Gary Cohn: Social Media Cos Aren’t Trustworthy

Former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn doesn’t trust social media companies. According to Bloomberg, Cohn believes that banks were more trustworthy in 2008 than social media companies are today.

“It’s very interesting how the world turns,” he said, referring to social media’s role in the spread of misinformation and fake news. “In ’08, Facebook was one of those companies that was a big platform to criticize banks; they were very out front of criticizing banks for not being responsible citizens. I think banks were more responsible citizens in ’08 than some of the social media companies are today. And it affects everyone in the world. The banks have never had that much pull.”

Last year, it was revealed that as many as 126 million Americans — accounting for a third of the nation’s population — were exposed to content placed on Facebook by Russian sources during the 2016 elections. According to testimony, roughly 29 million Americans received content via 80,000 posts that were generated from 120 pages, which were backed by Russian entities. Facebook said as many as three times that 29 million could have been privy to those posts via the ubiquitous “sharing” and “liking” functions used on Facebook.

There was also the company’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, where up to 87 million Facebook users may have had their data shared with the controversial research firm. The social media giant has responded by fact checking photos and videos posted on the site, as well as with new verification tools that can help users decide which sources are worth reading, trusting and sharing.

Facebook also announced two additional features: More From This Publisher, which will give people a quick snapshot of the other recent stories posted by the publisher, and Shared By Friends, which will show people any of their friends who have shared the article.

“We designed these features with feedback and input from a diverse set of people and publishers, including many participants in the Facebook Journalism Project,” the company said.