For the “people who make our laws are morons” file, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) on Thursday asked Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety on Facebook during a hearing if the company would “commit to ending finsta.”
Finsta, for those of you who don’t know, is slang for “Fake Instagram” and it’s a term kids use to describe their anonymous social media accounts that their parents don’t know about:
Sen. Blumenthal, stern-faced, asked Facebook's Antigone Davis, "Will you commit to ending Finsta?"
Davis explained that it's slang for a fake account–not an official Instagram product or service.
— Will Oremus (@WillOremus) September 30, 2021
Watch this epic buffoonery for yourself:
Sen. Blumenthal asks Facebook "Will you commit to ending Finsta?"
Facebook's safety chief has to explain that Finsta is slang for a fake account. pic.twitter.com/jMYy5AIZjY
— Eric Morrow (@morroweric) September 30, 2021
Blumenthal doubling down *after* she explained it’s a slang turn is a really nice touch. How do his staffers let him go out and ask this question?
Sen. Blumenthal: "Will you commit to ending finsta?"
Facebook global head of safety Antigone Davis: "We don't actually do finsta…"
Blumenthal: "Finsta is one of your products or services…"
Davis: "Finsta is slang."
— Brian Contreras (@_B_Contreras_) September 30, 2021
Blumenthal is lucky she didn’t just laugh in his face:
The first and only time I will ever feel bad for Facebook is watching this woman realize she's going to have to explain what Finsta is to a U.S. senator in a live congressional hearing. I'm not sure I could get through it https://t.co/aFJsFQRSov
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) September 30, 2021
We’re being governed on tech issues by old people who probably can’t change the default passwords on their home WiFi routers. We’re really screwed:
If you wondered why there are no regulations for child influencers it's because our elected representatives are too busy trying to figure out what "finsta" means https://t.co/AQdfiOZXsG
— Kat Tenbarge (@kattenbarge) September 30, 2021
Blumenthal’s gaffe was so bad that even Urban Dictionar fact-checked him:
Finsta – https://t.co/w5WDomYIZ9 pic.twitter.com/SLn4ppi3w1
— Urban Dictionary (@urbandictionary) October 1, 2021
Just embarrassing.
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