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

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

#451

Post by lkrubner »

kisil_reboot wrote: post #396
lkrubner wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would AI resolve religious issues? The Jews say they are waiting for the Messiah. The Christians say the Messiah came once and will come again. The Muslims say there is only one God and Muhammad is his Prophet. Which of these groups is correct? I would love to see the AI algorithm that can finally settle this issue! Seriously, mad props to the programmer who writes that code!

Fortunately, you don't really have to solve that problem. It would be sufficient to assess claims of actual fact about the actual world. I think the first step in writing the classifier would be to write something like float IsStatementAboutFacts(string statement); // Returns confidence estimate

Your statement is that of an atheist. You don't seem to realize that many of the followers of these religions believe their assertions to be factual in every way. When I got off the subway today, at the Port Authority, in New York City, there were 2 women, holding up signs about Jesus. One of the signs literally said "Historical fact: Jesus rose from the dead".

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

#452

Post by mememachine »

justinpombrio wrote: post #405
jklinger410 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony here is also the idea that all of this so-called propaganda comes from the right. The left is constantly selecting it's own set of "facts" and tactfully leaves out whatever doesn't agree with their agenda. Simply look at all the disingenuous pro-Clinton fact checking throughout the election. Just look at the number of rape, assault, race-baity bullshit that is circulated by liberals every day. There article…

Please don't make generalizations about large groups of people. It leads to irreconcilable feuds.

You shouldnt let a fear of feuds control you.

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

#453

Post by mememachine »

CaptSpify wrote: post #436
jklinger410 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony here is also the idea that all of this so-called propaganda comes from the right. The left is constantly selecting it's own set of "facts" and tactfully leaves out whatever doesn't agree with their agenda. Simply look at all the disingenuous pro-Clinton fact checking throughout the election. Just look at the number of rape, assault, race-baity bullshit that is circulated by liberals every day. There article…

Eh... unless you have numbers, I'm going to disagree. I don't visit FB much, but I've seen enough other social media to know that both sides play the same game. They both leave out data, mis-use existing data, and outright lie. I'd love statistics to prove me wrong.

Ims ure it is true but only one side has a dominant control over internet services.

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

#454

Post by colordrops »

CaptSpify wrote: post #436
jklinger410 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony here is also the idea that all of this so-called propaganda comes from the right. The left is constantly selecting it's own set of "facts" and tactfully leaves out whatever doesn't agree with their agenda. Simply look at all the disingenuous pro-Clinton fact checking throughout the election. Just look at the number of rape, assault, race-baity bullshit that is circulated by liberals every day. There article…

Eh... unless you have numbers, I'm going to disagree. I don't visit FB much, but I've seen enough other social media to know that both sides play the same game. They both leave out data, mis-use existing data, and outright lie. I'd love statistics to prove me wrong.

Isn't that what the person you are replying to is essentially saying? That it's both sides, not just the right?

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

#455

Post by drumdance »

cpr wrote: post #145
Bud wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no need to create a Grand Unified Theory of misinformation, here. This problem isn't that hard. You filter this stuff and rank it by its SOURCE, not by the content of individual articles. It's not hard to figure out which online sources are pushing out most of the abjectly-bad propaganda, and de-rank them.

Sorry. Most of the official sources in this recent campaign were dead wrong on a lot of issues, mostly because of their own massive biases.

The polls were not that far off. If 1 in 100 Trump voters had gone for Clinton instead she would have won.

I think polling is pretty broken though. A lot has changed from 20 years ago when everyone had a landline phone.

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

#456

Post by mememachine »

lingben wrote: post #419
colllectorof wrote: post #363

"OMG, Trump has won through lies and deception! We failed to stop him. How on Earth did that happen? We must out-manipulate our opponents next time." If you read between the lines, this is what the article condenses to. The discussion here is mostly creepy groupthink shit. Social networks fact-checking their content? What's next? Should AT&T stop the spread of misinformation over its phone lines? Should USPS fact-che…

Such a comment betrays an incredibly unsophisticated understanding of the issues being discussed. Perhaps a revisit to McLuhan's maxim would be enlightening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_medium_is_the_message https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko6J9v1C9zE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoCrx0scCkM

You've got it backwards. People imbue meaning into the medium.

Also, saying the comment you replied to is "poor understanding" is both not supported by anything you shared, since your argument is as factual as theirs, and obnoxious. Keep it to yourself, please.

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

#457

Post by mememachine »

B-Con wrote: post #375
colllectorof wrote: post #363

"OMG, Trump has won through lies and deception! We failed to stop him. How on Earth did that happen? We must out-manipulate our opponents next time." If you read between the lines, this is what the article condenses to. The discussion here is mostly creepy groupthink shit. Social networks fact-checking their content? What's next? Should AT&T stop the spread of misinformation over its phone lines? Should USPS fact-che…

Agreed. The problem is the users, not the platform. If users propagate misinformation, the users propagate misinformation. The easy solution people often jump to is fighting negatives with negatives, assuming it yields a positive. But often a positive approach is more effective. Offering incentives for good acts, not just disincentives for bad acts, is a fairly popular recent trend backed by research. In this case I…

I don't see why facebook is attempting to manipulate its users at all nor how anyone thinks this is acceptable.

If people spread misinformation, than the way to stop it is to spread correct information.

If facebook takes a more active role in shaping peoples' perceptions, i think it would be incredibly immoral and I would hope the company tanks.

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

#458

Post by drumdance »

hawkice wrote: post #352
darawk wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I would argue that this is beyond an AI-complete problem, it is an unanswerable problem. For instance, consider the following spectrum of ideas: - The earth is flat - 9/11 conspiracy theories - Barack Obama was born in Kenya - Anti-vax - Climate change denial - Anti-GMO - Denial of underlying quantum randomness in the universe - The Clinton Foundation has been or is involved in some shady dealings - Muslims w…

Man, it must be me, but you ranked "Monetary policy" WAY more likely than I would (rates near zero for so long doing so little must at least put SOME doubt in your model), and "denial of quantum randomness" way less credible than I see it as. Like, man, reasonable people can disagree about pilot waves and many worlds. Are there some confusing, emotionally laden, difficult questions of fact in there? Yes. Are some thi…

Rates near zero is part of the reason the stock market has been on a tear the last few years. It also was a driver of the housing bubble.

It didn't cause the hyperinflation that a lot of people thought would come, but the Great Depression is Bernanke's area of expertise, and he had sound theoretical reasons to believe QE wouldn't spark serious inflation.

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

#459

Post by mememachine »

samsonasu wrote: post #372
colllectorof wrote: post #363

"OMG, Trump has won through lies and deception! We failed to stop him. How on Earth did that happen? We must out-manipulate our opponents next time." If you read between the lines, this is what the article condenses to. The discussion here is mostly creepy groupthink shit. Social networks fact-checking their content? What's next? Should AT&T stop the spread of misinformation over its phone lines? Should USPS fact-che…

What would be so bad about at&t offering a service that banned fraudsters from calling you? Or if the USPS refused to deliver mail that said "URGENT TIME SENSITIVE" on the envelope unless the sender could prove it really was urgent? As someone with elderly relatives who've fallen for scams over email (which major email providers already do block, automatically), I would celebrate both of those outcomes.

Labeling something "misinformation" is not an objective act, period.

Facebook will be engaging in censorship if they pursue this.

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

#460

Post by drumdance »

lkrubner wrote: post #451
kisil_reboot wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortunately, you don't really have to solve that problem. It would be sufficient to assess claims of actual fact about the actual world. I think the first step in writing the classifier would be to write something like float IsStatementAboutFacts(string statement); // Returns confidence estimate

Your statement is that of an atheist. You don't seem to realize that many of the followers of these religions believe their assertions to be factual in every way. When I got off the subway today, at the Port Authority, in New York City, there were 2 women, holding up signs about Jesus. One of the signs literally said "Historical fact: Jesus rose from the dead".

To me that's less of an issue than a statement like "if Trump is elected Jesus will return."
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