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Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

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Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#171

Post by s73v3r_ »

moduspol wrote: post #59

I lean conservative, but to be honest, I assign only a small portion of the blame to social media giants. Their office areas and leadership certainly lean left-wing, but I don't think that's the main issue. I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views. As a result, even an entirely neutral algorithm focused on retention / user satisfaction will…

"I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views"

Considering "right leaning views" includes things like women should not have reproductive control over their bodies, trans people should not be able to use the bathroom they feel comfortable with, and gay people shouldn't be married, and people should have their children yanked away from them at the border, yes, I can very much see why they would be offended by that.

You're not getting a lot of people being offended by the nuances of tax policy, for instance.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#172

Post by 6cd6beb »

nascar_is_bad wrote: post #61
moduspol wrote: post #59

I lean conservative, but to be honest, I assign only a small portion of the blame to social media giants. Their office areas and leadership certainly lean left-wing, but I don't think that's the main issue. I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views. As a result, even an entirely neutral algorithm focused on retention / user satisfaction will…

> I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views. More likely to have empathy is another way to phrase that.

>Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say face-to-face. Don't be snarky. Comments should get more civil and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.

I'm sure you meant to phrase it differently but in its current form, your comment comes across as more snarky than substantive or civil.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#173

Post by hedora »

pmarreck wrote: post #128

Lack of trust is a bullshit argument. It's basically the Conspiracy Fallacy: https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFalla... Is there any evidence to support this assertion and that Facebook isn't merely showing you information that is palatable to you? (Note that this greatly expands the use of this fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_of_repugnance ) I think we all have to answer these ques…

Search for “facebook hires censors” on the search engine of your choice.

The story was broadly covered by sources across the political spectrum.

And in answer to your two questions: Yes, I expect news sources to have journalisic integrity, even if the truth is not popular.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#174

Post by JackCh »

pvg wrote: post #95
JackCh wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In and of themselves, no. However, I think an argument could be made for the visual suppression of posts, which occurs after too many downvotes have been given, being a form of soft censorship. The information is still broadcast but it's made impossible to read unless I copy/paste it or tilt my screen to an extreme angle.

Or you can just click on the comment timestamp. If downvotes are 'censorship', so are upvotes.

Upvotes do not suppress the readability of comments. That workarounds exist is beyond the point.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#175

Post by Declanomous »

nsxwolf wrote: post #130
JKCalhoun wrote: post #24

When a friend posts on Facebook and it doesn't show up in my feed that's FB making a call as to what to show me. Why? Because algorithms. Maybe "censorship" is a strong word in this instance — do we prefer "selective disclosure"? Regardless, not what I signed up for. Deleted FB.

Once in awhile Facebook decides I shouldn't be friends with someone anymore and suppresses all of their posts from my feed. I start to wonder what's happened to them, so I make a point of searching for their page and find that they've been posting daily. Things I would have been interested to see and would have commented on.

It's entirely possible that Facebook found that your comments caused less engagement for other people on Facebook, and therefore doesn't want you to comment.

It's also possible that Facebook determined that this person has substantially different politics than you, and has put you in different 'boxes'. You can actually check what groups Facebook thinks you belong in. For instance, Facebook thinks my peer group is 'Starting Adult Life', and my US Political Stance is 'very liberal'.

(Facebook also thinks I work in a production occupation, like mining, or lumber, which couldn't be further from the truth, which explains all the ads for industrial equipment)

I went to high school in a really conservative place, and I'm friends with a lot of people who have wildly different views on religion and politics. A few years ago I stopped seeing their posts, even if I added them to the group of people I see first on Facebook. Meanwhile, I started seeing a ton of posts from people who I barely knew in college, presumably because their 'beliefs' were much closer to mine.

I'm extremely cynical, and I find dogmatic people of similar beliefs as annoying as people whose beliefs I disagree with, and my Facebook feed became a personal hell of dogmatism, especially leading up to the 2016 election. As a result I check Facebook at most once a week. It's entirely possible that leaving the platform improved the experience for some of my more conservative peers from high school, who no longer have to see my posts on the walls of mutual friends.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#176

Post by s73v3r_ »

dahdum wrote: post #96
nascar_is_bad wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views. More likely to have empathy is another way to phrase that.

The data backs you up on that, with Democrats ranking empathy much higher when making arguments. That fact almost proves the point OP was making though, when your argument is emotion based offense at hostile views comes naturally.

But now you're trying to make it seem like conservatives tend to more apply logic in their arguments. Considering a lot of their arguments come from religion, I can't agree with that.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#177

Post by s73v3r_ »

hueving wrote: post #107
moduspol wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“More capable of selective application of empathy” is how I’d describe it usually, but that’s neither here nor there.

Everyone applies "selective empathy". People on the left in the US care very little about employees of coal miners, oil companies, etc because of larger environmental concerns. In every case, there is some "more important cause" that someone prioritizes that makes it look like they don't have empathy.

"People on the left in the US care very little about employees of coal miners, oil companies, etc because of larger environmental concerns."

That's a terrible way to put it.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#178

Post by pvg »

JackCh wrote: post #174
pvg wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you can just click on the comment timestamp. If downvotes are 'censorship', so are upvotes.

Upvotes do not suppress the readability of comments. That workarounds exist is beyond the point.

Sure they do. They move other comments off the page entirely.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#179

Post by s73v3r_ »

hueving wrote: post #88
nascar_is_bad wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think the biggest contributor is just that left-leaning people are more likely to be offended by right-leaning views. More likely to have empathy is another way to phrase that.

If you're looking to troll, "more likely to be offended by rationality" is another way to phrase it.

That's implying that conservative arguments are inherently more rational, which simply isn't the case. They have their own sources of argument that many would consider less rational. Religion, for one. Junk science, for another.

Re: Most Americans Think Facebook and Twitter Censor Their Political Views

#180

Post by allthenews »

Declanomous wrote: post #127

I can't stand the fact that organizations hide behind "algorithms" as an excuse for every unintended side-effect. It's no surprise that algorithms create an information bubble for us. I like to use music as an example: the best music recommendations I've ever received have been from friends. I'll describe music I'm listening to and like, and they'll recommend something for me. I'd say 50% of the time I find it unobje…

>We've positioned machine learning as a replacement to curation, but what it really does is put forth the least objectionable content.

I don't think the problem is with ML. You could easily train a net to make boulder selections with an appropriate data set. I believe what you are seeing is an accommodation for the average person. Most people aren't adventurous, and it makes business sense to get algos working for the middle majority than to cater to tail ends.

It also, IMO, makes content at places like youtube less technical and more clickbaity. But again I believe this is somewhat intentional.

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