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Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

theguardian.com

81–90 of 158 posts

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#82
post #55

The Guardian, and a few other outfits in global media sold its readership very hard on the "Gadhafi killing his own people" fallacy to enable Islamist gangs to plunder and maim and kill and ruin the societal fabric of Libya (and a few southern neighbors). Since then, Libya is a wasteland, its inhabitants enslaved as a whole (as opposed to the few political (read Islamists) prisoners' under the Gadhafi dictatorship),…

I've learnt those blaming the evil "MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!!!!" are rarely worth listening to. You know why it's mainstream? Because it's nuanced, and well-researched and run by actual real-life journalists. You know what you're left with when the media is no longer mainstream? The extremes.

This feels to me like a bit of a 1 dimensional appeal to authority. Consider the role of old guard media in selling the war in Iraq to the American public. Their pieces weren't well researched and turned out to have been fed to them by the administration. The Osama Bin Laden cave base diagrams also come to mind in the same vein. The NYT Daily's "Caliphate" podcast series is another great example.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#84
post #72
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is why I'm anti-Facebook. Remember the role they played in the Myanmar genocide?

Which genocide are you referring to?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebo...

I'm guessing this one. Although facebook didn't invite this violence directly, they were the primary tool of propaganda. Now I'm not saying it's easy to solve this problem but facebook seems to be actively overlooking these things as it has happened repeatedly.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#85
post #55

The Guardian, and a few other outfits in global media sold its readership very hard on the "Gadhafi killing his own people" fallacy to enable Islamist gangs to plunder and maim and kill and ruin the societal fabric of Libya (and a few southern neighbors). Since then, Libya is a wasteland, its inhabitants enslaved as a whole (as opposed to the few political (read Islamists) prisoners' under the Gadhafi dictatorship),…

correct on all counts - thanks for highlighting that forgotten part of recent history.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#86
post #68
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who do you consider to be non-MSM? Facebook has been around at scale for a short period of time so the total amount of harm it has done so far won’t compare to propaganda done by others but this should not detract from worry/blame/concern about Facebook. I won’t lay the FB hate aside as you put it because I see the great harm it can and does do. Humans are easily manipulated and Facebook can do this at an unprecedent…

Humans are easily manipulated, I agree with you. Contrast the multi-faced manipulation from an aggregator like FB with the power of the unified worldview given to you by the media conglomerates.

So who are the non-MSM in your opinion? Facebook is more than merely and aggregator. They know how to keep peoples' eyes glued to them. They know what stories/narratives will push your buttons so to speak.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#87
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was never a popular upheaval in Lybia, the Islamists were offered to dismember the country by a few European powers (mainly France and the UK) with Arab allies for good optics (Qatar). https://iai.tv/articles/why-they-killed-gaddafi-auid-1757

Your source makes reference to an email which is no longer available, thanks to a dead link.

Stuff happens. I am sorry all over the place :roll_eyes:

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#88
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many are listed in the article itself.

And who makes those decisions?

Nobody makes any decision, stop being a douchebag. But there are places that try to classify this stuff and you know where it is.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#89
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learnt those blaming the evil "MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!!!!" are rarely worth listening to. You know why it's mainstream? Because it's nuanced, and well-researched and run by actual real-life journalists. You know what you're left with when the media is no longer mainstream? The extremes.

This feels to me like a bit of a 1 dimensional appeal to authority. Consider the role of old guard media in selling the war in Iraq to the American public. Their pieces weren't well researched and turned out to have been fed to them by the administration. The Osama Bin Laden cave base diagrams also come to mind in the same vein. The NYT Daily's "Caliphate" podcast series is another great example.

Sure, I didn't suggest that they were unimpeachable but the "alternative" sources so often touted by self-proclaimed Facebook experts are orders of magnitude worse.

Re: Facebook slow to address political manipulation outside wealthy, western nations

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learnt those blaming the evil "MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!!!!" are rarely worth listening to. You know why it's mainstream? Because it's nuanced, and well-researched and run by actual real-life journalists. You know what you're left with when the media is no longer mainstream? The extremes.

The Guardian is not nuanced or well-researching and it's ran by receiving funding from billionaires in order to push public opinion. They are also considered mainstream media by any rational person. Which "Mainstream media" outlets do you consider to be nuanced and well-researched?

The Guardian claims to be, and is, a left-leaning media outlet that holds widely left-of-centre mainstream views.

I would put the opposite question, which non-mainstream media outlets would you consider to be nuanced and well-researched?

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