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Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

nytimes.com

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Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#31

Post by buboard »

bhupy wrote: post #26

> By refusing to stay out of politics, the company is building the case for its own breakup. Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company? A popular jab at Zuck/FB is that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private corporations, but only to the government. Once a government decides that Facebook’s maximally permissive view on speech/ads is unacceptable, and goes on to pursue punitive action…

> By refusing to stay out of politics, NYTimes is building the case for its own breakup.

Now, THAT would be unconstitutional!

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#32

Post by alwayseasy »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #15

The NY Times isn't just allowing lies, it's prioritizing them. By allowing a certain law professor to publish opinion pieces that contain hyperbole, innuendo, and other misleading rhetoric, the NY Times is increasing the reach of this law professor. If it had not been for this opinion piece, millions of readers would otherwise have been unaware of this law professor, but are now exposed to his rhetoric thanks to the…

How much did this law professor pay to have the opinion piece published in the opinion section of the New York Times? Do you think a hyperbole about Mark Zuckerberg is comparable to a political ad full of lies?

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#33

Post by dredmorbius »

Spivak wrote: post #27

Man the NYT editors must really hate FB to post an article like this every week. It’s not like I like Facebook or anything but this is just exhausting. They’re a forum with user generated content and ads. They’re undertaking a huge moderation effort already — trying to have their army of underpaid moderators also police facts is just a problem that can’t solved because lies are cheap to spread and expensive to refute…

Independent editorials are independent.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21447815

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#34

Post by Gibbon1 »

bhupy wrote: post #26

> By refusing to stay out of politics, the company is building the case for its own breakup. Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company? A popular jab at Zuck/FB is that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private corporations, but only to the government. Once a government decides that Facebook’s maximally permissive view on speech/ads is unacceptable, and goes on to pursue punitive action…

> Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company?

Smells like to me that everyone knows Zuckerburg knowingly took money to run targeted campaign ads from foreigners. Which is both criminal and pierces the corporate veil. If the next government can prove it in court they can kill Facebook. And the stockholders can claw back all of Zuckerburgs wealth.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#35

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Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#36

Post by bhupy »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #34
bhupy wrote: post #26

> By refusing to stay out of politics, the company is building the case for its own breakup. Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company? A popular jab at Zuck/FB is that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to private corporations, but only to the government. Once a government decides that Facebook’s maximally permissive view on speech/ads is unacceptable, and goes on to pursue punitive action…

> Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company? Smells like to me that everyone knows Zuckerburg knowingly took money to run targeted campaign ads from foreigners. Which is both criminal and pierces the corporate veil. If the next government can prove it in court they can kill Facebook. And the stockholders can claw back all of Zuckerburgs wealth.

That wasn't the argument made in this article.

It would be extremely difficult to prove that Zuck knowingly took money to run targeted campaign ads from foreigners, so that's probably not an option.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#37

Post by Gibbon1 »

bhupy wrote: post #36
Gibbon1 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wouldn’t this be an unconstitutional basis for breaking up a company? Smells like to me that everyone knows Zuckerburg knowingly took money to run targeted campaign ads from foreigners. Which is both criminal and pierces the corporate veil. If the next government can prove it in court they can kill Facebook. And the stockholders can claw back all of Zuckerburgs wealth.

That wasn't the argument made in this article. It would be extremely difficult to prove that Zuck knowingly took money to run targeted campaign ads from foreigners, so that's probably not an option.

> That wasn't the argument made in this article.

Who cares. Zuckerburg is being told by basically everyone to 'cool it' in all sorts of ways without actually talking about the actual reason. If he keeps doubling down it's going to end badly for him.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#38

Post by sodosopa »

mostlysimilar wrote: post #21
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #15

The NY Times isn't just allowing lies, it's prioritizing them. By allowing a certain law professor to publish opinion pieces that contain hyperbole, innuendo, and other misleading rhetoric, the NY Times is increasing the reach of this law professor. If it had not been for this opinion piece, millions of readers would otherwise have been unaware of this law professor, but are now exposed to his rhetoric thanks to the…

Honest question: can you pay more money to NY Times to get your opinion piece more exposure? Can you target individual readers as an audience based on data NY Times has on them?

That's what Gannett does in their numerous local newspapers.

Re: Facebook Isn’t Just Allowing Lies, It’s Prioritizing Them

#40

Post by tzs »

Spivak wrote: post #27

Man the NYT editors must really hate FB to post an article like this every week. It’s not like I like Facebook or anything but this is just exhausting. They’re a forum with user generated content and ads. They’re undertaking a huge moderation effort already — trying to have their army of underpaid moderators also police facts is just a problem that can’t solved because lies are cheap to spread and expensive to refute…

> They’re a forum with user generated content and ads. They’re undertaking a huge moderation effort already — trying to have their army of underpaid moderators also police facts is just a problem that can’t solved because lies are cheap to spread and expensive to refute.

That argument is unconvincing, because Facebook already does fact check ads and disallows ads that lie. Here is their policy [1]:

> Facebook prohibits ads that include claims debunked by third-party fact checkers or, in certain circumstances, claims debunked by organizations with particular expertise. Advertisers that repeatedly post information deemed to be false may have restrictions placed on their ability to advertise on Facebook. Find out more about Fact Checking on Facebook here.

The controversy is over Facebook's recent decision to exempt political ads from this fact checking.

Political ads are only a small part of Facebook's revenue, so it is very hard to believe that they have the resources to face check all the other ads but not to check the political ads.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/mis...

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