🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 99 (from laksa189)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa099.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard/\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard/\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/plaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard\/","crawl_time":1775750836,"first_indexed_time":1610114742,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,wired!www,\/story\/plaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard\/ s443","src_root_hash":"5736512710119187299","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"A Trump Ban Is Easy. Fixing Facebook and Twitter Will Be Hard | WIRED","meta_descriptions":["Plus: Dorsey in the Trump administration's early days, how to define privacy, and chaos in the Capitol."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links.\nLearn more.\nWelcome back. It’s\n2021 and the world is doing great! Er … \nThe Plain View\nFor months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the\npresident\n, after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked.\nThat\nchanged this week\n, when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists.\nJack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours.\nThe next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine\ntweeted\nthat the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.)\nFacebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of\nattention has been paid to Section 230\nof the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society?\nSaying\nthey want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to\ndo\nto get there.\nMost Popular\nA November 2020\nNew York Times\narticle\nreported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The\nTimes\nviewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.”\nI find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would\nthreaten to quit\nbecause they feel that they are working for Satan.\nWhen Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the\nultimate personalized newspaper\n. Twitter positioned itself as\n“the Pulse of the Planet.”\nIn the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream\nwrong\n. Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform.\nThen\nit makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy.\nFor now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when\nhe says,\n“The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.”\nMost Popular\nTime Travel\nIn 2017, I\nspoke to Jack Dorsey\nabout how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:\nSteven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that?\nJack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means….\nIf someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States?\nWe are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does [account for] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles.\nAsk Me One Thing\nSergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?”\nHi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the\ndefinition\nof privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law.\nMost Popular\nYou can submit questions to\nmail@wired.com\n. Write\nASK LEVY\nin the subject line.\nEnd Times Chronicle\nHieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon\nin the Capitol Rotunda\n. God help us all.\nLast but Not Least\nAs Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a\nsecret notebook\n.\nTwenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year\nthe bet came due\n.\nAnd 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first\nautonomous car challenge\n.\nChinese researchers have taught\na robot dog\nto fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?\nMost Popular\nAlso, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what\nhe’ll\nsay). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out\nthis page\nfor details and to sign up.\nDon't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column.\nSubscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers)\ntoday.\nMore Great WIRED Stories\n📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more?\nSign up for our newsletters\n!\nThe secret history of\nthe microprocessor, the F-14, and me\nWhat AlphaGo can teach us\nabout how people learn\nUnlock your cycling fitness goals\nby fixing up your bike\n6 privacy-focused alternatives\nto apps you use every day\nVaccines are here. We have\nto talk about side effects\n🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest\ntips, reviews, and more\n🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the\nbest fitness trackers\n,\nrunning gear\n(including\nshoes\nand\nsocks\n), and\nbest headphones","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/plaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard\/#main-content)\n\n[SECURITY](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/security\/)\n\n[POLITICS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/politics\/)\n\n[THE BIG STORY](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/big-story\/)\n\n[BUSINESS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/business\/)\n\n[SCIENCE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[CULTURE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[REVIEWS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav)\n\n[SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_CTA_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[Security](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/security\/)\n\n[Politics](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/politics\/)\n\n[The Big Story](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/big-story\/)\n\n[Business](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/business\/)\n\n[Science](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/science\/)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/culture\/)\n\n[Reviews](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/)\n\nMore\n\n[The Big Interview](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/the-big-interview\/)[Magazine](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/magazine\/)[Events](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/wired-events\/)[WIRED Insider](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/collection\/wiredinsider\/)[WIRED Consulting](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/wired-consulting\/)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=hamburgernav)\n\n[Podcasts](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/podcasts\/)\n\n[Video](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/video\/)\n\n[Livestreams](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/livestreams)\n\n[Merch](https:\/\/shop.wired.com\/)\n\n[Search](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/search\/)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fplaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\n[START FREE TRIAL](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_JNY_WIR_GLOBAL_NAV_DRAWER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[![ZOOM IN \\<br\\> Subscribe today for only \\<del\\>\\$4\\<\/del\\> \\<strong\\>\\$2\/month\\<\/strong\\> and get access to exclusive benefits including \\<strong\\>5 all-new premium newsletters.\\<\/strong\\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/686ea38fcb59aaabef7a795d\/original\/pass\/Wired_Zoom_Rollover_300x200_v2a_Shorter.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_NAV_ROLLOVER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[Sign In](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/auth\/initiate?redirectURL=%2Fstory%2Fplaintext-trump-ban-easy-fixing-facebook-twitter-hard%2F&source=VERSO_NAVIGATION)\n\nThe intersection of technology, power, and culture. Start your free trial and get access to **5 all-new premium newsletters.** [START FREE TRIAL](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_PAYWALL_THIN_METER_ARTICLE_1_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[Steven Levy](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy\/)\n\n[Business](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/business)\n\nJan 8, 2021 9:00 AM\n# A Trump Ban Is Easy. Fixing Facebook and Twitter Will Be Hard\n\nPlus: Dorsey in the Trump administration's early days, how to define privacy, and chaos in the Capitol.\n\n![silhouette of Trump](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5ff793487edefda19ade87e4\/3:2\/w_2560%2Cc_limit\/Business-Plaintext-Trump-1128342089.jpg)\n\nOn Thursday, Facebook banned Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks.”Photograph: Win McNamee\/Getty Images\n\nSave this story\n\nSave this story\n\nAll products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/affiliate-link-policy\/)\n\nWelcome back. It’s 2021 and the world is doing great! Er …\n\n![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c453df400086ddd63\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg)\n\nThe Plain View\n\nFor months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the *president*, after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked.\n\n###\nDon't just keep up. Get ahead—with our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day.\n\nBy signing up, you agree to our [user agreement](https:\/\/www.condenast.com\/user-agreement) (including [class action waiver and arbitration provisions](https:\/\/www.condenast.com\/user-agreement#introduction-arbitration-notice)), and acknowledge our [privacy policy](https:\/\/www.condenast.com\/privacy-policy).\n\nThat [changed this week](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/even-mark-zuckerberg-has-had-enough-of-trump\/), when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists.\n\nJack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours.\n\nTrending Now\n\n[Former CIA Chief of Disguise Breaks Down Cold War Spy Photography](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/video\/watch\/former-cia-chief-of-disguise-breaks-down-cold-war-photography)\n\nThe next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine [tweeted](https:\/\/twitter.com\/mgsiegler\/status\/1347217444851470336) that the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.)\n\nFacebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of [attention has been paid to Section 230](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/senate-hearing-section-230-discourse-dumber\/) of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society? *Saying* they want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to *do* to get there.\n\nMost Popular\n\n- [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Security News\n  \n  [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Matt Burgess\n- [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Gear\n  \n  [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Boone Ashworth\n- [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Artificial Intelligence\n  \n  [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Maxwell Zeff\n- [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Space\n  \n  [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Jorge Garay\n\nA November 2020 [*New York Times* article](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/11\/24\/technology\/facebook-election-misinformation.html) reported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The *Times* viewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.”\n\nI find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would [threaten to quit](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/facebook-employees-rare-step-call-out-mark-zuckerberg\/) because they feel that they are working for Satan.\n\nWhen Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the [ultimate personalized newspaper](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/technology\/facebook-to-change-news-feed-to-a-personalized-newspaper\/2013\/03\/07\/b294f61e-8751-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html). Twitter positioned itself as [“the Pulse of the Planet.”](https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2009\/07\/16\/twitters-internal-strategy-laid-bare-to-be-the-pulse-of-the-planet-2\/)\n\nIn the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream *wrong*. Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform. *Then* it makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy.\n\nFor now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when [he says,](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zuck\/posts\/10112681480907401) “The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.”\n\nMost Popular\n\n- [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Security News\n  \n  [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Matt Burgess\n- [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Gear\n  \n  [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Boone Ashworth\n- [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Artificial Intelligence\n  \n  [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Maxwell Zeff\n- [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Space\n  \n  [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Jorge Garay\n\n![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg)\n\nTime Travel\n\nIn 2017, I [spoke to Jack Dorsey](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/04\/jack-dorsey-on-donald-trump\/) about how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:\n\n***Steven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that?***\n\n*Jack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means….*\n\n***If someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States?***\n\n*We are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does \\[account for\\] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles.*\n\n![Image may contain Symbol](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c6432df0008d00461\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Questions.jpg)\n\nAsk Me One Thing\n\nSergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?”\n\nHi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the *definition* of privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law.\n\nMost Popular\n\n- [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Security News\n  \n  [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Matt Burgess\n- [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Gear\n  \n  [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Boone Ashworth\n- [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Artificial Intelligence\n  \n  [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Maxwell Zeff\n- [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Space\n  \n  [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Jorge Garay\n\n*You can submit questions to* [*mail@wired.com*](mailto:mail@wired.com?subject=ASK%20LEVY)*. Write **ASK LEVY** in the subject line.*\n\n![](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558bc35f8f0009b85432\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Links.jpg)\n\nEnd Times Chronicle\n\nHieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon [in the Capitol Rotunda](https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/supporters-of-us-president-donald-trump-including-member-of-news-photo\/1230453313?adppopup=true). God help us all.\n\n![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg)\n\nLast but Not Least\n\nAs Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a [secret notebook](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-lost-notebook\/).\n\nTwenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year [the bet came due](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society\/).\n\nAnd 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first [autonomous car challenge](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/autonomous-car-chaos-2004-darpa-grand-challenge\/).\n\nChinese researchers have taught [a robot dog](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/watch-a-robot-dog-learn-how-to-deftly-fend-off-a-human\/) to fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?\n\nMost Popular\n\n- [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Security News\n  \n  [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Matt Burgess\n- [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Gear\n  \n  [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Boone Ashworth\n- [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Artificial Intelligence\n  \n  [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Maxwell Zeff\n- [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9\/1:1\/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  Space\n  \n  [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon\/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2)\n  \n  By Jorge Garay\n\nAlso, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what *he’ll* say). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out [this page](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/hq\/p\/1) for details and to sign up.\n\n![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c453df400086ddd63\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg)\n\n*Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column.* [***Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers)***](https:\/\/subscribe.wired.com\/subscribe\/splits\/wired\/WIR_STEVEN_LEVY?source=EDT_WIR_ARTICLE_SUBSCRIBE_LINK_0_STEVEN_LEVY_ZZ) *today.*\n***\nMore Great WIRED Stories\n\n- 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\\!\n- The secret history of [the microprocessor, the F-14, and me](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/secret-history-of-the-first-microprocessor-f-14\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- What AlphaGo can teach us [about how people learn](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/what-alphago-teach-how-people-learn\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Unlock your cycling fitness goals [by fixing up your bike](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/bike-hacking-101\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 6 privacy-focused alternatives [to apps you use every day](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-best-privacy-app-alternatives\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Vaccines are here. We have [to talk about side effects](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/vaccines-are-here-we-have-to-talk-about-side-effects\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest [tips, reviews, and more](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/video-games\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the [best fitness trackers](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-fitness-tracker\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc), [running gear](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-running-gear\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) (including [shoes](https:\/\/wired.com\/gallery\/best-trail-running-shoes-round-up\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) and [socks](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-running-socks\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc)), and [best headphones](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-headphones-under-100\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n\n[![](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/65e83761c9d1003a19b2989e\/1:1\/w_90%2Cc_limit\/Steven%2520Levy.jpg)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy\/)\n\n[Steven Levy](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy\/) covers the gamut of tech subjects for WIRED, in print and online, and has been contributing to the magazine since its inception. His writes [Backchannel](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter), a weekly newsletter that puts the biggest tech stories in perspective. He has been writing about technology for more than 30 years, writing ... [Read More](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/author\/steven-levy)\n\nEditor at Large\n\nTopics[Plaintext](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/plaintext\/)[Donald Trump](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/)[Facebook](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/facebook\/)[Mark Zuckerberg](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/mark-zuckerberg\/)[twitter](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/twitter\/)\n\n### Don't Just Keep Up. Get Ahead\nSign up for the *Daily* newsletter to get our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day.\n\nRead More\n\n[![Uncanny Valley: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69cda03bbbb99516b24f8b5f\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/uncanny-valley-podcast-iran-targets-us-tech-polymarket-pop-up-trump-midterms\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[*Uncanny Valley*: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/uncanny-valley-podcast-iran-targets-us-tech-polymarket-pop-up-trump-midterms\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nIn this episode, we discuss Iran’s threats to target US tech firms, gear up for the midterm elections, and get a scene report from the Polymarket pop-up bar in DC.\n\nKate Knibbs\n\n[![Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c1b2b856888c87f24c925c\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nThe host of MS Now’s *All In,* knows how hard it is to stay current. But he also knows where you should focus your attention—and it starts with a sober view of AI.\n\nKatie Drummond\n\n[![A Trumpworld Events Company Is Raking In Millions in Federal Contracts](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69a5d882374098e65918b450\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/they-helped-plan-the-january-6-rally-now-their-events-company-is-raking-in-millions-in-government-contracts\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[A Trumpworld Events Company Is Raking In Millions in Federal Contracts](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/they-helped-plan-the-january-6-rally-now-their-events-company-is-raking-in-millions-in-government-contracts\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nThe Trump administration has awarded Event Strategies several contracts—including one that could be worth up to \\$100 million—with little competition, according to federal filings.\n\nDavid Gilbert\n\n[![Uncanny Valley: Anthropic’s DOD Lawsuit, War Memes, and AI Coming for VC Jobs](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69b1c94d9fd417e67bc5b52b\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/uncanny-valley-podcast-anthropic-department-defense-lawsuit-iran-war-memes-artificial-intelligence-venture-capital\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[*Uncanny Valley*: Anthropic’s DOD Lawsuit, War Memes, and AI Coming for VC Jobs](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/uncanny-valley-podcast-anthropic-department-defense-lawsuit-iran-war-memes-artificial-intelligence-venture-capital\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nIn today’s episode, we discuss how the saga between Anthropic and the Department of Defense is far from over.\n\nBrian Barrett\n\n[![Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c6c6213cca8267ad98901d\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/border-patrol-bortac-borstar-use-of-force-midway-blitz\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/border-patrol-bortac-borstar-use-of-force-midway-blitz\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nA WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.\n\nAli Winston\n\n[![Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69b97dfad8d631c623d3318b\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nAmericans increasingly fantasize about a divorce between red and blue states—but they dread the thought of civil war. You can’t have one without the other.\n\nRyan D. Griffiths\n\n[![That Ex-CIA Agent in All Your Feeds Is After a Pardon From Donald Trump](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c2ea7b141776fd70b33ca4\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/that-ex-cia-agent-in-all-your-feeds-is-after-a-pardon-from-donald-trump\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[That Ex-CIA Agent in All Your Feeds Is After a Pardon From Donald Trump](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/that-ex-cia-agent-in-all-your-feeds-is-after-a-pardon-from-donald-trump\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nJohn Kiriakou went to prison after exposing the CIA's torture program. Now he's going viral as he campaigns to get his name cleared and his pension restored.\n\nMakena Kelly\n\n[![‘Get Down! Get Down! They’re Gonna See Us!’: Six Months of Hiding From ICE](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69bb1d896c9648fb9e70c7e2\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/get-down-get-down-six-months-of-hiding-from-ice\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[‘Get Down! Get Down! They’re Gonna See Us!’: Six Months of Hiding From ICE](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/get-down-get-down-six-months-of-hiding-from-ice\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nA family in Chicago has been terrified to leave their apartment. Agents could be anywhere.\n\nMaddy Crowell\n\n[![Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c5c6fcd03999521bd70374\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nFor months, lone vibe coder Rafael Concepcion has obsessively built tools to counter the federal immigration crackdown—pivoting as he’s been outmatched. He’s also lost his job and become a target.\n\nBrendan I. Koerner\n\n[![My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69bc8173510953e5189ef6c0\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/linkedin-invited-my-ai-cofounder-to-give-a-corporate-talk-then-banned-it\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/linkedin-invited-my-ai-cofounder-to-give-a-corporate-talk-then-banned-it\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nWhen social media is constantly pushing people to use AI, why not let AI agents participate?\n\nEvan Ratliff\n\n[![Arm’s CEO Insists the Market Needs His New CPU. It Could Piss Everyone Off](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/69c2ef3f0355f9e1ff2fd1e1\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/arms-ceo-insists-the-market-needs-his-new-cpu-it-could-piss-everyone-off\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[Arm’s CEO Insists the Market Needs His New CPU. It Could Piss Everyone Off](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/arms-ceo-insists-the-market-needs-his-new-cpu-it-could-piss-everyone-off\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nArm just confirmed the rumors: It’s producing its own chip for the first time. CEO Rene Haas explains why this won’t alienate the many chipmakers who license the company’s designs.\n\nLauren Goode\n\n[![This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/698bb2c3b6f5e1cacad97680\/16:9\/w_640%2Cc_limit\/undefined)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/this-is-how-trump-is-already-threatening-the-midterms\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\n[This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/this-is-how-trump-is-already-threatening-the-midterms\/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1)\n\nWIRED surveyed the ways the Trump administration is working to manipulate this year’s midterm elections.\n\nDavid Gilbert\n\n[![ZOOM IN \\<br\\> Insights at the intersection of technology, power, and culture \\<br\\> Subscribe today for only \\<del\\>\\$4\\<\/del\\> \\<strong\\>\\$2\/month\\<\/strong\\> and get access to exclusive benefits including \\<strong\\>5 all-new premium newsletters.\\<\/strong\\> \\<br\\> CTA:SUBSCRIBE](https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/686ea46a1d57bf34560db527\/original\/pass\/Wired_Zoom_Footer_Desktop_940x140_v2e.gif?format=original)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/v2\/offers\/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_FOOTER_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB)\n\n[![WIRED](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/verso\/static\/wired-us\/assets\/logo-reverse.svg)](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/)\n\nWIRED is obsessed with what comes next. Through rigorous investigations and game-changing reporting, we tell stories that don’t just reflect the moment—they help create it. When you look back in 10, 20, even 50 years, WIRED will be the publication that led the story of the present, mapped the people, products, and ideas defining it, and explained how those forces forged the future. WIRED: For Future Reference.\n\nMore From WIRED\n\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/subscribe\/)\n- [Newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=HeaderAndFooter)\n- [Livestreams](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/livestreams)\n- [Travel](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/travel\/)\n- [FAQ](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/faq\/)\n- [WIRED Staff](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/wired-staff\/)\n- [WIRED Education](https:\/\/www.wirededucation.com\/)\n- [Editorial Standards](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/wired-on-background-policy\/)\n- [Archive](https:\/\/archive.wired.com\/t\/storefront\/storefront)\n- [RSS](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/rss-feeds\/)\n- [Site Map](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/sitemap\/)\n- [Accessibility Help](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/accessibility-help\/)\n\nReviews and Guides\n\n- [Reviews](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/)\n- [Buying Guides](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/category\/gear\/buying-guides\/)\n- [Streaming Guides](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/culture-guides\/)\n- [Wearables](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/wearables\/)\n- [Coupons](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/coupons\/)\n- [Gift Guides](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/gift-guides\/)\n\n- [Advertise](https:\/\/www.condenast.com\/brands\/wired)\n- [Contact Us](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/feedback\/)\n- [Manage Account](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/account\/profile)\n- [Jobs](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/wired-jobs\/)\n- [Press Center](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/press\/)\n- [Condé Nast Store](https:\/\/condenaststore.com\/)\n- [User Agreement](https:\/\/www.condenast.com\/user-agreement\/)\n- [Privacy Policy](http:\/\/www.condenast.com\/privacy-policy#privacypolicy)\n- [Your California Privacy Rights](http:\/\/www.condenast.com\/privacy-policy#privacypolicy-california)\n\n© 2026 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. *WIRED* may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. [Ad Choices](http:\/\/www.aboutads.info\/)\n\n###### Select international site\nUnited States\n\n- [Italia](https:\/\/www.wired.it\/)\n- [Japón](https:\/\/wired.jp\/)\n- [Czech Republic & Slovakia](https:\/\/www.wired.cz\/)\n\nYour Privacy Choices","attrs_readable_markdown":"All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and\/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/about\/affiliate-link-policy\/)\n\nWelcome back. It’s 2021 and the world is doing great! Er …\n\n![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c453df400086ddd63\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg)\n\nThe Plain View\n\nFor months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the *president*, after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked.\n\nThat [changed this week](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/even-mark-zuckerberg-has-had-enough-of-trump\/), when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists.\n\nJack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours.\n\nThe next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine [tweeted](https:\/\/twitter.com\/mgsiegler\/status\/1347217444851470336) that the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.)\n\nFacebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of [attention has been paid to Section 230](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/senate-hearing-section-230-discourse-dumber\/) of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society? *Saying* they want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to *do* to get there.\n\nMost Popular\n\nA November 2020 [*New York Times* article](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/11\/24\/technology\/facebook-election-misinformation.html) reported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The *Times* viewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.”\n\nI find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would [threaten to quit](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/facebook-employees-rare-step-call-out-mark-zuckerberg\/) because they feel that they are working for Satan.\n\nWhen Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the [ultimate personalized newspaper](https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/technology\/facebook-to-change-news-feed-to-a-personalized-newspaper\/2013\/03\/07\/b294f61e-8751-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html). Twitter positioned itself as [“the Pulse of the Planet.”](https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2009\/07\/16\/twitters-internal-strategy-laid-bare-to-be-the-pulse-of-the-planet-2\/)\n\nIn the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream *wrong*. Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform. *Then* it makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy.\n\nFor now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when [he says,](https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zuck\/posts\/10112681480907401) “The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.”\n\nMost Popular\n\n![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg)\n\nTime Travel\n\nIn 2017, I [spoke to Jack Dorsey](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/04\/jack-dorsey-on-donald-trump\/) about how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation:\n\n***Steven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that?***\n\n*Jack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means….*\n\n***If someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States?***\n\n*We are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does \\[account for\\] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles.*\n\n![Image may contain Symbol](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c6432df0008d00461\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Questions.jpg)\n\nAsk Me One Thing\n\nSergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?”\n\nHi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the *definition* of privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law.\n\nMost Popular\n\n*You can submit questions to* [*mail@wired.com*](mailto:mail@wired.com?subject=ASK%20LEVY)*. Write **ASK LEVY** in the subject line.*\n\n![](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558bc35f8f0009b85432\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Links.jpg)\n\nEnd Times Chronicle\n\nHieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon [in the Capitol Rotunda](https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/supporters-of-us-president-donald-trump-including-member-of-news-photo\/1230453313?adppopup=true). God help us all.\n\n![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg)\n\nLast but Not Least\n\nAs Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a [secret notebook](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-lost-notebook\/).\n\nTwenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year [the bet came due](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society\/).\n\nAnd 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first [autonomous car challenge](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/autonomous-car-chaos-2004-darpa-grand-challenge\/).\n\nChinese researchers have taught [a robot dog](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/watch-a-robot-dog-learn-how-to-deftly-fend-off-a-human\/) to fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?\n\nMost Popular\n\nAlso, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what *he’ll* say). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out [this page](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/hq\/p\/1) for details and to sign up.\n\n![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https:\/\/media.wired.com\/photos\/5de5558c453df400086ddd63\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg)\n\n*Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column.* [***Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers)***](https:\/\/subscribe.wired.com\/subscribe\/splits\/wired\/WIR_STEVEN_LEVY?source=EDT_WIR_ARTICLE_SUBSCRIBE_LINK_0_STEVEN_LEVY_ZZ) *today.*\n***\nMore Great WIRED Stories\n\n- 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\\!\n- The secret history of [the microprocessor, the F-14, and me](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/secret-history-of-the-first-microprocessor-f-14\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- What AlphaGo can teach us [about how people learn](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/what-alphago-teach-how-people-learn\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Unlock your cycling fitness goals [by fixing up your bike](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/bike-hacking-101\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 6 privacy-focused alternatives [to apps you use every day](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/the-best-privacy-app-alternatives\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- Vaccines are here. We have [to talk about side effects](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/vaccines-are-here-we-have-to-talk-about-side-effects\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest [tips, reviews, and more](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/tag\/video-games\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc)\n- 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the [best fitness trackers](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-fitness-tracker\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc), [running gear](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-running-gear\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) (including [shoes](https:\/\/wired.com\/gallery\/best-trail-running-shoes-round-up\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) and [socks](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-running-socks\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc)), and [best headphones](https:\/\/www.wired.com\/gallery\/best-headphones-under-100\/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc)","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	A Trump Ban Is Easy. Fixing Facebook and Twitter Will Be Hard \| WIRED
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Boilerpipe Text	All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. Learn more. Welcome back. It’s 2021 and the world is doing great! Er … The Plain View For months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the president , after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked. That changed this week , when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists. Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours. The next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine tweeted that the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.) Facebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of attention has been paid to Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society? Saying they want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to do to get there. Most Popular A November 2020 New York Times article reported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The Times viewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.” I find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would threaten to quit because they feel that they are working for Satan. When Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the ultimate personalized newspaper . Twitter positioned itself as “the Pulse of the Planet.” In the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream wrong . Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform. Then it makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy. For now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when he says, “The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.” Most Popular Time Travel In 2017, I spoke to Jack Dorsey about how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: Steven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that? Jack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means…. If someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States? We are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does [account for] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles. Ask Me One Thing Sergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?” Hi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the definition of privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law. Most Popular You can submit questions to mail@wired.com . Write ASK LEVY in the subject line. End Times Chronicle Hieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon in the Capitol Rotunda . God help us all. Last but Not Least As Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a secret notebook . Twenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year the bet came due . And 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first autonomous car challenge . Chinese researchers have taught a robot dog to fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Most Popular Also, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what he’ll say). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out this page for details and to sign up. Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column. Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers) today. More Great WIRED Stories 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? Sign up for our newsletters ! The secret history of the microprocessor, the F-14, and me What AlphaGo can teach us about how people learn Unlock your cycling fitness goals by fixing up your bike 6 privacy-focused alternatives to apps you use every day Vaccines are here. We have to talk about side effects 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest tips, reviews, and more 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the best fitness trackers , running gear (including shoes and socks ), and best headphones
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Start your free trial and get access to 5 all-new premium newsletters. [START FREE TRIAL](https://www.wired.com/v2/offers/wira01035?source=Site_0_JNY_WIR_DESKTOP_PAYWALL_THIN_METER_ARTICLE_1_0_US_ACQ_NLI_QUICK_PAY_GENERIC_ZZ_PANELB) [Steven Levy](https://www.wired.com/author/steven-levy/) [Business](https://www.wired.com/category/business) Jan 8, 2021 9:00 AM # A Trump Ban Is Easy. Fixing Facebook and Twitter Will Be Hard Plus: Dorsey in the Trump administration's early days, how to define privacy, and chaos in the Capitol. ![silhouette of Trump](https://media.wired.com/photos/5ff793487edefda19ade87e4/3:2/w_2560%2Cc_limit/Business-Plaintext-Trump-1128342089.jpg) On Thursday, Facebook banned Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks.”Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images Save this story Save this story All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) Welcome back. It’s 2021 and the world is doing great! Er … ![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c453df400086ddd63/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg) The Plain View For months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the president, after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked. ### Don't just keep up. Get ahead—with our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day. By signing up, you agree to our [user agreement](https://www.condenast.com/user-agreement) (including [class action waiver and arbitration provisions](https://www.condenast.com/user-agreement#introduction-arbitration-notice)), and acknowledge our [privacy policy](https://www.condenast.com/privacy-policy). That [changed this week](https://www.wired.com/story/even-mark-zuckerberg-has-had-enough-of-trump/), when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists. Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours. Trending Now [Former CIA Chief of Disguise Breaks Down Cold War Spy Photography](https://www.wired.com/video/watch/former-cia-chief-of-disguise-breaks-down-cold-war-photography) The next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine [tweeted](https://twitter.com/mgsiegler/status/1347217444851470336) that the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.) Facebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of [attention has been paid to Section 230](https://www.wired.com/story/senate-hearing-section-230-discourse-dumber/) of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society? Saying they want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to do to get there. Most Popular - [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Security News [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Matt Burgess - [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Gear [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Boone Ashworth - [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Artificial Intelligence [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Maxwell Zeff - [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Space [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Jorge Garay A November 2020 [New York Times article](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/technology/facebook-election-misinformation.html) reported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The Times viewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.” I find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would [threaten to quit](https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-employees-rare-step-call-out-mark-zuckerberg/) because they feel that they are working for Satan. When Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the [ultimate personalized newspaper](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-to-change-news-feed-to-a-personalized-newspaper/2013/03/07/b294f61e-8751-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html). Twitter positioned itself as [“the Pulse of the Planet.”](https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/16/twitters-internal-strategy-laid-bare-to-be-the-pulse-of-the-planet-2/) In the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream wrong. Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform. Then it makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy. For now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when [he says,](https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10112681480907401) “The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.” Most Popular - [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Security News [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Matt Burgess - [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Gear [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Boone Ashworth - [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Artificial Intelligence [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Maxwell Zeff - [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Space [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Jorge Garay ![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg) Time Travel In 2017, I [spoke to Jack Dorsey](https://www.wired.com/2017/04/jack-dorsey-on-donald-trump/) about how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: *Steven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that?* Jack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means…. *If someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States?* We are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does \[account for\] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles. ![Image may contain Symbol](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c6432df0008d00461/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Questions.jpg) Ask Me One Thing Sergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?” Hi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the definition of privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law. Most Popular - [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Security News [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Matt Burgess - [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Gear [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Boone Ashworth - [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Artificial Intelligence [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Maxwell Zeff - [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Space [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Jorge Garay You can submit questions to [mail@wired.com](mailto:mail@wired.com?subject=ASK%20LEVY). Write ASK LEVY* in the subject line.* ![](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558bc35f8f0009b85432/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Links.jpg) End Times Chronicle Hieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon [in the Capitol Rotunda](https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/supporters-of-us-president-donald-trump-including-member-of-news-photo/1230453313?adppopup=true). God help us all. ![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg) Last but Not Least As Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a [secret notebook](https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-lost-notebook/). Twenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year [the bet came due](https://www.wired.com/story/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society/). And 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first [autonomous car challenge](https://www.wired.com/story/autonomous-car-chaos-2004-darpa-grand-challenge/). Chinese researchers have taught [a robot dog](https://www.wired.com/story/watch-a-robot-dog-learn-how-to-deftly-fend-off-a-human/) to fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Most Popular - [![Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d5582f2f6731ca306d1bb2/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Security News [Men Are Buying Hacking Tools to Use Against Their Wives and Friends](https://www.wired.com/story/men-are-buying-hacking-tools-to-use-against-their-wives-and-friends/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Matt Burgess - [![Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d679c9383b6979c9a47b1a/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Gear [Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles](https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-pulls-support-for-perfectly-fine-older-kindles/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Boone Ashworth - [![Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d55aad5eeab2b48af87714/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Artificial Intelligence [Anthropic’s New Product Aims to Handle the Hard Part of Building AI Agents](https://www.wired.com/story/anthropic-launches-claude-managed-agents/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Maxwell Zeff - [![Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://media.wired.com/photos/69d54188e378a93eb5dc3de9/1:1/w_120%2Ch_120%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) Space [Artemis II’s Breathtaking View of the Far Side of the Moon](https://www.wired.com/story/artemis-iis-breathtaking-view-of-the-far-side-of-the-moon/#intcid=_wired-right-rail_fcfee3d0-c0a0-4867-a599-6da5f0dd0c4b_popular4-2) By Jorge Garay Also, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what he’ll say). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out [this page](https://www.wired.com/hq/p/1) for details and to sign up. ![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c453df400086ddd63/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg) Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column. [*Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers)](https://subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_STEVEN_LEVY?source=EDT_WIR_ARTICLE_SUBSCRIBE_LINK_0_STEVEN_LEVY_ZZ) today.* *** More Great WIRED Stories - 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? [Sign up for our newsletters](https://www.wired.com/newsletter?sourceCode=BottomStories)\! - The secret history of [the microprocessor, the F-14, and me](https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-of-the-first-microprocessor-f-14/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - What AlphaGo can teach us [about how people learn](https://www.wired.com/story/what-alphago-teach-how-people-learn/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Unlock your cycling fitness goals [by fixing up your bike](https://www.wired.com/story/bike-hacking-101/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - 6 privacy-focused alternatives [to apps you use every day](https://www.wired.com/story/the-best-privacy-app-alternatives/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - Vaccines are here. We have [to talk about side effects](https://www.wired.com/story/vaccines-are-here-we-have-to-talk-about-side-effects/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest [tips, reviews, and more](https://www.wired.com/tag/video-games/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? Check out our Gear team’s picks for the [best fitness trackers](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-fitness-tracker/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc), [running gear](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-running-gear/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) (including [shoes](https://wired.com/gallery/best-trail-running-shoes-round-up/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) and [socks](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-running-socks/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc)), and [best headphones](https://www.wired.com/gallery/best-headphones-under-100/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories&itm_content=footer-recirc) [![](https://media.wired.com/photos/65e83761c9d1003a19b2989e/1:1/w_90%2Cc_limit/Steven%2520Levy.jpg)](https://www.wired.com/author/steven-levy/) [Steven Levy](https://www.wired.com/author/steven-levy/) covers the gamut of tech subjects for WIRED, in print and online, and has been contributing to the magazine since its inception. His writes [Backchannel](https://www.wired.com/newsletter), a weekly newsletter that puts the biggest tech stories in perspective. He has been writing about technology for more than 30 years, writing ... [Read More](https://www.wired.com/author/steven-levy) Editor at Large Topics[Plaintext](https://www.wired.com/tag/plaintext/)[Donald Trump](https://www.wired.com/tag/donald-trump/)[Facebook](https://www.wired.com/tag/facebook/)[Mark Zuckerberg](https://www.wired.com/tag/mark-zuckerberg/)[twitter](https://www.wired.com/tag/twitter/) ### Don't Just Keep Up. Get Ahead Sign up for the Daily newsletter to get our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day. Read More [![Uncanny Valley: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop](https://media.wired.com/photos/69cda03bbbb99516b24f8b5f/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-iran-targets-us-tech-polymarket-pop-up-trump-midterms/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Uncanny Valley: Iran’s Threats on US Tech, Trump’s Plans for Midterms, and Polymarket’s Pop-up Flop](https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-iran-targets-us-tech-polymarket-pop-up-trump-midterms/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) In this episode, we discuss Iran’s threats to target US tech firms, gear up for the midterm elections, and get a scene report from the Polymarket pop-up bar in DC. Kate Knibbs [![Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c1b2b856888c87f24c925c/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Chris Hayes Has Some Advice for Keeping Up With the News](https://www.wired.com/story/the-big-interview-podcast-chris-hayes/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) The host of MS Now’s All In, knows how hard it is to stay current. But he also knows where you should focus your attention—and it starts with a sober view of AI. Katie Drummond [![A Trumpworld Events Company Is Raking In Millions in Federal Contracts](https://media.wired.com/photos/69a5d882374098e65918b450/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/they-helped-plan-the-january-6-rally-now-their-events-company-is-raking-in-millions-in-government-contracts/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [A Trumpworld Events Company Is Raking In Millions in Federal Contracts](https://www.wired.com/story/they-helped-plan-the-january-6-rally-now-their-events-company-is-raking-in-millions-in-government-contracts/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) The Trump administration has awarded Event Strategies several contracts—including one that could be worth up to \$100 million—with little competition, according to federal filings. David Gilbert [![Uncanny Valley: Anthropic’s DOD Lawsuit, War Memes, and AI Coming for VC Jobs](https://media.wired.com/photos/69b1c94d9fd417e67bc5b52b/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-anthropic-department-defense-lawsuit-iran-war-memes-artificial-intelligence-venture-capital/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Uncanny Valley: Anthropic’s DOD Lawsuit, War Memes, and AI Coming for VC Jobs](https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-anthropic-department-defense-lawsuit-iran-war-memes-artificial-intelligence-venture-capital/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) In today’s episode, we discuss how the saga between Anthropic and the Department of Defense is far from over. Brian Barrett [![Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c6c6213cca8267ad98901d/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/border-patrol-bortac-borstar-use-of-force-midway-blitz/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown](https://www.wired.com/story/border-patrol-bortac-borstar-use-of-force-midway-blitz/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history. Ali Winston [![Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https://media.wired.com/photos/69b97dfad8d631c623d3318b/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Don’t Listen to Anyone Who Thinks Secession Will Solve Anything](https://www.wired.com/story/dont-listen-anyone-who-thinks-secession-will-solve-anything/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) Americans increasingly fantasize about a divorce between red and blue states—but they dread the thought of civil war. You can’t have one without the other. Ryan D. Griffiths [![That Ex-CIA Agent in All Your Feeds Is After a Pardon From Donald Trump](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c2ea7b141776fd70b33ca4/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/that-ex-cia-agent-in-all-your-feeds-is-after-a-pardon-from-donald-trump/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [That Ex-CIA Agent in All Your Feeds Is After a Pardon From Donald Trump](https://www.wired.com/story/that-ex-cia-agent-in-all-your-feeds-is-after-a-pardon-from-donald-trump/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) John Kiriakou went to prison after exposing the CIA's torture program. Now he's going viral as he campaigns to get his name cleared and his pension restored. Makena Kelly [![‘Get Down! Get Down! They’re Gonna See Us!’: Six Months of Hiding From ICE](https://media.wired.com/photos/69bb1d896c9648fb9e70c7e2/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/get-down-get-down-six-months-of-hiding-from-ice/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [‘Get Down! Get Down! They’re Gonna See Us!’: Six Months of Hiding From ICE](https://www.wired.com/story/get-down-get-down-six-months-of-hiding-from-ice/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) A family in Chicago has been terrified to leave their apartment. Agents could be anywhere. Maddy Crowell [![Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c5c6fcd03999521bd70374/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Opposing ICE Might Save the Country. It Could Also Ruin Your Life](https://www.wired.com/story/opposing-ice-might-save-the-country-could-also-ruin-your-life/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) For months, lone vibe coder Rafael Concepcion has obsessively built tools to counter the federal immigration crackdown—pivoting as he’s been outmatched. He’s also lost his job and become a target. Brendan I. Koerner [![My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned](https://media.wired.com/photos/69bc8173510953e5189ef6c0/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/linkedin-invited-my-ai-cofounder-to-give-a-corporate-talk-then-banned-it/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [My AI Agent ‘Cofounder’ Conquered LinkedIn. Then It Got Banned](https://www.wired.com/story/linkedin-invited-my-ai-cofounder-to-give-a-corporate-talk-then-banned-it/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) When social media is constantly pushing people to use AI, why not let AI agents participate? Evan Ratliff [![Arm’s CEO Insists the Market Needs His New CPU. It Could Piss Everyone Off](https://media.wired.com/photos/69c2ef3f0355f9e1ff2fd1e1/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/arms-ceo-insists-the-market-needs-his-new-cpu-it-could-piss-everyone-off/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [Arm’s CEO Insists the Market Needs His New CPU. It Could Piss Everyone Off](https://www.wired.com/story/arms-ceo-insists-the-market-needs-his-new-cpu-it-could-piss-everyone-off/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) Arm just confirmed the rumors: It’s producing its own chip for the first time. CEO Rene Haas explains why this won’t alienate the many chipmakers who license the company’s designs. Lauren Goode [![This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms](https://media.wired.com/photos/698bb2c3b6f5e1cacad97680/16:9/w_640%2Cc_limit/undefined)](https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-how-trump-is-already-threatening-the-midterms/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) [This Is How Trump Is Already Threatening the Midterms](https://www.wired.com/story/this-is-how-trump-is-already-threatening-the-midterms/#intcid=_wired-article-bottom-recirc_2e115f75-a0b5-4282-9fb1-f5e2c10189fb_roberta-similarity1) WIRED surveyed the ways the Trump administration is working to manipulate this year’s midterm elections. 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Readable Markdown	All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links. [Learn more.](https://www.wired.com/about/affiliate-link-policy/) Welcome back. It’s 2021 and the world is doing great! Er … ![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c453df400086ddd63/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg) The Plain View For months—years, really—people have asked what it would take for Facebook and Twitter to ban the policy-violator-in-chief from their platforms. Hate speech, doxing, and dangerous disinformation on Covid evidently weren’t enough. Oh, they put (easy-to-ignore) warning labels on some tweets and posts, and even took the stray one down. But exiling him from the platforms? No. He is the president, after all. Long ago (well, 2015), when he said hateful things about Muslims that would boot mere mortals from Facebook and Twitter, the platforms decided his newsworthiness was more relevant than his toxicity. (They didn’t say this, but their own political interests were also in play—the president controls bodies that regulate those platforms.) They set some “limits,” but those limits never seemed to be invoked. That [changed this week](https://www.wired.com/story/even-mark-zuckerberg-has-had-enough-of-trump/), when Donald Trump dispatched a cosplay mob of thugs and toy soldiers to take the Capitol—and they actually did. While he gave the actual marching orders in person, the invaders who came to Washington were fed by Trump’s avalanche of false claims and incitements on social media, hardly mitigated by warning labels or notices that other, perhaps more reliable sources were reporting something else. And on Wednesday, as the Capitol Rotunda was being breached and the Electoral College count interrupted, Trump was tweeting love notes to the terrorists. Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg made a battlefield decision: They temporarily suspended the president’s account. Millions of users have had multiday penalties for relatively tame outbursts. But actually triggering a violent riot that halted the certification of the next government? That would keep Trump off Twitter until the next morning. Facebook’s hold was initially for 24 hours. The next day, Mark Zuckerberg took the larger step of banning Trump “indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks,” just in case he might trigger the actual overthrow of the United States government. That would mean no Facebook for The Donald until the safe arrival of the Biden administration (at which point all the president’s tweets will be produced not by a maniac, but maniacally cautious wonks). Cynics also noted that it happened to be the same day the Senate turned blue, a development that provided some incentive for Facebook to ease its relentless pandering to conservatives. A friend of mine [tweeted](https://twitter.com/mgsiegler/status/1347217444851470336) that the decision was like “kneeling down to end a football game.” (Twitter did not extend the suspension, and on Thursday evening Trump tweeted a video grudgingly admitting he might not be president after January 20. But I suspect by then he probably will gnaw through the short leash Twitter is presumably allowing him, and suffer a longer ban.) Facebook might have run out the clock on Donald Trump’s posts—I predict a permanent ban at some point—but the episode is only one data point in a wider crisis of toxic expression on social platforms. A lot of [attention has been paid to Section 230](https://www.wired.com/story/senate-hearing-section-230-discourse-dumber/) of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which allows platforms to moderate content without taking on legal responsibility for what users post. Many people in DC want to change or end that law. But the bigger question for Facebook and Twitter is, what kind of services do they want to be? One where comity rules, or one where divisive wedges poison society? Saying they want to be all hearts and flowers doesn’t mean anything. The question is what they want to do to get there. Most Popular A November 2020 [New York Times article](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/24/technology/facebook-election-misinformation.html) reported some instances where Facebook tinkered with ways to reduce misinformation and generally awful content. One, in an effort to tamp down conspiracy lunacy right after the election, assigned what it called N.E.Q. (news ecosystem quality) scores to articles, with reliable journalism ranked higher than lies and fantasy. It made for a “nicer News Feed.” But after a few weeks the company stopped the ranking scheme. In another experiment, Facebook trained a machine-learning algorithm to identify the kind of posts that were “bad for the world” and then demoted those in people’s feed. Indeed, there were fewer toxic posts. But people logged in to Facebook a bit less—and less time spent on Facebook is Mark Zuckerberg’s nightmare. The Times viewed an internal document where Facebook concluded,“The results were good except that it led to a decrease in sessions, which motivated us to try a different approach.” I find that decision short-sighted. Maybe in the short term people would not log into Facebook quite so much. But that shortfall might challenge the company to concoct more wholesome features that would bring people back—and not feel so angry when they did use the service. Everyone would feel better, and fewer employees would [threaten to quit](https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-employees-rare-step-call-out-mark-zuckerberg/) because they feel that they are working for Satan. When Facebook and Twitter began, neither founder suspected that their creations would be used to change public opinion, and certainly not to poison the body politic in the way Donald Trump did. The vision was to enrich people’s lives by letting them know what their friends were up to. But as their platforms grew, so did their ambitions. Zuckerberg set out to build Facebook as the [ultimate personalized newspaper](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-to-change-news-feed-to-a-personalized-newspaper/2013/03/07/b294f61e-8751-11e2-98a3-b3db6b9ac586_story.html). Twitter positioned itself as [“the Pulse of the Planet.”](https://techcrunch.com/2009/07/16/twitters-internal-strategy-laid-bare-to-be-the-pulse-of-the-planet-2/) In the past few years, however, it has been hard to look away from the consequences. The choice that the platforms face has little to do what is legal, and everything to do with what is right. Time and time again, when explaining why someone terrible remains on the platform, Zuckerberg invokes the company’s policies. But Facebook has things backwards when it invokes its own rules, as if it were referring to a tablet that some wonky Moses handed down. The company should more methodically examine the results of its policies, which in many cases scream wrong. Typically, Facebook defends a given outcome until enough people get disgusted at what is allowed to happen on its platform. Then it makes a change. That happened with anti-vaxxers, Holocaust denial, and now Donald Trump’s attempts to destroy democracy. For now, of course, Zuckerberg is right when [he says,](https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10112681480907401) “The priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.” But after that, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey have—in a term both utter a lot—“a lot of work to do.” Most Popular ![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg) Time Travel In 2017, I [spoke to Jack Dorsey](https://www.wired.com/2017/04/jack-dorsey-on-donald-trump/) about how Twitter handles Donald Trump. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation: *Steven Levy: Should Twitter hold a president accountable to the same standards as other users? At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly told employees he was not going to censor a nominee’s—and then a president’s—posts. Did you have to make a decision on that?* Jack Dorsey: We hold all accounts to the same standards on our policy, and we want to make sure that independent of who you are or where you’re coming from, you understand the guidelines, what our policies are, and what that means…. *If someone complained about a Trump tweet, would you conceivably say, “This is unacceptable,” and then block the President of the United States?* We are going to hold all accounts to the same standards. Our policy does \[account for\] newsworthiness as well, and that was requested by our policy team. So we’re not taking something down that people should be able to report on and actually show that this is what the source said. It’s really important to make sure that we provide that source for the right reporting, and to minimize bias in articles. ![Image may contain Symbol](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c6432df0008d00461/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Questions.jpg) Ask Me One Thing Sergio, writing from Berlin, though he lives in Luxembourg and is originally from Mexico (TMI!), says, “The word ‘privacy’ has become a buzzword that everyone uses nowadays whenever talking about the risks of Big Tech. However, I believe its definition has morphed and evolved during the last 10-15 years into something new. What would be your definition of ‘privacy’ in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world?” Hi, Sergio. I hope you are being safe in Berlin, and not missing Luxembourg too much. I agree that the challenges of privacy have changed in the past decade or two, particularly as more information about us gets routinely collected and used to monitor us, sell us things, and sometimes even to steal from us. But I don’t think that’s changed the definition of privacy, at least as I see it. Privacy is about keeping what’s personal to us out of the hands of people who don’t need to see or access it. It’s so much harder to do that in this hyperconnected, non-stop, data-mining, automated and personalized world. But it would certainly help if we had stronger laws to help us. For instance, I would like a clear opt-in before anyone tracks my movements on the web or shares any information they gather about me with anyone else. And I would like to see huge fines and maybe even criminal penalties for those who violate such a law. Most Popular You can submit questions to [mail@wired.com](mailto:mail@wired.com?subject=ASK%20LEVY). Write ASK LEVY* in the subject line.* ![](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558bc35f8f0009b85432/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Links.jpg) End Times Chronicle Hieronymus Bosch meets Steve Bannon [in the Capitol Rotunda](https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/supporters-of-us-president-donald-trump-including-member-of-news-photo/1230453313?adppopup=true). God help us all. ![Image may contain Label Text Symbol and Sign](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558cb4ac1c00080cd4fb/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Look%2520Back.jpg) Last but Not Least As Zuckerberg’s vision for Facebook evolved, he wrote his thoughts in a [secret notebook](https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-lost-notebook/). Twenty-five years ago, two men made a bet on whether civilization would collapse. This year [the bet came due](https://www.wired.com/story/a-25-year-old-bet-comes-due-has-tech-destroyed-society/). And 16 years ago, Darpa hosted the first [autonomous car challenge](https://www.wired.com/story/autonomous-car-chaos-2004-darpa-grand-challenge/). Chinese researchers have taught [a robot dog](https://www.wired.com/story/watch-a-robot-dog-learn-how-to-deftly-fend-off-a-human/) to fend off humans. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Most Popular Also, CES is next week, and this year you don’t have to go to Las Vegas to join in! Free to all is WIRED HQ, a bunch of (virtual) live sessions with WIRED editors, along with guests like Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, Salesforce’s Bret Taylor, Nobel winner Jennifer Doudna, and former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (wonder what he’ll say). I will also be chatting about the coming year in tech policy with our senior writer Gilad Edelman ... and maybe you? Check out [this page](https://www.wired.com/hq/p/1) for details and to sign up. ![Image may contain Logo Symbol Trademark Text and Label](https://media.wired.com/photos/5de5558c453df400086ddd63/master/w_1600%2Cc_limit/Divider_Big%2520Moments.jpg) Don't miss future subscriber-only editions of this column. [*Subscribe to WIRED (50% off for Plaintext readers)](https://subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_STEVEN_LEVY?source=EDT_WIR_ARTICLE_SUBSCRIBE_LINK_0_STEVEN_LEVY_ZZ) today.* *** More Great WIRED Stories - 📩 Want the latest on tech, science, and more? 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We have [to talk about side effects](https://www.wired.com/story/vaccines-are-here-we-have-to-talk-about-side-effects/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - 🎮 WIRED Games: Get the latest [tips, reviews, and more](https://www.wired.com/tag/video-games/?itm_campaign=BottomRelatedStories_Sections_1&itm_content=footer-recirc) - 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy? 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