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Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

politico.eu

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Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#3

Post by QueensGambit »

I have a controversial view, correct me if I am wrong. I think democracy has a major flaw, because, most people are selfish/unfair and most likely vote for populist leaders. But, it has been so far saved by media because of the elitist journalists who want the world to be a fair place and were able to convince people to reject populist leaders. With social media, these journalists are bypassed and the populist leaders are able to appeal to the people's selfish tendencies directly. This is an irreversible change and I expect the world to go backwards by several decades.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#5

Post by textmode »

"Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group, says the activity of fictional social media company the Circle in a 2014 novel seems "very near to the reality" of Facebook's role today."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(2017_film)

"German Christian democrat MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right EPP group, ... asks Mark Zuckerberg why the company has not stopped access to user data to all developers, not just Cambridge Analytica.

He says he would be interested in his arguments as to why, given Facebook's power, its algorithms should not be made public.

He also asks Mr Zuckerberg to name a competitor it has in Europe, and asks him to "convince him" with arguments as to why his company is not a monopoly that should be broken up."

On issues raised relating to competition, [Zuckerberg] says that communication is a "competitive space" where people have "many choices".

"It feels like there are new competitors coming up every day," he notes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-parliaments-44210...

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#7

Post by jedberg »

QueensGambit wrote: post #3

I have a controversial view, correct me if I am wrong. I think democracy has a major flaw, because, most people are selfish/unfair and most likely vote for populist leaders. But, it has been so far saved by media because of the elitist journalists who want the world to be a fair place and were able to convince people to reject populist leaders. With social media, these journalists are bypassed and the populist leader…

It all has to do with education. Educated people are naturally more skeptical of their media and what the sources are.

Before social media, it was admitted a lot harder for unreliable sources to get an audience, so that skepticism was less critical.

But I think it will come back. Education is the antidote to social media news. Deity willing, the next government will see that and push for better education.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#8

Post by serg_chernata »

DavideNL wrote: post #4

The hearing was a big joke. Zuckerberg simply avoided answering difficult questions by talking about something else entirely...

There's a glimmer of hope in my heart, but I stopped caring about these hearings because nothing seems to ever come from them.

Re: Facebook CEO speaks to select members of European Parliament

#9

Post by mseebach »

QueensGambit wrote: post #3

I have a controversial view, correct me if I am wrong. I think democracy has a major flaw, because, most people are selfish/unfair and most likely vote for populist leaders. But, it has been so far saved by media because of the elitist journalists who want the world to be a fair place and were able to convince people to reject populist leaders. With social media, these journalists are bypassed and the populist leader…

The mechanism you're describing also made the non-populist politicians complacent, they forgot (if they ever learned) how to articulate why their way is actually better. See for an example the completely anemic campaigns fought by Hillary Clinton and the remain side in the brexit referendum. Those should not have been hard battles to fight.
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