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Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

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Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#41
post #18

This is why I don't want Mark Zuckerberg in any public office. I really think the guy has no moral compass because all his actions point to a very sinister "money is everything" attitude and that everything has a price.

Come now, Zuckerberg doesn't even need public office. He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position. Just based on the information in the article, he could offer technical embeds to campaigns he likes and ignore the ones he doesn't, or provide them with a much smaller degree of assistance, with no one the wiser. I don't think there's a single person in the world with as much potentia…

Then why is he going on his "I'm running for President" tour of America, eating at blue collar family homes and visiting historically black churches?

Being in governance gives you power that you can only glance at as a private citizen. Being a billionaire and president of the US will make you far more powerful than merely being a billionaire.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#42

Imagine if ABC/CBS/NBC actively went to political parties and sold them on buying their way into the scripts of the top prime-time sitcoms to shape the opinion of viewers. That's essentially what Facebook is doing out in the open.

They do that all the time: Al Gore - 30 Rock Joe Biden/Michelle Obama - Parks and Rec Newt Gengrich - Murphy Brown Donna Brazil - Good Wife etc....

Hey now, 30 Rock had Condoleeza Rice!

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#43

It's a pretty bad look. When I think of social tech I think of the possibility to magnify the voice/reach of individuals. When I read an article like this all I see is that magnification going solely to big spenders. How do I form an independent political ideology if I'm only being told the part of the story that heavily monied interests want me to hear? Would I ever experience an anti-monied-interest being put on a…

You read books, and you talk to real people imo.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#44

Imagine if ABC/CBS/NBC actively went to political parties and sold them on buying their way into the scripts of the top prime-time sitcoms to shape the opinion of viewers. That's essentially what Facebook is doing out in the open.

The writers for most prime-time sitcoms are Democrats. They do it for free.

But their owners and managers who actually tell them what to do and have all of the power over the networks are nearly all Republicans (or right-wing democrats). They don't do it for free, they do it out of self-interest.

For example, Sinclair broadcast group that owns a huge amount of local broadcasting in every media market in the US. Their national corporate governance literally requires all subsidiaries run blatant pro-Trump hyper conservative propaganda pieces.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#45
post #36

What continues to fascinate me about stories like this is just how nakedly, obviously partisan the post-Trump reporting on the evils of social media is. Compare this with, for example, the tone of all the stories about how the Obama campaign used social media to win the previous election...

There's a difference inciting violence and hatred versus party propaganda.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#46

This is why I don't want Mark Zuckerberg in any public office. I really think the guy has no moral compass because all his actions point to a very sinister "money is everything" attitude and that everything has a price.

How does this differ from anything or anyone. Is Trump any less greedy? Are the clintons any less greedy? Is Bloomberg any less sinister?

What's starting to look sinister is the daily "facebook is evil" propaganda by the media.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#47

Its a time of political upheaval worldwide. Nationalists are rising or at least becoming more vocal in at least Britain, India, United States, Austria, Germany, Korea, and Japan. They are direct threats to the established status quo. Censoring their political speech will cause a "Streisand Effect" and only further galvanize a backlash against the establishment. Social Media will probably be broken up by country (Ex.…

Wait hasn't the status quo been to be nationalist?

Negative. The status quo has been neoliberalism.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#48

Its a time of political upheaval worldwide. Nationalists are rising or at least becoming more vocal in at least Britain, India, United States, Austria, Germany, Korea, and Japan. They are direct threats to the established status quo. Censoring their political speech will cause a "Streisand Effect" and only further galvanize a backlash against the establishment. Social Media will probably be broken up by country (Ex.…

Not all of these protests or nationalism were organic, they were engineered by Russia. ex) Brexit

There is increasing number of evidence that points to the ex-KGB officer now leading a nuclear armed 2.5 world country.

If they can pull one on the US, the rest of Eastern Europe, or frankly any country facing an authoritarian government will face this new 'hybrid war'--combining cyberattacks, psy-ops on social media and backing separatists in the said country.

I fear for both of my countries Korea and Canada as they are on the trajectory of colliding with Russian & Chinese interests...and we cannot even trust the US while it's going through an internal conflict.

We've collectively realized just how powerful these social media platform is....people are heads down on their smartphones consuming low-dopamine hits that eventually overrides critical thinking.

I also think that Facebook and Twitter are going to be facing a political and legal uphill battle once the establishment has thoroughly finished analyzing exactly step by step what happened.

Honesty, regardless of his outside image, Putin is sweating. Instead of lifting sanctions he's earned the exact opposite. Instead of keeping former soviet blocs in check he scared them to the arms of US & Nato. This unrest he caused will fade as the US media ramps up their own psy-ops against Putin.

I will go far as to predict that the Russian Federation will be broken into multiple countries in the near future as their economy is destroyed by the West....with China picking up scraps and benefiting greatly from the brain drain.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#49
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come now, Zuckerberg doesn't even need public office. He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position. Just based on the information in the article, he could offer technical embeds to campaigns he likes and ignore the ones he doesn't, or provide them with a much smaller degree of assistance, with no one the wiser. I don't think there's a single person in the world with as much potentia…

> He's more powerful where he is now than he could ever be in an elected position. Exactly, an elected position would come with even more publicity, actual responsibilities and the possibility of being held accountable for his actions. It's far more convenient and efficient for him to stay out of that system and just play it from the outside.

> Exactly, an elected position would come with even more publicity, actual responsibilities and the possibility of being held accountable for his actions.

Having full control of the platform a large portion of the population depends on for news and communication could help him evade much of that.

Re: Facebook’s Political Unit Enables Propaganda

#50

Imagine if ABC/CBS/NBC actively went to political parties and sold them on buying their way into the scripts of the top prime-time sitcoms to shape the opinion of viewers. That's essentially what Facebook is doing out in the open.

The writers for most prime-time sitcoms are Democrats. They do it for free.

Yes, and have a look at the overlap(familial, spouses, etc) between people in Obama's administration and the media: https://www.snopes.com/you-had-a-hunch-the-news-system-was-r...

It doesn't imply outright bias but it certainly seems like an unlikely co-incidince.

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