27 votes

Mark Zuckerberg is struggling to explain why Breitbart belongs on Facebook News

8 comments

  1. [7]
    thundergolfer
    Link
    I don't know how the people working on this new Facebook News feature think of themselves, but they're legitimising racism and white supremacist propaganda on the basis of pure capitalist greed....

    I don't know how the people working on this new Facebook News feature think of themselves, but they're legitimising racism and white supremacist propaganda on the basis of pure capitalist greed.

    It is not at all surprising, but now it is now on record that Facebook is a company that will sell-out minorities and democracy so that they can be even more absurdly rich than they already are. When they were struggling to remove racist 'fake news' from their platform they could at least hide behind "the difficulty of the problem", but now they've put what their very well educated leaders know plain as day is just white supremacist racism on a page for "high-quality" journalism.

    21 votes
    1. [6]
      envy
      Link Parent
      The problem isn't facebook. The problem is a good portion of the USA thinks Fox News is a reliable news source, and that the rest of the "liberal media" is lying to them because "the liberal...

      The problem isn't facebook.

      The problem is a good portion of the USA thinks Fox News is a reliable news source, and that the rest of the "liberal media" is lying to them because "the liberal media" is saying things that are different from what they saw on "Fox News."

      The problem is a smaller portion of the USA thinks Fox News is "too liberal" and so only reads Breitbart & Drudge Report.

      The problem is the legal definition of news changed in the USA many years ago, and America largely went along with that.

      There are very many valid reasons to dislike facebook, but this isn't one of them.

      Note that facebook has a different definition of quality than you or I. They mostly want news sources that people feel are authentic. Breitbart qualifies under facebook's guidelines of who can register. Also note guidelines for individual stories state stories that are flagged as disputed by our community or deemed false by third party fact checkers then might show up lower in your feed. The earlier we can detect it the earlier we can stop it from spreading.

      5 votes
      1. [5]
        cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        That's essentially victim blaming and sounds like a "Don't blame the X supplying them, blame the people driving demand" argument... which is ethically flimsy at best, IMO. And if you replace X...

        That's essentially victim blaming and sounds like a "Don't blame the X supplying them, blame the people driving demand" argument... which is ethically flimsy at best, IMO. And if you replace X with any number of problematic product peddlers you can see just how unhelpful towards the situation that attitude ultimately is. E.g. X = Illicit drug dealers, Arms manufacturers, etc.

        Just because there is demand for the product they are profiting off does not absolve Facebook of anything. Facebook is facilitating the spread of misinformation, FUD, lies and even outright hatred which is being directed against minority groups all over the world... and that has lead directly to the genocide in Myanmar and also dozens of lynchings in India. So despite them essentially just being the drug dealer in this situation, they still deserve at least partial blame here and absolutely should be forced to hold the news sources they officially approve of and endorse to higher standards than what their users think is "authentic", IMO.

        12 votes
        1. thundergolfer
          Link Parent
          Good reply. Basically what I would have said. The existence of demand does not at all justify supply.

          Good reply. Basically what I would have said. The existence of demand does not at all justify supply.

          3 votes
        2. [3]
          envy
          Link Parent
          Are you talking about why Breitbart does not belong on Facebook News? It sounds like you have transitioned to talking about the broader issue of Facebook needing to do more to combat fake news....

          Are you talking about why Breitbart does not belong on Facebook News?

          It sounds like you have transitioned to talking about the broader issue of Facebook needing to do more to combat fake news. Which I am in agreement with.

          1 vote
          1. [2]
            cfabbro
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            Both. Brietbart is one of the ways that misinformation, FUD, lies and even outright hatred is being spread over Facebook, and the fact that Facebook has now legitimized them by including them in...

            Both. Brietbart is one of the ways that misinformation, FUD, lies and even outright hatred is being spread over Facebook, and the fact that Facebook has now legitimized them by including them in their new Facebook News Service is incredibly troubling, IMO. And despite your defense of their decision, IMO it absolutely still is just another in a long line of reasons to dislike (+distrust, fear and despise) Facebook.

            5 votes
            1. envy
              Link Parent
              I'm not defending Facebook's decision. I'm saying your criticism of Facebook allowing Breitbart news articles doesn't make sense - when a significant portion of the country considers Brietbart a...

              I'm not defending Facebook's decision.

              I'm saying your criticism of Facebook allowing Breitbart news articles doesn't make sense - when a significant portion of the country considers Brietbart a more valid news source than "liberal media."

              If Facebook banned Breitbart, you know that portion of the country would be frothing at the mouth.

              Do you really think it is best for that portion of the country to recede further into their safe spaces?

              Can't you see that it may be advantageous if they stay on facebook, with the hope that facebook is effective at flagging news stories that do not pass a fact check?

              Do you think Fox News should also be banned from Facebook? How is Fox News any better than Breitbart?

  2. Kuromantis
    Link
    "Well, gotta appease the right-wingers who just happen to hold office and effectively bribe them with influence because otherwise they will come after us for everything else we've done in the last...

    "Well, gotta appease the right-wingers who just happen to hold office and effectively bribe them with influence because otherwise they will come after us for everything else we've done in the last 7 years"

    admittedly this isn't a serious comment so feel free to noise it.

    2 votes