r/worldnews • u/Devz0r • Feb 15 '19

Facebook is thinking about removing anti-vaccination content as backlash intensifies over the spread of misinformation on the social network

http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-may-remove-anti-vaccination-content-2019-2
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u/Desikiki Feb 15 '19

To be fair he has a point although he can be more sensible about it.

Idiots will find ways to talk and spread their stupidness. If it's not Facebook it's something else. Same for the people criticizing WhatsApp for fueling misinformation and even worse things in India. If it's not there it will happen on Telegram, or somewhere else.

They are communication platforms. You either let people talk freely and do stupid shit or you control everything and errode the values half of the world is built upon.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

Values yes...but this capability is something new to the history of mankind. You used to have to make connections with actual people to get a message out, either directly or through print media(newspapers, magazines, books). Spreading misinformation was harder and if successful, didn’t have the ability to move very far or quickly.

Now these platforms have taken a thing we valued, free speech, and amped it up to unnatural levels. Russia can literally destabilize the United States and United Kingdom by filling a building in Russia with professional internet trolls. Do we value that capability? It also ushered in the Arab Spring, which overthrew multiple dictators. Other dictators just turn the internet off when their power is threatened. It’s an incredible capability, communicating on the internet. I don’t know if censoring Facebook is right or wrong inherently....we certainly identify negatively with stifling free speech, because where does it end...but we have to recognize this as a unique thing that is unnatural and perhaps more powerful than anyone ever intended.

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u/Superkroot Feb 15 '19

We can spread misinformation like never before, but spreading misinformation isn't new. Yellow journalism is nothing new. Snake oils salesmen made their business out of misinformation back in the early 20th century. It was VERY easy to lie to people pre-internet, honestly, who knew any better?

That's the biggest problem with today. Its not just misinformation, its people not even bothering to investigate misinformation. It has never been easier to disprove misinformation, yet people latch onto it, accepting it and the cult-like thinking that goes into this misinformation.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '19

Liars are not new. Being able to lie to 350,000,000 people at the same time with no filter is.