If its not a private interest its somebody else.
 
Not planning on deleting my Facebook. It is how I stay in touch with my friends and family scattered all over the globe. I have always been careful about what I post on FB. I rarely if ever get political.
 
I think some of you guys missed the point: The question is what should I do as far as Star Army's relationship with Facebook.
  • Should we remove the Facebook like button (which is essentially a tracker)?
  • Should we remove the Facebook login app from the board?
  • Should we keep using our Facebook group?
It doesn't matter to me whether or not you delete your personal Facebook, I was just curious.
 
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