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Facebook and Twitter users sway elections. Every company can affect democracy in some way. Foxnews had a massive effect on elections, Gas prices being high aff

Facebook and Twitter users sway elections. Every company can affect democracy in some way. Foxnews had a massive effect on elections, Gas prices being high affects elections. Should these be regulated?

benatkin 4y ago
> Facebook and Twitter users sway elections. That's not what gp is saying. Facebook and Twitter control what users, in bulk, say in a way that can sway elections. Facebook and Twitter moderate and suspend and users adjust what they say in order to not get suspended again, if they care to not get banned. (Those who don't care if they get banned are a red herring.) There is also the algorithmic feed which gives a lot of control over what users say to other users.
- evandale 4y ago
  I just quit Reddit and deleted all my accounts despite gilding > 10 comments over the past year because I got blacklisted from every community subreddit I wanted to participate in. I brought up the bias to the admins and was told mods can run their subreddit however they want despite Rule 1 of the mod guidelines saying to assume people are arguing in good faith. I got banned because I say controversial things like Black people are not disproportionately targeted by police due to their race, but rather due to them disproportionately having guns and knives when the police show up. The general public have a serious problem understanding nuance and statistics and I think it's disgusting that the media cry racism at every corner because it enrages people and gets clicks. It's even more disgusting that people fall for it without realizing what the media is doing to them because they can't read past headlines. I'll link to the actual TPS report that shows this but I'm on a slow connection right now and can't do it. edit: nvm I'm dumb; it's not that but the report is named 9082-2018-TPS-Annual-Report.pdf if you can find it on its own. You can google "tps force report 2018 -2020 pdf". I'd find it myself but I'm downloading a 12mb pdf that's taking forever and I'm pretty sure this is the one.
  - lovich 4y ago
    - evandale 4y ago
      I believe this is the report and if remember right it's on page 52 or maybe 54. Decide for yourself. https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-interim-report-toronto-police-service-inquiry-shows-disturbing-results https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-interim-report-to... edit: nvm I'm dumb; it's not that but the report is named 9082-2018-TPS-Annual-Report.pdf if you can find it on its own. You can google "tps force report 2018 -2020 pdf". I'd find it myself but I'm downloading a 12mb pdf that's taking forever and I'm pretty sure this is the one.
      - themitigating 4y ago
        This isn't what this Hackernews post is about. You complained about people not understanding nuance but you want to dive right into argument about the police and minorities?
        evandale 4y ago
        I'm responding to the claim that Twitter and Facebook ban points of view they don't want people to see and I'm pointing out Reddit does the exact same thing.
        lovich 4y ago
        So how many times on a weekly basis would you say you bring up the numbers 13 and 50?
        evandale 4y ago
        0 Why?
        4y ago
- themitigating 4y ago
  In what way is facebooks moderation on or algorithm related to specifically to elections
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - yonaguska 4y ago
    You are either incredibly naive, or you are being intentionally obtuse. When you can pick and choose what ideas or people are acceptable to even discuss, you are controlling the extent to which people can explore ideas on your platform, and subsequently, how they might vote. The innate human needs to belong to a community are easily exploited by a social network that is not necessarily organic. Same way religious institutions can sway elections, or any institution that dictates culture. Tech just enables that process to scale.
- themitigating 4y ago
  The issue is that they sway elections. Why is it more important how they sway elections versus the amount of influence? It seems the latter would have a greater effect.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

benatkin 4y ago

> Facebook and Twitter users sway elections. That's not what gp is saying. Facebook and Twitter control what users, in bulk, say in a way that can sway elections. Facebook and Twitter moderate and suspend and users adjust what they say in order to not get suspended again, if they care to not get banned. (Those who don't care if they get banned are a red herring.) There is also the algorithmic feed which gives a lot of control over what users say to other users.

evandale 4y ago
I just quit Reddit and deleted all my accounts despite gilding > 10 comments over the past year because I got blacklisted from every community subreddit I wanted to participate in. I brought up the bias to the admins and was told mods can run their subreddit however they want despite Rule 1 of the mod guidelines saying to assume people are arguing in good faith. I got banned because I say controversial things like Black people are not disproportionately targeted by police due to their race, but rather due to them disproportionately having guns and knives when the police show up. The general public have a serious problem understanding nuance and statistics and I think it's disgusting that the media cry racism at every corner because it enrages people and gets clicks. It's even more disgusting that people fall for it without realizing what the media is doing to them because they can't read past headlines. I'll link to the actual TPS report that shows this but I'm on a slow connection right now and can't do it. edit: nvm I'm dumb; it's not that but the report is named 9082-2018-TPS-Annual-Report.pdf if you can find it on its own. You can google "tps force report 2018 -2020 pdf". I'd find it myself but I'm downloading a 12mb pdf that's taking forever and I'm pretty sure this is the one.
- lovich 4y ago
  - evandale 4y ago
    I believe this is the report and if remember right it's on page 52 or maybe 54. Decide for yourself. https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-interim-report-toronto-police-service-inquiry-shows-disturbing-results https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/news_centre/ohrc-interim-report-to... edit: nvm I'm dumb; it's not that but the report is named 9082-2018-TPS-Annual-Report.pdf if you can find it on its own. You can google "tps force report 2018 -2020 pdf". I'd find it myself but I'm downloading a 12mb pdf that's taking forever and I'm pretty sure this is the one.
    - themitigating 4y ago
      This isn't what this Hackernews post is about. You complained about people not understanding nuance but you want to dive right into argument about the police and minorities?
      - evandale 4y ago
        I'm responding to the claim that Twitter and Facebook ban points of view they don't want people to see and I'm pointing out Reddit does the exact same thing.
        lovich 4y ago
        So how many times on a weekly basis would you say you bring up the numbers 13 and 50?
        evandale 4y ago
        0 Why?
        4y ago
themitigating 4y ago
In what way is facebooks moderation on or algorithm related to specifically to elections
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- yonaguska 4y ago
  You are either incredibly naive, or you are being intentionally obtuse. When you can pick and choose what ideas or people are acceptable to even discuss, you are controlling the extent to which people can explore ideas on your platform, and subsequently, how they might vote. The innate human needs to belong to a community are easily exploited by a social network that is not necessarily organic. Same way religious institutions can sway elections, or any institution that dictates culture. Tech just enables that process to scale.
themitigating 4y ago
The issue is that they sway elections. Why is it more important how they sway elections versus the amount of influence? It seems the latter would have a greater effect.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]