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Honestly this would be good for everyone if the primary platform for misinformation and long form arguments about politics with family members went away. All I

Honestly this would be good for everyone if the primary platform for misinformation and long form arguments about politics with family members went away. All I really care about is seeing people's kids and pets and memes. Everything else is at best just a waste of time and at worst actively destroying democracy.

the_only_human 4y ago
according to you, who is wrong. According to me, FB allows me to connect with friends. I have litteraly travelled the world because of a friend i met on facebook, and it was the greatest feeling ever. FB is awesome. If it's toxic for you, YOU ARE TOXIC.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- dang 4y ago
  We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. You can't attack others like this here. Also, you've mostly been posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments and that's not allowed either. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
the_only_human 4y ago
ActorNightly 4y ago
Why do people still think that the platform is the "cause" of things like "misinformation" You think that just shutting down the communication medium really makes all of that go away"?
- ascendantlogic 4y ago
  Prior to social media it was demonstrably harder for people with "extreme" (for all values of extreme) views to spread their message and find like-minded people. Not impossible, but definitely not nearly as easy as it is now. Social media platforms aren't the cause of misinformation, they're the cause of the rapid dissemination of it. I don't think shutting them down will stop it but I think a lot of todays hyper-partisan inflammation of the citizenry is owed to these platforms and their encouragement of any and all "engagement" on their platforms in service of ad dollars. These companies know how harmful these products are but since they're profitable they ignore the findings. I would argue that Meta/Facebook is the Philip Morris of our generation.

the_only_human 4y ago

according to you, who is wrong. According to me, FB allows me to connect with friends. I have litteraly travelled the world because of a friend i met on facebook, and it was the greatest feeling ever. FB is awesome. If it's toxic for you, YOU ARE TOXIC.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
dang 4y ago
We've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines. You can't attack others like this here. Also, you've mostly been posting unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments and that's not allowed either. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

the_only_human 4y ago

ActorNightly 4y ago

Why do people still think that the platform is the "cause" of things like "misinformation" You think that just shutting down the communication medium really makes all of that go away"?

ascendantlogic 4y ago
Prior to social media it was demonstrably harder for people with "extreme" (for all values of extreme) views to spread their message and find like-minded people. Not impossible, but definitely not nearly as easy as it is now. Social media platforms aren't the cause of misinformation, they're the cause of the rapid dissemination of it. I don't think shutting them down will stop it but I think a lot of todays hyper-partisan inflammation of the citizenry is owed to these platforms and their encouragement of any and all "engagement" on their platforms in service of ad dollars. These companies know how harmful these products are but since they're profitable they ignore the findings. I would argue that Meta/Facebook is the Philip Morris of our generation.