Facebook Incubated the Insurrection • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#51

Post by mc32 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

I think Facebook should not have the power they have: to grant or deny speech as _they_ see fit, which may or may not align with the locales they operate in.

They are a supranational entity without any local governance. So their policies are left up to them. That’s not good for democracies. They should not force their world view across the world.

That said, this is sour grapes from the NYT. They want to pile on because this is their direct competitor to setting agenda in the anglosphere.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#52

Post by Dma54rhs » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:47 PM UTC

hoka-one-one wrote: post #2

Terrible. The storming of the capitol was probably the most frightening single event in American history in recent times. I just got off the phone with my friend who lives in China. He was in tears. He didn't understand how someone could have such disregard for the value of human life and democracy to walk inside the capitol building in DC. It's completely against the law. For those in the dark, the event caused seri…

Is this satire? Political violence is so common in America (and violence in general) that I doubt anyone blinks an eye.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#53

Post by __s » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #21

nr2x wrote: post #5

Somebody from Facebook recently told me they developed the best system to flag radical/violent content in the world, I pointed out they first developed the best system to spread it.

What makes Facebook worse, in my mind, is that people don't seem to care that it's their real name associated with terrible radical, violent and angry comment. At least on something like 4Chan you'd be anonymous, but nope, people will write the most grotesque comments, while everyone can see their real name, where they live and who they work for. Some people don't seem to care, and that's pretty scary.

A lot of 4chan was self aware. But on Facebook they think they're saying what everyone is thinking. They aren't trolling

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#54

Post by nautilus12 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

The violent comment botnets will continue to attack every social network until Twitter is the only one left. No due process required. Twitter has teamed up with Amazon now, they've got a giant in their corner.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#55

Post by offtop5 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:48 PM UTC

motohagiography wrote: post #41

Social media like Facebook/Twitter is basically a vibrator for narcissistic supply. We should all just step back, put these toys down, recognize it's a vice, and that there is a real world out there to be lived in.

Well put.

Unless you want to be angry without reason it's a waste of time. Back in 2019 I went social media/ online dating free. Had more fun and better partners than I could ever imagine. Also boosted my income significantly

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#56

Post by riscy » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #8

nr2x wrote: post #5

Somebody from Facebook recently told me they developed the best system to flag radical/violent content in the world, I pointed out they first developed the best system to spread it.

Well they didn't develop the platform specifically for spreading radical/violent content. They build a generic platform for spreading thoughts among friends, and racist/violent people used the generic platform to spread their thoughts.

The key thing is that they built a reward system into sharing each of those thoughts, which enables an addiction for acceptance from users on the platform. Facebook’s engagement systems / algorithms feed on these addictions. As the article discusses, this causes users to radicalize their posts to garner more attention.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#57

Post by sct202 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:49 PM UTC

nr2x wrote: post #5

Somebody from Facebook recently told me they developed the best system to flag radical/violent content in the world, I pointed out they first developed the best system to spread it.

I've had fb friends report spammed into being temp or permabanned very easily (personal feuds, stalkers), so I would question how they're even measuring quality at this point.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#58

Post by eplanit » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

hoka-one-one wrote: post #2

Terrible. The storming of the capitol was probably the most frightening single event in American history in recent times. I just got off the phone with my friend who lives in China. He was in tears. He didn't understand how someone could have such disregard for the value of human life and democracy to walk inside the capitol building in DC. It's completely against the law. For those in the dark, the event caused seri…

Was this written by a CCP- sponsored bot?

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#59

Post by sandworm101 » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

rangoon626 wrote: post #50

x86_64Ubuntu wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parler, unlike Facebook, only existed to foment the kinds of rhetoric and ideologies that lead to the 6th.

How do you reconcile the whole “if you don’t like Facebook moderation go build your own” bit.

If you build your own thing then it will be subject to the moderation of whatever service you build it upon. In this case, hosting services and app stores. If you don't like their moderation either, you are free to setup your own bare metal servers, even your own app store.

And then there is Tor. If you really want to live outside of any moderation, outside of even basic laws, then setup a Tor hidden service. If you aren't going to put in some basic effort to protect yourself (ie what ThePirateBay does every day) and instead run strait to the courts, then I have little sympathy.

Re: Facebook Incubated the Insurrection

#60

Post by shlant » Thu, Jan 14, 2021, 2:50 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #14

So is Google going to throw them out of the Play store? What's the argument for banning one social media and not another. Where do you draw the line that manages to keep Facebooks app available, while still being able to defend the removal of Parler. I know many will think I'm defending Parler, I'm not. I just don't see why Facebook is continuously given a free pass for all the horrible stuff on their platform. Is it…

I don't deny there is probably some favoritism going on, but is Facebooks willingness to moderate their content not at least part of the reason? Parler was completely hands off when it came to any sort of moderation of the content its users were posting (by design) which allowed for threats of violence to go unchecked and flourish within the platform. That seems like a pretty significant determinant when considering which site had a more direct connection to the events that transpired.