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>> Facebook has designed its algorithms for spreading misinformation and disinformation, because emotion drives engagement. If emotion drives engagement, then
by imheretolearn 6y ago
>> Facebook has designed its algorithms for spreading misinformation and disinformation, because emotion drives engagement.
If emotion drives engagement, then this should apply to positive emotions as well. All emotional posts, positive or negative, will be treated equally by the algorithm according to your logic. Hence it follows, that facebook hasn't explicitly designed it's algorithms to spread only misinformation and disinformation, acc to your logic.
I would like to see some proof that would back up your statement.
- zepto 6y agoTwo points: 1. It doesn’t matter what the valence of the emotions are - positive or negative valence feedback loops will spread misinformation and disinformation. Positive emotion is not correlated with truth. 2. If you haven’t heard about this idea before, here is a starting point: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/digital-technology-brain.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/digital-technolog...
- imheretolearn 6y ago>> Positive emotion is not correlated with truth. I assumed from your previous comment(below) that you are correlating negative emotion with misinformation and disinformation. If that's not what you meant, then I guess I misunderstood what you meant by your previous comment >> Facebook has designed its algorithms for spreading misinformation and disinformation, because emotion drives engagement
- zepto 6y agoI don’t see how that assumption is implied by anything I said in what you quoted. There is no reference to the valence of the emotion.
- afiori 6y agoThe easiest negative emotion to cause with a post is outrage, which goes nicely with fake news. The easiest positive emotion to cause are at the result of puppies and wholesome/faith-in-humanity-restored posts, neither are generally related to actual truthful news.
- tsimionescu 6y agoIf emotion drives engagement and you optimize for engagement, then you will optimize for emotionally-charged posts over emotionally-neutral posts. If you then assume that emotionally-charged posts are more likely to be mis/dis-information, then you have a case. I don't think this assumption is necessarily true for random misinformation (think common myths), but propaganda is usually designed to be emotionally charged, from PR to state propaganda.