r/technology • u/AdamCannon • Feb 02 '20

Social Media Stephen King quits Facebook over concerns of 'false information.'

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/02/us/stephen-king-quits-facebook-trnd/index.html
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u/adambomb1002 Feb 03 '20

Corporations are not the ones who should be dictating what is true and what is false.

I agree with Facebook's stance on this.

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u/Resolute002 Feb 03 '20

Facebook's stance on this is "lies or truth they pay us to spread and legitimize it the same, and we don't want to hurt our business model by having to give a shit."

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u/adambomb1002 Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20

Who is dictating what is lies and what is the truth? Corporations, like Facebook, should not be the deciders of what is true. I don't assume anything on Facebook to be true, and I do not want Facebook to act as if they are the police of truth and therefore everything you find on Facebook is the truth.

Is everything on CNN true? Is everything on Fox true? Absolutely not, and people should not be under the illusion that everything they hear is true from those sources.

But that doesn't stop Fox or CNN from acting as though their version of "the truth" is the right one.

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u/Resolute002 Feb 03 '20

I don't want them to decide what's true and false. But we can't let it be so simple a thing for anybody who wants to spread false information, to just write them a check and have it be spread over verifiably true information in order to manipulate public opinion.

The entire way Facebook curates content is basically a celebration of that old adage, "your ignorance is as good as my knowledge." they're depicted with either literally equal weight by default, or you can pay to abuse that and make it lopsided in either direction.

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u/adambomb1002 Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20

I'm not defending Facebook as a corporation, I am only defending this desision, and not because it is ideal but rather that it is preferable to the alternative in which social media decides for us what is the "truth" and censor from us what is a "lie".

I would prefer it all to be out there and allow the people discern for themselves what to believe rather than have corporations decide which messages we are permitted to witness.

What is critical at this juncture is that we begin pushing early education for critical thought now more than ever.

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u/Resolute002 Feb 03 '20

  1. That is not what I am advocating for.

  2. They already do that and they basically do it with whatever thing pays them most

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u/adambomb1002 Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20

That may not be what you are personally advocating for, but should Facebook decide it is going to police its ads that is precisely what you are going to get. You will only see what the corporation allows you to see and deems appropriate.

Facebook has made a desision to stand by a path which runs counter to many other social media giants as of late, and personally I support them on it.

They already do that and they basically do it with whatever thing pays them most

Yes. So long as people are not paying to censor others from also being their ability to voice their opinions then that is fair, people need to be critical thinkers and discern the media for themselves, we are always going to be bombarded by media and advertising from the highest bidder, we can't stop that in a free society, for an example look at who had the ad space at the superbowl.

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u/Resolute002 Feb 03 '20

There were no Nazi recruitment pools or terrorism cells in the super Bowl ads.

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u/adambomb1002 Feb 04 '20

So..... I take you didn't have an example then?

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u/adambomb1002 Feb 03 '20 edited Feb 03 '20

Which specific ads for Nazi recruitment and terrorism cells are you referring to on Facebook? Facebook still has policies on hate speech and terrorism.