Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFacebook froze as anti-vaccine comments swarmed users
https://apnews.com/article/the-facebook-papers-covid-vaccine-misinformation-c8bbc569be7cc2ca583dadb4236a0613Facebook froze as anti-vaccine comments swarmed users
By DAVID KLEPPER and AMANDA SEITZ
Oct. 26, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of coronavirus vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some Facebook employees thought they had found a way to help.
By altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in peoples newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading information individuals saw about COVID-19 vaccines and offer users posts from legitimate sources like the World Health Organization.
Given these results, Im assuming were hoping to launch ASAP, one Facebook employee wrote, responding to the internal memo about the study.
Instead, Facebook shelved some suggestions from the study. Other changes werent made until April.
When another Facebook researcher suggested disabling comments on vaccine posts in March until the platform could do a better job of tackling anti-vaccine messages lurking in them, that proposal was ignored.
Critics say the reason Facebook was slow to take action on the ideas is simple: The tech giant worried it might impact the companys profits.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
5 replies, 1808 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (14)
ReplyReply to this post
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Facebook froze as anti-vaccine comments swarmed users (Original Post)
dalton99a
Oct 2021
OP
blm
(113,061 posts)1. Worried it would upset Putin and Thiel
RKP5637
(67,108 posts)2. Perhaps Facebook's new name should be "Deathbook!" n/t
ret5hd
(20,491 posts)3. Cue the apologists craving contact with their second cousins in-laws.
The Wizard
(12,545 posts)4. Facebook
promoting America's unwiped ass wherever possible.
Initech
(100,076 posts)5. Yup. I made some pro-vaccine comments on Twitter articles.
Did not take long for them to be flooded with anti-vaxxer comments. Needless to say I blocked and reported them all.
I will say this with the utmost sincerity: I hate anti-vaxxers with the fiery passion of 10,000 suns. May they all burn in the hottest of hells.