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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFacebook wants to cut down on misinformation. So why isn't it doing anything about Infowars?
By Eli Rosenberg
July 14 at 8:00 AM
Facebook has spent much of the last year and a half attempting to tamp down the spread of false and malicious information that bloomed on its platform during the 2016 election.
After a slew of negative publicity, the company adjusted its algorithms, sought to study the political effects of misinformation and issued mea culpas, in the form of congressional testimony and slick advertisements a plenty.
But critics point to one thing it has not done: banned or blocked the site Infowars one of the most prominent outlets known for spreading baseless information and conspiracy theories which enjoys many verified Facebook pages with millions of followers. The right-wing media channels relationship to Facebook has come under closer scrutiny as social media giant has begun touting the other measures it says it has undertaken to try to reduce the amount of misleading information on its site.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/07/14/facebook-wants-to-cut-down-on-misinformation-so-why-isnt-it-doing-anything-about-infowars/?utm_term=.8ec73e053fd5
dalton99a
(81,062 posts)lame54
(35,130 posts)PSPS
(13,512 posts)Another consequence of poor education in schools. The first amendment has absolutely no relationship with this. Facebook is a private entity, not a branch of government. As such, it can exercise full control over everything on its platform without exception. The same goes for all other social media such as twitter, YouTube and the rest. The only reason Zuckerberg and the rest of them embrace the destruction of our democracy is because they profit handsomely from doing so.
jimlup
(7,968 posts)it will be coorporate propaganda. And they can't help it. This is how coorporations work. They even may have someone at the top who "means well" but it doesn't matter. The for-profit coorporate structure will insure that anything that comes out of Facebook's mouth is pure propaganda and has no bearing on what if anything they are actually going to do.
vi5
(13,305 posts)As long as we continue to give them our clicks, our eyes, and in some cases our money they will do whatever the fuck they want.