Your weekend long reads 🗞️

Saturday, October 30

Good morning, friends of The Short List! Or should I say, "Trick or Treat"? It's John, and this is a quick reminder that Sunday is Halloween! 🎃 If you still don't have your costume, here are some of the most popular ones. (Here's how to avoid choosing a culturally offensive outfit.)

On to the news! Some of the most notable news this week dealt with the Facebook Papers, documents that were part of the disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission by whistleblower Frances Haugen. A consortium of 17 news organizations, including USA TODAY, reviewed the redacted versions received by Congress. Some of our findings:

►'Here's your drug': Internal documents that showed, among other things, that the tech giant knew before the 2020 presidential election that its automated recommendations amplified misinformation and polarization , yet it did little to curtail its role in deepening the political divide. Americans say they lost friends and family to Facebook political feuds. Some expressed frustration to USA TODAY. "People just want to be whipped up," said Deanie Mills. "And Facebook says, 'Here's your drug. Come back here in the alley and I can fix you up.'"

►The story of 'Carol' and 'Karen': To prepare for the 2020 presidential election, a Facebook researcher designed a study to investigate whether the platform's automated recommendations could expose users to misinformation and polarization. The researcher created user profiles for two fictitious 41-year-old North Carolina moms – one conservative and the other liberal. In less than a week, Facebook's automated newsfeed recommendations included QAnon posts. By the third week, polarizing political content was constant, including misleading memes and conspiracy theories.

►'Willing to put us in harm's way': Dangerous and offensive content exploded after the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed, especially after then-President Donald Trump warned on Facebook, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts." Even as civil rights leaders and the Black community complained , documents show Facebook continued to combat hate speech with automated moderation tools that are not sophisticated enough to catch most harmful content and are prone to making mistakes.

There are more compelling reads below. Have a great weekend – and Happy Halloween! 👻