4 ms·
"The fact that Facebook could easily throw the election by selectively showing a Get Out the Vote reminder in certain counties of a swing state, for example, wa
by metastart 9y ago
"The fact that Facebook could easily throw the election by selectively showing a Get Out the Vote reminder in certain counties of a swing state, for example, was a running joke."
Woah. They're asking to be regulated.
- NumberCruncher 9y agoExactly, like newspapers and TV channels. Oh, they are already in good hands...
- TillE 9y agoBroadcast media can't microtarget like that. At best they can cultivate a certain audience, but it's an extremely crude tool in comparison.
- danso 9y agoSure, but broadcast media is regulated by the FEC and FCC: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112001507_pf.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11... https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/if-tv-stations-wont-post-their-data-on-political-ads-we-will https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/if-tv-stations-w... https://sunlightfoundation.com/2015/11/10/everything-you-need-to-know-about-political-ads/ https://sunlightfoundation.com/2015/11/10/everything-you-nee...
- jasonmp85 9y agoNot a very good joke. I'd have considered it a moral imperative to act on that impulse.
- keebEz 9y agoMaybe they did?
- guelo 9y agoThey didn't use it themselves, they sold the tool to political campaigns.
- H4CK3RM4N 9y agoAs soon as Facebook takes a political stance, the other half of the population will leave.
- mattnewton 9y agoIt is sad that voter participation is a partisan issue in the United States.
- derefr 9y agoThe idea was telling only those voters in certain counties (who predictably would vote a certain way) to vote; i.e., a less-blatant version of telling exactly the subset of people who are registered to vote for a given party, to go out and vote. That is a partisan action.
- H4CK3RM4N 9y agoThat was what I meant, although I have to agree with the parent that Facebook really should show everyone a get out and vote message.
- mattnewton 9y agoIf they did it would still be seen as a Democratic-leaning message.
- derefr 9y agoPerhaps, but it'd then just be on the same level as any other broadcast medium that puts out such a message. I presume the more partisan of the cable news channels are still allowed to say "hey everyone, vote!"?
- brokenmachine 9y agoSo Republicans don't want people to vote? Real question, I'm in Australia and don't know.
- danso 9y agoI think they should be, once they get to the point where they are ubiquitous enough to be considered an official identity and information provider (in the way that newspapers and TV have been), something which they've brought upon themselves in advocating a "real name" policy. The idea that UI/UX can change the outcome of an election, though, isn't terribly new. Consider 2000's butterfly ballots: http://www.asktog.com/columns/042ButterflyBallot.html http://www.asktog.com/columns/042ButterflyBallot.html Though of course it's a different thing when a county inadvertently affects vote results by unintentional bad design, versus when a centralized entity intends to have an effect.
- antongm 9y agoIndeed. Zuck was forced to backtrack his denials following the election, and is now committed to tackling fake news. They sing a very different tune now.