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If we're in "tinhat" territory: it seems extremely odd to me that this whistelblower seems to be "blowing the whistle" on the fact that facebook isn't doing eno

If we're in "tinhat" territory: it seems extremely odd to me that this whistelblower seems to be "blowing the whistle" on the fact that facebook isn't doing enough to control what people are thinking and talking about. Like...what? "Brave whistelblower comes out showing that facebook isn't doing enough to control what you are thinking!" is sortof arguing past the question. Should facecbook be in charge of deciding what you think?

DeRock 5y ago
> this whistelblower seems to be "blowing the whistle" on the fact that facebook isn't doing enough to control what people are thinking and talking about. That is not at all what the whistleblower is alleging. Facebook already controls what content you are seeing through its news feed algorithm. The parameters to that algorithm are not a 1-dimensional "how much control", but instead uses engagement metrics for what content to show. The whistleblower claims that the engagement optimization, according to facebooks own research, prioritizes emotionally angry/hurtful/divisive content.
- serial_dev 5y ago
  I didn't have the time to watch the interview yet but... wasn't it common knowledge for years? Is there anything else in the interview the whistleblower alleges, or can prove?
  - windowsrookie 5y ago
    We all knew Facebook is bad for society. The whistleblower showed us that Facebook has done internal studies and that these studies have shown their products are bad for society/contributed to the insurrection/promote human trafficking/damage teen mental health/etc. But even with these studies, Facebook has decided to prioritize growth and revenue, rather than fix the issues that are bad for society. What this whistleblower leaked will hopefully lead to some sort of government regulation on social media. Without regulation, social media will always prioritize profit.
deleted 5y ago
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Swenrekcah 5y ago
They are exercising that power already, they are just explicitly doing so in a way that tears down the trust in society because makes them money, rather than encouraging a less I divisive and more fact based conversation, because that doesn’t make them as much money.
moolcool 5y ago
The problem isn't that Facebook isn't do enough to control what you are thinking, it's that it's doing way too much!

DeRock 5y ago

> this whistelblower seems to be "blowing the whistle" on the fact that facebook isn't doing enough to control what people are thinking and talking about. That is not at all what the whistleblower is alleging. Facebook already controls what content you are seeing through its news feed algorithm. The parameters to that algorithm are not a 1-dimensional "how much control", but instead uses engagement metrics for what content to show. The whistleblower claims that the engagement optimization, according to facebooks own research, prioritizes emotionally angry/hurtful/divisive content.

serial_dev 5y ago
I didn't have the time to watch the interview yet but... wasn't it common knowledge for years? Is there anything else in the interview the whistleblower alleges, or can prove?
- windowsrookie 5y ago
  We all knew Facebook is bad for society. The whistleblower showed us that Facebook has done internal studies and that these studies have shown their products are bad for society/contributed to the insurrection/promote human trafficking/damage teen mental health/etc. But even with these studies, Facebook has decided to prioritize growth and revenue, rather than fix the issues that are bad for society. What this whistleblower leaked will hopefully lead to some sort of government regulation on social media. Without regulation, social media will always prioritize profit.

deleted 5y ago

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Swenrekcah 5y ago

They are exercising that power already, they are just explicitly doing so in a way that tears down the trust in society because makes them money, rather than encouraging a less I divisive and more fact based conversation, because that doesn’t make them as much money.

moolcool 5y ago

The problem isn't that Facebook isn't do enough to control what you are thinking, it's that it's doing way too much!