Facebook widens ban on political ads as alarm rises over election

He didn't even know who the Proud Boys were during the debate. It's even disputable that they're white supremacists, their leader is Hispanic and they proclaim the superiority of western culture not the white race.

The next day Trump said something like "I don't know who they are, but I condemn them", you can't get more clear than that but of course this doesn't get coverage in the media.

Nevermind the numerous times prior where he has explicitly condemned white supremacy and even designated the KKK as a terrorist organization. It's all ignored in the left wing echo chamber.

Reasons:

1. The person appears to know it's satire already. 2. What difference does it make that it has a "right wing" bias? 3. To me it looks like it's just dismissing the commentary by OP because it includes a link to a "right-wing bias" source.

4. This is precisely what's wrong with any sort of social-media policing by government or private entities. Your post is factually correct. But just as in-person conversations have non-verbal communication, likewise text has it's own subtle and implied meanings that it conveys.

Am I missing something or has a controversy been created out of nearly thin air by random politicized factors here? Facebook may be a gigantic media company with a whole social component, but it's still in many ways (especially in terms of advertising) mostly another media company with lots of eyeballs, fundamentally like so many media companies that have existed for a very long time.

Since political ads have been a part of media placement since (a very damn long time ago), what justification beyond hand wavey "it's a social danger" arguments can some of you favoring this state for such a ban or the feeling of having to pursue it?

It almost seems as if this only started being a supposed problem since the unpopular-among-educated-liberal-types Trump won an election. Prior to that I recall much less mention of anyone worrying too much about political ads on social media (my memory might be faulty on that though). So, is it a general thing or are we talking about many people now thinking there's a problem mainly because someone they happen to dislike took advantage of social media to win a major election?

Also worth noting:

1. Much of the really rabid fake news type content on platforms like Facebook doesn't even come from paid in-platform ads. It's sourced and virally spread from people (or fake accounts in many cases) posting it more or less organically, albeit in a highly coordinated way sometimes.

2. The whole argument of Russia supposedly using Facebook to "influence" the 2016 election has yet to be in any way credibly substantiated and has gone nowhere so far. Or does anyone have a piece of concrete evidence arguing the opposite to put forth?

No, split it up in 50 BabyBell-Facebooks.

There is a very powerful dynamic going on between those well intentioned but perhaps too optimistic that we can or should try to protect everyone from bad ideas.

That debate is nothing new and in the mean time as we wait and see how these forces play out the correct answer for any person is to stop wanting and waiting for the powers that be to save us from ourselves. It has always been the case that media serves to manipulate even if unintentionally. That includes both the "platforms" and their various participants.

So we should consider our situation and duty to be like that or any intelligence analyst. Take in all the information, no matter the reputation of the source, with hefty skepticism knowing that there are various and sundry games afoot and a clear picture of reality is unlikely. Opt instead to weigh varying degrees of confidence against each other rather than seeking to sit pat on our well formed conclusions from "reliable sources". Becuase the only thing you can rely upon is that if smething is being waved in-front of your face there is a motive and it's not for your benefit.

“All art is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.”

― Upton Sinclair

And with that I would urge people to disengage from this kind of battlefield, turn and look in the opposite direction of all these debates because there lie mountains of uncontested and ignored realities that are never spoken of and this is fully intentional.