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With Facebook there is at least a chance, however minuscule, that you are exposed to different ideas. With media like Fox News, it’s straight out propaganda. Th

• jfengel 6y ago
  The cause is all mixed up in cause and effect. Fox News exists because there are people who want it. It amplifies what they believe and gradually pushes them to believe more extreme forms of it, but it's just one part of a huge ecosystem -- politicians, right-wing radio, religious leaders, etc. The common factor all of those have is the population. Facebook doesn't have control of any of those things. The only thing it can control is itself. But it can at least reduce its own part in the way the people and the media perform for each other to be even more extreme. And Facebook is in a rare (if not unique) position to be directly in front of that population: it can't make Fox News go away, but it can put a flag in front of Fox News stories. The "cause" is ultimately the individuals, not the media or the politicians or the wealthy think-tank funders. They don't have mind control. All they can do is appeal to people with what they already want to believe and amplify it -- a process that's been going on for at least four decades. Reversing it will take at least as long. I don't expect FB to solve it, but I do think it's a good idea for them to not allow themselves to be part of it.