Don’t Tilt Scales Against Trump, Facebook Executive Warns

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/07/technology/facebook-trump-2020.html

by longdefeat • 7 years ago

25 6 7 years ago

cyorir2• 7 years ago

The problem Bosworth does not seem to have addressed is that the scales are currently tilted in favor of political misinformation. Facebook has chosen to not apply the same rules to politicians as it does to other users. Why doesn't Bosworth see a moral imperative to hold politicians to the same standard he holds everyone else?

"Dozens of Facebook employees pushed back on Mr. Bosworth’s conclusions, arguing in the comments section below his post that politicians should be held to the same standard as other Facebook users. They debated whether Facebook should ban or remove posts by politicians, including Mr. Trump, that included hate speech or forms of misinformation."

This is heartening, at least. I hope these employees prevail.

Lammy• 7 years ago

They won’t. Bosworth does what’s best for Bosworth, and he owns substantially more $FB than any of those people arguing against him.

cyorir2• 7 years ago

That's why I said, "I hope", not "I expect".

downerending• 7 years ago

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Personally I'd prefer all politicians' opinions uncensored, so that I can read them and decide for myself.

DyslexicAtheist• 7 years ago

sounds like BigTobacco in the 70ies/80ies:

Mr. Bosworth also waded into the debate over the health effects of social media, rejecting what he called “wildly offensive” comparisons of Facebook to addictive substances like nicotine. He instead compared Facebook to sugar, and said users were responsible for moderating their own intake.

“If I want to eat sugar and die an early death that is a valid position,” Mr. Bosworth wrote. “My grandfather took such a stance towards bacon and I admired him for it. And social media is likely much less fatal than bacon.”

f!ck them!

boublepop• 7 years ago

Seems reasonable enough to me. There haven’t been any scientific studies linking social media usage to serious health effects similar to tobacco usage or obesity. And while there definitely are clear causal links between excessive sugar intake and type 2 diabetes, that still hasn’t resulted in bans of sugar products.

Just because people don’t like social media doesn’t mean we should abandon all logic in legislation against it, or carry out outrageous comparisons that sound like clickbait titles. “Facebooks is as harmful as smoking or overeating!” Is just not true. What is true is that certain people don’t like Facebook and would love for such a title to be true because it aligns with their bias, and therefore they feel we should all just accept it as truth without the evidence.

Don’t Tilt Scales Against Trump, Facebook Executive Warns

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