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Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

bbc.com

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Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#201

Post by mgraczyk »

Phlarp wrote: post #194
mgraczyk wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The algorithm" here refers to Facebook's backend. They are using that word carelessly. I know how it works, I worked on the actual "algorithms" at Facebook. This censorship wasn't done by an "algorithm" in any meaningful sense of the word. Somebody at Facebook coded a rule that showed this content to fewer people.

>Facebook coded a rule that All algorithms are coded rules, the idea of using an algorithm to somehow launder responsibility in tech companies is ridiculous. Before companies had algorithms they had heuristics, nobody would (successfully) deflect blame for the actions of the organization by saying "the heuristic did this!"

What I'm saying is that this is a heuristic, not an algorithm, and that you should blame Facebook, not "the algorithm"

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#202

Post by colordrops »

epgui wrote: post #113
mgraczyk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't "censorship by algorithm" though. This was a human being intentionally banning a specific thing. There was no algorithm in the loop. They didn't "tweak their algorithm" anymore than an antivirus tweaks its algorithm to detect a new virus, they specifically censored a specific piece of content.

I suggest reading the articles before writing in the comments: > Facebook did not completely ban sharing of the article, but instead limited how much its algorithm automatically shared it to other people for a week, while third-party fact-checkers tried to verify the reporting. So while people could post the article and discuss it, it was less likely to spread organically to new users.

In the interview Zuckerberg has all the facts down until Rogan asks him to what degree they limited the article, for which Zuckerberg developed a sudden case of amnesia, indicating that they probably limited it a lot.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#203

Post by colordrops »

seydor wrote: post #175
spangry wrote: post #12

This is the great fear of many come to pass - censorship by algorithm. Facebook didn't outright ban sharing of the Hunter Biden laptop stories like Twitter did, they instead tweaked their algorithm to prevent the story from spreading. We found out about it this time because Zuckerberg owned up to it, but what about next time? For all we know, Facebook, Google and Twitter are doing this right now on a range of other s…

not really censorship, just a regression to the old norms. mainstream media are biased to the politics of their owners. Same with facebook, it s a mainstream medium now Zuck claims that he was duped , but lets take everything with a grain of salt

The old norms were censorship too.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#204

Post by [deleted] »

saberience wrote: post #178
WillPostForFood wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/hunter-... FBI has the laptop and only they can tell you. We know it contained real emails. There is enough evidence that I don't know what it would be besides real.

So the FBI has Hunter Biden's laptop and emails? And what? What is the crime exactly? I also have a laptop with emails on it. What is the proposed crime of Hunter Biden and if the FBI has evidence of a crime, why wasn't he charged?

[deleted]

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#205

Post by angrycontrarian »

saberience wrote: post #178
WillPostForFood wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/30/hunter-... FBI has the laptop and only they can tell you. We know it contained real emails. There is enough evidence that I don't know what it would be besides real.

So the FBI has Hunter Biden's laptop and emails? And what? What is the crime exactly? I also have a laptop with emails on it. What is the proposed crime of Hunter Biden and if the FBI has evidence of a crime, why wasn't he charged?

> What is the crime exactly?

Based on what has leaked to the public so far, I believe some combination of drug possession, prostitution, money laundering, corruption, and abuse of an elected office for personal profit.

> if the FBI has evidence of a crime, why wasn't he charged?

That's what a lot of people would like to know.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#206

Post by jmeister »

aschearer wrote: post #50

Very odd that we can discuss Hunter Biden's laptop today but not Trump's affidavit. Don't tell me this comment thread is apolitical.

The entire universe is discussing T's affidavit and his underwear 24x7. It's ok. HB story has a tech and alphabet agency angle, both directly relevant to HN readership.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#207

Post by inglor_cz »

bamboozled wrote: post #21
spangry wrote: post #12

This is the great fear of many come to pass - censorship by algorithm. Facebook didn't outright ban sharing of the Hunter Biden laptop stories like Twitter did, they instead tweaked their algorithm to prevent the story from spreading. We found out about it this time because Zuckerberg owned up to it, but what about next time? For all we know, Facebook, Google and Twitter are doing this right now on a range of other s…

This is assuming there are no other ways for important things to be reported, such as media outlets, forums, 4chan, independent bloggers and pod casters IRC etc If some major conspiracy was under way, I'm not sure Facbook, Google, Twitter censorhip alone would be enough to stop it?

You don't really have to stop it.

American elections have become so polarized that 50 000 votes in strategically important states can swing them.

It is definitely in capabilities of the tech giants to effect such a small change by putting their thumbs on the scales.

Of course, this is a general problem with the "winner takes all" political principle, and already the ancient Greeks knew that problem, but given that you can't have two Presidents at the same time, it is hard to avoid.

Even European countries where the President is usually just a figurehead suffer from bitter polarization when it comes to presidential elections.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#208

Post by psyc »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #186

But on the other hand trump is/was a danger to society and democracy. I'm happy the story was censored, given that it still seems like a non story (no real crime committed afaik) And I fully understand the issues with my statement, the hypocrisy of it and the slippery slope nature of the act, but I do think some extreme cases do require bending the rules.

We should just have the government switch between corrupt and not corrupt on a case by case basis. It’s the only way to avoid democratically electing the wrong people.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#209

Post by mupuff1234 »

woojoo666 wrote: post #199
mupuff1234 wrote: post #186

But on the other hand trump is/was a danger to society and democracy. I'm happy the story was censored, given that it still seems like a non story (no real crime committed afaik) And I fully understand the issues with my statement, the hypocrisy of it and the slippery slope nature of the act, but I do think some extreme cases do require bending the rules.

You can dislike trump and still see the issue with 3 corporations (facebook, google, twitter) having such enormous political power

Sure. But at the same time the story did come out, and most people in the US were exposed to it in some way, it just wasn't amplified to oblivion. So it's not like social media had total censorship power here.

If anything, I think the lesson is that social media should be handicapped before elections for all stories.

Re: Zuckerberg says FBI warning prompted Biden laptop story censorship

#210

Post by colordrops »

wesleywt wrote: post #195
mupuff1234 wrote: post #186

But on the other hand trump is/was a danger to society and democracy. I'm happy the story was censored, given that it still seems like a non story (no real crime committed afaik) And I fully understand the issues with my statement, the hypocrisy of it and the slippery slope nature of the act, but I do think some extreme cases do require bending the rules.

I totally agree. Seeing how damaged Russia is due to mass misinformation, it is amazing to see how HN commenters think that misinformation is not a big threat. Propaganda works if you give it an even footing as real news.

You do realize that they used misinformation to bury a true story about the laptop right?
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