Explain It to Me

Is Facebook really that bad?


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Dylan, German, and Dara talk about Facebook and the controversy surrounding it in recent weeks. They cover just how much — and how little — we know about Facebook’s impact on the world and talk about whether there are good policy solutions to Facebook’s problems. For the white paper of the week, they break down a study on free school lunch programs.


References:


  • The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on how Facebook’s efforts to improve the platform backfired 
  • The Washington Post’s reporting on how Facebook prioritized “angry” over “like”
  • The Washington Post’s reporting on Facebook picking engagement over fighting misinformation
  • Section 230 basics, explained 
  • Vox’s Recode Daily podcast
  • What happened when experimenters paid people to deactivate Facebook before the 2018 midterms
  • Max Fisher and Amanda Taub on Facebook-inspired anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka
  • Facebook did enable the Arab Spring
  • Farhad Manjoo on how bad regulations could make Facebook worse
  • A child psychologist on what we don’t know about Instagram’s effect on teen girls 
  • Kevin Drum’s counter-takes on Facebook
  • NBER study on school lunch programs reducing grocery costs

  • Hosts:

    Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

    German Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, Vox

    Dara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublica


    Credits:

    Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineer

    Libby Nelson, editorial advisor

    Amber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts


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    Explain It to MeBy Vox

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