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- [00:00]
Dave Smith
Hey, guys. Today's episode is brought to you by Yokratom.com home of the $60 kilo. Long time sponsor of the Part of the Problem show. If you are over the age of 21 and you enjoy kratom, make sure to get your kratom from yocratum.com. it's quality stuff. It's all lab tested. It is delivered right to your door and it is the best price in the business. Only $60 for a whole kilo@ Yokratum.com all right, let's start the show. Foreign what's up, everybody? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. It is a weird combination to have a. What is that? A grapefruit seltzer?
- [00:43]
Robbie Bernstein
Grapefruit spring drift. Not a sponsor, but delicious product.
- [00:47]
Dave Smith
My wife loves those.
- [00:48]
Robbie Bernstein
I'm a big fan because it's just the right amount of grapefruit.
- [00:51]
Dave Smith
Is it, Is that the thing that is peeling away? I think she likes the lime and the lemon ones better.
- [00:57]
Robbie Bernstein
We all know how much I watch my figure and sugar intake and only 3 grams of sugar. Now I won't drink soda beverages because I like my calories from cake.
- [01:08]
Dave Smith
Well, I do know what you mean, dude. Where that's when you're. If you're trying to like be healthy, it is. That is always the first. I mean, this is like so stupid that I'm drinking this like, and it's just literally because Lauren stocks the fridge for you guys. And then it's just like when I'm here, I'm like, well, why wouldn't I do that? And now I've ended up having. I'm having like four of these a week for no reason and just have another cup of coffee. I'm too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs. So instead I'll just have. Did you see? Sorry, this is all off topic. We'll get into stuff in a second. Did you see? There was someone who did the simplest just like examination of the. A large Dunkin Donuts with just the amount of sugar. It is fucking wild, dude. It's like we are just as a nation just committing suicide in the slowest, fattest way possible. But he literally, it's like first of all, the Dunkin Donuts thing is just. It's gigantic. Like the cup is the size of like the old McDonald's super size cups. And the grams, it was something. It was like, it's like 78 grams of sugar or something like that. And then he just holds it up and you're like, just imagine if in the morning you were just like, I'm gonna go. What do you get? I'm gonna go eat this bowl full of sugar. Anyway, sugar's not good for you. It turns out, guys, that's how we started today's show. Anyway, what's up, guys? I'm Dave Smith. He's Robbie the Fire Bernstein. And we are your favorite truth telling comedians who will be on the road together throughout 2025. Go on over to comicdavesmith.com and you could see when we're coming to a city near you. Go grab tickets. We put on a fun live show. You think these podcasts are fun? Come out. What's up? How are you, sir?
- [02:57]
Robbie Bernstein
I was. I was up late last night. I booked Travel Through March. We got some exciting gigs.
- [03:03]
Dave Smith
We do. Yeah.
- [03:04]
Robbie Bernstein
Well, Key west is a blast. And then I was also editing. Check out my show tomorrow. Wednesday. Run your mouths.
- [03:10]
Dave Smith
Oh, absolutely. Looking forward to it. Yeah, I'm looking forward to Key West. Of course. This is a makeup gig from me. Yeah, I. Well, I wasn't able to go last year. I was unfortunately sick. The only weekend I believe I've ever canceled in my life. And I've been like, I've been sick before. I was real sick at Skang Fest this last year, but I've been sick. But it's always been like, you know, you could power through and, like, do it. This was the only one where I.
- [03:35]
Robbie Bernstein
Was like, covered coming out of my eyeballs. And you keep that to yourself.
- [03:38]
Dave Smith
Oh, that's what I did. It's gang Fest. But, like, could you.
- [03:41]
Robbie Bernstein
No one cares anymore.
- [03:42]
Dave Smith
Listen, first of all, no one cares anymore. Second of all, it's Gang Fest. They didn't care in March of 2020. You know what I mean? Like, none of these people care. And then it was like, I don't know, they're clearly Skangfest. I remember I was trying to explain this to Dr. Drew's wife. I think this was two years ago. So two years ago. If you could put yourself in that place in Covid time. Right. So it's way past the point of me and you being well over this, but, you know, it's still a thing. And she had a fair argument. So he was. He had like a reunion for one of his shows. What was his show? Teen mom or something like that. Whatever version of that show that he was the host of. They had like a big reunion. Like, where are they now? You know, spoiler alert. Not successful, but spoiler alert. Don't have kids when you're a Teenager. That's not the best path. But so anyways, he was doing that, and then he was like, I really want to go to Skankfest. It was like two weeks before that. And she was like, look, if he gets Covid at Skangfest, then we lose this, like, huge money gig, you know? And it's like, it was a time where it's like, if he tests positive, then they're just not gonna do the reunion. And, you know, I mean, she didn't tell me the number, but I imagine it's a nice chunk of change. So I was like, okay, listen, I get your point. But I was like, let me try to make this argument. And I was like. And I'm talking to Dr. Drew and his wife. And I was like, you know, he's a doctor, so back me up on whether this is medical. Medically sound. These are the filthiest people in the United States of America. They have all clearly gotten Covid already. They're like, this is actually the safest place to be. These people live in germs. They're the safest. And I remember Dr. Drew goes. He was like, the science checks out.
- [05:27]
Robbie Bernstein
Yeah, Ethiopian mud babies that come to Skankfest each year.
- [05:31]
Dave Smith
So the long of the short is Dr. Drew did not come to Skankfest that year. My argument was not convincing. But he did come the following year. So something, you know, something got in there a little bit. Anyway, lots to talk about today. If you have any questions, drop them in the live chat, and we will try to address as many of them as we have time for. By the way, if you want to be a part of the live chat, you have to go sign up@partoftheproblem.com. that's how you can support the show. Go to part of the problem.com, become a supporting listener of the show, Viewer, supporting person. Give us money is what I'm trying to say. Okay? And that it does really make a big difference. It helps us out very much. And you get a whole bunch of perks depending on what level you sign up at. But you get to watch the shows live, ad free, uncensored. Plus you get that bonus episode every week. Every week we do four episodes of this show. If you're watching on YouTube or rumble or wherever, you may not know that, but it's not three days a week show. It's a four day a week show. But you have to sign up in order to get that fourth episode. Okay? So I guess the big news of the day, which is I find it Totally fascinating. Is this stuff about Facebook, or should I say about Meta, which is what. Meta is the parent company of Facebook. And that's. I guess it's Facebook and Instagram. And that Metaverse thing never seemed to take off. Yeah. And what is Oculus? I don't think I.
- [06:55]
Robbie Bernstein
It's the 3D things. You. You have it?
- [06:58]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I have it. I have it in the other room. I actually really like that I got into the boxing game for a while. It's a good. It's a good that. It's a good hack to, like, get cardio in, but, like, you just think you're playing a game and fighting someone, but, man, do you look ridiculous.
- [07:15]
Robbie Bernstein
Oh, if anyone's watching you do that. Boxing game is a lot of fun.
- [07:18]
Dave Smith
So much fun. So they do a really good job of making it, like, however they figured it out, it is cool that, like, they. They can measure, like, how much you're putting into it. And, like, if you want to knock someone out, you got to really land a clean shot. The thing I liked about that game was also that was very realistic about it, was that it wouldn't, like, if you just swing wildly, but with everything you have in it, you're not going to knock guys out. But if you, like, if you. You could just put it, like, perfect placement and you can drop people and you're like, oh, that's really what it's like. You know what I mean? Like, it's more about, like, hitting someone right on the button than it is about just, like, swinging wild.
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Robbie Bernstein
Like, you see, you have a lot more technique than I do.
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Dave Smith
You just swing wildly.
- [07:59]
Robbie Bernstein
I was not knocking people out in that game. I was throwing power punches. But I guess I don't.
- [08:04]
Dave Smith
You got. The thing about the game, I think is you got. It's it. I'm telling you, if you go back and play it again, instead of focusing on just throwing bombs, focus on perfectly placing it on the chin, and you're going to. You're going to get more knockdowns. All right, I'm going to coach you. I'm going to make a successful fighter out of you yet. Okay. So I guess just prefacing all of this, which I. I don't know why I kind of almost feel the need to, like, disclose this up front, but I do also find this whole topic of, like, Internet censorship is. It's particularly, I guess, interesting to us because we're in this world, and so it's a topic about the industry that we are in, or it's super relevant. To that. And again with, with Facebook, I, you know, we, we had our, our private group in, in the part of. The old part of the problem inner circle on Facebook at which we got, which got shut down in 2020 over the COVID stuff. And I am, I'm still quite resentful about that. So it's like, you know, there's just kind of like putting my biases on the table at the beginning. Like, I am biased. I do have my own angle on this, and that's a big part of it. And then separate from that, as we've said many times, I do just think that in the Internet, censorship is in many ways the most important issue because everything kind of follows from that. You know, like, okay, the corporate press has been destroyed. Okay, trust in institutions has evaporated. Now we have, you know, these alternative voices. But if we don't, if they censor the Internet, we're not going to have these voices. And then we're right back in the same situation. So I'm, I'm, as I know you are too, very strongly on the side of a free Internet and, and against censorship. So that, I guess just in the backdrop, this is also something that's been building, I guess, for a while. Zuckerberg has kind of come around. I'm curious, what do you think about. And we can play the, we'll get into the clip of him and then there's a clip of another guy from Meta. But what do you think about this, this transformation that we've seen over the last few years of Mark Zuckerberg?
- [10:25]
Robbie Bernstein
I think not all these characters are inherently evil. Now, they might not be noble people. They might not want to stand up for the greater good, but some of these people just want to run businesses. And they discover along the way that they can't just run businesses because the mob will call them into their office and tell them, hey, we don't care that you're just a content platform and that you want to drive as much business here by making it open and interesting. What we need you to do, and here is your marching orders. And so I don't think, I think for some of these people, like, I think Google, you know, they might actually have tie ins with the CIA, I think the like, or cnn. I don't think they just want to run an honest news network.
- [11:06]
Dave Smith
Right, right.
- [11:06]
Robbie Bernstein
I think there are businesses out there that are highly tied into government initiatives or are specifically hijacking the government so that they don't have to compete in the market. And then I think there's some people that just want to run businesses. I don't know that that's for sure is. But there's some like, I think the tech people got pulled in and were told that basically you got to pick a team and you got to start paying somebody because if not you're going to be in trouble. I think that very specifically happened with Zuckerberg where they'll start screaming about safety, this, that the next thing they'll jam you up. Even Microsoft had that all of a sudden antitrust. And instead of building, you know, your business, you're meeting with your lawyers trying to fight the government.
- [11:47]
Dave Smith
Well, it's kind of like, you know, I don't know, it's a little bit of a weird situation because how much can you blame, you know, certain businessmen who are like, look, this is the world I'm given and so I got to play this game.
- [12:05]
Robbie Bernstein
Interestingly enough, you know, he's hiring Dana White. And Dana White made the gamble during the last administration business as usual. And a lot of people won really big by saying business as usual. Kill Tony won real big. I mean how many shows shut down and Kill Tony's like we're still going.
- [12:22]
Dave Smith
Yeah.
- [12:22]
Robbie Bernstein
And it's, you know, so people, people place that bet the last time around of going I'm not listening to this administration as they went full hey, you're killing grandma. Unless you're playing into this Covid thing. I think Zuckerberg was playing on Team Democrat up until we've seen this shift of just do the ESG score thing is gone, the woke thing is gone. The green energy thing is gone. I think they tried to push more socialism than the market would actually tolerate and they just lost. And so people like, you know, Zuckerpants was betting on we're going to be full scale socialism and I got to work within the machine and that entire thing has seemingly died.
- [13:02]
Dave Smith
Yeah, look, man, look, I get your point. I think that's, I think that's right. And I also think there's also just like a human element of like Elon Musk kind of just became the cool kid in that space. And I do think it's Zuckerberg is a guy who. Listen, like we've talked about this a little bit on the show before but you know how sometimes like if you'll, you'll see like, like a male feminist or like a, like a guy, a dude who's super, super progressive, you know, maybe like a picture like whatever you want to picture, like a 25 year old guy who has he him pronouns in his Twitter bio and is, like, a super, super progressive guy. Yes, well. But, like, you could be watching him, and sometimes you'll be like, I actually. I just think the difference between us is, like, our level of testosterone. I, like, I'm not sure this has anything to do with actually political arguments or anything like that. I don't think I'm going to change your mind, because you were like, man, that was a really compelling point that you made. It's like, you just need testosterone replacement, and I don't know why you need it so young, but something's going on. I don't know what your diet is or what, but, like, Zuckerberg is into mma. Okay. He's into MMA now. I don't know. He's an odd person. I know there's all those jokes about how he's, like, really a robot or something like that, but he's just a weird. He's a weird guy. But do think that he's. At least if you're, like, doing jiu jitsu and you're a fan of the ufc, you're at least enough of a dude that there's just something about, like, oh, you're the free speech guy, and you're getting a lot of love for that. That's just cool. That's cooler than being the. I'm the one who's in. You know, like, I'm. I'm doing content moderation. How gay does that sound? Even just the words content moderation doesn't just sound like, what is it? Is this for a kindergartner or an adult man? You're moderating other people's content. Anyway, my point is that there's just this kind of cool factor that I think plays a part in this as well. I'm not trying to get too into, like, psychoanalyzing people. I try not to do that. But. Okay, so on one hand, this is kind of how I feel.
- [15:20]
Robbie Bernstein
I'm going to put on a necklace and have curly hair.
- [15:24]
Dave Smith
Yeah, something like that. Well, so, okay, so on one hand, I do feel that, like, I'm somewhat sympathetic to people who are, you know, in. In the world of big business. And they're like, look, I got to. I got to do what I got to do to be successful, and I can't have the federal government as an enemy. So I don't know what to tell you. They got all the guns, and they're telling me I have to do this. So I'm going to do this and be real successful over here. I'M somewhat sympathetic to that. You know, it's kind of like if you're playing a game of basketball and you're just like, okay, we're playing basketball here, and, you know, we're on a team and we're like, okay, let's do a pick and roll. And then, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Isolation on the left side, and then the guy on the other team, like, punches you in the face. And the ref doesn't call a foul. The ref goes, no, that was clean. Like, at a certain point, you're like, oh, well, then, like, if we come back to the huddle and we're like, hey, let's run the pick and roll again. Like, we're the retards, right? Like, at a certain point, you got to go, oh, this is a different game than we think it should be. You know, the game is now that you can punch in the face. So now forget thinking about the pick and roll so much. Like, block your face and then punch back at this guy. Because that's the game we're fighting now. We're not playing basketball. It's like the government changes things when it gets into the market. And I understand that people have to do what they have to do to survive. The other thing, though, is that it does with the Mark Zuckerberg thing, it just feels. It feels a little bit like, I don't know, maybe like if you were a Jew in Nazi Germany, and then, like, you know, someone downstairs is like, there's Jews in the attic. There's Jews up there. Go get them. They're up there. And then, like, the Nazi regime falls, and then they're like, that was crazy how they were rounding up Jews and everything, right? And you're just like, yeah, bro, we're. We might have to have a conversation before we're just cool. Cause, like, that is really fucked up, what you did, man. And so I. I don't know. I guess both of those things feelings are in my mind. This show is sponsored by Better Help. You know, as somebody who's benefited from therapy in the past, and as somebody who knows a lot of people who have benefited from therapy, I always encourage it. I think all of us could use a little bit of therapy because we all have blind spots, and it can help to become a little bit more aware of those. Maybe you're on the fence about getting started. If that's you, you gotta check out betterhelp. It's the easiest way to do it. It's designed to be convenient and to fit your lifestyle. It's Entirely online. You don't go anywhere. You don't have to sit in an uncomfortable waiting room, seeing people coming out as you're going in. None of that. Just fill out a brief questionnaire. They match you with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. So if you're debating starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Go to betterhelp.com problem and you'll get 10% off your first month. That's better. H E L p.com/problem for 10% off your first month. All right, let's get back into the show. I don't know.
- [18:22]
Robbie Bernstein
Colin Quinn just put out a new hour, and he had a great joke in there about how everyone yells about, like, the horrors of. You're being a hypocrite. It's like, yeah, it's not illegal. I'm being a hypocrite.
- [18:33]
Dave Smith
That's great.
- [18:35]
Robbie Bernstein
I don't know. That. That, like, that was basically the framing of the joke, something along those lines. So it's like, yeah, the guy stinks. Covid was terrible. He removed freedoms I still can't advertise on Facebook to this day. Our platform was removed because of things that were right, that were in a private group. That's insane. Then also, the content moderation team turned out to be the Peter de Sac guy, who is the person who actually paid ico, was over there and literally bought the virus from China. The whole thing was absolute nonsense. And he partook in the entire thing to try and remove freedom from the Internet and to create a track record of people like us potentially being domestic terrorists. Look, these people's ideas are so dangerous, they had to be removed from the platform, dude.
- [19:21]
Dave Smith
And it was so. I mean, I can't. I can't, like, overstate. It was so Orwellian, the entire process. I mean, if I. So we've got this group. We had this group at the time called the. Part of the problem, Inner Circle. It's a private Facebook group. It's just a group for our listeners to talk with each other and talk with us, and it was great. I really loved having that group. And so 2020 comes right in March, the country's in lockdowns. It is the craziest freaking thing ever. Like, you can't believe it. I mean, I remember, like, you know, it was a surreal time. I remember being in. In New York City at my mother's place. I'll literally never forget this as long as I live. But it was the. It was like, a few days after lockdowns were implemented and we were at my in laws house with our daughter. Our son wasn't born yet, but we were there with our baby daughter. She's like one little over one. And we, me and my wife drove in to New York City and we drove through Times Square just to go see like what the hell empty Times Square looks like. And I mean it was like out of. Was the Will Smith I am legend. It was like that, like seeing Times Square with not a soul. Like there were like a couple cops randomly, but no one's there. So bizarre. And then I remember we go up to my mother's house and we're walking down the street. We like parked the car and we're walking down the street in Manhattan and just hearing birds chirp in Manhattan was just so freaking bizarre. Dude, there's no one on the streets. The avenues, I mean, you look down Broadway, it's empty. So this is going on in the world like this crazy time and then Facebook is doing this shit where if you remember, Rob, they started, they made it that I had to. Or you, one of the moderators from the group had to manually post every single post. Like we had to approve it before it would be put in the group. So weirdly like kind of trying to get you on the hook. Like you approved this post and like you said, they're shutting down while this is all happening. We're like not allowed to talk about it, to question it. So like. And then of course, as you rightly pointed out, turned out to be right about all of this stuff. And it was all completely unnecessary and based on pseudoscience plus intense corruption. And so yeah, it, it is hard to just forget about all of that. And I will say that with all of this stuff, it, you know, by the way, on top of that then at the end of 2020, he straight up interfered in the US presidential election and like by. At the government's behest, by his own admission. I mean, pretty much by his own admission. Natalie, see if you could pull up. You could probably find it on YouTube if you could find actually. Because that maybe is the best clip. Yeah, it was if you just put Zuckerberg, Rogan, Hunter, Biden. So it should probably come up.
- [22:21]
Robbie Bernstein
The point I'm making is that yeah, he stinks, he always stunk and he's a weak dude, but look at how much the we've cleansed out.
- [22:29]
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah.
- [22:30]
Robbie Bernstein
Some of the horrors of government that now this weak beta bitch of a guy who was totally afraid of the thing and was going to ruin his product to go, oh, please, government. Just don't, don't. I'll do whatever you want.
- [22:43]
Dave Smith
No, I'm trying to take. I'm trying to take the win I'm struggling with with this one, though, you know? Well, it. Look, I mean, I guess to me, it just. It feels a little bit. And when we play his video, I think this will become more clear, but it just feels to me a little bit like, you know, like if you were. Let's say, like, you said you had a buddy and you found out that, like, his. His wife was having an affair or something like that, right? It's like his wife had totally betrayed him, was having an affair, and you talked to your buddy and you were like, jesus, man. Sorry you're going through that. And he goes, well, that. It's over, and we're. We're working it out. You're like, okay, so, like, she must, like, really apologize to you or something like that. And you're like, no, no, she never really apologized. You know, she's just. But she said she's not doing that anymore. And you're like, okay. But, like, she acknowledged, like, how much that hurt you, how fucked up it was, how she was lying to you for all these years. Like, no, she just kind of said, going forward, you know, with this new now, we're in a new time where I think we can go forward without cheating, and you know what I'm saying? Like, wouldn't you kind of be like, look, dude, you could get back together with her. You could leave her. I'm not telling you what the right move is, but, like, if you're getting back together with her, that has to come with a fucking apology. That has to come with some acknowledgement of, like, what you did to your fellow Americans. I mean, look, all these motherfuckers, dude. And I get it. I get what happened. I'm very well aware of it. I've talked about it for many years. I know what happened. Donald Trump used social media to win the White House in 2016. That was not the plan. Hillary Clinton was supposed to win, okay? And then he used this new technology. He tweeted his way to the White House. And so then the fucking government decided, we got to crack down on that. We got to crack down on all this shit. And they, you know, essentially mafia tactic the big tech companies into doing that. And by the way, in. In plain sight, like, in front of everyone, they hauled them in front of Congress and threatened the shit out of them on national television. You Know, and so, okay, I get it. I get that you were just. But at the same time, it's like all these guys who started these companies, you know, if you look, listen to, like, Zuckerberg or, like, Jack Dorsey or all these, like, big tech guys, they always started with these, like, these lofty ambitions. And, like, we're going to connect the world, and we're going to change the future, and we're going to give regular people a voice, and we're going to allow people to communicate with each other. And then it's like, yeah, but, like, when it mattered the most, look what you did to your fellow Americans. You know, like, you shut them down when they needed their voice the most. And, like, dude, I. And this is part of, like, why I disclosed that at the beginning. Why it's kind of personal to me in a way. But, look, I can't tell you. I got a lot. I'm sure you get comments about this. This too, but I got a lot, man. I still. Almost every show I do, almost every time I'm, like, in front of a group of fans, I get people who tell me that, like, dude, you kept me sane through Covid. Like the podcast I did with Malice. Our show people are always like, dude, it was the craziest time. You know, I couldn't have a funeral for my dad. I lost my job. I went through all this shit. But listening to this show, man. Really? And, like, that Facebook group, much more so than it was for me. For a lot of people, it was that thing, like, even just, like, taking that away from people. It's like, man, there's something. There's something so up about removing people's voice from them. You know, like, I'm not allowed to think. I'm not allowed to communicate with other people, like, for. For the crime of being right about important stuff. Anyway, yeah, let's hear. Let's. Let's go to the. The Rogan clip, because this was such a fat one of literally the most fascinating moments in the history of the Joe Rogan experience. And I've been on there a lot, so it's really saying something that here it is. You guys handle things when they're a big news item that's controversial. Like, there was a lot of attention on Twitter during the election because of the Hunter Biden laptop story. The Neo.
- [26:45]
C
Yeah, we have two.
- [26:46]
Dave Smith
Yeah, so you guys censored that as well.
- [26:49]
C
So we took a different path than Twitter. I mean, basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us. Some. Some folks on Our team, it was like, hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election. We have it on notice that basically there's about to be some kind of dump that's similar to that. So just be vigilant. So our protocol is different from Twitter's. What Twitter did is they said, you can't share this at all. We didn't do that. What we do is we have. If something is reported to us as potentially misinformation, important misinformation. We also this third party fact checking program because we don't want to be deciding what's true and false. And for the, I think it was five or seven days when it was basically being determined whether it was false. The distribution on Facebook was decreased, but people were still allowed to share it. So you could still share it. You could still consume it.
- [27:56]
Dave Smith
When you say the distribution is decreased, it got shared. How does that work?
- [28:00]
C
It basically the ranking in newsfeed was a little bit less, so fewer people saw it than would have otherwise. So it definitely.
- [28:07]
Dave Smith
By what percentage?
- [28:09]
C
I don't know off the top of my head. But it's, it's, it's meaningful.
- [28:12]
Dave Smith
But I mean, okay, so let's, let's stop it there because, so, I mean, look, just to be clear, this is such up, like, he says it in a very nonchalant way that you could almost like, hear that and not realize what a bombshell of a moment that was. But this was the first time that it was confirmed that, oh, the FBI straight up interfered in the 2020 election. So, you know, like, for, for whatever problem. This is part of the thing where, like, you know, because people, it's always like, you know, you get, you choose what you're outraged by. It's like the freaking arguments I'm having with Noam on Twitter about, well, you're not condemning anti Semitism enough or whatever. But people would. It's very easy for people to point out that Fox News had to have that gigantic settlement with the Dominion voting machine company and that Trump and his lawyers made claims about the 2020 election that they really couldn't even begin to prove. But, like, then you just have this. It straight up. Joe Rogan asks Zuckerberg about the Hunter Biden story, and he goes, well, here's what happened. The FBI came and told us that a big Russian dump was coming. And so now he doesn't exactly say that. The FBI said when the Hunter Biden laptop came out, they said, yeah, that's the Russian dump we were talking about. However, if you're Mark Zuckerberg and the FBI comes to you and says, hey, there's this big Russian dump that's coming, and then the Hunter Biden story comes out, and then 51 intelligence officers all sign their name to a letter saying this was Russian misinformation, well, what are you left to conclude other than, oh, yeah, that's what they were talking about? And so you could say, okay, it's not exactly the same thing as if the FBI had come after the story and said, hey, this is Russian disinformation, but it's a distinction without a difference. Kind of like whether you ban a story or just make it so that nobody can see the story. And what a ridiculous. Like, there's. Listen, man, that is just such bullshit. This whole, like, what was it they used to say? Like, freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach or something like that. So it's like, oh, so what? You won't kick me off the platform, but you'll make it so that nobody can see what I'm saying there? Yeah, that's the same thing as kicking someone off a platform. And I love when Rogan asked him by what percentage it was meaningful. Oh, yeah, yeah, no, it was pretty meaningful, wasn't it? But so what does that mean, it was meaningful? That means there was a bombshell October surprise that implicated a presidential candidate at the, you know, look, make what you will of the story, but the son of the president was getting fucking paid off by foreign governments and foreign companies that were in bed with foreign governments. That's a scandal, you know, and that's news. And you. Fuck it. You, by your own admission here, like, interfered in. In the domestic politics of a presidential election. I don't know. That's a big fucking deal. That's amazing. That, like, that moment on Rogan show didn't trigger more than just people like me and you talking about it on a podcast. But anyway, so that's the background of all of this. Cut to New Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg 2.0, who is singing a different tune. So let's go to Mark Zuckerberg's statement from today.
- [31:49]
D
Hey, everyone, I want to talk about something important today because it's time to get back to our roots around free expression. On Facebook and Instagram. I started building social media to give people a voice. I gave a speech at Georgetown five years ago, the importance of protecting free expression.
- [32:06]
Robbie Bernstein
You know what this is? Do you remember when Domos did that campaign and the CEO Came out and.
- [32:10]
Dave Smith
Said, we know our pizza sucks.
- [32:12]
Robbie Bernstein
I know our pizza sucks. That's what this is.
- [32:15]
Dave Smith
Yeah, you're right, you're right. That's a great comparison. Or they were like, okay, listen, we have built up a reputation for just having garbage pizza, so maybe we're going to make it not garbage. By the way, I don't think it got any better. But I don't know. I don't really actually remember eating Domino's after that. But that's a very good comparison. Yeah, that is essentially what we're looking at. I just, I guess it's like, can.
- [32:37]
Robbie Bernstein
I break his nose back in place?
- [32:39]
Dave Smith
I would look, I would.
- [32:41]
Robbie Bernstein
An extra Jew hook. It's just amongst all the things about him that annoy me.
- [32:45]
Dave Smith
Well, look, I would feel like not only comfortable, but I'd be enthusiastic if he came out and said something like, which I understand. Look, I know, I get that. I just rant and tell the truth. And that's not everybody can be that way. And when you're in charge of a multi billion dollar company, maybe that's not possible. But like, if he had come out and just been like, you know, I started, I started this company to give people a voice like that, you know, it's like, I know that's just like a slogan, but that's a really, it's a powerful thing to say. It's like very profound in a lot of ways to give somebody a voice. He goes, and then I totally betrayed that, that vision. And I did it because, you know, I was shaken down and I was worried about what would happen in all this. But you know what? I'm never going to do that again. We're a free speech platform. I just be like, you know, three cheers for the robot. He got it right and he's on our side, you know, fine. But there isn't that, that element to it. It's just like I did this so people could have a voice and yada, yada, yada, some things happened and I'm gonna give you a voice again. I don't know, just makes me a little suspicious.
- [33:55]
Robbie Bernstein
You need a name.
- [33:57]
Dave Smith
Names? Yeah. Really?
- [33:59]
Robbie Bernstein
Yeah, like the Twitter files. Name names.
- [34:01]
Dave Smith
Exactly, dude, that's what we should be like. A commitment. Like that would be something amazing if he was like, listen, we're going to tell you all that, you know, I said, the FBI came and spoke to me about this. Well, I'm going to tell you exactly what FBI agents came and exactly what was said and all this shit. Yes, that would be fascinating. Let's really open up Facebook's books and see how much government intervention there was in this. We learned a lot of interesting stuff from. From Elon Musk doing that. That. That would be something that actually, like, is a demonstration, you know what I mean, that you're really, you know, have had a change of heart or something. Anyway, let's keep. Let's keep playing.
- [34:38]
D
And I still believe this today, but a lot has happened over the last several years. There's been widespread debate about potential harms from online content. Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more. A lot of this is clearly political, but there's also a lot of legitimately bad stuff out there. Drugs, terrorism, child exploitation. These are things that we take very seriously, and I want to make sure that we handle responsibly. So we built a lot of complex systems to moderate content. But the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes. Even if they accidentally censor just 1% of posts, that's millions of people.
- [35:15]
Dave Smith
All right, so let's. Let's pause it again.
- [35:17]
Robbie Bernstein
I mean, this is bullshit.
- [35:18]
Dave Smith
It's just so like, you know what I mean? It's like, it's dishonest bullshit. It's like, listen, dude, first of all, it's 100% political. That's all any of this is. Let's not fucking pretend for a second that there's any real concern about Russian interference in our elections. It's all nonsense, like, complete bullshit. Um, there's still, to this day is zero evidence, zero evidence that the DNC or the Podesta emails were hacked by Russia. It's just. Was just a nonsense fucking talking point to cover from the embarrassing shit that was in those emails. And so that they could make the story like Russian interference in the American elections. And so you really better not even pay attention to what's on those emails, because, you know, that's just basically doing Vladimir Putin's bidding. And what was on those emails? Well, it was that the DNC cheated Bernie Sanders out of the 2016 primary. They're supposed to be a neutral body, and they were straight up working for Hillary Clinton, including having Donna Brazile feed Hillary Clinton the questions that were to be asked at a town hall in advance. We have that straight up. We have the email of Donna Brazile sending her the fucking questions. And then two weeks later, those questions being asked at the town hall. There's also a whole bunch of language that I guess is code for pedophilia stuff, which whatever, nobody's allowed to look into, and obviously You're a kook if you ever bring that up. Even though multiple pedophile rings have been busted since then, that implicate a lot of the same people who are on those emails and you know, a whole bunch of other shit like that. That's what they didn't want you to say anyway. So it's all political. But don't give me this shit about like the problem was just that there's like terrorism and child trafficking and that, that's why we had to, that's why we had to remove your fucking Facebook group about how fucking ventilators were killing people. Right? That's why, that's why we had to censor the fucking Great Barrington Declaration because we're worried about terrorism. Gimme a fucking break, dude. So it's like, I don't know, I know it's a win, it's good, I hope they censor less going forward, but this is just such bullshit and I, I don't know, it pisses me off. All right guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show which is Prolon. Forget everything you know about fasting. Prolon by El Nutra is the only patented fasting mimicking diet that combines the benefits of prolonged fasting with a science backed nutrition plan so you can hit your health and weight loss goals without actually having to give up all the food. I'm sure you guys have heard about all these new fasting diets where you fast for long periods of time. It's very good for the body, but if you're anything like me, you're just not going to do that. I'm not going to give up eating. But now you don't have to. Prolon is a revolutionary plant based nutrition program that nourishes the body while making cells believe they're fasting. Researched and developed for decades at the University of Southern California's Longevity Institute and backed by leading US medical centers, Prolon helps promote healthy blood sugar, supports cardiovascular health and reduces abdominal fat. But Prolon isn't a diet. Prolon is science. Science based on Nobel prize winning discoveries in medicine. And all of this starts with Prolon's five day program. Snacks, soups and beverages, all designed to keep your body in a fasting state. It's unlike anything you've ever experienced. Go check it out for yourself. Right now. Prolon is offering part of The Problem listeners 15% off their five day nutrition program. Just go to prolonlife.com p o t p that's P-R-O-L-O-N l I f e.com potp for the special offer of 15% off prolong life.com potp all right, let's get back into the show.
- [39:09]
Robbie Bernstein
Liar, liar, pants on fire. That's what I have to say.
- [39:13]
Dave Smith
Davey Smith, you always do bring it back to basics. All right, let's keep playing point where.
- [39:20]
D
It'S just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing sports speech. So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms. More specifically, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X starting in the US after Trump first got elected in 2016.
- [39:51]
Robbie Bernstein
It's also just hilarious how much of a bitch he is because he's like, since the media landscape has changed in the US and we can get away with it, we'll do it here. But in Europe, where I still have to contend with the government that doesn't want you to have freedom, you guys are on your own. Because I have no balls.
- [40:06]
Dave Smith
Right, Right. But also, it's just like, like, in my example of, like, your buddy's wife is cheating on him. And then it's like, you know, she's like, well, you know, I recognize that the landscape has changed, and, you know, being faithful to your spouse is now more important. It's like, no, you got caught. That's what happened. What do you talk. You mean you lost? That's the. So you lost. So now I'm for freedom of speech again, like, what? The landscape. I mean, yes, okay, I get that. But so is the implication there that, like, if Donald Trump hadn't have won the election, that then we'd still do censorship? I don't know. It just. And your point about the European countries, Exactly right. It's like, oh, so you're just still kind of going with whatever is acceptable. Like, I, I don't know. I don't know how you're supposed to feel about people who were like, again, you know, it's something I've struggled with myself because it's like, you know, during the whole Covid thing in general, which is obviously very related to the. Where it was. The, the biggest censorship year was 2020, but because it was Covid and it was a presidential election year. But I remember, you know, like, at the height of COVID and when there were examples of countries that were even a couple clicks more authoritarian than we were. And I'm not talking about China, obviously. I think the expectation is that China is going to be many clicks more authoritarian than we are in all things. But I'm talking about Australia, where the crazy shit they were doing out there. And you'd sit there and we would talk about this often where we'd be like, hey, right now, if some, like, at the height of the vaccine propaganda, if someone were to come out right now and say, hey, we're placing all unvaccinated Americans on house arrest. They're not allowed to leave their homes, like, what percentage of the people would support that? And it wasn't zero. You know what I mean? And you're like, it wasn't. I mean, I don't know. You know, obviously, we don't know. We don't haven't conducted a scientific poll on this, but whatever percentage it was, it was a lot. There was, like, at least, like, say 30% of the population at one point, I think would have supported that. Obviously, I'm just kind of guesstimating the numbers. But then you'd go, like, all right, forget house arrest camps. We're rounding them all up and throwing them in camps. I mean, I think the percentage would drop. Wouldn't drop to zero. You know what I mean? Like, there were. There was a percentage of people in this country who would basically have just supported any of it. And that is a very difficult thing to, like, deal with. After the thing's over, even when they come back and you're like, yeah, but like, it's the guy yelling Jews in the Attic. It's like, yeah, yeah, but I know who you are, you know? And at the same time, you're like, we have to move on somehow. I can't just, like, hate every fucking liberal person's guts in America. I'm not. That's not who I want to be. But it is tough. It is a tough. So, like, I'm not exactly sure what the right answer with any of this shit is, but I do just feel like a thing with him where it's like. Like, dude, you did something really wrong. And I understand. Listen, man, I understand being George Soros, right? Rounding up Jews for the Nazis. Do you blame. Obviously, Soros was a little kid when this happened, but, like, do you blame his father for doing that? Yeah, kind of. And then also, you kind of understand you're in an impossible situation and you're trying to survive yourself, but there is something you did, something Horrible and like, okay, you did it under duress, you know, I'll grant you that. But there's still something that you did that was really horrible. And there's no reckoning with that at all. It's just, we're doing this going forward here. Let's, let's keep playing.
- [43:58]
D
The legacy media wrote non stop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth.
- [44:08]
Dave Smith
No, you didn't.
- [44:09]
Robbie Bernstein
But the fact checks.
- [44:10]
D
It wasn't in good faith, politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US So over the next couple of months, we're going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system. Second, we're going to simplify our content policies and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration and gender that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse. What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it's gone too far.
- [44:41]
Robbie Bernstein
In other words, we couldn't brainwash your trans, your kids.
- [44:44]
Dave Smith
It really is just like, oh, this whole thing fucking backfired. There's been a big cultural, like, pendulum swing back and now we're gonna get on board with what's popular, just like we did when all this insane shit was popular.
- [44:59]
Robbie Bernstein
Turns out if the Internet has free speech now that that Musk guy ruined all our plans and bought X, we can't brainwash you all into thinking that everyone thinks it's normal to have your kid transgender. And so we can't do this thing where we bully you and call you crazy and so, gee, shucks, it looks like we gotta change what we were doing.
- [45:18]
Dave Smith
Well, you know, there's. And I guess I get this from reading Mises, who really, everybody should read just such a beautiful thinker. But, you know, he would talk about like, like demonstrated preference, you know, where, like if you, you know, if you go, if you buy a hat for $10, okay, then it's saying, I need a hat.
- [45:44]
Robbie Bernstein
What are you trying to say?
- [45:44]
Dave Smith
I'm saying, I'm saying I will give you the $10. Just buy the hat. No, no, you're good, you're good. Let's say you get sunglasses. We'll make it a more neutral. But, you know, so if you like. And, and there's like a voluntary. There's no guns being held to anyone's head here. Like, you go into a store and you buy a pair of sunglasses for 20 bucks or whatever. Like, we could deduce from that that you value the sunglasses more than you value the $20. And we could deduce from that that the person who owns the store values the $20 more than they value the sunglasses, because otherwise you wouldn't make that trade, you know, so, like, you could sit outside the store and say, I really want those sunglasses. I really like them more than the $20 in my wallet. But if you actually go and buy it, then that's kind of more concrete conclude. And, you know, this is always like, been a very simple insight that I think, you know, colors a lot of my thinking. You know, it's like, I. I know you've heard me talk about this before, Rob, but, like, it's when liberals will argue that Social Security is incredibly popular. You know, Social Security is one of the most popular programs that we have. You'd get rid of Social Security, but 82% of people say they like Social Security or whatever. And I'd always be like, yeah, but what does that even mean? What does it mean? It's popular. You asked people, you had an opinion poll, and they said it's popular. It's like, okay, it's forced. You have to pay into Social Security at the threat of violence. So, like, how about just make it voluntary? Then we'll find out real quick how popular this program is, right? So let's just say that, okay, if you could snap your fingers and tomorrow there's no more Social Security tax. You can choose to opt in or opt out. Then we'll really find out how popular it is, right? Cause it's easy to say it's popular. It's like, dude, it's like, if I put a gun to your head and go, we're going over to the movie theater and we're watching this movie, and then I start trying to tell everybody, Rob really wants to see this movie. He really wants to go to this movie. You'd be like, yeah, but then why do you need the gun to the head, dude? Like, if he really wants to see this, how about put the gun down and then we'll find out what's up. Likewise, as I listen to Zuckerberg here, it's. It's like, oh, the culture's changed, and now people don't view. You know, they view these things as oppressive now, or they view these things as something that's. You were silencing people. So don't tell me that anything changed. People were already against this shit. The only thing that changed is that now they're allowed to say it, right? Like, the very fact that you had to censor people about this topic proves that everyone wasn't on board with this topic. It's like, yeah, you look, dude, if there's a book written about the United States of America during this time, if the rise of Wokeism, the response to Covid, when there's a great historian writes a book about this in 50 years, the only way to think of it is a mass psychosis is to go, like, the same way when we look back at, like, the commies or the Nazis or, like, any of these, like, other. And we go, holy shit, everyone just lost their fucking minds. The entire society lost their fucking minds. How the fuck do you get to this place where you're doing this shit? Well, it's like the same thing, dude. I mean, I'm not saying, like, the crimes, the underlying crimes are exactly the same, but the fact that we were even, like, having a. A national conversation about whether you can change your gender or not, and then you had to be censored if you were on the side of, like, biology exists, like that. That's a censorable, like, offense to just be like, I say, guys, this is like, there's chromosomes, there's genetics involved. You can't. You could just say you don't agree with that, but, like, it's still there whether you agree with it or not. This was, like, something that had to be shut down. It's just pure madness. And you played a leading role in that madness. And now you're. Now that the storm's over or seems to be, you're like, hey, so that was nuts what happened back there, guys, right? Yeah. I think, you know, these things started with good intentions, but they ended up being misused. It's like, I'm sorry, I just don't buy that, and I don't buy it at all. There's just. There's no way you're gonna convince me that the censorship of 2017 through, you know, Elon Musk buying Twitter, that. That was. That was done out of, like, a noble intention to crack down on misinformation. It's absolute bullshit. And, you know, if that were the case, you would have seen a correction much, much quicker. You know, like. Like, for example, say the correction wouldn't have come after. Just to pick one example, right? And let's go with the Hunter Biden laptop, because that's the biggest one and the one that we just played the clip of. The correction wouldn't have come years later when Elon Musk bought Twitter, says he's going to make it a free speech platform. He becomes the coolest kid in town. Donald Trump ends up winning a dominant victory, and then we have this correction. The correction would have come as soon as we realized that that was not Russian disinformation and that that was really Hunter Biden's laptop, which was, by the way, on this show. We realized it that week. It was very easy to figure out. It was very, very easy to figure out that that was, in fact, Hunter Biden's laptop. And the New York Times even admitted it. They took them another year and a half, but they admitted it. Ultimately, they're usually about a year and a half behind the show. That's the truth. Sorry, Sam Harris. That's just the way it. It happens to be. But, like, you would think, okay, then the correction would come immediately, right? Like, I mean, if you were, like, if you were giving your kid the wrong medicine and then they started getting sicker. Well, when they started getting sicker, you'd stop giving them the medicine and, like, right? You wouldn't, like, do it for years and years until your kid finally grew up and was like, hey, this medicine's making me sick. You know what I mean? You've kept me sick my entire childhood. And then you go, you know, there's been a cultural change ever since you grew up and realized I was poisoning you. And in this new environment, while I always cared about your health, in this new environment, I'm gonna stop poisoning you. That would be bullshit.
- [51:59]
Robbie Bernstein
It's giving me major Cuomo vibes.
- [52:01]
Dave Smith
Yeah, I. Yeah, that's right. Exactly right. All right, let's keep playing that people.
- [52:07]
D
Can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms. Third, we're changing how we enforce our policies to reduce the mistakes that account for the vast majority of censorship on our platforms. We used to have filters that scanned for any policy violation. Now we're going to focus those filters on tackling illegal and high severity violations. And for lower severity violations, we're going to rely on someone reporting an issue before we take action. The problem is that the filters make mistakes, and they take down a lot of content that they shouldn't. So by dialing them back, we're going to dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on our platforms.
- [52:45]
Robbie Bernstein
You know what I hate the most about this? Is that this just speaks to taking things down. It doesn't speak to shadow banning at all.
- [52:51]
Dave Smith
Mm.
- [52:52]
Robbie Bernstein
Which is a whole nother universe of to what extent is your content not being shown to people not being favored in the algorithms. You know, I'm even noticing this on Twitter. I don't know if you've been noticing this, but I find I spend very little time scrolling now. I spend more time using the gronk and the other features, but I find that in my scroll I get what used to be like chainmail type features or like what the old like AOL top 10 articles would be, where it'd be like, like, look at this new gat. And like, it's a thread and it seems to be all algorithm based engagement of I'm sure accounts that are now monetized that are like figured out the algorithm of how to get this in front of me. And it's stuff that I've never followed, I have no interest in whatsoever. Anyways, what the point I'm trying to make is there's a universe of just the algorithm and what it serves to people, which doesn't even speak to this more harsh thing of his nonsense about what gets pulled down or. Oh, now we're going to. So wait a second. You guys didn't have enough computing software to go after just the child offense people, and so you decided to take away from that computing software, right? To. I don't know. Almost sounds criminal.
- [53:58]
Dave Smith
Yeah. Really?
- [53:59]
Robbie Bernstein
So you're telling me you could have taken down more child pedophiles, but you.
- [54:02]
Dave Smith
Guys just chose not to. Instead you chose to just silence your fellow Americans who were speaking up about whatever it might be and even things that are like, you know. Because obviously also during COVID And this is really at the heart of all of it, right? And it's kind of at the heart of the whole free speech question is that, look, there were. Because I don't want to like oversimplify things, there were people who got it wrong who were, you know, skeptics. There were people who had wild conspiracy. There was always dumb shit out there. I mean, I remember the one. There's a thing about. There's like one video that people actually fell for. It was so obviously fake, but it was like they were saying that the vaccine like made you magnetic or something like that. And so it was like, look, I just got the vaccine and now this spoon is sticking to me or something like that. You were like, yo, dude. What? Like what? And I swear to God, I. I mean, I'm not saying this is the case, but I always kind of like in my mind, I'm like, I bet this is an op. You know what I mean? Like, I bet this is, this is total like controlled opposition. Like, oh, let's fucking make the conspiracy theor look as bad as they possibly can, you know, but. So there was bullshit, but this is why you need freedom. But then there would also be the truth out there that you could. And you have to figure out how to sift through that and have, you know, sources you can trust and. And good information versus bad. But there were also people who got it completely right on the Internet and they got silenced with all the rest of them. And so, yeah, look, to your point, it's. It's like, look, just stop interfering with what people fucking say. That's it. Just let it be organic. Let people fucking speak. And that's that. And. And look, as I said, oh, you weren't on that episode, but as I said the other day when I was talking about a bunch of these accounts on Twitter who got, like, their blue check taken away and got demonetized, it's like, look, I'm not saying that any social media platform has to be 100% the wild, wild west. There could be things that you're like, you're not allowed to say on this platform. It's like, if you want to say you can't say the N word or you can't say, you know, whatever, okay, like, I. I don't really think too many people are going to go to war over that. But just make the rule clear and then apply it equally, you know what I mean? Like, just make the rule clear, make a reasonable rule, make it clear what the rules are, and then apply them across the board. And I think you're going to solve all of these problems. You know, I'm not saying I'm. I'm, like, far from a computer genius who understands, like, how to actually run Facebook. But I. It is obvious enough that it's just like, look, you kind of almost admitted it yourself, rather than being, what, you know, you started Facebook to give everybody a voice. What you ended up becoming was a tool of the regime to silence dissent. Okay? That is the opposite of giving everybody a voice. That is there. There's no movie where you watch that. You're not the bad guy for that. That's the bad guy. You know, if I was just telling you about a plot for a movie, and I went, okay, well, there's this one guy who works for the regime to censor all of the critics of the regime. There's no movie where that guy's the good guy, that guy's the bad guy. There's no scenario. I couldn't even write a story around that where you were like, no, no, no. But I'm telling you, he's the good guy. Because you see, the people are just so bad and the regime is just so noble. You're like, really? The regime so noble. What are they in the business of? War? Mostly war. You know, war and some Ponzi schemes like this. Yeah, they're the good guys. Anyway, look, I mean, here, let's, let's play. I think there's only a little bit left.
- [57:43]
D
So let's so going to tune our content filters to require much higher confidence before taking down content. The reality is that this is a trade off. It means we're going to catch less bad stuff, but we'll also reduce the number of innocent people's posts and accounts that we accidentally take down. Fourth, we're bringing back civic content for a while. The community asked to see less politics because it was making people stressed. So we stopped recommending these posts. But it feels like we're in a new era now and we're starting to get feedback that people want to see this content again. So we're going to start phasing this back into Facebook, Instagram and threads while working to keep the communities friendly and positive. Fifth, we're going to move our trust and safety and content moderation to Pause for a second out of California.
- [58:31]
Robbie Bernstein
I almost got to just even process what that fucking horseshit was. I'm not even sure what he like. So in other words, political content was all shadow banned if it was divisive, which sounds like conservative. But now he's realizing that there's so many people who are conservatives that actually want to see things that reflect their opinion. So whereas if you were looking for information like ours, you probably weren't going to be finding it on Instagram or Facebook. And so now they're going to allow more of it through as long as it's safe and positive, which means that there's still moderation.
- [59:03]
Dave Smith
Yeah, Elon Musk said a thing about that the other day too, about positive. Oh, God, I hated that. I hated that. And I'm a fan of Elon Musk, so I'm not trying to beat up on him. I don't have, you know, any, like, I have some contempt.
- [59:17]
Robbie Bernstein
He's also just playing the game too.
- [59:18]
Dave Smith
Look, you might be right about that. But I'm just saying, like, I have contempt for Mark Zuckerberg and what he did. I don't have that for Elon. I see him much more as kind of like a heroic figure. But like, even him saying the thing about like, positivity versus negativity. Like, what are we, children again? It's like, like I already got little kids, so I don't need to, like, I don't know, I don't need to, like, my, my tweets are supposed to be fluffy and like, what, what the fuck? What if I'm pissed off? I'm not allowed to be pissed off. Isn't that part of like, freedom also? I thought that was, I thought we were doing a free speech platform here, right? It's like, what, what am I exactly supposed. Like, I don't know, dude. I focus on all the things I'm pissed off about. My posts aren't going to be positive most of the time. Like if I, if, you know, if you got me, you know, if, if one of you guys came upstairs later and I was just screaming at my 3 year old about all the evil things in the world, like, then there might be, there might be a moment. You were like, hey, Dave, lighten up a little bit. You know, like, let's stop being so negative. Let's be a little more positive here. He just wants to play blocks, you know. Okay, fair enough. But when I come downstairs into our studio, it's time for me to rant and be angry. That's what I'm here for. I'm here to rant about all the shit that I think is wrong that I don't want to be going on anymore. So, like, I don't know, I just hate all of this. Who's. And, and you know, who's exactly to say that people want, you know, a positive experience. Like, what does that mean? People like to argue on social media. Arguing's good, arguing is healthy. It's, that's okay. It's okay to get into debates about things. And that's not. When you get into a debate, especially like a meaningful one. And this isn't, I don't just mean like a political debate or anything like that. It's like if you, if you're in a relationship, any relationship, romantic friendship, whatever, if you're in a relationship and there's something, there's like a real problem, like a real problem that needs to be solved, that needs to be hashed out. It's all but guaranteed. Someone's gonna get offended, someone's gonna get upset, someone's gonna, you're gonna have to go through that. But that's part of life. It's a healthy part of life. Like you, that, that's actually much better to go through that than to just avoid it. And so like, what does this mean? We're supposed to just like avoid negativity like with how godd corrupt this country is. I'm supposed to be positive about that? No, you will not take away my, my right to be angry on social media. I'll be doing more of it later today. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Monetary Metals, an amazing company that has revolutionized the precious metal space. I've been telling you guys about monetary metals for a long time. They're, it's a great company run by great people and they really have done something incredible. Many people, obviously for a long time, people have owned precious metals, typically as a hedge against inflation, also sometimes as an investment. But now because of monetary metals, you can not just own gold and silver, but you can own gold and silver. That yields interest in gold and silver. So you're actually growing your total amount of ounces over time. So truly, you're opting out of the dollar system when you go with monetary metals. You know, maybe we can't end the Fed tomorrow, but Monetary Metals has come up with a real alternative. Go check them out. Amazing company, incredible opportunity. Monetary-metals.com that's the website. Or you could just click the link in the episode description. Monetary-metals.com all right, let's get back into the show. All right, let's play a little bit more of this and then we'll, we'll wrap it up.
- [63:02]
D
And our US Based content review is going to be based in Texas. As we work to promote free expression, I think that will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams. Finally, we're going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more. The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world. Europe has an ever increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship and making it difficult to build anything innovative there. Latin American countries have secret courts that can order companies to quietly take things down. China has censored our apps from even working in the country. The only way that we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the US Government. And that's why it's been so difficult over the past four years when even the US Government has pushed for censorship by going after US and other American companies. It has emboldened other governments to go even further. But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression and I am excited to take it. It'll take time to get this right. And these are complex systems. They're never going to be perfect. There's also a lot of illegal stuff that we still need to work very hard to remove. But the bottom line is that after years of having our content moderation work focused primarily on removing content, it is time to focus on reducing content mistakes, simplifying our systems, and getting back to our roots about giving people voice. I'm looking forward to this next chapter. Stay good out there. And more to come soon.
- [64:41]
Robbie Bernstein
Stay good out there.
- [64:43]
Dave Smith
All right, well, let me. I guess. Let me try to end this on a note of positivity. Well, look, it is a positive sign that he's making this video. You know what I mean? And so there is a win in here. I'm not exactly accepting, you know, like, this from Zuckerberg himself, but to the extent that he's gonna cut down on censoring people, that is a good thing. And look, man, it is. And don't get me wrong, because I know we still have, like, so many goddamn problems, and we didn't even get to talk about some of the other stuff we had planned. We'll save for tomorrow's show. But there's a lot of problems that are still left in this country. There's the economic, you know, the fiscal cliff and the monetary situation. There's the warfare state. There's a lot of big problems. Problems left in this country. But, man, I will say on a note of positivity, see, this could be on Facebook. After the last, you know, let's say the last eight years of dealing with so much of this insanity. It is nice to at least have the feeling of like, yeah, the culture has kind of shifted and is snapping back in. In a different direction. So at least thank God for that. All right, listen, we do got to wrap up. Robbiethefire.com Run your mouth. Go check out Rob's other show. Yes, yes, yes. Good call, Natalie. I. I do. I apologize to everyone. I had to move the Zoom meeting again. We will be doing it Saturday. This Saturday at 2pm for all the people who are subscribed at part of the problem. The top two tiers. You guys are a part of this, too. We just bullshit and talk for. For an hour. It's a lot of fun. This Saturday at 2pm we'll be doing another one of those. So come, come join us there if you can. Partoftheproblem.com, comicdavesmith.com that's all have a good one. See you tomorrow. Peace.