Facebook may not be the source but it is the megaphone for disinformation and is a threat to freedom. “ While the blame for President Trump’s incitement to ins

Facebook may not be the source but it is the megaphone for disinformation and is a threat to freedom. “ While the blame for President Trump’s incitement to insurrection lies squarely with him, the biggest social media companies — most prominently my former employer, Facebook — are absolutely complicit. They have not only allowed Trump to lie and sow division for years, their business models have exploited our biases and weaknesses and abetted the growth of conspiracy-touting hate groups and outrage machines.”[1] “What is clear, however, is that Facebook was a “key vector of distribution for untrustworthy websites.” [2] “ In the Philippines, Facebook staff trained Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign, which then used the platform to circulate disinformation, including a fake endorsement from the pope and a fake sex tape of a political opponent. Since winning, Duterte has paid armies of online trolls to harass, dox and spread disinformation about journalists and political opponents on Facebook. Although Facebook has since organized safety and digital literacy workshops while hiring more Tagalog speakers, journalists still contend that Facebook hasn’t “done anything to deal with the fundamental problem, which is they’re allowing lies to be treated the same way as truth and spreading it … Either they’re negligent or they’re complicit in state-sponsored hate”.” [3] [1]https://hbr.org/2021/01/how-to-hold-social-media-accountable-for-undermining-democracy https://hbr.org/2021/01/how-to-hold-social-media-accountable... [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/03/21/facebook-spreads-fake-news-faster-than-any-other-social-website-according-to-new-research/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/03/21/facebook... [3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/24/facebook-authoritarian-platform-mark-zuckerberg-michael-bennet https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/24/facebo...