Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#31

Post by mtgx » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 6:52 PM UTC

fortythirteen wrote: post #2

Imagine if ABC/CBS/NBC actively went to political parties and sold them on buying their way into the scripts of the top prime-time sitcoms to shape the opinion of viewers. That's essentially what Facebook is doing out in the open.

You mean like the Pentagon has been doing for decades?

https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/exclusive-documents-...

I wasn't quite aware of this myself until a few years ago. Now I see it in almost every crime/spy/military-related show or movie. I've stopped watching several shows because of it and never started watching others.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#32

Post by freeflight » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 6:53 PM UTC

rndmize wrote: post #18

foodislove wrote: post #4

This is why I don't want Mark Zuckerberg in any public office. I really think the guy has no moral compass because all his actions point to a very sinister "money is everything" attitude and that everything has a price.

Come now, Zuckerberg doesn't even need public office. He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position. Just based on the information in the article, he could offer technical embeds to campaigns he likes and ignore the ones he doesn't, or provide them with a much smaller degree of assistance, with no one the wiser. I don't think there's a single person in the world with as much potentia…

> He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position.

Exactly, an elected position would come with even more publicity, actual responsibilities and the possibility of being held accountable for his actions.

It's far more convenient and efficient for him to stay out of that system and just play it from the outside.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#33

Post by qubex » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 6:53 PM UTC

foodislove wrote: post #4

This is why I don't want Mark Zuckerberg in any public office. I really think the guy has no moral compass because all his actions point to a very sinister "money is everything" attitude and that everything has a price.

I’m not American but I keep hoping Bill Gates’ philanthropic inclinations will eventually get the better of him and lead him to casually pour a billion or so into getting himself nominated and elected President in a ”battle of the billionaires” and end this horror.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#34

Post by matte_black » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

foodislove wrote: post #4

This is why I don't want Mark Zuckerberg in any public office. I really think the guy has no moral compass because all his actions point to a very sinister "money is everything" attitude and that everything has a price.

Personally I don’t want him in office because of his liberal politics, not his Silicon Valley ethics.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#35

Post by apearson » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:02 PM UTC

meri_dian wrote: post #30

lsc wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating... but my personal hope is that the current election was a fluke caused by things like facebook advertising being so new; The theory, of course, being that we build up immunities to certain kinds of advertising; there's always a race between us humans building up that immunity, and advertisers striving for novelty. If that theory holds, advertisers have a huge advan…

Or maybe there's nothing flukey about it. Trump talked about things people cared about in a straightforward, albeit bombastic, way. You may disagree with his approach, but others appreciated he was at least talking about things they cared about. Sure Hillary talked about those issues too, but she wasn't able to set a clear vision or ground her campaign in clearly defined and solid themes. We can only learn from failu…

I agree, it was a close election and yes the system has it's flaws but there was nothing that went majorly wrong with this election.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#36

Post by makomk » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:04 PM UTC

What continues to fascinate me about stories like this is just how nakedly, obviously partisan the post-Trump reporting on the evils of social media is. Compare this with, for example, the tone of all the stories about how the Obama campaign used social media to win the previous election...

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#37

Post by apearson » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:05 PM UTC

LeoJiWoo wrote: post #16

Its a time of political upheaval worldwide. Nationalists are rising or at least becoming more vocal in at least Britain, India, United States, Austria, Germany, Korea, and Japan. They are direct threats to the established status quo. Censoring their political speech will cause a "Streisand Effect" and only further galvanize a backlash against the establishment. Social Media will probably be broken up by country (Ex.…

Wait hasn't the status quo been to be nationalist?

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#38

Post by hkmurakami » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:06 PM UTC

lsc wrote: post #22

rndmize wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come now, Zuckerberg doesn't even need public office. He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position. Just based on the information in the article, he could offer technical embeds to campaigns he likes and ignore the ones he doesn't, or provide them with a much smaller degree of assistance, with no one the wiser. I don't think there's a single person in the world with as much potentia…

I suppose the proof of the pudding is in the eating... but my personal hope is that the current election was a fluke caused by things like facebook advertising being so new; The theory, of course, being that we build up immunities to certain kinds of advertising; there's always a race between us humans building up that immunity, and advertisers striving for novelty. If that theory holds, advertisers have a huge advan…

You don't think real people in this country had real grievances?

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#39

Post by qubex » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:07 PM UTC

Facebook’s Community Standards are a total joke... no later than two days ago I came across a cartoon of a guy on public transport taking an ’upskirt’ without the woman’s consent only to start puking when he saw on his phone that she was menstruate (I kid you not). I of course reported it instantly. I promptly got an anodyne notification that ”I had done the right thing” reporting it it but that it was found ”not to violate Facebook’s community standards” so would not be taken down. I reported it again (this time as ”nudity or pornography”) and within 20 minutes my account was suspended for 24 hours. They’re dirt. And they’re too powerful.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#40

Post by hkmurakami » Thu, Dec 21, 2017, 7:10 PM UTC

pdpi wrote: post #29

734786710934 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writers for most prime-time sitcoms are Democrats. They do it for free.

I’ve always suspected that the reason underwood is a democrat in house of cards is solely to deflect this very criticism.

Honestly I think it makes him more "relateable" by making him not "the enemy" for viewers