Social media is about to become as central to our political discourse as it has been to our lives over the past decade. After facing “calls for greater transparency about 470 Russia-linked accounts — in which fictional people posed as American activists — which were taken down after they had promoted inflammatory messages on divisive issues,” Facebook will turn over more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads to Congress. It’s worth noting that in the early days of the Internet, we were convinced we were creating a new system of transparency that would make life increasingly difficult for evil-doers who had operated freely in the shadows. Instead, we ended up with a cesspool of hate speech and fake stories that cast a shadow between us and reality.

+ “The company has been hit with a series of scandals that have bruised its image, enraged its critics and opened up the possibility that in its quest for global dominance, Facebook may have created something it can’t fully control.” The NYT’s Kevin Roose on Facebook’s Frankenstein Moment. Roose shares this quote from Victor Frankenstein: “I had been the author of unalterable evils, and I lived in daily fear lest the monster whom I had created should perpetrate some new wickedness.” (Even Victor got tired of all the winning.) I like the metaphor, but I think our current social media and political discourse is more accurately represented in the scene in Young Frankenstein when the doctor says to Igor: “You know, I’m a rather brilliant surgeon. Perhaps I can help you with that hump.” And Igor responds: “What hump?”

+ While I worry that Facebook provides a platform for Russians to push lies into our news stream, I worry more that certain politicians lie directly to our face. From Reuters: Trump dismisses Facebook ads controversy as part of Russia hoax.