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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsReport: Facebook's Own Research Confirms It Is a Hotbed of Vaccine Denial
Water is also wet
Link to tweet
In July, after President Joe Biden said coronavirus misinformation on Facebook was killing people, an anonymous company official jawed back, saying Facebook would not be distracted by accusations which arent supported by the facts......
Anti-vaccine content was twice as prevalent in comment sections as in posts, one memo found, but the companys ability to detect and take down problematic comments was bad in English, and basically non-existent elsewhere, a Facebook data scientist wrote in one memo. The companys systems didnt always make it easy to remove or demote posts. After Facebook employees singled out a viral post that claimed vaccines are all experimental & you are in the experiment, it remained up because Facebooks systems mistakenly thought it was written in Romanian.
While Facebooks role in spreading vaccine-related misinformation has been a topic of public discussion throughout the pandemic, even as internal researchers identified the problem, the company avoided public acknowledgment and generally remained defensive. Guy Rosen, Facebooks vice president of integrity, argued in a July blog post that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users in the US has increased. Responding directly to Bidens criticism of the company, Rosen said, The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. President Bidens goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.
But internally, the Journal reported, Facebook documents show it had been playing catch-up for months, trying to manage the flood of misleading and false information aimed at undermining the vaccine effort. Upcoming congressional hearings could bring further revelations; as the Journal points out, Facebook officials have become concerned that Mr. Zuckerberg or Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg may face questions from lawmakers about how their past public statements on these issues square with the companys internal assessments.
Anti-vaccine content was twice as prevalent in comment sections as in posts, one memo found, but the companys ability to detect and take down problematic comments was bad in English, and basically non-existent elsewhere, a Facebook data scientist wrote in one memo. The companys systems didnt always make it easy to remove or demote posts. After Facebook employees singled out a viral post that claimed vaccines are all experimental & you are in the experiment, it remained up because Facebooks systems mistakenly thought it was written in Romanian.
While Facebooks role in spreading vaccine-related misinformation has been a topic of public discussion throughout the pandemic, even as internal researchers identified the problem, the company avoided public acknowledgment and generally remained defensive. Guy Rosen, Facebooks vice president of integrity, argued in a July blog post that vaccine acceptance among Facebook users in the US has increased. Responding directly to Bidens criticism of the company, Rosen said, The data shows that 85% of Facebook users in the US have been or want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. President Bidens goal was for 70% of Americans to be vaccinated by July 4. Facebook is not the reason this goal was missed.
But internally, the Journal reported, Facebook documents show it had been playing catch-up for months, trying to manage the flood of misleading and false information aimed at undermining the vaccine effort. Upcoming congressional hearings could bring further revelations; as the Journal points out, Facebook officials have become concerned that Mr. Zuckerberg or Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg may face questions from lawmakers about how their past public statements on these issues square with the companys internal assessments.
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Report: Facebook's Own Research Confirms It Is a Hotbed of Vaccine Denial (Original Post)
LetMyPeopleVote
Sep 2021
OP
Pinback
(12,154 posts)1. User engagement is all Facebook really cares about.
Clicks and monetizing user data are their bread and butter. Bullshit is profitable for them.
There seem to be some employees with a moral compass, but the CEO isnt one of them. So the companys official posture will be to pretend to care about misinformation, but top management wont go for any changes that threaten the business model.
Pinback
(12,154 posts)2. Also: Facebook and Google are selling ad space promoting so-called abortion "reversal"
According to Endangering women for profit, a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate:
- Facebook and Google are selling ad space promoting so-called abortion "reversal" - a dangerous and unproven procedure.
- The only clinical trial for so-called abortion reversals was abandoned after some participants were hospitalized with severe hemorrhaging."
- Yet, Facebook and Google are selling ads for profit promoting this procedure, in some cases to minors as young as 13 years old.
- Link to full report:
https://252f2edd-1c8b-49f5-9bb2-cb57bb47e4ba.filesusr.com/ugd/f4d9b9_87b1482552a140a880d86f7d2d2e6f2a.pdf
We're calling on Facebook and Google to:
- Enforce their policies and stop showing paid ads for misleading health claims or unsafe products.
- Stop accepting ads from organizations that repeatedly violate their rules.
- Donate historic revenues from these ads to reproductive health charities.
- https://www.counterhate.com/endangeringwomen
More coverage:
- The Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/15/facebook-and-google-condemned-over-ads-for-abortion-pill-reversal
- Business Insider - https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-profits-from-abortion-reversal-ads-seen-184-million-times-2021-9
- Gizmodo - https://gizmodo.com/facebook-profits-from-showing-teens-unethical-abortion-1847675230
- The Daily Beast - https://www.thedailybeast.com/facebook-is-raking-it-in-with-anti-abortion-ads-from-live-action
- Techstory - https://techstory.in/facebook-profited-from-dangerous-abortion-reversal-ads/
- The Independent - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/facebook-google-abortion-reversal-ads-b1921332.html
- USA Today - http://usa-today-news.com/2021/09/15/facebook-made-money-from-dangerous-abortion-reversal-ads-that-targeted-teens-and-were-seen-18-4-million-times/
Both Facebook and Google need to step up and ensure that such dangerous ads never make it onto their platforms.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)3. Shocking that people communicate
using a fun and popular computer app designed to have people communicate. The Internet has changed our world, and there is no turning back.