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Behind the Mask of Facebook: A Whistleblower’s Shocking Story of Big Tech Bias and Censorship
Ryan Hartwig may be one of the most important figures in American history.
Hired by Cognizant as a content moderator for Facebook, Ryan Hartwig began by keeping gruesome images of cartel violence in Mexico off the platform. This seemed like a righteous mission and yet, as time went by, it became clear the Facebook bosses saw an even bigger threat, Americans of a different political viewpoint.
Ryan watched in horror as Facebook made a monumental shift after the 2016 elections, hiring thousands of US-based content moderators with one mission, to favor leftist viewpoints while suppressing the speech of conservatives. Ryan describes more than forty examples of such behavior, and it will radically rewrite your understanding of the past four years as you learn how the news regarding prominent individuals like Greta Thunberg, Alyssa Milano, and Don Lemon was censored to remove legitimate criticism of them.
Viral videos of Trump supporters being attacked were removed from the platform, and moderators were told to look for signs of hate speech in Trumps' State of the Union addresses, while at the same time allowing vicious attacks against police, pro-lifers, and straight white males.
As America's de-facto town square, Facebook was systematically suppressing free speech, which has traditionally been our country's greatest weapon to combat extremism from either side. Ryan knew he had to take action, and contacted Project Veritas, eventually filming many of these actions with a hidden camera for the world to see. We need to stand up against tech tyranny and corporations that attempt to control our conversations, our news, and our political narratives. Reading Behind the Mask of Facebook: A Whistleblower’s Shocking Story of Big Tech Bias and Censorship is the first step to learning how to confront and defeat this tyranny.
Hired by Cognizant as a content moderator for Facebook, Ryan Hartwig began by keeping gruesome images of cartel violence in Mexico off the platform. This seemed like a righteous mission and yet, as time went by, it became clear the Facebook bosses saw an even bigger threat, Americans of a different political viewpoint.
Ryan watched in horror as Facebook made a monumental shift after the 2016 elections, hiring thousands of US-based content moderators with one mission, to favor leftist viewpoints while suppressing the speech of conservatives. Ryan describes more than forty examples of such behavior, and it will radically rewrite your understanding of the past four years as you learn how the news regarding prominent individuals like Greta Thunberg, Alyssa Milano, and Don Lemon was censored to remove legitimate criticism of them.
Viral videos of Trump supporters being attacked were removed from the platform, and moderators were told to look for signs of hate speech in Trumps' State of the Union addresses, while at the same time allowing vicious attacks against police, pro-lifers, and straight white males.
As America's de-facto town square, Facebook was systematically suppressing free speech, which has traditionally been our country's greatest weapon to combat extremism from either side. Ryan knew he had to take action, and contacted Project Veritas, eventually filming many of these actions with a hidden camera for the world to see. We need to stand up against tech tyranny and corporations that attempt to control our conversations, our news, and our political narratives. Reading Behind the Mask of Facebook: A Whistleblower’s Shocking Story of Big Tech Bias and Censorship is the first step to learning how to confront and defeat this tyranny.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published August 17, 2021
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89 people want to read
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January 27, 2024
A ‘CONTENT MODERATOR’ IS INDIGNANT THAT FACEBOOK IS SOMEWHAT ‘LIBERAL’
Ryan Hartwig dedicates this 2021 book to “the millions of Americans whose voices were silenced by Big Tech during the 2020 US election. It is also dedicated to the billions of people throughout the world who feel the oppressive influence of Big Tech in their respective countries.”
He explains in this 2021 book that “as a Mormon [I] had done my missionary work in [Mexico].” (Pg. xii) Later, he adds, “[I] can’t say I’m exceptionally devout. I believe in God, but for many years I didn’t attend services. My wife wasn’t Mormon when I married her, but shortly after, she converted, and we started attending services more regularly. But I’d say I’m culturally Mormon…” (Pg. 5) Still later, he explains, “I find it difficult to live in this world without my faith. Not necessarily because I believe every teaching of the Mormon Church. But because it gives me the framework by which I can be a good person.” (Pg. 265)
Before the Cognizant/Facebook job, he recounts that “After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015, and an attempted attack in 2015 by radical Muslims on anti-Islam advocates such as Pamela Geller, “It’s within the context of these two events that I attended a Freedom of Speech Rally outside the mosque in Phoenix on Friday, May 29, 2015. Attendees were encouraged to peacefully open-carry, which I did. What I later found was that ‘Todd,’ who reported me for sharing this link, also attended the same rally, but he was a counterprotester.” (Pg. 217-218)
At any rate, Hartwig was a ‘content moderator’ for nearly two years working for Cognizant, subcontracted by Facebook. He became disenchanted fairly quickly, however. Eventually, “In May 2019, I’d composed my letter with multiple instances of alleged bias by Cognizant against conservatives and sent it out to several congressmen and United States senators. None of them responded. After a few weeks, I sent the same letter to several conservative news outlets. Someone from Breitbart News responded and suggested I should contact Project Veritas, which I did. Project Veritas responded immediately… they helped me get a camera to record some undercover video… those first few times I filmed in June 2019 I was terrified that I’d be discovered. Quite honestly for the next few months I didn’t film much. I talked to Project Veritas in October 2019 and decided to resume my filming. In November 2019, I received word that Cognizant would be ending its contract with Facebook at the end of February 2020. That gave my work an added sense of urgency. Cognizant might be exiting the content moderation business, but ‘the client’ would still be very much in the game.” (Pg. 227)
He reports, “In the conversation with Project Veritas, I offered to film with a hidden camera… I think I have a moral compass that says if I believe something is wrong, I have to stand up and take action. They subsequently sent me a camera to use, and I began filming… After a day of filming, I’d go home and transcribe the audio and send it to Project Veritas.” (Pg. 38)
He explains, “I had taken up the Project Veritas challenge to ‘Be Brave! Do Something!’ and was filming undercover, documenting the liberal bias of Cognizant and their client Facebook.” (Pg. 34) He “filmed with a hidden camera for about nine months total.” (Pg. 277) But he explains, “I did NOT get the job at Facebook with the intention of sending recordings to Project Veritas. I’d heard of them, but mainly knew about the undercover journalist from Live Action, a pro-life organization that is often confused with Project Veritas.” (Pg. 35) He explains that he was never ‘fired’: “The job ended because Cognizant was no longer working with Facebook. I never got ‘caught.’” (Pg. 230)
So what was Facebook/Cognizant doing that so upset him? “Facebook was surprised by the 2016 election. Their reaction was to initiate mass hiring of US content moderators… and modify the queue for the 2020 election… I agree that preventing election fraud is important… However, what I witnessed is that … Facebook’s political slant seeped into its policies. Whether this was blatantly intended to prevent Trump from winning is a question we all need to ask.” (Pg. 29) “Did I believe that Facebook just wanted to see who our friends were? I do not. I think they were probably keeping that information to check up on us and see if we deviated from the liberal orthodoxy.” (Pg. 37)
More examples: “So yes, Facebook manipulates human behavior to an extent we’ve never seen possible. And they influence roughly a third of the world population. It’s one thing to create a platform. But it’s something else … to actively manipulate, poke, prod, and encourage users toward certain actions and behavior… I find it very troubling to see that they’re involved in tracking and monitoring elections worldwide… The real dilemma now is how we act against Facebook. They wield absolutely too much power, and at this point Congress and other countries are powerless against their monopoly.” (Pg. 39)
“The amount of hubris Facebook assumes in deciding it knows best… for the world, is truly astounding. When a corporation is deciding the conversations that are allowed round the globe, we need to have more than a ‘conversation.’ This is a global theft of our rights and demands the equivalent of an international SWAT team knocking on their door.” (Pg. 81)
“Apparently, Facebook thinks anytime Trump opens his mouth, hate speech will come spewing out.” (Pg. 100) “it’s obviously clear that Facebook’s bullying policy has been weaponized and modified to confirm to leftist ideology and to punish right-wing users of Facebook.” (Pg. 136) “The DOJ should investigate Facebook for instigating hate against police officers.” (Pg. 156) “transgender people are given special rights by Facebook.” (Pg. 177) “Facebook isn’t trying to stop violence. It’s directing violence toward its preferred targets, just as if it were a soldier on the battlefield painting an enemy tank with a laser and calling in a drone strike.” (Pg. 198)
He states, “It didn’t seem like much at the time, but Big Tech censorship has become an even more important theme in the last few months while I was writing the book. I expect that to continue in the years to come as we either rediscover our freedom as Americans or go down the dark road of dictatorship.” (Pg. 38) He explains, “My intention in going public was never to shame or embarrass Facebook, Cognizant, or many of my former coworkers. It was to hold a mirror up to them, so that they might see themselves more clearly, and allow their own sense of morality and common sense to guide them in a better direction.” (Pg. 247)
Hartwig seems to expect that a PRIVATE CORPORATION like Facebook is somehow obligated to provide some kind of ‘Equal Treatment’ of all points of view. But would he be upset with conservative platforms such as Truth Social, Parler, and (since Elon Musk’s takeover) Twitter, if they seemed to ‘slant’ toward the Right? Would he object to Fox News not giving ‘equal time’ to liberals and progressives?
And of course, Hartwig cashed his paychecks while he was secretly filming his employer and working with a 'hostile' organization for nine months. (And was Facebook breaking any laws...?)
Ultimately, this book is more an extended ‘rant,’ than a true ‘whistleblower’ exposé.
Ryan Hartwig dedicates this 2021 book to “the millions of Americans whose voices were silenced by Big Tech during the 2020 US election. It is also dedicated to the billions of people throughout the world who feel the oppressive influence of Big Tech in their respective countries.”
He explains in this 2021 book that “as a Mormon [I] had done my missionary work in [Mexico].” (Pg. xii) Later, he adds, “[I] can’t say I’m exceptionally devout. I believe in God, but for many years I didn’t attend services. My wife wasn’t Mormon when I married her, but shortly after, she converted, and we started attending services more regularly. But I’d say I’m culturally Mormon…” (Pg. 5) Still later, he explains, “I find it difficult to live in this world without my faith. Not necessarily because I believe every teaching of the Mormon Church. But because it gives me the framework by which I can be a good person.” (Pg. 265)
Before the Cognizant/Facebook job, he recounts that “After the Charlie Hebdo attacks in 2015, and an attempted attack in 2015 by radical Muslims on anti-Islam advocates such as Pamela Geller, “It’s within the context of these two events that I attended a Freedom of Speech Rally outside the mosque in Phoenix on Friday, May 29, 2015. Attendees were encouraged to peacefully open-carry, which I did. What I later found was that ‘Todd,’ who reported me for sharing this link, also attended the same rally, but he was a counterprotester.” (Pg. 217-218)
At any rate, Hartwig was a ‘content moderator’ for nearly two years working for Cognizant, subcontracted by Facebook. He became disenchanted fairly quickly, however. Eventually, “In May 2019, I’d composed my letter with multiple instances of alleged bias by Cognizant against conservatives and sent it out to several congressmen and United States senators. None of them responded. After a few weeks, I sent the same letter to several conservative news outlets. Someone from Breitbart News responded and suggested I should contact Project Veritas, which I did. Project Veritas responded immediately… they helped me get a camera to record some undercover video… those first few times I filmed in June 2019 I was terrified that I’d be discovered. Quite honestly for the next few months I didn’t film much. I talked to Project Veritas in October 2019 and decided to resume my filming. In November 2019, I received word that Cognizant would be ending its contract with Facebook at the end of February 2020. That gave my work an added sense of urgency. Cognizant might be exiting the content moderation business, but ‘the client’ would still be very much in the game.” (Pg. 227)
He reports, “In the conversation with Project Veritas, I offered to film with a hidden camera… I think I have a moral compass that says if I believe something is wrong, I have to stand up and take action. They subsequently sent me a camera to use, and I began filming… After a day of filming, I’d go home and transcribe the audio and send it to Project Veritas.” (Pg. 38)
He explains, “I had taken up the Project Veritas challenge to ‘Be Brave! Do Something!’ and was filming undercover, documenting the liberal bias of Cognizant and their client Facebook.” (Pg. 34) He “filmed with a hidden camera for about nine months total.” (Pg. 277) But he explains, “I did NOT get the job at Facebook with the intention of sending recordings to Project Veritas. I’d heard of them, but mainly knew about the undercover journalist from Live Action, a pro-life organization that is often confused with Project Veritas.” (Pg. 35) He explains that he was never ‘fired’: “The job ended because Cognizant was no longer working with Facebook. I never got ‘caught.’” (Pg. 230)
So what was Facebook/Cognizant doing that so upset him? “Facebook was surprised by the 2016 election. Their reaction was to initiate mass hiring of US content moderators… and modify the queue for the 2020 election… I agree that preventing election fraud is important… However, what I witnessed is that … Facebook’s political slant seeped into its policies. Whether this was blatantly intended to prevent Trump from winning is a question we all need to ask.” (Pg. 29) “Did I believe that Facebook just wanted to see who our friends were? I do not. I think they were probably keeping that information to check up on us and see if we deviated from the liberal orthodoxy.” (Pg. 37)
More examples: “So yes, Facebook manipulates human behavior to an extent we’ve never seen possible. And they influence roughly a third of the world population. It’s one thing to create a platform. But it’s something else … to actively manipulate, poke, prod, and encourage users toward certain actions and behavior… I find it very troubling to see that they’re involved in tracking and monitoring elections worldwide… The real dilemma now is how we act against Facebook. They wield absolutely too much power, and at this point Congress and other countries are powerless against their monopoly.” (Pg. 39)
“The amount of hubris Facebook assumes in deciding it knows best… for the world, is truly astounding. When a corporation is deciding the conversations that are allowed round the globe, we need to have more than a ‘conversation.’ This is a global theft of our rights and demands the equivalent of an international SWAT team knocking on their door.” (Pg. 81)
“Apparently, Facebook thinks anytime Trump opens his mouth, hate speech will come spewing out.” (Pg. 100) “it’s obviously clear that Facebook’s bullying policy has been weaponized and modified to confirm to leftist ideology and to punish right-wing users of Facebook.” (Pg. 136) “The DOJ should investigate Facebook for instigating hate against police officers.” (Pg. 156) “transgender people are given special rights by Facebook.” (Pg. 177) “Facebook isn’t trying to stop violence. It’s directing violence toward its preferred targets, just as if it were a soldier on the battlefield painting an enemy tank with a laser and calling in a drone strike.” (Pg. 198)
He states, “It didn’t seem like much at the time, but Big Tech censorship has become an even more important theme in the last few months while I was writing the book. I expect that to continue in the years to come as we either rediscover our freedom as Americans or go down the dark road of dictatorship.” (Pg. 38) He explains, “My intention in going public was never to shame or embarrass Facebook, Cognizant, or many of my former coworkers. It was to hold a mirror up to them, so that they might see themselves more clearly, and allow their own sense of morality and common sense to guide them in a better direction.” (Pg. 247)
Hartwig seems to expect that a PRIVATE CORPORATION like Facebook is somehow obligated to provide some kind of ‘Equal Treatment’ of all points of view. But would he be upset with conservative platforms such as Truth Social, Parler, and (since Elon Musk’s takeover) Twitter, if they seemed to ‘slant’ toward the Right? Would he object to Fox News not giving ‘equal time’ to liberals and progressives?
And of course, Hartwig cashed his paychecks while he was secretly filming his employer and working with a 'hostile' organization for nine months. (And was Facebook breaking any laws...?)
Ultimately, this book is more an extended ‘rant,’ than a true ‘whistleblower’ exposé.
June 3, 2022
There was one example that I thought gave credence to the point of the book. Everything else was just pointless. Politics should not be part of our libraries.
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