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Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

theguardian.com

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Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#21

Post by cwperkins »

malvosenior wrote: post #3

Why don’t these publishers band together and launch their own news aggregator if they think that’s something people want? I don’t see Facebook owing them a platform here and from a personal perspective politics can’t be removed from my _social_ feed fast enough.

Exactly this - when did Facebook become a platform for everyone I'm associated with to blurt their opinions. I think there needs to be another forum because the only thing I am interested in using Facebook for is to catch up on my friends doings. Weddings, vacations, etc.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#22

Post by malvosenior »

anigbrowl wrote: post #8
malvosenior wrote: post #3

Why don’t these publishers band together and launch their own news aggregator if they think that’s something people want? I don’t see Facebook owing them a platform here and from a personal perspective politics can’t be removed from my _social_ feed fast enough.

- Journalists =/= publishers - Ignores non-negligible capital costs - Complaining about politics in your social feed is asinine since many people are interested in politics and choose to share that interest socially, so you're gonna hear about it anyway

> Journalists =/= publishers

The article is about publishers (and the journalists who work for them). Not independent journalists/bloggers.

> Ignores non-negligible capital costs

That’s the same problem every service in the internet has. It’s pretty cheap to get started though so costs would come as usage scaled up.

> Complaining about politics in your social feed is asinine since many people are interested in politics and choose to share that interest socially, so you're gonna hear about it anyway

I would unfriend or mute those people so not sure why my point is “asinine”. In fact if your friends are talking about politics then this article’s topic is non-applicable since it’s not about filtering content produced by your friends.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#23

Post by malvosenior »

thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

> Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion.

That is definitely speculation and not fact.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#24

Post by cobookman »

thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

> and helped Donald Trump get elected

Do you have actual proof of that. For all we know if facebook didn't exist the population might have voted even more towards Trump.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#26

Post by tomjen3 »

thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

"I will furnish the pictures, you will furnish the war"

Let's not, in justly criticizing Facebook, excuse the crimes of the press. They were gatekeepers, and that was a role they loved, but they were not, in general, fair unbiased.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#27

Post by [deleted] »

dnautics wrote: post #19
thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

>there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased In what universe is this true? Historically journalists have had long eras of questionable judgement, e.g. the yellow journalism era. Sometimes it feels like they're not really any better. Journalists have been information gatekeepers because of a structural monopoly. As this monopoly is being broken down by technology, of course the entrenched interests will clam…

[deleted]

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#28

Post by [deleted] »

malvosenior wrote: post #23
thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

> Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. That is definitely speculation and not fact.

[deleted]

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#29

Post by dang »

markyuckerberg wrote: post #13

There was a time when patio11 was going through a phase calling out Zynga as one of the shadiest companies around. I remember thinking "If Zynga is that bad, then what about Facebook?" Facebook's ability and willingness to manipulate just about everything in sight - WhatsApp ad policies, privacy policy changes, arbitrary censorship of content, providing clear misinformation to legal entities for e.g. the promise to E…

Substantive critique of Facebook is fine on HN. To illustrate the point, I used a moderation mechanism to rescue the OP from being penalized, which is why you see it on the front page now.

That said, you can't do this with an account named "markyuckerberg". We want thoughtful conversation, not cheap shots or personal attacks. Perhaps Zuckerberg needs no protecting when it comes to these things, but HN certainly does, so I've banned this account. If you want to comment on HN, a good place to start would be with a username that doesn't violate the spirit of the site, re which please see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html.

Btw, special-purpose accounts aren't allowed here either. We're hoping for good conversation, not pre-existing agendas.

Re: Journalists decry Facebook experiment's impact on democracy

#30

Post by jdoliner »

thrusong wrote: post #17

I think there will be increasing scrutiny over Facebook's ability to wipe their hands while claiming "it's free speech." There's a reason the media were information gatekeepers: there's a responsibility to be accurate and unbiased. Facebook's product was manipulated and helped Donald Trump get elected by swaying public opinion. There has to be consequences- sorry, but in my opinion not every voice deserves to be equa…

Consequences?

For a social network that may have hosted content that may have convinced people to vote for a candidate you don't like? What sorts of consequences do you have in mind here? And where exactly do you draw the line between "manipulating" Facebook to help a candidate and using Facebook legitimately to get a candidates message out there?

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