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Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

qz.com

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Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#21

Post by jnaddef »

mwfunk wrote: post #16
jnaddef wrote: post #11

Seeing the number of downvotes I triggered, it would seem that the concept of all news being subjective it still not accepted, even on HN...

All news is not subjective. If it was, it'd be editorial content, not news reporting (obviously, don't trust any big media outlet that doesn't make a strong distinction between the two within their own organization). Now, because reporting is the product of humans, it's inevitably going to be subjective to some degree- people still decide what to report on, what words to use when describing things, etc. Objectivity i…

You said it. Editorial choice makes an "objective news" subjective. Deciding what to publish or not is the key.

I don't believe in "attempts at being objective". What is needed are newspapers clearly stating their bias so that you know where to stand when you read those.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#23

Post by JauntyHatAngle »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #14
jnaddef wrote: post #8

What bothers me is that there are very few things that are not propaganda. All Fox News article are propaganda, all CNN articles are propaganda, but yet they are accepted? Clearly a distinction is made between 'acceptable propaganda' and 'unacceptable propaganda', and this distinction is made by Facebook, an American company. How acceptable is that?

I don't believe that Fox and CNN have political propaganda in the sense you might imply. Bias, narrative creating ... it's propaganda-like, but it's not the right word. Interestingly - almost all US outlets have a pretty strong 'nationalist bias'. We don't think of CNN or MSBC like that, but if you watch the press from outside the US (especially during a war) it becomes quite evident. When push comes to shove, the ma…

I would personally disagree with you, Murdoch has pretty clearly defined playbook which includes propaganda to further his own ends/political world view - FOX news is a part of that. He does the same with his papers in Australia in order to get the Liberal party voted in.

I'm going off the definition of propaganda being information of a biased/misleading/untrue nature, spread to further a political agenda/view.

It's intentionally misleading, and incorrect, in order to lead people down a particular political path.

In my view, this is still different to papers that present a cleaner view of the evidence/facts/situation.

Of course you can always omit/include details to present a story in a different light, but the degree of which makes a big difference. In the case of FOX, it is clearly so over the line that it becomes propaganda (in my view).

Can't comment on CNN though, never watched it.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#24

Post by zachguo »

jnaddef wrote: post #8

What bothers me is that there are very few things that are not propaganda. All Fox News article are propaganda, all CNN articles are propaganda, but yet they are accepted? Clearly a distinction is made between 'acceptable propaganda' and 'unacceptable propaganda', and this distinction is made by Facebook, an American company. How acceptable is that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#26

Post by neaden »

jnaddef wrote: post #11

Seeing the number of downvotes I triggered, it would seem that the concept of all news being subjective it still not accepted, even on HN...

Saying that something is subjective is not the same as saying it is propaganda, which is what you originally stated.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#27

Post by fuzz4lyfe »

xupybd wrote: post #9
jnaddef wrote: post #8

What bothers me is that there are very few things that are not propaganda. All Fox News article are propaganda, all CNN articles are propaganda, but yet they are accepted? Clearly a distinction is made between 'acceptable propaganda' and 'unacceptable propaganda', and this distinction is made by Facebook, an American company. How acceptable is that?

I think this may be it. America has a ban on trade with Iran. I wouldn’t be surprised if American companies also are required to prevent them spreading information.

That would be unconstitutional wouldn't it?

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#28

Post by jnaddef »

neaden wrote: post #26
jnaddef wrote: post #11

Seeing the number of downvotes I triggered, it would seem that the concept of all news being subjective it still not accepted, even on HN...

Saying that something is subjective is not the same as saying it is propaganda, which is what you originally stated.

I realize now that everybody here does not have the same definition of "propaganda".

A subjective news alone might not be considered propaganda by all, but as soon as editorial choices by a news outlet repeat the same bias it becomes propaganda.

Maybe the distinction between "piece of news" and "content delivered by a media outlet" was unclear in my original comment, my bad then.

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#29

Post by Udik »

This is an Israeli propaganda page with 500k likes:

https://m.facebook.com/DailyCupOfJane/

The "about" section presents it as:

"Sugar, spice, and everything nice.Changing the world, one mug at a time. We're your daily girl power pick-me-up.

Cup of Jane is a community launched by TIP’s Future Media Project in DC. We love our communities!"

The discreet acronym TIP stands for "The Israel Project":

https://www.theisraelproject.org/

The page mixes feminist and feel-good messages with subtle propaganda for Israel. When is Facebook going to take it down?

Re: Facebook removes Indian page, says it spread Iranian propaganda

#30

Post by djakjxnanjak »

warp_factor wrote: post #2

Welcome to Facebook Co. Where a clique of Silicon Valley exec yuppies now decide what is right and what is wrong for us to see. It's a very slippery slope. Cannot wait for the next elections where any candidates with politically "wrong" ideas will see their pages silently being discarded or randomly hidden from timelines without warnings.

And congress only had to grill them for a few hours to make it happen!
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