© Pexels / Thought Catalog
The idea of Facebook censoring news and using algorithms to keep people away from certain news sources has long been known. There's been a lot of talk about initiatives to cut down on 'fake news' and misinformation, but never a confirmation from the company itself on exactly how it was doing this. Now Facebook has revealed its content distribution guidelines, and they are as Orwellian as you would expect.
According to a report by the Daily Wire, the methods used are ones that are very open to exposure from astroturfers, and have a vulnerability in the sense that what is defined as misinformation can simply be anything that isn't coming from a politically leftist point of view. The language used in terms like "fostering a safe community" and "incentivizing creators to invest in high quality and accurate content" doesn't really have any clear definitions. Who is it that defines what is safe? Who is it that defines what is accurate?
Now I do believe that absolute truth does exist, but anytime a story is reported on or opined on there can be some dispute over the facts, let alone the conclusions to be drawn from them. Normally speaking, this is where the audience has the opportunity to discern what is and what is not, and make up their own minds.
Comment: See also: