Facebook and all social media platforms are problems

All of the platforms are problems that seriously needs to be looked at. I will always say the social media is a rut on all societies and they are not a good thing. They cause more fake news then anything that has ever been created. These platforms can be controlled in ways that are harmful worldwide. Not that we needed this whistle blower to come forward, but I am glad she did. You know if this is happening on Facebook it happens on all platforms. We seriously need to start doing something about these platforms now. They have far to much control and can control any narrative that they want.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo

I agree, YouTube, Memes, Copypastas and all the other vectors of Social Media Disinformation. Are doing far more harm than good.

But at the same time, what can be done? Moderation will work great, but eventually, the frauds will move on to different platforms to sell the same ********. This is why I support a corporation's right to moderate their own content.

At this point I think the best solution is to de-emphasize test taking and do a lot more to emphasize critical thinking. Colleges, from my experience do a great job encouraging critical thinking, but Grade School? Not so much from my experience.

I have no clue how facebook isn't banned globally yet by every government.

Social media is garbage in general the world was much better without it.

@Maroxad: They are free to moderate their own content. It's down to money. Facebook has shown how little emphasis there has been on critical thinking. Most things used to be vetted before reaching the general population.

I saw donald trump on twitch, nobody wants that.

That is technically speaking still what happens. But an ideologue can cherry pick data in studies, then misrepresent the data in said study, and share it to the population as a whole. Usually, with the researchers condemning the ideologues for misrepresenting their work.

Ben Shapiro and Carl Benjamin are experts in this craft.

In this manner, all kinds of half truths are dishonestly spread to society as a whole. And it does tremendous damage.

I believe that a Half-Truth is far more dangerous than a falsehood. A falsehood can be debunked with a quick google search. But a half-truth? Challenging those takes skills most people are not equipped with.

I have nothing but respect for the Fact Checkers, whose job almost entirely relies around being critical thinkers.

Lmao what do you think TV is used for? What do you think the MSM does. Social media crap is getting to the youth way earlier that’s the real problem.

Well of course they are. It will only get worse, due to the increasing amount of paint chip nibblers who think it's just fine and dandy to have a few billionaires dictate the flow of political speech online.

Then don’t use it. Problem solved. But don’t tell the rest of us what to do, I will continue to use Facebook and YouTube and you can’t stop me!

Great example of someone not reading the story. You would see that an employee whistle blower has said that Facebook is controlling the flow of messaging and sometimes it creating conflict that is killing people. So I guess you are okay with this, got it!

If Facebook wants to promote conspiracy theories that's on them. We as consumers should ditch them or hold them accountable with our wallets and traffic. They're private companies that have control over their own content and distribution. If the problem lies with the AMOUNT of sway they have due to content, dissemination of information, etc., that is an argue that should go down the route of monopolization and anti-trust break ups.

I doubt most people even care one way or another.

So, you want to debunk social media... with Google? You do know Google uses algorithms to prioritize mainstream media sources when anyone searches for anything.

Educating the masses to think for themselves and generally be responsible on the internet might help a little bit.

'How to use the internet responsibly' should just replace the first half of school.

@Xabiss: Not only are you making stuff up, you are jumping to conclusions. Nice.

I thought Facebook was used by grandmas and corporations?

Who still uses it and why?

@Sevenizz: People who want to share things with friends......

Mainstream Media doesnt tend to fabricate stories. People on Social Media however, however do.

The issue with Mainstream Media is that it doesn't tend to go indepth enough. But it is still vastly superior to what you would get from Carl Benjamin, Kyle Kulinski or Ben Shapiro. Or people on Social Media... gods they are bad... I was laughing so hard when Ben Shapiro, reading a news article from a MSM source, then completely getting the OPPOSITE story of what was being said.

That is why MSM >>>>>>>>>>>>>> New Media and Social Media.

Mainstream Media isn't great by any means, but they are better than the ultra-partisan, senstationalist New Media. That do little more than take existing MSM stories, then spin said article to suit their preferred narrative.

Edit: Not to mention, when it directly concerns scientific issues, you dont even get Mainstream Media, you tend to get links to WHO, CDC and other scientific organziations.

If people would fact check what they read from memes, maybe we as a society wouldnt have to deal with anti-vaxxers.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/viral-image/

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/facebook-posts/

Rofl i actually saw that. like wut.

They're a breeding ground for misinformation and echo chambers for anti-intellectualism. They're genuine cancer for mankind.

How many times do you have to catch mainstream media lying before you realize that yeah, they're pretty damn partisan too? And sure, they may repeat stories from other groups, but they tend to cherry pick information and promote it as more common and accepted than it really is.

@Xabiss: deleted all my instagram and facebook stuff. Totally agree. Used for all the wrong purposes.

I think you’ll see a massive crack down on google and twitter soon.

Not for trump and his russian allies.

I'd be fine with social media if they were not considered sources of serious information by anyone.

But unfortunately, as the ethnic cleansings in Myanmar (and other problems around the world) showed us, "the internet" is widely considered to be Facebook, and anything posted on there taken as gospel by many people.

Was thinking of deleting my FB account as well, but I'm not sure how many other things I have tied in to my Facebook account. Did you encounter any problems in this regard?

My last Facebook post was like three years ago, and I only go on by accident these days haha. I really do want to delete my account just not sure if I'd be screwing myself.

Facebook is super easy to use in order to manipulate the public and help track down people....and worse.

Organizations will be like "Hey let's protest at 9PM at this place" and government watchdog see that and ambush them. Government says Muslims are going to eat your kids and because your majority-Hindi population are too uneducated to know a lie when they hear it, they decide to go kill Muslims.

I mean look at Trump; does anyone here honestly believe he would have been elected president without social media? **** no.

People are so damn eager to have their own prejudices and bias validated they will swallow anything. Post comes on saying that "ANTIFA stormed an airplane!" and anyone with even a hint of distaste for ANTIFA is like "I KNEW IT! I knew they were terrorist! Thank you, Facebook, for telling me the truth confirming my beliefs"

Social media is a great place to spread lies and misinformation and having absolutely 0 accountability when you get caught. Facebook/Twitter won't do any real banning or suspension of certain ads because it would mean a loss of revenue. And mind you, It works on both sides of the aisle and is not exclusive to any political party.

@mrbojangles25

You can deactivate and still use messenger or delete it entirely

So much paranoia here. The only people who hate social media are people who want to control the flow of information. It’s fascism, period.

As per usual, you're 180 degrees off the mark.

@eoten: No. You’re in denial, I am 100% correct. The only people pounding this table are conservatives. Notice parlor isn’t mentioned, wonder why........

Bolded being the keyword.

Mainstream Media is partisan, but it still goes nowhere near the same level of Social Media. I have yet to catch Fox News or CNN endorse violence against political opponents. But on Social Media? Oh boy, there have been memes posted on there so hostile, so vile, I would get banned posting them on here.

And again, Fox News and CNN have been caught lying, but their reporting is passable. Internet memes on the other hand, tend to overwhelmingly fail any fact-check.

I am planning on deleting it entirely.

Endorsing and inciting violence is illegal. So MSM does the next best thing and pretends it isn't happening while refusing to condemn it. And then leaves out pieces of information for the sole purpose to anger more people, and cause more violence.

Did you hear this from a link a friend posted on social media?

:P

It's all fake news to an extent, but the "MSM" has regulations. Social media is the fakest of the fake, and quite literally one of the more dangerous and destructive forces to the democratic process.

This is from a left-leaning podcast, so take it with a grain of salt, but it's a really informative listen on disinformation and how Facebook can and has been used to assist in genocide and flip regimes.

Are you saying Facebook, Google, and Twitter need to be regulated and be held accountable?

Did you notice in my OP I said ALL PLATFORMS are problems which would include Parlor. Sorry social media is to easily controlled and this whistle blower proves it. Hell she even said the misinformation on the platform got people KILLED but I guess you are okay with that????

Wth is Parlor? And how much of the market share does it hold when compared to Facebook, Google, or Twitter?

@Xabiss: Stop jumping to conclusions, and how has it killed people?

It is in the whistle blowers story I posted. So read away.

@Xabiss: Is there a reason you linked to buzzfeed? That is a trash site. I’m surprised you would link to a rag like that. More so a left leaning one.

And where in there is it?

I don't normally read Buzzfeed at all unfortunately they where the first ones to post what the whistle blower said. Here is a part where she thinks they didn't do enough and it caused harm in two different regions,

In Bolivia, Zhang said she found “inauthentic activity supporting the opposition presidential candidate in 2019” and chose not to prioritize it. Months later, Bolivian politics fell into turmoil, leading to the resignation of President Evo Morales and “mass protests leading to dozens of deaths.”

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The same happened in Ecuador, according to Zhang, who “found inauthentic activity supporting the ruling government… and made the decision not to prioritize it.” The former Facebook employee then wondered how her decision led to downstream effects on how Ecuador’s government handled the COVID-19 pandemic — which has devastated the country — and if that would have been different if she'd acted.

same thing was said with news papers . not to long ago

Yes.

Are you going to respond with some free speech rhetoric?

@mrbojangles25: The government needs to stay out of this and not regulate speech. Just opens the door for them to control speech.

Free speech is exactly what social media prevents.

I agree if it were a public forum (like some dude speaking at a conference), an op-ed piece (where the writer is generally someone you can take seriously), or just plain ol' discussing shit with friends and family and other people...

...but Facebook (and others, but I'll just refer to Facebook) lost that right when they started making money. More importantly, it changed when they started charging people for spreading misinformation.

They've commodified our free speech on their platform, which in essence turns it from free speech to paid speech: someone is making money off the words we say, either indirectly (in the case with ads) or paid troll farms (who get paid for spewing bullshit and gaining followers).

And because free speech is now something that is easy to profit from, we have bad actors from the US and all over the world warping it to suit their needs. So something needs to be done. Not in general, but just with social media.

I'd ask everyone to delete their Facebook account but that is not going to happen lol.

And again, the main issue here is abuse of rights. We have taken things so far into excess that, frankly, I think we deserve to have our rights curtailed. The same people who suggest that we, I don't know, penalize fat people for eating too much (b/c they drive up insurance costs) are at the same time screaming bloody murder at potential free speech violations when the people abusing free speech are literally spreading misinformation, assisting with genocide, and toppling regimes in various countries.

There's too much money in politics, and Facebook is part of that issue.

Interesting perspective, could you explain. I *think* I agree.

It should be obvious. They use uneven enforcement of their rules to target political groups they disagree with. You have people on Twitter with blue checkmarks calling for more riots, violence, and insurrection and to "burn it all down" when RGB died which is strictly against their TOS, and not a single one of them banned for it. Yet countless people on the right have been banned for their political views. There's no consistency and they absolutely do it to control information.

That's funny, I generally consider social media a bastion of the right. It's quite literally the only reason Trump's fanbase is as large as it is; everything he says, all the crazy ideas he flaunts and supports, can only get traction on social media because they are so outrageous it takes a platform with little to no regulation.

Trump would not be president without Facebook, Twitter, et al.. Period.

The left seems to have more traditional media in its favor, however.