Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Name Change

Cjones10262021

Fun fact: When Coca-Cola changed its formula back in the 1980s and introduced New Coke, they did actually change something. It did taste different. Nobody would argue that it was the same. Of course, the new taste sucked and the outrage was so severe that Coca-Cola went back to the old formula, but at least they did more than just change the name.

It should also be noted that New Coke was just as corrosive to acid on car batteries as Coke Classic. And we expect New Facebook to be just as corrosive to society as Old Facebook.

Facebook has come under fire recently from a whistleblower’s leak of the company’s own studies that shows it profited off hate, bullying, harassment, body-shaming on Instagram, and conspiracy theories. While Facebook may argue that it took a lot of steps to discourage this stuff from happening, they didn’t really do a lot to stop it.

Here’s an example: Yesterday, I saw a fucknut’s post that the COVID vaccine, NOT COVID itself, killed Colin Powell. It didn’t speculate it, it said it. I reported it. The post is still there. Facebook doesn’t do enough to dismantle lies and conspiracy theories. Facebook is allowing the lie that vaccines kill people to remain and spread on its platform.

But the revelations aren’t just bad press for Facebook or egg on the face of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. These revelations can prove to be extremely damaging to the company as Congress may take steps to regulate the platform and all of social media. Even worse for Facebook, Congress may dismantle its conglomerate. It has to be pretty drastic for Facebook to even consider dropping a brand name worth billions.

Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce this plan at a corporate convention next week, Nerds-Who-Couldn’t-Get Laid-In-College-But-Can-Nowathon. And it’s easier to change the name than to make any practical reforms. Why would Zucky want to change anything that makes him money? Currently, Zuckerberg is worth over $130 billion but he pays himself an annual salary of $1.00. I hope he donates that dollar to Suicide Hotline.

Don’t expect the platform itself to no longer be “Facebook.” We’re talking about the Facebook corporation that owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and other products you haven’t heard of but are probably encrypted into everything you own, like your coffeemaker. But most people may not even notice this name change. Take Google for example.

Did you know Google is not Google? Yes, what you’re searching on is Google, but that’s not the company. At least not anymore. Google is Alphabet. Alphabet owns Google, DeepMind, Waymo, Fitbit, Google X, and about a gazillion other products. Unlike Google Plus, most are successful. Do you ever hear “Alphabet” being used? Nope.

But Zuckerberg sucks at rebranding. He’s been trying to re-cast himself for years from that nerd who created a site rating whether girls at Harvard who would not date him were “hot or not.” None of it’s worked, not the multiple rebrandings or getting hot Harvard girls to date him (actually, he did get a Harvard girl to marry him…after he became a billionaire). Do you think higher today of Mark Zuckerberg than you did before you saw that July 4 video of him riding on a hydrofoil while holding a U.S. flag to the backdrop of John Denver’s “Country Roads?” Funny how that didn’t work out for him.

If Zuckerberg really wants to hide without changing his actions, he should change his name. And guess what available? “Kanye” is available.

Kanye is changing is name to just “Ye.” His reason has something to do with his belief that “ye” is the most common word in the Bible and it means “you,” so he’s now “you,” or some shit like that. Fortunately for Kanye, or Ye, “Dipshit” is not the most common word in the Bible. You have to remember that this guy lost his mind to the point he became a Trumper. He was even running around wearing the red hat.

Other celebrities have changed their names after becoming famous. Prince changed his to a symbol for a few years. Sean Combs changed his to “Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, Sean Jean, Brother Love, Swag, Sean Love Combs” and at the present, to “Love.” Snoop Dog has changed his name to “Snoop Lion” then to “Snoopzilla” then back to “Snoop Dog.” Nobody is changing their name to “Mark Zuckerberg.”

And then you have Donald Trump. It’s ridiculous but true his name actually is “Trump.” No, it’s not “Drumpf.” But he’s not considering a name change despite “Trump” being the most toxic brand in the world. Maybe it should be “Drumpf.”

But back to Mark, I think “Kanye Zuckerberg” has a nice ring to it.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book: Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are ZERO copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. A new shipment will arrive in early November. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Zucky Don’t Care

CNN10102021

Here’s your cartoon for this week’s CNN Opinion newsletter. Please sign up to get these in your inbox every Sunday. 

“Shenanigans” is the actual name of the sailboat Mark Zuckerberg was on during the 60 Minutes episode on the Facebook Whistleblower. He was trying to tell the world he doesn’t care. The thing is, he doesn’t care if Facebook profits off hate, just as long as it profits.

Zuckerberg released an extremely long statement that no person has read the entire way through. Basically, he was claiming Facebook doesn’t do the stuff it’s accused of doing, even though it actually does them. Whoever is close to him and didn’t tell him the the statement or view of him on his sailboat gave the impression he’s an obtuse android who lacks self-awareness, was the same person who failed to tell him the July 4th hydrofoil video to the tune of Country Road was a horrible idea.

Hey, maybe don’t do that, you obtuse android.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are FIVE copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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One America Haters

Cjones10112021

According to a report by Reuters, which is an actual news source, AT&T helped create the far-right NON-news source One America News (OAN). Reuters’ report has been confirmed by CNN another legitimate news source. Why is this significant? Because AT&T owns CNN.

Full disclosure time: I work for CNN. I am a freelancer who provides one cartoon each week for the CNN Opinion newsletter. But I’m still a small fish in the grand scheme of things and I’m probably more on AT&T’s radar as a customer than I am as a freelance employee. Ya’ see, my wireless service is through AT&T. My iPhone was purchased at AT&T. My iPad was also purchased at AT&T. I am making payments to AT&T each month for my wireless service, iPhone, and iPad. Fun fact: This cartoon poking fun at AT&T was drawn on an iPad purchased from AT&T. Also, this cartoon making fun of Facebook has already been posted on Facebook. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Anyway…CNN has covered this story as they should. They cover criticism of competing networks and other news outlets all the time. As fair and responsible journalists, they are required to cover it. Check out this clip of Don Lemon and Oliver Darcy. Lemon and Darcy are not the only CNN people to tackle this subject. Don Lemon said what airs from OAN is as “corrosive as anything that comes from Facebook.”

One America News is NOT a news source. It’s a conspiracy network, but AT&T, which owns Time Warner, probably views it as just another revenue stream to put on TV like Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodean (I don’t know who owns those but they’re on AT&T platforms). Now, with OAN, we have the Yee-Haw Network.

Robert Herring, who is the founder and chief executive of OAN, has testified that the inspiration to launch his network in 2013 came from AT&T executives.

AT&T-owns television platforms, including satellite broadcaster DirecTV. AT&T is the largest communications company on the planet. They’re bigger than Oprah. According to Herring in a 2019 deposition, “They (AT&T) told us they wanted a conservative network. They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other (liberals) side. When they said that, I jumped to it and built one.” Now, according to a 2020 sworn testimony by an OAN accountant, AT&T accounts for 90 percent of OAN’s revenue.

Herring has testified he was offered $250 million for OAN in 2019. Without the DirecTV deal, the accountant said under oath, the network’s value “would be zero.”

Take one moment to let this sink in: If it wasn’t for the owners of CNN, how much would Fox News be worth? Fox News is on those same platforms.

AT&T may be looking to break CNN off from Time Warner and sell it to pay off debts, which makes you wonder if AT&T views CNN, one of the nation’s best news outlets, the same way they view OAN, one of America’s most notorious bullshit outlets. Corporations may only see dollar signs.

While AT&T can claim responsibility for facts and journalism being provided to the world from the USA’s best news network, they’re also responsible for helping push lies and conspiracy theories about the Big Lie Trump won the election and spreading conspiracy theories about the coronavirus.

AT&T defended itself saying it’s not a revenue stream for OAN and they initially refused to carry the network on DirecTV, but did cave after OAN sued them. AT&T says they don’t control any programming and any decisions to continue carrying OAN will be up to DirecTV, which has been spun off into its own separate company….with 70 percent still owned by AT&T (somebody does research. Cough. Cough).

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement issued on Wednesday, “We are outraged to learn that AT&T has been funneling tens of millions of dollars into OAN since the network’s inception. As a result, AT&T has caused irreparable damage to our democracy. The press should inform the American public with facts, not far-right propaganda and conspiracy theories.”

AT&T may not be the press, but they are caretakers of journalism and a media giant. There should be corporate responsibility. Hell, I get mad at news outlets for publishing far-right conspiracy MAGAt cartoons, and the syndicates that distribute them. For syndicates like Cagle Cartoon and my former agency, Creators Syndicate, there’s no accepted responsibility for poisoning our nation with toxic bullshit. While all sides should be presented equally, there should be a line that stops at conspiracy theories. It’s bad enough news outlets have to quote Donald Trump.

I’m sure executives at AT&T aren’t writing copy for OAN, which is a network for people who find Tucker Carlson too woke. But, according to these reports, there wouldn’t be an OAN to poison our nation if it wasn’t for the efforts and enthusiasm of executives at AT&T.

And if AT&T gets mad at me for this, Hey, AT&T guys….I’m just an insignificant small fry. Nobody cares about me. Nobody reads this blog. Look at Don Lemon! Yeah, that guy was doing all sorts of smack-talking about you, and he was doing it in front of millions of viewers. Did you hear him say “corrosive”? You should go deal with him and ignore what’s going on over here. Tomorrow, I might go back to making jokes about Nickelback. I’m crazy. Nobody listens to me. Also, have I told you how much I love the iPad you sold me? It’s really wonderful and the iPhone, don’t get me started. I love the way my iPad rides on my iPhone’s hotspot when I leave my home…and did I mention I bought Airpods too? See? I’m not that bad. Right? Hello?

Another fun fact: It’s time for me to draw this week’s cartoon for CNN. Pray for me.

Creative note: I was going to put AT&T’s spokesperson, Lilly, in this cartoon. She’s to AT&T what Flo is to that insurance company and the gecko is to that other insurance company (see how well advertising works?). But, I didn’t know if Lilly was known well enough and I kinda have a crush on her. So, she escaped my wrath unscathed this time. Lilly, call me.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are FIVE copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Blowing Smoke With Zuck

Cjones10062021

The Wall Street Journal has done a series on Facebook called “The Facebook Files” based on internal documents by a former employee. The whistleblower will be appearing on 60 Minutes tonight. You can be sure Zuckerberg will be watching.

The documents reveal that “elite” Facebook users are exempt from a lot of the platform’s rules, like terms of service that lands you in “Facebook jail.” Yeah, the beautiful people don’t have to worry about that. Look at Donald Trump and Twitter. How many terrorist attacks and mass shootings did the guy have to have inspired before he finally got banned?

By the way, Twitter: Why is Ben Garrison back on your platform? All he did was create a new account and is back to posting the same anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and inspiring white nationalists that you originally deleted his fuckwit ass for. The Trump cultist is posting cartoons about microchips and endorsing horse de-wormer. Twitter, you need to de-fucknut your platform. But I digress.

The documents revealed by the Journal also show Facebook’s response to human traffickers is extremely weak. For example, Matt Gaetz is still on Facebook. He doesn’t need Facebook jail. He needs real jail.

The whistleblower also revealed, which will come to a complete surprise to everyone, that connections on its platform between friends and families is actually elevating “divisive content” and increasing hate and animosity. I’d ask my two sisters how they feel about that if we were still talking and I hadn’t already blocked their MAGA asses. Girls, I said “MAGA” asses, not “MEGA.” Please don’t write me.

All that stuff is bad, but the revelation that’s received the most attention and has even led to two congressional hearings is that Instagram increases anxiety and trauma on younger users’ mental health and stigmatizes body image. Now, if the camel in my cartoon was on Instagram, some mean girls would be body-shaming his humps. Don’t worry, Joe. Your humps are as sexy as Fergie’s humps, her humps, her lovely lady lumps, from the Black Eyed Peas. Can you believe it’s been over 15 years since that song came out? Can you believe the Black Eyed Peas are still around even after releasing songs like “My Humps?” Can you believe I just put that earworm in you?

In a series of slides to defend itself (my humps. my humps. Just checking), Facebook actually admits that Instagram has made image anxiety and body shaming worse for one in three teenage girls, but they say that’s only from people who responded to its survey. So what they’re saying without knowing is that it could be worse…a lot worse.

Then, the Journal released more internal documents, including statistics indicating that 66 percent of teen girls and 40 percent of teen boys on Instagram experience “negative social comparisons,” that 52 percent of teen girls experiencing this negative social comparison say it was the result of images related to beauty, and that Instagram made pre-existing body image issues even worse in 32 percent of teen girls.

One in five teens say Instagram makes them feel worse about themselves. The research further found that Instagram had the highest impact on body and appearance comparisons relative to apps like TikTok, Snapchat, and VSCO. I don’t even know what VSCO is.

Instagram is creating image envy and they’re doing it with stuff like 0-sized models in diet tea ads, and I totally understand that image envy. I live by a college and every time a shirtless 20-year old male college student jogs by my apartment, I just want to shout from my second-story window, “I hope you get hit by a bus, you flat-stomach fuck! It’s not fair! Why? Why?” And then I eat a bunch of bacon and ice cream.

Instagram is creating these filters. The more you see these ads creating body shaming and image envy, the more your friends see them…and the more your friends see them, the more you see them. The next thing you know, you’re scrolling through Instagram crying while inhaling two pounds of bacon and a gallon of chunky fudge ice cream. I know I do that and I’m not a teenage girl (but I do think Taylor Swift is the shiznit. I’m so old, I still say “shiznit” I bet will.i.am still says “shiznit”. I just made Andréa, my copy editor, look up “will.i.am”. A few days ago, I introduced her to the word “strange” as a noun).

The slide decks Facebook created to study this details how teens spiral on Instagram, compared the experience of falling down one of these toxic rabbit holes to the stages of grief. The rabbit holes that lead to one another are bargaining, insecurity, self-described dysmorphia, anger, paralysis, and withdrawal. The main thing that creates these rabbit holes is stalking other people’s rabbit holes. Don’t stalk people’s holes, people. Taylor Swift has probably written some songs about this.

Teens are basing their bodies on those of celebrities, whose bodies are about as realistic as a Barbie doll. Nobody looks like Ryan Reynolds. Even Ryan Reynolds doesn’t look like Ryan Reynolds, that flat-stomach Canadian. Can someone up there please introduce him to poutine?

Here’s my advice: Take a break. Step away. Take a walk. Jump on a city bus and see where it takes you. Leave your phone at home. Eat some poutine and then spit it out. Watch a Ryan Reynolds movie that’s NOT “Green Lantern.” Shout expletives at jogging college students. Google to find out why Fergie left the Black Eyed Peas. Distract yourself with the real world.

Fairly recently, I was banned from Facebook for three days because I posted a cartoon saying the Taliban is mean to women. Facebook is apparently very protective of the Sex traffickers and the Taliban. I actually enjoyed that time away from Facebook. It was three days of uninterrupted bacon. I reposted the same cartoon as soon as the ban was lifted, hoping I’d get banned again…but it didn’t work.

Remember, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Pinterest (whatever people do there), LinkedIn (whatever people do there), and MySpace (if it’s still there) need you more than you need it.

Now excuse me, I think I hear some joggers approaching.

Creative note: All those teens on Instagram probably don’t even know who Joe Camel is.

Signed prints: The signed prints are just $40.00 each. Every cartoon on this site is available. You can pay through PayPal. If you don’t like PayPal, you can snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. I can mail the prints directly to you or if you’re purchasing as a gift, directly to the person you’re gifting.

Notes on my book, Tales From The Trumpster Fire: There are FIVE copies of my book in stock, which go for $45.00 each, signed. Also, I have copies of my first book from 1997, Knee-Deep in Mississippi available for $20.00.

Tip Jar: if you want to support the cartoonist, please send a donation through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com. You can also snail it to P.O. Box 9103, Fredericksburg, VA 22403.

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Zuck’s Big Lies

cjones11062019

Let’s get something straight at the start. Expressing yourself on social media isn’t about free speech. When a platform deletes your comment, you have every right to be upset (that’s freedom), but they did not censor you or deny your First Amendment rights.

Facebook is not a government platform. You don’t have a right to Facebook any more than you have a right to free time on the stage of the Republican National Convention to espouse your views. It’s not your stage. Nobody is required to provide you a stage or a platform.

But again, you have every right to get upset when they delete your comment. Out of fairness, when Facebook deletes your comment, they owe you an explanation that’s consistent with their policies and practices. They don’t do that. So, go ahead and get upset.

When one of your friends lands in “Facebook jail,” you hear about it. They let everyone know. I don’t really know how it works because it’s never happened to me. But from the way I’ve seen people operate, it seems they can’t post for a few days but they can still scroll through Facebook. I’ve had people comment on cartoons of mine that they can’t comment because they’re in Facebook jail. So, yeah…I’m having trouble understanding it.

But Facebook has these community guidelines. They have people on staff who analyze posts to make sure they’re accurate and not conspiracy theories. Of course, Republicans scream about their right to free speech when their conspiracy theory is deleted.

Another thing Facebook does is remove bullying, which is nice if it only applied to bullying. I’ve heard of them deleting posts like, “Donald Trump is a Russian asset.” That’s more along the lines of an opinion than bullying. So again, I don’t understand what Facebook is doing.

Russia manipulated Facebook in a big way during the 2016 presidential campaign. They used the platform to build troll farms to spread chaos in this nation. While they created posts with lies and conspiracy theories to divide this nation, they mostly worked to benefit Donald Trump. Do you know who has never complained about that? Donald Trump.

A platform like Facebook sets its rules and you have to live by them if you want to play. But Facebook isn’t consistent with their rules and they’re downright hypocrites. Facebook has decided it will police your post for facts, but if you pay for it as a political ad, then you’re free to lie as much as you want. Facebook has decided not to fact-check political ads.

Fact-checking political ads completely would be impossible for Facebook. They have over 2.8 billion users operating in over 100 languages. There’s more going on out there than our presidential election. But instead of being pompous about “free speech,” Facebook should just admit it’s given up and are now encouraging lies and conspiracy theories in political ads.

This week, Twitter announced they won’t accept any political advertisements. I think that’s great (if they actually do it). Republicans, as usual, started screaming and complaining that Twitter was infringing upon conservative speech. Never mind the fact Twitter is banning ALL political ads, not just those supporting Donald Trump.

Facebook’s head honcho Mark Zuckerberg also complained about it and said, “In a democracy, I don’t think it’s right for private companies to censor politicians or the news.” Once again, Facebook fails the consistency test as they censor posts to comply with “democracies” like Turkey, India, Pakistan, and Israel while deleting accounts and posts in nations with more speech freedom under mysterious circumstances.

Donald Trump spent over $70 million on Facebook ads in 2016. Other big consumers of Facebook ads are right-wing parties in Britain, India, Brazil, and the Philippines. And according to the Mueller Report, Russia spends $1.25 million on social media political ads a month.

There is social responsibility. News networks will fact-check ads (though lies and dubious claims still get through). Facebook is refusing to enact any responsibility and that’s not sitting well with many within the company. Over 250 of its employees signed an open letter decrying the decision to allow lying ads. The employees wrote, “Free speech and paid speech are not the same thing.”

They argue that lying ads “doesn’t protect voices, but instead allows politicians to weaponize our platform by targeting people who believe that content posted by political figures is trustworthy.” Basically, lying ads work on gullible people, which can be any one of us who accepts what we want to believe, but they mostly work on the people who are the least informed. Or to be more blunt, stupid Trump voters. These are the people who believe Donald Trump is trustworthy.

You don’t see liberals trying to shoot up pizza parlors because they thought a candidate was operating a child sex ring out of the basement, do you?

It’s not about free speech on Facebook. It’s about paid speech, and Zuckerberg is literally arguing it’s about “free” speech when he’s taking money for it. He’s more than happy to allow Facebook to be weaponized by the worst people if he makes a profit from it. What this does is put more responsibility on us, the customers of Facebook, to be wary and do our own fact-checking. Most of us won’t don’t that.

Free speech and paid speech are not the same thing and most Facebook users don’t know that. And neither does Mark Zuckerberg.

Support the cartoonist.

You can help me continue to create cartoons, blogs, and videos by making a contribution. All support, large and small, is greatly appreciated. You can also support me by purchasing a signed print (8 1/2×11) for $40, or a signed poster (18×24) for $100 by clicking the PayPal button (just include a note if you’re purchasing a print). If you want to support but don’t want to use PayPal, you can send a contribution through the mail (address is on the contact page. Again, include a note for a print). I don’t plan on going anywhere and your support will help guarantee that. Whether you support, can’t. or just choose not to, please know that I am truly thankful that you visit my site and read my work.

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Zucky’s Sticky Van

cjones11202018

When Facebook discovered Russians were using their platform to meddle in the 2016 presidential election to help Donald Trump, sow seeds of chaos in our nation, and disrupt our democratic process, what did they do?

Did they stop it? No. Did they alert the public? No. Did they do anything to protect our sacred democratic institutions? Oh, hell no. They started a public relations campaign to distract us and hired a Republican opposition research firm to engage in conspiracy theories to deflect the company’s responsibility in the crisis. The GOP firm actually mimicked the Russian strategy and conducted a smear campaign against Democratic financier George Soros by linking him to anti-Facebook protesters.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is denying any knowledge of the smear campaign or of the hiring of the GOP dirty tricksters. Maybe, your best defense isn’t to copy the defense of the nation’s most historic liar. Next, Zuckerberg will be tweeting (if he tweeted) “no collusion, Russian hoax,” and “witch hunt.”

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg is blamed for the hiring, but she’s blaming an underling, which is about as believable as Trump not ever knowing there were Russians meeting with his son, son-in-law, and campaign chairman in his campaign headquarters.

A New York Times article accuses Zuckerberg and Sandberg of ignoring warning signs that Russians were exploiting Facebook to “disrupt elections, broadcast viral propaganda and inspire deadly campaigns of hate around the globe,” and of concealing it from the public.

According to the Times article; While Mr. Zuckerberg has conducted a public apology tour in the last year, Ms. Sandberg has overseen an aggressive lobbying campaign to combat Facebook’s critics, shift public anger toward rival companies and ward off damaging regulation. Facebook employed a Republican opposition-research firm to discredit activist protesters, in part by linking them to the liberal financier George Soros. It also tapped its business relationships, lobbying a Jewish civil rights group to cast some criticism of the company as anti-Semitic.

Though Zuckerberg and Sandberg are in denial, the Times story places them in meetings over the events, which is based on interviews with more than 50 people. At some point, the two will start crying “fake news” and go on Hannity.

The Russians have been meddling all over the globe. They’ve attacked our elections, elections in Europe and the entire Brexit mess is their fault. On top of all that, they are a big reason we have a president Donald Trump. What used to be a joke on The Simpsons is now reality. Facebook helped them do that. Since Russians were also paying for ads on their platform, Facebook profited from it.

Facebook was afraid of implicating Russia and taking down fake pages of Russians and their followers because it would anger…wait for it…Republicans. So, instead of angering those Republicans, they joined them. No, they didn’t start a campaign about Clinton’s child-sex-slave pizza joint. They started an anti-Semitic campaign against Soros, people who protest Facebook, and competing companies.

Who could have predicted that Facebook and Twitter would be the end of humanity and civilization?

Facebook and Zuckerberg are complicit. Zuckerberg claims he doesn’t know the stickers are on the side of the van, but it’s his van.

Be Complicit
What kind of person would want to be part of something that disparages, slanders, and disrespects Dear Leader and his sycophantic followers? Hopefully, you. 
Making a contribution supports my work and keeps the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. My income is from newspapers that subscribe to my work and small contributors. George Soros hasn’t sent me a million dollar check in weeks. Making a contribution of any amount, or buying a print for $40.00, makes you part of this specific resistance, and a member of Team Claytoonz (we’re still working on the name). You are complicit, an accomplice, and in cahoots (and whatever gangster terms we can think of) with this political satire pointing out that the stupid emperor has no clothes. Contributions can be made through PayPal, checks, and wads of cash exchanged in back alleys.
Whether you can help support, can’t, or just choose not to, please continue to enjoy and keep reading my work. Thank you!!! 

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

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Zuck Needs Some Bucks

cjones08012018

Facebook took the biggest one-day drop in history last Thursday, losing $119 billion. Part of the reason is slow revenue growth along with criticism that the social media platform isn’t doing enough to regulate itself with fake news by Russian troll farms, abuse of privacy by third parties, politicians in Europe and the U.S. wanting some control, and user complaints that Facebook is limiting views to their content.

I have some experience with the limited views issue, and so do some of my clients. Previously, my cartoons would reach thousands of people. Now, on a good day, I might get a few hundred. After this cartoon is posted, I’ll receive an email from Facebook trying to entice me to spend money to “boost” the post so more people will see it. Do you get the idea? Facebook is limiting views, so we’ll pay for more.

A lot of conservatives are complaining that Facebook is discriminating against them and limiting their views. Conservatives, who love calling people “snowflakes,” just like to complain and pretend they’re being victimized. I can assure you, Facebook is doing it to everyone.

Facebook is finding other ways to make a few bucks. Now, the videos you didn’t ask to see in your news feed even contain ads in the middle of them. I was actually captivated by a video about anteaters when a Firestone ad popped up I was forced to sit through if I wanted to finish the micro-documentary about the ant suckers.

I don’t know what’s going on with Twitter since I never look at my news feed on that platform, and only pay attention to my notifications. But, Twitter saw its value plunge 20% after its earnings report said the number of monthly active users on the platform fell. That must be true as even a large portion of Donald Trump’s followers are bots.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a huge hit also, as he personally lost nearly $17 billion in one hour on Thursday. According to one financial analyst, that’s nearly 1.7 times as much money as Donald Trump claims he’s made in his entire life. So, it’s probably about five times as much as Trump has made in his lifetime.

But, I have about as much concern for Zuckerberg’s wealth as I do over one of Betsy DeVos’ nine yachts being vandalized (did someone poop on her poop deck?). Zucko is still worth around $70 billion.

The good news for Facebook is that we’re getting closer to November’s midterm election, so Russian troll farms will probably increase their advertising spending.

Between cat and vacation photos, bullies who slut and fat shame, and your uncle being a Russian troll, I have faith Facebook won’t return its spot to MySpace.

Thank you for your support. Reader contributions really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!

Watch me draw.

Tech Trouble

cjones04172018

Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by 44 senators during his first day of Congressional hearings. Even senators don’t want to talk to that many senators, especially when one of them is Ted Cruz.

But, Zucky did OK. While he was in the United States Capitol, Congress was on his turf. Facebook is a technology and the guys talking about regulating it are still trying to figure out how to set the clock on their VCRs.

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch asked Zuckerberg how Facebook can continue to stay in business since it offers its service for free. Keep in mind this hearing was about users’ data being breached by advertisers. Bill Nelson confused smartphones with tablets. Lindsey Graham thinks the difference between Facebook and Twitter is equivalent to the differences between Ford and Chevrolet.

Deb Fischer said she knows that Facebook’s 2.2 billion users are larger than the population of most countries. Good for her for knowing that except, no country has a population of 2.2 billion.

Then there was Brian Schatz who asked if he used WhatsApp to email about Black Panther if it would get him banner ads for Black Panther.

No wonder Facebook’s stock went up during the hearings. Investors may want Zuckerberg to go back.

Creative notes: I didn’t feel a need to cover this issue again, but I had this idea and I just wanted to do it. I usually take Saturday nights off, but I was out of ice cream and there wasn’t anything on TV.

Here’s the video.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!

Facebook Collusion

cjones03222018

Have you heard of Coca-Cola? Have you heard of Pepsi? Of course you have. Even if you’re not a soft-drink drinker you’re very familiar with Coke and Pepsi. You’re either a Coke person or a Pepsi person. You know what fast-food franchises sell which drink. They’re not just household words and a part of our culture, they’re ingrained into our psyches. You could be stranded in the most obscure, rural, backward place in a third-world country, and you will find a Coke or a Pepsi. And yet, they continue to advertise.

While it makes sense for Ford, Chevrolet, and Toyota to advertise as they change their product ever so slightly every year, Coke and Pepsi don’t (exception being that failed experiment Coke perpetuated upon us that nearly caused a nationwide riot in the early 1980s). They run commercials for a product with nothing new to add. Only Domino’s Pizza runs commercials saying their old pizza sucked, but now it’s better (and it’s not).

Why do these companies engage in advertising? Because they believe ads work. Advertising is meant to convince you to purchase their product. They’re designed to convince, persuade, and to put it more crudely, manipulate.

So, whenever I hear someone say Russian advertising and fake news on social media didn’t help Donald Trump win the presidency, I know that person is full of crap. How do you argue that the ads your campaign officially paid for worked, and the ads you supposedly weren’t responsible for didn’t?

Every political campaign coordinates an advertising campaign. It’s why the Trump campaign is running ads now for the 2020 presidential campaign. It’s why the Trump campaign worked with a firm like Cambridge Analytica, though now, they claim that company was not an influence on the election.

Cambridge Analytica (CA) is a data mining and analysis company that works on political campaigns. It was heavily involved in the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union, the Ted Cruz campaign, and then the Trump campaign. It’s partly owned by Robert Mercer, a very rich guy who supports extremely conservative causes and politicians. He’s been a major benefactor for Breitbart, and after the Cruz campaign failed, he switched allegiances to the Trump campaign and helped install Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway (who was on the Cruz staff) as heads of the Trump team. As you can tell, Mercer likes assholes.

Cambridge Analytica engaged in some very sketchy activities. The head of the company asked Wikileaks guru Julian Assange to help find Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails. The company may have used their microtargeting of individuals on social media to help Russia coordinate their propaganda campaign in favor of Trump.

Cambridge Analytica also collected personal data on individuals without their consent or their knowledge. Facebook was aware of this for two years but didn’t act on it until yesterday when they banned CA from advertising on their platform.  According to the Trump campaign, CA was working side-by-side with representatives from Facebook and Twitter on their digital campaign.

You wonder how much of an effect CA had as the presidential election was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three swing states and the EU referendum by two percent of UK voters.

Collecting personal data on social media users allows the company to learn who is susceptible to certain kinds of advertising and who can be manipulated. For example: Who can be tricked and conned by fake news, who only wants confirmation bias, and who will really believe Pizzagate and that the Pope endorsed Donald Trump? Russian ads and propaganda convinced millions of people the absurdity of Trump being more honest than Hillary Clinton, just like Coca-Cola ads have you convinced penguins and polar bears are on the same continent.

It gets worse. Alexander Nix, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica was caught on tape talking to who he believed were prospective clients (but were actually undercover reporters for the UK’s Channel Four), where he described strategies of filming opponents in compromising situations with Ukrainian sex workers. Mark Turnbull, the managing director of Cambridge Analytica Political Global, was caught explaining that plausible deniability was a crucial element and said it was vital that people seeing false rumors online never discovered where they were coming from. I discovered it doesn’t matter if people find out where it’s coming from. They’ll still post it and call you a liar when you point out the facts.

Turnbull said, “We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again. Like a remote control. It has to happen without anyone thinking, ‘That’s propaganda,’ because the moment you think, ‘That’s propaganda,’ the next question is, ‘Who’s put that out?'” That sounds very similar to the Russian Troll Farm strategy.

Nix said on the tape, “We do incognito very well indeed, in fact we have many clients who never wish to have our relationship with them made public. We’re used to operating through different vehicles, in the shadows, and I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you.”

Christopher Wylie, a whistle-blower with a guilty conscience from Cambridge Analytica claims CA had used a few hundred thousand people’s Facebook accounts to reach out and scale up through their social networks to touch “most of America.” The company used harvested information from the accounts ‘friends’ profiles as well as updates, likes, and in some cases private messages.

Investigators in the UK are now seeking warrants to enter CA’s offices and seize evidence, and Facebook personnel have been ordered to vacate those offices, and lawmakers are calling for investigations into both companies. The European Union, which has stronger laws about it, is also launching an investigation into the misuse of private data.

Facebook lost $40 billion yesterday as this news hit Wall Street and American lawmakers were demanding investigations.

I believe we make it easy for companies like Cambridge. We believe what we want to believe, thus making it easier to become trolls for a Russian troll farm. Conservatives are better targets as facts don’t support their beliefs to begin with, and people who spread lies associate with other people who spread lies. Facts are not important.  Conservatives don’t care if their beliefs are based on lies. They don’t care if spreading those lies makes them traitors. They just want their bias confirmed.

In fact, Nix said on the tape, “It’s no good fighting an election campaign on the facts because actually it’s all about emotion.” That’s true. No Trump supporter can tell you why Trump is doing a great job, just that he is. It’s all emotion and a lot of times, their emotions are hatred.

We’ve come down to fighting emotion with facts. I pride myself on only using facts, and I’m losing.  The liars and traitors are winning.

Here’s the video.

Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button. Thank you!

Facebook News

cjones05162016

When conservatives complain about the media being liberal, what they’re really upset about is the media reporting facts. Sure there’s bias in the media, but it’s not a massive agenda being carried out just because you’re not hearing what you want to hear, or believe.

The “mainstream” media is not liberally biased. If anything, the number one cable news network has a conservative bias, with that being Fox News. Here’s a news flash for those watching the news and whining that it’s not on their side: The media, cable news, newspapers, and websites, number one agenda is to make money. It’s all about ratings, circulation and advertising. If we’re to believe the media is actually biased then right now the media wants Donald Trump to become president. Only the political cartoonists actually want that to happen.

If you really want honest news then you would not demand more conservative or liberal news. You would demand news. Even if the media is biased one way or another, creating more biased media does not balance anything. Misinformation and lies doesn’t correct another source of misinformation and lies. I demand facts and comprehensive coverage. That’s what I use to form my petition.

This week conservatives are complaining about a report that Facebook is suppressing conservative news from trending. Trending is that thing on the right hand side of your Facebook page, which I know you have open right now. At this very moment what’s trending on my Facebook is: London mayor Sadiq Khan, climate activists protesting in Anacotes, Washington, Zika in Singapore, fishermen in Melville Island, Australia caught a cod with a snake in its mouth, the tiny Vaquita Porpoise, a missing 81-year-old man in Spotylvania County, Virginia (that one targeted me), Angry Birds the movie (maybe Facebook doesn’t know), world’s biggest plane lands in Australia and lands in a fish’s mouth (I made that last part up), Nevada Democratic Convention, and Facebook’s CEO delivers a commencement speech.

Unless that tiny dolphin is claiming Donald Trump made odd sexual remarks at her back in the 90’s, I’m not detecting a liberal bias in that list.

My main news source is Google News. I scroll there and click on articles from multiple outlets. It’s the best resource for me. I flip channels between CNN and MSNBC during the day and will occasionally watch Fox News to see how they’re spinning something. MSNBC is conservative in the morning, straight forward from midday to the evening, and at night liberally biased at night. CNN is straightforward and they balance their panels on their nightly shows. Fox News, where every female is required to be a blonde and they’re not allowed to wear sleeves,M is just always biased toward conservatives. The ONE America News makes Fox News look like the BBC.

Are you really complaining you’re not getting enough Breitbart and Daily Caller through Facebook? Do you know how to bookmark? Does your current news filter not provide enough racist comments that fit your agenda? Bookmark. Learn it. Use it. Shut up.

One fact is that a lot of people are getting their news from Facebook. Facebook doesn’t gather news. They share it. They don’t employ any political cartoonists, the bastards.

Facebook does select what’s trending and they target their readers toward their habits. Every time you click “like” on a photo (or a cartoon) or click on one of those sites that click bait you to inform you of your Jedi name or if your cat was Al Capone in a previous life, Facebook is gathering information about you. Each time you post a selfie, Facebook knows you’re a narcissist and attempts to sell you a selfie stick. Each time you post a food picture, Facebook knows you’re lonely and crying for help but directs you toward Taco Bell instead. Every time (Every. Single. Freaking time) you announce you’re a vegetarian, everybody already knows because you won’t shut up about it (and those food pics are about as alluring as that nude portrait of Trump with the tiny penis making the rounds. Oh you haven’t seen that? Do NOT go looking for it!).

Mark Zuckerberg is going to meet with conservative news leaders like Glenn Beck this week to talk about Facebook’s trending news. There’s nothing he’s going to say to the perpetual victims that will satisfy them so if I was him I’d rather just tell them to go suck a lemon.

Stupid, low informed people have a very low bar for their news source. Since Zuckerberg is attempting to appease them anyway, I suggest he tag all of them with memes.

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