Zuckerberg's pledge to depoliticize Facebook hits grassroots movements
Facebook’s decision to permanently stop recommending political groups to its users is a major hit for movements that have grown to rely on social media to draw in first-time activists.
But progressive grassroots organizers and digital campaign strategists saw something else in the tech giant’s announcement: a cop-out.
Advocacy group leaders — who have long called on Facebook and other tech giants to clamp down on incendiary posts and hate speech, arguing that it led to radicalization on social platforms and contributed to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — say the company’s latest policy shift won’t fix its problems with politics. And they fear it will disadvantage organizers who help to usher new people into new movements, like the Trump-era women’s marches or Black Lives Matter protests.
“Facebook being unwilling to actually police violent white nationalists means that they create these blanket policies so they don't actually have to deal with the real problem,” said Rashad Robinson, an outspoken Facebook critic and president of racial justice group Color of Change. “It becomes a ‘both sides’ issue. We are not the other side of violent, white nationalists.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/zuckerberg-s-pledge-to-depoliticize-facebook-hits-grassroots-movements/ar-BB1ddSwB?li=BB141NW3