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So Facebook facilitates the spread of engaging content which happens to include disinformation because due to our imperfect nature people like to engage with di

So Facebook facilitates the spread of engaging content which happens to include disinformation because due to our imperfect nature people like to engage with disinformation. Seems like wishing that Facebook wouldn't exist because of this is analogous to wishing that airfare wouldn't exist because it facilitates global spread of infections. Also, the word "divisive" gives me shivers. It's better to be divided than to be united in a fallacy. And in many cases getting divided is our only hope of ever arriving at the truth.

colinmhayes 5y ago
It's not the divisiveness that upsets me, I agree with "And in many cases getting divided is our only hope of ever arriving at the truth." It's the fact that facebook is propagandizing people because it's shoving the divisive content in their face nonstop without understanding if it's disinformation first. There will always be false content on social media, but I don't think that means facebook gets a pass for actively encouraging it.
toss1 5y ago
It is not merely "happens to include disinformation" It is systematic, algorithmic preferential amplification of disinformation (at the expense of real information) based on 'engagement' vs truth value, moral compass, or societal value. And it is allowing orgs like Cambridge Analytica to harvest vast amounts of PII and use that to specifically tune and target the dezinformatsiya. If you think of Fb as some kind of passive carrier you are horribly outdated - it hasn't done that in decades. FB curates and manages every word of data coming across it's servers at a scale and effectiveness that no actual news organization has evrer conceived of, let alone implemented. And yet they hide behind the "we're only a carrier" fallacy. It's like the fat epidemic - sure, you can blame each bite of what to eat on the individual, but the rapidity of the overall trend makes in undeniable that the entire food supply has been skewed, limiting the choices such that only those who work diligently to avoid all the usual choices typically remain healthy.

colinmhayes 5y ago

It's not the divisiveness that upsets me, I agree with "And in many cases getting divided is our only hope of ever arriving at the truth." It's the fact that facebook is propagandizing people because it's shoving the divisive content in their face nonstop without understanding if it's disinformation first. There will always be false content on social media, but I don't think that means facebook gets a pass for actively encouraging it.

toss1 5y ago

It is not merely "happens to include disinformation" It is systematic, algorithmic preferential amplification of disinformation (at the expense of real information) based on 'engagement' vs truth value, moral compass, or societal value. And it is allowing orgs like Cambridge Analytica to harvest vast amounts of PII and use that to specifically tune and target the dezinformatsiya. If you think of Fb as some kind of passive carrier you are horribly outdated - it hasn't done that in decades. FB curates and manages every word of data coming across it's servers at a scale and effectiveness that no actual news organization has evrer conceived of, let alone implemented. And yet they hide behind the "we're only a carrier" fallacy. It's like the fat epidemic - sure, you can blame each bite of what to eat on the individual, but the rapidity of the overall trend makes in undeniable that the entire food supply has been skewed, limiting the choices such that only those who work diligently to avoid all the usual choices typically remain healthy.