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Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

reuters.com

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Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#4

Post by 394549 »

> Months ago, senior Facebook executives briefly debated banning all political ads, which produce less than 5 percent of the company’s revenue, sources said. The company rejected that because product managers were loath to leave advertising dollars on the table...

Gotta remember what's most important. /s

Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#5

Post by darpa_escapee »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #3

This is something that seriously needs to be clamped down on. It is outright fraud, plain and simple. And since it's being done with the intention of disenfranchising people, it is extremely evil.

Do we know who is engaging in this behavior? I'd like to know who they are so we can make sure they don't try to do something similar again.

Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#6

Post by inetknght »

Roads have speed limits. Social media can have link limits.

Sure, you might be able to exceed your limit by posting to something that is patently or opinionatedly false. But how would you enforce it if a person can simply say "oops sorry I thought you knew it was a joke" or "I agree with its opinion"?

Analogy: if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

If you only violate a speed limit when you're caught and the police write a ticket, how would you get caught on social media?

Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#7

Post by dlivingston »

394549 wrote: post #4

> Months ago, senior Facebook executives briefly debated banning all political ads, which produce less than 5 percent of the company’s revenue, sources said. The company rejected that because product managers were loath to leave advertising dollars on the table... Gotta remember what's most important. /s

They are a business, after all.

Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#8

Post by genericone »

inetknght wrote: post #6

Roads have speed limits. Social media can have link limits. Sure, you might be able to exceed your limit by posting to something that is patently or opinionatedly false. But how would you enforce it if a person can simply say "oops sorry I thought you knew it was a joke" or "I agree with its opinion"? Analogy: if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If you only violate a speed limit when you're caught and…

In order to prevent virality on WeChat, they impose a 100 share limit before limiting new shares to invites-only and only for people who have a linked mobile number. What this effectively means is that if WeChat detects a 'viral-event', anonymity can be squashed and those responsible for causing the viral-event can be identified and I suppose questioned at a later date on whether they are anti-government or simply rabble-rousers.

Is this what you mean by wanting to have social media limits? That the government can step in and say, "Ma'am, you've shared enough, what's going on here, you're going to need a permit for this discussion" ?

Re: Facebook to ban misinformation on voting in upcoming U.S. elections

#9

Post by buboard »

The upcoming US elections may prove to be a watershed moment for modern democracies in general. There is a widely held belief in academic cycles that mass voter manipulation through social media has managed to trump all other kinds of propaganda, causing people to become electoral zombies. This belief is based on flimsy evidence and on a mountain of bias. I hope facebook and the other media do everything by the book and according to the mandates of their favorite party politics. This will be an easy way to finally dissolve these mass delusions and make it obvious that societal change is real.
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