Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News • Hacker News Board

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#141

Post by pklausler » Mon, May 09, 2016, 4:55 PM UTC

angersock wrote: post #116

Mmmm...yes....truly those backwards conservatives don't have any real news. /me swirls whiskey and tips fedora Seriously, do you even recognize how condescending you sound?

Tax cuts raise revenue!

Saddam had WMDs and participated in 9/11!

Global climate change is a myth/conspiracy!

Obamacare will lead to high unemployment!

Allowing transgendered women into ladies' rooms leads to assaults on our wimminfolk!

The Earth is 6,020 years old and evolution is a Satanic lie!

If Facebook is keeping "news" sources with this kind of debunked, disproven, dishonest "facts" out of my news stream, then I'm going to start spending more time on Facebook.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#142

Post by gunshigh » Mon, May 09, 2016, 4:56 PM UTC

pklausler wrote: post #100

Perhaps Facebook was suppressing "news" items contradicted by empirical reality, and this policy disproportionately affected conservative positions.

Or perhaps perception of "empirical reality" is shaped by existing biases, causing them to be denied outright, resulting in an echo chamber that disproportionately affected conservative positions.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#143

Post by Mendenhall » Mon, May 09, 2016, 4:56 PM UTC

zepto wrote: post #129

Note that the source for this is a single self-identified conservative ex-contractor.

That is not true.

"Another former curator agreed that the operation had an aversion to right-wing news sources. “It was absolutely bias. We were doing it subjectively."

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#144

Post by PaulHoule » Mon, May 09, 2016, 4:58 PM UTC

luso_brazilian wrote: post #135

PaulHoule wrote: post #87

So what. The day Bill Clinton got elected, Rush Limbaugh started counting the days of "America Held Hostage". Today Fox News leads every day with how there is a N gg r in the White House and we all hate Obama and everything he stands for, and it is a tragedy we will get four years of Hillary because the Republicans are so screwed up, and... Right wing "thinkers" get unlimited funding from the likes of the Koch Brothe…

Part of what you said is hyperbolic or plainly not true, another part a false equivalence and, in both cases, it greatly misses the point. To get two points right out of the way: 1. I completely agree that the mainstream media in the U.S. (and in most parts of the world) is very biased and partisan. 2. I also agree that, as private companies, both Facebook and the mainstream media are in their complete right to proce…

The issue is that the right wing machine has gone so far that it has destroyed the Republican party. There won't be a Republican party in 2022 unless they get a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizen's United.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#145

Post by dragonwriter » Mon, May 09, 2016, 4:59 PM UTC

SFLemonade wrote: post #134

dragonwriter wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What if it were liberal news? If you read the article, its quite possible that it was also liberal news, depending on individual curators. Given other FB interventions I've seen, I'd be surprised if, like everything else at FB, the news moderation wasn't just stunningly inconsistent with rampant suppression of left, right, and center according to individual and essentially unaccountable whim. FB is tolerably usable…

> If you read the article, its quite possible that it was also liberal news, depending on individual curators. "we were unable to determine if left-wing news topics or sources were similarly suppressed" I see what you're getting at, but I highly doubt liberal news was systematically suppressed. Facebook is a notoriously far-left company, located in a region of the US that is already far-left.

> located in a region of the US that is already far-left.

Silicon Valley has a fairly substantial right-libertarian and just-plain libertarian segment, which, in the usual way multidimensional politics are smushed into the US two-party, one-axis system, fall out as "conservative", (and quite a lot of really hard to classify on a liberal-conservative axis types that are extremely socially liberal, but economically center-to-right-libertarian (that is, outside of culture-war kind of issues, they tend to agree more with the center-to-right types on the function of government, as well as leaning libertarian on its preferred degree and means of involvement in fulfilling that function); these don't fit well as either "liberal" or "conservative" in the classical sense, and often aren't very "moderate" though they might get classified that way as a result of being very liberal on some salient issues and very "conservative" (as that works out in the US political spectrum) on others.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#146

Post by mwfunk » Mon, May 09, 2016, 5:02 PM UTC

zepto wrote: post #129

Note that the source for this is a single self-identified conservative ex-contractor.

And for another grain of salt, it's on Gizmodo, a Gawker property. I often enjoy some of the Gawker sites (esp. Deadspin) but they are openly, unapologetically tabloidy and clickbaity from the top down. Nothing wrong with that as long as the readership understands the nature of the organization. Lots of great articles, but no shortage of clickbait and hyperbole.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#147

Post by pklausler » Mon, May 09, 2016, 5:04 PM UTC

Grue3 wrote: post #133

pklausler wrote: post #100

Perhaps Facebook was suppressing "news" items contradicted by empirical reality, and this policy disproportionately affected conservative positions.

Guess what, conservatives think "liberal news" are contradicted by empirical reality too. Nobody thinks they are in the wrong.

So everybody's right?

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#148

Post by angersock » Mon, May 09, 2016, 5:05 PM UTC

pklausler wrote: post #141

angersock wrote: post #116

Mmmm...yes....truly those backwards conservatives don't have any real news. /me swirls whiskey and tips fedora Seriously, do you even recognize how condescending you sound?

Tax cuts raise revenue! Saddam had WMDs and participated in 9/11! Global climate change is a myth/conspiracy! Obamacare will lead to high unemployment! Allowing transgendered women into ladies' rooms leads to assaults on our wimminfolk! The Earth is 6,020 years old and evolution is a Satanic lie! If Facebook is keeping "news" sources with this kind of debunked, disproven, dishonest "facts" out of my news stream, then…

You know, if folks didn't feel like they had to appeal to increasingly extreme positions in order to maintain audience size (because of other censorship), maybe those positions wouldn't get so much air time.

Additionally, having them out in the open like that lets sane people like you and I go over and point out their silliness. The current approach just allows it to fester.

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#149

Post by gunshigh » Mon, May 09, 2016, 5:07 PM UTC

pklausler wrote: post #141

angersock wrote: post #116

Mmmm...yes....truly those backwards conservatives don't have any real news. /me swirls whiskey and tips fedora Seriously, do you even recognize how condescending you sound?

Tax cuts raise revenue! Saddam had WMDs and participated in 9/11! Global climate change is a myth/conspiracy! Obamacare will lead to high unemployment! Allowing transgendered women into ladies' rooms leads to assaults on our wimminfolk! The Earth is 6,020 years old and evolution is a Satanic lie! If Facebook is keeping "news" sources with this kind of debunked, disproven, dishonest "facts" out of my news stream, then…

Benghazi was the result of a YouTube video!

We're not spying on your emails!

I never sent classified information on that server!

Drone strikes only hit terrorists!

There are no secret "kill lists"!

With this insurance program you'll get to keep your doctors!

We aren't going to make you pay for insurance you don't need!

The SuperDelegates are just a way to amplify Vox Populi!

"If Facebook is keeping "news" like this, then I'm going to start spending more time on Facebook."

Re: Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News

#150

Post by PhantomGremlin » Mon, May 09, 2016, 5:11 PM UTC

Mendenhall wrote: post #143

zepto wrote: post #129

Note that the source for this is a single self-identified conservative ex-contractor.

That is not true. "Another former curator agreed that the operation had an aversion to right-wing news sources. “It was absolutely bias. We were doing it subjectively."

Try posting a link to a Breitbart story here on HN. It's silently suppressed. Doesn't even appear in 'new'. Whereas links to rt.com are welcome. That's just how things are, comrade! :)

My previous rant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11518592