engage with those groups, with those recommendations to join the qanon groups, within a week, carol smith'slled with hate speech, and disinformation. that researcher published the story of that dummy account's journey in a 2019 internal report of facebook called carol's journey to qanon. but even after that was found and reported inside facebook by their own researchers, nothing happened. at least not a lot happened that we can tell, and that was not a stand alone incident. an incredibly similar thing happened with the dummy account in india this 2019. instead of a conservative mom being told to go full qanon, though, in this piece, the dummy account was a 21-year-old indian woman set up as a generic account set up without expressing much interest in anything, quickly flooded with quite disgusting, lurid, antimuslim hate speech and propaganda. the facebook researcher said the test feed's news feed is a constant barrage of misinformation, violence, and gore. again, just by following facebook's recommendations. now, in response to these test cases, facebook has pointed to changes it says it k

this fake carol smith persona was set up sort of generically. a politically conservative mom from north carolina, from wilmington, north carolina, she expressed in her facebook profile as she signed up an interest in politics and parenting and christianity and followed just a few other facebook accounts, including fox news and president trump, and that's it. just sort of a bare bones profile, and this fake account, this carol smith account never expressed any interest in conspiracy theories of any kind. but nevertheless it only took two days that facebook recommended that that person, care smith, should join groups dedicated to qanon, that democrats are a secret cabal of satan worshipping pedophiles and will be executed in a mass public execution at guantanamo, really, carol, so soon, and even though the researcher running the fake account did not engage with those groups, with those recommendations to join the qanon groups, within a week, carol smith's feed was filled with groups and pages that violated facebook's own rules because they were fi

this fake carole smith persona, was set up sort of generically, a politically conservative mom, from north carolina, from wilmington north carolina, she expressed in her facebook profile, as she sign, up an interest in politics, and parenting, and christianity, and she followed just a few other facebook accounts, including fox news and president trump. and that's it. just sort of a barebones profile. this fake account, this carole smith account, never expressed any interest in conspiracy theories of any kind. but nevertheless, it only took two days before facebook recommended, that that person, carol smith, should join groups dedicated to qanon, the conspiracy theory that holds that democrats are a secret combo of sea in worship-ing pedophiles, that during children's, blood in though all end up getting executed and amassed public execution at guantÁnamo. really? carol so soon. even though the researcher writing that fake, account did not engage with those groups, with those recommendations to join the qanon, groups within a week, carole smithfield was filled with groups and pages, th

carol smith is not a real person.reated the fake account in 2019 as an experiment study tg platform's role and misinforming and polarizing users known as algorithm. the fake carol never expressed interests of conspiracy theory. it only takes two days for facebook to recommend her joining groups. >> whatever algorithm facebook was using determining how she could engage with the platform, pushed ahead. the nbc news story just one of four explosive pieces that dropped last night that examines the social media giant role and spreading misinformation and conspiracy. >> we are joined by sicilia kang. i will begin with you, the new york times published a story that breaks down facebook's role in spreading election misinformation. the company's staff members repeatedly raised red flags about the spread of misinformation and conspiracy before. they failed to struggle to address these issues, i know you didn't where i these stories but you have done a lot of reporting. is this a character for facebook? >> absolutely. character.

do you know carol smith?be you've seen her on facebook, a politically conservative mother from wilmington, north carolina, with an interest in politics, parenting and christianity. she's a fan of fox news and donald trump. actually, you really wouldn't know her because carol smith isn't a real person. in fact a facebook researcher created the fake account in 2018 as part of an experiment that studied the platform's role in misinforming and polarizing users through its recommendations also known as algorithms. though the fake carol never expressed interest in conspiracy theories, it only took two days for facebook to recommend that she join groups dedicated to the qanon conspiracy theory. carol didn't follow the recommended qanon groups, but nbc's brandy writes, quote, whatever algorithm that determines how she should interact with the platform within one week smith's page was full of groups that violated facebook own rules including those with hate speech and disinformation. it's one of four explosive pieces

because carole smith isn't real. account was created by a researcher employed by facebook, who was specifically studying hospice book misinform's and polarizes its users. the company knew what it was doing. it knew, they were driving people to those extreme viewpoints and they knew it years ago. and a senior reporter for nbc news who brought carroll story to our attention is, brandi and she joins me now. , brandi brandy zadrozny take us there and now and what was it based on and what was the researchers trying to do in creating these profiles. >> yes, hey chris. this was a -- one up tens of thousands of documents that we have been pouring over the last three weeks. as part of a consortium with 17 other news organizations looking at the documents that whistleblower frances haugen has handed over to the sec, and congress. a lot of this, a lot of these documents are the basis of those blockbusters wall street journal's that we saw. so we have been pouring over these documents. this is one of many examples of internal re

an effort by facebook as far back as 2019, by the way, to set up a dummy account with the name carol smithle showed her as leaning conservative. though smith had never expressed interest in conspiracy theories, in just two days, facebook was recommending she joins groups dedicated to qanon. within one week, smith's feed was full of groups and pages that had violated facebook's own rules, including those against hate speech and disinformation. joining me now is "new york times" technology correspondent, ryan mack, who wrote about the facebook documents today. thanks for joining us on this. we appreciate it. i got to say, this is astounding. they set up their own kind of dummy facebook profile and all their algorithms lead them these down these rabbit holes to conspiracy theories and urging this carol smith user to sign up for something like qanon. you specifically wrote about the efforts that facebook had in place to regulate things, leading up to the 2020 election. which, in fact, to a certain extent, they did quite well. it was after the 2020 election, it seemed, that things started to sl

they called her carol smith. r conservative facebook pages like fox news, donald trump, and melania trump. but quickly facebook began dragging her down a rabbit hole of misinformation. after only two days -- two days, facebook recommended carol follow a qanon page and a few date later it suggested she follow another. this experiment was never meant to be made public, but details about it were included in documents leaked by facebook whistleblower frances haugen who said the company is not doing enough to crackdown on conspiracy theories and online hate. >> and they know algorithmic based ranking keeps you on their sites longer. you have longer sessions. you show up more often, and that makes them more money. >> reporter: by week three r of the experiment, carol's feed had become, quote, a constant flow of misleading and polarizing content according to the facebook employee who is running the account. a lot of us spend way too much time on social media and when we try to cut back on those apps, companies like faceb

her name is carol smith. she likes a few pages. she likes trump. she likes fox news.mmendation. i saw in there after three weeks there was actually a recommendation for a page that was the three percenters, the self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> yeah. no, again, we expect his dynamic. >> reporter: yeah. >> what's striking about what frances has revealed, we now know that facebook saw this precisely. so, these are like potato chips that they feed to somebody who has a potato chip addiction. and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine. and it profits, the more can it manipulate us, to consume what we want to consume. >> reporter: donie o'sullivan, cnn, new york. >>> u.s. workers have flexed their muscles in ways that they have leverage now and u.s. bosses still reeling from the pandemic. stay with h us. (vo) i am living with cll and i am living longer. thanks to imbruvica. imbruvica is a prescription medicine for adults with cll or chronic lymphocytic leukemia. it will not work for everyone. imbruvica is the #1 prescred oral t

her name is carol smith.he likes trump, she likes fox news, but in a week she's getting a qanon recommendation. i saw in there after three weeks there was a recommendation for a page that was the three percenters, the militia -- self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> yeah. no. i believe, again, we've suspected this dynamic. what's striking and what frances revealed is we now know facebook itself saw these precisely. so these are like potato chips they feed to somebody who's got a potato chip addiction, and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine, and it profits the more it can manipulate us with more we can consume. >> our thanks to donie for that report. >>> this year marks the 15th anniversary of cnn heroes, and we're checking in with many of our past honorees who continue to make a difference. one was recognized for courageously educating native girls in afghanistan. now her life's work is at risk. cnn's anderson cooper takes a look. >> which country would fall in 11

. >>> during the summer of 2019, carol smith signed up for facebook.mother from north carolina. said she was interested in politics, parenting, christianity and she followed accounts for fox news and president trump. nbc reports though smith had never expressed interest conspiracy theories, in just two days, facebook was recommending she join pages -- she didn't follow the recommended qanon groups but whatever algorithm they were using pushed ahead just the same. within one week, smith's feed was full of groups and pages that had violated facebook's own rules including those against hate speech and disinformation. that's all really bad, but it gets worse because she isn't real. her account was created by a researcher employed by facebook who was specifically studying how facebook misinforms its users. the company knew what it was doing. they knew they were driving people to those extreme viewpoints and they knew it years ago. the reporter who brought the story to our attention. take us through the context of this. what is your reporting based on and wh

account designed to look like a 41-year-old conservative mom living in north carolina, her name is carol smith a few pages, she likes trump. she likes fox news. in a week, she's getting a qanon recommendation. i saw in there that after three weeks there was actually a recommendation for a page that was the 3%-ers, the militia, self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> no, again, we've suspected this dynamic. what's strike being what frances has revealed is that we now know that facebook itself saw this precisely. so these are like potato chips that they feed to somebody who's got a potato chip addiction. and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine, and it profits the mother nre it ca manipulate to consume what we want to consume most. >> reporter: revelations may be of interest to the house select committee investigating the insurrection. here is what facebook is saying -- here's what andy stone tells us, a spokesperson, "the notion that the january 6th insurrection would not have happened except for facebook is absurd. the former president pushed the narra

her name is carol smith. she likes to a few pages, she likes trump, she likes fox news. recommendation. i saw in there that after three weeks there was actually a recommendation for a page that was the three percenters, the self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> again, we suspected this dynamic. we know now facebook itself saw this precisely. so these are like potato chips they feed to someone who's got a potato chip addiction. and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine, and it profits the more it can manipulate us to consume what we want to consume most. >> reporter: and as you might expect facebook is pushing back. here's what their spokesperson andy stone had to say to us. he said the notion that the january 6th insurrection would not have happened but for facebook is absurd. the former president pushed a narrative the election was stolen in including in person a short distance from the capitol building that day. the responsibility lies with those who attacked our capitol and those who encouraged them. we have a long track reco

her name is carol smith. she likes a few pages. she likes trump. she likes fox news.g a qanon recommendation. i saw in there that after three weeks, there was actually a recommendation for a page that was the three percenters, the militia -- self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> again, we've suspected this dynamic. what's striking about what frances has revealed is we now know that facebook itself saw this precisely. so these are like potato chips that they feed to somebody who's got a potato chip addiction, and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine, and it profits the more it can manipulate us to consume what we want to consume most. >> reporter: donie o'sullivan, cnn, new york. >>> a strong storm threatens parts of the western u.s. after the break, we'll get the details from our cnn weather center. i could've called yesterday. but... i should've called yesterday, but... would've, could've, should've. we hear that a lot. hi. i'm jonathan, an insurance professional and manager here at colonial penn life insurance company. som

her name is carol smith., she likes fox news, but in a week she is getting a qanon recommendation. i saw in there that after three weeks there was actually a recommendation for a page that was the three percenters, the militia, self-described militia involved in the insurrection. >> yeah. no, i mean, again, we've suspected this dynamic. >> reporter: yeah. >> what is striking about what frances has revealed is that we now know that facebook itself saw this precisely. so these are like potato chips that they feed to somebody who has got a potato chip addiction and that is the reality of the platform. it is an addiction engine and it profits the more it can manipulate us to consume what we want to consume most. >> how has facebook responded? >> reporter: yes, facebook stressing it wasn't just them, right? a lot of the content was on twitter and youtube, too. specifically, here is a statement from the company spokesperson. he said the notion that the january 6th insurrection would not have happened but for facebo

in the summer of 2019, a new facebook user named carol smith signed up for the platform, describing herselfith's account indicated an interest in politics, parenting and christianity. she followed a few of her favorite brands, including fox news and then president donald trump. though smith had never expressed interest in conspiracy theories , in just two days, facebook was recommending she join groups related to qanon. smith wasn't a real person. she was invented by facebook as part of an experiment in studying the platform's role in misinforming and polarizing users through its recommendation systems. qanon is, you know, associated with reckless language about political violence. we live in a moment where political violence is accepted by large numbers of people on the right. i wonder if that is an algorithm that they're proud of. >> well, i think the founding principle of facebook was bringing together people based on their common interests, and that, as a result, i think, creates this philosophical question that we're all grappling with here tonight. if we're really going to take on its

within one week, smith's feed was full of groups and pages that had violated facebook's own rules, including those against hate speech and disinformation. now, carol isn't a real person. in fact, the account was created by a facebook researcher studying the platform's role in polarizing its users through disinformation. tonight we're learning just how widespread disinformation travels on facebook. new reporting from "the new york times" reveals a facebook data scientist warned colleagues' lies about the 2020 election results. the "times" writes in the days following the election, quote, as much as one out of every 500 views on facebook in the united states or 10% of all views of political material was of content declaring the vote fraudulent, the researcher wrote. those are the same lies touted by donald trump that led to the insurrection at the capitol , that lies much of the republican base still believes. the house committee investigating the january 6th attack has subpoenaed 19 people to get to the bottom of the truth and hold those responsible accountability. but who's holding facebook and other social media companies accountable as we learn