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Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

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Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#211

Post by knowaveragejoe »

bad_user wrote: post #64

I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…

I really don't like that "fake news" became this term that means "news I disagree with". What it was describing at the time it was coming into popular usage, it mostly described "news" sites that in many cases used scripts to generate their content, and for the most part preyed upon far right sentiments. So yeah, we shouldn't censor "fake news" on the premise that it is something we disagree with, but rather whether it is easily verified as false(as many of these were).

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#212

Post by hrasyid »

mkempe wrote: post #200
hrasyid wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand, how is missing your friend's post related to enabling repression?

It's an example of manipulation. Facebook removed an important item from my "news feed."

Did they arrange it so that you didn't see that post (why would they?), or did you just miss seeing it, or is it just ranked poorly by their algorithm?

Seems like there's a lot of possible explanations, it doesn't seem obvious to me that it's Facebook's fault/

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#213

Post by tudorconstantin »

tree_of_item wrote: post #151
creaghpatr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting rings are pretty common on Facebook

Yes but what distinguishes a reporting ring from a "valid" group of people acting in concert?

These people are acting in concert to deny some other citizens what should be a basic right: the right of free speech. There are things that shouldn't be possible to be enabled by popular vote: for example it shouldn't be possible to take the life of a law abiding citizen based on how many people antipathize him. Or to silence one for that matter.

I think that voting rings should in fact be legitimate (because they show that a piece of content is popular within a certain group of people, which is exactly the purpose of upvoting functionality), while reporting rings that obstruct some individuals liberties should be actively banned.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#214

Post by losteric »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #211
bad_user wrote: post #64

I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…

I really don't like that "fake news" became this term that means "news I disagree with". What it was describing at the time it was coming into popular usage, it mostly described "news" sites that in many cases used scripts to generate their content, and for the most part preyed upon far right sentiments. So yeah, we shouldn't censor "fake news" on the premise that it is something we disagree with, but rather whether…

"Fake news" came into popular usage because Trump was using it to disparage critical real news. It's a dangerous phrase, trivially dismissing real news based on emotions and critically attacking propaganda based on facts.

Just call things as they are. News, lies, propaganda...

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#215

Post by dragonwriter »

losteric wrote: post #214
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't like that "fake news" became this term that means "news I disagree with". What it was describing at the time it was coming into popular usage, it mostly described "news" sites that in many cases used scripts to generate their content, and for the most part preyed upon far right sentiments. So yeah, we shouldn't censor "fake news" on the premise that it is something we disagree with, but rather whether…

"Fake news" came into popular usage because Trump was using it to disparage critical real news. It's a dangerous phrase, trivially dismissing real news based on emotions and critically attacking propaganda based on facts. Just call things as they are. News, lies, propaganda...

> "Fake news" came into popular usage because Trump was using it to disparage critical real news.

No, it came into popular usage to refer to propaganda supporting Trump which closely followed what RAND Corp. labelled the “firehose of falsehoods” propaganda strategy used by Russia.

It was subsequently co-opted by Trump in the way you describe, but that's not how it came into popular usage.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#216

Post by lucaspiller »

oblio wrote: post #116
bad_user wrote: post #64

I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…

As the Romanian government I'd be careful... Romania has a well developed IT sector (especially for a developing country) and they recently pissed off most of the geeks in the country with the new tax code. I'm also willing to bet that these people as a vast majority weren't voters for the party currently in power. And the Romanian government is far from having NSA's IT prowess (yes, I know that they botched up quite…

> especially for a developing country

I’m not sure ‘developing country’ is the right term here, however I agree compared to Western European countries, most Eastern European countries aren’t quiet as ‘developed’ (disclaimer: I live in one) which I assume is what you meant to imply. Heck even Western/Eastern is bad, because Finland definitely isn’t in the west of Europe... So is there a better term to describe this type of country?

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#217

Post by mason182 »

oblio wrote: post #116
bad_user wrote: post #64

I'm a Romanian and I can confirm that posts and accounts have been blocked, probably because of being reported by the other side. On the other hand, folks, this is a little reminder that censorship is a doubly edged knife ;-) So next time you call for censoring "fake news", think again, because it's not you who will benefit from it. A couple of years back I was enthusiastic about the rise of social media for informin…

As the Romanian government I'd be careful... Romania has a well developed IT sector (especially for a developing country) and they recently pissed off most of the geeks in the country with the new tax code. I'm also willing to bet that these people as a vast majority weren't voters for the party currently in power. And the Romanian government is far from having NSA's IT prowess (yes, I know that they botched up quite…

Romania definitely has the capabilities but nobody wants to work for the government

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#218

Post by RyanZAG »

dragonwriter wrote: post #215
losteric wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Fake news" came into popular usage because Trump was using it to disparage critical real news. It's a dangerous phrase, trivially dismissing real news based on emotions and critically attacking propaganda based on facts. Just call things as they are. News, lies, propaganda...

> "Fake news" came into popular usage because Trump was using it to disparage critical real news. No, it came into popular usage to refer to propaganda supporting Trump which closely followed what RAND Corp. labelled the “firehose of falsehoods” propaganda strategy used by Russia. It was subsequently co-opted by Trump in the way you describe, but that's not how it came into popular usage.

No, you're completely politicizing an issue based on your warped world view. That's just as damaging as fake news.

Here's an article from 2014 discussing fake news: https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2014/08/30/large-the-intern...

Here's an article from 2011 discussing the measures taken against fake news (to little effect) since 2006: https://www.freepress.net/blog/11/12/21/truth-about-fake-new...

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#219

Post by yorwba »

hrasyid wrote: post #212
mkempe wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's an example of manipulation. Facebook removed an important item from my "news feed."

Did they arrange it so that you didn't see that post (why would they?), or did you just miss seeing it, or is it just ranked poorly by their algorithm? Seems like there's a lot of possible explanations, it doesn't seem obvious to me that it's Facebook's fault/

An obituary is not going to get shared widely or get many clicks (unless it's a celebrity), so obviously it will be ranked poorly by Facebook's algorithm. But it is Facebook's choice to rank content based on click rates and virality, so in a way they did arrange it so that post would not be seen.

"Our algorithm did it." does not absolve anyone of their responsibility in choosing to use that algorithm.

Re: Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed

#220

Post by yorwba »

tree_of_item wrote: post #151
creaghpatr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reporting rings are pretty common on Facebook

Yes but what distinguishes a reporting ring from a "valid" group of people acting in concert?

When content reported by a group of people acting in concert is manually reviewed (one can dream, right?) and it turns out that it didn't violate the rules on what kind of content can be posted, the group of people is actually a reporting ring, and reports by them should correspondingly be given lower weight.
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