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Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

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Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#61

Post by wooter »

quoquoquo wrote: post #56
menacingly wrote: post #41

The risk here is not that the system will have bad goals, it's that it's easy for manipulation to redefine the core terms used to classify "bad" content. Even now, we regularly see even clear terms like "correct" or "incorrect" applied by fact-checking websites through a fairly biased lens. This is not a partisan issue, when you start down the road of handing the keys to shaping public thought to a powerful party, yo…

The game has changed. There are people with intolerant and twisted views trying to manipulate the naive herd of sheep who blindly follows whatever people like on Facebook. Knowing the tactics of people behind fake news, it's good that Facebook is responding accordingly to punish and get rid of bad actors on their platform. It's once again showing that we can't have pure anarcho decentralization. It would be a haven f…

sad to me that people are so quick to dismiss the principles of free speech on the basis that "the game has changed" after thousands of years of human history proving it hasn't.

(inb4 1st amendment is only for the gov - that is a selective truth. the principles of free speech exist outside of government.)

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#62

Post by uep »

menacingly wrote: post #53
Retric wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some groups flat out make up news stories to fit some narrative. What else are you going to call that than 'fake news'? 'Candidate X comes out as gay.' 'Secret photos reveal candidate X at KKK lynching.' Are both rather over the top, but also the kind of lies that influence elections.

If you don't like that, you're going to hate the physical realm, where anyone can make any claim and you're left with nothing but your wits to discern the truth

> If you don't like that, you're going to hate the physical realm, where anyone can make any claim and you're left with nothing but your wits to discern the truth

So you're saying that we should let these organizations lie as much as they want, because people lie in your day-to-day life? The people you meet in your day-to-day life and lie to your face are much more limited in the number of people they can influence with lies.

Why shouldn't we make enormously more powerful institutions more accountable for lies?

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#63

Post by jdc0589 »

zorked wrote: post #32
znpy wrote: post #16

instant question: which entity decides and how does such entity decide what news is true news ?

The phenomenon we're talking about here isn't one that causes profound ontological and ethical questions. We're talking about simple, obvious bullshit.

for now. people are unsettled because this is a classic slippery slope situation, or it has the potential to be anyway.

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#64

Post by 659087 »

znpy wrote: post #16

instant question: which entity decides and how does such entity decide what news is true news ?

When Zuckerberg officially starts his presidential campaign, the criteria for "true" news will be: News that shows Zuckerberg in a positive light.

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#65

Post by MisterBastahrd »

ctdonath wrote: post #44

I've followed social media for a long time (starting back when one could actually read every single Usenet post daily). There is a definite life cycle to social media sites. Those reaching the "too big to fail" stage are usually about to. AOL, CompuServe, MySpace, etc were all indominately massive juggernauts reaching to take over the media world - and vanished almost overnight. The sudden influx of editorial censors…

Yeah, no. The reasons that those other systems failed has nothing to do with this particular issue. People will still be able to share their bullshit to like minded people to their hearts' content, which is how the vast majority of information gets shared through facebook. All facebook is saying is that they will not take money from these bullshit mills.

The vast majority of people couldn't care less about whether Breitbart gets to advertise on facebook. They aren't going to uproot their presence there to make a political point, either. Most of the people on the site who hold those views are 50+ year olds who want to see photos of their grandchildren. They can still get all the nonsense they want by watching Fox News in the evening, which is their preferred method anyway.

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#67

Post by TallGuyShort »

briholt wrote: post #28
kumarvvr wrote: post #18

It is unfortunate that platforms like Facebook have become the beacons of pessimism. I am talking in the context of the usage of social media tools to harm society, rather than help it. For me, FB, TW, etc have become unreliable sources of news. Here, FB is trying to limit ads from pages that share false news, but who will decide that?? 1. FB - Leads to a dangerous slippery slope of putting too much power into a sing…

"Fake news" appears to be "news I don't like" and has no correlation with the accuracy of the content. Conveniently, Facebook seems to agree with many major media outlets about what news they don't like, so they can present their arbitrary definition of "fake" as objective and conveniently no one can break through the bubble to prove otherwise.

If anyone wants an example of this, look at the coverage of the crowd size at Trump's inauguration. That's still held up as the canonical example of the Trump administration's "alternative facts" (in fact that's when the phrase was coined, I believe). But there's high resolution video of the crowds during the ceremony that clearly contradicts the photos of sparse crowds. I also think the guy is a lying moron, but the fact that that photo is still the cover image for campaigns against him should give people pause...

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#68

Post by JacobJans »

menacingly wrote: post #41

The risk here is not that the system will have bad goals, it's that it's easy for manipulation to redefine the core terms used to classify "bad" content. Even now, we regularly see even clear terms like "correct" or "incorrect" applied by fact-checking websites through a fairly biased lens. This is not a partisan issue, when you start down the road of handing the keys to shaping public thought to a powerful party, yo…

> This is no different than being able to tell when someone is bullshitting just as you walk through every day life, and thinking we need to shield the poor naive populace from harmful ideas is borderline stereotypical paternalism.

There is a huge difference.

If someone is bullshitting you in real life, you don't give them a giant microphone so they can reach millions of people. You ignore them, or politely engage in conversation with them, or maybe even try to help them see the errors of their ways.

Why should Facebook be obligated to amplify deceptive messages? I don't see a reason.

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#69

Post by pdkl95 »

samstave wrote: post #47
bluetidepro wrote: post #2

This is really interesting. I wonder how it will effect Pages that are known for sarcastic/satire type of content on purpose. Pages like The Onion, Hard Times, etc. I feel like there would have to be a lot of work in the fact-checking part of this. At what point will it be too manual of a process, or will the algorithm start to fail on these "grey" areas? Also, it's nice to see Facebook implement a feature solely for…

Don't forget this infamous onion revelation, way before Snowden: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ380SHZvYU

Another infamous Onion video in a similar style is "The Power Of Selling Out: Your Customers As Political Capital".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8c_m6U1f9o

Re: Facebook says Pages that regularly share false news won’t be able to buy ads

#70

Post by jackhack »

Cuuugi wrote: post #38
MichaelGG wrote: post #13

Hmm will they apply it to all politicians and political parties? Every politician ends up saying false things now and then.

Something tells me one political party will be exempt.

And something tells me that the political party that will benefit may invest heavily in these information-filtering companies (if they are not already), closing the circle.
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