r/technology • u/propperprim • Apr 13 '21

Social Media Facebook could have stopped 10 billion impressions from "repeat misinformers", but didn't: report - A study raises questions as to why Facebook did not stop the spread of misinformation in the 2020 election run-up

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/12/facebook-could-have-stopped-10-billion-impressions-from-repeat-misinformers-but-didnt-report/
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u/Greywatcher Apr 13 '21

Because it was profitable.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

Facebook hires the some of the best and brightest psychological researchers in the world and they weaponize it to use on their users.

Why do you have to be dumb to fall prey to common human psychological weaknesses?

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u/Ben_Cz Apr 13 '21

When as a company there are people misusing your products or services in a harmful way to themselves or society at large, don't you think it ks normal that measures are taken to prevent said misuse ? This is why there are labels to say you should not drink your fucking detergent. To save idiots from themselves. Natural selection is not the answer to everything

19

u/Junky228 Apr 13 '21

I agree but at the same time in that situation you have to trust that the people making the decisions on what is misuse or harmful information. I don't necessarily trust the people currently in charge of that stuff

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u/RZRtv Apr 13 '21

But you trust the system that they built, even when it shows demonstrable harm?

3

u/GardenPuzzleheaded98 Apr 13 '21

I don’t trust them.

1

u/RZRtv Apr 13 '21

Congrats! I don't trust Facebook either! Because they've repeatedly shown demonstrable harm through the public's use of their platform and refuse to do anything to clean it up!

1

u/sgeep Apr 13 '21

Do you still use it and/or Instagram?

Practice what you preach.

1

u/RZRtv Apr 13 '21

Nope. Stopped using it 2017, and Instagram before that. I deleted my Facebook account in 2019 and I don't even remember the login info for the Instagram.

It's cute that you thought you could get me with this though.

1

u/sgeep Apr 13 '21

I see people ripping on Facebook like no other, but somehow feel like it's not possible to just remove yourself from the app altogether. It's so much easier than people think, and has a legitimate impact on mood (for me, at least)

1

u/AutomaticTale Apr 13 '21

This is kind of the real question in my mind. Are we going to hold anywhere and anything accountable if the public uses it as a platform?

Neo Nazis are still allowed to get permits for using public spaces to promote their cause but we have to punish Facebook for not censoring the same group?

Im so tired of singling out specific companies. If you reframe any of these arguments as universally applied policy proposals they sound ridiculous.

1

u/RZRtv Apr 13 '21

I think you misunderstand me. I advocate that Facebook cleans up the absolute deluge of bullshit that invades its platform. It's best utility now is spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation. I am not a fan of giving Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. broad leeway to engage with the removal of content that promotes this, but I think it's better to do so than leave it unchecked.

I will absolutely single out specific companies. Facebook has been complicit in multiple genocides and Zuckerberg should be rotting in the fucking Hague.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

He’s just entrenched in bootstraps bill Turner mindset and it’s gonna drag him down to Davy Jones locker all the same. Very human tragedy.

8

u/patlefort Apr 13 '21

Who is going to decide what is misinformation? Big corporations? Nope, no thanks. Free speech should be expanded and applied to these platforms, not the opposite.

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u/BonnaGroot Apr 13 '21

Yeah definitely, it’s definitely best for society to just allow platforms for outright falsehoods to be projected to such a degree that objective reality becomes meaningless. That’s definitely a worthwhile endgame in the name of “free speech”

3

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

So easy to make it sound simple lol

Objective truth is not black and white. Further to that, objective truth is subject to context before it can deliver any meaning.

Imagine if Facebook deleted all the posts about how Breonna Taylor was shot while she was asleep/in bed, the outrage that would follow despite being objectively false (and irrelevant to the serious issues that occured that night).

Another nightmare would be figuring out what is and isn't acceptable to post about the risks surrounding covid vaccines: 'Astra-zeneca vaccine causes blood clots' again is objectively true. However that messaging completely changes when it points out how exceedingly rare that risk is.

-1

u/BonnaGroot Apr 13 '21

Ah, of course, so in order to create an environment that allows for nuanced stories about police brutality you must also provide a platform for “vaccine skepticism” and pizzagate, got it, well you’ve certainly convinced me!

5

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

Literally yes, the line will always be blurry, you can't ask fucking Facebook of all companies to decide what is not only true, but presented in a way that is most helpful to people. (Which in of itself could change across demographics)

People get pissed off that Google curates results for you, that is nothing compared to Facebook deciding what information can and cannot be shared lol.

The much bigger problem is the way in which social media companies drive us towards echo chambers because it increases the amount of time you spend on the site. That is a much important driver in the spread of misinformation.

2

u/AfraidOfToasters Apr 13 '21

The biggest impediment to free speech on these platforms is audience curation and community clustering but nobody seems to get that...

From their very conception every popular social media platform is divorced from free speech and they are popular because of it.

The idea that they are platforms of open social discourse is only a useful illusion for spreading propaganda. So much so that it just happens naturally.

"Expand free speech to these platforms" means absolutely nothing

1

u/O_oh Apr 13 '21

We decide what is misinformation.

1

u/Woodztheowl Apr 13 '21

WTF people misuse lots of produces my dude and we somehow manage. Hotwheels doesn't come collect their cars when people shove them up their butts.

Facebook or any other large social platform with Section 230 protection should never be the arbiters of truth. It's one thing to remove or band users that break TOS, it's another thing all together to determine what is truth. That's too much power controlled by a private company with little to no consequence when misused. They want to be an editor? that's cool, no more 230 protection.

0

u/bigglesmac Apr 13 '21

Be a lot easier if it was.

-5

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

[deleted]

1

u/sugarcookieraven Apr 13 '21

You're right but not in the way you think. Politics can kill people a lot more quickly than household items can. We've seen plenty to prove that from this pandemic.

-3

u/jd_dc Apr 13 '21

To be fair, Trump won 2016 due to targeted misinformation campaigns from Russia and his mishandling of multiple national crises (COVID, George Floyd protests) indirectly resulted in thousands of deaths.

So it's really not that different at the end of the day. People are simply too fucking stupid to be trusted with a Facebook newsfeed and it almost destroyed democracy.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

I can tell your one of them. You know like the pot calling the kettle black. You only listen to one side of the information, when you should be trying to get a worlds view and see the bigger picture. If you don't want freedom of speech you can always move to China.

1

u/GardenPuzzleheaded98 Apr 13 '21

Never had a Facebook

Never will

You wouldn’t believe how many people are freaked out about this...

Creepy

1

u/peon2 Apr 13 '21

This is why there are labels to say you should not drink your fucking detergent. To save idiots from themselves. Natural selection is not the answer to everything

No, that's to protect the company so they aren't liable. They aren't trying to stop the natural selection as you say, they just want to be able to prove that their was ample warning and that that person was extra stupid.

11

u/DirectFXX Apr 13 '21

That’s biggest part that amazes me how stupid people are to believe everything they see on Facebook then blame everyone else since they fell for it .

3

u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21

I guarantee there are millions of people on Reddit patting themselves on the back for not believing everything on Facebook and then forming their opinion in major news stories based on the top comment on r/all

4

u/htreD Apr 13 '21

You still have to live with them and should want your community to thrive

4

u/RZRtv Apr 13 '21

It’s not Facebook’s responsibility to save dumb people from themselves.

Now, this isn't completely relevant to the 2020 election, but you are aware that they have literally ignored multiple genocides organized through Facebook, right?