Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 645 posts

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#41

Post by ethbro »

rhizome wrote: post #18
btilly wrote: post #11

This article criticizes Facebook for firing the human editors that had been keeping things sane. However they were pushed to that by accusations of bias in the right-wing media. Accusations that looked likely to lead to a Congressional investigation. See, for example, http://thehill.com/policy/technology/279361-top-republican-d... . Now they are in a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. A…

Now they are in a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't On the topic of "don't," an unspoken option is that Facebook simply not try to do news. But the entire system is fundamentally broken... Why would they persist in the face of this? Hamartia?

Facebook consumes too many eyeball hours not to do news.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#42

Post by tomjen3 »

stevendhansen wrote: post #23

Except it isn't just the spread of misinformation. Even more important (IMHO) is the insulating effect of showing people only like-minded opinions, effectively trapping everyone in a bubble. I can't think of any way Facebook can solve this problem without drastically decreasing their reliance on ad revenue. What are they going to do, force people to view opinions they disagree with?

It wouldn't even work. Reread the news you found that you agreed with - how much of it is simply restating the same basic things and calling the other side evil, stupid, etc, at least indirectly?

If somebody with different believes than you were forced to read those, do you think the resulting society was more or less polarized?

The kind of content you need to do that is already disadvantaged since it has to be toned way down, and that makes it less much less likely to be shared in the first place.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#43

Post by travmatt »

trynumber9 wrote: post #20

You think the users are too stupid to fact check. But what makes you think the users care about the truth anyway? More often than not they double down with "well it's emblematic of the greater problem" or something to that effect. They then look for new evidence to support their views. Like it or not, some sites are designed to build echo chambers and are not for general discourse.

When playing identity politics, agreeing with a blatant lie is expected when you need to affirm the narrative of your tribe. If you don't, you're a heretic and not a true believer.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#44

Post by matt4077 »

Kenji wrote: post #16

Let's be frank here: Free speech and facebook never go together. They want to present as a respectable forum where prominent people like politicians can have their platform (same with Twitter). That needs some kind of filtering. And, as we saw with pretty much the entire American press, as soon as you start filtering and selecting, you start to induce gross biases and distortions of the truth. The truth only comes ou…

> The truth only comes out in a clutter of contradicting opinions, engaging discussions, pieces of evidence and leaked materials

It feels like we're way beyond that. It's degenerated to the point of two tribes who no longer have any "shared truth" from which to argue. If I see a post of Facebook saying that Obama has instituted martial law in New York, how can I convince the 4364 people liking it that it's a lie? If I point out that the New York Times would probably write about it, I'll just get laughed at.

The truth seriously fared a lot better in times where newspapers and a few TV stations acted as completely undemocratic arbitrators.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#45

Post by duaneb »

ihsw wrote: post #6

The moderation of Facebook is outsourced to a select group of organizations, not unlike Twitter with their Trust and Safety Council. https://about.twitter.com/safety/council https://blog.twitter.com/2016/announcing-the-twitter-trust-s... Unsurprisingly, Twitter's Safety Council members are predominantly left-leaning with ties to the (now defunct) Clinton campaign. I would presume there are plenty of seats to be fille…

Isn't twitter moderation openly mocked for being, well, hardly functional at all? It's been a bastion of bigotry for the past year. It's Trump's main platform. If they're trying to suppress the right, they're doing a TERRIBLE job.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#46

Post by vehementi »

btilly wrote: post #11

This article criticizes Facebook for firing the human editors that had been keeping things sane. However they were pushed to that by accusations of bias in the right-wing media. Accusations that looked likely to lead to a Congressional investigation. See, for example, http://thehill.com/policy/technology/279361-top-republican-d... . Now they are in a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. A…

It's a sign of the times that we shit on facebook's AI for not quite being smart enough

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#48

Post by guelo »

btilly wrote: post #11

This article criticizes Facebook for firing the human editors that had been keeping things sane. However they were pushed to that by accusations of bias in the right-wing media. Accusations that looked likely to lead to a Congressional investigation. See, for example, http://thehill.com/policy/technology/279361-top-republican-d... . Now they are in a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. A…

> lead to a Congressional investigation.

That really seems like "abridging the freedom of speech" to me. Constitutional conservatives sure love pushing the limits of the constitution when it inconveniences them.

But, you know, the election is over so now that the right has total control we must all put aside our differences and work together.

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#49

Post by remarkEon »

agildehaus wrote: post #19
btilly wrote: post #11

This article criticizes Facebook for firing the human editors that had been keeping things sane. However they were pushed to that by accusations of bias in the right-wing media. Accusations that looked likely to lead to a Congressional investigation. See, for example, http://thehill.com/policy/technology/279361-top-republican-d... . Now they are in a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. A…

I think the solution to "damned if you do, damned if you don't" here is to just remove the stupid news sidebar.

I imagine the news sidebar drives a lot of traffic.

(I agree, though.)

Re: Facebook admits it must do more to stop the spread of misinformation

#50

Post by tomjen3 »

Afforess wrote: post #3
6d6b73 wrote: post #2

So they admit they want to censorship FB.

Censorship of libel and intentional mischief is no vice.

I just had a picture in my head of 60s white policeman in a southern state saying the last part, as he locked a way some civil rights protesters.

One mans mischief and the causing of trouble is another persons fight for freedom.

Post reply on HN