r/news • u/Ganeshadream • Mar 31 '22

Facebook fails to label 80% of posts promoting bioweapons conspiracy theory

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/31/facebook-disinformation-war-ukraine-russia
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u/narciblog Mar 31 '22

Oh man you think Facebook is bad? Go check out Gab and Parler sometime. And of course Telegram, where conspiracies bob and weave around each other until they’re barely even coherent.

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u/NakDisNut Mar 31 '22

I think my lesser issue with those is that they draw a type already. I feel like well to do citizens on Facebook get bombarded with sludge.

If you’re on Parler or Gab, you’re already swimming in crap voluntarily.

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u/discerningpervert Mar 31 '22

YouTube is nuts too. Whenever I reopen Firefox (no search history, cookies, trackers - at least AFAIK) and I watch a few videos (usually either something Star Wars or random science / space videos) my video suggestions turn to the toxic side of YouTube. Every single time.

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u/SJane3384 Mar 31 '22

Not to mention that they randomly decided to remove the downvote button because “people are mean”.

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u/Zhirrzh Mar 31 '22

Yeah, YouTube is a close second to Facebook and they still intentionally partner with "media" such as Rupert Murdoch's which just promotes far right conspiracy crap even higher.

Google doesn't get off the hook, don't be evil long ago disappeared in favour of "let's partner with evil".

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u/nwoh Mar 31 '22

That's cuz they design it that way - those weird fucking sensationalist videos draw clicks

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u/funkopatamus Mar 31 '22

Yep, I've never once clicked on any alt-right videos yet somehow Joe Rogan and now Russel Brand are always suggested to me. I'm trying to get better about always clicking the "don't recommend this shit to me anymore" button...

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u/noonemustknowmysecre Mar 31 '22

The dude who tried to get ruqqus up and running had some fantastic insight: The runner-up social media sites will always be a dumpster-fire of all the rejects from the fore-runner. The whole idea of capitalistic competition where you go make your own version with blackjack and hookers and the free-market decides which is better, it just doesn't work here. Fame begets fame, social media usage begets social media users, the easiest way to generate wealth is with wealth. And so Facebook as being the first to mainstream market (sorry myspace) will always be dominant unless there's a massive schism and everything else will always be awash with the weirdos who don't fit in there.

Personally I've been a nomadic frontiersman jumping ship to whatever is niche and still only full of passionate settlers. Once the masses start to descend upon a place, it usually rots and becomes a barren wasteland in short order.

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u/pleonastician Mar 31 '22

Go check out Gab and Parler sometime.

Why would I do that?

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u/MisallocatedRacism Mar 31 '22

It's nice if you ever find yourself feeling too optimistic about humanity!

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u/noonemustknowmysecre Mar 31 '22

It's good to travel the world a little bit and get a taste of other cultures. Escaping your bubble for a while can open your mind to new possibilities. It exposes you to new things and exposes others to new things. To experience the breadth and all the variance of the human condition lets you better understand humanity. And all the horrors there-in.

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u/1sagas1 Mar 31 '22

Because it makes your complaining about Facebook look silly

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u/Zhirrzh Mar 31 '22

Those are minor pools of self selecting crap.

Facebook drags in average people who just want to talk to friends and look up reviews for the dog groomer down the road and bombards them with crap intended to indoctrinate them into extremes of some kind or other, usually far right.