5 ms·

What is political content? Is news about the protests political? Is a statement by the president? Is a new law going in to effect political? Is someone commenti

What is political content? Is news about the protests political? Is a statement by the president? Is a new law going in to effect political? Is someone commenting about wearing masks political? > Text classification is a thing, and there are many other techniques, so it seems possible to recognize political content with some reasonable level of accuracy and show me a lot less of that. I think you severely underestimate what constitutes classifying something as political.

lallysingh 6y ago
Perhaps put a list of check boxes for political topics and let people choose. Labeling topics by activity in news sources (say, in combination with other known political terms or authors) can help discover the list mechanically.
ogre_codes 6y ago
> I think you severely underestimate what constitutes classifying something as political. You are over-thinking this. Just filtering obvious political stuff would be a massive help: - Mentions of politicians - Key words: Liberal, Conservative, Right-wing, etc etc - Material re-shared from political parties/ candidates/ movements. Just that would be a giant help. Allowing users to set their own filters would be a massive help. None of this makes Facebook money though so it won't happen.
- 8ytecoder 6y ago
  Pretty much everything is politics these days. That's the unfortunate truth. We can't even distinguish personal and non-personal that easily any more. Even filtering by status updates and photos won't help. Status updates can be political speech (may or may not call out someone by name or ideology), photos could be your friend holding a placard or a meme. Things as simple as wearing/not-wearing a mask is political now. In an alternate world, that would be classified under health. At least for me, that's upsetting that we are debating this. And it doesn't end there - how many of us have felt a tinge of jealousy when a friend posts that beautiful picture of a barn in the middle of Montana while you're slugging away on your computer? That's not healthy either. I have come to peace that I'll text my friends directly and that's it. Once a month or so I log on to facebook and comment on personal updates. Instagram & Reddit is what I can't quit yet. Sometimes I do need that mind numbing feed scrolling time. Otherwise, I actually call/text and talk to friends and family. Granted who I call family and friends is very limited. TBC, these are my personal opinions and how you view and use social media could be different. It's clearly not for me anymore.
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    > Pretty much everything is politics these days. That's the unfortunate truth. - Me riding bikes with my friends - Not politics. - My friend turning 50 - Not politics. - Organizing a game night - Not politics. - My buddy getting a new car - Not politics. - A friend getting engaged - Not politics. etc etc etc... There are million things in the world which are not politics. The whole reason I used to go to Facebook was to hang out virtually with my friends and keep up with what they are doing. Unless they are actually going to a political rally, that's not politics. And if they are, I care about that too because they are doing it. The big problem with Facebook is at some point everyone collectively decided it is their own personal soapbox so now it's filled with everyone standing on their little podiums shouting their opinions about everything from facemasks to whether it's ok to shoot people in the back. > I have come to peace that I'll text my friends directly and that's it. Once a month or so I log on to facebook and comment on personal updates. This is exactly what I do, because when you text people directly they are thinking of you as you, not as their own personal soapbox.
- three_seagrass 6y ago
  This has ethical reprecussions on the news ecosystem because whichever keywords/mentions that Facebook dictates as political will be targeted by news organizations to avoid. These organizations will strip normal news of any political connotations which is frightening because the news, although mostly a pile of noise today, is supposed to have signals to keep democracies in line by design.
  - r29vzg2 6y ago
    I would argue that stripping news of political connotations would be a plus. I wish all news was reported this way.
    - AftHurrahWinch 6y ago
      One of the suggested political connotations is "Mentions of politicians". You would argue that news should be reported without "Mentions of politicians"? If you disagree with that definition of political connotation, how do you define political connotations?
    - CamperBob2 6y ago
      Honestly, if you live and work and pay taxes in the US, you kind of have an obligation to keep an eye on your government. It's just basic citizenship. The events you see on the news cannot be divorced from politics. Not even the sports or weather segments. If politicians are doing things that stress you out or make you angry, would you really be better off staying uninformed? I'm not saying that Facebook is a good way to accomplish that, just that it's worth considering before you ask for technology to seal yourself off from political news altogether.
    - Talanes 6y ago
      News with no political connotations is fluff.
      - catalogia 6y ago
        That's myopic. There is all sorts of news, local news in particular, that has clear utility but tenuous political implications. Traffic and weather reports come to mind as clear examples.
- akincisor 6y ago
  So any post that has "... a liberal amount..." or "... take the conservative approach ..." or "... replaced the right wing nut..." would be filtered. Political candidates also share names with other people. Name based filtering can silence unrelated people. See how well our no fly lists are at targeting people who just happen to have the wrong name. For every problem, there is a simple solution that is wrong. Getting things right is often not simple.
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    I'd be fine if any post with references to "liberal amounts", "conservative approaches", or "right wing nut" was excised because my friends don't talk that way when they are posting pictures of their kids or the bike they just bought. > For every problem, there is a simple solution that is wrong. As with most flippant axioms and generalities this catch-phrase is quite often just wrong. Often there are simple solutions that are just fine. I used Facebook Purity for quite a while and set up simple keyword based filters and while they weren't perfect, it was a lot better than the default feed.
    - chillwaves 6y ago
      Honestly, sounds like social media just isn't for you or you have a friend's group that you need to curate.
      - ogre_codes 6y ago
        I have mostly ditched Facebook (and don't miss it). Considering the piles of studies which suggest people are happier when they drop Facebook, it's hard to argue Facebook in its current state is right for anyone.
  - catalogia 6y ago
    > So any post that has "... a liberal amount..." or "... take the conservative approach ..." or "... replaced the right wing nut..." would be filtered. This is pretty much a solved problem, and it actually is pretty simple: http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html
- intended 6y ago
  None of this is as feasible as people think it is, because this is a deep problem. What about new terms like kraken ? In case of online content moderation think in terms of signal/noise and context. The same thing is benign or malicious based on the context It finds itself in. Your filter list assumes a static context - your particular imagining of context in this case. Obviously What’s noise for you is signal/hurtful to someone else. Run this over N sub groups of subscribers and you have an impossible problem.
- paxys 6y ago
  There are a ton of browser extensions that do all this already
  - ogre_codes 6y ago
    Browser plug ins only go so far, they can't add back in content which Facebook filters out of your feed using its own profit seeking logic.
- modeless 6y ago
  I have done exactly this with Twitter's "mute words" feature, and let me tell you it is incredibly great. I would have abandoned Twitter long ago without it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
amalcon 6y ago
Honestly, it would be fine to just block re-shares of posts from politicians and the sorts of account that literally only talk politics.

lallysingh 6y ago

Perhaps put a list of check boxes for political topics and let people choose. Labeling topics by activity in news sources (say, in combination with other known political terms or authors) can help discover the list mechanically.

ogre_codes 6y ago

> I think you severely underestimate what constitutes classifying something as political. You are over-thinking this. Just filtering obvious political stuff would be a massive help: - Mentions of politicians - Key words: Liberal, Conservative, Right-wing, etc etc - Material re-shared from political parties/ candidates/ movements. Just that would be a giant help. Allowing users to set their own filters would be a massive help. None of this makes Facebook money though so it won't happen.

8ytecoder 6y ago
Pretty much everything is politics these days. That's the unfortunate truth. We can't even distinguish personal and non-personal that easily any more. Even filtering by status updates and photos won't help. Status updates can be political speech (may or may not call out someone by name or ideology), photos could be your friend holding a placard or a meme. Things as simple as wearing/not-wearing a mask is political now. In an alternate world, that would be classified under health. At least for me, that's upsetting that we are debating this. And it doesn't end there - how many of us have felt a tinge of jealousy when a friend posts that beautiful picture of a barn in the middle of Montana while you're slugging away on your computer? That's not healthy either. I have come to peace that I'll text my friends directly and that's it. Once a month or so I log on to facebook and comment on personal updates. Instagram & Reddit is what I can't quit yet. Sometimes I do need that mind numbing feed scrolling time. Otherwise, I actually call/text and talk to friends and family. Granted who I call family and friends is very limited. TBC, these are my personal opinions and how you view and use social media could be different. It's clearly not for me anymore.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > Pretty much everything is politics these days. That's the unfortunate truth. - Me riding bikes with my friends - Not politics. - My friend turning 50 - Not politics. - Organizing a game night - Not politics. - My buddy getting a new car - Not politics. - A friend getting engaged - Not politics. etc etc etc... There are million things in the world which are not politics. The whole reason I used to go to Facebook was to hang out virtually with my friends and keep up with what they are doing. Unless they are actually going to a political rally, that's not politics. And if they are, I care about that too because they are doing it. The big problem with Facebook is at some point everyone collectively decided it is their own personal soapbox so now it's filled with everyone standing on their little podiums shouting their opinions about everything from facemasks to whether it's ok to shoot people in the back. > I have come to peace that I'll text my friends directly and that's it. Once a month or so I log on to facebook and comment on personal updates. This is exactly what I do, because when you text people directly they are thinking of you as you, not as their own personal soapbox.
three_seagrass 6y ago
This has ethical reprecussions on the news ecosystem because whichever keywords/mentions that Facebook dictates as political will be targeted by news organizations to avoid. These organizations will strip normal news of any political connotations which is frightening because the news, although mostly a pile of noise today, is supposed to have signals to keep democracies in line by design.
- r29vzg2 6y ago
  I would argue that stripping news of political connotations would be a plus. I wish all news was reported this way.
  - AftHurrahWinch 6y ago
    One of the suggested political connotations is "Mentions of politicians". You would argue that news should be reported without "Mentions of politicians"? If you disagree with that definition of political connotation, how do you define political connotations?
  - CamperBob2 6y ago
    Honestly, if you live and work and pay taxes in the US, you kind of have an obligation to keep an eye on your government. It's just basic citizenship. The events you see on the news cannot be divorced from politics. Not even the sports or weather segments. If politicians are doing things that stress you out or make you angry, would you really be better off staying uninformed? I'm not saying that Facebook is a good way to accomplish that, just that it's worth considering before you ask for technology to seal yourself off from political news altogether.
  - Talanes 6y ago
    News with no political connotations is fluff.
    - catalogia 6y ago
      That's myopic. There is all sorts of news, local news in particular, that has clear utility but tenuous political implications. Traffic and weather reports come to mind as clear examples.
akincisor 6y ago
So any post that has "... a liberal amount..." or "... take the conservative approach ..." or "... replaced the right wing nut..." would be filtered. Political candidates also share names with other people. Name based filtering can silence unrelated people. See how well our no fly lists are at targeting people who just happen to have the wrong name. For every problem, there is a simple solution that is wrong. Getting things right is often not simple.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  I'd be fine if any post with references to "liberal amounts", "conservative approaches", or "right wing nut" was excised because my friends don't talk that way when they are posting pictures of their kids or the bike they just bought. > For every problem, there is a simple solution that is wrong. As with most flippant axioms and generalities this catch-phrase is quite often just wrong. Often there are simple solutions that are just fine. I used Facebook Purity for quite a while and set up simple keyword based filters and while they weren't perfect, it was a lot better than the default feed.
  - chillwaves 6y ago
    Honestly, sounds like social media just isn't for you or you have a friend's group that you need to curate.
    - ogre_codes 6y ago
      I have mostly ditched Facebook (and don't miss it). Considering the piles of studies which suggest people are happier when they drop Facebook, it's hard to argue Facebook in its current state is right for anyone.
- catalogia 6y ago
  > So any post that has "... a liberal amount..." or "... take the conservative approach ..." or "... replaced the right wing nut..." would be filtered. This is pretty much a solved problem, and it actually is pretty simple: http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html http://www.paulgraham.com/spam.html
intended 6y ago
None of this is as feasible as people think it is, because this is a deep problem. What about new terms like kraken ? In case of online content moderation think in terms of signal/noise and context. The same thing is benign or malicious based on the context It finds itself in. Your filter list assumes a static context - your particular imagining of context in this case. Obviously What’s noise for you is signal/hurtful to someone else. Run this over N sub groups of subscribers and you have an impossible problem.
paxys 6y ago
There are a ton of browser extensions that do all this already
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  Browser plug ins only go so far, they can't add back in content which Facebook filters out of your feed using its own profit seeking logic.
modeless 6y ago
I have done exactly this with Twitter's "mute words" feature, and let me tell you it is incredibly great. I would have abandoned Twitter long ago without it.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

amalcon 6y ago

Honestly, it would be fine to just block re-shares of posts from politicians and the sorts of account that literally only talk politics.